When the Braves get the chance, I hope they plunk Urena. That MFer has it coming. Acuna was putting up historic numbers.
Verlander finally get's the 200th win of his career. He's likely a HOF, if he plays out his contract with the Astros and has a great finish to his career I wonder if he'd consider going into the HOF as an Astro rather than a Tiger?
I like Verlander and I think he has a shot at the HOF as well. Let's compare him to one of my favorite Yankees, Andy Pettitte. Seasons: V-14 P-18 Wins: V-200 P-256 Losses: V-122 P-153 ERA: V-3.41 P-3.85 Both average over 14 wins per year for their careers. If Verlander can pitch four more good years ( he's 35 ) he will finish around Pettitte's numbers. I would not mind seeing both go in !
I think it will be hard for Verlander to get to Andy's numbers, that'd be 3 more years and as a Power pitcher you have to wonder if he'll be able to keep that Power going. Right now he can still reach back and get that fastball up to high 90's. ...how much longer though. I'm hoping to get 2 more years out of him at the current level he's pitching. Of course Andy is being hurt by the steriod deal, even though unlike like Clemens he just owned up and apologized. Justin has no such worries. Plus I think the new standard is going to be the 200+ win pitcher as going forward I can't see many if any modern day pitchers making 300 wins which is the automatic election number.
I think Pettitte's transgression was using an amino acid HGH for a short period of time as part of his recovery from an elbow injury in 2002. And you're right, he owned up to it right away. It may be splitting hairs but he used a substance that was not a steroid nor was it banned by MLB. He got four injections in his elbow and it was therapeutic, not performance enhancing.
That was a great play, but I think the guy beat the throw the ump just gave it to Wong for his tremendous effort! :twisted:
Well Joel's rSox are the 1st team to clinch their division title. Astros are battling Oakland so I doubt if we can clinch till the last week, Cleveland probably will be the next to clinch as they have a 15 game lead. I think the playoffs will be Astros/rSox/Indians/Yankee's I don't think the A's can beat out the Yankees. Not following the NL so much, it does sort of look like Atlanta, Chicago, DBacks and Brewers or maybe the Dodgers.
The NL races are pretty exciting. Also, there are some good teams involved in those slug fests. I'm obviously a Sox guy and the Astros are incredible, but there's just something about the Indians.... they've got that 'something' this year and I think they could be a World Series contender.
Indians scare me as well, this year they haven't blown it all on a 23 game winning streak either! :shock:
It's going to be very interesting to see how AJ Hinch crafts the post season roster. He's got Lance McCullers Jr coming off of rehab soon, he's got a couple of rookie pitchers who have filled in and done a good job. He's got a couple of BP guys who have not had good Septembers. We know that Justin, Morton, Cole, and Kuechel are locks in the starting rotation but that 5th slot is unknown right now. I saw an article by one of the MLB managers who lobbied against the expanded rosters in Sept. He claims it alters the game, that Baseball in Sept is not the same as it is the rest of the season because you have more players/options. The max is 40, I think the Astos only expanded to 35 though.
I haven't read the piece so I don't know the context, Having said that, I don't understand his reasoning. The rule is the same for all teams, so how does it make anything different? Theoretically, the teams with stronger farm systems bring up better players, but how much playing time do they get, and how does it alter the day-to-day performance of the 25-man roster? Seems to me to be a lot of blarney. If the season ended today, 3 of the 5 NL playoff teams would be from the NLC. The Cubs have the best record in the NL, but they are clinging to a 2.5 game lead over the surging Brewers and Cardinals. They play the Cardinals at home in the last three games of the season following a 3-game series between the Cardinals and Brewers in St. Louis. Next week will be exciting for NLC fans, which is how it should be.
Sid! You ask and you shall receive. https://www.miamiherald.com/sports/mlb/miami-marlins/article218196470.html