As the 2024 regular season continues, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world throughout the day today:
1. Contreras begins rehab assignment:
Cardinals catcher Willson Contreras was off to an otherworldly start this year, slashing .280/.398/.551 (170 wRC+) in 31 games before he was struck in the arm by a swing of the bat from Mets DH J.D. Martinez. The incident left him with a fractured arm that was initially expected to cost him at least ten weeks, but the 32-year-old actually appears to be ahead of schedule. He resumed baseball activities earlier this month, just four weeks after his initial injury, and today (as noted by MLB.com’s Injury Tracker) is scheduled to begin a rehab assignment at Triple-A Memphis with three at-bats out of the DH slot. When the veteran returns, he’ll be entering into a playoff race for the first time in his St. Louis tenure as the Cardinals have surged to second place in the NL Central with a 36-35 record in his absence after possessing a record of just 15-21 at the time of his injury.
2. Series Preview: Mariners @ Guardians
Neither the Mariners nor the Guardians were popular picks to win their divisions heading into the season, but both have substantial leads in mid-June. Seattle has surged ahead of both the Rangers and Astros to grab a commanding nine game lead in the AL West, while the Guardians’ 44-25 record is not only good for the AL Central lead but also the fifth-best record in baseball this year. They’re up five games over the second-place Royals and 5.5 games over the third-place Twins. Now, the two surprise contenders are set to meet in Cleveland for a three-game set in what could be a preview of a playoff matchup.
The series opens at 6:40pm local time this evening with a pair of right-handed youngsters on the mound when 25-year-old Bryce Miller (3.48 ERA) faces off against 26-year-old Triston McKenzie (4.10 ERA). The youthful pitching matchups will continue tomorrow when 24-year-old Bryan Woo (1.07 ERA through six starts) takes on 25-year-old Tanner Bibee (3.94 ERA), and the series will wrap up on Thursday with veteran Luis Castillo (3.32 ERA) taking on 25-year-old lefty Logan Allen (5.30 ERA). The Guardians will be looking to cool off the Mariners in this series, as Seattle has won seven of their last eight games, while Cleveland has gone just 4-4 over that same timeframe, including dropping three of their last four contests.
3. MLBTR Chat Today:
The injury bug has struck a number of clubs recently, with Mookie Betts, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Kyle Bradish, Michael Harris II, and Anthony Rizzo all facing extended absences. If you have any questions about how those players’ absences will be handled by their clubs, or perhaps questions that look ahead to the July 30 trade deadline or the upcoming offseason, MLBTR’s Steve Adams will host a live chat with readers today at 1pm CT. You can click here to ask a question in advance, and that same link will allow you to join in on the chat once it begins or read the transcript after it is completed.
Hot take, Cleveland doesn’t make the playoffs.
They’ve had the softest strength of schedule in the majors thus far. They have one of the toughest schedules from here on out.
They deserve credit for beating beatable teams, but they’re going to start facing a lot more challenging series.
Minnesota has had one of the tougher strength of schedules thus far, and their schedule softens up now. I actually think the Twins take the division and KC manages to hang onto a wildcard with Cleveland falling out.
Gotta say it’s refreshing to see good competitive baseball in the AL Central this year.
Canuck – I almost always agree with you, but on this I disagree.
Cleveland has played 23 games against teams that right now have a winning record, and they’ve gone 15-8 in those games which is quite good. Other teams, such as Philly, have played fewer games against >500 teams and have worse records (10-8) in those games.
So while I strongly agree that SOS is a vital component when ranking quality of teams, I think Cleveland has held their own in that regard.
I’ve been wrong before, I’ll be wrong again.
I can’t help but remember the Pirates last year. A month into the season they were leading the division (I think) and so many were raving that this was the year they would break out. Everyone looked past the fact they had the softest or second softest schedule to that point. Sure enough, when the tougher matchups started, they got eaten alive.
I don’t expect quite that bad of a fate for Cleveland, but I really do believe they will fall down to a lower level by season’s end.
Either way, I always like it when different franchises and their fanbases get involved in the playoff hunt.
Cleveland has played .629 ball so far. Predicting just about any team to play worse than that going forward is a pretty safe bet.
Central truly is a bad division.
Not like last year, and the AL West is considerably worse this year.
lay – Agreed. Cleveland and KC are much better, and Twins about the same.
It’s still not good.
Nick
Is there any update on the health of umpire Marvin Hudson, who was staggered by a foul ball squarely on the face mask, nearly collapsed and was immediately helped off the field during the Dbacks vs White Sox game Sunday?
Since it involved the White Sox, we’ll hear about after they finally tell us what happened when two fans were shot in the stands last August.
Hope Marvin Hudson is better, but the South Siders are such a woeful organization top to bottom
JD Martinez is having yet another solid season with an .872 OPS even despite the missed ST.
Some people keep insisting every offseason that he’s done …. I suppose someday they will be right, but someday ain’t today.
The Cardinals are looking good. If they can get Contreras, Edman and Nootbaar back here soon it’s a much better team. Herrera could be a big trade chip. Walker could be too if they really want to make a bold move. Luis Robert is the guy the Cardinals scouted him before he signed with the White Sox years ago. What’s also encouraging is they have gotten to this point with Arenado and Goldschmidt playing poorly. If that were to change the team is even better.
I would keep Herrera as the second catcher and possibly use Pages as a trade chip. Crooks is looking good in AA and will likely be the catcher of the future.
Pages has little value. Herreras value is high, possibly as high as it’s ever going to be. Like you said we have Crooks coming and Bernal is looking good too. Herrera would be missed a little until Crooks is ready but we could get something really good for him. He’s worth more to someone else that’s why trades happen.
Maybe Contreras shouldn’t catch when he returns. They won without him behind the plate. #justsayin
And maybe he shouldn’t set up level to the batter’s butt, as the Cards coached him to do. Result: Broken arm.
There’s been a sharp increase in catcher’s interference across the league. All teams are trying to find ways of stealing strikes through deception. All the more reason to speed the transition to ABS.
Looks like the Cards are getting ready to take off. They have not played one inning with the regular starting lineup. Still only a few games back. Still confident in my pre season predictions the Cards will win it running away like most years!
Yeah I try to stay level headed about this stuff but I think they are in good shape. Getting Edman and Contreras back is a big deal and Nootbaar shouldn’t be too far behind. Gibson and Lynn have exceeded expectations. If the bets wake up look out this can be a legit contender.