June 23, 2019
I know it’s only the latter part of June and there are tons
of games left. Even so, the Los Angeles
Dodgers, Houston Astros and Minnesota Twins can set up their post season
rotations. The American League East is without question the best division in
baseball. Both wild card teams will come from there. It looks as if Atlanta is
the cream of the crop in the National League East. The National Central
division…
The Chicago Cubs had just finished a 2-5 road trip. They
came back home and split a two game series with the White Sox, handing Lucas
Giolito his first loss since April 6. Despite going 3-6, they somehow remained
in first place. The Cubs are the only division leader with a losing record on
the road, a pitiful 15-21. The usual formula to winning is playing .500, which
is about 40 road wins. Winning 50 at home gets you in the playoffs; 55 wins the
division. If they don’t attain 40 road wins they’ll need to win at least 55
games at Wrigley to make the playoffs. The Cubs do have the third best home record.
With home games being critical, the Cubs have proceeded to lose 2 of 3 to an
inferior New York Mets team.
For the Cubs to win the division a couple of things need to
occur. First, they are near the bottom of the league in batting average with
runners in scoring position. Home runs are nice but good teams need to learn
how to manufacture runs. Secondly, they need to avoid injuries. Brandan Morrow
is never coming back and their best reliever Pedro Strop got hurt. With the
addition of Craig Kimbrel, a healthy Strop can return to the set-up role. Kyle
Hendricks injury is worrisome. Hopefully he returns to form when he comes back.
Not all is doom and gloom. Top pitching
prospect, Adbert Alzolay looked excellent in his major league debut. Right now
he’s in the bullpen but I believe he will eventually become a starter. Yu
Darvish is at last looking like the player they envisioned when they signed
him.
I didn’t expect Lucas Giolito would go 20-1. In his last
start he gave up six runs, including three home runs, in 4.1 innings. Most
pitchers, especially young ones, will have games like this. The key will be to
see how he bounces back. It won’t be easy as he faces the Boston Red Sox.
The White Sox are playing pretty good baseball as they try
to hit the magic .500 record. They did after beating the Yankees in the first 2
games of a four game series June 13 and 14. In the following game Reynaldo
Lopez had another bad outing, giving up 5 runs in 6 innings. He was trending
upward at the end of last year and it seems like he has regressed. Injuries
then forced them to start 31-year old journeyman, Odrisamer Despagne. He has
been more than awful. With the Sox being one game under .500, he coughed up a
four run lead in three innings. They lost 6-5 to the Texas Rangers.
The core of the
future is taking shape. Yoan Mancada is having a real good year and should only
get better. Tim Anderson remains among the top hitters and base stealers in the
league. Despite having a subpar year average wise, Jose Abreu is among the leaders
in RBI and doubles with 17 home runs. The bullpen is one their best in years.
Set-up man Aaron Bummer is one of the best left relievers in the game. Right
hand set-up man Evan Marshall has been excellent. Closer Alex Colome is 15 for
15 in save opportunities.
Best of all is budding superstar, Eloy Jimenez. After a slow
start he is getting the hang of things. He is hitting clutch and gargantuan
home runs. The average is going up and I think he is going to get better as the
year progresses. He should be the face of the future for years to come. Another
positive is minor league centerfielder Luis Robert. Some think will be as good
as Jimenez. Hopefully he’ll ready by next year. Thinking of 2020 gets me really
excited.
No comments:
Post a Comment