Here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world throughout the day today:
1. Messick to make MLB debut:
The Guardians are bringing southpaw Parker Messick up to the majors for his MLB debut today. The club’s second-rounder back in 2022 has climbed the minor league ladder fairly quickly to emerge at Triple-A this year, where he’s posted a solid 3.47 ERA and 29.1% strikeout rate across 98 2/3 innings of work. Those are impressive numbers for the 24-year-old, and now he’ll get the opportunity to see if his high strikeout rate can translate into the majors. The Guardians have managed to hang around the AL Wild Card picture despite soft selling this summer, but with Shane Bieber in Toronto and Tanner Bibee in the midst of a tough season they’ll need contributions from young arms like Messick if they’re going to stay relevant down the stretch.
2. Harper, Castellanos race towards milestone:
Phillies veterans Bryce Harper and Nick Castellanos are both a considerable way into their respective careers at this point. While Harper’s status as a two-time MVP far eclipses Castellanos’s resume as a two-time All-Star, both have had impressive careers where they’ve generally served as above-average hitters across their combined 27 years in the major leagues. Now the two teammates are chasing the same milestone: 400 career doubles. They’ll likely become the 199th and 200th players in MLB history to reach that benchmark in the coming weeks, as Harper currently sits at 397 career doubles while Castellanos sits just one behind him at 396 two-baggers for his career. The pair will look to tee off of Mariners right-hander Luis Castillo (3.48 ERA) as the Phillies go for the sweep against Seattle this afternoon.
3. Royals pushing for Wild Card spot:
Kansas City made the somewhat surprising decision to buy at the trade deadline despite being slightly below .500 at that point and on the periphery of the AL Wild Card race, but that decision is paying off to this point. An 11-6 record in the month of August has put them just 2.5 games back of the Red Sox and Mariners in the race for a playoff spot with a 65-61 record. Deadline additions have improved the club considerably, with Randal Grichuk, Adam Frazier, and Mike Yastrzemski all injecting life into a previously weak offense while Ryan Bergert has settled in as a quality rotation arm with a 2.70 ERA in three starts for the club. Today they’ll go for their second consecutive series sweep when they face the Rangers and an as-of-yet unannounced starting pitcher. Whoever starts for Texas will have to contend with rookie Noah Cameron, who has a 2.47 ERA in 17 starts.
Good luck teeing off Castillo.
That didn’t age well.
The Phillies had 48 hits in the series off of a pretty good Mariners pitching staff.
Their offence is clicking….. just have to keep it going. 3 games, 29 runs. They just have to stop losing to teams like Wash.
Good for KC to go for it rather than selling. Seems like that boosted their confidence and now, who knows?
It feels like that aspect of buying is underrated
I don’t see the Royals making the postseason, they have a really tough schedule.
The 6 AL teams in playoff position right now will get in.
Yeah, but you have to like their soft buying at the trade deadline. With an iffy farm system (ranked 25th midseason), might as well give it a shot now. Good moves by the KC front office. And I say this as a Tiger fan.
For – Agreed, it’s a great baseball town and seeing Sal, Bobby and Yaz in the postseason would be cool.
Good moves and they got 3 pitchers who they have multiple years of control of each of them and didn’t have to give up very much at all.
I mean, nearly 1/2 of their final 36 games are against teams under .500. Not saying it’ll be easy (the Halos and A’s are tough “bad teams” because of their offense), but there’s certainly a path. Their pitching needs to hold up, but they’ve been good all year long. There’s definitely teams in worse spots.
The Red Sox and Mariners are currently tied for the last playoff spot and at current rates will finish the season with 87 wins each.
In order for KC to beat that mark and get 88 wins, they have to win 23 of their remaining 36 games. Their winning percentage over these last 36 games would be .639.
The best winning percentage in the majors by a wide margin is Milwaukee with a .627 winning percentage for the season.
The Royals, in theory, have to play better through the end of the regular season than anyone has this year, over larger sample sizes.
It can be done, but it’s a taller order then it might seem.
Current rates don’t mean crap. All it takes is one bad stretch by one of those teams and it all changes. Boston and Seattle are a combined 7-13 in their last 10 games with Seattle currently losing 4 in a row, and about to be 5
And all it takes is one bad stretch by KC and they’re a forgotten memory.
MLB – Only the Rockies and Pirates have a worse offense, that’s the problem.
Royals pitching is very good, but if they give up at least 4 runs they likely will lose.
“Today they’ll go for their second consecutive series sweep when they face the Rangers and an as-of-yet unannounced starting pitcher.”
The Royals/Rangers series is a four game series. Game three tonight, game four tomorrow afternoon.
Technically, they are going for their second consecutive sweep today, because if they don’t win, they can’t get a sweep. They just can’t complete the sweep today.
But yes, Nick does appear to have missed the fourth game.
I’m seeing double double…
I prefer the shakes at In N Out.
I’ve never really paid too much attention to Harper, outside of the hype and highlights, but looking at his bref page, he’s really not been the player that he was hyped up to be.
He had that MVP year in 2015 with 9.7 bWAR, but outside of that, he’s been more of a really good player rather great. He’s generated 5+ bWAR in only 3 out of his 14 seasons.
He was supposed to be one of the face of the franchise/ face of the league types, like a Judge, Ohtani, or Soto, but he’s really more of just a good, productive player. I know injuries have had their impact, but I just really thought he would have had more bigger seasons then he did.
As a Phillies fan, I don’t disagree but don’t agree. At the time of his signing, he was the guy to get and he’s had great moments and help the franchise rise from the post Utley, Rollins and Howard low point for the franchise.
The problem is that guys in the league/his peers like Ohtani and Soto are soaring next level in the MLB.
I believe Harper gives it 100% every game and we’d love him to be a 40 homer guy but he delivers when the lights go on and he leads.
He will play longer, probably reach some key baseball stat milestones and be HOF.
This is probably the last yr for him to have a legit shot at a World Series championship so that is a big factor/will be a big factor in his legacy too.
I think him and Trout are great for their generation. The thing is the league gets younger everyday and time kicks in for everyone at some point.
Fun fact, Colorado has been playing close to 0.500 ball since the break. Could have been in the wild card hunt if they didn’t start off so poorly.
Wonder how much they’ve been outscored by since the break. Maybe 75 runs or more.
131 RF 206 RA
Yes, -75.
The writer needs to know how many games are in a series before he writes a story. Royals can’t go for a sweep today because it’s a 4 games series and today is only game 3.