We interrupt this season for the following public announcement from MLB: There will be no World Series this year because no teams have been deemed worthy.
OK. We jest here. But the fact of the matter is there are no super teams or World Series locks in baseball this year and all the teams that had the “deep-into-October” look about them either didn’t do enough at the trade deadline or have begun to hit the skids. Right now it doesn’t appear as if any team in baseball is going to win more than 96 games this year. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, that’s happened only twice before in the post expansion (162-game) era: 1982 when the Brewers had the most wins at 95 and 2007 when the Red Sox and Indians led the majors with 96 wins each.
As of Friday, the Guardians were projecting at 96.4 wins, while the Orioles and Yankees were at 95.6. At the beginning of the season, the World Series favorites were the Dodgers and Braves in the National League and the Yankees and Orioles in the American League and there were different projections of 100 wins for all of them. But what about now?
The Dodgers after investing over a billion dollars in Shohei Ohtani to bolster their lineup and Yoshinobu Yamamoto to head up their rotation were universal World Series picks. But Yamamoto was felled by a shoulder issue in June and may not be back. And even though they’ve been in first place in the NL West all year despite the long absences of Mookie Betts and Max Muncy, the Dodgers look very mortal. Their lead, as much as nine games on June 18, had shrunk to two over the fast charging Padres and Diamondbacks. Without Yamamoto, their rotation has been underwhelming, now relying on come-backing Clayton Kershaw and Walker Buehler to get them to the finish line, and it became even more precarious Friday when their other ace, oft-injured Tyler Glasnow, went down with elbow tendinitis.
The Braves, who lost last year’s ace Spencer Strider before the season and then their best hitter Ronald Acuna Jr. to a torn ACL in May, have been decimated by injuries with extended absences by center fielder Michael Harris II, All-Star catcher Sean Murphy and second baseman Ozzie Albies. Still, they managed to hold their ground in second place and fortified their offense with the pickup of Jorge Solar at the trade deadline — and then lost six straight at the start of August. The Braves were fortunate not to fall further behind except the Phillies, who were the scourge of baseball at 62-33 on July 13, went 9-17 in their next 26 games amid a hitting malaise in which they scored two or fewer runs seven times.
The Yankees and Orioles have battled for first place in the AL East all season, but neither of them were able to address their most critical need — a shutdown closer — at the trade deadline. As a result, neither the Yankees with Clay Holmes or the Orioles with Craig Kimbrel are going to the World Series either.
The other team that looked most World Series-worthy at midseason because of their superior starting pitching was the Mariners, who led the AL West by as much as 10 games on June 18. But they, too, failed to adequately address their glaring need for offense. Despite adding Justin Turner and Randy Arozarena at the deadline, the Mariners went 10-14 in July and they’ve since fallen into second place as, on any given night, they’ve got five players hitting .220 or worse in their lineup.
So with all the preseason and midseason World Series favorites having shown themselves to be flawed and problematic for deep-into-October runs, a new group of more likely World Series combatants in our opinion has emerged: The Guardians and the Astros in the American League and the Diamondbacks and Padres in the NL.
The Guardians, under rookie manager Steven Voigt, have played the steadiest baseball of any team this year. They could use a little more hitting, and their starting pitching is not overpowering, but they’ve got perhaps the best bullpen in baseball anchored by the best closer in Emmanuel Clase and in October that’s the name of the game.
After struggling mightily with injuries the first three months of the season, the Astros are coming on now after erasing what once was a 10-game deficit to Seattle. They’d won eight straight before losing on Friday night. Ronel Blanco has emerged to anchor their rotation, which Justin Verlander has just rejoined. They made a great pickup in Yusei Kikuchi from the Blue Jays for further rotation depth and they’re hoping to get Kyle Tucker back by September. Beware the four-time World Series participants.
The Diamondbacks, 11 ½ games out of first place on June 27, have the best record in baseball since July 1. They lead the majors in runs scored, are second in hits and lead the NL in triples. For all the Ohtani hype, the D’backs’ Ketel Marte is right there with him in all the important offensive categories. Their rotation, led by Zac Gallen, Brandon Pfaadt and Merrill Kelly is deep in quality with the weak link being Jordan Montgomery. The most dangerous team in baseball right now.
But right there with the D’backs are the Padres, whose hyperactive GM A.J. Preller paid a hefty price in prospects at the deadline to comprise what now might be the best bullpen in the NL, adding closer Tanner Scott from the Marlins and set-up man Jason Adam from Tampa Bay. The Padres’ best addition, however, may be the return of Fernando Tatis Jr. from a leg injury by the end of the month.
IT’S A MADD, MADD WORLD
Just when you thought the Mets might be poised to do something truly inspiring as unexpected entrants into the 2024 postseason race, they again degrade themselves into the eternal embarrassment they’ve been so far under Steve Cohen’s watch. The nice vibes from the 38-21 run they went on from May 30-Aug. 8 that had turned them into buyers instead of sellers at the trade deadline was washed away by the humiliating sweep they suffered in Seattle when the Mariners out-scored them 22-1 before returning home and losing two out of three to the lowly A’s at Citi Field.
But the absolute low point to the season was achieved prior to Thursday’s 11-walk, longest-this-season (3 hours 45 minute) loss to Oakland when some nitwit in the Mets hierarchy thought it would be a great idea to have the “Hawk Tuah Girl”, Tennessee native Haliey Welch, throw out the first pitch. For the uninitiated, the “Hawk Tuah Girl” rose to instant vulgarity fame by using that term to describe a sexual act in a You Tube interview at a country music festival in Nashville earlier this summer. The interview proceeded to go viral, further affirming the famous words of the great curmudgeon pundit H.L. Mencken that “nobody ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public.” Nevertheless, the Mets saw fit to further glorify the “Hawk Tuah Girl” and her vulgarity before their fans that included hundreds of impressionable kids and thousands of previously unaware parents.
“So the Mets decided to get the Hawk Tuah Girl to throw out the 1st pitch for a summer ‘camp day’ day game where the vast majority of fans are 11 year old kids at the ballpark on camp trips. Seriously what were they thinking? Be better than this!”
“What an awful, awful decision to legitimize her and give her a platform,”
“Pathetic.”
“Disgusting”
Were just a few of the kinder things posted on X
Seems to me Cohen, who I’m told was blindsided by this decision, owes yet another apology to beleaguered Mets fans. And somebody needs to be fired for this, even if it’s someone from Cohen’s inner circle. One would hope the Commissioner’s Office will also have something to say about this disgrace.
