Rays staying put in St Petersburg?
I remember that stadium was a long long way away from my hotel in Tampa last time I was in that area.
For a tiny bright spot in an otherwise dismal season, Cardinal veteran pitcher Adam Wainwright finally earned his 200th career win. Wainwright, who had been battling injuries and had announced this was his last season, mixed a combination of fast balls in the mid-80s and curves that sometimes dipped below 70 mph for seven shutout innings against the Brewers.
Shohei Ohtani had elbow surgery on Tuesday, and his doctor states that he’s looking to be available as a DH for 2024 and return to pitching in 2025.
I can’t believe this. They’re putting it in the SAME PLACE? (The proposed site is basically next door to Tropicana.) Why? The location is utterly horrible.
This is insane.
Last night Ronald Acuña Jr. of the Braves hit his 39th home run. He is now one homer and 3 stolen bases short of a 40/70 season, which has never been done. In fact, only four players have had 40/40 seasons: Jose Canseco, Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez and Alfonso Soriano.
Are we not counting Dave Kingman’s 48/45 season in 1979?
According to Baseball Reference, Kingman had 48 homers in 1979, but just 4 stolen bases. He did have 45 bases on balls.
Most likely the remaining schedule
Of the final 10 games of the season, the Mariners face the Rangers 7 times and the Astros 3 times
Of the final 10 games of the season, the Rangers face the Mariners 7 times and the Angels 3 times
Of the final 10 games of the season, the Astros face the Royals 3 times, the Mariners 3 times, the Diamondbacks 3 times, and they’re playing the Orioles right now.
On paper, at least, this sets up the Astros best to either win the division outright or be in good position for a wildcard and for the Rangers to have an edge with 7 common games against the Mariners plus the weaker opponent for the remaining 3 games (facing the Angels rather than the Astros).
Yeah, that was a bit of a joke. Kingman was a big slow oaf who hit monster home runs, struck out when he didn’t, and rarely walked.
Kingman was such a clumsy fielder than Richie Ashburn said of him, “The ball fell among Dave Kingman.”
Again, according to the Baseball Reference page I linked earlier, Kingman averaged 51 walks per 162 games. That’s not quite one walk every 3 games. Not sure that classifies as ‘rarely’, but YMMV.
Back to the AL West and Wild Card races, today the Astros, Rangers, and Mariners all won their games. Toronto leads the Yanks 3-0 in the ninth. Assuming the Jays hold on to win, they will have a one game wild-card lead on both Texas and Seattle, who will both be 1/2 game behind Houston in the West.
I’m hoping the M’s step it up to close out the season against the Rangers and Astros. And, I hope Toronto lose lose lose against the Yankees and Rays.
1/2 game between these four teams with one division winner and two remaining wild cards left. 
I came across this on my twitter timeline today. Holy cow - how little they knew what they were about to see! (Also, I have no memory of Maddux on the Dodgers. Or, now that I’ve looked at his b-ref page, the Padres?!)
The Padres and Dodgers both came after Maddux’s second stint with the Cubs. He was traded to LA for Cesar Izturus, and signed with San Diego after that season.
i knew they would but it was such a slow start …
Heres my question for the thread …if you’re the gm of LA do you still go after Othani?
Of course. But I imagine that his agent isn’t going to give you an easy time of it.
Tonight the Rangers beat the Mariners, the Astros lost to the Royals, and the Blue Jays beat the Rays. Texas has moved into the lead in the West, 1/2 a game ahead of Houston and 1 full game ahead of Seattle. In the WC race, Toronto is a game ahead of the Astros, while the Mariners are 1/2 game behind Houston.
Houston has lost 3 of 4 games to Kansas City in the past week.
The Brewers thumped the Marlins, 16-1 tonight, powered by a 12-run second inning. Christian Yelich, who had been out for the better part of two weeks with back issues, went 3-for-4 with two home runs and five RBI; first baseman Rowdy Tellez pitched the ninth for Milwaukee, and got a strikeout.
With the second-place Cubs, who are fighting for a wild card berth, having also won tonight, the Brewers’ magic number for winning the NL Central is now 1.
Yeah, the Brews have the Division absent a weird miracle. My hope is that my Cubs sweep the Rock, then play the Braves and Brewers, both clinched at that point, well. Our FanGraphs odds of making the playoffs are back over 50% - if not by much.
Shirtzer?