Here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world throughout the day:
1. Alvarez to undergo MRI:
The Astros were dealt a brutal blow yesterday when slugger Yordan Alvarez went down with an apparent ankle injury in the first inning. Alvarez is scheduled to get an MRI to determine the severity of the issue, though the star DH was already seen on crutches and in a walking boot in the clubhouse following last night’s game. Even a minimum ten-day stint on the IL would push Alvarez’s return right up against the end of the regular season, and the start of the Wild Card series is just two weeks from today.
If Alvarez does find himself sidelined into the postseason, perhaps the open DH slot in the lineup would make a return for injured infielder Isaac Paredes more likely. Paredes is rehabbing a significant hamstring injury in hopes of joining the team before their season comes to a close, and perhaps he could return sooner if at-bats at DH are available that wouldn’t require him to be healthy enough to get work in on defense.
2. Doubleheader today in D.C.:
The Braves and Nats are set to play a doubleheader to make up for a game that was rained out back in May. As noted by Paige Leckie of MLB.com, ticket holders for the originally scheduled game will be able to use those tickets to attend game 1 of today’s doubleheader, which is scheduled for 1pm local time. An as of yet unannounced Braves starter will take on Nats righty Jake Irvin (5.70 ERA), while Game 2 will feature lefties Chris Sale (2.52 ERA in 18 starts) and MacKenzie Gore (4.14 ERA) with first pitch scheduled for 6:45pm local time this evening.
3. Young arms duel in the NL Central:
The Cubs are in Pittsburgh, and the front-runner for the NL Cy Young Award is scheduled to take on a hurler who has emerged as a potential favorite for the NL Rookie of the Year Award. Paul Skenes is on the shortlist for the very best pitchers in baseball less than two years into his MLB career, and this year he’s dazzled with a 1.92 ERA across 30 starts. He’ll take on Cubs rookie Cade Horton, who debuted back in May and carries a 2.70 ERA in 21 appearances. Those season-long numbers are impressive enough as is, but Horton has found another gear since the All-Star break with a dazzling 0.84 ERA in his last ten starts. Tonight’s game is scheduled to start at 6:40pm local time.
Looking forward to Horton-Skenes tonight. Hopefully it lives up to the hype.
I wouldn’t mind a tight 1-0 game if it means watching some good pitching.
The “0”, of course, belonging to the Pirates.
I wonder if Horton hears a who tonight?
Cindy Lou has a ticket to the game.
Cindy Lou and about 12,000 others.
Is his entrance music The Who? That would be sweet…
Great game last night. Another of Hoyer’s picks dominates.
Horton did well. Skenes didn’t make it out of the fourth inning.
There’s a pretty important series starting tonight at Comerica Park. The Tigers’ magic number for the AL Central is 7 and they can clinch the division with a 3-game sweep of the Guardians. Detroit currently leads the season series over Cleveland.
Wouldn’t that make their Magic number 6 then?
Tigers lead season series 4-3 as it stands. A sweep of this week’s series by Detroit clinches both the tie-breaker and the AL Central.
Because Detroit and Cleveland play six more times this season, the head-to-head tiebreaker hasn’t been established, and thus the Tigers’ magic number could be either 6 or 7 depending on how the remaining head-to-head games shake out. The Tigers currently have a 4-2 advantage in head-to-head. If the Tigers sweep Cleveland, they can clinch the division because of reducing the 7 game magic number to 1, plus they’ll own the tiebreaker no matter what happens in the final 3-game set, which reduces the current magic number by another game.
I don’t expect a sweep, for either team, but both sides can dream.
stymee
Never expect a sweep. Especially between two similarly talented teams.
The final series of year Rangers at Guardians could mean a ton, but they are both relying on Mariners to struggle despite favorable schedule (esply if LAD clinch division ahead of its final reg season series) OR an Astros team that continually wins even short-handed.
There’s a lot more about Horton’s performance-to-date to be impressed with, but I can’t stop chuckling about how that dude threw 21 straight strikes to open a game a few weeks ago. It was like the 3rd inning before he thew his first official ball.
Cubs “can” clinch a playoff berth tonight and we don’t hear from Alan.
I do remember the musings of May when the Cubs were going to get derailed by the stretch against the Marlins and White Sox…and then the jibberish went on another four months. Now…crickets.
Most likely to clinch tomorrow or Thursday but let’s stay up late and wrap step one up this evening.
Alan is completely full of it. He’s a broken tool.
They can clinch a playoff berth. To clinch the TOP WC spot there is still work to do. That would give them best chance to advance at all. It’s looking like Cubs-Padres all at Wrigley. Every Cub fan of a certain age feared a Cubs meltdown because we’d seen it before.
The point was Alan, for four months trumpeted that the Cubs werent going to make the playoffs and it was teams like the White Sox and Marlins that were going to send them that way.
Other than the handful of trolls I don’t think very many fans didn’t expect this team to make the playoffs.
Hopefully, but still a ways to go to lock up that home field. Padres 29-20 and Cubs 25-18 in next tiebreaker…and Pads definitely have third so Cubs need to go 5-1 rest of this week to have tiebreaker lead going into to last weekend. But, if they go 5-1 this week that should about wrap it up.
That time in April/May when Alan was going on and on about how the White Sox seemed to have “more black players” than the Cubs…
Bucs offense is nonexistent right now. Skenes will have to shut them out to avoid taking the loss. They couldn’t touch Taillon last night, Horton is better.
Porter Hodge tried to give that game away last night in the 9th. Good grief.
Up four you have to win games with guys that aren’t going to sniff the playoff roster. Keller even getting up to warm up wasn’t a good look.
Hodge’s main job was to keep the high leverage guys sitting down. Secondary was getting three outs. Failed on both.