Here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world throughout the day:
1. Anthony exits with injury:
The Red Sox mounted an impressive comeback win in their game against the Guardians yesterday, but the mood was dampened by the fact that budding star Roman Anthony exited the game due to an oblique injury. After the game, Anthony spoke to reporters (including Tim Healey of the Boston Globe) and noted that this oblique injury is “definitely worse” than the day-to-day back injury he dealt with a few weeks ago. It’s unclear what sort of timeline for return to action Anthony might be facing. With a .292/.396/.463 batting line (138 wRC+) since being called up to the majors, Anthony has been the team’s most consistent hitter of the second half. Losing Anthony for any amount of time when the Sox are trying to erase a 2.5-game deficit to chase down the division-leading Blue Jays could be backbreaking for the team.
2. Judge pushes into Yankees history:
Aaron Judge rounded out the month of August in a big way by crushing his 43rd homer of the season on Sunday. That blast, as noted by MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch, pushed Judge into a tie with Yogi Berra for fifth place in Yankees history. Judge’s next blast will not only give him sole possession of fifth place in franchise history — it’ll leave him just three homers shy of surpassing the great Joe DiMaggio, who sits fourth with 361 round-trippers. Though that fourth-place spot is within reach for Judge this season, he still has a long way to go before he can even think of cracking the top three. Lou Gehrig, currently third all-time in Yankee homers, finished his career with 493. For now, Judge will continue hunting for No. 359 against Astros righty Jason Alexander and his 4.61 ERA later today.
3. Tucker exits with injury:
After a lengthy slump that led to a brief benching, Kyle Tucker appears to be back to his usual self. Since returning to the Cubs’ lineup on Aug. 21, he’s batting .364/.462/.727 (227 wRC+) in 52 plate appearances, capping that stretch off by crushing a three-run homer against Atlanta last night. Unfortunately, he’s hit a bit of a speed bump in that turnaround. MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian notes that Tucker was pulled from yesterday’s game due to soreness in his calf.
Manager Craig Counsell said after the game that Tucker would be out of Wednesday’s lineup ahead of a Thursday off-day, thus giving him two full days to rest before he’s reevaluated Friday. The Cubs are virtual playoff locks — they’re five games back of the Brewers in the NL Central but ten games up on the Reds in the Wild Card scene — so they can afford to be a little more cautious than other contenders who are fighting to keep their postseason hopes alive.
I wonder if he’ll be pitching as George Costanza or his self?
Watch out for the cotton uniforms
I like the “back breaking” pun, but realistically Roman’s potential absence the next 3-4 weeks will have zero impact on the Sox making the postseason. We will know more after the results of today’s MRI come in.
As long as he’s “back” for the postseason, no worries.
There’s a big difference between winning the division and landing in the 1 or 2 wild card spot, though.
css – I dunno, looking at all the WC teams that have made the WS …. there’s been a lot.
Yes, but if the Sox win the division, they have a good shot at a bye in round one. That is a big difference, IMO.
Anthony missing the Yankees series (which seems like a foregone conclusion) could be a big hit for seeding though. I think having home field or not in the WC round could be a major factor in the Sox making it through to the ALDS vs not.
Meow – The Sox have four dominant strikeout pitchers in the starting rotation and a bunch of great strikeout relievers, park shouldn’t matter. That’s how I look at it anyway ;O)
I worry about Crochet as his innings rack up (esp after that 6th inning last night), but also it’s not nothing that the Red Sox are 44-27 at home and 34-35 on the road.
FPG I think you underestimate Roman and his near .400 obp in the leadoff spot. This offense is going to be different without him fronting it if he’s out for while. There’s a reason why the team was 1 game below .500 before Roman arrived and 15 games over since he was promoted. I think he should have been up the entire season but that’s a different story.
Bruin – With all due respect I think you misunderstood my post.
Of course Roman has been the best position player on the team, no question about that. I posted as much in another thread this morning.
What I’m saying is the Sox will make the postseason even without him these next 22 games. This is not 2011, they will not cough up a 6-game lead over the Rangers or Royals.
Not sure about zero impact as he’s only put 3.1 fWAR and a 138 OPS+ in less than half season of MVP-caliber play. He’s a big reason why the Red Sox are in their current standing. I’m as much concerned about the Yankees sliding out of a WC spot as catching the Jays. While Stanton is hitting really well, they’re playing with fire with him manning RF.
I’ve had the Yankees winning the division since Baltimore fell out of it and I still do. The last 2 weeks on the Yankees’ schedule looks so easy I’m expecting them to vault over the Jays (much to my consternation).
A significant oblique injury probably ends Roman’s season. He’s been so good out of the leadoff spot, hopefully it just felt worse than it actually is. Abreu hasn’t been cleared to run yet either so the Sox may need to reset their Password and actually let him play this time around if he gets the call
Anthony will be ready for the post season. And I’m sure he wants to get back to it asap. He’s a gamer and will gut it out
You really can’t gut out oblique injuries.
Quinnap89:
Says you because you’re not the one who has to deal with it. Obliques can be very very difficult. Either he’s going to be ready or not, and if he pushes it, he will be set back.
And 1 off balance swing and he’s done for the rest of the year…..do you know what an oblique injury really is?….you don’t “gut it out” and those injuries take longer to come back from when hitting that probably any other injury…..
It’s a core injury. That can even effect lower body strength for running. Anyway, I hope he does make it back soon.
Fortunately for both injuries, it doesn’t appear that they’re life-threatening medical conditions so no thoughts and prayers from me.
My recommendation is that take some NMN supplements and stop eating junk food and drinking caffeinated beverages. The players will stay on the field for every game if they follow my recommendations.
Side note: I’m not a doctor. I only play one on the internet.
I come here for posts like this,
That’s nothing to brag about
Anthony’s adjusting to majors alot better than i thought he would. Might develop into a very special player
Meanwhile judge is proving to be mvp again despite missing time with injury. Raleigh is having the most surprising power surge of all time but cant give mvp to a 240 hitter
@chandlerbing
Why not? We’re giving Cy Youngs to pitchers with losing records.
Will be interesting to see if Judge reaches 700+ HR (very good chance of at least 700). Chance of breaking the all time record.
Some of us have a bet about how many articles egregious Cubs jock-sniffer Brett Taylor is going to post on his cringey website about Tucker’s injury between now and a couple of days from now, when Tucker is put on the IL with a strained calf. I’m down for eight separate articles, each of them expending more mental energy than Kant must have used to write his *Critique of Pure Reason*. Taylor will consider the range of possibilities with regard to the severity of the injury, make minute comparisons between this injury and other injuries in the past, “parse” statements made by Cubs officials and other people in search of hints, get inappropriately emotional about how much he hopes that his hero will be back in the lineup real real soon–and ad nauseum down the road of genuine foolishness and clever clickbait.
Wow I don’t know who that guy is but I would stop giving him traffic by continuing to click on his crappy blog
He’s the guy that banned Alan from his site for what he say are his highly misinterpreted views of a lot of thing. (and Alan is all about traffic).
Even when there is nothing to bash about, Alan finds a way…