A fantastic day for your significant other, but dreadful if your evenings typically revolve around watching sports.
It’s radio silence tonight.
Get ready to learn Love Island, buddy.
This will be on my couch at 8:00 tonight.
Once Friday arrives it’s go time.
It’s equally exciting and terrifying.
Let’s do it.
They’re 62-34 and hold a commanding 8.5 game lead over the Braves for first in the NL East.
Their bullpen did them in last year in the playoffs with Kimbrel being relied on too much.
Could they use another one?
Sure, but the Phillies have set themselves up as the clear team to beat in the NL.
Dave’s 6-1 $200k future on them surely won’t be blamed on Smitty if things unravel.
He’s a God.
Sometimes changing scenery and joining a new team warrants an adjustment period.
It wouldn’t be crazy if Ohtani stumbled out of the gates with the Dodgers in year one.
Yeah, not even close.
He’s in the driver’s seat to become the first full-time DH to win the MVP.
2023 made me kinda hate baseball a little.
Well, that’s where they’re at the midway point, but things feel far from great.
After Soto, Judge, and newcomer Ben Rice there’s really nothing much to do with the lineup.
No opposing pitcher has any fear navigating this order once you avoid the top.
The last month+ has been bleak.
Aaron Judge being better than his 2022 MVP version had something to do with it.
Juan Soto being Juan Soto also makes you better.
But what’s their actual ceiling with this roster?
Could things turn for the good?
Giancarlo coming off the IL right after the break will be a welcomed sight.
At some point they’re going to add Jasson Dominguez to the fold.
Michael Tonkin has been relied up to get big outs.
If they’re going to win the pennant there is so much work to be done.
Frank has even shown some positivity this year.
Still overwhelming negativity, but some sprinkled in relief that you don’t normally see from him.
They went 9-5 and gave themselves some belief.
The expanded playoff gives added hope to teams that normally wouldn’t have that.
Tough message to send to your fanbase though.
I have no idea what the Mets should do and neither do they.
Toronto is 8 under .500 and 9.5 games out of the 3rd WC spot in the AL.
Both Vladdy Jr. and Bo Bichette have a year and half left before they become free agents.
I have no faith in that front office doing the right thing and neither should their fans.
Mason Miller has burst onto the scene this year and dominated as the A’s closer.
His stuff is flatout electrifying, but the last thing a bad team needs is a great closer.
The last thing the A’s want is a productive player helping them win games before their Vegas move.
There he was last night striking out Ohtani in the All Star Game.
The guy is a sicko.
They’re not moving into their Vegas digs until 2028 at the earliest.
As shitty as it sounds, there’s no chance Miller stays healthy until then anyways.
The clear move is to trade him now and maximize what you’re free to get.
Baltimore is the team that keeps coming up in my mind.
That’s how loaded they are.
Their lineup already consists of a ton of their talented youth and you could only start 9 guys.
Could the Yankees use a Mason Miller to replace a shaky Clay Holmes?
Do I think Oakland does the right thing and trades their prized closer?
It would be the clear right move, so of course not.
Had just come off innings with six and seven pitches.
Had never thrown a no-no in his life.
Then June happened and something snapped in that clubhouse.
Once again the Astros are going to be a player in October.
I’m so done with them, but it appears they’re not done with me.
Hell, every part of his game will make you stop and watch.
His speed though, is truly something else.
Scoring from second on an errant pickoff throw is laughable.
The fact that we don’t have a speed competition during All Star Weekend is asinine.
So yeah, he’s out on this one.
13-3 with a 2.70 ERA and an NL high 153 ERA+ in 110 innings.
Without him, the Braves might not be a Wild Card team right now.
The Sox are 11 games over .500 and in a playoff spot at the moment.
They rank 5th in all of baseball in team ERA and 6th in OPS.
They’re young, athletic, and super aggressive on the bases.
Pitching coach Andrew Bailey has been a revelation for that staff and pen all year.
Jarren Duran has also become one of the more exciting players in the league.
Dennis Schroder Award
You may be wondering how an NBA player found his way into this blog.
He ended up settling for a one year, $5.9M deal with the Celtics.
We’ve got two clear cut favorites for the award: Pete Alonso and Gleyber Torres.
Pete is still going to get paid, it’s just a matter of how much.
He’s slugging nearly 70 points below his career average.
In 2022 and 2023 he posted 40+ homers and 115+ RBI.
He’s currently at 19 and 51 for those numbers.
It’s just not the year the power hitting first baseman wanted to be having going into free agency.
There’s still time to finish strong, but he’s gotta be kicking himself for this start.
Gleyber Torres on the other hand might have lost everything.
With just eight homers and 35 RBI it’s been a nightmare for the Yankees second baseman this year.
I think the pressures of a contract year have infiltrated his brain and led to the struggles.
Now I think he’s settling for a one year prove it deal.
Gleyber is the winner of this award, but the loser of the season sadly.
Kris Bryant Still Alive Award
Kris Bryant come on down!
Another year alive, another year being a complete ghost while being on the Colorado Rockies.
He’s rich though, that’s for sure.
Been some fun moments on the pod that he and Marty put out.
Even more impressive, Mush hasn’t mushed his season.
2.71 ERA over 14 starts ain’t too shabby.
Sadly he needs to maintain this until the end of 2027.
MLB free agency is a motherfucker.
All of these guys have completely shit themselves this year.
Julio has a sub .700 OPS and only 19 extra base hits.
This time last year he had 32.
The Mariners offense has been abysmal and he’s a big reason for it.
Bo Bichette’s OPS is somehow sub .600!
A 70 OPS+ meaning he’s 30% worse than the league average hitter.
This was the one guy on that team who I thought was immune to a bad year.
His 2024 has been stunningly bad compared to what he’s done in his previous five seasons.
He’s been nothing short of atrocious with his 6.44 ERA.
Starting to think teams were right to stay away from him in free agency.
The sophomore slump might have to be renamed after Corbin Carroll.
I mean my god what happened to this guy.
Just 5 homers with a .212 batting average and a .301 OBP.
He’s way too talented to be this bad.
Matt Olson is having the worst year of his career.
When Acuna went down for the year it put a ton of weight on Olson to be the guy.
He has refused to step up.
If not for Marcell Ozuna the Braves would be fucked.
Paul Goldschmidt might just be washed at this point.
Instead the Cards find themselves as the 2nd WC and zero takers for Goldschmidt’s talents.
Good news is he’s only under contract until 2033.
Impossible to pick out of that group, but I’m going Bo Bichette.
It’s just such a crazy drop off from anything we’ve seen from him.
Biggest Loser Award
Easily me for writing 3,000 words that not nearly enough people are going to read.
