Here are four things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world throughout the day:
1. Yankees offense goes cold:
It’s been a tough few days in the Bronx, as the Yankees have lost five straight after getting swept by the Red Sox over the weekend. The culprit of this recent dry spell is clearly the offense, as New York has been shut out in each of its last three games with 29 consecutive scoreless innings. Virtually the entire team has been cold; Jazz Chisholm Jr. is the only player with more than three hits during this five-game stretch, and even superstar Aaron Judge has gone just 2-for-21 with 12 strikeouts. They’ll need to stop the bleeding soon, as they’ve fallen to just 2.5 games up on the Rays for control of the AL East, the team’s smallest lead in the division since May 11. They’ll try to break out of this offensive malaise later today against Angels youngster Jack Kochanowicz, who has a 5.53 ERA in 14 starts this year.
2. Nationals lose ten straight:
While the Yankees may be the contender struggling the most right now, they’re far from the team in the most difficult spot at the moment. The Nationals weren’t far from contention at the beginning of June but are currently in the midst of a ten-game skid that’s dropped their record to 30-43. They’ve been buried 15 games behind the Mets in the NL East, and even a Wild Card spot is falling out of reach as they sit 9.5 games back. If there’s a silver lining for the Nats, it’s that the Rockies are in town and they’ll get the opportunity to snap this streak today when right-hander German Marquez and his 6.62 ERA in 14 starts this year take the mound. Marquez has endured an extremely difficult season but is entering today after tossing one of his best starts of the year against Atlanta last time out. He struck out seven Braves across five-innings of one-run ball in that showing.
3. Verlander to return:
Future Hall of Famer Justin Verlander hasn’t pitched in a month due to a strained pectoral muscle that sent him to the injured list. The 42-year-old righty is scheduled to be activated from the shelf and take the mound for the Giants at 6:45pm local time. Verlander’s on the 15-day injured list, so a corresponding move will only be necessary to clear an active roster spot for the veteran. His opponent today will be a Guardians club with plenty to play for, as they currently sit just half a game out of an AL Wild Card spot. Southpaw Logan Allen will be on the mound for Cleveland and sports a 4.28 ERA across 13 outings this year.
4. Sheehan back from Tommy John surgery:
Elsewhere in the NL West, the Dodgers are set to welcome an arm of some note back to their staff. Righty Emmet Sheehan, out since May 2024 due to Tommy John surgery, is listed as tonight’s probable starter for Los Angeles. He’ll need to be reinstated from the 60-day injured list, but L.A. has an open spot on the 40-man roster, so only a corresponding active roster move will be required. Now 25 years old, Sheehan ranked as one of the system’s top pitching prospects before making his debut in 2023, when he pitched 60 1/3 frames with a 4.92 ERA, 25.8% strikeout rate and 10.5% walk rate. He posted a 2.43 ERA with an outrageous 41% strikeout rate in a similar sample of minor league work that season, and he’s tossed 11 1/3 innings with a 44.7% strikeout rate on his current rehab stint. Sheehan isn’t fully stretched out yet, but he climbed to 63 pitches in his final rehab outing and is expected to join the Dodgers’ rotation.
Yeah I hafta admit the luster of sweeping the Yanks has gone away after seeing how they’ve played against the Angels.
In baseball, as in life, timing is everything.
I’m so sad for the Yankees. May the losing streak continue!
FPG dissappointed in the Red Sox during a 10-2 run. Shocking.
The Yankees will make Jack Kochanowic look like a CY contender the way they’ve played lately.
@Joe says…
I could see that happening. Probably throws a no-hitter.
The reds do this often
The Yankees are ready to turn the corner, it’s right in front of them!
With their current form, they may trip on that corner.
On the other hand, Jackie Scrabbles has given up 13 homers in 14 starts. This really feels like a guy that could get them back on track, or at least give them a run or two.
“They’re savages in the box so it’s close.”
That’s what James Dean thought…
Jack K is not ready for the big leagues. He will single handedly turn the Yankees season around. One middle middle meatball at a time.
@nukeg
Not sure why teams don’t just throw middle middle meatballs to the Yankees. That’s what they need to be productive. Teams need to be nice to the Yankees…
Yankees offense has gone cold since the end of May. Their wRC+ has been below league average since May 25th. Lots of underperforming guys on that team, including Rice, Dominguez, Goldschmidt Volpe, Grisham and Bellinger.
York – Yep, and where are all the Yankee fans who bashed me a month ago for suggesting Goldie should be traded because a crash was likely coming?
He’s batted .227 with a .646 OPS since then.
And he’s batted just .161 with a .462 OPS since the end of May.
Maybe next time they will listen to me? LOL
Dang Fever, I knew you were good but not THAT good. Just send me all your ideas & suggestions & I’ll make sure Cash sees them. Ahahahahahaha!
@NYCityRiddler
Cashman has far too much dead weight cash tied up in unproductive batters. They have a really good pitching lab but they need to invest in a hitting lab. Since the Rays are in their Spring ballpark, maybe they can spy on them to get some ideas to build a better lab.
@ Old York
Listen pal, after the last 5 games & 29 scoreless innings, from where I’m sitting, NOTHING is off the table at this point. Ahahahahaha!
NYC – Why would I help a rival team? Hahahahaha!!
Fever, idk, love of the game? Ahahahaha!
@York – I love the guys that are “self-referential” on a routine basis around here, as if they are actually analysts or writers. “If you go back and read my stuff”; “where are the guys that bashed me a month ago” and so on. This is a freakin’ comments section on a baseball rumors site, not the letters to the editor of the NYT. The lack of self-awareness is utterly spectacular.
@CarverAndrews
The reply button is missing so I’m not able to directly reply to you. Honestly, Fever is a decent regular on here. Nothing wrong with pointing out when you were correct. He’s not getting an award for it so it really doesn’t matter but we all have free speech in our constitution so I’m not sure why it’s that big of a concern to you.
York – Thank you, I appreciate it.
I can’t see what he wrote because he has a personal grudge against me therefore I was forced to mute him.
You are correct, no awards here ….. sometimes I get bashed for my opinions, so once in a blue moon I’ll remind the bashers that they shouldn’t have bashed me.
I do it with the hope they will think twice before bashing me again ;O)
Yeah. Nah. Congratulating yourself publicly is the act of a Richard. The widely accepted view social norm is that you keep those thoughts inside your head. It’s something you let other people do.
How good is free speech !
Sorry Fever. Nothing against you personally.
@foppert3
But I predicted that you would post that!
Congratulations !
The funny thing is I did on here just the other day. Felt bad about as soon as I hit send. Had to give myself a severe talking too ! Inside my head of course.
@foppert3
What was a nothingburger post seems to have attracted quite a bit of attention. I guess it hit a nerve. Fever even put a LOL, as it he’s just having fun with the post. Relax. Maybe take a few days off social media and go outside and see the real world.
Who isn’t relaxed ? What attention are you referring too ?
No nerve hit here. Just casually exercising my right to free speech. Just maybe, you need to be taking your own advice !
@OY – Sorry man. I have seen more than enough of his stuff to take his measure, and need a smaller ruler. To each his own of course but he is only one of many on here that simply crap up the space with self-important and highly repetitive ramblings.
Of course – again, my fault as I know this and I should not get cranky about it. There is not a social media site that isn’t littered with the Dunning-Krugerites, hence why I am not on social media.
You do not seem to grasp the concept of free speech (an entirely different conversation that is apropos to our current political idiocy), however, and nowhere did I intimate that anyone should not be allowed to say what is on their mini little minds (just as I can express an opinion on what they might spill out from their keyboards). The optimist in me hopes that a benign baseball site would not be overrun, but c’est la vie. I know better, but still come back for the solid group of benign and intelligent baseball compadres on here.
Nats lost already at home twice to the team pacing the worst record ever throwing two 7 ERA SPs lol
If silver lining for the Nationals is that the Rockies are in town, the reality is that they’re about to be swept by them. On top of getting swept by the Marlins. If the team has had any thoughts of moving on from Dave Martinez, now is the time.
They arent.. The org is in ownership purgatory
I’m under the impression the Nats players are actively losing so Dave Martinez can be fired.
They were only good from June through October 2019, and June 2021 while he’s been manager. He actively threw the players under the bus a few days ago. Swept by the Marlins and will probably be swept at home in a 4 game series by the Rockies. This team will lose 20 consecutive games before Davey is fired though.
2019 and the subsequent rebuild appropriately bought Martinez a few years. But any grace period should now be over. Seems like a pretty clear time to signal higher expectations.
Verlander will be facing his toughest career opponent. They haven’t been hitting at all though so I doubt he’s worried about facing them
The Yankees every year under Boone is the same. Hot start, fizzle out in June, start to get hot again in late Aug, collapse in Oct.
There’s something to be said for consistency.
fred – Making it to the World Series is an October collapse?
Yes, you can have a collapse in the playoffs, ie 1986 Red Sox
fred – That ’86 WS was a Red Sox one inning choke, not a collapse. Do you not remember what the Sox did to get to the WS that year?
Regardless, Yanks losing the WS in 5 games is not a collapse … they were never in it.
Fever Pitch, what were you watching? They blew G1 on the first ever grandslam walk-off and lost a game where they were up 5-0 in the 5th inning. They actually outscored the Dodgers throughout 9 innings over the course of the 5 games.
Why take a shot at the Rockies considering the Rockies have beaten the Nats in two straight? Their record is still awful, but the Rox have actually been playing some pretty good ball the past few weeks. They have been hanging in almost every game and they have even won a few of them.
Sheehan is an interesting case. Including his rehab stint at OKC, he’s racked up fewer than 20 innings of work at the triple-A level. I realize he was called up from double-A the first time because the Dodgers were desperate for arms, and the same argument could be made today. But it’s still a huge vote of confidence for a player with so little seasoning, and only 25 years old.