As each team enters its final series before The Greatest Home Run Derby of our Time happens next Monday, I wanted to recap where we are in one of the most enjoyable baseball seasons in a while - not only due to the Astros so far being a juggernaut.
Again, I promise this won't be strictly about the Astros being a juggernaut. Sure, it is fun that they are. It is fun that they are on pace for 109. They have three of the top players in the AL by WAR in Springer, Altuve and Correa (who is still just twenty-fucking-two). Sure, maybe they need another arm as a starter, and having a third dependable pitcher to throw along with Keuchel anad McCullers, but I am not going to quibble.
At the end of the day, the Astros were supposed to be good. Maybe not this good (no one is supposed to be 108-54 good), but they were supposed to be the best team in the AL West. This was supposed to be the start of great things for them, ideally for a long, long time. Let's remember Sports Illustrated famously ran a cover story in 2014 title "Houston Astros, your 2017 World Series Champions." In that way, we are right on schedule.
So beyond the Astros brilliance, what else do we have going for us in this here 2017 MLB season - well, just about everything, from two NL West teams rising from teh ashes, to the continuing incredible run the Brewers are on, to the equally dominant run of the Dodgers, to magical pitching performances, to the rise of Home Runs which at this point seem fully due to slight changes in the ball.
My favorite (non-Astros) story is really the simultaneous rise of the Rockies and Diamondbacks. Sure, teh Rockies have come on some relative hard times, but they've also banked enough wins to still be solid postseason bets. The Diamondbacks are further along to where it will take quite a collapse (and a rise of a team languishing around .500) to push them out. The NL West has been the league's most consistently boring division for a while now. The Dodgers would win it. The Giants would get a wild card - and every other year win the World Series. The Rockies and Padres were mired in never-ending rebuilds, and the D'Backs, sick of going around .500 every year, made some dubiously stupid trades and became a laughingstock.
Well, a year later, all hail the D'Backs and Rockies. For Arizona, this is the team they imagined building last year when Tony LaRussa and Dave Stewart went all in. That didn't work. They both got fired. A year later their dream is coming true. Paul Goldschmidt, after years of quietly being great, seems like a good lock for NL MVP. Zack Greinke is pitching like an ace. AJ Pollock is back. Robbie Ray is back healthy. Their whole approach of assemble a bunch of 2012 great pitching prospects has been largely hit or miss with Patrick Corbin struggling and Shelby Miller requiring Tommy John, but with Archie Bradley reborn in the pen.
The Rockies approach seems to be more luck based, as they've already fallen off but having Nolan Arenado finally playing for a good team has been a joy. The Rockies should be good. Denver is a great market, Coors Field is a beautiful ballpark. If we can get a repeat of Rocktober this year it would be fantastic for baseball. The Rockies have succeeding largely on the back of finding ground-ball heavy pitchers to try to supress offense in that ballpark. It's worked more than it should have given these still aren't great pitchers, but at the very least the Rockies have a workable strategy.
I'm concentrating more on the NL because this year the two leagues have been very distinct. The AL has a jumbled mess where pretty much every team is still somewhat in the wild card race, and there are only two teams that seem close to playoff locks in the Astros and Red Sox. In the NL you can really pencil in the Dodgers, Nationals and D'Backs at this point, and there is a whole host of teams that are basically already out, but it is two of those teams that are 'out' that gave another example of baseball's beauty.
Going into the season, the NL seemed boring, with three clear best teams in the divisions (Dodgers, Nationals, Cubs - two for three ain't bad), and the leading Wild Card contenders seemed to be the Giants and Mets. Well, that's where the 'That's Baseball, Susan' of it all comes into play. The Giants have struggled so badly, with bad years from their starting pitching, worst of all being Madison Bumgarner getting hurt in an ATV accident. The Mets had the Bumgarner situation times ten, with injuries and scandals with basically all of their supposed-to-be great pitchers.
Finally, the Cubs, whose struggles are so weird, so unthinkable, and, given my still flaming hatred of my old NL Central rival, so enjoyable. They looked untouchable last year, setting sail on a multi-year long dynasty. And a year later they are playing jump-rope with .500. Whats weirder is that they haven't been unlucky. By all accounts on how they've played, they should be about .500. The starting pitching has struggled (who knew, Kyle Hendricks, wasn't going to continue to be Greg Maddux!). The record-breaking defense has regressed to just average. The offense that looked so deep and powerful last year has cratered, with Kyle Schwarber doing so bad he was sent to the minors to clear his head. Even Kris Bryant has gone from being MVP-level to merely very good. The Cubs probably will overtake the Brewers at some point (if only to avoid having to figure out how exactly the Brewers are doing what they are), but for now it is fun to watch them struggle.
And in a way, it is a good example of why I shouldn't get too excited about the Astros - we could very well be the Cubs 12 months from now. Admittedly, if in the intervening 12 months we win the World Series, I definitely won't complain.
** Quick aside on the Home Run Derby. Not only do we get Giancarlo Stanton (in his home park) and the monster that is Aaron Judge, we get a night WITHOUT CHRIS BERMAN!!! **
Again, I promise this won't be strictly about the Astros being a juggernaut. Sure, it is fun that they are. It is fun that they are on pace for 109. They have three of the top players in the AL by WAR in Springer, Altuve and Correa (who is still just twenty-fucking-two). Sure, maybe they need another arm as a starter, and having a third dependable pitcher to throw along with Keuchel anad McCullers, but I am not going to quibble.
At the end of the day, the Astros were supposed to be good. Maybe not this good (no one is supposed to be 108-54 good), but they were supposed to be the best team in the AL West. This was supposed to be the start of great things for them, ideally for a long, long time. Let's remember Sports Illustrated famously ran a cover story in 2014 title "Houston Astros, your 2017 World Series Champions." In that way, we are right on schedule.
So beyond the Astros brilliance, what else do we have going for us in this here 2017 MLB season - well, just about everything, from two NL West teams rising from teh ashes, to the continuing incredible run the Brewers are on, to the equally dominant run of the Dodgers, to magical pitching performances, to the rise of Home Runs which at this point seem fully due to slight changes in the ball.
My favorite (non-Astros) story is really the simultaneous rise of the Rockies and Diamondbacks. Sure, teh Rockies have come on some relative hard times, but they've also banked enough wins to still be solid postseason bets. The Diamondbacks are further along to where it will take quite a collapse (and a rise of a team languishing around .500) to push them out. The NL West has been the league's most consistently boring division for a while now. The Dodgers would win it. The Giants would get a wild card - and every other year win the World Series. The Rockies and Padres were mired in never-ending rebuilds, and the D'Backs, sick of going around .500 every year, made some dubiously stupid trades and became a laughingstock.
Well, a year later, all hail the D'Backs and Rockies. For Arizona, this is the team they imagined building last year when Tony LaRussa and Dave Stewart went all in. That didn't work. They both got fired. A year later their dream is coming true. Paul Goldschmidt, after years of quietly being great, seems like a good lock for NL MVP. Zack Greinke is pitching like an ace. AJ Pollock is back. Robbie Ray is back healthy. Their whole approach of assemble a bunch of 2012 great pitching prospects has been largely hit or miss with Patrick Corbin struggling and Shelby Miller requiring Tommy John, but with Archie Bradley reborn in the pen.
The Rockies approach seems to be more luck based, as they've already fallen off but having Nolan Arenado finally playing for a good team has been a joy. The Rockies should be good. Denver is a great market, Coors Field is a beautiful ballpark. If we can get a repeat of Rocktober this year it would be fantastic for baseball. The Rockies have succeeding largely on the back of finding ground-ball heavy pitchers to try to supress offense in that ballpark. It's worked more than it should have given these still aren't great pitchers, but at the very least the Rockies have a workable strategy.
I'm concentrating more on the NL because this year the two leagues have been very distinct. The AL has a jumbled mess where pretty much every team is still somewhat in the wild card race, and there are only two teams that seem close to playoff locks in the Astros and Red Sox. In the NL you can really pencil in the Dodgers, Nationals and D'Backs at this point, and there is a whole host of teams that are basically already out, but it is two of those teams that are 'out' that gave another example of baseball's beauty.
Going into the season, the NL seemed boring, with three clear best teams in the divisions (Dodgers, Nationals, Cubs - two for three ain't bad), and the leading Wild Card contenders seemed to be the Giants and Mets. Well, that's where the 'That's Baseball, Susan' of it all comes into play. The Giants have struggled so badly, with bad years from their starting pitching, worst of all being Madison Bumgarner getting hurt in an ATV accident. The Mets had the Bumgarner situation times ten, with injuries and scandals with basically all of their supposed-to-be great pitchers.
Finally, the Cubs, whose struggles are so weird, so unthinkable, and, given my still flaming hatred of my old NL Central rival, so enjoyable. They looked untouchable last year, setting sail on a multi-year long dynasty. And a year later they are playing jump-rope with .500. Whats weirder is that they haven't been unlucky. By all accounts on how they've played, they should be about .500. The starting pitching has struggled (who knew, Kyle Hendricks, wasn't going to continue to be Greg Maddux!). The record-breaking defense has regressed to just average. The offense that looked so deep and powerful last year has cratered, with Kyle Schwarber doing so bad he was sent to the minors to clear his head. Even Kris Bryant has gone from being MVP-level to merely very good. The Cubs probably will overtake the Brewers at some point (if only to avoid having to figure out how exactly the Brewers are doing what they are), but for now it is fun to watch them struggle.
And in a way, it is a good example of why I shouldn't get too excited about the Astros - we could very well be the Cubs 12 months from now. Admittedly, if in the intervening 12 months we win the World Series, I definitely won't complain.
