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New York Times
a day ago
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Phillies, meet the Windup Panic Spectrum. Plus: Yordan Alvarez not returning yet
The Windup Newsletter ⚾ | This is The Athletic's MLB newsletter. Sign up here to receive The Windup directly in your inbox. The Phillies phlailed, the Royals are calling up a masher, the Yankees and Dodgers made history and the Astros are … well, what is going on in Houston, anyway? I'm Levi Weaver, here with Ken Rosenthal. Welcome to The Windup! When we sent our last edition of The Windup, the Phillies held the NL's best record. Not only is that no longer true, they don't even have the best record in their division. At 36-23, they now trail the Mets (37-22) after being swept at home by the Brewers, including a 17-7 football score of a loss on Saturday. Advertisement The good news: Despite being out of action since a hit-by-pitch on Tuesday, Bryce Harper is not expected to hit the IL. The bad news? Small-picture, it's all bad. After spending the first month-plus of the season with the game's most stable pitching staff, the Phillies are now attempting a slight pitching shuffle. From that link: 'The Phillies will shift Taijuan Walker to a one-inning setup role for the first time in his 13-year career while reinserting prospect Mick Abel into the rotation. Additionally, they removed veteran righty José Ruiz from the mix by designating him for assignment and added hard-throwing Seth Johnson to the bullpen.' Allow me to introduce: WiPS. That stands for Windup Panic Spectrum. In the case of the Phillies, we're at a 1.5/10. Like when your honor student goes to Vegas for spring break: We're not worried long-term, but you're not gonna think back on this fondly, pal. The Royals' 1-0 loss to the Tigers yesterday proved the final straw. After that game, the Royals decided to promote Jac Caglianone, a left-handed hitter who was the No. 6 pick, out of the University of Florida, in the 2024 draft. Only one team, the hapless Rockies, is averaging fewer runs per game than the Royals. Caglianone, 22, is one of the game's top offensive prospects. True, he has played in only 79 minor-league games. But he has torn up Double A and Triple A this season with a combined 15 homers and .982 OPS. Caglianone, 6-foot-5 and 250 pounds, plays first base (and also pitched in college). One rival evaluator, in his writeup of Caglianone as an amateur, described him as having 'ridiculous strength' and giving off 'peak Matt Olson vibe, look and profile,' with the potential to one day lead the majors in home runs. Also on the Royals: Rookie left-hander Noah Cameron became only the second pitcher since 1893 to work at least 6 1/3 innings and allow one run or less in his first four major-league starts. The 25-year-old's sample might be small, but in an era of diminishing workloads, Zack Wheeler and Max Fried are the only current starters averaging 6 1/3 innings. Now the Royals must figure out how Cameron fits in their staff going forward, with righty Seth Lugo coming off the injured list Friday and lefty Cole Ragans expected back this week. Yordan Alvarez was expected to be back this week. NOPE. So why did we think he was coming back? He last played on May 2. Logically, a month is roughly the recovery period for what the Astros originally said was the issue — a 'muscle strain.' But guess what! It's not just a strain! It's a fracture, we found out Saturday. Walk with me through this minefield of face-palmery: Does any of this sound familiar? It should. Remember when Kyle Tucker missed a lot of time last year as an Astro? The team insisted for three months that it was a 'shin contusion.' That was (also) a fracture. Pardon my penchant for the petty, but this paragraph by Rome is delectable: 'Nowhere in Brown's team-written biography does it describe any medical education in his past, yet he sat atop a bench on Saturday afternoon attempting to explain how a $2.8 billion entity has now twice failed to discover a fracture in one of its franchise players.' Wanna season that pettiness with some irony? Read this lede. The Astros could certainly use a healthy Alvarez — they're just a half-game behind Seattle for the AL West lead. So when will he return? The team isn't saying. Even if they did, would you believe them? More Astros: An 83-pitch complete game??? That's a Maddux++, right? Framber Valdez was brilliant against the Rays on Friday. More sorta-related-to-this-story: The Cubs say Tucker has avoided a major injury. Let's see if they're being forthcoming! *yawn* I know. They do this all the time, individually. 'That's never been done bef—' yeah, we know. But when these two stars combine to do something that's never been done before, it's a big deal. So when Ohtani and Judge both homered in the first inning of the first game of the Dodgers-Yankees series over the weekend, it sent the game's historians to their laptops. Advertisement The verdict: It was the first time in MLB history that both reigning MVPs had homered in the first inning of the same game. Ever. (It did happen in the same game once: Barry Bonds and Miguel Tejada did it in 2002.) For context, interleague play only started in 1997. But it's not as impressive to say, 'It's the first time this has happened since 'Listen' by Collective Soul topped the rock charts.' The Dodgers, by the way, won the series 2-1, but the Yankees' 7-3 win yesterday hardly swung the tide in their direction after losses of 8-5 (Friday) and 18-2 (Saturday). The Yankees insist it's not a huge deal, but it couldn't have felt great to come up short in their first low-stakes shot at revenge. More Dodgers: We conclude our All-Quarter Century team coverage with this: You, the readers (more than 12,000 of you) validated my claim that Shohei Ohtani should be the DH over David Ortiz. I disagree with you on other picks, but for now: Thank you. Jayson Stark has his rebuttal here. If you enjoyed our foray into the world of ultra-contact-hitter Jacob Wilson of the A's, Sam Blum has a more fleshed-out version here. You don't win rings in December, right? The Red Sox had a great offseason. It has not been a good regular season. If it continues to go badly, the Padres could have interest in Jarren Duran. What's up with the federal investigation into the MLBPA? Our fears were confirmed: Braves starter AJ Smith-Shawver has a torn UCL. (That's the Tommy John injury.) On the pods: 'Rates & Barrels' talks prospects and the roundtable takes on Juan Soto's 2025 season so far. 📫 Love The Windup? Check out The Athletic's other newsletters.
New York Times
5 days ago
- Business
- New York Times
Read these stories before Yankees-Dodgers rematch. Plus: How rare is all-lefty lineup?
The Windup Newsletter ⚾ | This is The Athletic's MLB newsletter. Sign up here to receive The Windup directly in your inbox. The World Series rematch starts tonight! Plus: The Dodgers acquire a former All-Star reliever, the Nats did something kinda strange and Ken checks in on the Rangers offense. I'm Levi Weaver, here with Ken Rosenthal. Welcome to The Windup! If you'll pardon a bit of big-market pandering: Last year's World Series was like catnip for the folks whose job it is to market the league and all MLB-adjacent things. (Full disclosure: This very newsletter is an MLB-adjacent thing.) Well, the rematch starts tonight (10:10 p.m. ET, Apple TV+). And you'd better believe we have a few stories about it. From my latest notes column: Hey, let's fire the hitting coach! The Texas Rangers, before dismissing Donnie Ecker on May 4 and replacing him with Bret Boone, were 17-18 and averaging 3.23 runs per game. Since the arrival of Boone, who joined the team's other hitting instructors, Justin Viele and Seth Conner, the Rangers are 10-12 and averaging 3.27 runs per game. Yes, that's a lower winning percentage. And an uptick in 'production' of a mammoth .04 runs per game. Advertisement If the Rangers' offensive malaise continues — they currently rank 28th in scoring, wasting perhaps the best pitching in franchise history — the team will have little choice at the trade deadline but to sell. Maybe things will change now that shortstop Corey Seager has returned from his second injury-list stint due to a strained right hamstring — the Rangers are 15-12 with Seager, 12-18 without him. But Texas' offensive ineptitude is not a new problem. In 2023, when the Rangers won their first World Series, they ranked third in runs. In '24, they dropped to 18th, prompting general manager Chris Young to add designated hitter Joc Pederson and first baseman Jake Burger during the offseason. Pederson was hitting .131 with a .507 OPS before suffering a fractured right hand. Burger is hitting .208 with a .639 OPS and recently spent 10 days at Triple A. And they are hardly the only Rangers hitters performing below career norms. Second baseman Marcus Semien's .485 OPS through Wednesday was the lowest in the majors. Right fielder Adolis García's .626 was the 20th-lowest. Seager, left fielder Wyatt Langford and third baseman Josh Jung are the only Texas hitters with OPSes above .750. Last year, the Rangers entered the deadline three games under .500 and 3 1/2 games out of first place. With a group of potential free agents that included right-hander Nathan Eovaldi, lefty Andrew Heaney, first baseman Nathaniel Lowe and relievers David Robertson and Kirby Yates, they could have done well as sellers. But coming off a World Series title, Young gave the team the benefit of the doubt and added lefty reliever Andrew Chafin instead. Now what? Young thought he put together a championship-caliber club. Ten writers from The Athletic, including yours truly, picked the Rangers to win the World Series. The team is 27-30, but just 4 1/2 games out in the AL West. It's not as if the season is lost. Yet. Advertisement The Rangers' pitching, third in the majors in ERA, could get even stronger in the coming weeks with the returns of Jon Gray, Cody Bradford and Kumar Rocker. Perhaps the staff will grow deep enough for Young to trade from strength; Tyler Mahle, fourth in the league in ERA, is a potential free agent, as are Gray and relievers Chris Martin and Hoby Milner. More notes here. 'Reds trade Alexis Díaz to the Dodgers.' It's not as big a headline as it would have been in 2023 or 2024, when Díaz was racking up a combined 65 saves with a 3.49 ERA, making one All-Star game. It's also not the return the Reds would have gotten back then. All it cost the Dodgers for the 2025 version of Díaz — an ERA of 12.00 in six innings, and optioned to Triple-A Louisville — was 22-year-old RHP Mike Villani, who was Los Angeles' 13th-round draft pick last year. Villani's professional career consists of two games in the Arizona Complex League (though he did strike out five of the six batters he faced). The move makes a lot of sense for the Dodgers. Brusdar Graterol, Michael Kopech, Evan Phillips, Blake Treinen, Evan Phillips and Kirby Yates — their top five right-handed high-leverage relief options — are currently on the IL For the Reds, the benefit is less obvious. So I asked our resident expert C. Trent Rosecrans to help me understand why the Reds would make this trade right now. Here's his answer: 💬 The short answer is it saves money. Díaz is making $4.5 million this year and has two years of arbitration left. With what the Reds have seen this year, the team didn't believe he could help them at the big-league level this season. That means they'd also likely non-tender him after the season. If, in their eyes, Díaz wasn't going to help them this year and wouldn't be around next year, why pay him to pitch for the Louisville Bats? He continued to struggle in Triple A, where he had walked as many batters as he'd struck out (eight) since being optioned. He no longer had value to the Reds, and this was as good of a deal as they could get for a team willing to take on the contract. For the Reds, the only downside is looking bad if he rebounds, and fear of embarrassment isn't a good reason not to make a move. Got a text from a friend last night: 'Washington Nationals are doing an all-lefty lineup tonight.' Weird. I checked it out, and he was technically right. This lineup features seven left-handed hitters and two switch-hitters (who would be batting left-handed against Mariners starter Emerson Hancock). It got me wondering: How weird is this, anyway? It turns out, I have a resource for this sort of thing. His name is Jayson Stark. Here's what we found: And, for good measure: The Rays' starting pitcher that night was Blake Snell, who is also left-handed. I don't have any other significance to this, other than: I missed it when it happened five years ago (or perhaps I memory-holed it, as I've done with about 98 percent of that year), and I think it's neat! Wanna know why the Tigers have the best record in baseball? Cody Stavenhagen has a brilliant in-depth look at their success today, which is my 'you should definitely read this' suggestion. It follows a recent article that was more numbers-driven. Mike Trout is set to return to action tonight against the Guardians. Advertisement The All-Quarter Century teams continue to trickle in: Today, we have the Cubs, Giants, Guardians and Mets. Tim Britton has also done the exhaustive work of identifying the 25 best games of the 2000s. It is a cornucopia of still-ripening nostalgia! Braves starter AJ Smith-Shawver, who was having a breakout season at 22 years old, was added to the IL between games of yesterday's doubleheader after 'hearing a pop' in his elbow. Yeesh. The most famous baseball card in the world gets a writeup here, as a current auction for a T-206 Honus Wagner has exceeded $3 million. Have you noticed the new every-inning ritual by Mets outfielders? Will Sammon asked around, and it's Juan Soto's doing. 📫 Love The Windup? Check out The Athletic's other newsletters.
New York Times
5 days ago
- Business
- New York Times
Marlins in awkward spot with Sandy Alcantara. Plus, Francisco Lindor's leadership rituals
The Windup Newsletter ⚾ | This is The Athletic's MLB newsletter. Sign up here to receive The Windup directly in your inbox. From Cy Young to Sigh Young — what's up with Sandy Alcantara? Plus: A decision the O's would like back, Francisco Lindor's leadership and Ken's look at Oneil Cruz — I'm Levi Weaver, here with Ken Rosenthal. Welcome to The Windup! The last time Sandy Alcántara pitched a full-full season, he unanimously won the 2022 NL Cy Young Award. OK, so he did make 28 starts in 2023, but his last one came on Sept. 3. After that, he was added to the injured list with a UCL injury that ultimately led to Tommy John surgery. Adios, 2024. I know ERA isn't the best stat, but it does sorta illustrate a point here, so … 2022: 2.28 2023: 4.14 2025: 8.47 Advertisement That's bleak. If only there were a simple stat to point to: a release point, a drop in velo or spin rate, an obnoxious voodoo doll in his locker, hissing ancient druid curses. Nope. As Dennis Lin and Sam Blum point out after last night's poor showing, the velo and pitch shapes are basically the same now as they were before. Maybe that's encouraging. Maybe it just means that last bit of Tommy John recovery is happening a little slower than the Marlins would like. But it's a bummer, and not just for the 22-32 Marlins' hopes this year. Given their (track) record, the bigger issue might be Alcantara's trade value. Miami could certainly keep the 29-year-old around through his contract, which expires at the end of next year. But it sure would be valuable for a team in quasi-perpetual rebuild mode if they could dangle a Cy Young candidate with a year and a half of team control at this year's deadline. Instead, they have a guy who has allowed more earned runs than any other pitcher in baseball. More Marlins: Ronny Simon grateful for support after teary, three-error game: 'I just try to keep working hard' From my latest story: If, through some freaky genetic engineering, a scientist could combine the physical attributes of Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton, what might be the result? Isiah Kiner-Falefa, a member of the New York Yankees in 2022-23, thinks he has the answer. 'If you put 'em both together,' the Pittsburgh Pirates shortstop said. 'I feel like it's Oneil Cruz.' Cruz, the Pirates' 6-foot-7, 240-pound center fielder, was at it again Sunday, hitting a home run 122.9 mph, the hardest-hit ball since Statcast started tracking in 2015. His exit velocities and powerful throws are the stuff of Statcast legend. His speed is pretty much elite, too. And considering he is only 26, in his first full season playing center field and working diligently to master the game's subtleties, heaven knows what he might become. Advertisement Kiner-Falefa, who said Cruz combines the quick twitch and 'missile-like' exit velos of Stanton with the athleticism and power of Judge, has an answer for that, too. 'If he maximizes his potential, he can be one of the best players ever,' Kiner-Falefa said. Milwaukee Brewers manager Pat Murphy, after the weekend he just experienced in Pittsburgh, is not about to argue. Friday night, Cruz hit a 117.9 mph home run, at that point the hardest-hit homer of his career, and a 113.4 blast to tie the score in the ninth inning of a game the Pirates won, 6-5. Saturday, in a left-on-left matchup against Tyler Alexander, he hit the decisive triple in the seventh inning of a 2-1 Pirates victory. And Sunday, after righty Logan Henderson allowed Cruz's 122.9 shot on a first-pitch fastball in the third inning, Murphy took no chances in the eighth. With two outs, a 6-5 lead and runner on second, he ordered an intentional walk to Cruz, putting him on base as the potential winning run. Never mind that Cruz entered the weekend having gone nearly a month without a homer after hitting eight in his first 25 games. Murphy, 66, called it the best physical performance he has seen, by a hitter with the best bat speed he has seen. 'That guy can hit 50 homers easy, 60,' Murphy said. His current pace is a mere 34. Still, opposing pitchers shudder at the thought of missing with Cruz over the middle of the plate, and not simply because he might deposit the ball in the Allegheny River, as he did for the sixth time in his career Sunday. A batted ball coming back to the mound at some ridiculous speed is an equally frightening proposition. 'It's something you're definitely cognizant of,' Arizona Diamondbacks right-hander Zac Gallen said. 'And you get reminded of things like that after he hits the ball 123.' Advertisement St. Louis Cardinals closer Ryan Helsley jokingly suggested the best option with Cruz might be to just walk him and avoid him entirely. 'Go to first base, dude,' Helsley said, laughing. 'I want to live.' So, how close is Cruz to realizing his full potential? More on that here. Boy, this did not work out well for the Orioles. Let's set the scene. Kyle Gibson, who turned 37 in October, pitched for the Orioles in 2023 and went 15-9 with a 4.73 ERA in 33 starts. If you're curious, that's the sort of season that's worth 0.7 bWAR. Last year, he pitched for the St. Louis Cardinals as part of their Rotation of Dads™️, alongside Lance Lynn (37), Miles Mikolas (35) and Sonny Gray (34). He went 8-8 with a 4.24 ERA in 30 starts and was slightly better, value-wise, at 1.0 bWAR. Then came an offseason of patience. Gibson remained a free agent; the Orioles failed to bolster their rotation, losing Corbin Burnes to the Diamondbacks via free agency. On March 21, the two sides played a classic game of 'Prom is Next Weekend, So … Yeah?' and voila: a one-year deal worth $5.25 million. Gibson made it to the big leagues on April 29, aaaand yikes. Maybe you heard about that one. His next three starts weren't much better. A total of 8 2/3 innings, 14 earned runs. He has a 16.78 ERA. The Orioles designated him for assignment on May 18, releasing him on May 20. Yesterday, he signed with the Tampa Bay Rays on a minor-league deal. But Baltimore is still on the hook for the remainder of his salary this year. Which means the Orioles — who were so reluctant to spend on pitching last offseason — spent $5.25M for 12 1/3 innings, 23 earned runs and -1.1 bWAR. Not to rub it in, but here are a few free-agent pitchers who signed one-year deals this winter for equal or less money than Gibson's contract: Now we get to see if the Wonka Chocolate Factory of pitching can get Gibson back on track. Leadership is a fascinating topic, because it can come in so many different shapes and sizes. Is it the player who will call out a teammate for a lack of effort? The guy who quietly provides an example by out-working his teammates even after a decade of success? Is it the clubhouse 'glue guy' who keeps things light? The 'extra coach' who helps the younger guys with their mechanics or pitch selection? Advertisement Yes. But I think there is a common thread: caring about the success of your teammates. Even the uncomfortable conversation about hustle — when done right — comes from a place of wanting success for the teammate (and the team). Here's a tactic that I haven't heard before, but it falls right in line with that common theme: Will Sammon tells us about Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor's routine of speaking to each one of his teammates after every series. Sometimes the conversation has real substance. Other times, he's just checking in. The tone is usually encouraging, but there's one thing his teammates seem to agree on: it's not just eyewash. Here, take pitcher Griffin Canning's words over mine: 'He's the first guy I've seen do it. It shows what kind of leader he is. He's in touch and in tune with every single guy in the clubhouse.' You should read the whole thing; it's a really interesting glimpse into a unique locker room dynamic that seems to be working. Our All-Quarter Century Team trend has spread to Cincinnati, and I somehow missed our Braves team until just now (you can see all of our AQC teams here). The Rockies are how bad? Here are nine numbers to quantify the misery. Astros starter Ronel Blanco will miss the rest of the season. Soooo the Astros are definitely in the market for starting pitching, right? Camilo Doval is the Giants' closer (again). The Pirates have been clear: They're not trading Paul Skenes. But given the prospect packages Jim Bowden suggests here … should they? After a couple months of action, here's Keith Law's revision of his top 50 prospects. The Angels have DFA'd 2019 batting champ Tim Anderson. Most-clicked in our last newsletter: Once again, the play Jayson Stark dubbed 'the most whacked-out walk-off hit you will ever see in your life.' 📫 Love The Windup? Check out The Athletic's other newsletters.
New York Times
23-05-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
What would it take for the Pirates to trade Paul Skenes? Plus: This uniform patch is absurd
The Windup Newsletter ⚾ | This is The Athletic's MLB newsletter. Sign up here to receive The Windup directly in your inbox. The Padres have gone from unstoppable to a dead halt. Plus: A Tigers coach reminds players of their roots, we roast the worst uniform trend of all time and Ken discusses the unthinkable: a Paul Skenes trade? I'm Levi Weaver, here with Ken Rosenthal. Welcome to The Windup! The Padres began the year with a remarkable 7-0 winning streak. If they lose tonight against Chris Sale and the Braves, this losing streak will have neutralized that winning streak. Let's frame it in a more concerning way: They started the season 14-3. They're 13-18 since then. Is it time to start worrying about a team that looked unstoppable to start the season? Dennis Lin has six numbers here that tell a bit more in-depth story. The short version: Gavin Sheets' first home run in last night's extra-innings loss to the Blue Jays ended a 27-inning scoreless streak, and they scored just one run in each of the first three losses of the streak. They're simply not hitting with runners in scoring position. They're still six games over .500, but 27-21 isn't what it used to be — at least not in this year's NL West. They're still just three games back (remember, the Dodgers had a four-game losing streak of their own recently, and the Giants and Diamondbacks are just 5-5 in their last 10). So it's not insurmountable. But they need to pull out of the nosedive soon. More on the walk-off: Nathan Lukes hit the walk-off single. Three-plus years ago, he nearly walked away from the game. From my latest column: Trade Paul Skenes? The Pittsburgh Pirates should build around Paul Skenes. But they punted on an opportunity to do that last offseason, and the chances of owner Bob Nutting splurging this offseason are about as good as his team's current playoff odds — 0.3 percent. So, Skenes trade talk is percolating, in the media if not yet in reality. Pirates general manager Ben Cherington, when asked by reporters Thursday if the team is open to trading the 22-year-old, said, 'No. It's not at all part of the conversation.' Still, the idea is fascinating, and for a team so far away from contention, perfectly rational, considering the risk of injury for any pitcher. But such a deal would require the Pirates to demonstrate three qualities they rarely display: nerve, creativity and savvy. Among the obstacles to a Skenes trade: The status of Cherington — If Cherington is not going to be the GM beyond this season, then why the heck would Nutting trust him to move Skenes? Cherington, following the dismissal of manager Derek Shelton on May 8, might only be safe because teams generally refrain from changing heads of baseball operations in the middle of the season. Thus, Cherington will also preside over the draft, a daunting thought considering that since taking over in November 2019, he has yet to produce a homegrown star position player. From 2020 to '22, the Pirates took second baseman Nick Gonzales, catcher Henry Davis and infielder Termarr Johnson while picking in the top seven. To this point at least, none has made anything close to an impact. The Pirates are 5-8 under Don Kelly since starting the season 12-26 under Derek Shelton. Farfetched as it might sound, they could save Cherington by turning around their season. But if Nutting is even thinking about trading Skenes, he would figure to leave the task to the next GM. Skenes' extreme value — Think about it: What would even be a fair return for Skenes? In 2022, outfielder Juan Soto was under club control for three pennant races when he and first baseman Josh Bell brought the Washington Nationals a monstrous return from the San Diego Padres — outfielder James Wood, left-hander MacKenzie Gore and shortstop CJ Abrams; outfielder Robert Hassell III, pitcher Jarlin Susana and first baseman Luke Voit. Skenes is under club control for five pennant races. To justify the move, the Pirates would need to beat the return for Soto, and not by a little. Even if contenders were willing to empty their farm systems for Skenes, as they almost certainly would be, how many would even have enough talent to make a deal happen? More notes here. On FM 916, about a half-mile west of State Highway 171 in Texas, there's a three-acre plot of land. The last time I saw it, I noticed one of the oak trees had been cut down. That's a bummer, because that tree was third base. That trio of oaks were where I fell in love with the game of baseball. I'm not sure I would have thought to even ask the question, much less answer it, if not for Tyler Kepner's story today about Tigers first-base coach Anthony Iapoce. 'Where did it start?' is a question Iapoce makes it a point to ask players. It's one he has asked himself, too — the 51-year-old keeps a Google Maps printout of where it began for him: playing stickball at 42nd Street and 25th Avenue in Queens. During his time with the Cubs and Rangers, Iapoce would have one player per week make a presentation to the rest of the team about that place — wherever it was for them. It's remarkable how well the question works to help players open up a bit; to go back to the time when the game was fun, before the stakes got high. Here, let Kris Bryant explain it: 'Back then, there wasn't a care in the world. You're playing baseball with your friends, you get orange slices and Capri Sun after the game. It brings back that carefree feeling, like, 'Man, this is a pretty cool game we get to do.' It kind of helps shift the (mindset) from 'I'm such a loser, I'm the worst player in the world.'' It is often easy to forget the humanity of the superstars we watch on TV each night. Kudos to Iapoce for a cool grounding technique, and good work by Kepner to share it with the rest of us. More Kepner: His 'Sliders' column starts with a surging Rhys Hoskins and ends with a tribute to George Wendt, who passed away this week. When MLB began introducing uniform patches in 2023, everyone hated it. And I try not to speak for 'everyone,' but unless you work for an MLB team in the 'get us more sponsors' department, or for one of the companies whose logo was about to be on the sleeve of big leaguers — 'Look, look! That's us!' — I feel confident in guessing … you hated it. They're all bad, to varying degrees. But a few teams made sure to tout how selective they would be, and how the patches would be in team colors, unobtrusive. 'You'll hardly notice it (except please do notice it a little bit, because we need to show the company that their ad dollars provide value).' Other teams just decided that aesthetics didn't pay bills. One such team is the Seattle Mariners. Just look at this patch. AHEM … This patch makes it look like George Kirby is available for 90 percent off because the Mariners are going out of business. This patch makes it seem like when Kirby was injured, the Mariners didn't put him on the injured list, they just left him by the side of the road until a state trooper slapped one of those 'move it or we're towing it' stickers on him. This patch is a Kremlin psyop to increase tourism in Moscow. (OK this one is a stretch, but … get it?) Hey you guys, I've been working on a way to improve some classic works of art. How do we feel about this one? On the upside, give it another 15 years and maybe we can get it to come full circle. Look, a Mondrian! Anyway, in a genre that is uniformly terrible (pun begrudgingly noted but unintentional), these have somehow descended to a new depth. Nothing is sacred but profit. Rinse, repeat. More uniforms: How are this year's City Connects landing? Our panel rates and discusses. Jayson Stark has a two-part Weird & Wild this week. The main one leads with Shohei Ohtani striking out against a backup position player, and the bonus one discusses how odd it is that three managers were fired in such quick succession. Ronald Acuña Jr. is set to return tonight, almost exactly one year after tearing his left ACL. Advertisement When Jazz Chisholm Jr. returns from the IL soon, the Yankees will have two second basemen (and still need a third baseman). Either Chisholm or DJ LeMahieu will have to move, but which one? At 8-42, the Rockies now have the worst record through 50 games in the modern era (since 1901). José Alvarado's suspension sparked concern about the Phillies bullpen. So far? No problem. Keith Law scouts some Phillies, Red Sox and Yankees prospects, including Andrew Painter and George Lombard Jr. On the pods: Soon-to-be Hall of Famer CC Sabathia joined 'Starkville' to talk about his path to Cooperstown, the coming induction, the need for aces in baseball and much more. 📫 Love The Windup? Check out The Athletic's other newsletters.
New York Times
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
MLB Power Rankings: Cardinals, Rangers rising; What you've might have missed this season
By Grant Brisbee, Chad Jennings and Levi Weaver Every week, we ask a selected group of our baseball writers — local and national — to rank the teams from first to worst. Here are the collective results. Do you know The Flaming Lips? Popular psychedelic rock band fronted by Wayne Coyne, who's the type of songwriter to craft a hit song about preparing toast with Vaseline, blowing a nose with magazines, and dyeing hair with tangerines? Advertisement If that's not your thing, maybe try the one about a girl using karate to defend a city from pink robots. It's pretty weird, but also, maybe brilliant? We here at Power Rankings feel some kinship with The Flaming Lips. A lot of people engage with our work, and many of those same people think we're out of our minds. Also, at least one of us (Levi) has rockstar hair. So, at least partially inspired by the most played Flaming Lips song on Spotify, we're spending this week's Power Rankings highlighting numbers and performances you might have missed if you aren't watching these teams night after night. To quote Coyne: Do you realize — that happiness makes you cry? Record: 29-19 Last Power Ranking: 1 Do you realize that Andy Pages has been the Dodgers' second-most valuable player according to WAR, and he's just a rounding error away from catching up to Shohei Ohtani? Gold Glove-worthy defense in center — combined with speed, plenty of power and just enough contact — is the WAR-fetishist's dream, and Pages is strong on all fronts. Pages' expected statistics aren't nearly as shiny, so some of these numbers might come down. Still, for all the handwringing about the Dodgers' bloated payroll, never forget that the most powerful force in baseball is a helpful player becoming an All-Star out of nowhere. — Grant Brisbee Record: 27-19 Last Power Ranking: T-5 Do you realize the Yankees and Dodgers have almost identical offensive numbers? Look at these slash lines coming out of the weekend: Each of these two teams entered the week with a 132 OPS+ — no other team had better than a 118 — and they ranked first and second in runs per game (again, nearly identical at 5.79 and 5.78). Aaron Judge leads the AL in OPS, while Freddie Freeman leads the NL. Each team also has an offensive surprise in the outfield (Andy Pages and Trent Grisham) and has so far gotten a bit of a boost by activating a hard-to-predict infielder (Hyeseong Kim and DJ LeMahieu). The lineups certainly are not identical, but the results have been remarkably similar. — Chad Jennings Advertisement Record: 31-17 Last Power Ranking: 4 This isn't a particularly well-hidden fact, but do you realize that the Tigers have the best record in the league? Not the Dodgers. Not the Yankees. Not the Mets or Padres or Phillies. The Detroit Fightin' Tigers. And if you want something a little more surprising: their most valuable player by bWAR this year is Javy Báez (1.7). Even if you've heard this already, it's still surprising. Like when you hear that the human circulatory system is roughly 60,000 miles long. 'No way,' you think. And then later — maybe years later — you hear it again. 'That has to be fake,' you think. You look it up, and … huh. Weird. Then you memory-hole it until next time, when it blows your mind all over again. Javy Báez. Best player on the best team in the AL. Wild. — Levi Weaver Record: 29-19 Last Power Ranking: 2 Do you realize this is the best pitching staff in baseball? Or, at least, it's the one with the lowest collective ERA by quite a bit. Sean Manaea is one of seven Mets pitchers on the 60-day IL, yet the Mets are the only team in baseball with a sub-3.00 ERA. Only one other team (the Royals) is within a quarter of a run. The Mets entered this week's series against the Red Sox with 12 pitchers who'd thrown at least 10 innings this season, and none had an ERA over 4.00. Kodai Senga has been tremendous in his return from injury, Clay Holmes has successfully transitioned from relieving to starting, and 35-year-old Huascar Brazoban has been an elite setup man. Griffin Canning, basically dumped by both the Angels and Braves, has a 2.47 ERA through nine starts. That staff's been a difference maker in keeping the Mets comfortably in our Top 5. — Jennings Record: 27-18 Last Power Ranking: 3 Do you realize that the Padres lead all of baseball in ground balls hit to the opposite field, and it isn't especially close? My knee-jerk reaction is that this is a bad stat to lead the league in, with heavy-hitting teams like the Yankees and Dodgers down toward the bottom. There are other strong lineups near the top, though, so it can't be terribly predictive. Like most outlier hitting statistics, it's probably safe to blame Luis Arraez for everything. He's a certified Baseball Weirdo™, which is a compliment, so just assume that he's hitting 50 percent of his balls between third and short. Advertisement Another data point to consider: The Rockies have the lowest percentage of opposite-field grounders. Maybe it's just better to hit 'em where they ain't, regardless of direction. — Brisbee Record: 28-20 Last Power Ranking: 8 Do you realize how good Pete Crow-Armstrong has been this year? The Chicago Cubs have existed since 1876, back when you could make the big leagues at roughly 12 years old, playing games after your shift at the dysentery factory and before your night job mopping up the local opium pub. I'm not making this up: The person in last place on the list I'm about to quote was named 'Jiggs Parrott,' and he died of Tuberculosis at age 26. Here's the list: every qualified (3.1 plate appearances per team game) Chicago Cubs position player aged 23 or younger, arranged by fWAR. It starts with Ron Santo in 1963 (6.4 WAR) and ends with Parrott (-2.4 in 1894). Pete Crow-Armstrong, who turned 23 in March, is currently 26th on that list, at 3.0 bWAR. It's May 20. He has played 47 games, meaning if he even plays 141 of the Cubs' 162 games this year, he is on pace for 9.0 fWAR. That would not only be tops on the list, it would be 29 percent higher than Santo's previous record. — Weaver Record: 28-18 Last Power Ranking: T-5 Do you realize Mick Abel's historic debut was par for the course in this rotation? When Abel went six scoreless on Sunday, it was the Phillies' eighth such start this season (tied with the Cardinals and Royals for the most six-inning scoreless starts in the majors). It was also the 21st time that a Phillies starter went at least six innings while allowing no more than two runs (the most such starts in the majors). Zack Wheeler's gone six innings with no more than two runs in eight of his 10 starts. (The Dodgers' entire pitching staff has eight such starts.) Jesús Luzardo has done it five times. (His former team, the Marlins, has done it only twice.) Aaron Nola has struggled, but Wheeler, Luzardo and Cristopher Sánchez are having All-Star-type seasons. Abel showed up and kept pace. — Jennings Advertisement Record: 28-20 Last Power Ranking: 7 Do you realize that Wilmer Flores leads the majors with 42 RBIs? That's partly because of a three-homer, eight-RBI game that put him in impressive company, but it's also because he's coming up with runners on base more often compared to the average player. Here are the last 10 players to drive in 100 runs or more for the Giants: 1. Buster Posey 2. Barry Bonds 3. Jeff Kent 4. J.T. Snow 5. Matt Williams 6. Will Clark 7. Kevin Mitchell 8. Jack Clark 9. Bobby Bonds 10. Dick Dietz It's not hyperbole to say the Giants get a 100-RBI hitter every generation or so. It's quite literal, considering both Bobby and Barry Bonds, and it hasn't happened since 2012. That's what Flores is chasing, and the Giants couldn't be more thrilled. — Brisbee Record: 27-19 Last Power Ranking: 9 Do you realize that closer Andrés Muñoz hasn't allowed an earned run yet this season? He's appeared in 20 games and leads the AL in saves, and while his Fielding Independent Percentage is a bloated 1.76, his ERA is a cool 0.00. A fun storyline to follow all year would be a closer who doesn't allow a single run. Emmanuel Clase allowed just five last season, so it's not entirely out of the question. I'm writing this on Monday afternoon, and the Mariners are playing tonight. So if Muñoz allows a run against the White Sox, realize that it's entirely because of me, and that you should Venmo me some money to prevent me from writing nice things about your team next week. Thank you. — Brisbee (Editor's note: He did not allow a run. Keep your money.) Record: 24-23 Last Power Ranking: 11 Do you realize that, from April 18 to May 18, the Braves went 19-10 while winning seven of nine series? Getting off to a 5-13 start has kept them from climbing more than a game above .500, but for the past month or so, the Braves have won more games than any other National League team, and they're about to get Spencer Strider back from the IL. That's why a team that seems to be languishing in the middle of the standings is back in the top 10 of our Power Rankings. They haven't had a massive winning streak like the Twins or Cardinals, but the end result is the same. The Braves looked like a good team heading into Opening Day, and they've played like a good team since the fourth week or so of the regular season. — Jennings Advertisement Record: 27-21 Last Power Ranking: 17 Do you realize that the Cardinals have the best fielding percentage in baseball? The average team has made 24 errors this season, but the Cardinals have made just 16. That's just one reason they're competing for the NL Central after being ignored most of the offseason. Of course, fielding percentage is an archaic metric that modern baseball fans don't bother with. What really counts are those newfangled stats like Outs Above Average, so if the Cards aren't grading out well there, the sure-handedness is somewhere between 'helpful' and 'eye wash.' Except the Cardinals aren't just leading the world in OAA; they're not far from doubling up the second-best team. They can catch the baseball, and they're contending because of it. — Brisbee Record: 26-22 Last Power Ranking: 10 Do you realize that the Diamondbacks lead baseball in OPS after taking the first pitch of an at-bat? They're also tops in the NL in OPS when their hitters are behind in the count, largely because of their .370 slugging percentage in those situations. More than half the teams in baseball have a SLG under .300 when behind in the count, and only the Yankees and Red Sox have been better. It's a tough team to pitch against, and it's worth remembering that they had the best offense in baseball last season by almost every metric. Considering the breakout of Brandon Pfaadt and the recent scoreless streak from Corbin Burnes, they're oh-so close to putting it all together. — Brisbee Record: 26-21 Last Power Ranking: 16 Do you realize that the Twins' 13-game winning streak — which was snapped on Sunday — was not only the second-longest in team history (15 games in 1991, when they won the World Series), but it's longest one in the sport since the 2022 Mariners, who won 14 straight. That team also made the postseason. Minnesota currently sits in a wild-card position, but the wildest part of this whole winning streak might be that Minnesota was seven games out of first place when it started, and when it ended, the loss dropped them to five games out. Advertisement Combine that with the collision that sent Carlos Correa and Byron Buxton to the 7-day concussion IL, and it seems like the good vibes from such a huge winning streak might be muted a little. — Weaver Record: 25-22 Last Power Ranking: 17 Do you realize that Hunter Brown might be the best pitcher in baseball? He allowed 15 combined runs in two April starts last season, finishing the month with a 9.78 ERA. Since then, he's made 33 starts and thrown 203 2/3 innings with a 2.21 ERA. Those are Cy Young Award numbers. Brown's best start of the season might have been last Thursday, when he pitched eight innings, allowing just one run on five hits and a walk. He was a tough-luck loser to Jacob deGrom in a 1-0 game, though, which leads us to a bonus DYR. Do you realize the Astros' offense has been below average this season? Oh, I see. You're absolutely aware of that. That's why they're down here, compared to their loftier rankings in previous seasons. Brown is doing what he can, though. He's having an award-winning type of season so far. — Brisbee Record: 24-25 Last Power Ranking: 12 Do you realize Alex Bregman is having a peak season at age 31? Most of the Red Sox storylines have revolved around some sort of drama, much of it with Rafael Devers in a starring role. He didn't want to DH. Then he had a horrible first week. Then he got red hot. Then he didn't want to play first base. All the while, Devers has been one of the few Red Sox actually living up to expectations. Bregman might be exceeding them. He's pulling the ball like never before and generating offensive numbers not seen since he nearly won the MVP award back in 2019. The Red Sox are an inconsistent mess, but their biggest offseason addition has been a steady source of production. — Jennings Record: 27-22 Last Power Ranking: 15 Do you realize — or more accurately, do you believe — we're finally seeing that Maikel Garcia breakout year? I've been a low-grade Garcia believer for a couple of years now, despite the fact he has never finished a season with an OPS higher than .711 (it was .614 last year). His Baseball Savant page is a source of bewilderment and wonder to me. Check this out: How can a hitter rank in the 29th percentile in Barrel percentage, but in the 93rd percentile in Squared-Up percentage? In what world does it make sense that he is in the 45th percentile for Bat Speed, but the 84th percentile for Average Exit Velocity? I imagine that Eno Sarris could explain this to me. But frankly, there are so few avenues for wonder in this world that I almost don't want to know. For now, it's good enough to check in and see that Garcia has been the Royals' fourth-most valuable player by bWAR (1.6), just below Michael Wacha and just ahead of last year's second-place AL Cy Young Award finisher Seth Lugo. His OPS entering Monday night? .853, which looks a lot like a breakout to me. — Weaver Advertisement Record: 25-23 Last Power Ranking: T-21 Do you realize how good the Rangers' rotation has been? Look at this: it's the league-wide ERA leaderboard, taken from Baseball Reference. These numbers are from before Monday night's games, but see if you can detect a trend… That's three of the 10 best ERAs in the sport, held by guys whose name is followed by 'TEX'. The other two: Patrick Corbin (3.35) and Jack Leiter, who took a no-hitter into the seventh inning against the Astros on Sunday. Or Jon Gray, who hasn't pitched this year due to a fractured arm during spring training. Kumar Rocker (also on the IL) hasn't been particularly great, but at this rate, he doesn't really have to be? Unless he does … even with this pitching, the Rangers are just 25-23, which should tell you all you need to know about how the offense has performed. — Weaver Record: 25-21 Last Power Ranking: 14 Do you realize that Zack Meisel picked a perfect week for this article? It's basically an entire story built out of 'did you realize' stats. But here's the one that surprised me the most: 1.06: Kolby Allard's ERA Allard was a first-round pick a decade ago and a consensus top 100 prospect for three years. He broke into the big leagues before he turned 21. But it's been a bumpy road to this point. Now 27, Allard signed a minor-league deal with the Guardians — his fourth team in eight years — and worked his way into their bullpen. He has pitched in long relief to rescue the staff and has even dabbled in high-leverage opportunities. He's putting to use the lessons learned from 10 years of trials. I must admit: I did not, in fact, realize. — Weaver Record: 25-24 Last Power Ranking: 18 Do you realize how much better the Reds offense can be if this is what Will Benson is going to be? Advertisement From C. Trent Rosecrans' recent article on Will Benson, who was called up from Triple-A Louisville on May 9: 'Benson's streak of four straight games with a home run is the most since Joey Votto hit homers in seven straight games (and nine home runs total) in July of 2021.' Benson now has five home runs in nine games, which is already good for the fourth-most on the Reds this season. Benson is 26 years old and has played over 100 games in each of the past two seasons, so he's not a prospect. In fact, his .863 OPS in 2023 was .001 behind Matt McLain for the team lead. But last year was sort of a disaster, and he found himself in the minor leagues to start this season. If he can keep this — or anything close to it — up, he won't be back there any time soon. — Weaver Record: 23-25 Last Power Ranking: 16 Do you realize how unusual it is for the Brewers to be below .500 at this point in the year? On May 20, 2017, the Brewers were 18-24. Since then, they've only been below .500 on May 20 once. That was 2021, and four days later, they had a winning record and were en route to yet another postseason appearance. Until now. And it's starting to seem a little unlikely that 2025 is going to be a repeat of 2021. If that doesn't do it for you, how about this: the Brewers' best hitter this year by OPS isn't William Contreras. It's not Christian Yelich or Jackson Chourio, either. Going into Monday's win against the Reds (min. 100 PAs) it was Rhys Hoskins (.838) Second is Brice Turang, whose (.728) mark is a career best. Do with that information what you will. — Weaver Record: 22-24 Last Power Ranking: 20 Do you realize that more than 40 percent of their wins have come against only two teams? It's hard to keep up because the Blue Jays are kind of all over the place. George Springer started hot, then cooled down. Vladimir Guerrero started cold, then got hot. Bo Bichette is good again, but a lot of the new guys have been underwhelming. So, they're perpetually stuck in the bottom half of our rankings. Not awful, but not good. Of the Blue Jays' 22 wins, nine have come against the Red Sox (five) and Mariners (four). Against everyone else, the Blue Jays are 13-20, a winning percentage on par with the Marlins. The Blue Jays have lost four of their past five series. The one exception: a three-game sweep of the Mariners. — Jennings Advertisement Record: 21-26 Last Power Ranking: 23 Do you realize Jonathan Aranda is one of the 10 best hitters in the majors? This is his fourth partial season in the big leagues — he debuted back in 2022 — and he's currently sixth in wRC+ behind only Aaron Judge, Freddie Freeman, Shohei Ohtani, Cal Raleigh and Pete Alonso. Aranda has been the Rays' primary first baseman — after getting time at second, third and left field in the past — and he's doing a bit of everything at the plate, getting on base, hitting for average, and showing some pop. Of course, he's basically the only Rays regular hitting much better than league average, which explains their modest place in our Power Rankings. Aranda has been great. The Rays as a whole — with apologies to Drew Rasmussen, who's been awesome — have not. — Jennings Record: 22-26 Last Power Ranking: T-21 Do you realize that Mason Miller threw a pitch clocked at 103.9 mph over the weekend? I'm not saying we should throw him into a river and see if he floats (or build a bridge out of him), but there's clearly something unnatural going on here. Only warlocks can throw a pitch that fast, and the burden of proof is on you if you disagree. Of course, the pitch wasn't a strike, and it was one of the balls that led to a walk-off walk: Still, 103.9 mph! Even in a goofy, velocity-drunk era that is built around relievers, it's still possible to be impressed by a really, really fast fastball. — Brisbee Record: 21-27 Last Power Ranking: 25 Do you realize just how bad their offseason was? The Nationals have an interesting young core — James Wood, CJ Abrams, MacKenzie Gore — and they tried a bunch of short-term stopgaps to stay relevant this season. Almost every one has fallen flat. (Bringing back Kyle Finnegan as closer is an exception.) One new first baseman, Josh Bell, is having a career-worst season, and another, Nathaniel Lowe, has been barely replacement level. Two new relievers, Lucas Sims and Colin Poche, have been designated for assignment and let go, and another, Jorge López, has a 7.20 ERA. Free agent additions Paul DeJong and Michael Soroka have been hurt (Soroka just returned from more than a month on the IL), and returning free agent Trevor Williams has an ERA more than twice as high as last season. These were all short-term half measures that haven't made the Nationals competitive and probably won't even have value at the trade deadline. — Jennings Record: 15-31 Last Power Ranking: 24 Do you realize just how bad this rotation has been? Sure, everyone questioned whether the Orioles had done enough to replace Corbin Burnes, and we all knew Grayson Rodriguez's injury was trouble, but the worst rotation in baseball? The Rockies and Marlins have higher rotation ERAs, but the Orioles are the only team with a negative rotation WAR on FanGraphs. Tomoyuki Sugano has actually been pretty good, but the rest of the rotation has been a mess of injuries and underperformance. Kyle Gibson has been designated for assignment, Charlie Morton has been banished to the bullpen, and manager Brandon Hyde has been fired. The rotation isn't the only reason the Orioles are this low in our Power Rankings, but it's a big one. — Jennings Record: 21-25 Last Power Ranking: 27 Do you realize that the Angels are the clutchest (clutchiest? most clutch?) team in baseball, according to FanGraphs' Clutch metric? That's a stat that compares a team's offensive statistics in low-leverage situations to how they perform in high-leverage situations, and the Angels aren't just at the top: They're lapping the rest of the league. Advertisement This is the part of the capsule where I make fun of the Angels, except they just swept the Dodgers in the Freeway Series over the weekend. Maybe they have that special kind of gumption and/or derring-do, after all. — Brisbee Record: 15-33 Last Power Ranking: 26 Do you realize how uninspiring this season has been? I was looking for something else. I wanted to know the last Pittsburgh Pirates manager with a winning record. The answer wasn't that exciting — it was Clint Hurdle (735-720 from 2011-2019), and before that it was Chuck Tanner (711-685 from 1977-1985). Not that interesting. But looking that up is how I learned that Connie Mack managed the Pirates from 1894-1896 as a player-manager. That was Mack's first managerial job, kickstarting a career that ultimately led him to a league-record 3,731 wins. He also has a losing record (3,731-3,948) which feels, somehow, appropriate for a manager who started with the Pirates and made his biggest contributions at the helm with the A's. Also, just for timely relevance, Mack once, according to a biography of Al Simmons, '…traded away Shoeless Joe Jackson, despite his talent, because of his bad attitude and unintelligent play. Mack wanted men who were self-directed, self-disciplined, and self-motivated.' Anyway, none of that really has anything to do with this year's Pirates. But it's more interesting than the season they're having, so … you're welcome? — Weaver Record: 19-27 Last Power Ranking: 28 Do you realize even Sandy Alcantara has been awful this season? Obviously, no one was expecting a ton out of the Marlins this season, but there was at least a glimmer of intrigue on Opening Day when Alcantara matched up with Paul Skenes in a battle of legitimate aces. Alcantara was the NL Cy Young Award winner in 2022, led the league in complete games in 2023 and missed all of 2024 because of Tommy John surgery. But he was back, and not exactly ancient at 29 years old. The problem is, he has a 7.99 ERA and one of the worst strikeout-to-walk ratios in the majors. Rather than providing a lift, Alcantara's been one of the problems keeping the Marlins near the bottom of our rankings. — Jennings Advertisement Record: 14-34 Last Power Ranking: 29 Do you realize that the new Pope is a White Sox fan? Oh, you did? You've heard that a lot already? OK, hmmm … let's see what else we have in this bag called 'White Sox Surprises.' I'll be honest, this has not been a pleasant bag to put my hand in recently. One time, it came back empty, except for being covered in worms. Another time, I reached in there and pulled out a decaying hot dog, topped with slug slime and despair relish. Gross. Fine, let's see what we've got here … Do you realize that going into Monday night's game, the White Sox had not one, but three hitters with batting averages over .285? Sure, those three — Omar Narváez, Korey Lee and Mike Tauchman — had a combined 39 plate appearances. But I'm not putting my hand back in the bag. — Weaver Record: 8-38 Last Power Ranking: 30 Do you realize that the Rockies' .737 OPS at Coors Field is just the 14th-best home OPS in baseball? They're essentially tied in raw OPS with the Giants, a mostly average offensive team that plays at the pitcher-friendliest park in baseball. Even when the Rockies are bad, they can hit at home. Since Coors Field opened in 1995, the Rockies have never finished lower than seventh in home OPS, and they've finished in the top three in 24 of the 29 seasons since the ballpark opened. They should be able to hit at home! That's their whole deal. They cannot hit at home this season, so let's turn the question back around at them: Do the Rockies realize they play at Coors Field? — Brisbee (Top photo of St. Louis' Masyn Winn: Ed Zurga / Getty Images)
