Cards can’t shake reds, Phillies/Braves

...and just randomly win 9 games as a pitcher.

He's pitching tomorrow, and probably on the last day of the season, so there's a fair chance he could get to that 10th win. (Though if he gets the 10th win tomorrow, his arm gets shut down for the last week.)

In the AL Tampa Bay and Chicago White Sox have clinched, Houston has not yet (and has lost three in row, but still hold a six game lead)
In Wild Cards race New York, Toronto, and Oakland won, while Boston and Seattle lost.
WC standings now
BOS --
NYY --
TOR 2.0
SEA 3.0
OAK 4.0

NYY plays @BOS again Sunday, then 3@TOR. This race is tighter than Robbie Ray's pants*
(RRay won again today, allowing 1 run on 3 hits in 6 IP with 7K)

*(all sale proceeds to JaysCare charity)

In Wild Cards race New York, Toronto, and Oakland won, while Boston and Seattle lost.

The chances of the ever-popular multi-team tie for the 2nd Wildcard seem to be decreasing.

Tampa wants to split their home games with Montreal?!? https://bleacherreport.com/articles/10013277-rays-to-unveil-plan-to-split-season-between-tampa-montreal-on-tropicana-field-sign

This is such a bad bad idea for so many reasons.

1) By bunching all the Tampa home games (and obviously Montreal) together, a fan can't spread out his attendance over the course of the season. I personally like going 4-5 times year, but spread out over the course of a full season.
2) It's harder for families to go during the school year.
3) If I live in Tampa, am I going to be emotionally invested in a team if I know I can't see them the entire 2nd half of the season?
4) If I live in Montreal, what happens if the team sucks before I even get a chance to see them?
5) If I'm a player, am I really going to be okay with being away from my family 75% of the year??
6) All the temporary stadium workers are now even more temporary
7) Maintenance of two stadiums.
8) Are the stadiums built the same (boring) or different (harder to build a team around a field advantage)?

Montreal never should have lost a team, and they certainly shouldn't be getting Tampa's leftovers

Re (105) - Reading the article, they don't talk about schedule. Since Olympic Stadium has a permanent roof now, they don't have to split the season in any particular time frame between Montreal and Tampa. One way (and the way I would suggest) would simply to do every other homestand in Tampa, and the others in Montreal. That would still allow for someone to go to 4-5 games per year spread out over the season. Temporary workers are still temporary - and if this increases attendance then perhaps at each game they will be able to employ more concession workers, etc. Both of the stadiums are domed with turf, so they have some similar quirks. I think it's a much better plan than what might otherwise happen - which is the Rays move to Montreal completely (just as it's possible the A's will move to Las Vegas wholesale). The stadiums are both already built and being maintained structurally - and owned by the respective municipalities, so from a cost standpoint it really is no difference there - I don't know what the terms of the Tampa lease are, but it may be that Tampa prefers to pay what are nominal rates for a full season but only play half the games there.

Another article says the plan is spring training and beginning of season in Tampa, then second half in Montreal. Both new stadiums open air. Playoffs alternating by year. I read two articles and I guess I linked the wrong one. Sorry


https://www.thescore.com/mlb/news/2199110

Tampa wants to split their home games with Montreal?!? . . . This is such a bad bad idea for so many reasons.

My guess is that the Rays hope that this somehow spurs stadium development competition. They only have to be half right to get a deal - whichever city comes through gets the team for all 81 games. Despite whatever is said publicly about a partnership, the Rays will be negotiating to have the cities stab each other in the back. The problem is that it is difficult to get local governments to put up the billion plus needed for a state-of-the-art stadium, even for 81 games. Can’t see anyone doing it for 40.

I really hate the Sunday night game. It's Sunday afternoon, the Yankees and Sox should be on TV.

I’ve often thought splitting home games could work really well. In this case you have a nice weather split. You could do April, may, June, late sept in Tampa and do july-early sept in Montreal.

Another model is to take an area like the deep south and rotate around like Baton Rouge, Little Rock , Jackson, Birmingham, . You could do upper Midwest with the Dakotas, Idaho, Montana, Utah,, Wyoming.

Attendance is really going to be an issue soon so spreading games out might guarantee more attendance.

All kinds of issues: every game is an away game for the home ream, players won’t settle in the town, stadiums won’t be as nice, hard to sign free agents etc etc

Just create a division of multiple city teams

There are ways to splitting home games, and 110 offers interesting solutions, but 1st half in Tampa and 2nd half in Montreal is a non starter. And I agree with 108 that this is being proposed as way to put pressure on their real goal.

I guess I can't just picture a free agent ever choosing to be semi-homeless.

Phillies dregs of the staff give the Pirates 11 walks, 2 HBPs, 2 PBS, 2 WPs. Fortunately, Bryce Harper threw out two runners. Oh and the offense scored 0 runs, to lose 6-0. Hans Crouse gave up a HR on his first ever ML pitch to start the game.

Oh and I forgot, 2 Balks as well.

Bader hits a homerun in the 8th inning to tie the game 2-2. The wind is supposedly blowing out in Chicago, but the score doesn't reflect that.

second and third one out, Goldy up to bat, O'Neill on deck, do you walk or pitch to Goldy? Cubs took the walk option.

3-2 Cardinals, wild pitch scores in a run.

Jeez. The Cardinals are never going to lose again.

O'Neill with a grounder to the pitcher, who can't field it cleanly so another run scores. 4-2 Cardinals.

Jeez. The Cardinals are never going to lose again.

That would be nice. Brewers will clinch the division today. A lot later in the season than anyone would have predicted 3 weeks ago.

It's perfect to clinch on a Sunday game, you get drunk off your ass, you have an off day and don't have to play until 7pm the next day. And you get to play against the team you just beat.

Gallegos went ahead in the count 0-2 with 2 pitches in the zone, then throws 4 straight pitches in the dirt, in pretty much the exact same location, and yet the Cub player(Bote) ended up swinging on the fourth pitch for a strikeout.

I don't think Knizner understands how to mix up pitches... Gallegos gets ahead again 0-2 and then they again repeat the same sequence last time of not having anything remotely in the zone, this time they allow a walk.

I don’t think there’s any possible rule that would allow both runners to advance a base on that play, however it’s called. Bizarre.

That was a bullshit call. Jomboy is going to have some great lip reading on it.

1st and 2nd one out, fly ball, umps call infield fly... runners advance as the fielder mis-played the ball, so the runners go second and third, the guy at second over runs the bag and is tagged out, but the ump says he called time and that the runner was safe.... Shildt gets ejected because the umps were incompetent and didn't know the rule. (the second base ump assumed the force was in place, called the runner out at second, the runner didn't know the rule and kept running past the bag, the Cardinal player then tagged the runner who was 5 feet off the bag)

16 game winning streak.

More quality baserunning in the Cards-Cubs. With some bad umpiring mixed in.

Infield fly (bit late on the call). Arenado slips and ball lands fair. Cub runners take off. Throw to third for the force except the force isn't in effect. Throw down to 2nd for the next force (heads up by Goldschmidt to be covering) that's not in effect. Cub runner over-runs the bag at second but, for no known reason, the 2B umpire calls time before Goldschmidt tags him.

So the 3B ump probably should have called the IF fly earlier.** The runners should have stayed put when the ball dropped. The Cards should have caught the runner between 2nd and 3rd in a rundown but thought the force was in effect. Ortega should have held the bag at 2nd. The umpire should not have called time and Ortega should have been out.

How many screw-ups can there be on one play? And the Cubs screwed up, the Cards screwed up and the umps screwed up.

None of it mattered of course as the next Cub batter K'd.

** I'll cut him some slack since I have no idea when it is usually called. But I don't think he called it so late as to excuse the runners.

Shildt's lips were pretty easy to read right before he was ejected: "You f*cked up."

The 2b ump was the one who ###### up, though---didn't notice the 3rd base ump immediately called infield fly rule, and called the runner coming into second out on the (non)force, then immediately signaled time as the runner wandered off the bag, when he was instantly tagged out.

** I'll cut him some slack since I have no idea when it is usually called. But I don't think he called it so late as to excuse the runners.

The 3b ump called it with the popfly in the air, moments after it was hit. They showed a replay down the 3b line and you can see his arm go up, calling the automatic out.

I don't think Knizner understands how to mix up pitches

Noticed this an inning or two earlier (assume Knizner was back there, maybe not). Pitcher threw Happ 3 4-seamers to get ahead 0-2, then three straight changes to get to 2-2. (Statcast or whatever called them changes but two were high and outside making them the worst changes I've ever seen.) Finally went back to the 4-seam to get him. Anyway 3-3-1 is not mixing up the pitches.

Ohtani yields a homer to Kelenic in the 7th, so it's a 1-1 game. Everyone knows the Angels want to get Ohtani that 10th win, but the offense has been dead against Gonzalez today. Ohtani is at 112 pitches, so that's probably all for today for him.

Pretty sure the 45-9 club is just as exclusive as the 45-10 one. :-)

This Angels lineup is ugly.

It's terrible. It's Shohei and the Ohtanettes.

Angels bullpen give up the lead. Just a depressing game to finish the home schedule with.

Ultimately I do think the umps got it right on that play, but I think the second base ump screwed up massively and then covered his ass because he realized his screw up might have been the reason that the runner over ran second base.

Re-watching that play again... and it appears there are at least four people on the field who do not know the rule (at least at game speed level) Dejong who forced out the runner when he was supposed to tag him at third. Edman who forced out the runner when he was supposed to tag him. The Cubs runner going from first to second who assumed he was out because the throw beat him and just acted like he was going to the dugout... and most importantly, the second base ump, who after the runner on second left the bag on the "force" out, called the runner out. (note he did not make the out call or timeout call until the runner was off the base....) The ump quickly figured out his gesture of out was premature and then made the time out call before Goldy let Edman know that the play was still live and for him to tag the runner... But again, the ump called out after the runner was off the base and called time out while the runner was still off the base on a live play. (and if you listen to the Cardinal broadcast, the Cardinals announcer also didn't know the rule either, at least at game speed, he quickly realized, almost as quick as the ump, that the play was still live)

then covered his ass because he realized his screw up might have been the reason that the runner over ran second base.

More accurately, his screw up might have been why the runner didn't try to get back to second... as the runner over ran the bag because he just assumed he was out. The ump didn't call him out until after he left the bag.

** I'll cut him some slack since I have no idea when it is usually called. But I don't think he called it so late as to excuse the runners.

It's usually called when the ball is at its peak to make sure nothing weird is going to happen. In this case, it should have also come with a verbal "Infield fly IF FAIR". If it looks late on this play, that's a legitimate gripe, but that is the mechanic for calling the IFF once everyone has a read on it.

Giancarlo Stanton’s weekend at Fenway: 3 HRs & 10 RBI. Last 2 HRs left the ballpark. Now 6-3 Yankees.

Great game tonight, but in fairness the Red Sox were royally screwed by the non-3rd strike call on Judge, when the catcher caught his foul tip but dropped while reaching for the transfer. As soon as it happened, Judge doubled home 2 runs and Stanton hit Lansdowne again for the winning runs. Prior to that, the preceding inning was a comedy of errors: 3 dropped popup that all led to runs,and a no-slide steal attempt that resulted in an out.

Giancarlo Stanton’s weekend at Fenway: 3 HRs & 10 RBI. Last 2 HRs left the ballpark.

Stanton's weekend was shades of Joe Dimaggio, when he returned to the lineup for the first time in late June of 1949, just in time for a 3 game series in Fenway, where he went 5 for 11 with 4 home runs and 9 RBI to lead the Yanks to a sweep. He'd missed the first two months of the season with a painful bone spur.

Stanton's weekend was shades of Joe Dimaggio, when he returned to the lineup for the first time in late June of 1949,

Andy, was that year you were married or just after?

caught his foul tip but dropped while reaching for the transfer

is the transfer not part of the catch for catchers?

The Philadelphia Inquirer
@PhillyInquirer
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Luis Alfredo Rivas-Clase, the only suspect still being sought in the shooting of former Boston Red Sox player David Ortiz, was killed Sunday afternoon by unidentified suspects, according to news reports from the Dominican Republic.