So the Mets were eliminated from post-season consideration Wednesday night before the final out was recorded in their bludgeoning of Miami, 10-3. Milwaukee defeated Cincinnati, 9-2, and that score went final minutes before the Mets-Marlins game ended.
The two National League Wild Cards are now official, with Milwaukee & Washington jockeying for home field advantage for the 1-&-done round. However, Milwaukee, on a six game winning streak, is also in the hunt for the NL Central title, trailing St. Louis by a game and a half entering play today. The divisional race could very well come down to the last out on Sunday, and by then, the field should be finalized.
The NL Central is the only division left to be decided, as all three divisions in the American League have been settled, with Minnesota claiming the AL Central last night. In contrast to the NL, the AL Wild Card remains a three team race, with Oakland, Tampa Bay, & Cleveland separated by a game and a half with four days remaining in the regular season. The Yankees & Houston are battling for home field advantage, as are Atlanta & the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL.
It's safe to say there won't be a lack of drama over these last four days.
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Back to the Mets. They're beating the drums for reigning Cy Young winner Jacob deGrom to possibly repeat, though he's a couple of percentage points behind Hyun-Jin Ryu of the Dodgers, who will make his last regular season start Saturday vs. San Francisco. Although deGrom won just 11 games, one more than last year, the Mets' fan base is convinced he could repeat. Come Sunday, we'll know for sure.
What is certain, however, is that Pete Alonso has locked up the NL Rookie of The Year trophy. The slugging first baseman hit his 51st homer Wednesday to pretty much ice the game vs. Miami, and has four games remaining to tie the Yankees' Aaron Judge, who hit 52 two years ago, for the single season HR record by a rookie.
Utility ace Jeff McNeil, long since lapped for the lead in the NL batting race, saw his season end with a hit-by-pitch Wednesday, suffering a fractured hand in the process. McNeil entered the game 4th in the NL in batting, and joins the current leader, Milwaukee's Christian Yelich, on the injured list. Coincidentally, Yelich's season also ended with a HBP against the Marlins, his former club. All Milwaukee has done is go 17-2 in his absence.
Which begs us to ask this of Miami pitchers, who've also targeted Atlanta's Ronald Acuna, Jr. at various times last year and this year:
Jealous much?
The Marlins unloaded Yelich in an off-season fire sale after the 2017 season. All he did was win NL MVP last year after having what was thought then to be a career year. Imagine what happens when the Marlins & Brewers meet in 2020.....
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After the Cubs' Kris Bryant was injured on a slide last weekend, his pet leech, Scott Boras, got on his soapbox and starting whining about the need for safer bases.
Cry me a river, why don't ya? If you were really that concerned about your clients, Boras, all along, then maybe you should've steered Alex Rodriguez away from the PED's and saved his career. He's not exactly the second coming of Tony Kubek in the ESPN booth on Sundays, and, yes, there's been the occasional sighting of A-Rod's current steady, singer-actress Jennifer Lopez, but Rodriguez has made out pretty well since retiring from the Yankees.
Back to Boras. Two years ago, Bryce Harper, then with Washington, suffered a similar injury, and Boras started whining about safer bases then. He complains now that MLB hasn't done anything, and based on what I've read, they can't, because the technology isn't there to create bases that have safeguards against injuries.
The easy solution, of course, is to condition players to stop sliding head-first into bases and home plate. Sliding in feet-first doesn't lessen the risk of injury. though. Substitute foot injuries for hand injuries, and you're still going to get some complaints from leeches like Boras.
It's just a part of the game.
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