I get the point you are making, but Pena has really turned it on in the last month or so. Also, he doesn’t have a superstar backing him up like the other two positions.
The next 7 days will be interesting. Astros: 3@ KC, 3vs Bal. - I originally expected 4-2 but losing 2 to A's means 5-1 would be better. I don't expect it though. 4-2. Rangers: 1@Tor, 3@Cle, 3vs Bos- Tor is the key here, it's The easiest schedule of the week and if they beat Tor they could legitimately go 7-0 which would be bad. I expect a pitching letdown and they go 4-3. Mariners: 3vs LAD, 3@Oak- Hate to root for Dodgers but here it is. They I expect the Dodgers win 2 and I hope all 3. Lets hope A's play them tough like they did in Houston and can win at least 1. 4-2 That would make: Astros: 87-66 Mariners: 85-67 Rangers 85-67 All 3 ALW contenders have Thu 9/21 off so that will be a great day to see where they each stack up. Then the Mariners and Rangers can pick each other off while the Astros have a chance to pad a lead vs KC before visiting Sea Monday 25th. Nothing better (or more stressful) than a pennant race in September !!
I only see 3? I also see these are the only 3 vs Dodgers all season. I thought every team had at least a home AND away vs every team? What am I missing?
No- you are right- I dreamed it in my head completely and totally (think I thought they had every thursday played while we had every thursday off. Sorry. No on home and home- only 3 games- home or away- against the cross league teams. Unless they are your cross league rival then you get two at home and two away. Our cross league rival is Colorado. I think it might rotate year by year to Arizona as well since neither are really a natural rival- but don't quote me on that. It used to rotate like that between the 2 but with new scheduling I don't know if that stuck.
Dodgers @ Mariners series.... Dodgers really have nothing to play for since they're comfortably tucked into the NL 2nd seed overall which no real chance to catch the Braves for the 1st seed... while the D-backs are 13 games behind them for the division and Brewers are 7 games behind them for the 2nd seed. I doubt they'll put out their best line-ups and effort. Mariners also have us and Rangers down the stretch but they play most of their remaining schedule at home where they're pretty damn good.
Toronto didn't show up at all this series. The Astros better take care of business against the Royals cuz they can't count on the Rangers or Mariners to lose and hand them the division. Especially given that one of those two teams has to win in the 7 games they play over the final week and a half of the season.
Guess the Rangers aren't dead. If a team was going to sweep that series, I would have expected Toronto.
I hear ya, but with about 3 weeks remaining I feel it's too early for the Dodgers to give up. They will want to feel like they have a strong team playing for something still against a playoff bound team. I see the Dodgers taking 2 of 3
Toronto got beat down by Texas that series. This race is going to be stressful. Having Dusty as our manager doesn’t help.
If someone had told me at the beginning of the season that we would be in a tight race for a playoff spot in September, and that we would have Jon Singleton in the starting lineup, I would have said you are nuts.
And he is far from the worst player that has started games for this team. 19 players have started games for the Astros this year. he is 5th in K rate. He is 1st in BB rate. He is 10th in ISO He is 5th in Hard Hit %. He is 11th in OPS. I'm not saying he's a star or even should be starting, but on a 13 player roster why is a guy with these numbers who only starts less than 1 game per week and is outperforming the guy he backs up the problem?
There is absolutely no way... anyone with a rational mind can state that Singleton has outperformed Abreu. His clutch #s, RISP and/or with 2 outs are not good, and outside of that 1 game he has 0 HRs and only 4 RBIs in 21 other starts (31 games total). Much of the production Singleton has done is empty (no leverage and doesn't effect the game)
I simply don't agree that "There is absolutely no way... anyone with a rational mind can state that Singleton has outperformed Abreu." I think PA for PA they have been pretty equal. Abreu just has had about 8 times more opportunities. Yes Abreu has been good in those important situations you reference but that doesn't mean that all other situations are meaningless and should be disregarded. If each of the had 600 PA: R: Singleton 70, Abreu 61 2B: Abreu 22, Singleton 17 HR: Singleton 17, Abreu 16 RBI: Abreu 87, Singleton 78 BB: Singleton 87, Abreu 43 K: Singleton 96, Abreu 128 BA: Abreu .238, Singleton. 203 OB%: Singleton. 319, Abreu .294 SLG: Abreu .361, Singleton. 339 OPS: Singleton. 658, Abreu .655 OPS+: Singleton 82, Abreu 80 How can you look at that and say that there is no reasonable debate? I did say he has outperformed Abreu which was an exaggeration. He certainly has in some areas, but overall PA for PA they are very close and neither has been good. And to be clear, I do not think that Singleton has had a better season than Abreu, and am not advocating for him to start - just to remain on the roster over the other options. But it's unreasonable to think it can't he debated.
