Heading into the home stretch now. Dodgers hanging onto a thin lead over the dog-assed Giants. The Rangers have already been eliminated.
Surprised to see that there are only twelve games going on today. Would’ve thought that Labor Day would be a big draw for a ballgame.
On another note, I was just looking up WAR figures for some players on the ESPN site, and noticed that a surprising number of hitters have 0.0 WAR totals for this season so far.
When I looked at it in some detail, turns out that 25 of the 69 NL hitters who have qualified for the batting title and a whopping 58 of the 81 qualified AL hitters are listed with 0.0. So, in other words, just about everyone is at a replacement player level. Which seems insane.
Anyone know if this is an ESPN glitch, a side effect of the way WAR is computed partway through a year, or what?
Astros fire Bo Porter as manager, which seems bizarre to me; sounds like there’s something more than has been made public.
“What we will seek going forward is a consistent and united message throughout the entire organization,” (Astros GM) Luhnow said. “It is essential that as an organization we create an atmosphere at the major league level where our young players can come up and continue to develop and succeed.”
Pretty bizarre in any case, given that Porter was Luhnow’s pick to begin with. That plus the fiasco with this year’s #1 pick are making me more nervous about the rebuild than anything on the field.
A glitch. You can also sort the WAR leaders.
Philly toss a combined no-hitter. 7-0 over Atlanta.
There is some kind of glitch, obviously. I am quite confident Adrian Beltre, Victor Martinez and Melky Cabrera are not replacement level players.
Baseball Reference says Adrian Beltre is 5.8 WAR, Victory Martinez is 4.1, and Melky Cabrera is 3.1. Those numbers make sense.
Thanks. That link works. Makes much more sense that guys like Abreu, Dozier, and Beltre are playing a good deal above replacement level!
I just went back and did it the way I’d done it before, though (Stats –> Player Batting –> NL –> Qualified –> sort by WAR), and still get the same thing. Weird. Well, I’ll use your link next time.
Before your post, I had no idea how few players qualify for the batting title. It seems oddly low.
I don’t follow enough teams closely enough to know whether this year is down in general, but the teams I am most familiar with typically have only about four or five qualifiers at this point.
The reasons are varied: injuries, trades, ineffective play resulting in being sent to the minors for a spell. The Cardinals have just Adams, Peralta, Carpenter, and Holliday; Molina, hurt; Craig, traded; Wong, demoted; Jay, shared playing time for a while; Taveras, too late a start.
And the Cubs have just Castro, Rizzo, aNd Valbuena; all kinds of reasons why no one else makes it. You’re right, though: Turns out not to be so easy to get those PAs!
With 6 head-to-head games still to play between the Giants and Dodgers, it looks like the NL West won’t be decided until the Sep 22-24 series in LA…and it may come down to the final weekend (SF vs. SD, and LA vs. Col).
Personally, I’m hoping for (and might even stand a chance of getting) Giants vs. Dodgers in the NLCS, and As vs. Angels in the ALCS…and the other 49 states can take just get an early jump on Halloween 
The Red Sox can finally embrace their role as spoiler for this season now.
Bah. Spoilers are just teams that couldn’t get it done when it matters. It’s nothing to be proud of.
I do hope that the hitting displays by Bogaerts and Betts last night mean they’re fully settled in as major leaguers now. Betts in particular is such an exciting guy to watch that I do hope they find a regular roster spot for him next year. The Middlebrooks we saw last night, with 3 K’s I think, is the one we’ve seen all year, and I see him as a Pirate or Padre or something next year, along with Bradley.
Derek Jeter has confirmed he’s playing the season-ending series in Boston, not sitting it out so he could finish in New York. Class act, something Ted Williams didn’t do btw.
MLB in September is roster-expansion time, but why? You play the whole year with 25 players, and suddenly you get to use, and face, a bunch of minor leaguers. You can save your good guys for the competitive games and innings, and rest them in blowouts or less-significant games. It probably affects the game even more than the DH rule in interleague play (a different topic).
So why not let the minor leagues play it out a month longer, and keep the same practices, the same rosters, and the same game in *the most significant *month of the six-month qualifying round for the elimination stage?
What makes you think I’m proud of it? 
Because many teams are out of the pennant races and this gives them a chance to try out their prospects, give them some major league experience, and start planning for next year. It generates fan interest since these are the guys we may be seeing for the next few years.
And a player’s first MLB hit is a great thing to watch.
Yep. Pederson’s bloop to center in last night’s Dodger game was fun to watch. Of course, Adrian Gonzalez presented him with “his first hit ball” with his name mis-spelled.
They gave him the real one later.
I say, start minor league seasons on May Day, so the real players are effecting the most important games.
I’m watching the Nats at Dodgers, where are the crowds? Home team is in first place in their division vs NL East first place team.