With three weeks to go within the baseball season, there seems to be little suspense left as to which groups shall be contributors within the October match. The Yankees, Mets, Blue Jays, Pink Sox, Tigers, Astros, Phillies, Dodgers, Padres, Brewers and Cubs can all really feel safe about being a part of the postseason.
That doesn’t imply, nonetheless, there aren’t nonetheless some burning questions within the September stretch that may acquire extra readability because the month wears down. Listed here are three of them:
WILL YANKS HOMER WAY TO SERIES?
Can all of us agree this newest model of the Yankees is in regards to the sloppiest, most discipline-challenged Yankee crew ever to make the postseason? What they do although, is hit house runs — a serious league-leading (by quite a bit) 242 getting into the weekend which has already eclipsed the 240 hit by the 1961 Mantle-Maris Bombers. Offensively, they don’t do a complete lot else — they ranked twenty first in hits and twenty second in stolen bases — however once they hit homers they’re much extra more likely to win — 67-40 as of Friday in comparison with 11-21 when they don’t. They’re additionally near becoming a member of the 2019 Twins as the one groups in baseball historical past to have eight gamers with 20 or extra homers.
Certainly one of them, Trent Grisham, with 30 after a beforehand season excessive 17, no person noticed coming and has posed an actual dilemma for Brian Cashman and the entrance workplace come this winter — as a earlier $5 million free agent will probably turn out to be an $80-$100 million free agent. Ordinarily, being as he’s solely 29 in November, the Yankees wouldn’t enable themselves to be out-bid for a premier heart fielder like Grisham, however Spencer Jones is coming and room have to be made for him. The guess right here is the Yankees make Grisham a qualifying provide and wait and see how a lot his market explodes.
In the meantime, one other issue that has been overshadowed by all of the homers, however may play properly for the Yankees of their effort to advance deep into October, is their beginning pitching — minus Gerrit Cole — which has however posted a serious league-leading 3.14 ERA since Aug. 1. A lot of the credit score there has to go to the Yankees’ scouting and participant growth division which had beforehand gone a long time with out drafting and creating a frontline high quality beginning pitcher till Clarke Schmidt and now this 12 months Cam Schlittler and Will Warren. The postseason scouting report on the Yankees: “To beat them you have to keep them in the ballpark, although even if you are able to do that there’s a decent chance they might still beat themselves.”
CAN YOUNG ARMS PITCH METS TO SERIES?
On reflection, we shouldn’t be shocked the Mets, even after touchdown the premier free agent slugger in Juan Soto final winter, are a second-place crew in September. For one factor, it took till August for Soto to actually get it going and injecting himself into the Nationwide League MVP dialog with 10 homers, 22 RBI, 27 runs and 11 stolen bases for the month whereas reaching 100 runs for the second straight season. However all of the whereas the Mets’ offense maddeningly sputtered on and off, particularly once they went 10-19 from June 12-July 19, the beginning pitching, problematic from Day 1 due to David Stearns’ choice to patchwork the rotation with transformed nearer Clay Holmes and fringe free brokers Griffin Canning, Frankie Montas, et al., — was innings-challenged all season. And when Kodai Senga went down with a hamstring harm June 13, that they had no option to counter the Phillies, who had a wealth of rotation “horses,” and the pressure on the Met bullpen was palpable.
However along with having a foul buying and selling deadline — much-touted reliever Ryan Helsley has been a catastrophe, Tyler Rogers (for whom he seemingly grossly overpaid) has been so-so at greatest and Cedric Mullins has been a complete bust in heart subject — Stearns steadfastly refused to carry up any of his high pitching prospects, Nolan McLean, Jonah Tong or Brandon Sproat till it was too late. Within the month of August the Mets misplaced 9 video games began by Senga, Sean Manaea or Montas. Earlier than Stearns lastly referred to as up McLean on Aug. 16 (who shortly emerged because the crew ace) all the Mets rotation had taken a flip by which none of them lasted 5 innings. I’d name that malfeasance on Stearns’ half, however maybe the insurgence of youth with the rotation, and a continuation of Soto’s late season heroics, might but bail him out come October.
ARE THE MARINERS FOREVER DOOMED?
The Mariners stay the one franchise in baseball by no means to seem within the World Sequence. Of their 49-year historical past they’ve completed first within the AL West solely 3 times — all with Lou Piniella as their supervisor — the final time 2001 once they gained a file 116 video games. This 12 months, with the emergence of Cal Raleigh and his league-leading 51 homers and 109 RBI it appeared the usually offense-challenged Mariners would possibly lastly have the required components to make a giant play in October. They had been in first place from April 26-June 1 however then out of the blue hit the skids, dropping eight out of 9 in early June to fall into second the place they’ve remained ever since.
A few occasions in August it appeared they had been able to climb again into first however then went on the street to the East Coast, going 2-7 towards the Orioles, Mets and Phillies (Aug. 12-20) after which a present journey towards the Guardians, Ray and Braves by which they’d misplaced 5 of six after Friday and sit only a half-game above the Rangers for the third wild card within the AL. “It’s just very hard to win in Seattle,” stated Piniella Friday. “No team in baseball has as much travel as they do. All alone in the northwest there, almost every road trip is at least three hours. On top of that, it’s usually cool in Seattle but when they go to the East Coast in the summer it’s usually hot and humid and that takes its toll on the players. I’m not making excuses for them. It’s just a fact.”
IT’S A MADD, MADD WORLD
Top-of-the-line gamers in all of baseball since Aug. 1 is somebody the typical fan has by no means heard of. That will be Jakob Marsee, enjoying heart subject for the Marlins in relative anonymity in fans-challenged Miami, who was referred to as as much as the majors at first of August and was slashing .333/.410/.581 for his first 33 video games with 4 homers, 11 doubles, three triples, 25 RBI and 9 out of 11 on stolen bases. What’s been most spectacular about Martee has been his plate self-discipline — his 14.2% chase fee is the bottom amongst gamers with at the least 120 plate appearances. The place did he come from? The Padres drafted him on the sixth spherical in 2022 out of that famous baseball manufacturing facility Central Michigan, however after a superb ’23 season (.274/16 HR/46 SB) at Excessive-A and Double-A he out of the blue grew to become a prospect which with A.J. Preller’s Padres meant he was virtually absolutely going to be traded — which he was Might 4, 2024 within the gorgeous take care of the Matlins for batting champion Luis Arraez. … It should come as no shock to the Yankee legions however since Aug. 1 the Yankees are 4-9 in video games Devin Williams has been referred to as into by Aaron Boone.
