Seattle hanging around slightly above 0.500 is disconcerting. Not for this year, but they could be very good 2022-2025 if their prospects have reasonable success and they spend wisely.
No doubt the division as a whole is playing better than in the recent past. The Rangers are the only really bad team. The Astros have had 3 really nice weeks, but there are teams hovering to take our place if we falter. If we had 2-3 bad weeks, we would be right there among them.
https://blogs.fangraphs.com/luis-garcia-is-two-pitchers-in-one/ Good article, excerpt below: It is almost as if he is two different pitchers depending on where the opposing batter is standing. Against left-handed hitters, he basically scraps his slider and rarely throws his cutter, primarily going with the four-seamer, curveball and change. Leaning on the latter two makes sense, given that curveballs and changeups work well against opposite-handed hitters. Turfing the cutter, on the other hand, is mildly surprising, since that is a pitch type that generally displays neutral platoon splits. When a righty steps into the box, meanwhile, Garcia rarely throws the changeup or curveball and relies on the four-seamer, cutter and slider. When you peek at his overall arsenal, you would think he has an egalitarian pitch mix of five offerings. Instead, he is two three-pitch pitchers put together. The divergence in Garcia’s approach against righties and lefties raises the question: What are his platoon splits? With the caveat that he has thrown 70.1 innings this year and only faced 285 batters, he has struck out 24.8% of the left-handers he’s faced and walked 4.8%, and against right-handers, it’s 30.6% and 10%, respectively. The K-BB% figures are similar (within 0.6 percentage points), though the shapes are different.
Dusty did a radio interview today. He said Tucker is ready but because of the wet field in Baltimore they don't want to risk bringing him back today.
I'm just relaying what Dusty said... He said they didn't want to risk Tucker slipping or something and hurting a hamstring since he hadn't been out there in a little while.
More moisture on the dirt = more bacteria. Tucker sticks his hand in the dirt every AB. Totally making this **** up… but the more you read it, the more it could make sense.
Okay....who ever was behind the timing of these promotions deserves a raise.... 2019 AL Champions Trophy 2019 AL Champions Ring Jose Altuve Replica White Jersey
The Astros Are Once Again Hitting at a Historic Level Best Offenses in MLB History Team wRC+ 2019 Astros 126 1927 Yankees 126 2021 Astros 124 1931 Yankees 124 1930 Yankees 124 2017 Astros 121 2003 Red Sox 120 1982 Brewers 120 1976 Reds 120 1902 Pirates 120 https://www.theringer.com/mlb/2021/6/24/22548160/houston-astros-offensive-resurgence
there were more references to the Astros “needing another reliable starter” (one) than to the other teams blatantly caught cheating (zero).
