The Orioles have called up infielder/outfielder Darren Baker from Triple-A Rochester. Baker has been in the minors for four seasons, but has yet to play in the majors.
Baker, the son of former MLB player and manager Dusty Baker, is best-known for an incident when he was three years old, and was a batboy for his father’s San Francisco Giants during the 2002 World Series. Darren had run onto the field to retrieve a bat, while a play was still in progress, and the Giants’ J.T. Snow had to snatch him out of harm’s way, to keep him from being run over by David Bell, who was attempting to score.
Royals are in a bit of a funk, having lost their last four games. Their leading ribbie-guy, Vinnie Pasquantino, is out for the season with a broken thumb. Their starting pitching is beginning to show signs of fatigue, and their bullpen is still shaky. I think they will still make the playoffs as a wild-card, but Boston and Seattle are both in a position to make a late-season run.
A number of MLB’s rules tinkerings in recent years have been with an eye to helping batting, as league-wide batting averages had sunk down to levels not seen since the late 1960s (which had led to the lowering of the pitching mound). Alas, it hasn’t helped much.
Through the end of August, the MLB-wide batting average is .244, which is pretty much exactly where it was in 2020-22 (i.e., prior to some of the recent rules changes, such as the pitch clock). Only seven qualifying players across all of MLB are hitting .300 or better; only three (Bobby Witt Jr., Aaron Judge, and Vladimir Guerrero Jr.) are hitting over .320. San Diego’s Luiz Arraez leads the NL in batting, at .309.
They both have the shortest odds to win their respective leagues; Dodgers are +150, and the Yanks are +250. Closest to the Dodgers are the Phillies at +280; closest to the Yankees are the Orioles at +340.
Betting on both of them to win their league (essentially a 2-team futures parlay) is +775.
As of right now, the Yankees lead over the Orioles is down to 1/2 game. Yanks lost 2 of 3 at home to the Cards over the weekend.
Ohtani is now at 44 home runs and 46 stolen bases.
At this point, not only is a 50/50 season likely, but there’s even a (very slim) chance he could get to 60/60. It would require an extremely hot streak, though; he’d have to hit 16 home runs and steal 14 bases in just 26 games.
A week ago, my Royals were riding high. They had just won 3 in a row over Cleveland and were tied for first with the Guardians in the AL Central.
Oops. Last night they lost to Cleveland, which was their seventh straight loss. They are now 5 1/2 games behind the Guardians in the division.
The saving grace, at least for now, is that virtually everybody else in the wild-card race is losing as well. Minnesota is 4-6 over the last 10 games and is just a game ahead of KC. Royals hold the third wild-card spot, 4 1/2 games ahead of Boston and Detroit; 5 1/2 ahead of Seattle. Tigers have surprisingly made a move and are now definitely in the wild-card conversation with 20-odd games to play.
I have to wonder what this late-season surge the Cubs are experiencing is going to do for Cody Bellinger. He has an opt-out after this season, but he’s had a down year with some injury issues. Coming into tonight, he’s hitting .264 with 14 home runs and 59 RBI.
If he gets hot, I can see him exercising his option (he also has an opt-out after next season), and hoping to catch on somewhere else.
But I can see him sticking for an additional season, then opting out if he puts up better numbers next year.
With the emergence of Pete Crow-Armstrong, Bellinger has been playing mostly RF, which moves Suzuki to the DH role. I’m not sure how happy Bellinger is about playing RF. I haven’t heard any grumbles, but that doesn’t necessarily mean anything.
The Cubs get a combined no-hitter tonight against the Pirates. Their starter, Shota Imanaga, went 7 innings, and two relievers finished out the game. It was their first no-hitter at Wrigley Field since Milt Pappas threw one in 1972.
The Mets have won their last 7 games and continue to chase the Braves for the 3rd wild-card slot in the NL, just 1/2 game back. Mets and Braves play each other in the second-to-last series of the season.
