The season ends on Sunday, September 27.
There are Eddie Murray’s #33 days of play remaining.
The postseason begins on Tuesday, September 29.
Of the top 10 teams, right now only Arizona is not in a playoff slot.
Of the top 10 teams in the majors, only Atlanta, Boston, and Arizona won last night.
The AL Central-leading White Sox (69-63) have the 11th-best record in baseball.
The AL West-leading Astros have the 14th-best record in baseball. They are an even .500 at 66-66.
No MLB club has won a full, completed division title with a below .500 record. The closest was the 2005 San Diego Padres, who won the NL West at 82–80. They are the only full-season
Yesterday, Shohei Ohtani went 1-5 with a triple, his fourth of the season. He struck out once. Pete Crow-Armstrong went 0-3 with a walk.
ACCORDING TO BASEBALL-REFERENCE
Pete Crow-Armstrong: 7.8 - Shohei Ohtani: 6.9
ACCORDING TO FANGRAPHS
Pete Crow-Armstrong: 8.6 - Shohei Ohtani: 7.0
Do you even know who Tristan Peters is?
Tristan Peters is a rookie playing for the Chicago White Sox. This season, he’s had 6 RBI in a game, reached base 5 times in a game (H/BB/HBP), had 4 straight games with a home run, hit for the cycle, hit a grand slam, and had a walkoff HR. According to OptaSTATS, only two others in MLB history have done all of that in one season: Jimmie Foxx (1933) & Joe DiMaggio (1937).
Now you know who Tristan Peters is, so when he comes up in the postseason, you will know to pay attention.
A SPECIAL OFFER
To celebrate Ted Williams, Tug McGraw, and Billy-Ball’s birthdays on August 30, I am gifting readers a special 3-month subscription rate.
The Red Sox are now a season-high 14 games above .500. They were 14 games under .500 back on June 25th.
I wonder if this regular season success continues into the postseason, when savvy sportswriters will start comparing the Sox to the Knicks. When it comes to star power, neither team has the glamour of most of the other teams, but the gestalt in which the organized whole, pattern, or configuration that is perceived as more than the sum of the individual parts seems to be true in both cases. The Red Sox may not be filled with individual stars, but they are an excellent team.
The Dodgers have a galaxy. Last night, Tyler Glasnow returned to the rotation and was very impressive. After allowing hits to four of the first five batters in the Braves lineup, Glasnow allowed two more and didn’t walk anyone in the final four innings he pitched. He struck out seven. After the 1st, Glasnow retired 14 of his final 16 while twice stranding a runner at second.
For the Dodgers, it’s been a season in which Justin Wrobleski and Eric Lauer have played starring or at least co-starring roles in their rotation. Now the understudies are seated, and the all-ace staff emerges:
Tuesday - Tyler Glasnow vs Braves
Wednesday - Roki Sasaki vs Braves
Thursday - Yoshinobu Yamamoto vs Braves
Friday - Tarik Skubal vs Tigers
Saturday - Blake Snell vs Tigers
Sunday - Tyler Glasnow vs Tigers
And there is even more for them to look forward to, as Will Smith homered in his first rehab game last night, and there is an excellent chance that Sunday's start will be filled by Shohei Ohtani. But I bore you with all this because this morning I read this story in The Athletic, which you know by now is my favorite publication, that was so absurd, I thought I should rebut a few of the points. The headline read, The Dodgers have a huge week ahead — and it could change the NL playoff race. The content is about the importance of the team finishing in one of the top two slots in the league race because “securing a bye feels paramount for a club that employs the oldest group of position players in the sport,” and “A playoff bye would provide a few days of rest for the Dodgers to set up their star-studded pitching staff however they’d like.”
First, you saw their rotation; this is not something they have to worry about if they can’t start Skubal, Snell, or Yamamoto in an opening game of a series. Next, they come into the series against the Braves holding a four-game lead. Even if they get swept, they will head to Detroit still in the second slot and not a Wild Card participant. Next, and most importantly, they are heading to Detroit! And not only do they have the post-trade-deadline Tigers to face, but the Dodgers also have 30 games remaining against teams that have a .476 winning pct. That is the easiest remaining schedule of any NL team. The Brewers have 30 games remaining against teams that have a .508 winning pct. The Braves have 30 games remaining against teams that have a .515 winning pct. The Dodgers still have seven games remaining against the Reds, six against the Giants, and three against the Nationals and Marlins. A huge week?!? I really don’t think so.
Rafael Devers became the third Giant to hit at least 48 homers in his first 222 games with the organization. The others were Barry Bonds and Willie Mays. Also, the other night he hit his 16th at Oracle Park this season, the most by a Giant since Barry Bonds in 2007.
Devers is not the reason why the Giants are so terrible.
The fine folks at AwfulAnnouncing.com asked their readers to evaluate every local TV broadcast crew for all 30 MLB teams, assign each a grade from A to F, and share comments. The results, based on more than 85,000 individual votes from more than 9,300 respondents, are at this link. I found them incredibly insightful and amazingly on target in their ratings, especially once again choosing Don Orsillo as the best.
Yesterday was one of those awful Red Sox anniversary dates. Don Orsillo, the Awful Announcing fan-favorite winner for the second straight season, formerly worked for the Boston Red Sox from 2001 to 2015. He was given the boot on August 25, 2015, and I don’t think I have ever, or will ever, forgive them. The San Diego Padres quickly snatched up Orsillo to be Dick Enberg’s successor, and he and his on-air partners remain the best broadcast team to listen to.
My friend Tom Caron’s contract has been extended.
Aroldis Chapman just became the fourth pitcher in MLB history with 10 seasons of 30 saves. The others are Hall of Famers Mariano Rivera (15), Trevor Hoffman (14) and Lee Smith (10). Chapman has 397 saves; only eight relievers have 400+ career saves.
The Royals have baseball’s longest winning streak. The AL Central’s last-place team (59-74) won their ninth straight game last night. They are the first AL team since the 1910 White Sox to win that many consecutive games after entering said streak at least 24 games under .500.
You want to know how awful this team is? Even after winning 9 straight they are still eight games out of a Wild Card position, and the only reason they are even that close is that the Guardians (67-66) are the third WC team, and they are a game over .500.
From now on, whenever I mention the Guardians, I’m going to remind you how important it is to support Sherrod Brown’s efforts to return to the U.S. Senate representing Ohio. Here’s the link to support Sherrod’s campaign.
The average major league team has 18 triples this season. 15 teams have 17 or fewer. In 133 Diamondbacks games this season, Corbin Carroll by himself has 16 triples, the same number he had last season through 133 games.
In 617 career games, he has 59 triples. Carl Yastrzemski had 59 triples in his career, and it took him 3308 games to get them. Mike Schmidt (2404 games) and Joe Torre (2209) also had 59 triples in their careers.
Last night, the Empire State Building went pink at exactly 9:25 pm for Dolly Parton. Because the time was 9 to 5.
Dolly Parton was one of the greats. Just a terrific human being, filled with love, smarts, and generosity. And that doesn’t even mention her talent. We should all try to be more like Dolly and never be like Donald.
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