Steven Urena
By Steven Urena
Playoff Picture
I was wrong. The saying goes, don’t count your chickens before they are hatched. I thought NL and AL Wild Cards were a done deal but the Blue Jays, Cardinals and Reds have made things interesting.
How about the AL East? Four of the five teams are competing for a playoff spot. The Rays, up 8 games, have all but wrapped up the division but the wild card is very much up for grabs. The Blue Jays, Red Sox and Yankees look to be in a vicious dog fight the last 17 games of the season for the final two playoff spots. All three teams are tied for the wild card. It would have been nice to see a Red Sox and Yankees, winner-take-all matchup, but the Blue Jays are the hottest team. My guess is the Yanees and Blue Jays square off and the winner will face their division rival, Rays, in the ALDS.
Where on earth did the Cardinals come from? Currently, they are in sole possession of the second NL Wild Card spot. The Cards hold a one game lead over the Padres and a 1.5 game lead over the Reds. Honestly, it’s up for grabs. With only 17 games remaining, there’s not a lot of wiggle room but the way these teams have been up and down, it’s hard to say who will play the Dodgers or Giants in the elimination game.
The White Sox and Astros have not made much noise lately. Both had their moments during the season but the AL East is the division to beat. They are both lucky they don’t have to face a hot Blue Jays, Yankees or Red Sox team in the first round. Expect the pennant winner to come out of the East.
There’s been so much attention on the Giants, Dodgers and Padres. We seemed to have forgotten about the Brewers and the Braves. The Braves will be lucky just to be there but the Brewers are no walk in the park. Their lineup is nothing close to Murderer’s Row but their rotation will keep them in the game and Josh Hader can flat out close. I expect the Brewers to wipe out the Braves in the NLDS.
The Giants hold a one game lead over the Dodgers. You gotta give the Giants credit, they just keep on winning. Any time the Dodgers gain ground, the pendulum swings and takes back more than it gave. The Dodgers have been playing great but the Giants built up some leverage while the Dodgers were still righting the ship. The Dodgers have the pitching depth to survive a one game elimination and NLDS. The Giants, not so much. They better hold on for dear life. Both teams deserve to go into the first round of the playoffs but I guess that’s just the way the pickle squirts. There should be a rule, if the first wild card spot holds a 10 game lead, they should be an automatic bid. Just a thought.
Most Valuable Player
If Vlad Guerrero Jr. wins the Triple Crown and does not win the MVP, he will join four other players who shared the same fate. Two of the notable players to win the Triple Crown and not MVP are Lou Gherig and Ted Williams (twice). Gherig and Williams got absolutely hosed. The men that won the MVPs over them had decent years but not MVP worthy numbers. The year Gherig lost the award he hit .363, 49 homers, 166 RBIs. Highway robbery! Williams hit .356, 37 homers, 137 RBIs one year. The other he hit .343, 32 homers, 114 RBIs. Not epic years but he had great batting averages and better power than the competition.
The award is often referred to as the most “valuable” player but history shows us that it goes to the most “outstanding” player. I’m fine with the latter. One season, when I was the head baseball coach at El Monte High, my best player lost the league MVP by a landslide. His numbers were head and shoulders above the other guy. Their argument…you take your guy away from your team and you still finish in second place. You take the other guy away from his team and they finish in last place, not third place. I always thought that was a weak argument. You’re basically rewarding a good player for being on a crap team over a good player for being on a good team. Doesn’t make sense.
Shohei Ohtani has been the MVP frontrunner most of the season and he needs zero introductions. He’s one of the top 3 hitters in the MLB and is pitching really well also. The voters will have to take a long hard look at who’s having the better year. It’s a tough choice. The Triple Crown is almost non-existent now-a-days and Ohtani is a modern day Babe Ruth. My vote…Sho-Time Ohtani. Ohtani’s offense alone is enough to put him in the top two for the MVP race. Add his pitching and he gets the edge, in my book.
Los Dodgers
The only thing uglier than the royal blue pants the Dodgers wear is Cody Bellinger’s approach at the plate. Belli is lucky that Chris Taylor hit a little skid as well. If not, he’d be riding the pine the last part of the season. He still plays good defense so there’s value there but I’ll take a hitter over him right now. In October he may be Belli-Bench.
Julio Urias just got his 18th win of the season. I know he gets about 10 runs of support a game but 18 wins is still pretty darn good. If he wins his next two starts he will hit the magical 20 win mark. Maybe loyal reader Z-Man can check my math. He’s always been good with numbers.
Bauer is not playing baseball this season. I give him a 50/50 shot of playing for the Dodgers next season. There’s still a good shot that the MLB can give him a suspension, even though he is cleared of all charges. I could see anywhere from a 30-day to full season suspension. Give me Mad Max and a healthy Kershaw and we can do without him. Walker Buehler and Julio Urias will continue to get better. Without Bauer’s contract, we also free up some money.
New York Fight Night
The Yankees and Mets got a little saucy the other night. Here’s the video.
Long story short…The Mets thought the Yankees were using whistling to tip pitches. Francisco Lindor lit the Yanks up for 3 home runs. Giancarlo Stanton hit his own home run and when he “ran” past Lindor they exchanged words. Benches cleared and insults were exchanged. Personally, I wanted to see some action. The way some of the Mets and Yankees have been playing it might have been the only hitting I’ll see all game.
After the Astros scandal, some people forget that picking signs is part of the game. You just have to do it the right way. It’s illegal to use technology like the Astros did but there’s a million other ways pitchers tip pitches.
Subtle things a pitcher does gives away what he’s throwing. Examples are a glove slanted sideways for a curveball, a glove is open extra wide on a changeup, digging into the glove on off-speed pitches, fast windup for fastballs and slow windup for off-speed and a million unconscious body gestures such as sticking a tongue out for a curveball or touching the cap for a fastball.
If the pitcher is tipping his pitches the dugout of the opposing team relays the pitches. Again, there are a million ways to do this. Terms such as “extend” for fastball or “adjust” for off-speed. First name is fastball and last name is off-speed. Whistling, sounds, etc. It’s all fair game. The team that is getting their signs picked does not have to like it but it’s their job to adjust and stop letting their signs get picked. Threats are also in order, “if you don’t stop picking our signs, we’re going to drill you!”
Baseball is a crazy game, right? That’s why people who did not play have a hard time understanding the game. This is America, every kid should play little league, right?
Contact Steve Urena at:
Email: theurenaexpress@gmail.com
Twitter/IG: @theurenaexpress
