2021 Baseball Season AKA Pandemic Baseball: The Second Wave

[MT 900]

 

[Eizan 126]

Lot of names swirling around before the trade deadline. 

[dr. b 486]

Yeah it’s pretty busy! Looks like the Dads are trying to go all-in. 

[Eizan 126]

Looks like the Dodgers are going to take Scherzer away from the Padres, but also pick up Trea Turner from the Nationals as well. 

 

Yankees and Red Sox made some pretty big moves.

[dr. b 486]

Yeah, I thought after the rumours last night that Scherzer to the Pads was a done deal  Turner is of course a great pick-up as well. I guess this is the Dodgers telling the Giants and Padres to GTFO  (I'm still having trouble wrapping my mind about this Giants team being in first place...)

 

This is not going to be the Blue Jays year, I don't think. It will take a very strong finish to even get into the Wild Card play-in  I still think they can stay competitive, and maybe even fight their way into the WC game, but it ain't gonna be easy. 

 

Joey Gallo would have fit the Jays' *so* well... and now he's a Yankee  Truly the worst possible outcome. 

[dr. b 486]

The Blue Jays are apparently trading for Jose Berrios and Joakim Soria. Looks like Soria has been decent in the DBacks bullpen this year. And Berrios should be a great addition to the starting rotation, though the cost of acquiring him wasn't cheap. I'm no prospect-hugger, so I'll trade prospects any day of the week to get a proven big leaguer, but the guys they traded for Berrios were regarded pretty highly in the Jays' farm system.

[Eizan 126]

This has been one of the wildest trade deadlines I've seen in a long time. 

 

I think Kyle Hendricks is the only player left on the Cubs I know. 

 

Well with Berrios, hopefully they can slow down the bats the Red Sox and Yankees picked up. 

[dr. b 486]

Yeah the Cubs really cleaned house. 
 

I agree that this deadline was nuts. I gotta read through MLBTR later to get caught up on everything. Between the trade deadline and all the stuff happening during NBA draft night last night, there have been so many interesting transactions to follow along with. 

[Eizan 126]

Hey, if the Mariners win tonight they did the Jays a favor by taking all 7 games from the Rays this year. 

 

 

[dr. b 486]

While that is nice, I'd rather the Mariners just lose  The Jays need to go on a run to get back into the Wild Card picture, but they also need some of the teams ahead of them to start losing more. I can't believe the M's are still doing as well as they are. Their record in one-run games is pretty incredible. When games aren't close though, they tend to lose a lot. The run differential isn't good.

[Eizan 126]

Well the Mariners lost, but to the Yankees. So the Jays passed the M's, but not gain any ground on the Yankees or A's. 

 

However, it's nice to see Boston slipping. 

 

BTW, if the Rockies only played at Coors Field they might be a playoff team. I don't think I ever seen a team so good at home, but so bad on the road. 

[dr. b 486]

The Jays took 3 of 4 games from Boston this weekend!

 

Friday night they thumped Boston and had a 9-run inning (glorious stuff), Saturday was a double-header with a couple of close games, and then today was a comeback win on a Springer 3-run homer. 
 

The Toronto bullpen is still a concern… but the lineup is so dangerous. They are on a roll since moving back to Toronto. 

[dr. b 486]

Chris Davis retired. Boy did his production fall off a cliff a few years ago. It was almost comical how bad his slump was during his first really bad season, but then he never rebounded from it became a pretty sad thing to watch. 

[Eizan 126]

Even when he was hitting all those home runs he was also striking out a lot. 

 

You know if the Blue Jays want to make the Playoffs, they shouldn't be losing to the Mariners. 

 

I'm also starting to worry that the Padres won't make the playoffs. It's going to look really bad if they get swept by the Diamondbacks. The Reds and a few other teams are starting to creep up on that 2nd Wild Card Spot.

[dr. b 486]

12 minutes ago, Eizan said:

You know if the Blue Jays want to make the Playoffs, they shouldn't be losing to the Mariners. 

No, they shouldn’t!!!

[dr. b 486]

The Blue Jays are killing me   The bullpen specifically. How can you lose two games to the Nats!? Uuugggghhhhhh

[Eizan 126]

Yea I was coming to post about that. Forget losing to the Mariners, but losing to a unloaded Nationals team is uhh no what you want to be doing. 

 

Yankees have taken over the Wild Card spot. The A's and Red Sox been losing. Good thing for the Mariners who still have 3 games against the Red Sox and 9 against the A's. The bad part is having 9 games against the Astro's still.

[Eizan 126]

See why I was worried about playing the Astro's? Lost 12-3 and then 15-1. 

 

I don't think either of our Teams will make it. Yankees will probably lock the first spot (assuming they don't take the division) and the Red Sox and A's will fight for that 2nd spot. 

[dr. b 486]

Seattle usually doesn’t win in blow-outs,  so it’s tough against teams with lots of offensive firepower. They need to keep games close. 
 

Toronto stopped the bleeding a little bit last night with a win, but even if they win a lot of their remaining games, they might still come up short. Too many teams ahead of them. I think they do still have a couple series left against NYY though. Winning those games could help them move up the Wild Card standings. But even still, they need Boston, Seattle, Oakland to start losing more games too. 

[Eizan 126]

Jeez, maybe the Mariners should just walk Salvador Perez, 4 Home Runs and 11 RBI in the series. 

[Eizan 126]

Well the Jays swept the A's so that dropped them to 5th in the Wild Card Race and they get to go to New York with the Yankees slumping. Maybe the Mariners and Blue Jays can both take a Wild Card Spot. Since they play the Yankees 7 times and the Mariners still have a 3 game series against the Red Sox. Thus a post season without the Yankees or Red Sox. 

[dr. b 486]

I like your optimism dude!

 

I won’t get my hopes up too much yet, but this weekend’s series against Oakland was great. Pitching faltered but the bats finally came through. This team should be able to out-score teams quite a bit. 
 

In the remainder of the schedule, Toronto plays Baltimore several more times too. They absolutely need to win as many games as possible against the Yanks, but racking up wins against the O’s is also very important. I don’t think the Jays have any games left against Boston though. We need them to lose. 

[dr. b 486]

Jays smack the Yanks 8-0 today

[dr. b 486]

Tampa did me a favour and bear Boston this afternoon too!

 

Your Ms are not doing so hot tonight though…  

[Eizan 126]

Yea, but at least this is the last series against the Astro's, so maybe we at least take the last 2

[Eizan 126]

Nice sweep of the Yankees from the Blue Jays. 

 

This AL wild card race is going to be interesting. 

[dr. b 486]

Man, I am riding high after that sweep of NYY.

 

23 games left on the Jays' sched. 14 (!) are against the O's and Twins. Both of those teams stink. Don't mess around, Blue Jays, don't play down to their levels. Take care of business and rack up a bunch of wins. Plz 🙏 Because there are still 3 games left vs. NYY that I really want to see them win too. And 6 games vs. Tampa  that I am less confident about. No shame if they lose a few games to the Rays, or even Yankees. The Rays are very good this year, and the Yanks are a solid team too. But don't go losing to the bottom-feeders.

 

[dr. b 486]

Huge comeback win by the Jays in game one of today’s double-header. I was worried for a while there Four runs in the final inning to go ahead 11-10!

[Eizan 126]

22 Runs today. 

[dr. b 486]

Yesterday the Jays scored 22 runs across two games. Today another 22  They has like 16 runs on the board by the 3rd inning. I was starting to feel a bit bad for the players on the O’s. What a bad team. Ain’t the players fault either. Management aren’t spending any money on players or trying to win. 

[dr. b 486]

The Jays are up 6-0 against the Rays right now (bottom of the 5th). The game ain’t over yet, but…

 

 

Lourdes Gurriel Jr. is on a crazy hot streak right now. The dude can’t get out. He’s a very aggressive hitter with really good plate coverage. When he’s on fire like this, what can a pitcher do? He’ll hit anything right now. Keep it up, Lourdes!

[dr. b 486]

 

Now can the M’s please beat Boston???

[dr. b 486]

Eizan

[Eizan 126]

If the Jays can take all 6 games vs the Rays, the division could be in grasp. 

[dr. b 486]

Let's not get ahead of ourselves!!! But I will admit that I have thought a little bit about the Jays' chances to win the division. They are 12-1 to start September, while Tampa is 5-7. It's unreasonable to ask the Jays to win all 6 games against Tampa. It's not impossible, but it's improbable... but, on the other hand, they're already doing the improbable by going 12-1 so far in September, so... maybe there's a slim chance that they could do it?  It would be an incredible finish to the season if they could pull it off. I'm not going to get my hopes up yet though. Just take care of business and secure a WC spot.

[Eizan 126]

Where did St. Louis come from? I've see they've taken the 2nd NL Wild Card spot for now. It seems like they do this every year. 

[dr. b 486]

The Cards use Devil Magic of some sort. 

 

The Jays and M's both lost last night  Hopefully they'll get the better of the Rays and Red Sox tonight!

[Eizan 126]

Well the M's blew both games late, so uhh good luck to the Jays. 

[dr. b 486]

The rest of the M's schedule is pretty soft, so if they win a bunch of games then maybe they can still get in. But they also need the teams ahead of them in the WC race to lose. Scoreboard watching is no fun.

 

The Jays won yesterday though  Taking 2 of 3 from the Rays feels good. They played this series in Toronto again. Next week they play them 3 times again, but in Tampa. I'd be happy to come out of The Trop with just 1 win. But I will of course they beat those damn Rays as many times as possible!

[Eizan 126]

Seattle is probably done, but hope the Jays can make it. That lineup would be fun to watch. 

 

The Mariners will probably help keep the A's from storming back in. 

 

It also seems that the Padres are imploding with themselves now. 

[dr. b 486]

It’s a bummer about the M’s and the Dads. I guess they both still have an outside chance, but they’ll need other teams to lose. San Diego has been kinda bad in the second half of the season. 
 

Toronto is still in a tight race. Just keep winning please! They still have one series left vs. the Yankees, which could be pivotal.

 

I’m still waiting for the Red Sox to fall apart… felt like it was going to happen weeks ago… 

[Eizan 126]

The Yankees are the team falling apart, however it's glorious to see them struggle, especially after that 13 game winning streak. 

 

 

[dr. b 486]

Yeah they got beat 22-4 across Saturday and Sunday   You love to see it  NYY's run differential is actually quite low after these last 2 games, at only +23. They have 'only' scored 650 runs so far this season. Tampa, Boston, and Toronto are all closing in on 800 runs scored right now. Even the worst teams, like the O's and D-backs, have put up over 600 runs thus far. The Yankee hitters just aren't getting it done... with the players they have, you'd think they'd be doing better. They also have a fairly difficult schedule the rest of the way. The next series is vs. Texas which isn't so hard, but then they hit the road for series in Boston and Toronto, then close the season at home vs. Tampa. The AL East teams can work together here to bury the Yankees and keep them out of the postseason

[dr. b 486]

Damnit Rays  Realistically, I'm happy if the Jays come out of their trip to The Trop with just one win and no injuries / catastrophes... but I'm still hoping they can win two games. It's harder to do that when you drop the first game though.

[Eizan 126]

At least the Blue Jays have 7 games vs the Twins and O's. The Yankee series will be important same for the Red Sox and Yankees, but the Sox close with the Nationals and O's so chances are they will get a spot. 

 

I kind of want to see the NL Wild Card game be a pitching matchup between Wainwright and Scherzer. 

[Eizan 126]

The Blue Jays ready to sweep the Yankees? 

 

16 in row for the Cardinals now. I guess that is a good way to win a 2nd wild card spot huh? 

[dr. b 486]

1 hour ago, Eizan said:

The Blue Jays ready to sweep the Yankees? 

They better be. These will be must-win games from both team’s perspectives. It will be disappointing if the Jays come up short this year. They’ve gotten such incredible performances from Ray and Semien. They’re both on one-year deals and will probably have teams lining up to pay them this winter. I’m not sure if the Jays can retain both guys and still afford to sign/extend their younger guys in the coming years when their rookie deals are up. I hope they can at least keep Ray.

 

The Cards are annoying but I have to admit that this win streak has been impressive. 

[dr. b 486]

Here comes the Mariners!!!

[Eizan 126]

You know what, the Rays had to go and Walk not 1, but 2 runs in the bottom of the 9th for the Astro's to win last night. Could of have been 3.5 behind the Astros as well. 

 

It help when the Mariners win 11 in a row vs the A's and are 14-4 vs them on the year. 

[dr. b 486]

Yeah that’s wild. 14-4 against the A’s, maybe they’ll make it 15-4 tonight. I think we can count out the A’s from the WC race now. Then the M’s close the season against LAA and they’re 10-6 against them so far this year. Definitely a good chance to play themselves into the WC game. 
 

Toronto absolutely has to win tonight and tomorrow vs. NYY or the season is basically over. Seattle seems like they will keep winning games, and I can’t rely on Baltimore to beat Boston again. Boston has a very weak schedule this week. I’ll be shocked if they lose their WC spot, though I have been expecting them to collapse for weeks now…