It’s July, the Dodgers are leading the National League, the Giants are buried out in the swamps somewhere and all is right in the Land of Baseball.
Yanks just had a fairly miserable June. Fell back out of 1st, but much worse the injuries piled up in the fashion of the Mets. Red Sox are as expected at the top of the AL East.
For the first time in my life, I’m going to baseball on the 4th of July. The Cubs had better not replace Take Me Out To The Ballgame with God Bless America. If they do, I’ll be hitting the bathroom.
So they cut up Waldo’s sweaters and made a bunch of socks out of them. Ugly ass look.
The old injury bug is killing the Yankees. Hicks, Holiday, Sebathia, Warren, Bird (still not enough data to see if Bird can play in the AL). No production at all from the corners- Headley and Carter isn’t hitting his weight. We didn’t think they’d be contenders going in and they can still make some noise, but these last couple weeks have been frustrating.
If the Yankees can get Sabathia back and healthy and if they can not get too banged up the rest of the year, I think they have a good shot at at least getting a WC. Good young prospects – the best their farm has looked in a while. Astros are also starting to have some question marks in their rotation, so they’re not a lock. Sox are good but not a young team.
If I had to pick a favorite right now – and this could absolutely change – I’d say the Dodgers might finally have built the team that could go all the way.
After an absolutely miserable April, the Royals have surged back to finishing the first half of their season above .500 - the exact same record they had at the same point in their 1985 World Championship season.
All of a sudden, the Giants are the hottest team in Major League Baseball…and have become positively “watchable” again!
Now,all they have to do is go 61-17 from here on out, and they ought to make the Wildcard…it’s in the bag!
Box scores disappear from the Billings Gazette sports pages.
What’s a sports page?
You just proved my point. 
The Red Sox have arguably been dealing with injuries/illnesses as least as serious as what the Yankees have faced (for instance, Boston having two starting pitchers out). The difference is that N.Y.'s talent is overall thinner and they can less easily afford to have key players miss time).
I am definitely keeping my eyes on KC. They just seem to young and talented to flame out after 1 or 2 years, and Yost is a pretty good manager. Would be interesting to see KC and Cleveland compete for the division crown in the 2nd half.
Mookie Betts went 4 for 6 with 2 home runs and 8 RBI in a very enjoyable game yesterday. Most RBI for a leadoff man ever.
Most interesting part of that game was when the Sox had two consecutive bunt singles followed by a Betts 3 run homer.
No team has ever replaced TMOTTB with God Bless America. It’s always in addition to it.
God the Blue Jays suck.
I’m pleased as punch Justin Smoak was elected to the All Star Game though; he’s hitting very well. I suspect being given a regular job and just left alone, so he doesn’t have to keep looking over his shoulder, has done wonders for his confidence.
Is there any team that hasn’t had injury troubles? The Astros have now lost significant time for 5 starting pitchers, counting Collin McHugh who got injured before the season - 4 injuries and one PED suspension. The fact that they held onto Brad Peacock through two almost completely lost years has paid dividends for them.
Yeah, I too am getting tired of Major League Baseball mandates requiring teams to wear special uniforms for Mothers Day, Memorial Day, Fathers Day, 4th of July, etc. There is this thing called “Team Colors”. Just suit up and play ball.
Exactly, they are called UNIFORMS, not costumes. A ball team isn’t the cast of a Broadway show. Soon, we will have costume changes between innings. We already have leitmotifs used with batter theme songs.
There have definitely been a lot of injuries, but I also think that the addition of the 7 day DL slot has made it seem like there’s been even more this season. Teams are less reluctant to stick players on, let them get a full week (plus) of rest, call someone up from AAA to test out a bit, and get a healthy starter back and ready to go.