Latest news with #KerryMiller
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Seattle Mariners Sitting Pretty in Postseason Race After Strong First Quarter
While the last two weeks have not been ideal, the Seattle Mariners' entire performance over the first quarter of the season has the team well positioned for an extended playoff push this year. The Mariners enter Friday with a 23-19 record, leading the American League West, ranking fifth in the American League, and 11th in MLB. With how weak the American League is this year, it is a strong foundation to build on with the remaining 120 games of the campaign. Advertisement Seattle last made the postseason in 2022, with their most recent trip before that one coming in 2001. They have famously never won a playoff series in their 49-year existence, but the M's have a strong chance of changing that this year. A recent article from Kerry Miller of Bleacher Report took a look at the playoff chances of all 30 teams through the first quarter of the season and ranked them from most to least likely. The M's are sitting pretty with their 87.2% chance, and Miller ranked them sixth. "Seattle feels a bit high as the third-most likely playoff team out of the American League," Miller wrote, "but perhaps that's just the nagging memory of the M's blowing what was a 10-game lead in the AL West in mid-June of last season. They're hitting much better than last year, even with Julio Rodríguez's OPS continuing to hover in the .700 range. And even with George Kirby yet to make his 2025 debut, they've managed to more than tread water and should be in excellent shape when both he and Logan Gilbert return, hopefully by the end of the month." Advertisement Rodriguez's offensive struggles throughout his career have certainly been an issue, but he still provides strong defense in the outfield and can turn the power on at any given moment. The first quarter of the season has come and gone, and "only" 120 games remain. The base has been poured, and now it is time for Seattle to build on their strong start to the year in its push for the playoffs.
Yahoo
18-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Tampa Bay Rays Pitching Staff Neither Good Nor Bad
The Tampa Bay Rays can normally be viewed as one of the preeminent pitching factories in MLB. They have shown an uncanny ability to take the most unlikely of pitchers, prospects or otherwise, and turn them into viable options at the Major League level. While that has been the case for the better part of the last two decades, 2025 has been, well, different. While the team as a whole has struggled to reach .500, the pitching staff has been simply ... mediocre? Advertisement Now they are missing a major piece in Shane McClanahan, but to be fair, he has not pitched in the regular season since 2023. Without him, no other pitcher on the roster has been able to stake their claim as a consistent force to be reckoned with on the mound. A recent article from Kerry Miller of Bleacher Report took a look at all 30 pitching staffs in MLB, and ranking them from best to worst. For the Rays, they placed 17th on the back of their mediocrity. "The Rays are just kind of perfectly mediocre," Miller wrote. "As of Monday morning, not a single pitcher on their staff had a WAR (neither on FanGraphs nor Baseball Reference) above 0.7 or below negative-0.3. Pete Fairbanks has been stout at closer, though. Shane McClanahan logged seven scoreless innings in spring training, but hasn't pitched in the regular season in nearly two years. Getting him back would be huge." Entering Friday, the staff ranks 12th in MLB with an ERA of 3.84. Most of that has come from the bullpen, however, as the rotation holds an ERA of 4.10, 18th in MLB, while the relief corps holds a 3.42 mark, eighth overall. McClanahan holds a career ERA of 3.02 across 404.2 innings over three seasons. Getting him back on the mound would work wonders for a pitching staff that, to this point in 2025, has just been... meh.
Yahoo
05-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Pirates Proposed to Relocate Amid Latest Ugly Season
It's not hyperbolic to say professional baseball has never known a world without the Pittsburgh Pirates, not when the Pirates have called the City Steel home dating back to their American Association days in 1882. Yes, 1882. After 140-plus years, though, could we be facing a world where the Pirates become the Team Which Formerly Resided in Pittsburgh? Advertisement Bleacher Report's Kerry Miller recently listed a major concern for each team, and he signaled out the Pirates' attendance problems. The Pirates entered play Monday averaging 16,577 fans over 19 home games, the third-lowest mark of any team playing in an MLB stadium; the Tampa Bay Rays (9,989) and the Athletics (9,836) are using minor-league ballparks this year. Miller subsequently suggested that Pirates fans should panic they'll become the 'next franchise with 'might relocate to Nashville' rumors,' an unimaginable concept despite the team's 12-23 start. Pittsburgh Pirates fans watch pitcher Paul SkenesCharles LeClaire-Imagn Images The Pirates have spent the last three decades synonymous with losing, outside consecutive playoff runs from 2013-15. Those three years and an 82-win campaign in 2018 mark the Pirates' only winning seasons since losing the 1992 NLCS. Advertisement Yet, it appears Pirates fans have finally had enough. Miller reported that Pittsburgh sold fewer than 9,000 tickets for an April game against the St. Louis Cardinals despite reigning NL Rookie of the Year Paul Skenes' presence on the mound. It gets worse. Pittsburgh announced a crowd of 13,633 fans last Thursday on Dollar Dog Day and a game that Skenes started. 'Every fan base has a 'fair weather' contingent,' Miller wrote, 'but when you can't even get butts in seats for home starts by the Cy Young favorite, you've got a serious problem on your hands.' The Rays and Athletics have typically been the two teams linked to Nashville, especially given their stadium situations. If the Pirates do emerge as a possible relocation candidate, at least it sounds like Miller won't be overly surprised. Related: Calls Mount for Paul Skenes Trade Amid Pirates' Slow Start
