Sid what's your take on the Cubs season so? Has to be a big disappointment for both fans and Craig Counsell, esp given the team he left is having an excellent year.
I didn't have an answer, but I felt that unlike in past years when pitching was an issue, offense seems to be the problem. So I went to NL team stats on MLB.com and found that my instincts were correct. They're 9th of 15 teams in pitching with a team ERA of 3.98 (Phillies 1st with impressive 3.17). They're 13th of 15 teams with a team BA of .229. The 2 teams below them are the Pirates and Reds, both NLC teams. Conversely, Counsell's old team, the Brewers, led by his college coach and long-time assistant at Milwaukee, Pat Murphy, are 3rd in team batting and 4th in team pitching. Bottom line: I'm inclined to put the onus on the front office for the lack of on-field personnel worthy of high-level competitiveness. Also, kudos to Bobda for his Brewers' performance thus far this season.
Adding to my post above, I aked my brother, who has been a diehard Cubs fan all his life, and who is a bit of a stat nerd, what his thoughts are. This is what he wrote: Here's a stat that will explain their primary problem : 20 saves in 37 save opportunities. Their relief corps is not very good. I believe they are 27th out of all 30 NL teams. ex., Adbert Alzolay who worked as the closer for most of the '23 season is 1-4 with a 4.67 ERA.
Astros 1 game behind at the break, way way better than I thought given our awful start. Doing it with a pitching staff that nobody knows their names.
I didn't see it but apparently the National Anthem was terrible last night for the Home Run Derby. The singer admitted that she was drunk and is going to rehab.
Love Ueck. One of the great things for me about the advent of mlb.com was the ability to listen to baseball games on the net while still at work, and because of that I learned just how great of a broadcaster he is. Granted, baseball is a situational game that lends itself to radio, but Bob is clearly one of the old-school radio announcers used to working alone and constantly updates balls, strikes, outs, runners on base and field positioning. And his ability to weave "great-tasting Usinger Bratwurst" into any sentence is amazing.
Stu, checking the MLB standings today, the Indians are in a 3-way tie with the Orioles and Dogers @ 70-49 for the best record in baseball. The Yankees are a half game behind @ 69-49.
Yup. Some injury problems with starters. The starters were supposed to be our strength this year with a questionable bullpen. But the pen is the best in baseball. Go figure.
Aaron Judge belts his 300th homerun, he's the fastest to 300. Ralph Kiner reached 300 homers in his 1,087th game, and Babe Ruth did in his 3,831st at-bat. Yankees' Judge fastest to 300 career home runs
Justin Verlander will make the start on Wednesday. If he can be the pitcher we expected it's a huge boost for the Astros. We'll have to wait and see.
Astros swept a 4 game home series with KC, now lead the division by 6 games. I thought we were headed to 90 losses the way we started. Hard not to notice the Cubs have turned around the season as well.
I like this... 7. American League West Standings: Houston Astros 6 games up on Mariners Since June 21, when the Mariners held a seven-game lead over the Astros, the Mariners have gone 25-35 -- even though they've allowed the second-fewest runs in the majors. They were 16-7 in one-run games at that point, 7-15 since, including back-to-back one-run losses to the Angels to close out the weekend. Given the Astros are the team that has allowed the fewest runs since June 21, this race is all but over.