Well, another month has come and gone, and that means it's time for me to do another one of my monthly wrap-up posts. A lot happened in May. A lot of good, a lot of bad, a lot of surprises. A lot.
So to start off, let's revisit the 5 predictions I made for May last month and see how I did:
1. Somebody takes off. The Astros? The Braves? The Red Sox? Somebody. WELL...THE ASTROS SURE DID. I kinda knew it would happen, too.
2. A very big team goes cold, in a way that will make people question if they're a contender this year at all. Unlike some teams that had lucky Aprils, this team will use this as a way of having the other teams underestimate them, and they'll be dominating again soon enough. I would put the Toronto Blue Jays into this category, as well as, honestly, the Chicago White Sox. Though admittedly, the Jays have a higher probability of snapping back than the Sox right now.
3. Ronald Acuna Jr. makes up for lost time immediately and rises to the head of the pack. Basically, though I'd say he's still kind of warming up. By the end of June he'll be back.
4. There is some controversy regarding an unvaccinated player not participating in a trip to Toronto. Knowing my luck, it will likely be Aaron Judge. Honestly? Not really. There've been one or two small players, but nobody huge. Judge got vaccinated and made the trip to Toronto, which I'm proud of him for.
5. There will be another combined no-hitter. It will not be against the Philadelphia Phillies. Not combined, but Reid Detmers certainly did throw a no-hitter this month.
Okay, so honestly I did pretty well there. Regardless of that, there were still 5 Things That Happened in May 2022 That No One Could Predict:
1. The Pittsburgh Pirates and Baltimore Orioles lapping great teams. Now, things have righted themselves and both these teams are back in 4th and 5th respectively, but...for a large portion of the month, the Pirates were ahead of the Cubs and the Orioles were ahead of the Red Sox. For bizarreness's sake it was pretty cool.
2. The Cardinals had room for the kids. The Cardinals were already doing pretty well this year, but thanks to injuries and inefficient veterans, they needed to call up some of the big prospects, which is a feat usually reserved for rebuilding teams. The Cardinals are still very competitive, so you can see great players like Paul Goldschmidt, Nolan Arenado and Harrison Bader alongside the new guys like Nolan Gorman, Juan Yepez and Brendan Donovan. There's so much heading in the right direction for this team, especially now that Matthew Liberatore is hitting the zone as well.
3. The Yankees' lead holds. I think we're all still waiting for the other shoe to drop with the Yankees, and it very well might in early June, but despite some strings of losses towards the middle and end of the month, the Yanks are still one of the best teams in baseball. Judge is having an all-timer year, Cortes is still hot, and so many elements that haven't worked in years past are working now.
4. Seiya Suzuki goes cold. Everyone thought he'd come off to a strong start for the Cubs, and he did, but I don't think anybody thought he'd lose as much ground in his second month in the bigs, hitting .211 with only 15 hits this month. Hopefully he comes back into his own as the season goes on.
5. Taylor Ward. Everybody knew Trout would be back, Ohtani would be strong, Walsh and Marsh would hit, but everyone had written off Taylor Ward, a rookie from 2018 who had failed to make much of an impact in a crowded roster. In May, Ward hit .333 with 5 home runs and 13 RBIs...ironically the exact same amount of each he had in April. Score for consistency. Walsh is as big of a factor in this team as the stars, and it's great to see.
Now, the inverse of that, 5 Things from May 2022 A Lot of People Probably Could Have Predicted:
1. Story only needed a month to adjust to Fenway. I get it, man. Adjusting to a new place is hard, and Trevor Story's first month for the Sox was dismal. But...he's still Trevor Story. So we all knew something was coming. Sure enough, his OPS in May was .866, and he had 32 RBIs and all 9 of his home runs this month. Whatever he was struggling with before, he's clearly figured it out now.
2. The Dodgers stay in first. With this much talent, and Mookie Betts hitting homers like it's Fenway again, it was a foregone conclusion.
3. The Mariners collapse. This happens every year. EVERY. YEAR. They have strong Aprils and Augusts, this team. We know this. They had Mitch Haniger for April, he gets injured and the team sinks. The Mariners do have Lewis, Trammell and Roenis Elias back, so something very well could happen in June, but I don't know how long until they're competitive again.
4. Man, The Phillies are Bad at Defense. Look, don't be shocked if you start Nick Castellanos, Kyle Schwarber and Odubel Herrera in the outfield and the defense sinks. You know what you did. And with Harper still unable to throw for a bit, this is how it's gonna be. Heck, at one point, an outfield play went so wrong that Didi Gregorius got injured. That is what we're dealing with here. We have Moniak back now, so hopefully things will improve slightly.
5. Tony LaRussa Made The News Again for Bitching About Decorum. Water is wet.
Now, as usual, let's list the Top 5 Players of May 2022:
And finally, I will make 5 Predictions for June 2022:
1. It's June, so the Toronto Blue Jays finally show up. I say they lap the Yankees for first. They do this every June, we might as well get ready.
2. A very big player comes off the IL and completely changes the script for their team. I will allow Kyle Lewis to be grandfathered into June if it is him.
3. Right now the NL West goes Dodgers-Padres-Giants. The order will change by June 30.
4. One specific team is going to get hit very hard by injuries this month it's gonna cause them to sink like a stone in the standings, and I pray it is not my New York Yankees.
5. The Rays trade somebody prematurely so they can loosen the cap early. I just talked about this yesterday so it might as well now.
So, that was May 2022, bring on June!
Coming Tonight: One of the contracts that landed in Arlington this year.
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