Free For All Friday #14

Hello and welcome to Free For All Friday.

If you’re not a paid subscriber, you missed two newsletters this week. On Monday, I dove into what’s been ailing the Phillies’ Trea Turner and how a sports radio producer’s call to cheer on Turner—instead of boo him—may have helped turn his season around. On Wednesday, I examined how close the Braves are to setting a bunch of new MLB records for team offense.

I reached new subscriber milestones this week for both free and paid subscribers. The numbers are still small-ish compared to other, better-known baseball newsletters, but word is getting around. We’re growing slowly but steadily. Please continue to share hanging sliders with your baseball-loving friends and family. And thank you to everyone who’s helped out so far.

Wither the Yankees?

Heading into their weekend series against the Boston Red Sox, the New York Yankees sit in last place in the American League East at 60-61. The Bronx Bombers are 14.5 games back of the division-leading Baltimore Orioles, which makes a run for a division title highly unlikely. But the Yankees also sit 6.5 games back of the Toronto Blue Jays for the last Wild Card spot in the AL, with the streaking Seattle Mariners and the Red Sox in between.

It’s not impossible for the Yankees to put a winning streak together and vault back into the Wild Card race. Aaron Judge, for one, is still optimistic.

From where I sit, that all seems unlikely. New York looked feeble this week while getting swept by the Atlanta Braves and outscored 18-3 over a three-game series.

If the Yankees don’t right the ship soon, the 2023 team will go down as one of the least successful teams in NY Yankees history.

The Yankees have missed the postseason only four times since 1995: in 2016, 2014, 2013, and 2008. Over that same 28-year span, the Bombers won five World Series Championships: 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, and 2009.

The last time the Yankees ended the season with a losing record was in 1992, when New York went 76-86. Still, that record put them in 4th place in the American League East. Two years earlier, in 1990, the Yankees went 67-95 and dropped to the cellar in the division. Thirty-three years—the last time the Yankees placed last in the AL East.

In fact, the Yankees have found themselves in the bottom of their division only twice in franchise history since becoming the Yankees in 1913. Twice! In 1966 and 1990.

Could 2023 be the third?

Julio Rodriguez has lit a fire under the Mariners

The Seattle Mariners made the 2022 postseason as a Wild Card team and lost to the Houston Astros in three consecutive, agonizingly close games. It was Mariners’ first playoff appearance since 2001, when the team won a record-breaking 116 games in the regular season, only to be knocked out by the Yankees in the AL Championship Series.

Seattle is now charging hard toward another Wild Card berth, with a 21-11 record since the All-Star Break. After Thursday’s 6-4 win over the Royals, the Mariners are 66-55 and just 1/2 game behind the Blue Jays for the final Wild Card spot. Seattle’s +62 run differential is fourth-best in the AL. Only the Rangers, Rays, and Astros have done better at scoring and preventing runs.

The Mariners’ starting pitching is excellent, anchored by George Kirby, Logan Gilbert and Luis Castillo—three of the top 11 American League starters as measured by fWAR.

But it’s the offense, led by last season’s AL Rookie of the Year Julio Rodriguez, that’s taken it to another level since the mid-summer break. J Rod is batting .295/.359/.512 in the second half.

In two games against the Royals over a 24-hour period Wednesday and Thursday, J Rod collected 9 hits, including a home run, drove in 7 runs and stole 2 bases. In doing so, Rodriguez became only the second player in MLB history to hit at least 20 home runs and steal at least 20 bases in his first two seasons. (The other is the Royals’ Bobby Witt Jr.).

Then there’s this from the incomparable Sarah Langs:

J Rod’s not doing it alone, of course. Seattle shortstop J.P. Crawford was on fire after the All-Star break, hitting .307/.431/.466 in 24 games before going on the concussion IL last Friday. Crawford is expected back soon.

I see the Mariners as the Dodgers’ main competition for signing Shohei Ohtani in the offseason, as the Seattle metro area has one of the largest Japanese-American populations in the U.S. Plus, staying on the west coast means Ohtani is closer to home. A Mariners postseason run will only boost their chances of landing Ohtani.

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The Dodgers are doing Dodgers things again

My good friend Amanda, who I met through baseball writing, grew up in LA and is a big Dodgers fan. Whenever the Giants go on one of their improbable win streaks (this year, San Francisco’s had a 10-game win streak and a 7-game win streak), she tweets something like, “I regret to inform you that the Giants are back on their bullshit.”

I appreciate that Dodgers fans look at the Giants’ lineup and rotation and throw up their hands in disgust when the Giants play well because, I’ll admit, it doesn’t make a lot of sense.

I regret to inform you, all non-Dodgers fans, that the Dodgers are back on their bullshit again. LA has won 11 games in a row, and 15 of their last 16. They lead the Giants by 10.5 games in the NL West and are slowing gaining on the Braves for the best record in the NL and the majors.

Sure, LA has the best 1-2 hitters in any lineup in the majors in Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman. Sure, Clayton Kershaw is back from his shoulder injury and Bobby Miller throws a gazillion miles per hour as a starter.

But explain to me how Lance Lynn—who had a 6.47 ERA with the White Sox this season before being traded to LA—has started four games for the Dodgers, posted a 1.44 ERA and helped the Dodgers win all four games.

Explain to me how Kiké Hernández couldn’t hit a lick the last two seasons in Boston but has posted a .286/.324/.444 line with 7 doubles in 68 plate appearances in LA. Explain Max Muncy hitting home runs at the most opportune time while batting under .200 for the season.

Yes, of course, the Dodgers have exceptional coaching and a winning mentality and all of that. But, truly, the only explanation is that the Dodgers are back on their bullshit.

As a Giants fan, I can only grumble, and look forward to the Dodgers making an early exit in the postseason—something they’ve become very good at in the last 10 years.

That’s all for this week. Go watch some baseball and enjoy the weekend.