As the 2024 regular season continues, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world headed into the weekend:
1. London Series 2024:
Last year, MLB made its long-awaited return to London after first visiting with a set between the Red Sox and Yankees in 2019. The Yankees swept the two-game set that year, while last season the Cubs and Cardinals split their own two-game set. This weekend, a third pair of teams is set to face off in London Stadium: the Phillies and the Mets. Philadelphia has enjoyed an incredibly hot start to the 2024 campaign thanks to fantastic starting pitching performances, not only from aces Zack Wheeler and Aaron Nola but also thanks to breakout performances from Ranger Suarez and Cristopher Sanchez. That elite pitching performance in conjunction with particularly strong offensive production from Bryce Harper, Alec Bohm and (prior to his injury) Trea Turner has led Philadelphia to a 44-19 record and a commanding lead in the NL East.
Things haven’t gone quite as well for the Mets this year. Luis Severino and Sean Manaea have posted quality results in the rotation while Pete Alonso, J.D. Martinez and young Mark Vientos have delivered strong performances to the anchor the lineup. However, significant struggles of key players like Edwin Diaz, Jeff McNeil and Jose Quintana have left fans in Queens with little to celebrate as their club has already fallen 16.5 games back of the NL East lead with a 27-35 record. The two-game set is set to begin at 6:10pm London time (1:10pm ET) on Saturday as Suarez (1.70 ERA) takes on Manaea (3.63 ERA), followed by a game at 3:10pm London time (10:10am ET) on Sunday where Quintana (5.17 ERA) takes on Taijuan Walker (5.73 ERA).
2. Soto to undergo testing:
Yaankees superstar Juan Soto departed yesterday’s win over the Twins following a rain delay due to what the team termed left forearm discomfort. As relayed by SNY on X (Video Links), manager Aaron Boone told reporters after the game that Soto’s been dealing with soreness in his forearm for the past week or so and that the club decided to “play it safe” rather than ramp him back up after the rain delay. While that description sounds fairly innocuous, Boone also added a more ominous note that Soto would undergo imaging on the arm today.
Acquired from the Padres in a blockbuster deal over the offseason, Soto has been everything the Yankees could’ve hoped for since the season began. In 64 games, the 25-year-old phenom has slashed .318/.424/.603 (190 wRC+) while leading the majors in on-base percentage, leading the AL in batting average, and clubbing 17 home runs. He’s even delivered solid defense in right field, with +1 Outs Above Average and +1 Defensive Runs Saved. Losing Soto for any amount of time would ramp up pressure in a division where the Yankees hold a 4.5-game lead over the second-place Orioles. If Soto is out, the Yankees could give Trent Grisham additional time in center and move Aaron Judge to right field.
3. Series Preview: Dodgers @ Yankees
The 45-19 Yankees have MLB’s best winning percentage, but the Dodgers are certainly fearsome in their own right with a 39-25 record and a commanding eight-game lead in the NL West. New York’s success has been largely predicated on the elite performance of their starting rotation, which leads the AL with a 2.82 ERA, along with big performances from Soto, Judge and shortstop Anthony Volpe.
The Dodgers, meanwhile, have enjoyed elite offensive production from the top four spots in their lineup, occupied by Mookie Betts, Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman, and Will Smith. Their rotation has been merely good rather than elite, ranking eighth in the majors with a collective 3.50 ERA despite strong individual performances from offseason acquisitions Tyler Glasnow and Yoshinobu Yamamoto. The set between the two titans is set to begin at 7:05pm local time this evening when Yamamoto (3.32 ERA) takes the mound opposite Cody Poteet, who has allowed three runs in 11 innings (2.45 ERA) in two spot starts this year. On Saturday, young righty Gavin Stone (2.90 ERA) will take on lefty Nestor Cortes (3.46 ERA). The series wraps up Sunday with Glasnow (2.93 ERA) on the mound opposite breakout righty Luis Gil (1.82 ERA).
Why don’t spring training stats count toward career stats?
All large market talk. Typical of MLB and its media.
If there was news to report, they’d report it. What stories did they miss?
That the Fargo Fartsniffers backup catcher felt a twinge in his wrist during a hail storm delay?
@whyhayzee
Fargo-Moorhead Redhawks are doing well this year. They have the best record in the American Association.
You can always tell who has the coastal bias by the replies.
And…. What about the Reds would you like daily/constant coverage on?
–Underperforming veterans
–Injured/unproven/underwhelming prospects
–middling starting staff
–generally meh season so far, after tons of hype for 2024.
It has nothing to do with coastal bias. The staff of MLBTR are mostly Midwesterners. Show some perspective.
You can always tell a perpetual complainer by their whining.
There are 30 teams in the major leagues if I recall, not just a half dozen. My perspective is fine, thank you.
As far as the Reds, they have been one of the hotter teams in baseball the past couple of weeks, despite again having to outscore people. They can’t count on help from the front office but people can enjoy it while it lasts.
The fact you weren’t aware of that proved the point, so thanks.
That you aren’t aware that MLBTR is not part of “MLB and its media” says it all about your sense of perspective.
That you aren’t aware of where they get their news items (hint: thry site the source in their articles) is not surprising.
Someone OD’d on that awful greasy Cincy 5-Star chili, and it filled his head with paranoiarrhea..
p.s. It’s “they cite”, not “thry site”.
So you want more than half of major league baseball as a whole to fail? Wondering why you frequent this site then.
If Soto is out for an extended period of time, I’d think dominguez is coming up
I’m gonna dropkick all of my neighbor’s lawn gnomes at 11pm tonight if Soto is out for an extended period of time
Go for the steel toe work shoes.
whyhayzee – those gnomes are gonna feel my wraith. I’m already stretching right now and getting ready to treat those goofy little lawn ornaments like I was 1990s WWF Shawn Michaels
I hope those gnomes aren’t in Montreal!
There’s no place (kick) like gnome.
Craven that’s better than what I was going to do which is scream into a pillow for an hour or two.
Probably. I’d think the Yankees would ask Bernie Williams to come out of retirement over playing Grisham everyday
DeSoto’s failure was attributable to a combination of corporate mistakes and external factors beyond Chrysler’s control.
But Fritz Kreisler made very few mistakes as one of the world’s leading violinists.
Definitely one of the great violinists. My mother attended Yehudi Menuhin’s Boston debut when he was still in knickers. Kreisler was equally gifted at an incredibly young age.
Both are in the Violinists’ Hall Of Fame, first ballot.
Boone’s words were almost exactly the same for Jason Dominguez last September, except he already had the imaging and knew TJS was happening. Coincidentally, if Soto needs his own TJS, then it will be Dominguez who takes his spot.
Wouldn’t it make more sense if he needs TJS to wait till the off-season and just use him as a DH the rest of the year. His bat is so impactful.
The Yanks have a lead for now, but Baltimore is no slouch. New York has to keep winning, and putting Soto on the shelf will make that lead much harder to hold onto.
Makes sense unless the pain has suddenly worsened to the point that swinging a bat is not realistic. That said, no reason to read more into it as we’ll likely know soon enough.
From Dr. Boonedoggle’s mumbo jumbo? Even if there is conclusive evidence, the Yankees will issue some vacuous statement like, “He will sit out a few games.”
If there is bad news it will likely come out this afternoon. Friday afternoons are when all teams release their bad news because it gets less attention.
But why would Juan Soto want to do that? He’s in his walk year and his next employer would probably prefer he get his TJS done as soon as possible. Whatever stats Soto puts up between now and the end of the season isn’t going to INCREASE his next contract, especially if he has TJS still looming, and with a damaged limb, his numbers could suffer. Currently, every team in baseball knows what Soto is capable of and have an idea how much they’re willing to pay him.
Unless NY is going to resign him NOW, it makes more sense for Juan to get the surgery sooner than later.
Waiting costs himself money in free agency. Right now the stats are good, playing through pain (if it is that bad) could crater them and not waiting he would be ready for spring training. Waiting til the off-season, especially if the Yankees have a deep playoff run could push him back months. Of course this all speculative
Also, if Soto is the DH than that means Stanton is in the Outfield which is also not ideal
It isn’t typically as simple as DHing through a torn UCL. Soto is a L/L meaning an injury to his throwing arm also impacts his dominant hitting arm. Ohtani can DH during his recovery because hes a RH pitcher and a LH batter. Same reason Harper was able to come back so quickly from his surgery, hes a R/L guy.
Juan Soto tommy john confirmed, he will be a Kansas City Royal for 6 years $156mm
Too bad the fences aren’t the same as the juiced London series, I love seeing hitters hit towering fly balls that go over the fence at 250 feet
@sad tormented neglected mariners fan
Yeah, that Yankees-Red Sox series made a mockery of the game and turned it into a circus. But MLB needs a larger fanbase so they needed to make sure offense was on show.
Maybe the Dodgers will finally end their World Series drought sometime in the next decade or 2 or 3.
Maybe you will have an original post sometime in your life.
The London series is for who exactly? I hate these gimmick. Between stupid city connect uniforms created only to sell product and ridiculous barnstormers badeball is a joke. Nba is worse with the stupid in season tournaments. Just shut up and play ball.
You must such an enjoyable person to be around! Promote the game around world, change teams Uniforms for a couple games what blasphemy!
@follars
london series is for manfred who needs new fans since old ones have given up on a once beautiful game. also means more $$$$ and thats what manfred’s baseball is all about. money, trash can bangers, drug users, degenerate gamblers, cheaters, new rules, new formats, new fans in europe, asia, and under the moon. can someone say they were molested by manfred or something so he’s forced to step down earlier than 2029??
YOU SOUND LIKE YOUR FROM LONDON
*YOU’RE. And why are you SHOUTING?
It’s a from a movie, Forgetting Sarah Marshall maybe you should watch it sometime :p
@Tom the ray fan: Are you a superior human being because you saw some movie?
If you’d spent a bit more time studying, you might not sound so illiterate.
You really don’t have a sense of humor.
Yeah he messed up the your/you’re part. This is now the second time you’ve taken a “lame” joke too serious. Loosen up a little.
If you say so, Mr. Judgmental.
Didn’t you judge that guy calling him illiterate? Or the other guy for being lame? Or calling someone a doofus below? Are you sure about the words you are choosing here? If by seeing a pattern here then yes I suppose I am the judgement type. It would give us common ground.
If you say so.
But, and this will sound familiar, this is now the second time you’ve done whatever you call what you’re doing and taken it too SERIOUSLY.
Loosen up a little. Or more than a little.
It’s cool. I am asking to measure how huge your hypocrisy is. Nothing earth shattering. We’re all good over here.
You sound like a shouting illiterate.
“You’re”.
Thoughts and prayers to Soto.
Another reason MLB needs to get robots into the game so we can just replace the parts and get our superstars back on the field playing.
It is an American game. There shouldn’t be a team in the dependent 51st state (canada) either.
They should rename the the fall classic to American Series then in that case.
@F22
But you just said that they’re the 51st state so they are part of America.
@F22: That’s not for you to decide.
Should there be no NHL franchises in US cities or lacrosse and ice hockey teams in American universities?
I guess Juan Soto shouldn’t cash that $900,000,000 dollar check just yet.
I don’t understand why there aren’t more games in Latin America countries, like where the players who play the game are actually from, and they keep pushing this London stuff. Doesn’t make a lot of sense to me.
“More games in Latin American”…I totally agree, but it’s likely because the potential corporate sponsorship money is likely far greater in Europe than in Latin America.
Because money….
Good take. And despite playing ay the WBC (with almost an All American team), in the UK they hardly play any credible baseball.
Other European countries make a lot more sense (Netherlands, Italy and Spain because of the amount of immigrants from Colombia, Venezuela, Dominican…).
It is probably the lack of larger venues in those countries, safety issues and marketability ie purchase power of the inhabitants.
Can mets stay in london for good?
New york doesnt want em back
So New Yorkers complain when they had the “cheap” Wilpons as owners and now that they have an owner willing to spend big and invest in the team you don’t “want him back”?…Rome wasn’t built in a day you know and you’d think authentic New York fans would be pulling for Cohen to succeed.
I am pulling for cohen
But he’s not a baseball guy
He’s made alotta bad choices, GM, manager, coaches, trades, signings, prospect development. Rome wasnt built in a day? Um Cohen bought the team 4 years ago. And they’re on pace for 100 losses. Biggest payroll in sports history (spent on garbage). Doesnt matter who owns or is in charge. Mets r cursed laughingstock joke freak show circus embarrassment
Speak for yourself. The Mets always have a place in New York, no thanks to front runners like you.
If Soto needs surgery, he’s probably going to want to do it sooner unless the pain doesn’t impact his hitting. Position player, 12 months, puts him back on the field by July 2025. He scores the big contract, probably, but not as much as he could have gotten. Interesting that Soto makes so much money right now ($31M) Yankees could issue a QO for 2/3 the price to get a draft pick. Or, Soto could do the unthinkable and accept it, figuring he could get back on the field by July 2025 and make the case for a huge contract. He’s a wonderful hitter to watch–hope he isn’t injured
Phillies v Mets has a bit of a Globetrotters v Generals vibe
“Meanwhile” can’t come in the middle of a sentence between commas, Deeds. It has to START the sentence.