MLB '24 Regular Season Thread

I’m starting to feel ill.
Ragans goes 5+. 90-some pitches.
In comes McArthur.
KC down 3-2 as I post this.
Updates upcoming.
Edit: 5-2 Angels. He gives up 3 hits early. Ragans just about bit threw his fingernail in the dugout because he knew dang well those two runners that were his were going to score.
If MLB didn’t have the inherited runner rule, McArthur’s ERA would be around 7,000.

 

7-2 Angels b7.
This has to be the worst bullpen in MLB history.

 

Royals will be fine. They’re legit.

 

Here’s the deal. They had everything in place to get some bullpen arms at the deadline, and instead they get Harvey, who I’m not so sure he wasn’t hurt when they got him.
I know they’re legit, but think how much better they would be if that bullpen didn’t suck something awful.
Aggravating isn’t the word for it.

 

Don’t see many 9-3 games in the 12th inning, but Yankees-Guards was that score for a bit.

Have Cleveland and Kansas City played a meaningful series against each other since 1994?

 

CB Bucknor in fine form behind the plate tonight for M’s- Dodgers. Sometimes you feel like a strike, sometimes you don’t …

 

And as I type, Jason Heyward jacks a pinch-hit, 3-run HR off Munoz for a 6-3 lead in the bottom of the eighth.

Seattle about to lose its seventh of eight games on this road trip.

 

What they have done so far is legit, but there are reasons for concern. Chef pointed out their failure to get more bullpen help. They also rely on Ragans and Lugo, who are both already well past their previous career highs in innings pitched. Ragans is already showing a decline in velocity. Those two could very well be pitching on fumes by September.

 

But they have healthy starters, which the Guardians and Twins do not seem to have. The Guardians are hanging on by a thread. Their rotation is held together with paper clips and scotch tape. Now, though, their offense has gone to shit. Kwan hasn't hit since the all-star break and while Ramirez has nice numbers, his production in big at-bats has been weak lately. Fry has reverted to being a journeyman and they have to use guys like Scheemann and Noel for far too many at-bats. It would be nice if Thomas would contribute, um, anything, but he has stunk since they acquired him. Then there's Vogt, who's clearly in panic mode. He changes the lineup every day, sometimes irrationally ... Missing Bieber, having McKenzie fall apart and neither Williams nor Allen living up to their potential, has left them with a starting rotation of Tanner Bibbee and not much else. Yet they're still somehow only one game off the best record in baseball and should be able to at least limp to a wildcard. The Royals have some solid starters and the best player in the league on their side. I like their chances.

 

Well Cole Irvin is back for today's matinee in Queens. Eeeek.

 

From deep under the radar, the Brewers have caught the Phillies and are just a game behind the Dodgers for the best god damn record in baseball.

Pat Murphy should be Manager of the Century. Aggressive on the basepaths, they are so much more fun to watch than three-true-outcomes Counsell-ball was. Milwaukee has survived injury woes remarkably well. Christian Yelich, Blake Perkins, Robert Gasser, Wade Miley and Brandon Woodruff are all currently out. Garrett Mitchell and Devin Williams missed a big chunk of the season. Haven't skipped a beat.

Lots of young contributors - Brice Turang, Joey Ortiz, Sal Frelick, Tobias Myers and Mitchell are all under 25 and William Contreras, aka the best catcher in baseball (thanks Atlanta!) is 26 - and super-rookie Jackson Chourio, just 20, is playing like one in the second half. He's hit .315 in June, .317 in July and .290 in August after a slow start.

The oblivion that is the rest of the NL Central has certainly built their 11.5-game division lead, but salvaging the final two games of the Dodgers' series last week was big psychologically. Sweeping Cleveland afterwards was the reward for that.

Still question marks - the starting pitching isn't great and the Brewers have been brought to Earth by the Phillies and Padres when they played them - but this is way more than I expected this season. With so many players under control in the coming years, the Brewers aren't going anywhere.