2023 Baseball Season

[Eizan 123]

Interesting that the Braves and Rays have a series to end the first half of the season. 

 

Also, the Blue Jays can't beat the Red Sox...if the Jays get close to the playoffs at the end currently being 0-7 against Boston doesn't help. 

[dr. b 477]

The Jays crushed the Red Sox last year... they won the season series 16-3. I think Boston is out for some revenge this year. At this rate, I don't see the Jays making the WC games anyways. And if they do, they'll flame out like they did last year against the M's. It will take a very strong second half push, and maybe a couple of trades, to get me to really believe that this team can actually make some noise in the postseason. It's a bummer, but I'll still be living and dying with every pitch no matter how frustrating they are  

[Eizan 123]

O's take over first place. 

 

The injuries to the Rays pitching rotation is taking it's toll. 

[dr. b 477]

Wouldn't it be wild and crazy if the Rays (or the O's for that matter!) swung a deadline deal for Ohtani and then won the World Series this year!

 

Also, how about that dumb injury for Kelenic? Not looking great for the M's this year.

[dr. b 477]

Jays took two of three this week at Dodger Stadium. Should have been a sweep but they blew it last night. We will not talk about what took place in Seattle last weekend  

 

Toronto host the Angels this coming weekend. Kinda thinking about trying to snag a couple tix to see Ohtani play... but I am so broke right now  Probably just watching on TV.

[Eizan 123]

Ohtani is just incredible, goes out and throws a 1 hitter for game 1 and hits 2 HR's in game 2 today. 

 

I don't like the Angels, but I wouldn't mind them in the playoffs just to see how he does. 

[dr. b 477]

Thank Jesus they are not trading him. That would have been the worst look ever. Looks like they even picked up Giolito from the ChiSox. I'd love to see Ohtani and Trout go on a deep run in October. 

[Eizan 123]

Seattle is only 5.5 from the Rangers and 4.5 for the Wild Card. 

 

You figured by this time someone other than Atlanta would have put up some kind of decent lead. I think Toronto will pass Tampa by the end of August, don't think they catch Baltimore though. 

[dr. b 477]

The Jays have 7 games still against the O's. They start a 4-game series today, and then a 3-gamer mid-August. A strong performance in these 7 games could help the Jays move up the standings. I am not setting my hopes very high, because the Jays have been so frustrating this season... but I would love to see them pick up a bunch of wins against Baltimore! Tampa has been bad in July but I feel like they'll turn it around before long. They always seem to find a way.

 

Trade action is starting to pick up. The Jays got Hicks from the Cards -- finally some serious heat in the bullpen! The Angels are making a few moves. Hard to see them really making a strong postseason push... but it would be a cool thing to see Trout and Ohtani playing into October. And the Mets are doing some kinda rebuild / re-tool. I think it's smart to get out of the Max Scherzer business now. Might as well cash in on Verlander too. They could turn things around pretty quick with the right trade returns, maybe be competitive again in another year or two if all the stars align.

[Eizan 123]

Well looks like Ohtani and the Angels won't make the playoffs, they need a lot of teams to start collapsing. Also they would also need to start winning...

 

A shame the Mariners been playing pretty good, but have made no ground in the West...but they are closing in on the Jays for that 3rd Wild Card Spot. 

[dr. b 477]

The Jays turned things up a bit over the weekend. Their AAA call-up (Davis Schneider) had an incredible big league debut. Look at his boxscores from the three games in Boston. Unbelievable stuff from a 28th round draft pick that nobody ever would have put much stock in! I really hope he sticks in the MLB. Super likeable guy.

 

And, yeah, it is looking rather bleak for the Angels. I think they broke Ohtani. What else can he do? I suppose he'll be MVP in the AL this year, which is cool, but he seems like the kind of dude who just wants his team to win games more so than win individual awards.

[dr. b 477]

Yeesh, bit of a rough week for your M's, Eizan..! At least they got back in the W column last night. But those losses against the O's a few days ago, and then the walk-off loss to KC... that's tough. Good thing they racked up a nice little win streak before those losses. Getting closer to the WC race again.

[Eizan 123]

The M's schedule is pretty rough at the end of the Season. Granted there is a 3 game series with the A's in there, but 13 of the last 16 games are against the Dodgers, Rangers and Astros. 

 

I'd rather take the 12 games the Jays have against the Rays and Yankees. 

[dr. b 477]

Yeah the Rays and Yanks are hurting right now. But the Jays have played very poorly against all the AL East teams so far this summer. You never know what can happen!

[Eizan 123]

So actually those games against the Rangers and Astros are looking like the could be very important, since it will end up putting the Division on the line. The finish for the AL West could be very interesting. 

 

Also Julio Rodrigues is finding a groove at the right time. 

 

 @ Yankees 

[Rulkster 46]

A quick scan of the topic and I happy to know I'm not the only one enjoying the Yankees losing.

[dr. b 477]

I am going to watch and wait a bit longer before I celebrate the Yankees' struggles. At this point, they're not likely to turn it around... but I want to be really sure about that before I say anything  

[Rulkster 46]

Fair. Doesn't matter the sport, it's just amazing to watch a forever elite team start to fall. 

[Eizan 123]

Ohtani is done pitching for the season, but the man is still going to DH. I mean Angels are pretty much out of it, should just shut him down the rest of the season. 

[dr. b 477]

Ohtani is sort of within striking distance of Judge's HR total from last year, so maybe he wants to go for it... Or at least ensure he still wins the AL MVP. But, yeah, I think he'd be smarter to just shut it down for the year. The team ain't going anywhere.

 

The Jays lost tonight. This series against Cleveland is going to be the death of me if they don't win Saturday and Sunday. This team is killing me   

[Eizan 123]

Well the AL West is now a three team race. Jays will need to keep up in order to keep a Wild Card spot. 

[Eizan 123]

First Place

[dr. b 477]

Jays 2.5 games back of the WC race. Very annoying.

 

But at least they won the first game of their series against the Nats last night. Their next 11 games are against the Nats (2), Rockies (3), A's (3) and Royals (3). It's a bit too much to expect them to win every game... but honestly, they really should run the table against these bad teams. That's what a good team would do. 

 

After playing the bad teams, they have four games at home vs. Texas. That could be very impactful in the WC race depending on how things go over the next week and a half.

[Eizan 123]

I think the Jays and Mariners will both make the playoffs, but at least this time they won't face each other in the first round. 

 

I believe the Rangers will be the odd team out. So you'll have the O's, Rays, Blue Jays, Twins, Astros, and Mariners for the AL with the Braves, Phillies, Brewers, Cubs, Dodgers and I'm unsure about the 6th spot. I want to give it to the Giants. 

 

Regardless, I think the Braves win the whole thing, they are really good. 

[dr. b 477]

Yeah, the Braves are super duper good. But we've seen lots of Dodgers teams in recent years dominate the regular season and then come up short of a World Series. You never know what might happen in October! I do like the Braves' chances though.

 

The Jays are mostly winning against the bad teams they're playing right now and are only 0.5 games back of a WC spot. I'm gonna be super bummed out if they miss a WC spot... but I'm feeling more hopeful right now, so that's good.

[Eizan 123]

After reading about Kirby's comments and something I think Clemens said about how Minor's handle pitchers now it seems the M's are struggling with pitchers hitting their limits for innings and at the worse time. 

[dr. b 477]

That was a bad look from Kirby for sure... but I think all the old guys getting outraged about it on X can just settled down. It's not such a big deal. The game isn't played and managed the same way anymore. It definitely would be a bad time for the M's to start falling apart though   

 

The Jays swept the Royals over the weekend. This week the Rangers come to town for four games. It's an important series for both teams! Toronto really needs to be ready for this.

[Eizan 123]

This is going to be nerve wrecking for the both of us isn't it? 

[dr. b 477]

I can't stand the damn Rangers...

[Eizan 123]

Could they at least take one game? 

[dr. b 477]

I DO NOT LIKE THE RANGERS

 

Hoping for a win tonight, but the Jays really haven't given me anything to be optimistic about since this series started... I definitely won't be shocked if they get swept  

[Eizan 123]

Got swept by the Dodgers, but Rangers and Astros didn't have a good weekend either. 

 

I think your Blue Jays are fine on getting a Wild Card spot. Just on the fact that Seattle and Texas have 7 games against each other left. 

[dr. b 477]

It's really hard to say with this Jays team. Offensively, on paper, they ought to be so much better... but these guys seem to have no power. They take walks, they get lots of hits (singles), but struggle with the "big" hits (RISP or HRs). It sucks watching them and say they're down by 2 or 3 runs in the 6th inning, and it's like, "Well, they can't possibly come back from that!"  Previous Jays teams never had trouble scoring, and you instead had to worry about the 'pen maybe blowing it if the lead wasn't big enough. Looking back, that is a lot more fun to watch compared to this team that just can't score enough.

 

They have 6 games left vs. Tampa, and the Rays could still win the division, so they'll be competing in those games. And 6 games vs. the Yankees, who are quite bad this year, but they'll still be trying to win just to play spoiler.

 

I hope the M's can start racking up wins again and get into the WC.

[dr. b 477]

The M's are back in the win column after a couple games against Oakland. Seattle and Texas are tied for the third WC spot, only a game behind Toronto  Gonna be a close finish! Baltimore has been beating up on the Astros the last couple days too, so the ALW division race is getting super tight again.

[Eizan 123]

Yea and after Oakland, it's nothing but the Rangers and Astro's. So uhh going to be interesting. 

 

Best case win the division and take the number 2 seed or take the 6th seed and play Minnesota.