With just over a month to go in the 2024 regular season, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world throughout the day today:
1. Rubber match for the AL Central:
The Guardians held a comfortable lead in the AL Central for much of the season, but they’ve seen that lead evaporate in recent weeks. Since the calendar has flipped to August, Cleveland has posted a record of just 10-16. Meanwhile, the Royals have surged ahead in the standings with a 15-9 record while their rival has been in free fall, culminating in Kansas City taking the first three games of their current four game set with the Guardians. That’s left them tied with Cleveland for the AL Central crown, leaving today’s fourth game to decide which club will walk away with a lead in the division with the September stretch run just around the corner. Cleveland will send right-hander Tanner Bibee (3.46 ERA) to the mound opposite veteran righty Michael Wacha (3.32 ERA) in a game scheduled for 1:10pm local time.
2. Royals undergoing testing:
While Kansas City duels Cleveland for the AL Central lead, they’ll also be anxiously awaiting the results of testing on a couple of key pieces. The most consequential of those is superstar shortstop and AL MVP contender Bobby Witt Jr., who was hit in the hand by a pitch during yesterday’s game in a moment that sparked concern for Royals fans despite their star remaining in the game. As noted by MLB.com’s Anne Rogers, preliminary strength tests were encouraging, but the Royals were nonetheless sending Witt for an x-ray to make certain he hadn’t sustained a more serious injury. While it seems likely that Witt, who has slashed .346/.399/.614 while swiping 27 bases and playing elite defense at shortstop, will be able to avoid a stint on the IL, the same may not be true for right-hander Michael Lorenzen.
Lorenzen came to the Royals in a trade with the Rangers and has been excellent, posting a 1.80 ERA through five starts on his new team. Unfortunately, Lorenzen’s start yesterday lasted just 1 2/3 innings after he strained his right hamstring on a play at first base. As noted by MLB.com’s Injury Tracker, Lorenzen is headed back to Kansas City today to undergo an MRI that will determine the severity of the issue, but manager Matt Quatraro expressed skepticism that Lorenzen would be ready to make his next start.
3. Yamamoto to begin rehab assignment:
Dodgers phenom Yoshinobu Yamamoto is slated to take a big step forward as he works toward a return from the rotator cuff strain that sidelined him back in June. Yamamoto, who was among the biggest names on the offseason free agent market despite having never thrown a pitch in the big leagues before, impressed with a 2.92 ERA and 2.68 FIP in 14 starts before his season was derailed by injury. Today, he’s set to take the mound for his first official game in more than two months when he joins the club’s Triple-A affiliate in Oklahoma City for a rehab start against the Rangers’ Round Rock affiliate. Yamamoto will be pitching opposite two-time top-10 draft pick Kumar Rocker in what will be his Triple-A debut, giving tonight’s minor league match up some star power on both sides of the field.
Is the Rocker/Yamamoto start sponsored by State Farm?
Are comments like these sponsored by the Dam Family?
I thought it was creative
It made me laugh.
Is time even real or an illusion created by things changing?
There is a theory called the Moebius. It’s like a hitch in the fabric of space where time becomes a loop…where time becomes a loop…where time becomes a loop…where time
Hat tip to the Royals. I didn’t think they would be this good. I didn’t think the older pitchers Lugo and Wacha would last a full season in the rotation. I think this season has been more unpredictable than most.
I didn’t think it would work out this beautifully, but I was rooting for them for no other reason than mid-tier free agents have gotten stiffed in the last decade. It would cost maybe $30 million to make noticeable improvements when that $30 mil is spread across 3-5 guys but everyone colluded and said “Nah.”
Credit to the Royals for doing last offseason what every Red Sox fan has been begging the team to do since 2019
Awesome for KC. FO went for it in off season like only a small market team could and it’s actually working. Wow.
Cynical me. I thought all those player additions were done to convince Witt’s agent to committ to a multi year deal; not necessarily to be competitive. As reported here on this site talks between the 2 sides got extremely quiet. Then the FO switched gears with all those player additions. And, magically, Witt then signs his deal.
For the benefit of Mr Deeds, a “rubber match” occurs when two teams are tied in a series, with the final game of said series determining who wins the most games in that series. In this case, KC has taken the 1st 3 games, so we already know that they have “won” the series.
I have a “rubber match” with my wife every night but it’s not baseball related.
4. The loser of the Marlins/Rockies game is mathematically eliminated from Playoff contention. The winner lives to fight another day until the inevitable hammer is dropped.
Did the White Sox reach 100 losses faster than any team in history? I wonder what the record is for that.
Only the Philadelphia A’s in 1916 reached 100 losses faster, doing so in 130 games. Took the White Sox 131
I don’t think your math is vibing on that.
Hey, the Rockies set a MLB record last night!
First team in the modern era to lose 4 games in a season that they led by 4 or more runs entering the 9th inning.
This team is making history!
Royals stadium used to be great until it was turned into a shopping mall with the renovations. Kind of similar to how Oakland had a great stadium before the upper deck was added.
Dodgers stadium has always been a dump, but maybe they will at least win their first legitimate world series title since 1988 sometime in the next decade or 2 or 3 or whenever or never.
“Pitching opposite two time top 10 pick Kumar”…I wonder why Kumar Rocker underwent Tommy-John when his agent, Dr. Scott Boras, certified that his arm was 100% “healthy”?
Oh boy Yammato already has rotor cuff injury in his first year with a whopping 11 more yrs!!! Omg that contract is going to end up the worst in mlb history as we know TJS is coming next.
What is perplexing to me is that you will see in other reports on his injury that it’s labeled a “triceps strain.” Now those two do not sound the same to me, but fairly different diagnoses. Teams are not forthcoming or transparent on injuries anymore and it’s irritating. Why be so secretive ? Like Tucker’s Contusion in Houston.
We’ll see……