ReportWire

Tag: National League

  • The Good, The Bad, & The Braves: The Case for Drake Baldwin for NL ROTY

    Atlanta Braves rookie catcher Drake Badwin may have begun the 2025 season platooning behind the plate, but he will finish it as one of the frontrunners for National League Rookie of the Year. Baldwin came into Monday night’s game against the Washington Nationals batting .273 with 18 home runs, 76 RBI, 52 runs scored, and a .799 OPS.

    Even though the Braves will end the season out of the National League postseason picture and under .500, Baldwin’s offensive input and defense behind the dish have been important, whatever success the club has had this season.

    Rookie catcher Drake Baldwin (above)and the Atlanta Braves hosted the Seattle Mariners at Truist Park on September 6, 2025. Photo by Matthew Grimes Jr./Atlanta Braves

    Over the past 30 games coming into Monday night, Baldwin’s numbers were down (.245 from the plate with 11 strikeouts), but he has picked them up of late. During the past seven games, all Braves victories, Baldwin is hitting .348 with a .738 slugging percentage, two home runs, and eight runs batted in. His only true competition for the award is a young starter on the Northside of Chicago.

    The Chicago Cubs’ starting pitcher, Cade Horton, has been lighting up National League hitters this season. Horton is currently 11-4 with a 2.66 ERA, 95 strikeouts, and has only given up 33 walks in 115 innings.

    Against the Braves this season, Horton is 1-0 in two starts. During those games, he had an ERA of 0.79 in 11 innings of work and struck out eight Braves while only giving up one earned run.

    It wouldn’t be an upset if Horton won the award, but Baldwin has made a solid case this season. The Braves finishing under .500 could be why Baldwin doesn’t come away with it. The Cubs (88-68 overall) are currently atop the National League wild card standings. That makes Horton’s 11 victories this season that much more important.

    On Monday night, with the bases loaded and the Braves ahead 2-1, Baldwin, batting in the sixth slot in the lineup, hit a two-RBI single off Nationals pitcher Jackson Rutledge to extend the Braves’ lead to 3-1. The two runs left Baldwin with the third most runs batted in on the team behind Matt Olson (93) and Michael Harris (80).

    Baldwin hit a double in the fourth inning, his 17th of the season. That hit started a rally that ended with Atlanta scoring another run on Harris’s third RBI of the game.

    Donnell Suggs

    Source link

  • The Dog Days of New York Baseball

    Edwin Díaz, the New York Mets’ All-Star closer, is no stranger to unusual injuries. A couple of years ago, he tore the patellar tendon in his right knee while jumping up and down to celebrate a win in the World Baseball Classic. Still, the condition he described after exiting a game in late April was one for the books. “Yesterday, my legs—one was longer than the other one,” he said, offhandedly, before adding that a trainer had “fixed it.” Asked to elaborate, he replied, “I don’t know. I didn’t ask. He just did it, and I was feeling better after.” His quotes circulated widely, shared by bloggers and fans on social media with a bit of puzzlement and delight but with little follow-up or explanation. The real story was perhaps not so strange—there was, evidently, a strength imbalance in his hips—but his more startling description probably seemed plausible enough to those who root for his team. Of course one of Díaz’s legs was longer than the other. He is, after all, a Met.

    The Mets’ association with absurdity has long been inextricable from the team’s identity, something I spent a lot of time thinking about before the season, when I wrote a long story about the franchise, and its rivalry with New York’s other team, the Yankees. When Steve Cohen, the hedge-fund billionaire, bought the team, in 2020, he pledged to rebuild the organization so that New Yorkers could wear Mets hats with pride instead of vague embarrassment—the default sentiment for many Mets fans ever since the team’s founding, in 1962, but particularly after the previous owners, the Wilpon family, were discovered to be among Bernie Madoff’s biggest clients. And, recently, Cohen’s vision seemed to be coming to fruition. There was a thrilling run into October last season, then the signing of Juan Soto, who was lured away from the Yankees with the biggest contract in baseball history. There was a general sense of competency surrounding the team. Even Díaz’s mysterious condition and rehabilitation suggested a change—a weird thing had happened, but the training staff had addressed it! Almost immediately, his pitching became nearly untouchable. On June 12th, the team was at the top of the standings, with a five-and-a-half-game lead in the National League East.

    Since then, the team has seen twenty-three wins, and thirty-six losses—one of the worst records in the majors. The starting pitching has been terrible. The bullpen has been unreliable. The bats have been anemic. The Mets have had more than twenty blown-lead losses since June 13th. Almost every part of the team has been underperforming. From time to time, there have been signs of the World Series contenders they used to be not so long ago: a seven-game win streak in July; a three-game unbeaten stretch just last week. On Friday night, they had twenty-one hits and scored twelve runs to beat the Atlanta Braves. But whatever momentum they manage to build quickly craters—most recently, in a series loss to the Washington Nationals, one of the worst teams in the M.L.B. “Feels very normal,” Nick O’Brien, a Mets fan whom I’d met on the berm in Port St. Lucie, at a spring-training game, in March, told me, when I spoke to him on the phone last week. “There’s a little bit of a trauma response in there,” he added. On Reddit, Mets fans were busy arguing about which squads in the franchise’s history had suffered the worst collapses.

    Some of this is premature. Good teams have bad weeks, even bad months; the Mets started horribly last season, and romped into the National League Championship Series. Because of the team’s healthy start, their winning percentage remains comfortably above .500, and they’re clinging to a slim lead over the Cincinnati Reds for the final wild-card spot in the National League. Attendance at Citi Field has remained strong. When I reached out to another fan I met at spring training, he responded from Washington, D.C., where he’d brought his son to see the Mets on the road—he sent me pictures of the two of them, decked out in Mets gear, at the Nationals’ stadium. Kyle Gorjanc, O’Brien’s girlfriend, said, “Everybody’s doing their job, doing what they can, and it just sort of feels like, Well, you win some, you lose some! It doesn’t really feel like a disaster.” O’Brien interjected to say that it would be a disaster if the team failed to make the playoffs.

    Still, there are silver linings, even as the losses pile up. There is a degree of reassurance, after all, in knowing that the team hasn’t become unrecognizable. “That underdog mentality is something that’s kind of indomitable,” O’Brien said. “There’s a little sense that you can’t buy your way out of it.” Gorjanc and O’Brien attended a game earlier this season during which David Wright, the team’s beloved former captain, had his jersey retired. “The David Wright thing was cool,” O’Brien said. “He mentioned the Wilpons during the speech, and everybody booed.”

    If those fans needed any more reasons to boo—they only needed to look north, to the Bronx, where the Yankees were in the midst of an even more spectacular swoon. The Yankees entered the season as the second favorites to win the World Series, behind only the Los Angeles Dodgers. At the end of May, they held a seven-game lead in the American League East, over the Toronto Blue Jays. But since June 13th—also the date when the Mets’ major misfortunes began—the Yankees have had a losing record, and have tumbled out of first place. They are currently in a battle with the Boston Red Sox for the top wild-card spot. It’s been a disappointing season for a lot of supposed juggernauts: even the Dodgers are having a down year of sorts, relative to expectations, though they still lead their division. Every team that makes a credible attempt at the post-season is up against the vagaries of luck and the vulnerabilities of the human body. In this respect, the only teams that aren’t underdogs, you could say, are the ones whose fates are fixed because their owners are too stingy to even try.

    Whatever comes in September and beyond, the Mets’ front office will face a tricky off-season. It’s rumored that Díaz, perhaps the team’s best player this season—at least since his mysterious condition was resolved—will test the free-agent market, and the Mets’ popular slugger Pete Alonso, who recently set the franchise record for most home runs, could opt out of his contract. How far Cohen is willing to go to change the team may depend on how far he’s willing to go to keep them. As for Soto, he’s having a “Met year,” as Gorjanc put it. But Francisco Lindor, the team’s shortstop who, until Soto’s arrival, had claim to the team’s richest contract, struggled at first, too, before turning into the team’s M.V.P. “Maybe Soto just needs a Met year before he ripens,” Gorjanc said. Or another fourteen, I offered—the length of the rest of his contract. ♦

    Louisa Thomas

    Source link

  • Dodger Stadium fans toss balls and trash on field

    Dodger Stadium fans toss balls and trash on field

    Fans threw baseballs in the direction of San Diego left fielder Jurickson Profar and then tossed trash that caused a lengthy delay before the Padres beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 10-2 on Sunday night to even their NL Division Series at a game apiece.Yu Darvish limited the Dodgers’ powerful offense to one run and three hits over seven innings and Fernando Tatis Jr. went deep twice as the Padres tied the postseason record of six homers.Video above: These Are Baseball’s Most Valuable Teams This YearDavid Peralta and Jackson Merrill each hit two-run homers, and a hobbled Xander Bogaerts and Kyle Higashioka had solo shots.The delay in the middle of the seventh inning led to a 12-minute gap between pitches and occurred as two balls were thrown from the stands in the direction of Profar. He chased after one of them but a security officer got to it first. Trash was strewn on the warning track in right near the Padres bullpen.Dodgers security staff attempted to identify the fans who caused the trouble, and public address announcer Todd Leitz told the crowd: “We ask that you do not throw objects onto the field.”There was continuous booing by the sellout crowd of 54,119 — the largest at Dodger Stadium this season.Security rushed onto the field as Padres manager Mike Shildt and his team huddled in shallow left. They were joined by the umpiring crew. Security appeared to be trying to identify potential perpetrators in the crowd.Manny Machado gathered his Padres teammates in the dugout to boost them before the game resumed.The best-of-five series shifts to San Diego on Tuesday.

    LOS ANGELES —

    Fans threw baseballs in the direction of San Diego left fielder Jurickson Profar and then tossed trash that caused a lengthy delay before the Padres beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 10-2 on Sunday night to even their NL Division Series at a game apiece.

    Yu Darvish limited the Dodgers’ powerful offense to one run and three hits over seven innings and Fernando Tatis Jr. went deep twice as the Padres tied the postseason record of six homers.

    Video above: These Are Baseball’s Most Valuable Teams This Year

    David Peralta and Jackson Merrill each hit two-run homers, and a hobbled Xander Bogaerts and Kyle Higashioka had solo shots.

    The delay in the middle of the seventh inning led to a 12-minute gap between pitches and occurred as two balls were thrown from the stands in the direction of Profar. He chased after one of them but a security officer got to it first. Trash was strewn on the warning track in right near the Padres bullpen.

    Dodgers security staff attempted to identify the fans who caused the trouble, and public address announcer Todd Leitz told the crowd: “We ask that you do not throw objects onto the field.”

    There was continuous booing by the sellout crowd of 54,119 — the largest at Dodger Stadium this season.

    Security rushed onto the field as Padres manager Mike Shildt and his team huddled in shallow left. They were joined by the umpiring crew. Security appeared to be trying to identify potential perpetrators in the crowd.

    Manny Machado gathered his Padres teammates in the dugout to boost them before the game resumed.

    The best-of-five series shifts to San Diego on Tuesday.

    Source link

  • Rockies rattle Diamondbacks’ playoff hopes with 8-2 victory at Coors Field

    Rockies rattle Diamondbacks’ playoff hopes with 8-2 victory at Coors Field

    Spoiler alert: Should the Diamondbacks fall out of the wild-card playoff race, they might point to this September series with the Rockies.

    Last year’s surprise National League pennant winner has owned the Rockies for the last two seasons. But these September Rockies aren’t those Rockies.

    They proved it again Tuesday night with an 8-2 romp over the D-backs at Coors Field. Colorado won Game 1 of the series, 3-2, on Monday night. The Rockies might still be roadkill away from LoDo, but they’re tough to beat at Coors, where they have a 19-12 record since July 4.

    The victory was the 535th for manager Bud Black, who bypassed Clint Hurdle for the most in Rockies history.

    “I’ve been a part of (milestones) before … it’s great,” Black said after veteran players Charlie Blackmon, Kyle Freeland, and German Marquez doused him with a celebratory beer-and-shaving-cream shower. “It’s great. It’s part of what makes us love the game. And when it’s over for all of us, it’s moments like this that you remember.”

    Colorado’s formula Tuesday night included an excellent start from right-hander Ryan Feltner, home runs from Ezequiel Tovar and Hunter Goodman, and timely hitting up and down the order. Colorado hit 5 for 14 with runners in scoring position.

    Arizona entered the night 8-3 in its last 11 games vs. the Rockies, and 18-6 in its last 24 dating back to the start of the 2023 season. But after losing two straight at Coors, they are now tied with the Mets for the NL’s final wild-card playoff spot.

    Feltner, his fastball humming, pitched 6 1/3 innings, giving up just one run on five hits. He struck out only two but got a lot of weak contact, and Colorado’s defense backed him up with stellar play.

    “I was on the same page with ‘Stahls’ all night, and we had great defense all night,” said Feltner, referring to veteran catch Jacob Stallings. “Just being able to trust Stahlings back there, and trusting the defense, it just frees me up. All of my pitches were working tonight and I just kept trying to pound the zone.”

    Second baseman Brendan Rodgers fed Tovar at short to turn a sweet double play to end the sixth, and center fielder Brenton Doyle, in the hunt for his second straight Gold Glove, made a running catch in center field to rob Eugenio Suarez of extra bases in the seventh.

    “It’s incredible,” Feltner said. “He floated like 20 feet in the air, it looked like from the pitcher’s mound.”

    Feltner is turning the corner. Since July 2, he’s posted a 3.25 ERA, with a 1.26 WHIP and a .230 batting average against. Plus, the Rockies have won in each of his last five starts.

    “The conviction with the fastball is key,” Black said. “When a pitcher believes in his fastball, and you have a good fastball, it makes the fastball better.

    “It’s still a fastball of 93-94-95-96, and he’s had it all year. But for whatever reason, his conviction with his fastball for the past month makes it better. He wills it to good spots. He wills it to get outs.”

    Still, Feltner had not won a decision at Coors since Aug. 9, 2022, vs. the Cardinals, an unwanted franchise record of 21 consecutive starts without a win at home. He was aware of the history, but not concerned.

    “It doesn’t matter to me, and I don’t look into that stuff,” he said. “I just go out there to try and win the game.”

    Second baseman Brendan Rodgers and shortstop Tovar turned a sweet double play to end the sixth, and center fielder Brenton Doyle made a running catch in center field to rob Eugenio Suarez of extra bases in the seventh.

    Patrick Saunders

    Source link

  • Rockies cool off sizzling Padres with 3-2 win to take three-game series

    Rockies cool off sizzling Padres with 3-2 win to take three-game series

    If the Padres fail to catch the Dodgers in the National League West, or should they slip in the wild-card race, they’ll no doubt mutter under their breath about those blankity-blank Rockies.

    The Rockies beat San Diego again Sunday afternoon at Coors Field, winning 3-2 behind timely hits and a stellar start from rookie Bradley Blalock. The Rockies won the three-game series, halting the Padres’ streak of eight consecutive series victories.

    Victor Vodnik shut down San Diego in the ninth for his ninth save.

    Colorado is tracking toward another 100-loss season, but it went 8-5 vs. the Padres this season. The Padres entered Sunday’s game having won 20 of their last 24 games.

    Colorado center fielder Brenton Doyle’s leadoff triple off of reliever Bryan Hoeing ignited the Rockies’ game-clinching two-run sixth. With one out, San Diego decided to intentionally walk the dangerous Michael Toglia, put runners on the corners, and pitch to slow-footed catcher Jacob Stallings.

    The move backfired. Stallings punched a single to right, and when David bobbled the ball for an error, Toglia raced to third. Toglia scored on Sam Hilliard’s groundout to second for a 3-1 Colorado lead.

    Manny Machado’s big swing cut the lead to 3-2 with a leadoff homer off Tyler Kinley in the eighth. Kinley left a hanging slider over the heart of the plate and Machado ripped it down the left-field line for his 19th homer.

    Patrick Saunders

    Source link

  • Red-hot Brendan Rodgers sparks Rockies’ 7-3 win over Padres

    Red-hot Brendan Rodgers sparks Rockies’ 7-3 win over Padres

    Brendan Rodgers had another hot August night, and the Rockies cooled off the sizzling Padres.

    Rodgers’ three-run, first-inning homer sparked the Rockies’ 7-3 victory Friday at Coors Field. San Diego, trying to topple the Dodgers from the National League West throne, came into the game having won 19 of its previous 22 games.

    Rodgers extended his hitting streak to 10 games and is hitting .392 this month, with six doubles, three homers and a 1.115 OPS.

    His 10th homer of the season was the catalyst to Colorado’s four-run first. Rodgers blasted a 77.3 mph knuckleball from right-hander Matt Waldron 439 feet and deep into the left-field bleachers.

    “It’s been fun,” Rodgers said. “I usually do struggle in August. But I talked to my hitter guy and some people I trust a lot with the developmental part of the game.  So I decided to trust it and just keep going.”

    Manager Bud Black is thrilled with Rodgers’ production and his ability to “go to the post” as the season heads into its final weeks.

    “He’s driving the ball better, and we’re seeing him hit to the gaps and send the ball over the fence,” Black said. “His swing is crisp with some bat speed to it.

    “And what’s good about it for me, and to the coaching staff, is that it’s happening in the dog days of August, and it’s happening when guys are tired. It’s happening at the time of year when you really have to fight through some things, physically and mentally. This is a tough time for all players. I’m proud of Brendan.”

    Rodgers had plenty of help Friday night. Rookie Jordan Beck (3-for-4) singled in the second and waltzed home on Charlie Blackmon’s eighth homer of the season. In the sixth, Beck drove in Michael Toglia with a single to right. Toglia led off with a hustle double to right.

    Blackmon’s homer was his first since July 22 vs. Boston. His 223 career home runs are four shy of tying Carlos Gonzalez for fifth in franchise history.

    Colorado right-hander Cal Quantrill, making his first start since Aug. 4 because he was sidelined with forearm soreness, turned in a workmanlike, five-inning start.

    “Early on, I was a little tentative and I made some bad pitches in the first and second,” Quantrill said. “But I think we settled in after that. I thought (catcher Jacob Stallings) called a good game, and we kept mixing it up just enough. We didn’t rely too heavily on the fastball or the splitter, we just had a nice change of pace.

    “It probably won’t be my best start ever, but we’ve talked about the importance of winning at home. That’s a team that’s really hot right now and we beat them.”

    Quantrill is 4-2 with a 3.47 ERA in 10 starts at Coors, the seventh pitcher in franchise history to post a sub-3.50 ERA through his first 10 starts in LoDo as a member of the Rockies. The others are Austin Gomber, Kyle Freeland, Tyler Anderson, Juan Nicasio, Jeff Francis and Denny Stark.

    All three runs Quantrill gave up came on home runs — a two-run blast by Ha-Seong Kim in the second and a leadoff blast by Xander Bogaerts in the fourth.

    Patrick Saunders

    Source link

  • A Silver Lining in a Slow Stretch for the Phillies? – Philadelphia Sports Nation

    A Silver Lining in a Slow Stretch for the Phillies? – Philadelphia Sports Nation

    Baseball, much like life, is a matter of perspective.
    What is most beautiful about Major League Baseball’s 162-game regular season can also be the agonizing aspect of the ensuing six-month schedule: it never stops.

    So, regardless of whether your team is on a record-breaking tear or is finding a different way to lose each and every night, the schedule doesn’t care.It keeps moving, pushing forward relentlessly, a reminder that one bad stretch can turn a team’s season upside. 

    The Phillies have been in the midst of such a stretch lately, going 2-8 in their last 10 games and allowing their hold on the division to drop to a measly six games.

    Since the All-Star break–which served as a de facto coronation for the crowning of the Phillies as the best team in baseball–virtually everything that can go wrong has.

    They’ve lost six straight series dating back to their date with Oakland on July 12. The bullpen has fallen apart, blowing six three-run leads in the 15 games since the break, including a 5-0 lead in Saturday night’s loss to the Mariners. The starting rotation has been pockmarked with injuries and seemingly out of sync with the lineup–when they pitch well, the Phillies haven’t hit. When the Phillies do hit (which has been increasingly rare), the rotation doesn’t pitch well. Sunday’s 6-0 victory over the Mariners, however, could be the silver lining the team has been searching for—at least, one can hope.

    With the Phillies heading into Chavez Ravine to face the N.L. West leading Dodgers on Monday night, they’ll need all the good vibes they can get.

    Here are a few reasons that the tide might be turning for the Phils. 

    Offensive Resurgence?

    The Phillies crushed four home runs on Sunday, including three in a five-run 8th inning to cap off a spectacular, sweep-saving victory. Perhaps most inspiring were the contributions of three key lefties in the team’s lineup: Bryce Harper, Brandon Marsh, and Bryson Stott. Harper, who has been in the worst slump of his career, broke out on Saturday night with a key double and added three hits on Sunday, including a towering two-run shot in the 8th inning. Marsh, who has struggled mightily against lefties this year (.185 with 26 strikeouts entering Sunday’s game), has started to change the narrative. He singled off of Guardian’s pitcher Joey Cantillo last Sunday, tripled off of Mariner’s reliever Jhonathan Diaz on Friday night, and hit singles off of fellow Mariner’s lefty Tayler Saucedo in both Saturday and Sunday’s contests. Also encouraging was Bryson Stott’s eighth-inning solo shot, his eighth of the year. If Stott, who has been unable to find his stride at the plate all year, can look more like the Stott of 2023 down the stretch, then the Phillies will unlock a new weapon for the postseason. 

    The Return of the Rotation

    Zach Wheeler’s dominant outing on Sunday, in which he allowed just two hits and struck out nine over eight scoreless frames, might have done more than just break the team’s six-game losing streak. It might’ve been a glimmer of hope for the rotation. Aaron Nola, the Robin to Wheeler’s Batman, will take the hill for the Phillies in the series opener against LA. Nola, the owner of an 11-4 record with a 3.43 record this year, enters Monday night’s game pitching relatively well–at least for the current standards of the rotation. Ranger Suarez, out with a back injury that could very well be labeled as ‘exhaustion,’ looks primed to return in the next couple of weeks.And while Taijuan Walker hasn’t impressed any scouts in his minor league rehab stints, his hopeful replacement, Spencer Turnbull, is trending for a return later this month. If the team’s offense can start hitting and the rotation can just hold it together for a couple more weeks, this rocky stretch in August could be a little smoother than anticipated.

    PHOTO: —

    Dylan Campbell

    Source link

  • Is Kody Clemens Here to Stay for the Phillies? – Philadelphia Sports Nation

    Is Kody Clemens Here to Stay for the Phillies? – Philadelphia Sports Nation

    If you haven’t heard, Roger Clemens’ son has been playing a key role for the Phillies since Trea Turner was placed on the Injured List.
    The son of the 11-time All-Star and 7-time Cy Young award winner is on a pretty nice heater right now and is making a name for himself independently of his father.

    In 10 games this season with the Phillies, Kody Clemens is batting over .300, slugging .826, and has an OPS of 1.159, all while providing some flexibility all over the infield. Clemens’ highlight of the season and perhaps his career came last night when he hit a game-tying home run against the Nationals with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning. The Phillies would go on to win the game in the 10th on a sacrifice fly by Bryce Harper, something that would’ve never happened if Clemens didn’t bat in the ninth.

    The 28-year-old utility man came over in the Gregory Soto deal going into 2023 and has floated between Triple-A and the majors with the Tigers and now with the Phillies. Clemens came very close to making the Opening Day roster this year after a hot spring training but ultimately was sent down late in the Spring.

    Clemens seems like he could be a nice spark off the bench if a situation presents itself late in games.

    After Saturday night’s heroics, he is almost certainly gaining popularity among the fan base, but Turner is not going to be out forever.

    Clemens has a spot on the team right now because Edmundo Sosa has gotten the bulk of the time at shortstop after Turner went on the IL.

    The lefty is basically filling the utility infield spot that was Sosa’s.

    It’s going to be interesting to see what the Phillies decide to do when Turner returns, but what Clemens is doing should absolutely not be overlooked.

    PHOTO: —

    Evan Carroll

    Source link

  • Rockies Journal: Questions to ponder as regular season nears, including cable TV situation that remains unresolved

    Rockies Journal: Questions to ponder as regular season nears, including cable TV situation that remains unresolved

    SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Questions to ponder as the Rockies near Thursday’s season-opener against the Diamondbacks:

    Will fans be able to watch games via traditional cable?: The Rockies continue to say that negotiations are ongoing to find a way for fans to watch games on systems like Comcast, Dish Network or DirectTV. I was originally told that a deal would hopefully be worked out before the regular season begins. However, there are no guarantees that’s going to happen, leaving some fans in limbo.

    Will fans pay to stream games via Rockies.TV?: That’s the multi-million-dollar question facing owner Dick Monfort. The club launched its online streaming service last month. Rockies.TV will show all Rockies games this season, with Major League Baseball producing and distributing the games.

    MLB will also remove blackouts for fans, meaning that for the first time, fans in the Rockies’ traditional TV territory can live stream all of the club’s games. To stream Rockies games only, the cost will be $19.99 per month or $99.99 for the season.

    Streaming all sports, not just baseball, is the wave of the future. But several disgruntled fans have told me they won’t pay $19.99 monthly to watch a team that lost 103 games last season. I’m not sure I believe many of them. Baseball is part of the fabric of summer, and I think fans would miss tuning in to the local team more than they realize.

    Still, it’s going to be a hard sell. Two years ago, the Rockies drew an average of just 15,000 household viewers per game via traditional TV, according to Forbes and Nielsen Media. Only the Miami Marlins and Oakland Athletics had worse ratings.

    Will attendance tumble at Coors Field?: A little bit, but I don’t see a giant slide. Last season, the Rockies averaged 32,196 fans per game at Coors Field, down only slightly from the 32,467 average from 2022. Even if the Rockies stumble early — a distinct possibility — they have the Red Sox coming into town for three games after the All-Star Game and they end the season with the Cardinals and Dodgers coming to LoDo for what could be meaningful games for the visitors.

    Which Rockies will make the All-Star Game?: We know every team sends at least one player to the Midsummer Classic, but I’ll give you three Rockies who could end up at Globe Life Field on July 16 in Arlington, Texas.

    Topping my list is left fielder Nolan Jones, a terrific athlete who has a chance to be an impactful power hitter. On deck is second baseman Brendan Rodgers. He’s had an excellent spring, and his confidence is sky-high.

    My wild-card choice is veteran lefty Kyle Freeland. Manager Bud Black said recently that he’s never seen Freeland pitch better. That’s saying something, considering that Freeland went 17-7 with a 2.85 ERA over 33 starts in 2018.

    Will the “real” Kris Bryant finally show up?: I want to say yes because he’s very well-liked by his teammates and he’s a class act. He’s got a beautiful swing and is a graceful athlete. But I don’t know what KB has left at age 32 following two years of injuries that limited him to 122 games in a Rockies uniform.

    If he stays healthy and plays 145-150 games, I could envision him hitting .280 with 20 homers and 80 RBIs. But he’s never going to hit .292 with 39 homers and 102 RBIs as he did in 2016 when he was named National League MVP and helped lead the Cubs to their first World Series title since 1908.

    Patrick Saunders

    Source link

  • Justin Lawrence has right stuff to be Rockies’ closer — if he can harness it

    Justin Lawrence has right stuff to be Rockies’ closer — if he can harness it

    SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — June 13, 2023, Fenway Park, Boston. Rockies 4, Red Sox 4. Seventh inning. Justin Lawrence trots out from the bullpen and hikes the mound.

    “I came into a jam in a tight ballgame and I caught myself singing the ‘Sweet Caroline’ song,” the Rockies’ right-hander recalled Wednesday. “I was looking around and I thought, ‘This is kind of cool.’

    “Then I thought, ‘Wait a minute, it’s a tie ballgame in the seventh inning, I’m coming in to get us out of a jam, and it’s my first time ever at Fenway.’ It didn’t matter, it was a fun moment.”

    Lawrence pitched 1 2/3 innings that night, and although he issued two walks, he allowed no runs, stranded two inherited runners, and kept Colorado in a game it eventually won, 7-6, in 10 innings.

    It wasn’t the singular moment of Lawrence’s career but it illustrates how far he’s come since being a raw prospect with a unique, sidewinder delivery, 102 mph fastball and frequent bouts of inconsistency.

    Justin Lawrence (61) of the Colorado Rockies warms up during Spring Training at Salt River Fields in Scottsdale, Arizona on Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2024. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)

    “There are two main things about Justin,” manager Bud Black said. “On the fundamental side, he’s tightened up his stuff. Secondly, I’ve seen changes in his poise and maturity. In essence, he’s grown up to where his perspective and his mindset are of major league quality.”

    Lawrence, 29, is competing with friend and fellow right-hander Tyler Kinley for the closer job. Righty Daniel Bard, who will miss spring training after undergoing arthroscopic surgery on his left knee, could be in the mix, too, when he returns.

    Black and his staff are going to take a hard look at both Lawrence and Kinley for the ninth-inning role.

    “We think (Kinley) is mentally built to handle the ninth inning,” Black said. “Stuff-wise, he’s got weapons. He can pitch with velocity with the fastball, has a swing-and-miss slider and he’s working on the changeup. The bread and butter is his slider. But like Justin, he’s not a secret anymore in the National League and in our division.”

    Lawrence’s road to the majors has been full of potholes but he’s always had tantalizing talent. Black became intrigued with Lawrence’s raw stuff in 2018 when the right-hander posted a 2.65 ERA in 55 appearances with High-A Lancaster. Lawrence wowed the Rockies in the Arizona Fall League and impressed again during spring training 2019. But then his control evaporated and his ERA soared at Triple-A Albuquerque and Double-A Hartford.

    Then came the lowest moment of Lawrence’s career. He was suspended before the 2020 season for taking DHCMT, a substance banned by Major League Baseball. Lawrence said he didn’t know that the NSF-certified supplement he was taking contained DHCMT.

    “I wouldn’t wish what I had to go through on my worst enemy,” Lawrence said later.

    With those struggles behind him, he now has an opportunity to lock down his dream job.

    “I like the idea of going in to get the saves and the holds,” he said. “I don’t feel out of my element at all, and I don’t feel like the game speeds up on me or anything like that. I mean, this is what a competitor wants. As a kid, you want to be the starter, or the four-hole hitter, or the closer. It would be awesome to be the closer, but I came to camp ready to prepare for whatever role the team needs me for.”

    Justin Lawrence (61) jokes with Lucas Gilbreath (58) of the Colorado Rockies during Spring Training at Salt River Fields in Scottsdale, Arizona on Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2024. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)
    Justin Lawrence (61) jokes with Lucas Gilbreath (58) of the Colorado Rockies during Spring Training at Salt River Fields in Scottsdale, Arizona on Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2024. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)

    Lawrence’s 2023 season was a mixed bag. He posted a 1.47 ERA in 15 appearances and moved into the closer role in June when Pierce Johnson (later traded to Atlanta) started walking batters in droves. In his first 17 games as the closer, Lawrence converted seven of eight save opportunities while posting a 1.86 ERA. But he slumped in the second half of the season and lost the closer job to Kinley in early September.

    Lawrence’s first- and second-half splits illustrate his inconsistency. In 38 appearances before the All-Star break, he had a 2.76 ERA and opponents slashed just .188/.284/.269 against him. In the second half, his ERA soared to 5.22 in 31 outings and opponents slashed .299/.400/.470.

    “I liked everything about last season — the good, the bad and the ugly,” he said. “I liked the bad and the ugly because I learned from those things. I also loved that I was healthy the whole year and that when Buddy asked, ‘Hey, are you good to go?’ I was available.”

    Lawrence is also aware that volitivity is part of a reliever’s life.

    Patrick Saunders

    Source link

  • Alvarez blasts Baker, Astros to World Series title vs Phils

    Alvarez blasts Baker, Astros to World Series title vs Phils

    HOUSTON — Yordan Alvarez hit a moon shot that sent Space City into a frenzy, and the Houston Astros to their second World Series title.

    While the stain on Houston’s first championship might never completely fade, Alvarez’s majestic three-run homer helped fashion a fresh crown for the Astros — and the first for Dusty Baker as manager — in a 4-1 win over the Philadelphia Phillies in Game 6 on Saturday night.

    “What happened before, it doesn’t ever pass over completely,” said Baker, the veteran manager hired by the Astros in the wake of their sign-stealing scandal. “But we have turned the page and hopefully we’ll continue this run.”

    Alvarez blasted a ball over the 40-foot batter’s eye in center field during the sixth inning immediately after Phillies starter Zack Wheeler was pulled with a 1-0 lead.

    As Alvarez’s 450-foot shot sailed, Astros starter Framber Valdez jumped and wildly screamed in the dugout while the crowd of 42,958 went crazy waving orange rally towels.

    “When I was rounding second base, I felt the whole stadium moving,” Alvarez said through a translator.

    The 73-year-old Baker finally got his first title in his 25th season as a manager. He’s spent the past three with the Astros after they hired him to help the team regain credibility after their trash can banging scheme cost manager A.J. Hinch and general manager Jeff Luhnow their jobs, and made Houston the most reviled team in baseball.

    “I wasn’t here in 2017, but it’s definitely a weight off of everybody’s shoulders. Ain’t nobody can say (anything) now,” said closer Ryan Pressly, who finished the Series with another scoreless inning.

    Baker, who won a World Series as a player with the Los Angeles Dodgers and had been to the Fall Classic twice before as a skipper, is the oldest championship manager in any of the four major North American sports. The win came 20 years after a near-miss, when he came within five outs of taking the title while guiding the San Francisco Giants.

    “What’s next? I said if I win one, I want to win two,” Baker said afterward.

    Houston’s coaching and training staffs circled around Baker after Nick Castellanos flied out to end it, jumping up and down, and chanting “Dusty! Dusty! Dusty!” in the dugout before they joined the players on the field.

    Astros rookie shortstop Jeremy Peña was the World Series MVP after getting another key hit, a single to set up Alvarez’s homer.

    The 25-year-old star born in the Dominican Republic also won a Gold Glove award and AL Championship Series MVP — Peña is the first hitter to win those three awards in a career, and he did it all in his first season, per OptaSTATS.

    Jerseys worn by Peña and Baker during the Series were headed to the Hall of Fame.

    A year after watching the Atlanta Braves clinch the World Series title at Minute Maid Park, Justin Verlander and the Astros went 11-2 in the postseason and became the first team to seal the championship at home since the 2013 Boston Red Sox.

    Alvarez homered for the first time since going deep in the first two games this postseason. Christian Vázquez added an RBI single later in the inning to make it 4-1.

    Valdez earned his second win of this Series. He had been in the dugout only a few minutes after throwing his 93rd and final pitch while striking out nine over six innings.

    But the lefty had walked off the mound with the wild-card Phillies up 1-0 on Kyle Schwarber’s homer leading off the sixth.

    Schwarber, who hit his third homer in the past four games, rounded the bases waving his raised empty hand in the same motion as the fans with their towels.

    But by the time Schwarber batted in the eighth, the NL’s home run leader was reduced to bunting, trying for a hit to stir a dormant Phillies offense. His bunt went foul with two strikes, resulting in a strikeout.

    In the sixth, Houston got two runners on base against Wheeler for the first time in the game, when Martín Maldonado was hit by a pitch, Jose Altuve grounded into a forceout and Peña singled.

    Phillies manager Rob Thomson went to left-handed reliever José Alvarado to face the lefty slugger for the fourth time in the series — Alvarez had popped out twice and been hit by a pitch the first three times.

    “I thought Wheels still had really good stuff. It wasn’t about that. It was just I thought the matchup was better with Alvarado on Alvarez at that time,” Thomson said.

    And Alvarado had allowed only three homers to lefty hitters in his six big league seasons, until his 2-1 pitch, when Alvarez crushed the 99 mph sinker.

    “It’s kind of a dirty inning and I thought, I mean, going into the series it was always kind of Alvarado on Alvarez,” Thomson said. “It was the sixth inning and I felt like the normal back end of the bullpen guys could get through it.”

    Alvarez hadn’t homered since Game 2 of the AL Division Series against Seattle, when his two-run shot in the sixth inning put them up to stay. That came after his game-ending, three-run shot in Game 1 for an 8-7 win.

    Houston won an American League-best 106 games and reached its fourth World Series during a span in which it made it to the AL Championship Series six seasons in a row. The Astros made their only other World Series appearance in 2005, while still in the National League, and were swept in four games by the Chicago White Sox.

    This was their third ALCS and second consecutive World Series since former Astros pitcher Mike Fiers revealed after the 2019 season, when he had gone from Houston for two years since being part of their 2017 championship, that the team had used a camera in center field to steal signs and signal hitters on which pitches to expect by banging on a garbage can.

    “That will probably never go away but I think this just proves how good this team is and how good it’s been for a long time,” Astros owner Jim Crane said on the field afterward.

    Philadelphia was 22-29 when Joe Girardi was fired in early June and replaced by bench coach Thomson, the 59-year-old baseball lifer getting his first chance a big league manager — he was on the Yankees big league staff for 10 seasons with Girardi, and was part of their last World Series and title in 2009.

    The Phillies finished the regular season 65-46 under Thomson, their 87 wins good for the sixth and final spot in the NL playoffs, on the way to their first World Series since 2009.

    UP NEXT

    Phillies: In less than five months, the Phillies will be back in Texas to begin their 2023 regular season, about 250 miles away for the opener of an interleague series March 30 against the Texas Rangers.

    Astros: Whether or not Baker and/or general manager James Click are back — neither is signed past this season — the World Series champs will play their 2023 season opener at home March 30 against the Chicago White Sox.

    ———

    AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb and https://twitter.com/AP—Sports

    Source link

  • Astros rookie star Peña delivers again in World Series win

    Astros rookie star Peña delivers again in World Series win

    PHILADELPHIA — Jeremy Peña trotted around third base, looked toward the Houston dugout and gave the most casual two-handed shrug you’ll ever see on a ballfield.

    Like it was any routine game in May.

    Only this was November. In the World Series. In the biggest game of his life.

    Yep, this Peña postseason just kept getting better and better.

    Showing the polish and poise of a proven veteran, the 25-year-old Peña put on quite an all-around performance Thursday night. He became the first rookie shortstop to homer in the World Series, added two key singles and made a critical leaping catch in a 3-2 win over the Philadelphia Phillies in Game 5.

    “Rookie or not rookie, it doesn’t matter,” Peña said. “We’re in the World Series. You just go out and play. Go compete and let the best man win.”

    Having already won the AL Championship Series MVP award and a Gold Glove in the last two weeks, the emerging star from the Dominican Republic helped Houston move one win away from the ultimate prize — the World Series trophy.

    Ahead 3-2 in the matchup with the Phillies, it’s hard to imagine now the Astros started the season with many fans wondering how in the world they would replace All-Star shortstop Carlos Correa, who signed with Minnesota as a free agent.

    “I never saw it as having to fill shoes,” Peña said. “I just had to come in and be myself, play my game. But at the end of the season, once we accomplish our goal, which is to go all the way, then I’ll sit down and reflect on the journey. But there’s still work to do and we’ve got to lock in.”

    Again proving the biggest moments in baseball aren’t too big for him, the expressive and exuberant Peña grounded a hard RBI single up the middle in the first inning, then reached high to spear Nick Castellanos’ liner to thwart a potential rally in the third.

    In the fourth, Peña lofted a go-ahead, solo drive into the left-field seats for a 2-1 lead and chased Phillies starter Noah Syndergaard.

    “It felt good off the bat but I didn’t know if it was enough,” Peña said. “I was running normal and then when the umpire signaled, that’s when I started jogging.”

    Peña pointed his right index finger high as he approached second base and slapped his hands together after crossing the bag. He gave a shrug moments later — shades of Michael Jordan, maybe — and put his hands together to form a heart after touching home plate.

    No wonder manager Dusty Baker and the Astros love him so much.

    “Well, he came into camp as a young player. He had his eyes open. He always paid attention. You could tell he was very attentive and confident, but quiet,” Baker said. “Boy, he’s played remarkably well. Boy, I mean, he’s really carried us for a while here through this postseason, and that’s especially tough for a young player, a young shortstop. And I’m just glad we have him.”

    Peña showed he could play small ball, too, adeptly delivering a hit-and-run single that set up a much-needed insurance run in the eighth.

    The three-hit show made Peña 8 for 21 (.381) with a pair of doubles to go along with the homer in the World Series.

    That’s all come after he was 7 for 16 (.353) with two home runs and two doubles in the four-game sweep of the Yankees in the ALCS.

    “I just go out and enjoy it, have fun, play hard, play my game, and then just trust my preparation,” Peña said. “There’s a lot of preparation that’s gone into this.”

    He credited his Houston teammates for helping him keep his composure under pressure in close games this time of year.

    “They prepare for every single game. It rubs off on you. They have a sense of calmness because they have been here I guess four years out of the last six,” Peña said. “So you just gravitate towards them and just go out and compete and have fun.”

    The Astros thought they saw something special as Peña batted .253 with 22 home runs during the regular season while excelling on defense.

    This October — and November — the Astros and the baseball world have seen just how special.

    “I talked to him earlier in the year about being ready, especially in a clutch situation, and to remain aggressive. And he works at it. He works at his game,” Baker said.

    “Every once in a while these guys come along — not that often. But it just goes to show you, I mean, his future is very, very bright.”

    ———

    AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb and https://twitter.com/AP—Sports

    Source link

  • TV audience for World Series Game 3 on Fox down 2.7%

    TV audience for World Series Game 3 on Fox down 2.7%

    Philadelphia’s 7-0 win over Houston in Game 3 of the World Series was seen by 11,162,000 viewers on Fox, down 2.7% from last year’s third game

    PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia Phillies’ 7-0 win over Houston in Game 3 of the World Series was seen by 11,162,000 viewers on Fox, down 2.7% from last year’s third game.

    Atlanta’s 2-0 victory over the Astros last season was seen by 11,469,000. That game was on a Friday night, while this year’s Game 3 was on a Tuesday.

    This year’s audience was up 34% from the 8,339,000 for the Los Angeles Dodgers’ 6-2 win over Tampa Bay in 2020, the lowest-rated World Series.

    Including Fox Deportes and Fox’s streaming platforms, this year’s Game 3 was viewed by 11,373,000. The game, which began at 8:05 p.m. EDT and ended at 11:13 p.m., drew a 29.1 rating and 56 share in Philadelphia and a 21.9/47 in Houston.

    Game 3 was postponed by rain on Monday night.

    The first three games this year averaged 11,179,000 viewers on Fox, up 2% from the three-game average of 10,964,000 last year and an increase of 25% from the three-game average of 8,977,000 in 2020.

    The rating is the percentage of television households tuned in to a broadcast. The share is the percentage viewing a telecast among those households with TVs on at the time.

    ———

    AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb and https://twitter.com/AP—Sports

    Source link

  • Cardinals’ Wainwright back in 2023; coaching staff to change

    Cardinals’ Wainwright back in 2023; coaching staff to change

    Adam Wainwright will pitch for the St. Louis Cardinals next season, choosing to return for an 18th with the club while longtime teammates Albert Pujols and Yadier Molina head into retirement.

    Cardinals president John Mozeliak said Wednesday that the 41-year-old Wainwright informed the NL Central champions of his decision to return shortly after they were eliminated by the Philadelphia Phillies in the wild-card round of the playoffs. Wainwright did not pitch during either game in part because he had struggled with his delivery late in the season.

    Wainwright finished 11-12 with a 3.71 ERA in 32 start, his first losing season in which he made at least 20 starts. He won just twice over his final six starts, though, and had a 7.22 ERA while dealing with what he called a “dead arm.”

    Wainwright earned $17.5 million on a one-year deal last season. Terms of his contract for 2023 have not been disclosed.

    The right-hander will head into next season needing five wins to reach 200 for his career. Wainwright is 15 behind Jesse Haines for the second-most wins in franchise history; Bob Gibson is the leader with 251 of them.

    Wainwright and Molina set the major league record for career starts as a battery last season, eventually hitting 328 starts together. But with Molina heading into retirement, Andrew Knizner is in line to be the everyday catcher, though Mozeliak did indicate Wednesday that the club would be in the market for help behind the plate.

    In other news, Mozeliak said he was willing to offer new contracts to pitching coach Mike Maddux and hitting coach Jeff Albert but both decided to step away. The 61-year-old Maddux had been with the Cardinals since 2018 and Albert spent time with the Astros before taking over as the Cardinals hitting coach ahead of the 2019 season.

    The Cardinals had already lost bench coach Skip Schumacher to the Marlins as their manager this week. And with bullpen coach Bryan Eversgerd being reassigned as a special assistant within the organization, Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol will have four spots to replace on his staff heading into his second season in charge.

    Turner Ward, who had been the assistant hitting coach, could be a candidate for promotion. Pitching strategist Dusty Blake also will be back and could be among the candidates to replace Maddux as the pitching coach.

    ———

    More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP—Sports

    Source link

  • AP source: Schumaker hired as manager of Miami Marlins

    AP source: Schumaker hired as manager of Miami Marlins

    MIAMI — Skip Schumaker was a candidate to take over as manager of the Boston Red Sox and New York Mets in recent years, only to see those clubs pick someone else.

    The Miami Marlins didn’t let him get away.

    Schumaker has been hired by the Marlins to become the 16th manager in franchise history, a person with knowledge of the negotiations said Tuesday. The person spoke on condition of anonymity to The Associated Press because the Marlins had not announced the hiring.

    He comes to Miami from St. Louis, where he spent this season as the bench coach. Schumaker had been a first-base coach and associate manager for San Diego from 2018 through 2021, then joined the Cardinals’ staff.

    The 42-year-old Schumaker takes over in Miami for Don Mattingly, who managed the Marlins for seven seasons. Mattingly went 443-587 with Miami, winning the NL Manager of the Year award after leading the Marlins to the playoffs in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season.

    Mattingly’s contract expired when this season ended, and he and the Marlins’ front office — owner Bruce Sherman and general manager Kim Ng — agreed it would be best for both sides not to enter into a new deal.

    That prompted a search by Miami, and Schumaker became the pick.

    Schumaker played in the majors for 11 seasons, mostly with the Cardinals, and now gets his first managerial opportunity with Miami — which shares a spring training complex in Jupiter, Florida, with St. Louis.

    Schumaker was a starter for the Cardinals team that won the 2011 World Series. The California native batted .278 in 1,149 games while primarily playing second base and the outfield. He retired in March 2016 while in camp with the Padres on a minor-league deal.

    ———

    AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb and https://twitter.com/AP—Sports

    Source link

  • Yankees star Judge hits 62nd homer to break Maris’ AL record

    Yankees star Judge hits 62nd homer to break Maris’ AL record

    ARLINGTON, Texas — Aaron Judge hit his 62nd home run of the season Tuesday night, breaking Roger Maris’ American League record and setting what some fans consider baseball’s “clean” standard.

    The long chase to top a mark set in 1961 ended when the 30-year-old Yankees slugger drove a 1-1 slider from Texas right-hander Jesús Tinoco into the first row of seats in left field leading off the second game of New York’s day-night doubleheader.

    After No. 99 took a smooth, mighty swing, he had a wide smile on his face as he rounded the bases and his Yankees teammates streamed out of the dugout to celebrate with him. They stayed away from home plate, letting Judge step on it before sharing hugs and high-fives.

    Barry Bonds holds the major league record of 73 home runs, set with the San Francisco Giants in 2001.

    Judge’s mother and father were in the stands to see him end a five-game homerless streak, including Game 1 of the doubleheader when he was 1 for 5 with a single.

    The ball was caught by Cory Youmans of Dallas, who was sitting in Section 31. When asked what he was going to do with the ball while being taken away with security to have the ball authenticated, Youmans responded, “Good question. I haven’t thought about it.”

    Another fan was escorted away after leaping over the rail into a gap between the seats and the left-field wall.

    Judge, eligible to become a free agent after this season, struck out on a full-count pitch when batting again in the second.

    He took right field in the bottom of the inning before manager Aaron Boone pulled him from the game. Oswaldo Cabrera, who had been at second base, moved to right field and the slugger got another loud ovation as he jogged back to the Yankees dugout on the third base side.

    Reaction quickly came from far beyond the ballpark.

    “History made, more history to make,” President Joe Biden posted on Twitter.

    Tweeted former Yankees star Derek Jeter: “Congrats @TheJudge44 on 62! Postseason next!!!”

    Maris’ 61 for the Yankees had been exceeded six times previously, but all were tainted by the stench of steroids. Along with Bonds’ record, Mark McGwire hit 70 for the St. Louis Cardinals in 1998 and 65 the following year. The Chicago Cubs’ Sammy Sosa had 66, 65 and 63 during a four-season span starting in 1998.

    McGwire admitted using banned steroids, while Bonds and Sosa denied knowingly using performing-enhancing drugs. Major League Baseball started testing with penalties for PEDs in 2004, and some fans — perhaps many — until now have considered Maris as holder of the legitimate record.

    A Ruthian figure with a smile as outsized as his body, the 6-foot-7 Judge has rocked the major leagues with a series of deep drives that hearken to the sepia tone movie reels of his legendary pinstriped predecessors.

    “He should be revered for being the actual single-season home run champ,” Roger Maris Jr. said Wednesday night after his father’s mark was matched by Judge. “I think baseball needs to look at the records and I think baseball should do something.”

    Judge had homered only once in the past 13 games, and that was when he hit No. 61 last Wednesday in Toronto. The doubleheader nightcap in Texas was his 55th game in row played since Aug. 5.

    Judge was 3 for 17 with five walks and a hit by pitch since moving past the 60 home runs Babe Ruth hit in 1927, which had stood as the major league record for 34 years. Maris hit his 61st off Boston’s Tracy Stallard at old Yankee Stadium on Oct. 1, 1961.

    Judge has a chance to become the first AL Triple Crown winner since Detroit’s Miguel Cabrera in 2012. He leads the AL with 131 RBIs and began the day trailing Minnesota’s Luis Arraez, who was hitting .315.

    The home run in his first at-bat put him back to .311, where he had started the day before dropping a point in the opener.

    Judge’s accomplishment will cause endless debate.

    “To me, the holder of the record for home runs in a season is Roger Maris,” author George Will said earlier this month. “There’s no hint of suspicion that we’re seeing better baseball than better chemistry in the case of Judge. He’s clean. He’s not doing something that forces other players to jeopardize their health.”

    ———

    AP Baseball Writer Ronald Blum contributed to this report.

    ———

    More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP—Sports

    Source link

  • Nationals-Mets game rained out, doubleheader Tuesday

    Nationals-Mets game rained out, doubleheader Tuesday

    NEW YORK — The scheduled game between the Washington Nationals and New York Mets was postponed by rain Monday night and will be made up as part of a single-admission doubleheader Tuesday at Citi Field.

    The first game is set to begin at 4:10 p.m., though the forecast Tuesday is similarly soggy.

    New York (98-61) began the day two games behind the first-place Atlanta Braves in the NL East with three to play. The playoff-bound Mets have led the division for 175 days this season, but their chances of winning it all but disappeared last weekend when they were swept in three games at Atlanta.

    The only way the Mets take the NL East and bypass a best-of-three wild-card series this weekend is by sweeping three games from the last-place Nationals while Atlanta loses all three at Miami.

    ———

    More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb and https://twitter.com/AP—Sports

    Source link