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Working on a Dream
You may be thinking that Baseball doesn’t matter right now, with both the NBA andNHL playoffs still going on. That will change within 10 days or so when both leagues crown a champion (I would assume Kings and Thunder). That being said, another week is in the books and another great week ahead of us. I am not sure what more you could ask for as a fan; every division race is great, the great players are playing great, the rookies are looking like all-stars, and attendance is up over 7% from last year.
Human Touch
Even though it doesn’t have the fanfare that the NFL and NBA draft have, the MLB draft is still a huge deal and a way for teams to build their farm system. Carlos Correa was the overall #1 pick and then signed the lowest signing bonus of any #1 pick since 2006. Some believe that is why he went above 3-4 players that all the scouts said were better. Unlike other leagues where you can get an immediate result to truly judge how a team did in the draft will take years.
On a side note the Orioles, as many teams do, went out on a limb in a low round to draft a former player’s son. Normally, that doesn’t make the news, but when it is Cal Ripken’s son it is a big deal. Who knows how he will turn out, but everyone in Baltimore was happy to see the Orioles take him to make sure the Ripken name stays in Baltimore.
I’m on fire
So many players are playing so well now, it is tough to say who had a great week. I still start out by saying, that I do not consider what Seattle did a real no-hitter, and I refuse to acknowledge it. To me, a no-hitter has to be thrown by one person, having 5 people combine to thrown one is good for them, but in no way will I consider that a no-hitter or any special accomplishment.
Chris Sale, RJ Dickey, and Matt Harrison have been lights out the last 10 days with a combined 9 wins and an avg. ERA of 1.00. These performances are part of the reason all of their respective teams are playing so well. The Yankees thought their season was done when Rivera was down, but over the last 10 days or so Soriano has had 5 saves with a 1.8 era. Joel Hanrahan has 6 saves over that same time period and it is no coincidence that Pitt is continuing to win with him pitching like that.
I saw the movie Angels in the outfield, and I thought that could never happen in life. Then, I spent the last week watching Angel’s baseball and I saw them have 2 different players with 4 home run’s each in the last week. These two are the hottest players in baseball right now (no disrespect to Mike Trout who is hitting over .500 in the same time span). Carlos Beltran and Adam Dunn are still playing fantastic baseball and are both on their way to being the “Comeback Player of the Year” award.
Baseball is a team sport, so let’s focus on what teams are hot in their last 10 games. The Yankees, Braves, Pirates, and Diamondbacks are all 8-2 in their last 10 with Minnesota, The Dodgers and The Giants are at 7-3. Tampa is only 6-4 in their last 10, but with 4 wins a row, they seem to be turning things around. If these teams can keep up their hot play for the month of June they could start to put themselves in a position to be the run-away leader in their respective divisions.
Better Days
I never like to focus on players having a bad week, since it is such a long season, every player will have a drought. I will say though, that some of these teams really need to start playing better or they will find themselves fading quickly. Boston, Kansas City, Oakland, Florida, andColorado have all lost at least 3 in a row and they all seem to be fading quickly. These teams are finding ways to lose; blowing saves, costly errors, not hitting with RISP etc. These little things, if not corrected, are going to put these teams in the bottom of their division before we hit the all star break!
Thunder Road
The road to the playoffs is a long road traveled in baseball having to play 162 games just to get there. Some say standings don’t even matter until after the all-star break. I am one who thinks different. I feel that standings always matter and a close eye should always be kept on who is winning the division and who is making a push. As of today we are about 37% through the MLB season. Currently we have 1st place in 5 of the 6 divisions separated by 2 games or less. The race for the wild card is even closer.
This closeness in the divisions makes every game mean just a little bit more, and it helps to make the inter-division games even that much more intense. Tampa has taken over the top spot in the AL East while the White Sox and Rangers hold on to a slim lead in their divisions. The top 3 teams in MLB in ERA hold down the division leads in the three NL divisions (Washington, Pitt, and LAD). As each game passes these standings will change and it will continue to be great for baseball to have these division races this close.
Glory Days
The week ahead is filled with some great match-ups due to the inter league format. Fans across the country get to see players and teams that they normally do not get to see. This week should boost attendance even more across the country.
Washington gets to put their hot start to a test. They play 2 teams from the Al East (Torontoand NYY) who are both over .500 and who are both playing good baseball right now. This should show the Nationals along with the rest of baseball where they stack up against some of the big boys in MLB.
Boston is facing Miami to start the week and closing it out at Wrigley. It is so important for them to play well in Florida. These are two teams that are currently struggling and need to turn it around. If Boston can not turn it around this week they could be looking at a very steel up hill climb in the very competitive AL East. I only mention the games against the Cubs because no matter how bad these two teams are playing, they are still two of the most storied franchises in MLB history playing in probably the most famous ballpark around.
Pittsburgh is playing Baltimore and Cleveland this week. The reason these are big series is still shocking to me. You have first place Pittsburgh playing the 8 games over .500 and 1 game out of first place Orioles and then traveling to Cleveland to face the 7 games over .500 and .5 game out of first Indians. Pre-season these 3 teams were picked by most to be 3 of the worst teams in all of MLB. These teams are all out to prove that they are not a fluke and they are here to stay for the whole year.
Philly closes out the week in Toronto. This series is just another reason why I love inter league play. This game is a re-match of one of the classic World Series. I saw this on the schedule and my mind instantly went to Joe Carter running down the first base line jumping up and down with his arms raised in victory!
There are plenty of other great match-ups this week. As inclined as you may be to watch other sports on television this week (Us Open, NBA and NHL finals etc), remember that inter league baseball does not happen that often and these are always great games to watch.
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