REMINDERS
The trade deadline is AUGUST 2, and along with MLB there are no longer post-deadline waiver trades, so make all your final moves this week. This was the short week after the break, but we’ll be back to using full starting rotations with the next lineup. I really want to, but league rules prevent me from using Albert Pujols as a reliever even though he’s pitched an inning…
COMMENTS
Starting the second half in style, Jon Gray (Texas) threw a no-hitter on 7/21/2022 against Miami….Three walks away from a perfect game…Only took 112 pitches, which seems to be the main limiting factor on no-hit bids these days…The actual Boston club hit such a rough patch that their negative run differential over a 5-game span was matched only by the 1899 Cleveland Spiders, which is notable because that team was so bad it is almost impossible for any modern club to match their awfulness…the team was owned by guy who also owned another club and traded all their good players to himself on the other team…they played 154 games, won only 20 (13%, a major-league record often excluded as prior to the modern era), and had a total attendance of 6,088…they had won 54.4% of their games the year before and between 1881 and 1888 their best pitcher was…wait for it…Cy Young…which is a very long-winded way of saying that Hugh Brown’s bunch — despite their 16-0 loss on the 22d, did much better than either the 1899 Spiders or the 2022 Bosox in the 3 games after the break, winning 1 of 3…and he’s still in first…Yankees and Jays each gained ground, and the team in that division with the best record over the last 30 games is the Orioles…Twins continue to cruise in the AL Central and were the only team with a perfect record in the short week…they only played 2 games…Yankees and Astros both played five…Ben Brockreide has pushed his Texas club into the top AL Wildcard spot and the +12 WOR is the best in the league…looking at the second-half race, the wildcard race, at present, revolves around whether Anaheim, Cleveland, or the Chisox can pick up enough ground to grab a wildcard spot…they are all about 5 games back, but there’s plenty of time left…tipping my hat to Danny Wildes, who has the Braves in first in the NL East and held the spot with a 2-1 record…since his major roster shake-up, Adam Symonds has the Phillies 16-14 over the last 30…Harper is coming back…Josh Clark’s Cardinals picked up 2 games, which is something in a 3-game week and in a race that is separate by only 3 games…and that’s a division where the Cubs and Brewers are a combined +11.5 WOR…Arizona is not a good team, and Mark Druyos doesn’t have a lot to play for, but he’s got ’em +1 WOR and 17-13 over the past 30…I’m impressed…the best MLB regular-season record ever belongs to the 1906 Chicago Cubs at 76%…the best ASFBL finish ever was Boston in 1995 at 69%…Rick Wynne currently has the Dodgers at 74%…
FEATS AND FAILURES
Franmil Reyes (Cleveland) struck out 4 times (on 7/22/2022 against Chicago (CWS)) Andres Gimenez (Cleveland) had 5 hits (on 7/22/2022 against Chicago (CWS)) Shane McClanahan (Tampa Bay) struck out 14 batters (on 7/22/2022 against Kansas City) Corbin Burnes (Milwaukee) struck out 14 batters (on 7/22/2022 against Colorado) Julio Rodriguez (Seattle) struck out 4 times (on 7/22/2022 against Houston) Framber Valdez (Houston) struck out 12 batters (on 7/22/2022 against Seattle) C.J. Cron (Colorado) struck out 4 times (on 7/23/2022 against Milwaukee) Giancarlo Stanton (New York (NYY)) struck out 4 times (on 7/24/2022 against Baltimore) Seby Zavala (Chicago (CWS)) struck out 4 times (on 7/24/2022 against Cleveland)
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