Now that the calendar says August, and MLB’s July 31 non-waiver trade deadline has passed, we can set the tone for the season’s final eight-plus weeks. While the playoff races in both the American League and National League are the most important way to do that, there’s one other race that shouldn’t be overlooked—it’s the race each team has against itself to meet their Over/Under win total from the preseason
We’ve got 8-plus weeks to go in baseball’s regular season, and while the playoff races are the main topic, let’s also not overlook how each team is faring against its preseason win prop—the number posted on Las Vegas where you can bet the Over/Under on how games each will win.
The road doesn’t get a lot easier for the Redbirds tonight, as they face yet another contender on the road with a visit to Cincinnati, as St. Louis again leads up the daily sports TV agenda.
It was a season that held such promise for the Washington Nationals. After the 2012 run to the NL East title, the Nats were primed to take the next step. They had Stephen Strasburg ready for the whole year, they had playoff experience and 2013 was proclaimed “World Series or bust”, by no less than veteran manager Davey Johnson—a man with a little experience in winning World Series’ from his days running the 1986 New York Mets. Where did it all go so wrong?
The National League playoff race stands in sharp contrast to where the American League is at right now. While the AL has nine teams within five games of postseason play, the NL has only six, and it’s looking like the prime drama is going to be the fight in the NL Central to see which team at least earns automatic passage into the Division Series.
The season-long numbers for the Indians’ staff are not impressive. They rank 9th in the league in ERA, and are actually lower than that in both starters’ ERA and bullpen ERA. But the recent form has been entirely different. Over the last month, the Tribe’s ERA ranks fifth in the American League. And if we narrow the focus to the period since the All-Star break? They move up to #2.
Showalter noted what everyone outside of baseball has talked about, but no one within the sport —at least to the best of my knowledge—has dared mention. And it’s that the New York Yankees will be a clear beneficiary if Alex Rodriguez is banned from baseball. TheSportsNotebook’s own MLB coverage has been far too silent on the matter as well.
With the trade deadline passed, it’s time for TheSportsNotebook’s MLB coverage to do here what front offices around baseball had to decide, and it’s this—who’s a contender and who’s not. I think we can safely narrow the American League field to nine teams.
The first day of August is here, and we have a basic idea of how the contenders are going to look the rest of the way, with the passage of the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline. And we’ll kick off the month by concluding the big five-game series in the NL Central, as the St. Louis Cardinals and Pittsburgh Pirates play in PNC Park tonight (7 PM ET, MLB).
The trade deadline has passed in major league baseball, and while there weren’t blockbusters, there were some significant moves. Most of the deals were congregated in the American League, and here’s a rundown and some thoughts on the biggest trades.
Wednesday is a quiet day in daily sports when it comes to finding something on TV, but it’s going to be a big day on impact, as we approach the MLB non-waiver trade deadline at 4 PM ET. And the one game on national television is a big one, as the Pittsburgh Pirates and St. Louis Cardinals play the fourth game of their five-game set from PNC Park (7 PM ET, ESPN).
The Pittsburgh Pirates cut the St. Louis Cardinals’ lead in the NL Central to a half-game last night when the Pirates won the opener of their five-game series. Now the two teams play a doubleheader on Tuesday, with MLB Network coverage of the opener kicking off a tripleheader day of baseball that makes Tuesday a good day for daily sports on TV.