LINEUP ANNOUNCEMENT REMINDER
Remember that the next download will be tomorrow, Oct 6, and will include the final regular season stats. Your next lineup is due Monday, Oct 10, not our traditional Tuesday. We can then get the playoff games rolling by Friday.
FEAT OF THE WEEK
Bobby Witt came up a single short of the cycle on 9/30/2022 against Colorado…and Trea Turner went 4-5 hitting behind him, and every hit was a single…
COMMENTARY
This newsletter is dedicated to things that were settled or are going down to the wire…the next newsletter will be the season wrap…In the NL, The Dodgers have long since sewn up the top seed and Atlanta clinced in NL East…just to prove neither team is coasting their combined record was 11-1 last week…The Dodgers put Rick Wynne at 121 wins, smashing his old personal best of 113…Danny Wildes cracked 100 wins for the first time in his league tenure…and I might have lost count, but I think Leo Leckie needed only 2 wins to hit 2,5000 all-time…and the White Sox got exactly 2 wins this week…the last time Rick and Danny hit their personal highs they went out in the divisional round, and I feel like something has to give this year…meanwhile in the Central Josh Clark has all but cinched it…up by 3 with 3 games to go, and I’d have to dig into the details of the tiebreakers but unless something very strange happens the Cardinals look like they have the division…but then again, we play these games because strange things happen…Mets and Brewers have the top two wildcard spots tied up, but Philly (85 wins), the Cubs (84 wins), and the Rockies (84 wins) are all in a logjam for the last spot…all of those teams had exactly 3 wins last week…Rockies finish at Dodgers, Cubs at the Reds, and Phillies at the Astros…strength of schedule tips to the Cubs, but the Rockies have the best record over the last 20 and the Phillies have the best record in close games by far…pitching matchups will matter…excited to see the finish!…In the AMERICAN LEAGUE, Johnny Mac’s Jays sealed up the division with a 4-2 week…the late Yankee run came up a tick short…Houston has sealed the west for a while, but Anaheim-Oakland-Seattle outperformed the Astros and Rangers last week to make it the fortnight of the spoilers…The AL Central is THE race to watch…the Guardians stormed off to a 5-1 mark and lost ground to the Twins who went 6-0…both teams are now in positive WOR territory…only 1 game separates them…Cleveland finishes against KC and the Twins against the Chisox, so Mike Mendoz and Leo Leckie are going to help decide that division…Texas leads the wildcard by a game and a half over the Twins, the Cleveland/Minnesota runner-up will take the second spot, and the Yankees are locked in with 87 wins in the 3rd spot…the only thing that could change is the seeding of the Ranger/central order, and the Bosox have an outside chance of running the table and tying the Yankees if they lose all 3….Anaheim and Baltimore both look to finish in positive WOR figures, but each needed incredible weeks to challenge for the wildcard and couldn’t muster the magic…congrats to Oakland for locking in at +12.5 WOR, and they’ll duel the Cubs, Twins, Dodgers, and Angels for the 3rd WOR spot…
FEATS AND FAILURES
Ryan Mountcastle (Baltimore) had 5 hits (on 9/27/2022 against Boston) Frank Schwindel (Arizona) struck out 4 times (on 9/27/2022 against Houston) Tucker Barnhart (Detroit) had 5 hits (on 9/29/2022 against Kansas City) Matt Chapman (Philadelphia) struck out 4 times (on 9/29/2022 against Chicago (CC)) Justin Verlander (Cleveland) struck out 13 batters (on 9/29/2022 against Tampa Bay) Edward Cabrera (Miami) struck out 11 batters (on 9/29/2022 against Milwaukee) Ian Happ (Chicago (CC)) struck out 4 times (on 9/30/2022 against Cincinnati) Luis Arraez (Minnesota) had 6 hits (on 9/30/2022 against Detroit) Jake Alu (Washington) hit 6 RBI (on 10/1/2022 against Philadelphia) Carson Kelly (Arizona) hit 3 homers (on 10/1/2022 against San Francisco) Rafael Devers (Los Angeles) hit 3 homers (on 10/1/2022 against Colorado) Alek Manoah (Toronto) struck out 12 batters (on 10/2/2022 against Boston) Heliot Ramos (San Francisco) struck out 4 times (on 10/2/2022 against Arizona) Dylan Cease (Colorado) struck out 11 batters (on 10/2/2022 against Los Angeles)
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