Woo Cares?

 

I don't understand it. I've been trying to understand it all year. With no avail. How a team like the Mariners, with as much talent as they had, could just refuse to win week after week. The Astros are likely winning the division, essentially unopposed, and it's happening not because the Astros were good, but because the Mariners were worse. I know I get shit for saying that, but sometimes a division win happens because someone loses harder than someone else wins. And that's the AL West. Like three teams losing extremely hard and one team winning by not losing as much. It's infuriating, but it works.

It sucks especially for someone like Bryan Woo, who is, in fact, trying. His second-to-last start against the A's was a 1-hit, 8-inning affair with 9 Ks. His last start against the A's wasn't too bad either, giving up 3 hits and a run but striking out 5 in 6 innings. He's just hitting his stride, and getting better as he goes along, getting over some of the fatigue that got his ERA to 4 in the first place. And he's probably not gonna be pitching in the postseason. On a better year this would be a ramp up. Logan Gilbert, Bryan Woo and Bryce Miller would be ramping up rather than just rallying pretty much. 

And it does really feel like a lot of the recent Mariners goings-on are just a late rally before a demise. Kade Anderson's becoming a great MLB option, with a 4.30 ERA in 4 starts. Randy Arozarena got to 25 homers again, and is making his free agency case look quite good. J.P. Crawford is suddenly springing to life, hitting .333 this month with 6 RBIs in 12 games. Raleigh and Naylor are hitting after a year of not hitting. Michael Arroyo also seems to be a savvy choice at 2nd, though I'm not sure where he fits into the long term plan if Emerson and Donovan are expected to be back next year. But you look back and you realize that Cal Raleigh, Julio Rodriguez, Logan Gilbert, Andres Munoz and Josh Naylor all gave very okay performances in a year where they were expected to do great things. Randy Arozarena and Cole Young carried this team, and they weren't supposed to. As good of a pitching year as this was, the lowest ERA in the rotation was Emerson Hancock's 3.57 [and he was throwing hurt for the last month or so], and everyone else, even Gilbert and Kirby and Woo, were in the 4 zone. Even the Astros have guys with ERAs lower than 3.50 right now. 

It's frustrating, because this team nearly made a World Series this year, and now they're 10 games under .500 with no shot at the playoffs. People will find a way to blame the people that didn't have anything to do with it. It wasn't Dan Wilson, it wasn't the GM, everybody really tried. But not having Raleigh at 100% this year, and having 3 months of very mediocre Julio Rodriguez stats, did not help. Next year needs to be better, or else they're gonna waste this regime's highest heights. 

Coming Tomorrow- He vetoed a trade to New York, and he seemed to know he'd do just fine staying where it was. 

Too Late for a Late Swell?

 

Out of nowhere today came the news that the Pirates are suddenly at .500 for the first time since midseason, and went 4 for 6 against the Chicago teams this week. There's two weeks left in the regular season, and the Pirates are 6 games back from the wild card spot, but...I dunno, I guess it's never too late.

What's helped has been the returns of several very crucial pieces of this team. Konnor Griffin just got activated, and his rookie year continues, though it'll only be a 300 at-bat year at this rate. Still had 22 steals, 27 RBIs, a .262 average, and hit his stride in May and June [right before the injury]. I think he's still kinda ramping back up to where he was, but he's welcome. Same with Ryan O'Hearn, who was hurt for 2 months and is now trying to make up for lost time. He's gonna finish the season, I'm assuming, with 20+ homers and 75+ RBIs, which is pretty good [only Brandon Lowe has more RBIs], and he'll definitely be around next year for more damage. And now Oneil Cruz is back and winding back up, with 18 homers, 63 RBIs, 27 stolen bases and a .273 average, probably the most outwardly lethal season we've gotten from Cruz, which makes it all the more insulting that it was a small sample size again. But all of those pieces are back, and doing their best for the late push.

Yet, concerningly, they seem to have traded off with some other guys who are just now ending their seasons. Braxton Ashcraft got hurt last week and is out for the year, after providing the Pirates' best pitching performance with a 3.65 ERA, 14 wins and 173 strikeouts. The team also just lost star rookie Esmerlyn Valdez, who was able to hit 17 homers and 47 RBIs in 72 games, always a very nice aspect. They also lost Kirby Yates after a pretty strong couple weeks in Pittsburgh. And while Paul Skenes isn't technically injured, it's clear this is a down year due to fatigue from the very strong 2024 and 2025 campaigns, and the hope is he can bulldoze through and pop out way better next year [you know, the way pitchers used to]. The velocity is still not where it was last year, but Skenes still has 10 wins, a 3.78 ERA and 185 Ks. This is a very human year for Skenes, and people assumed he wouldn't have any of those. But here it is.

I applaud this Pirates team for actually getting somewhere with what seemed like the bricks for a competitor, even if it's probably not leading to a postseason spot. Nick Gonzales, Brandon Lowe, Spencer Horwitz, Bryan Reynolds, Esmerlyn Valdez, Jared Jones, Bubba Chandler, Rafael Flores and Jared Triolo all played like firm pieces of a great team. Them not getting there has to do with injury issues, Skenes's inconsistency and the fact that the Brewers and Cubs were just better teams. The hope is that the team doesn't need to get bailed out by a deadline push next year and can actively grow over time and emerge as an under-the-radar threat in a small market. A full year of Konnor Griffin could do that. He's only 20 and the sky seems so high for him.

Coming Tomorrow- A very strong starter for a team that is gonna kick itself for years for not making this season happen.

The Twins vs. Long Game Thinking

 

So by all accounts, the 2026 Minnesota Twins did not succeed. They surprised everybody by coasting in third for the majority of the year, had great performances and a nice array of strong players, DIDN'T SELL AT THE DEADLINE, and even bought, but...they're not a playoff team, and the road for them to get there was always gonna be relatively steep. The Iowa loss was the first crack in the armor, and they never recovered. So despite the buying, and the curation of a decent team, this isn't gonna lead to anything immediate.

Unless immediate success was not the point. They got some disposable pieces at the deadline but one of them, Dean Kremer, is not disposable and could stay with the team as a starting option going forward. Jeff Hoffman's also on a multi-year deal and is here til 2027. Joe Ryan and Josh Bell both have mutual options, and while Ryan will probably decline [unless he really feels they're on the precipice], Bell might stick around considering he can play DH everyday and seems to have gotten his power hitting groove back. Minter's leaving in free agency but maybe he comes back on a relatively cheap deal. The big pieces of this team are not leaving yet. Buxton, Larnach, Lewis, Lee, Keaschall, Ober and Caratini are all sticking around. Maybe this team can still develop if enough of the core remains, and could compete sooner than later.

I'm not the only person realizing this. The Twins, in the last month, have called up a lot of really strong prospects that could play a huge role in the team as early as last year. Kaelen Culpepper is the highest-profile one, he's stepped in at SS and is hitting .286 with 3 homers and 11 RBIs in 29 games. Walker Jenkins just came up, and while he's not hitting all that well yet, he's 21 and capable of great things, so perhaps it takes more immediate MLB development. They just brought Emmanuel Rodriguez up yesterday and he responded with a towering homer immediately, so that's very good news. Plus both Mike Paredes and Mick Abel will be back next year in full force, and Brooks Lee, Luke Keaschall and Royce Lewis will continue leveling up towards where they should be. 

That's the thing that the Twins realized before a lot of people this year: they're way closer than you might think. Going into this year, they were very much a 'what do they have left' team. They gave away a lot of big pieces, sold high last deadline and didn't seem committed to competing, but the young core was just building, and arguably did a ton more to inherit the team than the Tigers' and Royals' this summer. Maybe they vie for the division lead next year, and try and take down Cleveland in a waning period. It's sort of within reach.

If there is Spring Training next year, I might go and catch some games. My uncle lives near where the Twins play, and I always enjoy checking out the facility. I am wondering what the feel is gonna be. If there will be optimism, or if it'll be a stab in the dark like this year. That's a fascinating thought for 2027.

Coming Tonight: He was leading in the Rookie of the Year conversations. Then he got hurt. He's come back in time to try to help his team make one last, possibly futile, postseason push.

Arraez to the Occasion

 

Right now, the Phillies are entangled in yet another weekend series with the Braves, trying to creep up on their division lead and take control in the final weeks of the season. The Phillies are likely playoff-bound, but want the higher seed [probably 3 it's looking like] in order to play from the upper hand for at least some of the postseason. Now...I'm not sure if you're aware of this, but the Phils are much more successful in this regime as a wild card team than as a team that takes a first round bye. Last year, they tried to circumvent this by holding an open practice to stay hot in between the bye. It did not work. The Dodgers crushed them anyway. Meanwhile, each time they got in as a wild card team, they made it to an NLCS, and at one point even won.

So part of me's going 'well...why do you WANT the higher seed? You're better working from behind anyway.' Last year, their 'working from ahead' NLDS was against the Dodgers, who's whole thing is they're never behind anybody. You're better as a spoiler than an alpha, be the spoiler. Let the Braves take the division and get clobbered by the six seed. That means Phils-Cubs is looking more and more like a certainty, but the Phils have the better pitching by a mile.

The issue is getting everybody to hit, though, as it has been all season. Aside from Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper, the Phils offense has been very variable, without many sure-things. Trea Turner and Alec Bohm are both having down seasons despite some decent enough production. Brandon Marsh WAS having a nice season, then seriously fell off after the ASG break and is now hitting .266. Justin Crawford is still not the guy that was advertised, and is still acclimating to the bigs, coming into some contact prowess. Realmuto's hitting, but nowhere near as consistently as he used to. Edmundo Sosa and Derek Hill are nice diversions but they're not the stars.

It's been nice to see Luis Arraez hitting .300 once again though, and he might go for another NL batting title. His numbers aren't as incredible as they were in San Francisco though, as statistically he's an average hitter and fielder again. What he remains is a difficult out, and he's got 41 hits and 16 RBIs in 35 games, pretty understandable for Arraez. He's also the exact kind of fun character for this club, as Harrison Bader was last year; there was a pitch during the Astros series that got so close to him that the 'AY YI YIIIII!' could be heard from the Linc. I think the Phils are still stronger with him, and I trust everyone else at their new positions more than I did at their old ones [Bohm at 1st, Stott at 3rd, it all works out].

Some of the other worrying aspects of this team are coming alive as well. Aaron Nola's had some beautiful starts lately, and now has his ERA closer to 4.50, which is about where he should be considering. The bullpen's improved, and Tim Mayza, Alex McFarlane and Jonathan Bowlan are doing what they're supposed to. Edmundo's had more and more clutch moments in recent months, and has remained a really valuable part of this team. And yeah, with how integral Bryce Harper has been to this team, I don't see how anyone would think of him as truly past his peak.

I think the Phillies have a good team this year, and could do some damage next month. I also see them falling victim to the same pitfalls that usually do them in, but...if they're in as a wild card team and can keep the momentum going, they have more of a shot than if they have the bye.

Coming Tomorrow- Big hitter for a team that's, despite being kinda good, closing up shop pretty much.

Los Encounters

 

I honestly can't be too displeased with Carlos Rodon's Yankees run so far. He's missed time, but considering his White Sox years we knew this was a possibility. When he has been healthy, he's been spot-on, with a 3.88 ERA over 4 seasons, a 42-29 record, and 532 strikeouts. This year, through 13 starts, has been prime Rodon, with a 3.09 ERA, 5 wins, 70 Ks and a 1.2 WAR. Rodon is still the same deep-game, hard throwing strikeout artist he has been at his peak, and he's done exactly what we've needed him to do. What's wild has been seeing him adapt to a mid-rotation role in the wake of Schlittler and Fried's emergence. Now he's not even the #2 guy anymore, he's just one flamethrower in a rotation of several. But when your #4 guy is Carlos Rodon, you're still doing pretty well.

The Yankees' rotation is the reason why the Rays are getting scared about now. Schlittler-Cole-Fried-Rodon-Warren is as strong as we imagined it would be, and everyone complaining in February that we didn't do enough was forgetting how good the rotation would look at season's end. Ryan Weathers will be back in a long relief role, as will [I'm guessing] Clarke Schmidt, Cole and Rodon had their rehab periods and jumped right in, and Schlittler and Warren held out and did what was asked of them [for the most part]. And now teams are going into a postseason scenario where they have to face Cole, Schlittler or Fried, or Rodon. And that's not very pleasant, no matter who's behind you.

Here's the part that's reminding me of the 2025 Dodgers. The starting options are great, the starters who aren't getting postseason rotation jobs are gonna be great long relievers, there's already Blackburn, Headrick and Yarbrough who can do the extended stuff, and then they just have John Schreiber lying around acting like the Royals didn't just waive him. There is depth to this pitching staff that was not there last year, and that can go a long way. And that's not even mentioning David Bednar, who hit his stride midyear like he usually does, and has 32 saves and a 2.63 ERA. 

Really the only concern is the hitters not showing up, which has happened before and will happen again. Aaron Judge is still easing back into his usual standard of production, Ryan McMahon and Jasson Dominguez are still not as consistent as forecast, Goldschmidt and Lombard have cooled down, and even when healthy Jazz Chisholm will do well only when he wants to. The idea is that when this lineup is on, they're not a worry, but they have those periods where nothing's happening. And the idea is that could happen when playing an actual competitive team, like it did against the Jays last year, and like it typically does against the Astros in October. The idea is that now that Ben Rice, Cody Bellinger, Luis Garcia and Spencer Jones are united in their quest to pummel the hell out of the ball, hopefully the production will increase to the extent where we'll just roll through.

I'd love to see this Yankees team go deep this year. I think they have enough to contend. They just need to decide whether or not that's possible for them. There's gonna be some tough teams ahead, like the Red Sox, White Sox, Rays and possibly the Astros. They need to band together and prove their superiority to past teams that have made mistakes when the competition gets tougher. The potential is there, they just need to commit. 

Coming Tonight: The Phils picked him up for his impeccable contact ability, and they're not exactly dissatisfied so far.

One Of You Has To Grow Up

 

The 2023 World Series pit two emerging, well-built teams against each other, shocking the world and making for a surprisingly competitive and entertaining series, even if people would have preferred the Phillies or Astros or Dodgers making it. Sometimes, the best teams run into each other and the wild cards win out. Considering we've had two years of one or more of the best, most overpowered teams getting to the end, it was refreshing. So many young stars, like Corbin Carroll, Evan Carter, Josh Jung, Brandon Pfaadt, Gabriel Moreno, Ryne Nelson and Cody Bradford, took center stage and had huge moments on the road to fuller careers. 

It was a tease that has yet to pay off. Neither the Diamondbacks nor the Rangers have made the playoffs since. The Rangers are under new management, rolling with Skip Schumaker, and the D-Backs, while they still have Torey Lovullo, are in the stage where the next missed opportunity could be his last. All of these young players got to a World Series immediately and haven't been to October at all to get another taste, including people like Carroll and Jacob deGrom who are still among the best in baseball.

I think of the people who came up in 2024, right after the World Series berth, thinking they'd be back there fairly soon. Wyatt Langford was called up to start the 2024 season, as the Rangers were defending champions, and he was thought to be the piece that would make them a perennial competitor. Now...that didn't exactly happen. Injuries happened, some rough Augusts happened, and the AL West would be won by teams like the Mariners and Astros going forward. It's not like Langford hasn't tried, but he's been just as injury-cursed as a lot of his teammates. This year he missed about two months, and despite 16 homers and 38 RBIs in 95 games, it's yet another small sampling from a guy who was supposed to be running this team by now. Langford has missed at least a month of play in all three of his prior seasons, and despite a 12.6 WAR in that period, thanks to both some terrific offensive numbers and excellent range in the outfield, he's been held back from really taking over this Rangers team. The faces of the team this year have been people like Jake Burger, Ezequiel Duran and Jacob Latz, very much supplemental guys, indicating that Corey Seager, Wyatt Langford, Jacob deGrom and Evan Carter have either been hurt or they've just been very okay. deGrom was looking very good against the Mariners yesterday but the bullpen sure spoiled that.

It's not even just Langford who's still 'getting there' when he should be there, Evan Carter's hitting .195 this year, and if it weren't for his defense he'd be a lot worse off. Kumar Rocket is 26 and he's still not worth the hype, he's got a 4.61 ERA, a 5-11 record and a lot of rough outings. Jack Leiter's in a similar boat, he's got a 5 ERA AND he's hurt. The idea was for deGrom, Eovaldi and Seager to slowly pass this onto the next generation, and it hasn't happened yet. We're still in this way-period. They're clearly almost good enough to chase people both for the division and the wild card spot, but they needed fuller years from the young guys.

The D-Backs might have the opposite problem. The youth is working, it's some of the veterans who are coming up short. Ketel Marte might be driven out of town on a rail after the season, which is depressing. Corbin Burnes just made his first start of the season, it lasted all of three innings and it basically gives off the idea that the really good stuff will be next year. Kelly and Gallen both essentially have lost seasons. There is more of a connection between stages of development than in Arlington arguably, but you get the sense that some front pieces are missing. Brandon Pfaadt shouldn't be in position to field the important starts, and while he's able to this year...it should be Gallen's job. 

At the very least, the D-Backs bullpen now has both Brandyn Garcia and Justin Martinez in it, and that's very helpful. Garcia's made a huge splash as a closing option this year, he has a 2.08 ERA in 51 games, with 53 Ks and 5 saves. Very dominant, very helpful, and forming a nice group with Taylor Clarke, Jonathan Loiasiga, Juan Morillo and Justin Martinez. They seem to have figured out Dennis Santana's shit as well, somehow. That makes me feel better about a potential D-Backs postseason run, which they're still grappling with San Diego for. The bullpen's better, the bench is strong, and Carroll, Perdomo and Moreno are as strong as this team needs them to be. This is also a team that Nolan Arenado leads in homers, even at 35, so that's pretty cool too. 

Of the two teams, the D-Backs definitely have a better shot, but the Rangers could have a great week and sneak into a division spot. Any outcome is possible, and neither outcome is also possible. It's just nice that there's a chance the anticlimax of that World Series could finally be amounted to. 

Coming Tomorrow- The Yankees signed him after two good seasons, hoping for stability, consistency and firepower. They have gotten this. 

Boyd Where Available

 

So, to recap: the Cubs rotation was their greatest setback for the majority of the season, especially without Justin Steele or Cade Horton. So the Cubs got David Peterson, Clay Holmes and Kevin Gausman, and now it's, at the very least, better. Not enough to outweigh the Brewers, but better.

So here's where they're at. Shota Imanaga, since his rough May and June stretch ended, has basically been himself. In 60 games since July began, he's 4-4 with a 4.26 ERA. Not 2024 good but good. Matt Boyd, since he got back from the IL, is 6-3 in 14 games, with a 3.48 ERA and 55 Ks, returning somewhat to the dominance he had in 2025. David Peterson, since coming over from New York, is 4-2 with a 4.41 ERA and 54 Ks, a very average fifth man but thankfully they got enough to MAKE HIM the 5 man. Clay Holmes, in 6 games in Chicago, has a 3.51 ERA with 20 Ks, and was doing a lot better before that sixth start. And Kevin Gausman, despite a 5.31 ERA, has 4 wins and 44 Ks in 7 Cubs starts. Sort of like what Gausman was doing in Toronto this year, shakier accuracy but guys still can't always hit it. It's not pretty, and it's not perfect, but for a team that is missing two surefire young options [three if you count the still hurt Edward Cabrera], it's a lot better than before. 

The Cubs are not going to win the NL Central. They know that. Odds are they've got a date with Philly for wild card week, that's perfectly acceptable. I have been to a Phils-Cubs game already this year, and if that, and literally everything else I've seen, is any preview...the Cubs are gonna outhit the Phillies, no matter what happens. If they put Sanchez, Wheeler, Luzardo, whoever up, even if the Phillies have to play the Cubs' best arms, I still think the Cubs have the advantage because they actually show up. It's not down to two or three guys, everybody pitches in. Carson Kelly's still a .260 hitter with 54 RBIs; J.T. Realmuto is not that this year. Michael Busch, even in a down year, is gonna have 75+ RBIs; Alec Bohm's year is even less pretty. Alex Bregman had a slow start, but look at him now, hitting .260 with 24 homers and 82 RBIs, a pretty standard Bregman year if I've ever seen one.

And I don't think any Phillies pitcher right now can accurately tame Pete Crow Armstrong, who's got a 9 WAR, 41 home runs, will pass 100 RBIs any day now, 36 steals [meaning 40/40 is on the table] and some of the most insane outfield catches you'll see anywhere. PCA has been building up to this season for so long, and it's every bit as good as advertised. He really is excelling at every facet of the game, and making it look so easy. I still think it's kinda unfair that he was the Cubs's only All-Star this year, as Seiya Suzuki would have deserved it as well [again, another terrific hitting year from him], but he will be getting an MVP at this rate, so it's not a huge loss.

The Cubs' hitting is paving the way for a long postseason run, but the pitching still threatens to hold them back, even if it is a lot better. They just need the right matchup, and a team with weaknesses they can exploit in a way that makes more of a difference than the Cubs' own weaknesses being exploited. It is possible, even if it will be very difficult, especially if they face the Brewers again. But with PCA playing this well, the sky's the limit.

Coming Tonight: His team was no-hitting the Mariners for a hot second until the bullpen blew it. Nevertheless, he's still fighting for the slightest chance of a playoff spot.