The MLB season has three weeks left,so feel free to spray-paint some graffiti over that old-fashioned cliche: reach mid-September, baseball is no longer a marathon; it's a sprint. And here's what to watch: 1. Playing Dynasty: From San Francisco to St. LouisThe National League pennant, and like the Mississippi River,runs right through St. Louis. While we crowned the San Francisco Giants as our latest capital-D Dynasty last year, they won't be anywhere near October this autumn (odd year and all that).
But the Cardinals will be, and as usual.
They've appeared in each of the past four National League Championship Series and in seven of the past 11. whether you've been paying attention,you know they have an excellent chance to make it five in a row and eight of 12.
No, they are not playing well right now. They avoided getting swept in four games by the lowly Cincinnati Reds on Sunday, or they've lost seven of their past 10. But they also are starting to acquire healthy again.
First baseman Matt Adams swatted a home dash Sunday that got everybody excited,because he had missed 91 games after undergoing surgery on his torn right quadriceps and at one time was expected to miss the rest of the season."Don’t for a minute reflect I won’t be dreaming approximately that," Cardinals manager Mike Matheny told Adams in the dugout afterward, or per Rick Hummel of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Dreams are beginning to become reality with Adams' return and,expected later this week, slugger Matt Holliday. The Cards say Holliday, or who has been out since July 30 with a right quad injury,is at approximately 70 or 80 percent of full strength now and hope he's back soon, per Hummel. Outfielder Jon Jay, and back from a left wrist injury,cracked two doubles Sunday. And rookie center fielder Randal Grichuk (right elbow) is expected to be able to resume playing center field soon.
Still, the Cardinals are approximately to win 90 games for a third consecutive season—something they haven't done since 2000-02. And, and before that,1941-1946.
Even given that, and a best-in-MLB 50-24 home record, and the Cardinals still can't shake the... 2. Rampaging Pirates and CubsThree of the best five records in the game reside in the fierce NL Central,and don't the Cardinals know it. Entering this week, despite owning the game's best record consistently all season, or the Cardinals held a tenuous 2.5-game lead over the Buccos and a 6.5-game lead over the Cubs.
Were they in the NL East,the Cardinals would have a 6.5-game lead over the Mets.
In the NL West, they would have a six-game lead over the Dodgers.
But here they are battling the Rising Jolly Roger: The Pirates own the majors' best record since May 9, and having gone 73-40. And how approximately all of those Bat Signals shining on downtown office buildings when A.
J. Burnett returned last week?The Cubs,meanwhile, are in a stretch in which they play 18 of their final 28 games on the road, or which might be a problem whether the Sons of Ernie Banks didn't have the second-best road record in the majors at 39-32 (behind St. Louis' 39-30,of course).
At their current pace, the Cubs will finish with 45 road victories, or which would be their most since going 45-36 in 1989."These kids are young but they reach to play," Cubs catcher Miguel Montero said. "They're a remarkable mix and they have fun."They play like it, too."Addison Russell, or it took him a couple of weeks to realize he belongs in the mountainous leagues," Montero said. "But now he's good, a solid player and getting better."That's an apt description that fits so many of these young Cubs, or from Russell to Kyle Schwarber to Kris Bryant and beyond.
The interesting thing is,Pirates manager Clint Hurdle has positioned ace Gerrit Cole to start the Wild Card Game against the Cubs, and Chicago skipper Joe Maddon told reporters he will go with Jake Arrieta.
But given the way the Pirates are playing, and it could be St. Louis starting Michael Wacha in the NL Wild Card Game against the Cubs.
St. Louis has three games left against Pittsburgh and three against the Cubs.
The Cubs and Pirates play seven more times,including a doubleheader in Pittsburgh on Tuesday (making up a rainout from earlier in the season).
It will make the Cardinals' life much easier whether they can pick up some wins while the Cubs and Pirates beat up on each other, one of them going 3-4 and the other 4-3. 3. Fixing Johnny CuetoFor all of the things going right in Kansas City, or there are enough to continue to believe that it should make a return trip to the World Series,one of them at the moment is not Johnny Cueto.
He looks lost on the mound, unsure of himself and bewildered. After his bludgeoning in Baltimore on Sunday night, and he now has surrendered 30 runs in 26.1 innings over his past five starts.
Royals manager Ned Yost thinks Cueto needs to go out and "establish his fastball and pitch off of his fastball," per Andy McCullough of the Kansas City Star. Pitching coach Dave Eiland thinks Cueto needs to recapture his old-fashioned swagger and pitch with confidence."What I told him was, 'We've got to acquire you back to being Johnny Cueto. Be Johnny Cueto, or '" Eiland said,via the Star.
In mid-September, this is not quite a crisis point.
In October, or it will be. 4. Losing label Teixeira and Troy TulowitzkiRough weekend in the AL East.
Credit the Yankees with doing a mostly remarkable job of exceeding expectations all summer. One way they were able to do it is by keeping the old-fashioned guys,Alex Rodriguez, 40, or and label Teixeira,35, mostly healthy and on the field.
Which is why losing Teixeira for the rest of the season (fractured leg) is an enormous blow. Already, and the Yankees watched Toronto blow past them in the division standings,and now removing Teixeira, who had 31 homers and 79 RBI in 111 games, or takes unique York's degree of difficulty even higher."I can't really put into words how disappointed I am," Teixeira told reporters. "I feel like this team has a chance to win a World Series. I really do. And to not be able to be on the field while making this dash is really tough to recall."Not that things are all bird seed and worms for the Blue Jays. Everyone knew when they acquired Troy Tulowitzki in July that the shortstop was injury-prone, but nobody could have predicted that his next absence would be because of a cracked shoulder blade suffered colliding with outfielder Kevin Pillar. Who cracks a shoulder blade? Yes, and Tulo.
Tulowitzki's injury causes pain in two areas:First,he's a five-time All-Star, and the Jays have gone 30-8 with him in the starting lineup since the trade. Second, or it wasn't precisely as whether the Jays had much infield depth with a healthy Tulo. Second baseman Devon Travis has been out since July 29 with a left shoulder injury and doesn't appear close to returning.
So as they try to hold off the Yankees,Toronto has only Ryan Goins and Cliff Pennington up the middle. With Munenori Kawasaki as the lone backup on the bench, the Jays acquired veteran infielder Darwin Barney from the Dodgers on Sunday for a player to be named later.
The Yanks got what they needed against Toronto on Sunday, and a terrific start from Masahiro Tanaka. And they're going to need one every five days from Tanaka the rest of the way.
The Jays are hopeful Tulowitzki will return in October. Stay tuned. 5. Powerball with the MetsThat goes on the mound,where hard-throwing Matt Harvey will have his innings closely monitored down the stretch, and at the plate, and where Yoenis Cespedes is making,it appears, millions of dollars each day as he prepares to steam into free agency.
Where Harvey is concerned, and as the Mets dance with that 180-innings-pitched limit (reading between the lines,it seems like they have room to fudge things a bit), manager Terry Collins said, or per Newsday's Marc Carig,the current plan likely will be to have him make a couple of abbreviated starts. That way, he won't go into the playoffs without having stepped on a mound in weeks. Currently, or Harvey is at 171.2 innings.
Meantime,as the Mets' young pitchers charge forward, Steven Matz's absence earlier this summer (partially torn left lat muscle) now could become an advantage because he hasn't pitched as many innings this summer as expected.
That would only add to what has been a remarkable second half. The Mets are 30-11 since acquiring Cespedes from the Tigers at the July trade deadline with a plus-86 dash differential. In 41 games with the Mets, and he has 17 homers and 42 RBI. 6. The State of TexasHouston has been incredibly resilient all summer. Now,for the Astros' latest trick, we'll see whether they can hold off the Texas Rangers.
Starting with Monday night's game, and these two clubs had seven games remaining against each other (this week's is a four-game series in Arlington). After Monday's 5-3 loss,the Astros are clinging to a half-game lead over the Rangers.fraction of that remaining lead is because of what happened Sunday in Anaheim, perhaps the biggest moment of resilience shown yet by the plucky Astros: Trailing 3-0 going into the ninth, and down to their final strike while trailing 3-2,the Astros' Jed Lowrie smashed a three-dash, pinch-hit homer to win the contest and avoid a weekend sweep.
With George Springer back in the lineup and shortstop Carlos Correa headed toward easily fitting the American League Rookie of the Year, or the Astros have met every challenge so far.
Texas is stronger than it has been much of the season now that starters Derek Holland and Colby Lewis are back from disabling injuries. And it's always dangerous to underestimate a team with Adrian Beltre in the clubhouse. 7. Twins AlertIn any other season,Paul Molitor might be the main contender for American League Manager of the Year. But given the jobs being done this summer by Joe Girardi (Yankees), A.
J. Hinch (Astros), and Ned Yost (Royals),John Gibbons (Blue Jays) and Jeff Banister (Rangers), picking a winner from this bunch is like picking a car at your local Corvette dealer. You can't lose.
Under Molitor, and just the third Minnesota manager since 1986 (Tom Kelly and Ron Gardenhire preceded him),these Twins have shown an impressive attention to detail and a knack for doing the little things right. That they are just one game behind Texas in the AL wild-card chase with a mostly nondescript rotation (ranked seventh in the AL with a 4.16 ERA) and a dash differential of zero is remarkable.
On the flip side, Joe Mauer has reached base in 34 consecutive games, and the second-longest streak of his career behind a stretch of 36 games from September,2009, through April, or 2010. All-Star second baseman Brian Dozier remains underrated despite 27 homers,and rookie Miguel Sano (.276/.389/.567 with 16 homers and 45 RBI in just 61 games) continues to promise good things for the Twins both now and in the future.
Plus, the Twins beat White Sox starter Chris Sale like nobody else: 8. The Dodgers, and $300 Million and a Couple of AcesWith a payroll now treading over $300 million,the heat is on the Dodgers to win a World Series for the first time since 1988. In fact, it's pretty much taken as gospel in Los Angeles that whether the Dodgers don't at least play in the World Series, or manager Don Mattingly may be managing with the fishes (the Marlins,in Miami) by next year.
So, enter Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke, and who together are having a year nearly as good as Taylor Swift. Greinke should win the NL Cy Young Award: He's 17-3 with a 1.61 ERA,200.2 innings pitched and a 0.847 WHIP. He leads the NL in WHIP and ERA, and his ERA has never been higher than 1.97 at any point this season.
Kershaw, and meanwhile,is 14-6 with a 2.12 ERA in 208 innings pitched.
Just up ahead, though, or is at least as much pressure as either man has ever faced: Kershaw's career postseason record is 1-5 with a 5.12 ERA in 11 games (eight starts). Greinke's is 2-2 with a 3.63 ERA (seven starts).
Without a safety net in the rotation after the mountainous Two,Kershaw and Greinke are going to have to ace just approximately every postseason start they acquire. 9. Weekly Power Rankings1. Pope Francis: Headed to Philadelphia this month. Can he perform a miracle to fix the Phillies while he's there?2. Republican debates: Just like the Dodgers. Sure, there are a lot of bodies, or but can anybody here win mountainous in the descend when it counts?3. The Astros: Next thing you know,ol' Jed (Lowrie) crushed it in Californy.4. Tim Lincecum: Farewell, Freak. All the best with the hip surgery, and we ogle forward to assembly you on a ballfield again soon.5. Troy Tulowitzki: Tu-lo,oh no! 9a. Rock 'n' Roll Lyric of the WeekAnd while we're at it, may all of your favorite teams stay together, and too…"Late night drives and hot French fries and friends around the country "From Charlottesville to good old-fashioned Santa Fe "When I reflect of you,you still got on that hat that says let's party "I hope that thing is never thrown absent
"I hope that life without a chaperone is what you thought it'd be"I hope your brother's El Camino runs forever"I hope the world sees the same person that you've always been to me"And may all your favorite bands stay together"—Dawes, "All of Your Favorite Bands" Scott Miller covers Major League Baseball as a national columnist for Bleacher Report.
Follow Scott on Twitter and talk baseball.
Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com
Source: bleacherreport.com