Memorial Day Update

May 26, 2017

Memorial Day is always a good time to look back at the baseball season. With a quarter of the season over, you can predict some things that will occur. Two of the best teams in baseball are Washington and Houston. Washington with solid pitching and a strong line up featuring Murphy, Harper and Zimmerman who are all in the top ten in average. They can also hit with power. Houston, with outstanding pitching and potential MVP candidate Altuve, have gotten off to a red hot start. However, another good team in that division, Texas, still has a chance to challenge them or be a wild card.

The rest of the good teams are in the A.L. East. Baltimore, a surprising Yankee team and Boston with Price back from injury. This is where one wild card team comes from. Any of these teams could go deep into the post season and I expect two will get there. 

On the local scene…

The Chicago Cubs- Nothing like games against Cincinnati, Milwaukee, and a lousy San Francisco team to turn your season around. There are a number of bad teams including those in their division that will enable the Cubs to make the playoffs.  Now they go out west to play the Dodgers. A good team followed by a bad team, San Diego. (If you want to know how bad they are, they lost 2 of 3 to the White Sox). There are still some question marks. Although Arrieta’s last game was okay, Lestor and Hendricks remain the only reliable starters. They also must keep everybody healthy. They are not the same team when Bryant or Rizzo are out. Russell has to hit better. How is Schwarber working out as a lead off hitter? With Haap in center what happens to Almora?

The Chicago “loyalty trumps winning” White Sox- It only takes one word to describe this team, bad. Considering this a rebuilding year, this was to be expected. With Quintana's poor start, the team's best trade bait is going down in value. They continue to play Frazier, making sure no other team would make an offer for him. Who is going to want anybody else on this team?  Maybe someone desperate for relief pitching will want Robertson. You probably won’t get much in return. Without any call ups from the minors there is not much reason to watch. Someone tell the manager a bunt with a man on third usually only works if it is unsuspected.  A safety squeeze has a worse chance of working. Kudos for signing Cuban phenom, Robert. I can’t wait for 2019.