Where Things Stand: 2021 MLB Edition Part 1
It’s been a while! You forgot I once did an MLB Edition if you’re an old, well traveled follower of mine. The thing is, 60 games did not feel proper to write a WTS: MLB 2020 Edition.
So, we had a gap year! You’ll find even more humor, snark and analysis to make up for lost time! There are some returning narratives from the 2019 series, from Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 (have mercy on my old writing! That was a loooong time ago), and also some new ones developed from last year’s non-existent editions and this year! That’s what we call continuity.
For those new to the series, each edition covers two months of the season. So today’s edition covers April and May, Part 2 will cover June and July with the trade deadline sprinkled in, and Part 3 will cover August and September with firings and wrapped up playoff races.
Unfortunately, we still haven’t been able to retrieve intern Jason from 1981 (read WTS: 2020 NFL Edition Part 4 for reference). That means more work for interns Paul and Randy, as well as editor Brandon Lewis. We’re still searching to hire one more new intern to the team while I work on the new time machine and recovering Jason. All applicants for the internship can submit their resume and cover letters to Brandon.
And if you think I’m going to let some past sins be forgotten, just wait! Let’s hop into the AL East!
*Note: All team page hyperlinks are to Baseball Reference.
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AL East
Tampa Bay: 35–20
Boston: 32–21
NY Yankees: 29–25
Toronto: 27–25
Baltimore: 17–37
State of the AL East:
Tampa Bay: Well, the Rays had their best shot at winning a World Series this past season since David Price wore their uniform. Unfortunately for them, the machine known as the Los Angeles Dodgers would not be denied.
Funny enough, the Dodgers were led by former Rays executive Andrew Friedman, who traded for Price before the 2020 campaign from the Red Sox, but Price opted out of the Dodgers’ season due to COVID-19 concerns.
So what happened after a pandemic shortened season? They flipped former Cy Young winner Blake Snell to San Diego, declined Charlie Morton’s option that normally would have been reasonable, and the result is being in first place with the best record in baseball.
But hey! They still have some solid pieces, one of the Top 10 farm systems in baseball with wunderkind Wander Franco leading the charge, and they’re contending! They also got back Chris Archer after they fleeced the Pirates when he was sent to Pittsburgh a few years ago in return for Shane Baz, Austin Meadows and Tyler Glasnow, all of whom are key pieces to the current roster.
A few of us fans thought we’d see Franco up in the bigs a few days ago when they flipped Willy Adames to Milwaukee, but they instead brought up Taylor Walls, which was slightly disappointing.
Randy Arozarena is going to be a spell-check nightmare for me but damn, he’s fun to watch!
Boston: My initial narrative I wrote up of this Boston club suffering from “The Curse of Mookie” has been dashed but only for the moment.
But knowing they rehired a key figure in the Houston cheating scandal in manager Alex Cora means the Red Sox have no moral compass.
He should have received a longer sentence and is worthy of greater shredding, but his ballclub had other ideas here.
Strictly speaking baseball, his presence and the re-emergence of J.D. Martinez after a poor 2020 has been a boon to this club. Not to mention guys like Rafael Devers, the perennially underrated Xander Bogaerts and Alex Verdugo also being key contributors.
Seriously, I want Boston to go away. They’ve had more than their share of titles since the turn of the century, and their fans will still be ungrateful!
New York: Don’t you love to see the early season struggles from the Yankees! It’s a wonderful time!
The fans tossing baseballs onto the field and delaying a game? Not so much. I see the spoiled Evil Empire fanbase gnawing for a trophy. ~I think your 28 titles are enough for now~.
While Gerrit Cole pitches like the ace that the Yankees signed in the winter of 2019, DJ LeMahieu hasn’t packed much of a punch, and when Giancarlo Stanton isn’t hitting rockets to the bleachers, he’s on the injured list.
This division is much like the NL West, and it’ll be a dogfight to the end.
Toronto: The Blue Jays finally decided to spend like the big market team they are.
You landed cheater George Springer, one of the few who didn’t nosedive in Houston during 2020 (with a delayed start to his Jays debut). Six years for $150 million, and he’s spent the majority of his time on the injured list.
Well, the promising young hitting core is finally off and running (mostly) with Vlad Guerrero Jr’s. MVP breakout party, Bo Bichette being Bo Bichette, Cavan Biggio slowly finding himself at the plate, as well as Teoscar Hernandez.
This younger group has been complimented by the likes of Randal Grichuk and a bounce-back campaign by Marcus Semien.
The only problem is the pitching depth. Robbie Ray has pitched more like an All-Star the last few weeks, and Hyun-Jin Ryu is there. The biggest question mark for the pitching staff is if Nate Pearson can get healthy and contribute.
Baltimore: Well, I don’t know what to say. There’s not a ton of positives when you’ve lost 14 straight games.
John Means has become an ace, and Cedric Mullins is a small surprise in this god forsaken rebuild.
Still, the O’s sit in the cellar, and it’ll take at least another year or two for a serious bid at contention.
I do ask for a few seconds here, as everyone should be a Trey Mancini fan because screw cancer! Welcome back dude!!
AL Central
CHI White Sox: 33–21
Cleveland: 29–24
Kansas City: 26–26
Minnesota: 22–31
Detroit: 22–32
State of the AL Central:
Chicago: “Chicago has the pieces to take over the division, both pitching and hitting. They scare the living daylights out of me. If Cleveland wants to compete, they better be ready for a new challenger.”
I am not happy that I was vindicated back in 2019, but they finally emerged as contenders…
Wait! They hired Tony La Russa?! Well, the guy had DUI problems, hadn’t spoken to at least one of his own prominent players on the team for a while after being hired, and all to stroke owner Jerry Reinsdorf’s ego for his past mistake of letting go of the Hall of Fame manager.
Yet, winning is what they wanted. It’s too bad Eloy Jimenez and Luis Robert have gone down.
For now, let’s talk about journeyman slugger Yermin Mercedes. He’s one of the best stories — and also best hitters — in baseball.
On a 3–0 pitch with Minnesota resorting to position players pitching during a blowout, he Yerminated a baseball over the fence.
Guess what happened? La Russa basically gave his opponents the green light to throw at Mercedes and saw Tyler Duffey and Rocco Baldelli ejected.
THIS DUDE LITERALLY APOLOGIZED TO THE OTHER TEAM AND CASTRATED HIS OWN PLAYER!! Mercedes has earned this opportunity, and La Russa doesn’t even defend him or just talk it out. He’s been playing in the minors since 2011 and waited for this opportunity!
No no no!! The unwritten rules are apparently more important than knowing actual rules in a game that a media member had to read you.
While good ole Tony has helped these White Sox win, he’s losing that clubhouse, and if Reinsdorf’s ego gets put in a box, he’ll lose his job.
Take your Hall of Fame honors and leave La Russa. Baseball has changed, and you need to as well. Deal with it!!
Cleveland: If you haven’t checked on me since the last time this series was published, I’ve covered games on media credentials during 2020 and 2021. This puts me in an awkward place in terms of shredding, which honestly none is deserved at the moment.
Okay, I lied. I wasn’t happy when Chris Antonetti, in my opinion and opinion only, didn’t come clean on everything to me and other reporters on a Zoom call about the Mickey Callaway allegations. The investigation wrapped up, and Callaway was banished, but it appears no one else was punished.
We can rehash everything about the Lindor deal and the Dolans, but that conversation is over. Cleveland is winning, and they deserve your attention.
I will not hear the argument about the budget. Fans complain only when they lose and stay dead silent when they win. Grow up! Be happy they compete every year. I get frustrated about money, but some of you are so irrational it drives me crazy!! You would support a losing Browns team for 20 years but not a lick of respect for the baseball team!
Shane Bieber is not as dominant as last year but still damn impressive. This guy just constantly reminds me of Justin Verlander in that instead of throwing harder as he goes, he just decimates opposing hitters as he goes further into games.
Bieber broke the record for most consecutive starts with eight or more strikeouts held by Randy Johnson from 1999–2000, and his 68 punchouts in April were the most through the first month of the season in MLB history. His 20-game streak with eight or more K’s ended in Seattle.
I pray the team decides to shell out cash to either him or José Ramírez, the latter playing like an MVP candidate once again.
Franmil Reyes seemed to finally be breaking out before going down with an injury against the Twins. You also have Emmanuel Clase and James Karinchak as part of a dynamic bullpen. I do think Clase needs some more life and movement on his fastball if he wants to stick around a very long time.
Look, if you wanted me to shred Cleveland, that wasn’t happening. Are there certain things that I’m disappointed about?
Yes.
Is this a retooling period?
Also yes. Give it time, and realize the team is lucky they’re set up to not tank like old Houston or current Detroit. It always made my jaw drop that, again, the Browns didn’t get this same flack when they were losing, as baseball has no salary floor or cap.
And now Zach Plesac injured his thumb by… aggressively… taking off his shirt…
I’m just laughing for some reason. Yet, the Indians still keep winning.
Oh, did I forget to mention that the Indians haven’t been swept all year? Not many teams manage to do that.
Kansas City: The Royals might not be down in the cellar of the American League as long as I might have predicted.
Brady Singer is good, and you still have Salvador Perez. Hunter Dozier, Adelberto Mondesi Jr. and Carlos Santana are joined by Boston cast-off Andrew Benintendi, perennial trade chip Whit Merrifield and Jorge Soler.
Despite the hot start, the Royals have come back down to the rest of the league. I like the Royals, really! But maybe it’s not quite time just yet.
Minnesota: I’m very surprised with the early returns of the Twins right now.
Byron Buxton was playing up to his potential and hitting every ball in sight, but if you’re an avid baseball follower, you know only one thing can stop Buxton: injuries.
Minnesota is in the damn cellar, and it actually shocks me to see them struggle. They still have talent, but it’s not looking good.
Detroit: I honestly thought Miguel Cabrera would age gracefully. I was dead wrong. The Tigers rebuild isn’t at the point where it should be.
Casey Mize may finally be delivering, but this roster doesn’t have much of its homegrown young talent ready.
General manager Al Avila won’t last much longer. I know last year saw players lose crucial development, but he’s been running the ship for almost six years.
I suggest hoping your new bosses are more lenient than the late Mike Ilitich.
AL West
Oakland: 31–25
Houston: 29–24
Seattle: 28–27
LA Angels: 24–30
Texas: 22–33
State of the AL West:
Oakland: That 13 game win streak was something else! Oakland, like Cleveland and Tampa Bay, continue to win despite the odds stacked against them, although it’s weird seeing Elvis Andrus in an A’s uniform.
Let’s move…… ohhhhhhhh god!
Yeah, I forgot that MLB gave the go ahead to look at relocation markets given how your stadium efforts end up being stifled at every turn by someone or something. Commissioner Rob Manfred has continually said you and Tampa need new stadiums.
Maybe now is the time to force the city to kneel after losing the Raiders and Warriors.
Houston: We are not glazing over your past sins!! This may be the 2021 version, but I want to get my shot in on these pricks (sans Michael Brantley). The following is what I wrote from the rest-of-this-will-never-be-published WTS: 2020 MLB Edition.
I’m glad intern Paul found this before we tossed it into the recycling bin. We did have to update some of this for the current times.
“OH NO Houston!! No no no no no! You think you’re off the hook because of COVID? THINK AGAIN!! IT’S TIME FOR YOUR SCORCHED EARTH HELLFIRE SHREDDING
For those living under a rock since 2019, then-Oakland A’s and ex-Asterisks (new official name for this series, deal with it) pitcher Mike Fiers blew the lid off the operation and revealed to The Athletic what Trevor Bauer was right about for so long: The Asterisks cheated their way to their first title in franchise history in 2017, and then continued to cheat ~just a bit more~.
Bauer himself enjoyed taking his shots at the Asterisks players who said he was crazy and was just a sore loser.
The team used technology to steal signs and then relay them to batters by banging a trash can, and many in baseball wonder how inflated the stats were for Houston’s offense. It certainly altered several careers, and one pitcher even filed a lawsuit (and didn’t win sadly).
You screwed baseball hard. That’s why you got the hammer. Manager AJ Hinch and General Manager Jeff Lunhow: FIRED AND SLAPPED WITH ONE YEAR SUSPENSIONS! In 2021, Hinch landed the skippers gig in the Motor City.
The organization was fined $5 million and lost significant draft capital. They were stripped of their first and second round picks in 2020 and 2021. Owner Jim Crane pleaded his innocence.
What happened to the players you ask? They were granted immunity so MLB could get the truth out of them.
And what do the players do?? They gave a forced mea culpa in what was nothing short of a sham apology.
They didn’t even PRETEND to be contrite or apologize unlike other former players who left the organization. You all were, and still are, spineless cowards!!
And somehow you screwed the Mets in this ordeal!
For now, here’s a rare moment of me ranting and eviscerating Houston that may better satisfy the hearts of everyone pleading for justice. Listen from 38:15–46:30. My comments still stand.
You lost George Springer to Toronto, Jose Altuve looked lost (not anymore), and Carlos Correa is either decent, good or injured. Luckily for you, you have Kyle Tucker and Yordan Alvarez.
~Oh wait, Justin Verlander is out for the year as part of your repentance for the previous sins, isn’t he!~
Yeah, you’re done. Enjoy not getting back to the World Series for a while!”
Seattle: “The days of 13–2 and first place are a far-off memory. The good news is they have some payroll space after dumping Robinson Cano’s contract. An added bonus is the prospects you got back in the deal are actually exciting and could make an impact.”
The Mariners got off to a hot start (again) before tailing off. They’re at least over .500 for now.
However, that’s not why I included that past quote. Remember one of the prospects the Mariners got back in the Diaz/Cano deal?
Jarred Kelenic time has arrived in Seattle! It 100% would have happened sooner if Kelenic signed an extension like disgraced executive Kevin Mather said in shockingly transparent and open comments.
The Player’s Association will be using that as ammo in the CBA talks this offseason with service time manipulation. Kelenic just replaced Kris Bryant as the poster child for that issue.
I do want to give Mitch Haniger some props for finally coming back healthy and dominating. My fantasy baseball team also thanks him for his services.
LA Angels: They went from Brad Ausmus to Joe Maddon. It didn’t change much.
Mike Trout was performing like, well, Mike Trout. Unfortunately for baseball fans, he’s out 6–8 weeks with a calf strain.
Albert Pujols was released and went across town to the Dodgers, but the future Hall of Famer isn’t who you’re here for.
You’re here for Shohei Ohtani. His hitting prowess has him among the league leaders in home runs, and he’s been equally as dominant on the mound. If the blister and elbow issues of the past are done with, nothing is stopping the Babe Ruth of the east! Nothing.
Should we start a Shohei Ohtani fan club here at WTS? I’m tempted to.
Texas: These Rangers have a few interesting bats in their line-up. Guys like Isiah Kiner-Falefa have been around for a bit, but he’s broken out this year.
Nate Lowe, Nick Solak and Adolis Garcia have been nice surprises while Joey Gallo has remained a three-true outcomes player (walks, hits, strikeouts).
I’m especially looking at Garcia, who is hitting like crazy in terms of power, combined with defense in center field. That’s not a combo you see every day from a 28-year-old journeyman type.
I like the Rangers and feel like baseball is better when they’re relevant, but recent pitching investments haven’t paid off. By the way, thanks for Emmanuel Clase!!
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You know what time it is! It’s time to move away from the league of the DH to the league of pitchers hitting. And by that I mean the National League and we’ll start with the NL East.
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NL East
NY Mets: 26–20
Atlanta: 25–26
Philadelphia: 25–29
Miami: 24–28
Washington: 21–29
State of the NL East:
NY Mets: The newly minted savior of Queens baseball and Mets owner Steve Cohen paid big bucks to extend Francisco Lindor. Lindor hasn’t hit well *yet* and is practically the only healthy starter this team has for the moment!
The Mets still find themselves sitting in first place and will be scary good when the team returns to full health, and Lindor actually hits the ball like he should.
Jacob deGrom has become even more of a monster and probably the only good decision made by former general manager Brodie Van Wagenen in extending deGrom’s deal.
It’s so hard to find a true LOLMets moment here! Jarred Kelenic has done alright with Seattle so far but not Yermin Mercedes levels of awesome.
Atlanta: The fact the Braves haven’t been great this year has shocked not just me, but a lot of the baseball die-hards. It’s weird, but this feels like the 2019 Nationals team for whatever reason.
Still, Ronald Acuna Jr. is a bona fide superstar, and we should enjoy watching him dominate pitchers for years to come.
And… Marcell Ozuna got arrested for domestic violence related stuff while he’s on the IL. Yeah, not a good look for Atlanta whose fan base isn’t very happy right now.
Philadelphia: Bryce Harper broke out like the superstar he is, and then proceeded to land on the injured list in the midst of a 2-for-25 slump.
I’m not able to get a good read on the Phillies right now, but they have the pieces that if everyone is healthy, and the bullpen is fixed, they can make a run.
Also, Odubel Herrera sighting anybody?? He’s back in the bigs after being relegated to obscurity and actually contributing.
Miami: The Marlins made the expanded 2020 Postseason and swept the Cubs. That is worthy of praise!!
While still a bit early, Miami is getting closer and closer to possibly fielding a playoff-contending roster. Some readers may find my statement outlandish, but this team has made progress.
So Derek Jeter actually might be a good baseball owner and executive? Ehhhh, let’s hold off on that for another year or so.
Washington: You have Trea Turner, Max Scherzer, Patrick Corbin and quite possibly the Ted Williams of this generation in Juan Soto, and you’re still struggling to recapture your 2019 glory?
Well, you did get Stephen Strausburg off the IL (who is now injured again), but I am not here to shred you.
In the 2019 Part 3 Edition, you fully validated me picking you for a playoff spot, and I was spot on with my synopsis back then for the postseason. Here’s the snippet:
“The Nats overcame a lot to get here, and this team should scare the Dodgers in the NLDS. Going against Max Scherzer, Stephen Strausburg and Patrick Corbin three games in a row is one thing. Having a lineup featuring the soon-to-be-handsomely paid Anthony Rendon, Trea Turner, wunderkind Juan Soto, a resurgent Howie Kendrick, Yan Gomes, and a still developing Victor Robles. The fact that I have to say ‘still developing’ for Robles should be a scary thought for opposing pitchers. The defense is there. Once the bat catches up, he’ll be a nightly treat!
Now if only your bullpen could be better. Then this team could really make more noise in October.”
Still, with the Nationals struggling, Davey Martinez gave us Lloyd McClendon levels of anger not seen in many years. Let’s roll the clip!!
NL Central
CHI Cubs: 30–23
St. Louis: 30–24
Milwaukee: 29–25
Cincinnati: 24–28
Pittsburgh: 20–33
State of the NL Central:
CHI Cubs: Kris Bryant is playing like an MVP again in his walk year. It’s too bad the Cubs are cheapskates and stripped their roster down! IT’S SHREDDING TIME!!!!!
This roster could have had Yu Darvish heading the rotation, yet he was traded to the San Diego Padres for a mere pittance! He was the NL Cy Young runner-up to Trevor Bauer last year and has kept up his 2020 performance in San Diego.
There were rumors of the Cubbies not tendering Kris Bryant last offseason!
LUDICROUS!! Instead, Kyle Schwarber ended up as one of the sacrifices.
I wouldn’t expect the 2016 World Series core of Bryant, Anthony Rizzo, Wilson Contreras and Javier Baez to be around much longer.
At least Craig Kimbrel is performing up to his contract this season!
Oh, and you lost to the Marlins in the 2020 postseason. Here’s a few shredding videos that will fill my heart with snark and happiness!
St. Louis: While Nolan Arenado’s glove hasn’t been its best so far in a Cardinal uniform, he’s given St. Louis a spark! Not just the team, but the fans and the city as well.
Kris Bryant’s 2019 quote on St. Louis being “boring” looks worse and worse by the day. Talk about things that don’t age well.
The Cardinals seem to have found their way once again, and I’ll bet they win another World Series by 2024. They are the Midwestern Evil Empire after all!!
Milwaukee: I did not expect the emergence of Corbin Burnes and Brandon Woodruff as a one-two punch to occur, nor either to look like aces.
While the offense could use a little more juice, this team is still intriguing. Milwaukee always has a soft spot in my heart that I can’t really explain.
Let’s see what happens by the time Part 2 comes out.
Cincinnati: When you lose Trevor Bauer, you lose a lot of the games he won you last year. Luis Castillo has regressed significantly, but I’d still expect a rebound.
The offense is a different story. It’s damn good! Sure, losing Joey Votto hurts (literally), but Jesse Winker has teed off, and Nick Castellanos is a madman at the plate as there’s a drive into deep left field by Castellanos and that’ll be a homerun. So that’ll make it a 4–0 ballgame.
What? Did you really think I would miss my chance with that marvelous meme out of a downright terrible situation?! I restrained myself so much on Twitter these past few months so I could use it here!! I laughed so hard when I finally got around to the write-up.
Pittsburgh: Pittsburgh sports REALLY are in a bad place, and I am here for it!! Apologies to my good friend Gabe Collura, but I am enjoying this.
Nothing exemplifies how terrible the Pirates are than this debacle of a simple play from May 27. I wanted to dig my own grave after seeing so much stupidity.
I pray to the high heavens ownership somehow extends Ke’Bryan Hayes. He’s you’re only saving grace and getting to see him in person last September sold me on his potential!!
NL West
San Francisco: 34–20
San Diego: 34–21
LA Dodgers: 32–22
Colorado: 20–34
Arizona: 19–36
State of the NL West:
San Francisco: Hold up!! This is not an even year, and you’re winning!?
Okay, San Francisco is the biggest surprise of the bunch here. Buster Posey — after some down years, and a COVID-19 opt-out — is looking like an MVP once again. Brandon Belt, Evan Longoria and Brandon Crawford all look like prime versions of themselves blasting dingers everywhere!!
With the pitching staff, Kevin Gausman’s breakout has been sustained. Johnny Cueto, Alex Wood, Logan Webb and Anthony DeSclafani have also led the Giants to a first place record in the division.
Look, they are way ahead of schedule, and I commend Farhan Zaidi’s work so far. I can’t expect this to last the whole year from my vantage point, but I won’t dismiss these Giants just yet.
This isn’t a prove me wrong moment because they did that by actually being good so far, but let’s see where this club is at the trade deadline.
San Diego: Since the 2019 season, A.J. Preller went from the hot seat to actually putting a contender together, turning into ‘Rockstar Preller’ again and snapping the 13-year postseason drought.
How did he do it? Oh, he just signed Ferando Tatis Jr. to a $340 million extension, has Jake Croneworth developing into a solid regular, inked Manny Machado and Eric Hosmer to fat money deals and finally trading for Trent Grisham and other key contributors as part of the core.
He also acquired Yu Darvish, Blake Snell, Joe Musgrove and Mike Clevinger in the last calendar year. Clevinger is on the shelf for the year with Tommy John surgery, but they have him controlled through 2022 at a reasonable rate.
Their time to win is now! The Padres have enough firepower to challenge the reigning World Series champion Dodgers, and every time these division rivals play this year, it’s a playoff series in the making.
LA Dodgers: The NL West might be the division of death this year, and I am here for it!
The Dodgers finally have legitimate competition in this division. The reigning champions finally got their ring, and they can thank Boston for trading them Mookie Betts for said ring.
David Price is contributing as well after a COVID-19 opt-out with pitching depth so ridiculous that they added the reigning NL Cy Young in Trevor Bauer. He pairs up with Julio Urias, Clayton Kershaw and Walker Buehler for one of the nastiest rotations I’ve ever seen.
Not to mention they lost Dustin May for the year, and they still have a ridiculous arsenal of pitchers! They even have survived almost the whole season to date without their other MVP after Cody Bellinger returned last Saturday from a hairline fracture of his left fibula suffered in early April. Oh, and they added future Hall of Famer Albert Pujols as a bench bat for the league minimum.
INTERN RANDY!! Time to get the popcorn and hot dogs ready!! The NL West is finally competitive and entertaining again.
Colorado: “When the owner says there is a lack of payroll flexibility going into next year for the team, you know someone is on their way out the door, and it could be the man they signed to an extension this spring. I don’t want to see Arenado go, but that is more reason why baseball needs an official salary cap.”
What have the Rockies been up to? They hamstrung themselves with Nolan Arenado’s contract. The only logical solution? Trading him away and eating $50 million in the process for him to wear Cardinal red.
Jeff Bridich also resigned from his general manager post in late April, although from an outsider’s perspective, I think it was that or an outright firing.
Not to mention Trevor Story being one of the superstar shortstops heading to free agency, and Jon Gray likely counting down the days until he’s flipped have given Coloradoans nothing to cheer for.
And yet with the All-Star game moved from Atlanta to Mile High, Dick Monfort is rewarded for slashing payroll and fielding a non-competitive team? That is an 100% MLB move right there to reward a gutless owner! This is not to say Colorado’s home run derby won’t be fantastic, but I won’t go into the whole weeds of the story here.
Arizona: Losing 13 in a row will really dampen the mood. The Diamondbacks really need to hit the reset button and forget about trying to contend. Ketel Marte is on the team, and you have a couple of good pieces, but this team sucks!
It takes a lot of effort to win but a similar amount of effort to lose 13 in a row. I pity the Diamondbacks so much I can’t really shred them.
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You thought I forgot about the no-hitters, didn’t you?
Hahahaha…. Oh, no. No, I didn’t forget. This is a special year for no-hitters with a good shot at breaking the modern era record of seven. I decided to make a supplemental “No-Hitter Division” since I’m ~totally sure~ more of them will happen this year.
And no, Madison Bumgarner’s seven inning double-header no-no doesn’t count! That’s from me and in the eyes of the MLB record books.
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No-Hitter Division
Texas Rangers: 2-Joe Musgrove, San Diego (April 9) and Corey Kluber, Yankees (May 19)
Seattle Mariners: 2-John Means, Orioles (May 5) and Spencer Turnbull, Tigers (May 18)
Cleveland Indians: 2-Carlos Rodon, White Sox (April 14) and Wade Miley, Reds (May 7)
Texas: Joe Musgrove had himself a night pitching in his hometown team’s uniform and finally threw the Padres first no-hitter in team history. He hasn’t been the same kind of dominant since then, but it’s well deserved for the hometown kid who escaped the graveyard that is Pittsburgh.
When Corey Kluber threw one inning for Texas last year before going down, it just screamed he was done. Well, not so my friend! He went as close to vintage Kluber as he could get by throwing his own no-no.
Through the first 22 games played in their new stadium with their fans in attendance, two no-hitters have been thrown. That’s two more no-no’s than at their previous ballpark, which was zero.
Not to mention, it had been less than 18 hours since the prior no-hitter. While Kluber did end up on the shelf not long after his next start, I’m so happy for him! The emotion and smile shown on his face, and the scene of the mobbing made me cry. He surpassed his injury hurdles, even if it was only for one night. But one night can immortalize you forever.
Seattle: I can’t help but laugh. Two of the worst teams in ALL OF BASEBALL no-hit you! John Means is a legit Cy Young contender, and that’s nothing to sneeze at. But Spencer Turnbull did it to you 13 days later?! SPENCER TURNBULL!!
I really want to see more steals and doubles and fewer dingers. Dingers are fun, but if a few more no-hitters are thrown against the Mariners, I worry how “radical” Rob Manfred could get.
Cleveland: Carlos Rodon is finally looking like the damn ace he was advertised as when he was selected third overall in the 2014 MLB Draft. He pieced it all together in a near masterpiece if not for a Roberto Perez plunking on the foot.
I saw the complaints of your average Joe’s on Twitter chastising Perez for not moving his foot on that hit by pitch that ruined Carlos Rodon’s perfect game.
As someone who’s played, ~a bit of baseball~, let’s break this down.
1) When your entire body weight is on your back foot, you’re not going to be getting out of the way.
2) You think Perez WANTED to get hit on the foot?!
3) The no-hitter was still completed.
I’m done with my lecture on Rodon.
As for the Wade Miley no-hitter, I was in the press box that night witnessing my first in-person no-hitter. Miley just cruised all night and was purely dominant! It was eye candy for a baseball enthusiast such as myself.
I have to admit I was rooting for him at the end there because let’s be real here: Was I ever going to see another game like that in my lifetime?
The answer is probably no.
The Indians hitting woes are real, and they do have some sticks that can help. It’s a matter of not being no-hit a third time. Seriously, don’t let it happen again Cleveland!
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Alright, that wraps up Part 1 of WTS: 2021 MLB Edition!
I honestly had a harder time getting through this than I thought. The format has changed dramatically from two years ago and also shaking off some rust with the whole gap year thing and all.
WTS: MLB Edition brought about the WTS: NFL Editions. I’m hoping that after getting through this part, Part 2 will be easier to write.
From myself and Brandon Lewis, we’ll see you back here in August for Part 2!! And don’t forget to check back here on Medium for my game recaps and other articles coming down the line.
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Sean Fitzgerald is a Kent State journalism graduate and former Black Squirrel Radio sports director and show host. Follow him on Twitter @fitzonsportsbsr for insights, Cleveland Indians game recaps, other articles, livestreams and more.
