The season ends on September 27. There are 66 days of play remaining.
There are 10 days until the trade deadline.
Remember how close Isiah Kiner-Falefa came to scoring the winning run in the bottom of the 9th inning of Game 7 of last year’s World Series? Had he taken a respectable secondary lead, instead of being out by a step, he would have been safe by a step, and then the Dodgers would not have humiliated themselves at the White House yesterday, and perhaps the Blue Jays would not be one of the four worst teams in the American League this season.
But, using an expression that I detest, it is what it is.
The Blue Jays are 12.5 games out of first place and in last place. They have scored 405 runs this season, the fewest in the majors. Scoring 3.93 runs per game makes them the only team in baseball not averaging four runs a game. They have a .680 OPS, the lowest in baseball.
Their superstar first baseman, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., entered the season with a lifetime .866 OPS, .288 BA, and averaging a home run every 20.24 AB. This season, he has an OPS of .692. He’s batting .259. He has homered once every 60.50 AB. Last season, through 103 games played, Vladdy had hit 9 home homers. This season, Toronto fans are awaiting Guerrero’s first Canadian homer of the season.
Their catcher, Alejandro Kirk, hit .282 with 15 homers and 76 RBI. This season, in limited play due to injuries, he’s hitting .219, with 3 home runs and 12 RBI.
Last season, through 103 games, they made 52 errors and allowed 30 unearned runs. This season, through 103 games, they have made 68 errors and allowed 45 unearned runs.
On the trade display shelf for others to bid on are Kevin Gausman, Shane Bieber, Max Scherzer, George Springer, Daulton Varsho, Myles Straw, Jeff Hoffman, and maybe even Louis Varland, who is 21 for 21 in save chances this season.
If I were shopping this trade deadline, I would check out the Canadian superstore.
For those of you following the Padres’ fate, as I suggested in a previous column, things are getting really ugly in beautiful San Diego. With their loss last night, the Friars are three games under .500 for the first time since they were 2-5 on April 3. They are four games back in the Wild Card race. While it is always fun watching A.J. Preller the buyer, I plan to be fascinated watching as a seller.
The Red Sox have won 15 of 16. Here’s where they have been as they go for the postseason according to Fangraphs.
The Dodgers are 65-38. The Brewers are 64-38. The Braves are 60-42.
According to OptaStats, this is the first time since 1993 that the first 3 teams in the majors to reach 60 wins were all from the NL.
On Wednesday…
The Baltimore Orioles released Jhonkensy Noel.
The Milwaukee Brewers released Peter Strzelecki.
While this is unfortunate for each of them, my spell-check breathes a sigh of relief.
In 2019, Marcus Semien was playing for Oakland (boys and girls, they are a city that used to have major league baseball) and hit 33 homers, his career high to that point. Marcus topped that in 2021, playing for the Blue Jays when he hit 45 homers.
This season, playing for the Mets, he has hit only 10 homers. But his 10th, which was against Milwaukee on July 22, was significant, not because he now has 268 in his 14-year career, but because he has now homered against all 30 teams. He is the 93rd player in this hit-them-all club and the fourth inductee of 2026, joining Willy Adames, Jazz Chisholm Jr., and Alex Bregman.
I liked this note…
On Tuesday, the Gwinnett Stripers (Braves Triple-A) had a lineup that had combined to hit 1038 major league home runs. And superstar Ronald Acuña Jr., one of two former MVPs in the lineup, wasn’t even close to the leader. Carlos Santana (335 career HR), 2013 NL MVP Andrew McCutchen (333) and Rowdy Tellez (123) are all on minor league deals, while Acuña (193) and shortstop Ha-Seong Kim (52) are on rehab assignments. Utility player Luke Williams (2) was also in the mix.
Another reason to support MiLB.
If the Dodgers don’t three-peat this season, beyond blaming their visit to see King-Midas-in-Reverse, you might look at their health behind the plate. The Dodgers’ preseason (that’s the regular season for every other team) is not the problem. They will make the postseason without any difficulty. They already have a magic number of 49, and we’re not even in August. But they must have Will Smith back behind the plate; Dalton Rushing is only an okay substitute.
Smith, the Dodgers’ starting catcher, last appeared in a game on June 5. Smith was placed on the 10-day injured list on June 11 with some thought that it would be a minimum-length stint. But now it appears that the stiff neck that Smith had from a poor night’s sleep is actually an inflamed disc in his neck. He received an injection a couple of weeks after first suffering from the pain, but it did not provide the needed relief. The Dodgers don’t see him returning any earlier than mid-August and remain hopeful that he will be back before the end of the season.
It is not the offensive numbers that concern me. Rushing is actually hitting better than Smith this season.
But the difference for the pitchers when Smith is behind the dish compared to Rushing seems to be considerable.
Smith has started 48 games, and his pitchers have a .203 BAA, a .608 OPSA, and have allowed 42 homers and 138 runs. Rushing has started 52 games, and his pitchers have a .226 BAA, a .675 OPSA, and have allowed 54 homers and 190 runs.
With Smith, the Dodgers’ staff has walked 110 batters and has a .268 OBPA. With Rushing, the Dodgers’ staff has walked 158 batters and has a .303 OBPA. Looking under the hood, some of that must be attributed to the two catchers’ differences in framing. Even with the ABS this year, catcher framing remains an important part of the game because of the limited number of challenges that can be issued. I am most intrigued by a stat known as SLAA, which stands for Strikes Looking Above Average. It seems to me that the better a catcher does with that figure, the fewer pitches and the fewer walks a pitcher throws. Smith’s SLAA is 5.62, and Rushing’s is -36.23, which puts him 74th of 76 catchers in the bigs. His FrmRAA (Catcher Framing Runs Above Average) is -4.54, also 74th. Rushing has been behind the plate for 18 passed balls and wild pitches; Smith has 10.
The Dodgers need Smith back to prepare their staff for the postseason and most definitely need him back for the third half of the season.
Corbin Carroll (587 games played) tripled the other day and now has 55 triples in his career, tying him with Starling Marte (1576 G) and Mike Trout (1732 G) for the most among active players. Many players have had 55 triples in their careers, including Jackie Robinson, Willie Stargell, Paul Blair, and Freddie Patek. Patek stood 5’5” and weighed 148, and Willie Stargell was 6’2” and weighed in at 188. Mike Trout weighs in at 235. I love baseball.
The legendary Bob Ryan asked me a question this morning; that’s why.
He wrote and told me that one of his favorite baseball oddities is a catcher leading off. Drake Baldwin does it in Atlanta. Who else does it?
The list above is the catchers who led off in games this season.
An argument can be made that we can replace the phrase, “I’m having a brain cramp,” or “Excuse me, I’m having a senior moment,” with “I’m having a Realmuto.”
Even J.T. Realmuto himself acknowledged that his game-ending gaffe was a “lapse in judgment” and told reporters there was “no reason for me to go back [to] second.”
The “Pine Tar Game” took place at Yankee Stadium, George Brett hits an apparent two-run home run off Rich Gossage to give the Kansas City Royals a 5-4 lead with two outs in the 9th inning, only to have the homer taken away when Yankees manager Billy Martin, at the urging of coach Don Zimmer, points out that the pine tar on Brett’s bat handle exceeds the 17 inches allowed in the rules. As a result, Brett is called out for illegally batting the ball, giving New York a 4-3 victory.
Brett calmly objected, as we can see in this ABC News report with Peter Jennings from August 18th.
A couple of footnotes. George Steinbrenner hired the infamous attorney and political fixer Roy Cohn to represent the Yankees in the legal proceedings. Cohn was known for representing the reckless, demagogic, and defamatory Senator Joseph McCarthy, the racist felon Donald Trump, and mafia bosses including John Gotti.
The other note of note is that when the game resumed, Martin decided to play his rookie first baseman/outfielder, the lefty Don Mattingly at second base, and his All-Star left-handed pitcher Ron Guidry in center field.
The debut single by British rock band The Zombies, written by organist Rod Argent. It reached No. 12 in the UK Singles Chart in September 1964, and reached No. 1 on the Cashbox chart (No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100) in the United States at the beginning of December 1964. In Canada, it reached No. 2. Rolling Stone magazine ranked "She's Not There" No. 297 on its list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
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