He won’t be. Kluber in a unanimous decision. 
If the Sox didn’t get Sale, the Yankees would be in first right now. So maybe not MVP, but pretty effing valuable.
But is he more valuable then Kluber? Also the chance of a pitcher picking up MVP is pretty slim to start with.
Right, pitchers only get to be MVP if there isn’t an obvious hitter available, and there are two good candidates (plus Trout). Going to be almost nothing to play for on the final weekend; the Astros get to eliminate the Rangers in embarrassing fashion in front of their home fans tonight, which is always satisfying, and at the same time wrap up their first-round home-field advantage. Pretty unlikely they’ll make up the two games they’re behind Cleveland at the moment the way Cleveland is playing.
Jose Altuve is out with a bruised arm and precisely 199 hits; will be interesting to see if he makes it back to play another few games.
Kluber may have a problem in that he’s on the same team with Carlos Carrasco and Trevor Bauer.
I’ll be (pleasantly) surprised if the Nats go anywhere in the playoffs. They look pretty inert lately and Gio and Max have been somewhat below par (admittedly that’s still pretty good). Maybe it’s not such a good idea to clinch a playoff berth so early on. I hope I’m wrong…
Sale pitched poorly tonight, and one bad start can really alter the numbers, even when the game didn’t mean much.
The Red Sox would not be in first without Sale. They also would not be in first without Mookie Betts, though.
A Yankee win and Red Sox loss today would make this final weekend veddy interesting. Of course, the Yankees have to play the Jays, who seem to peaking right now.
The Cubs have quietly become the team to beat in the National League since early to mid-August. Their record isn’t outstanding, but they’ve quietly made adjustments. Their rotation is still a concern but their lineup is producing runs.
They’re a hard team to get a read on because of their injuries throughout the year. Harper’s return ought to be a huge bonus, obviously.
Four wins in a row? Games that don’t matter don’t matter. Of course Josh Donaldson might hit eight home runs over the weekend. Dude is absolutely annihilating baseballs right now.
He apparently was going for Pedro’s team single-season strikeout record instead of the win, and threw too many homerable strikes in the process. Or so I’m guessing since I didn’t see it.
I’d be pretty surprised if Sale actually went into the game thinking “I want to strike out 14 guys and will change the way I pitch to do it so I can break the Red Sox strikeout record, in case I don’t make my last scheduled start.”
It seems much likelier to me that he’s just off a bit right now. Sale has been weirdly off and on of late, alternating great starts with bad ones:
Start #32: Gave up 4 home runs to Toronto, and lost
Start #31: Mowed down the Orioles without mercy; 13 KS, 8 shutout innings
Start #30: Hit hard by Tampa Bay, 2 homers and 4 runs in 5.2 innings, although the REd Sox won anyway
Start #29: Six shutout innings against Tampa Bay in an effortless win
Start #28: Gave up 3 homers to New York, knocked out in fifth inning
Start #27: Totally dominated Toronto; 7 shutout innings, 11 Ks
Start #26: Blown out of game by Cleveland, 7 runs in 3 innings
Start #25 was mediocre. That was more than a month ago, and is the last time he had two straight starts that were either both good or both bad.
His Cy Young case is basically built on his incredible run of dominance in April and May. His ERA did not go above 2.00 until May 13 and he didn’t really have a BAD game until May 30 (and Boston won that game anyway.)
Did anyone see this?
Yankees Fan Ejected For Tipping Pitches
Apparently, a Yankee fan was sitting behind home plate at Yankee Stadium, and was calling out the catcher’s set-up position (inside, outside, etc.) to Yankee hitter Gary Sanchez. He was yelling in Spanish, and Rays catcher Wilson Ramos said that the fan’s calls were accurate.
The fan was ejected from the game, and i’m not quite sure how i feel about that. A team using cameras or smartwatches or other electronic technology to steal signs from the opposing catcher is one thing; a fan yelling out from the seats of a 50,000-seat stadium is a little different. What do you folks think?
I think it is stupid, I can’t imagine a guy at the plate listening to someone yelling from the crowd. In my 20’s, I was a loudmouth at the ballpark, trying to suggest what pitch to throw or where a player should position himself. I’m sure the professionals on the field could care less about a guy in the stands.
The fine print on the fan’s ticket must have said something about interfering with the game. That would qualify.
The counterpoint is, how do the baseball officials know that the person is “just a fan” as opposed to someone known to the organization. And given that there’s already been a scandal this season, why wouldn’t you be proactive about it?
It’s not what you want, but could you really stop such a thing if it was organized? Instead of “inside” or “outside”, the fan could yell “c’mon Gary” or “c’mon Sanchez” or even some more sophisticated code.
It’s something I’ve always wondered about. A lot of catchers practically leap across the box to frame an outside pitch before the wind-up, and it’s hard to believe the hitter never notices. In fact, in a recent game, Gary Sanchez kept doing that and Luis Severino proceeded to throw an inside pitch. Either Severino was really off or they were purposely trying to mislead the hitter.
Tigers doing a stunt on Sunday when Andrew Romine plays all 9 positions. May as well, the Tigers have massively underperformed this season.
NBC Sports - HardballTalk: Tigers’ Andrew Romine to play all nine positions on Sunday
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Their pitchers are #2, #3, #4 in ERA in the NL. That’s good enough to win a few games unless your hitting doesn’t exist.