One can solely assume the including of one other wild card in each leagues has had its desired impact for the MLB poohbahs as followers in no less than seven cities with in any other case flawed and mediocre groups are all nonetheless entertaining World Series pipedreams.
But the laborious fact is, the Rays, Blue Jays, Mariners or Orioles aren’t in the identical class as Dusty Baker’s Astros within the American League, whereas within the National League, the Padres, Phillies and Brewers are all second-class residents in comparison with the Dodgers and Braves (and even the Mets). Whether the powers-that-be care to confess it or not, there stays a fantastic, two-tiered divide in baseball. The first is between 10-11 actually dangerous groups and all the remainder, and the second between the wild card hopefuls and the really elite.
On Sept, 1, there have been 10 groups — a 3rd of baseball — that had been 25 or extra video games out of first place and 15 groups — half of baseball — with below .500 data. That’s a pretty big chunk of the trade turned to soccer with a month to go within the season. We’re speaking disparity right here and the truth that there are actually solely 3-4 elite, World Series-caliber groups in all of baseball — the Dodgers, Braves and Mets within the NL and solely the Astros within the AL, now that the Yankees, decimated by accidents, have gone into collapse.
We depend the Mets on this elite class however provided that Max Scherzer is wholesome and taking his common flip within the rotation and Starling Marte and Luis Guillorme are absolutely recovered and contributing come the tip of the season (once they play that three-game collection in Atlanta), and into October. Because one of many causes the Braves have been taking part in .700 ball since May 31 is that they’ve incurred no main accidents to any of their key regulars or beginning pitchers.
Meanwhile, some observations on a couple of of the wild card “pretenders”:
In the American League, the Mariners’ beginning pitchers Robbie Ray, Luis Castillo, Logan Gilbert and George Kirby make them a scary proposition come the postseason, however there’s nobody actually scary of their on a regular basis lineup they usually have little depth. …The Rays have one way or the other managed to hold in there within the AL East regardless of 9 pitchers on the IL together with their three prime starters Shane McClanahan, Tyler Glasnow and Shane Baz, they usually’ve struggled to attain runs all 12 months. But they’ve gotten Wander Franco and Brandon Lowe again from the IL now and in the event that they get McClanahan and one of many different starters again and pitching to kind by October they is also harmful. …The third place Blue Jays, with the best on a regular basis lineup within the AL this facet of the Astros, have been a thriller all 12 months, however they’re in command of their very own future with eight video games remaining with the Rays.
The National League wild card leaders are much more questionable. Since all their splashy trades on the deadline, the Padres have performed barely .500 ball and there’s one thing clearly lacking with them. … After beginning 22-29 below Joe Girardi, the Phillies made a surprising turnaround below Rob Thomson to surge into wild card rivalry. But they’ve recently been once more tormented by the identical shoddy protection and defective bullpen that doomed Girardi. … Corbin Burnes however, the Brewers have been a mannequin of inconsistency all season and have the look of a fast out within the playoffs in the event that they do one way or the other handle to cop a wild card.
IT’S A MADD, MADD WORLD
Sounds like the numerous rule adjustments authorized by MLB Friday have the total endorsement of Buck Showalter. “We’re going to have a better paced game,” stated Showalter of the implementation of a pitch clock of 15 seconds with the bases empty and 20 seconds with runners on, together with the constraints of two pickoff makes an attempt. “You’ll hear a lot of bitching at first but once everyone gets used to it, it’s gonna be good for the game. My only concern is they’ve got to implement all these new rules from Day 1 of spring training and in the World Baseball Classic. If they don’t, I’m not sending my players to the WBC. I’ll want them in spring training learning the new rules.” (In the minor leagues this 12 months, the pitch clock has minimize a mean of 26 minutes off the time of video games.)
As for the elimination of the defensive shifts, now requiring all 4 infielders to be positioned on the filth, two on all sides of second base, Showalter stated: “I’m all in on that. You’re gonna have real infielders at each position now and this is gonna eliminate the moans of the crowd when a batter does his job by hitting a ball through the hole into right field and it winds up being right at somebody. We all grew up knowing that hitting the ball up the middle was a true hit.” According to MLB, the doable elimination of the additional innings “ghost runner” rule (which purists particularly hate) and the three batter restrict per aid pitchers’ appearances (which seemingly everybody hates) are nonetheless below dialogue with the principles committee.
With the announcement that over half of the minor league gamers have turned in union authorization playing cards, it’s now seemingly the minor league gamers will in truth grow to be unionized with the Major League Players Association as their bargaining consultant. This is certainly not excellent news for the homeowners who will now should take care of two separate collective bargaining conditions each 4-5 years, however it’s a product of “you reap what you sow” after they applied their “120 Plan” two years in the past which eradicated 42 minor league groups and lots of of minor league jobs. According to at least one high-level minor league official, the largest beneficiaries of the unionized minor leagues figures to be the participant brokers. “The two biggest issues in any forthcoming minor league negotiations with the [MLB] owners are going to be slot values put on draft picks and the ability of college players to become free agents if they fail to sign after a certain period instead of being thrown back into the following year’s draft,” the official stated. “In both cases, those players, especially the high draft picks who get slot values, are represented by the same top agents. The owners will fight like hell to keep the slotting system, but this has all come about when they blew up the minor leagues and put them all under one MLB umbrella.”
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Source: www.bostonherald.com