On Not Letting the Flame Die Out

 

As the regular season ramps back up again and heads towards the second half, there's a bunch of teams with truly fascinating stories that I'm gonna be keeping a close eye on. One of 'em's the Angels. You can't completely count them out because at any second they could do something crazy. 

This team feels like it's hanging all its working pieces together by a thread. Jo Adell has been pounding out a surprisingly stable power season, with 19 homers and 54 RBIs. I think the idea when Adell was coming up was that he'd be a more well-rounded hitter, but being decent as a power bat certainly helps, especially with so many contact hitters on this team. Mike Trout is still healthy, and is hitting .238 with 17 homers and 41 RBIs. He's 5 homers away from 400, and seeing as he's back in Philly tonight it'd be wild if he gets it done this weekend. And that rotation trio of Kikuchi-Anderson-Soriano is actually really strong, and is getting things done still. Kikuchi has a 3.11 ERA and 115 Ks, meaning I certainly was wrong about him this time last year. 

Generally, this Angels team is in better shape than they were for the first month or so of play. They lost a ton of games in April, fumbled around last for a bit and were 17-25 midway through May. This was due to some early surges from AL West teams who've calmed down, an early slump from Mike Trout, and having to trot out Tim Anderson every game for a bit too long. Since then they've been a lot closer to .500, and a lot more of a well-balanced team. You'd think that losing Wash would wound them, but Ray Montgomery isn't too far removed from the Wash school of thought, and the team hasn't suffered much since losing him, almost as if the parade of legacy managers like Maddon and Ausmus and Wash didn't work as well as just getting a good system guy in there that the team will listen to. Worked in Philly, why not in Anaheim?

And yet, because the Angels are still strung together with so many odd fits and preliminary pieces, I can't actually tell if they've actually got something. They have enough pieces, like Zach Neto, Taylor Ward and Nolan Schanuel, that I can tell more of what this team's supposed to be than usual, but I don't know if it's gonna be enough. The Rangers are selling, the A's aren't looking to compete. It's a matter of can the Angels develop a team that's good enough to lap the Mariners for a playoff spot. And that's just bonkers enough to be a possibility right now. So we'll see.

Coming Tomorrow- He and two of his bullpen companions made the All-Star team. Now they've gotta hunker down and keep the season alive. 

Your 2025 MLB All-Star Starting Lineups

 Through all the controversy, all the apathy and all the frosted bullshit that's driven me up the wall in the weeks leading up to the All-Star Game, I am inherently excited for this year's. A lot of deserving people are forced to miss the game this year, but there's still a ton of good people left, and it's not a completely anonymous group or anything. I still feel like this all meets the moment, and doesn't feel like it's hogging the sides of the elites--after all, two guys that play in minor league stadiums are starting for the AL.

As per usual, I'll show off the starting lineups in order, denoted with all-star customs. 

First, representing the AMERICAN LEAGUE,

Leading off for the AL, and starting at 2nd base, from the Detroit Tigers, GLEYBER TORRES.

Batting second, and in left, from the Detroit Tigers, RILEY GREENE.

Batting third, and starting the game in right field, from the New York Yankees...AARON JUDGE.

In the cleanup spot tonight for the AL, and starting the game at catcher, from the Seattle Mariners, and last night's Home Run Derby winner, CAL RALEIGH!

Batting fifth tonight, and playing first base, from the Toronto Blue Jays, VLADIMIR GUERRERO JR.

Sixth in the lineup, the designated hitter, from the Baltimore Orioles, RYAN O'HEARN.

Batting seventh tonight, and starting the game at third base, from the Tampa Bay Rays, and last night's runner up in the Home Run Derby, JUNIOR CAMINERO.

Batting eighth for the American League, and starting tonight's game in center field, from the Detroit Tigers, JAVIER BAEZ.

Batting ninth, and playing shortstop tonight, from the Oakland Athletics, JACOB WILSON.

And warming up in the bullpen, tonight's starting pitcher, from the Detroit Tigers, TARIK SKUBAL.

Now, for the National League All-Star Team

Leading off, and playing DH tonight, from the Los Angeles Dodgers....SHOHEI OHTANI.

Batting second, and starting the game in left field...from YOUR ATLANTA BRAVES [the applause begins to outdo the PA system], RONALD...ACUÑA JR.!

[applause for another hour or so]

Third in the lineup for the NL tonight, the second baseman, from the Arizona Diamondbacks, KETEL MARTE.

In the cleanup position, and playing first base...from the Los Angeles Dodgers...FREDDIE FREEMAN.

[the place goes wild for a bit]

Batting fifth tonight, and starting the game at third base, from the San Diego Padres, MANNY MACHADO.

In the sixth spot tonight, starting the game behind the plate, from the Los Angeles Dodgers...WILL SMITH.

Seventh in the lineup tonight, and playing right field, from the Chicago Cubs, KYLE TUCKER.

Batting eighth, tonight's starting shortstop for the NL, from the New York Mets...FRANCISCO LINDOR.

Batting ninth for the NL, the starting center-fielder, from the Chicago Cubs, PETE CROW-ARMSTRONG.

And warming up in the bullpen, tonight's starting pitcher for the NL, from the Pittsburgh Pirates...PAUL...SKENES.

Those are our lineups. Let's hope a fun time commences. 

Hatewatch the Throne

 

I have no one to blame but myself.

After several years, I let myself be alright with the Blue Jays. I was constantly aggravated by their sucking for two months, getting hot in June and then making an ALCS with teams I felt did not deserve it. 2015 and 2016 were agonizingly anticlimactic, and at the very least those Jays teams were thwarted by first a red-hot Royals team and then an even-stronger Guardians team. Then everybody left, the new youth movement shot up, they made some playoff arrangements on the strength of this organizational prowess, and I was cool with it. 

Which brings us to 2025. The year the Blue Jays sucked for two months, got really hot in June and took the AL East away from the plummeting Yankees despite having multiple problem areas and an even more piecemeal gameplay than the 2015 team. And honestly...sure. Why not at this point? Go nuts.

The most fascinating element of this Jays team is that some of the most integral performers on the team are guys who are A.) breaking out, and B.) older than the youth movement which has been underway for 6 years. Guys like Ernie Clement, Myles Straw, Tyler Heineman and Nathan Lukes [who just turned 31] are all providing the sort of wild spark that has propelled this team to the top. Clement is hitting .288 with 90 hits, and even if he's 29, he's the kind of guy that can stick around with Vlad and Bo. Even Eric Lauer, back from overseas, has been a success story, with a 2.78 ERA and a 4-2 record in 14 appearances. This team was hoping for a rotation to be built on the backs of guys like Bowden Francis and Alek Manoah, and that hasn't happened...and yet here they still are.

Also surprising is the fact that, while none of us were looking, the rotation trio of Kevin Gausman, Chris Bassitt and Jose Berrios has become commanding again. The ERAs may be high, but these guys have been hunkering down and providing stability. Berrios might have made the best progress of the three, with a 3.75 ERA in 20 starts. Gausman and Bassitt may strike more people out, but Berrios, around 10 or so years in, is still a very accurate, very reliable arm. 

This team is not perfect, and they just blew two games to the A's to end the first half. But they have this sort of uncontrollable spark that even the Yankees haven't been able to match. They still have 2 games over New York as the break reigns, and when they return, they'll have a series against the Giants before hosting the Yanks and settling this once and for all. It's just a matter of whether or not this team can keep its June leverage.

How to be a 'Rookie Star'

 

Midway through the season and already people are trying to figure out who's going to be crowned Rookie of the Year at the end of the season. Now, the AL race is looking pretty won at the moment, with Jacob Wilson having a truly great season, let alone rookie season, but the NL is where things get a little funny. Because sometimes, a guy gets crowned rookie of the year on the wings of a fluke season that may be their best MLB achievement. It happened with Kyle Lewis, it happened with Chris Coghlan, and it happened with Bob Hamelin. And while it's so difficult sometimes to pinpoint when someone is good for now rather than good for the long run, sometimes you can tell. Wilson looks like he's just gonna be a .300 guy for a while. 

But...I'm sorry, I risk my own already-dwindling credibility in saying this, but I just do not see the appeal of Drake Baldwin. I don't.

Drake Baldwin is 24 years old, made his rookie debut for the Braves on Opening Day of this year, and has continued to baffle me in every game since. Mainly, I cannot tell what purpose Drake Baldwin is supposed to serve. He made the roster as a backup catching option for Sean Murphy, a role he still continues to mostly serve. He's played in 5 more games than Murphy yet has 9 less at-bats. He's hitting .279 with 11 homers and 32 RBIs, figures that have been topped by Murphy's 16 homers and 38 RBIs. He's comparable as a batter to Murphy yet Murphy remains the better defensive catcher by a large margin. He's mostly a contact bat with the occasional power perk, yet his .830 OPS is as high as Matt Olson's. I genuinely do not know what the takeaway from Baldwin is. He's a decent enough hitter statistically but people are acting like he's running the team. 

Everything about the season Baldwin is having thus far is screaming 'nothing special' to me, and to that end I lump him in with the rest of the Braves, who are also having a sort of lower-key year. Yet I think Baldwin is seriously leading the ROY conversations right now. I don't understand why the prevailing idea is to reward a season that wouldn't get MVP votes if Bryce Harper or Freddie Freeman came out with it. You want to give it to a rookie that felt like a big story from the year, who helped to change the narrative behind a team or a division. Drake Baldwin's just another Atlanta Brave, and I think he's just gonna amount to a helpful backup option down the line.

Now, with all of that said, we must also discuss Jacob Misiorowski. The Brewers' most lethal pitching prospect, a guy who can stymie the Dodgers and outduel Paul Skenes, and a guy who Topps must be very thankful came up after their cutoff for 2025. The Miz has been dealing like never before, and is 4-1 in his first 5 starts, with a 2.81 ERA and 33 Ks. These deadly June numbers have resulted in an unprecedented All-Star nomination for Misiorowski, which has been met with disdain from several Phillies players who believe that their pitchers should have been given the opportunity, perhaps unaware that when given the opportunity, both Phillies pitchers turned it down because, as discussed, nobody wants to play in the All-Star Game this year. 

And look. Ultimately, deep down, I think the Miz deserves this kind of recognition. Did it make more sense when Skenes got it last year, absolutely. But Misiorowski, in 5 games, has not only shown dominance, he's shown it in big-game situations against great teams. He's also been one of the chief factors in the Brewers returning to prominence and becoming a competitor again. The Brewers have tried a lot of rookies this year, including Chad Patrick, Logan Henderson, Craig Yoho and Carlos Rodriguez, and Miz was the one that worked. At least as far as the rotation is concerned- Durbin and Collins both have some interesting rookie stories themselves.

Misiorowski getting an All-Star nod is very hasty, but I get the mentality that made it happen. Now, if he keeps it up, a Rookie of the Year case might also be in order. But we'll see how Drake Baldwin does in the second half, I guess. 

Fast Approaching

 

Here's the deal. This weekend, right before the All-Star Break, the Dodgers and Giants are playing a series in SF. Two division rivals, relatively evenly matched, Devers against some old teammates, yada yada. What makes this a big series is that the Giants are currently 5 games out of first, and have used series' against the Phillies, A's and D-Backs [as well as the Dodgers' skid following series' with the Astros and Brewers] to get closer to lapping their ultimate rival. If this series goes to plan for the Giants, they could be set up to come back from break with leverage in this division.

A lot of the momentum has come to this team with help from returning standout Matt Chapman, who was on the IL for about a month. Chapman has been the solidified star figure for this team, continuing to be one of the best defensive third basemen in the league, and being a solid offensive producer still. Chapman, like usual, isn't hitting for average, but he definitely is hitting, with 12 homers and 30 RBIs in 72 games. The fact that only Heliot Ramos has surpassed that mark on this team is kinda telling. Chapman is still elite, a great player with the kind of team-rallying consistency that the Giants have desperately needed. Yaz is great but he'll miss time frequently. Ramos has been phenomenal but even he's not perfect. And Devers...is struggling about as much as he did in Boston. Having Chapman back has reenergized this team, and makes me confident that they'll stand a chance against LA.

It's also clear the Giants have some spark because of some of the cool developments this team has seen recently. You probably heard about Patrick Bailey's inside-the-park walk-off home run that ended a game against my hometown team recently. You might have also heard that Dominic Smith, who would have been the Yankees' Opening Day DH had Ben Rice not found his swing in camp, has been a pretty decent bench power bat for the Giants. Or maybe you looked at both Logan Webb and Robbie Ray's ERAs and seen that they're one point off. 2.63 and 2.62. That's how wired in they both are. I think Verlander's still a bit shaky but Webb, Ray, Roupp and Birdsong have been excellent and are part of why this team has been creeping up.

What I'm saying is that the Giants have a chance to crash the Dodgers' party. They've held a pretty compact rotation all year and aren't surviving off minor league fumes. They're hitting, and their power production is great. And now they've got the momentum. So who knows what'll happen this series.

Coming Tonight: He's been in the league around ten seasons and he's still a very reliable starting arm.

The All-Star B-Team

 

What has become clear ever since he took the reins of the league is that Rob Manfred does intrinsically want to make baseball better for its fans and players, but because he only comes at this from an executive point of view his perspective is completely adverse to what the reality of what these people want actually is. He's come in and his goal has been to revitalize the game and fix all the problems people have had with it, and it's really admirable, but I don't know how many casual fans he really talks to. A real baseball fan won't tell you a game is too long, or that the players at the All-Star game should all wear one uniform. But he's so caught in the realm of focus groups and accessibility and the corporate brand thinking that he simply cannot please the majority of the fandom. Thus I pity him.

You've gotten the sense that Manfred has really wanted to revamp and change the All-Star Game, which honestly didn't really need that much retooling. He took away the 'home field advantage' gimmick, which helped, and they're beginning to phase back into players wearing their own uniforms, but problems still persist. And the biggest problem with the All-Star Game, and the festivities surrounding it, is that nobody wants to fricking participate anymore.

Now, it is one thing to have injuries creep up and prevent people from partaking, and enough of that has happened. Big pieces like Chris Sale, Jeremy Pena and Brandon Lowe got injured since being named, they're missing the game, that's fine. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about the fact that people genuinely don't want to do it this year. It feels burdensome for people. It didn't always feel like that, that's why Cal Ripken did like 20 of them. But now you've seen two different players make official statements saying 'I would rather not play in the game this year, because I would rather focus on the rest of the season and my own health'. Jose Ramirez, who was supposed to start, and Julio Rodriguez, have both dropped out of the game, because it's not worth the risk to go to Atlanta and potentially risk not helping their teams compete. 

The one case that pisses me off is Alex Bregman, who came second in the fan voting for 3rd base, yet was announced to be missing the game due to injury. So Isaac Paredes was nominated, as was Junior Caminero in place of Ramirez. But...now Bregman just got activated, and can make the game...and because he already called in a sub, there's nothing anyone can do about it. Hell, the AL even added ANOTHER third baseman, namely Maikel Garcia. And let me specify that Garcia is having a nice season, hitting around .300 and providing some consistent multi-tool support in Kansas City, before I say that when the FIFTH CHOICE FOR THIRD BASEMAN IS GETTING ON, there is a problem! Paredes and Caminero getting on is fine, they were in the mix before, but now Garcia is getting ridiculous, because now you're nominating people that arguably wouldn't have deserved an ASG nod unless all this bullshit happened.

As for the usual bullshit of people pitching Sunday not being able to play in the game, that part is fine, we've been over this, it's a necessary evil. But this year this has grown to include the Saturday before, meaning SEVERAL pitchers who I would say are the best in the league, including Zack Wheeler, Max Fried, Garrett Crochet and Jacob deGrom, can't play in the game. Or, moreover, don't want to. In some cases I get it, deGrom and Crochet really don't want to risk injury, that's fine. But at a certain point it just gets excessive. Cause now Wheeler can't play in the All-Star game during the best season of his career, and you're putting up Adrian Morejon as a consolation. Plus, Yusei Kikuchi can't pitch in this, and now there's no Angels eligible for the game. If you're gonna do the 'every team needs a nod' thing, stick to it. 

That's what's pissing me off. The actual All-Stars either don't want to play or can't play due to overtaxing themselves, and thus people who honestly shouldn't be All-Stars are stuck in there. This is some NBA All-Star Game shit, where you vote in Giannis and Durant and then Donte DiVincenzo plays for like 20 minutes. Nobody is lining up to watch an All-Star Game where David Peterson pitches to Zach McKinstry. It's just 'The People Who Can Make It: Live from Atlanta" now. 

And yes, there are people who this doesn't apply to who will no doubt play in the game, there will be Skenes and Judge and Acuna and Ohtani, by law pretty much. But the sense of fun and excitement from 50 years ago, or even 25 years ago, seems to be gone. Getting a field of 8 for the Home Run Derby was like herding cats this year. The All-Star Celebrity Softball Game features 20 people I'm convinced were made up by AI. It feels like they're really trying to make this something special but too many people just aren't into it. And the way things are going organization-wise in the league, who can blame them?

One cool thing I will say about this ASG? They're gonna be using an ABS system. Meaning if Manfred knows what's good for him, he'll seriously consider utilizing it down the road in MLB games. Because if your legacy is continuing to let 67-year-old men who can't see halfway across the field judge balls and strikes instead of automating it, that won't exactly get you a plaque in Cooperstown. Unless you buy it. 

Over the Hump

 

The Mariners, since ending their postseason drought a few years ago, have been a very good team that has constantly struggled to surpass that last rung into greatness. On multiple occasions the Mariners have just missed the playoffs, or held first for a while only to stall midyear and cede ground to another team [usually the Astros]. This year, after holding onto first for a majority of June, they once again slid and careened out of first, leaving the Astros, surging out of pure spite, to take first again. 

I can speak for a lot of people when I say that this consistent anticlimax is unacceptable. Constantly the same thing happens, where the story of the Mariners as the underdog with great organizational moves and an excellent youth movement gets upended in favor of an Astros team with a less exciting story. I get that it's hard to really expect great storytelling from a league where so much is up to fate and chance, but the Mariners just seem like they're destined for something greater than what they've gotten. The Blue Jays, who I'd say have had similarly bad luck despite the presence of great teams, seem to be getting their chance to compete this year. And it just sucks that the Mariners aren't there yet.

The single most crushing reality this team has to face is that they wasted their best pitching season since 2001 on a year where nobody could hit. So this current team, where a ton of people are hitting but most of the rotation is responding to injuries, is facing the consequence. If your team can't be on the same page, it's not gonna click immediately. That's why it's a good thing you at least have Bryan Woo, who missed time last year, having an excellent, and healthy season. Last night he nearly no-hit my team. The truth is he's honestly looked that good all year. Gilbert, Kirby and Castillo have slowly been catching up, but their ERAs are higher and many of them have missed a lot of time. It's a far less sure rotation than last season, and it's a lot of why the team is behind Houston.

But, again, the lineup is why they're still defiantly a 2nd place team, and why they've got an ever-closing gap heading towards first. Raleigh, Arozarena, Julio, Polanco and somehow Dominic Canzone have made this lineup unpredictable, weighty and powerful. Raleigh has 36 homers before the ASG break, which is unheard of, especially for a catcher. Personally I hope he chases Judge. It'd be really cool. Julio has 11 homers and 44 RBIs, he's doing his thing. J.P. Crawford's having his best season in years, hitting .286 with 95 hits and 32 RBIs. Crawford is still an excellent shortstop with terrific contact abilities, and the Mariners are lucky to still have him. And now Ben Williamson and Cole Young are heating up as well, which will be very good for them going forward. I have thought about the fact that since Raleigh has been THE guy for this team, Harry Ford might be getting dealt [cause I don't think they banked on him becoming Austin Romine], but that's a decent problem to have.

The Mariners have enough to potentially hit their way into a wild card spot. Games like last night do worry me, as they can take a 5-0 lead into the 8th and still lose, but hopefully in the next 3 months they learn from it and become better at those situations. And, more importantly, they keep hitting.

Coming Tonight: He came back from a brief injury break and got right back to the terrific season he's been having at third.