For baseball fans, the All-Star Break is too long, an endless desert of baseball-less woes. For the players, the break is very short, a kind of truncated vacation, especially for those who play the Summer Classic.
But the flow of the schedule is undefeated, and MLB returned on Friday as teams began to assess their situation ahead of the trade deadline. Let’s walk through the weekend’s top five stories from the field.
For more than a decade, the Dodger’s greatest superpower has been inevitability. Even when LA is down, a comeback seems like just a matter of time. The end result of a given game, most of the time, is a victory for the Dodgers. The only unanswered question is the path to this point.
But during the first half of this season, the Dodgers haven’t been particularly imposing. They didn’t have that trademark zip; they were the baseball team’s equivalent of a flat soda. A long list of injuries and poor roster performance were the main culprits, but the Dodgers simply did not inspire fear in their opponents or confidence in their fans.
The first series after the All-Star break against the Red Sox was a different story. Leading by one run with one out in the eighth inning on Friday, Boston decided to walk Will Smith to load the bases and set up a double play. Freddie Freeman made them pay, launching a low line drive over the wall in right field for a go-ahead grand slam. Saturday’s contest was even more classic, with the Dodgers twice rallying from late-game deficits. Kiké Hernández, on the day he completed 10 years of service in the MLB, tied the score both times. Los Angeles won comfortably on Sunday after punishing Boston starter Kutter Crawford midway through the inning.
The Dodgers still desperately need reinforcements at the trade deadline on both sides of the ball, but it was encouraging to see them play with the urgency and energy they lacked for long stretches of the spring and early summer.
Also, Shohei Ohtani almost hit a ball at Dodger Stadium.
Astros close gap, tied atop AL West with Mariners
On June 18, the Seattle Mariners had a 10-game lead over the Houston Astros atop the American League West.
It was an advantage gained. The Mariners’ magnificent starting rotation dominated, and their strikeout-happy offense pushed in enough runs to notch wins. Meanwhile, Houston had gotten its season back on track after a terrible April, but still looked much more fragile than in previous seasons. There was reason to believe the Astros could close the gap in time, but no one expected these two teams to be tied for the division lead just a month later.
Well, that’s what happened.
Houston cruised to the Pacific Northwest over the weekend, winning the first two games at T-Mobile Park before the Mariners salvaged the final on Sunday. Seattle’s offense was, once again, a figment of the imagination. Since June 18, the Mariners have a .206 batting average, a .350 slugging percentage and a 29.5% strikeout rate. And despite their Game 3 victory, they made the difficult decision to place first baseman Ty France, an All-Star just two years ago, on waivers. To make matters worse, Seattle center fielder Julio Rodriguez, who has been unimpressed so far this season, rolled his ankle and crashed into the wall on Sunday.
Houston deserves credit for getting back into the fight — not that anyone is particularly surprised. His starting pitching, which has been ravaged by injuries early on, had the fourth-lowest ERA in baseball last month. A drastic turnaround for Hunter Brown and the expected resurgence of Framber Valdez were the biggest drivers.
Unless the Mariners can unearth an offensive savior — they’re calling up 1B prospect Tyler Locklear from Triple-A to replace France — this now looks like Houston’s division.
Pirates show they’re real in series win over Phillies
The Pittsburgh Pirates are a half game back in the National League wild card race.
That line is a testament to both the NL’s mediocre middle and the Pirates’ impressive play in recent weeks. Over the weekend, the Buccos had another impressive showing, beating two of the top three Phillies in MLB.
First baseman Rowdy Tellez made wild history on Friday, becoming the first player in franchise history to have three flies in one game. Oneil Cruz hit a 120 mph ball off the center field wall as Pittsburgh rallied from a three-run deficit against Orion Kerkering and José Alvarado, ending the game with a walk-off single by Nick Gonzales. On Saturday, Cruz’s jaw dropped once again; the bean-stick unicorn shortstop ripped a laser beam home run over the wall in right-center field as the Pirates won two in a row.
It was an important start to an important stage for the Buccos; five of their next seven series are against teams above them in the NL wild card standings.
Braves fall to Cardinals and lose another key player
It’s been a bizarrely unlucky year for the Braves, who will be without Ozzie Albies for roughly the next eight weeks after the plucky second baseman fractured his wrist on Sunday. Atlanta lost its home series against St. Louis, which is now just 2.5 games behind the Braves for the NL’s top wild card, but losing the Albies is a much more significant blow. An All-Star a year ago, the 27-year-old Curacao was having an average season by his standards but remained a crucial pillar of the Braves’ offense. Atlanta appears ready to promote top prospect Nacho Alvarez Jr.
Left-handed pitcher Max Fried also hit the IL due to some forearm discomfort, which understandably causes shivers and shivers of concern, but Fried was convinced it was a minor issue and he expects to be back relatively soon.
Atlanta is still 8.5 games behind Philadelphia in the NL East, the largest divisional gap in MLB. The Braves seem almost guaranteed to make the playoffs as a wild card, but the top spot, given the injuries, no longer seems like a given.
Bobby Witt Jr. shined last week in the Home Run Derby, but he didn’t get the shine he deserved in the real All-Star Game. The spectacular Gunnar Henderson started and, when Corey Seager was named as a replacement, it was clear that he, as a representative of his hometown, would take priority over Witt. This meant that even though he found a way to make a phenomenal play at shortstop, Bob Jr. managed just one hit in the Midsummer Classic.
He took it out on baseball this weekend against the lowly White Sox, going 9-for-11 with a walk and long bomb in the three-game set. By virtue of Boston’s three losses at Los Angeles and Minnesota’s two losses to Milwaukee, Witt’s Royals now cling to the AL’s last wild card spot.
A trip back to postseason baseball is a legitimate possibility in Kansas City for the first time since 2015. Their superstar shortstop is a big reason why.
