I keep waiting for a September crash/burn and it hasn't happened quite yet. You really can't argue with facing the Nationals' three aces in three days and winning two.
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You know what's not good for a team heading into the post-season with a decided starting pitching disadvantage to the (likely) top seed? Losing* one of your best starters to a domestic abuse investigation.
It's really not hard to go through life without physically hurting other people, yet so many people can't manage it.
*Just on leave during an investigation at the moment, which can last a week before he's suspended or not, but certainly not a good sign.
The Cubs are on life support with Baez and Rizzo out, 3 of their 5 starters regularly scuffling, and an exceedingly unpredictable bullpen. They may still sneak into the playoffs, but can't see them sticking around very long. Maybe a wild card game win behind a gem from Darvish or Hendricks, but that's it. But I expect them to be the odd team out between the Nats and 3 NL Central contenders when the dust settles.
Cardinals win 5-4. They were up 4-1 when I turned the TV off. Magic number at 7. It would help if the Brewers would lose.
The only division races that are worth looking at are the two central divisions.
In the NL, the Cards have a 3 game lead on the Brewers with 9 to go. 6 of those 9 games are against the Cubs, who are 4 games back, so there is some drama in that, but it feels like the Cards only need to find their way to 3 or 4 wins to get to the title.
In the AL, the Twins are 4 games up on the Indians and all of the Twins remaining games are with the Royals and Tigers, who are only barely Major League ballclubs and are merely playing out the string. No drama in this race at all.
The real drama is in the wild cards. In the NL, the Nats have a 2 game lead on the Brewers who have a 1 game lead on the Cubs. The Dbacks are not technically out of it, but they are 5 game back of the Brewers for the 2nd wildcard, so they are a longshot. In the AL, the As have a 2 game lead on the Rays and Indians. That one's gonna go down to the wire. Should be fun!
-Jason "Yankees and Astros also battling for home field... currently Astros with a half-game lead" Evans
Cardinals beat the Cubs 2-1 today. A Brewers loss would be nice.
Braves win Braves win Braves win!!!!!
Acuna needs 3 steals to reach the magic 40-40 mark (he already has 41 homers). In the 7th he walked with the Braves leading 6-0. He proceeded to not attempt a steal (watching 9 pitches to Albies and Freeman) because at 6-0 there was no reason to rub the other team's nose in it by stealing a base.
I am guessing the command to stay on first came from Snitker though it is possible Acuna didn't want to go for the 40 setals that way. Whoever decided, I think it was really classy.
-Jason "that said, I hope the kids runs a lot over the next few games... 40-40 is really special and really rare and the next week of baseball is darn close to meaningless for the Braves" Evans
Cardinals beat the Diamondbacks for their sixth straight win to go 3.5 games up on the Brewers.
Cardinals lose 3-2 in 19 innings while the Brewers win so the magic number stays at 3 with 4 games to play.
I missed this entire series--apparently the Cardinals' first four-game sweep at Wrigley since 1921--traveling to visit my ailing father in North Carolina. But I did watch the Yadi/DeJong homers off Kimbrell a good twenty times. It's absolutely nuts. That had not happened at all in MLB since 2000. (First two pitches of ninth result in game-tying and lead-taking solo shots).
Greinke is 3 outs away from throwing a no hitter. This will be the third time the Mariners have been no-hit this season (an MLB record).
I'm not sure if the Red Sox or the Rangers are more awful here... I think it is the Red Sox. I mean, who gives a @@!#^@^& if your team was at bat when a guy struck out his 200th batter of the season? Why did they give up on a game just to try to stop a player from another team in another division (not a rival, like the Yankees) from making a personal statistical achievement?
https://deadspin.com/red-sox-and-ran...-ov-1838506027