For better or for worse, the baseball is back. The Angels lost Friday and Sunday, winning Saturday to have a chance to potentially split the series Monday. On Friday, the Angels and A’s played extra innings, and Matt Olson walked off in style. On Saturday, Dylan Bundy was brilliant. While Shohei Ohtani struggled in his outing Sunday, Mike Trout clobbered a home run on a 3-0 count, the first such in his career.
Anthony Rendon hasn’t played yet, but he could potentially DH soon, and hopefully he can play the field next week…
Nifty little, not-too-exciting about Mike Trout becoming the GOAT…
Elsewhere in Major League Baseball, the Marlins had a mini-“outbreak” of COVID-19 cases, so much so that their flight home Sunday night was delayed. However, they still played Sunday afternoon ($$ The Athletic $$)…
Meanwhile, baseball in 2020 requires that you argue in masks…
Yoenis Cespedes returns after an extended layoff and homers for the only run in the Mets win Friday...
Justin Verlander was reportedly out for the season, but then he tweeted and made the waters murky…
Corey Kluber, the big offseason target for the Angels, left his start after one inning Sunday with an injury…
Nelson Cruz, aka GULF, has two home runs and two doubles. I’m sure reactions to this will be perfectly normal…
Lorenzo Cain keeps outsmarting baseball… I thought we learned that lesson in 2014 when those pesky Royals somehow won the series…
Two Fangraphs authors talk about the ramifications of expanded playoffs…first it’s Ben Clemens to defend it…then it’s Craig Edwards to talk playoff odds…
The Angels play early today! Don’t miss the game!
headline at CBS Sports: “16 Game Season Looking Like Long Shot”.
It took a second to realize they meant the NFL. For that second I thought they were talking about MLB…because I think it might hold for baseball as well.
After that Ohtani start, I think I’m emotionally prepared for the season to be canceled.
Marlins outbreak means the end … Well that was a fun four games while it lasted …
:(((((
I’m not surprised at Nelson Cruz. I’ve been saying all off season a lack of testing in the DR would mean some guys coming back like hulks and crushing the ball. Cruz and Encarnacion are so far proving me right, Cano is letting me down.
On the fun side, Ji Man Choi is switch hitting now: https://www.si.com/extra-mustard/2020/07/27/rays-ji-man-choi-switch-hitting-homer-video
Cruz has been good for a long time now! There’s some evidence that may point to guys that having taken PEDs in the past maintaining some residual effects (i.e. strength), which may be the case here.
Let’s hope Trout’s baby arrives on the actual due date (Aug. 3). He can then skip the Seattle and Texas road trip missing 8 games and getting a week with his new baby and Adell will have sat out enough games to guarantee another year of service time, allowing him to be added to the roster and fill in while Trout is gone.
New odds for making the Playoffs.
57%…okay we’ll take that all day!!!
Considering the old odds were 27%.
Both Marlins-Orioles and the Phillies-Yankees games have been “postponed” due to the outbreak on the Marlins. If it spreads to the Phillies I really wonder how much longer they’ll be able to keep the season going.
That mini-Marlins outbreak has turned into a large outbreak: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2020/07/eight-marlins-players-two-coaches-test-positive-for-covid-19-tonights-game-canceled.html
12 players and 2 coaches total now. The article says they were adhering to MLB safety guidelines. I’ve seen lots of players and coaches in the dugout not wearing masks. They might not be necessary in the open air of the field, but dugouts are not well-ventilated. Anyone in the dugout should have a mask on at all times.
Even then, masks might not be sufficient. Studies are confirming COVID passes through aerosols, which means if you can smell someone’s perform, you can get COVID. Masks might still be helpful if the person with COVID is wearing the mask, but I don’t believe they will protect you from someone in the dugout with COVID who isn’t wearing a mask.
This is exactly why I don’t think the season can keep going. Members of the same team will be sharing enclosed spaces by the nature of the enterprise constantly (e.g. airplanes, buses, clubhouses). There won’t be “continuous” monitoring of the players’ health conditions. I don’t think MLB can continuously tracing where the players are going around the clock. Tests are imperfect anyways so a decent chunk of cases will get through. So when an infected player or staff somehow gets through the cracks, the entire team will be knocked out one way or another for an extended period of time. Games will be cancelled. The schedule of games can’t be kept. The whole thing is liable to break apart. I thought something like this was inevitable, but this is taking place even sooner than expected. Getting really pessimistic about the prospects of this season coming even to a halfway point now.
It’s really unfortunate because it’s such a relief to watch baseball. But if I were to give odds it would be 4 to 1 against the season making it to the end of August.
To have a chance they need to be more flexible with the schedule. The Marlins are shut down and the Phillies were exposed, but their scheduled opponents weren’t.
Have the Yankees and the Orioles play. With no ticket sales, a fixed schedule just isn’t as important.
Great point. The marlins and phillies are set up for some double headers in the near future, no need to make NY and Baltimore go through the same.
Yeah. Anything short of an NBA-style bubble ain’t gonna work.
Totally agree. I imagine we will have some announcement soon (this week) that the season has been suspended or canceled.
Even if the season continues, this makes it highly unlikely Trout will return after his son is born.
I hope Trout doesn’t name the kid something popular in 2020…Liam or Ethan or something like that. I want Mike and Jessica to go with something baseball-y like Dizzy or Dazzy or Ducky or Specs.
Too bad it’s not a little girl. Could have named her Brooke.
Hopefully they won’t name their son Brown or Rainbow.
Boxing had a bubble and still managed a few positive tests. MLB offered a bubble but key players like Kershaw said no. I’m willing to bet enough NBA guys break the bubble to disrupt the season to some degree.
Hopefully this Marlins outbreak serves as a wake up call and players realize even just a little socializing can cost everyone and the season moves on after a slight pause on the east coast.
Yeah. We don’t even know *how* this happened. If it was a guy going out socializing, fine, we know the cause. If it’s not, then that’s problematic. Even if so, impossible to keep tabs on this many guys.
My personal opinion is that this is the death knell sadly. 😓
What is someone’s perform, and do I really want to know what it smells like?
I’m confused on your question?
It’s a reference to something AnAngelsFan wrote.
Ah. Thank you.
Otto Kreckt is the dumbest person around. I went to Fangraphs to see how much WAR Trout has accumulated so far this season and couldn’t get to the page because Otto was looking for the Liz Angeles Angels.