It’s bad. Series need to be split up for before and after the trade deadline. I think it’s great that there are lots of inter-divisional games down the stretch, but that’s way too many.
I wish they’d put more space between the home and away series for cross-divisional games. I hate say for the Yankees and White Sox to play each other on consecutive weekends in April and then not again for the rest of the year. If you only play two series against a team in a season, one should be in the first half of the year and one should be in the second half. Need fewer intradivisional games and more cross-divisional games.
Today is August 8 and the Cubs have a night game.
But, it looks like the rain has stopped and they’ll get the game in, for awhile this morning, I thought we’d get a repeat of the first August 8 night game at Wrigley!
For fans of the Cleveland Guardians, I am sorry that mustard has been sent back down to the minors.
In an article about what the 30 MLB teams’ farm systems look like post-trade-deadline (which is unfortunately paywalled and only available to ESPN+ subscribers such as myself), they list the Nationals’ system as being improved all the way to 10th, up from 22nd in the preseason.
For reference, the dollar values are based on a study by FanGraphs that took the expected big league output on average by each tier of prospect, converted that to dollars using teams’ free agency spending history, and then subtracted the projected salary they would be paid in the big leagues to yield a surplus value, aka how much a team would pay to acquire the player’s six-plus years of control before free agency.
10. Washington Nationals - $268 million
Preseason Value - $162 million (22nd)
Trade a generational talent and at least you’ll improve the farm system a bit. LHP MacKenzie Gore has graduated from prospect status, but he is an impact talent. SS C.J. Abrams is as well and will probably graduate in the coming months, while CF Robert Hassell, RF James Wood and RHP Jarlin Susana will help to headline this system for the coming year(s).
Continuing with the huge upside trend, the Nats took the highest available upside with their top pick in the draft: CF Elijah Green. SS Brady House and RHP Cade Cavalli were the two best prospects entering the year and have largely held serve. The Nats also graduated C Keibert Ruiz early this season.
Here’s the link to the full article. Like I said, ESPN Insider-exclusive.
Yeah well they still suck. What’s the point of developing prospects if you can’t sign them?
I haven’t been following too much of the Yankees, so how concerned are fans about the health of Anthony Rizzo? He’s been banged up quite a bit.
Speaking of unfortunate health outcomes, Chris Sale’s experiences make investing in United Healthcare look like a good bet (the latest Sale injury is a fractured wrist suffered while bicycling, this time definitely putting him out for the rest of the season).
The Yankees’ Matt Carpenter suffered a fractured left foot when he fouled off a pitch in the first inning of yesterday’s game against Seattle. He was placed on the 10-day IR list and is out indefinitely.
Red Sox LHP Chris Sale broke his right wrist in a bike accident last week and underwent season-ending surgery yesterday.
Last night the Mariners beat the Yankees 1-0. It was the first time a game went into the 13th scoreless since 2019, which was before the runner-on-second-in-extra-innings rule went into effect.
Both starters were dominant: Cole went 7 innings for the Yanks, while Castillo went 8 innings for Seattle. Yanks made some major baserunning blunders in extra innings, and Seattle squandered chance after chance before finally capitalizing in the 13th.
One of the better games of the year.
O’s won two against Toronto to pull within a half game of Tampa for the last AL Wild Card. If they were in any other division besides the AL East or NL East, they’d be solidly in 3rd place.
Nats blew a 4-1 lead against the Cubs at Wrigley Field in what seemed like no time at all, but we managed to get a late-inning 2-run homer to win 6-5 and snap our six-game losing streak.
I am going to the day game getaway this afternoon, gorgeous weather and I get a quarterly mental health day from work. Might even get a ticket for the bleachers and be a bum!
Here’s something you don’t see every day: Pittsburgh Pirates infielder Rodolfo Castro, who just got called up from the Triple-A Indianapolis Indians, slid into third base and his phone went flying from his back pocket. Oops.
Kids these days. 
When I was a kid, you had to protect a vial of cocaine while sliding!
Obviously why he slid headfirst on his belly. Leading with his foot and sliding on his backside could cause damage to his phone.
Do you really need to carry a phone when you’re batting? Are the Pokemon at 2nd base so rare that you need to catch one in the middle of a game?
Apparently so.
That’s awesome. 
