On the heels of an early-morning transaction, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world throughout the day today:
1. AL West race tightens:
The AL West race tightened up yesterday, as the first-place Astros fell to the Orioles while the Mariners toppled the A’s and the Rangers bested the Red Sox. Houston holds the division lead as things stand, though their 84-68 record stands just half a game above their rivals’ identical 83-68 records. With the Rays already guaranteed a place in the postseason and the Blue Jays holding onto the second Wild Card spot as things stand, it’s wholly feasible that one of the three clubs contending for the AL West title misses the postseason when all is said and done. The Mariners, in particular, have total control over their playoff fate going forward; their final ten games come exclusively against Texas (three away, four at home) and Houston (three at home).
Seattle will send George Kirby (3.57 ERA) to the mound today to take on Oakland’s Joey Estes, who’ll be making his MLB debut. Veteran Jon Gray (4.05) will take the mound for Texas and square off against impressive young Boston righty Brayan Bello (3.71) in their contest. Houston will look to Cristian Javier (4.74) against Baltimore’s quietly excellent Kyle Bradish (3.12).
2. Cobb exits:
Giants right-hander Alex Cobb exited yesterday’s loss against the Diamondbacks just two pitches into the third inning due to a hip impingement. Cobb has been pitching through the issue since the middle of June, as noted by Evan Webeck of The Mercury News, and it’s unknown when or whether he’ll return to the mound this season with just 11 games left on the calendar. The Giants are rapidly falling out of the postseason race thanks to a 6-11 record in September. FanGraphs gives them just a 5.2% chance of making the playoffs at this point. Those odds figure to be even slimmer without Cobb, who pairs with Logan Webb as the only two regular starters San Francisco utilizes.
3. Santana approaching milestone:
As the Brewers close in on the NL Central crown, first baseman Carlos Santana is simultaneously closing in on a career milestone. The 37-year-old veteran currently sits at 299 career home runs after hitting his 21st home run of the season last week, and the slugger has 11 games left on the Milwaukee schedule in which he can become the 159th player in major league history to reach 300 homers. It would be an excellent capstone on a 2023 campaign that saw Santana reach the 20-homer mark for the first time since 2019, when he was an All-Star, received MVP votes, and won a Silver Slugger award. Since then, Santana has seen his production wane, hitting .215/.320/.373 (93 wRC+) while playing for five teams in four seasons.
Thank you Cobb, you’ve given it your all! You are such a pro and all of us fans heartily applaud your hard work and dedication! Heal up!
Cobb. The greatest name in BB history.
I have no love for Astros or Rangers but hope they beat out ocean trashes.
Ocean trashes?
I believe @Aragon is referring to the city of Seattle, wich is a garbage pile thus the Ocean trashes.
None of these three teams wants to win at this point 😐
Lol aragon, you must be a fan of the Angels. Only fan base in MLB that has irrational hate of the M’s. Hope Moreno never sells the team.
It is my fervent hope that Santana hits his 300th career home run before the end of this season
He plays an impeccable first base, still draws more than his share of walks and produces runs no matter what team he plays for during his career
Carlos has had a heckuva season. HIs defense is still as good as anyone out there as well.
Have to admit, I’m impressed with this guy. Crew played against him a bunch over the years and didn’t see much, but he is sure playing with some heart right now. Defense is really good and although he rolls over more grounders than I’d like, he’s putting balls in play fairly consistently. Big upgrade over Tellez imo.
I am a Mariners fan, but I think “total control” is a bit of an overstatement.
Better to say they have “direct opportunities” to control the outcome of AL West.
Having said that, though, Go Mariners!
Fred Park: Agree. Houston and Texas have as much control over the outcome of the west division as Seattle. I’m hoping Seattle takes it. After that, I really don’t care.
If I could choose which team of the 3 west teams miss out, I’d personally prefer the Rangers.
So if you guys could just sweep the last 7 against them, while also passing us for the 2nd WC so we can play Minny instead of Tampa…..
That’d be great!
The more bigger accomplishment of Santana is that I believe he’d be only the 10th switch hitter in MLB to reach 300 career home runs. So while he’d be the 159th player to do so, he’d be only the 10th switch hitter to do so.
Mantle, Murray, and Chipper are on this list. Off the top of my head, I can’t think of the other 6. Can you help me out?
I imagine Berkman is on there
All time list I believe is the 4 that were mentioned: Mantle, Jones, Berkman and Murray along with Chilli Davis, Ruben Sierra, Mark Texeira, Reggie Smith and Carlos Beltran. Mantle and Murray are the only 2 with 500, and Chipper, Tex and Beltran are the only others with 400
I think the next active person even close is Francisco Lindor. but I could be wrong on that.
Not as many switch hitters recently.
At least not that can stay consistently productive to reach the plateau. That’s for sure.
Seattle’s young Catcher Cal Raleigh is a switch hitter. He hit 27 HRs (a franchise record) in his Rookie yr last yr. He’s at 29 this year- so 30+ seems inevitable. He will have 60 or more since 2022- that leads all C’s in MLB for those 2y.
Catcher is a brutally hard position to play, it will be a challenge, but if Cal can remain healthy over his career he’s going to put up some great numbers.
That kid is a freakin stud
C’mon MLB, make sure to use those juiced balls so Santana can get that 300th.
He would have to play for the Yankees haha
I’m rooting for Carlos to hit #300. Still remember the first time I saw him play in A-Ball, in San Bernardino, shortly before the Dodgers traded him to Cleveland.
Dusty Baker is such a bad manager. He’s the reason Houston has not clinched and is now in a dog fight with two teams they should have put away already. The 2023 Astros are the worst managed Astros team I have seen since the years of Brad Mills and Bo Porter.
jjd002: I’m no fan of Baker, believe me, but losing Altuve for several games and the loss of two (?) starting pitchers
He navigated well with losing him and Alvarez for a while. I’ll give him credit for that. But not having Diaz and Chas in the starting lineup full time (and much earlier) is such an asinine decision. Or the inconsistent lineups. Like benching Yordan today. No rhyme or reason behind it. There is no reason Maldy should be catching more than once a week. I will forever be appreciative of what he did after the unfortunate scandal, but this season is such a disappointment. A bright side to not making the playoffs might mean he is gone? I have a whole laundry list of his bad decisions this season.
The PROBLEM IS – the starting pitching. We’re scoring runs just fine, but there have been VERY few games since July 1 or thereabouts that the starters have excelled – France has been outstanding all year, until his last 5 starts, in which he sports an 8.87 ERA; Astros are 3-2, France 2-1 in those games.
Since July 1, Hunter Brown is 5-8, 6.54, Astros 6-8 in those games.
Since June 9, Cristian Javier is 2-3, 6.46, Astros 9-7 in those games
Since coming back to Astros, JV is giving us innings, but not Cy Young – he’s 5-3, 3.93, Astros 5-4 in those starts – control is good, subject to long ball as usual, but more hits than IP, so the HRs are deadly.
Since Urquidy’s return from IL in early August, he’s pitched 8 times, 3 starts, 26 innings, 7.18 ERA.
Bielak, last 6 outings, covering July, and a long relief appearance in late August, 32 innings, 2-2, 3.03 ERA, Astros 3-2 in his starts.
Blanco, July & August, 3 appearances, 2 starts, 0-1, 4.50 in the 2 starts, Astros 1-1
And, finally, Framber : Since his 08/25 start, he’s been lights-out, averaging just shy of 7 innings across those 5 starts, 3-1, 1.59, Astros 3-2; BUT, in his 9 starts between June 27 & August 19, not so much, and this includes his no-hitter : 55 innings is helpful for sure, but 2-4, 5.82, Astros 4-5 in those starts. Take away the no-hitter, less than 6 IP/Start, WHIP of 1.6 or so, and an ERA over those 8 starts of 6.94.
And here is LAST year, July 1st forward to the end
1) JV, 8-1, 1.39, 6 IP per start – Astros 9-4
2) Framber, 9-3, 2.96, averaging 6.67 IP per start, Astros 12-4
3) Luis Garcia, 9-3, 3.89. 5.67 IP per start, Astros 10-4
4) Cristian Javier, 6-6, 2.41, 5.67 IP/Start, Astros 9-7
5) Jose Urquidy, 7-5, 3.60, 6.33 IP/Start, Astros 8-7
6) McCullers 4-2, 2.37, 6 IP/Start, Astros 5-3
7) Hunter Brown 2-0, 6IP both of the starts, 1.50 in the starts, 0-89 including the 5 relief appearances
8) In the interests of full disclosure, Ororizzi made 5 July starts, 1-1, 4.45, 5.67 IP/Start, Astros 3-2
Does not help that in his last 6 outings, Pressly is 0-2 with a 14.29 and 2 blown saves,
Since July 1, Astros are 39-31, so far
Last year, from July 1, 56-28.
Same Dusty, same Maldonado, same coaches, same (I assume) analytics, video & otherwise.
If ANY team knows EXACTLY what is off-kilter for their pitchers, it’s the Astros – they’ve got the video, to check mechanics etc against when these guys were throwing at their best. My unlearned supposition & diagnosis is fatigue, to some extent, for Brown especially; and my solution is to recall Bielak & Blanco, and give most of the guys some serious rest over these last games.
@jjd002
Sorry to still carp on about this, but an unfortunate scandal is having your belt break and your trousers falling down in church. Probably during a funeral.
There was nothing unfortunate about smashing trash cans with a bat. And even now I’m astounded of how lightly the Astro’s were treated. The real scandal is that they were good enough to win it all anyway, and yet….
jjd002: I’m no fan of Baker, believe me, but losing Altuve for several games and the loss of two (?) starting pitchers probably didn’t help.
Wait… I thought the AL East was the toughest division? LOL
Maybe only 2 east teams get swept in the playoffs this year?
Yes, the AL east is still the toughest
Toronto is in 3rd but would only be a game out of the west Division lead behind Houston. And also holds all tie breakers against the Astros
Love Carlos Santana and wish him the best. Great veteran presence for any team