MLB Hunt for October: Volume Two

This week has been one of the craziest weeks in this baseball season. From the NL Wild Card race being flipped on its head, to the AL Wild Card becoming surprisingly tight, with two and a half weeks left it is the most wonderful time of the year to be a baseball fan. This week we talk about two losers of the week who are ironically playing each other this week, and a red-hot team out of Queens. A second update to everything going on in the hunt for October is upon us as October is only three weeks away.

Team of the Week: The Mets have won ten of their last eleven. They are the only team in the league to have won eight of their last ten and have picked a perfect time to get hot. The Mets lost their star second baseman, Jeff McNeil on Friday night, but have still won three of the four games since his injury. From a walk off win on Friday, to dominant pitching performances all weekend this team is finding ways to get wins. On both Friday and last night, this team looked like it was destined to lose, but this is not the Mets of May of this year. Mark Vientos smoked a grand slam to win the game for the Mets on Friday, played exceptionally in the field on Saturday and the team had an all-around great performance. Yesterday, the Mets were trailing by a run in Toronto heading into the eighth inning, but with some good at bats they found a way to get the lead and Edwin Diaz got the save to put the Mets back on top of the Braves.

The Mets’ one loss over the past eleven games came against the Reds this weekend, and the way Cincinnati was pitching I would’ve been shocked had the Mets swept the Reds. With the Braves losing two out of their last three games, the Mets are now one game up in the race for the last Wild Card spot. The Mets play two more games against the Blue Jays and then it is on to Philadelphia this weekend. They must keep taking care of business by beating the Blue Jays and the Phillies as they have proved over the last three months, they can beat anybody. With just eighteen games left, every game matters and the Mets must keep making each one count as they have for the past eleven games. (As a Mets fan, I pray I am not jinxing the Mets in doing this.)

Story of the Week: (Loser of the Week #1) - Boston Red Sox –The Boston Red Sox coming into Thursday were five and a half games back of the team currently in third place in the wild card race. That team was the Minnesota Twins who we now know were swept by the Kansas City Royals. The Red Sox were coming off a sweep to the Mets, one in which they were embarrassed and needed to respond. They had a perfect opportunity to do that against the White Sox this weekend with them coming to Boston.

              In the first game of the series, the Red Sox needed a seventh inning home run from Ceddanne Rafaela to beat the White Sox. This was a game the White Sox out hit the Red Sox in, but one in which the Chicago offense was shut down in the last three innings. In the second game of the series, the Red Sox opened up a seven to two run lead on the White Sox and the White Sox brought it back to a two run deficit in the top of the seventh inning. The White Sox in fact, brought the tying run to the plate but could not capatilize meaning the Red Sox again beat the White Sox barely. In the final game of the series, the Red Sox took an early lead but this time the White Sox offense showed up late. The game was tied from the sixth inning until the ninth when the Red Sox had a golden opportunity to come within three and a half games of a playoff spot despite losing ten of their previous thirteen games coming into the series.

In that game, the Red Sox proceeded to give up five runs in the top of the ninth inning at Fenway to an again, historically bad Chicago White Sox team and could not come back from that deficit. The Red Sox were out hit, twenty-three to eighteen by one of the worst teams to ever play the game of baseball. (This is not hyperbole.) So despite them winning the series, this team played awful all weekend and missed a grand opportunity to put themselves closer to a playoff position. The Red Sox did beat the Orioles by a score of twelve runs to three last night, so let’s see if this team can pull off another stunner by taking a series with the clock starting to run out on their playoff chances.

Loser of the Week#2: The Baltimore Orioles – It pains me to write this, but how with everything on the line, this team has lost its entire identity is beyond me. I get it this team is plagued with injuries, losing four out of their last five games including blowouts against both pairs of Sox. The Orioles lost the series this weekend to the Tampa Bay Rays and now currently sit at one and a half games back of the Yankees with one of the toughest remaining schedules in the league. The season is long, so losing games to not so great teams will happen, but losing four out of five games to not so great teams in crunch time is embarrassing. The Orioles need to get it together and figure out what they are doing.

Series of the Week: Kansas City vs. New York Yankees – This is a series of teams with everything in front of them, but consistency has been a clear issue all year. We talked about the Royals; the Yankees had lost three series in a row to teams without winning records but beat the hot Cubs this weekend. With the Orioles losing the series to the Rays, losing three out of their last four including an embarrassing loss to the White Sox the Yankees have an opportunity to capitalize on their division rival’s misfortune. Both teams are in the heat of highly competitive pennant races where one slip up or triumphs could be the difference between a good playoff position in the playoffs and an early end to a promising season. The Yankees took game one.

Story of the Week #2: Texas Rangers – If you thought the defending World Series Champions would go quietly you were surely mistaken. The Rangers lost game one to the Yankees last week and that is where our story left off. This week we pick up where we left off, where Clay Holmes blew a four to three run lead, and the Yankees as a whole blew a four-run lead. A walk off grand slam in the bottom of the ninth from rookie Wyatt Langford gave the Rangers some much-needed confidence going into the home stretch. The Rangers won by four runs in the rubber match of the series, ten to six and the only reason it was so close was a grand slam in the top for the ninth from Trent Grisham. The Rangers proceeded to take three out of the four games against the Angels pulling themselves to three and a half games back of the last American League Wild Card spot. (Next Series: Arizona Diamondbacks)

Race of the Week: NL WC – This is where the fun begins. The Mets have closed the NL Wild Card gap to nothing. There is one game of separation between the Braves and the Mets which means with the schedules getting very difficult after Wednesday, it is crunch time. The Mets play the Blue Jays this week and the Braves play the Nationals (two games) this week. The Mets went up one game on the Braves yesterday, by beating the Blue Jays in a tight three-two ball game, as the Braves were shut out by the Reds. If the Mets had swept the Reds, they would be up two whole games on the Braves, but the Mets are now in sole possession of the last wild card spot.

There are eighteen games left in the season, in terms of difficult opponents, the Braves have the Dodgers this weekend, the Mets second to last series of the season and Kansas City to finish the season. The Mets on the other hand have the Phillies both this weekend and next weekend, the Braves second to last series, and the Brewers. There are two series for the Mets against teams who don’t have winning records so the chances of making the playoffs are in the Braves favor. With this said, the Mets have no room for error, meaning they have to win every single series left and the Braves cannot fall to teams who are not doing well with the Mets having won nine of their last ten.

Standings Update:

              Division Leaders:  New York Yankees (1.5), Cleveland Guardians (3.5), Houston Astros (4.5)

              Division Leaders: Phillies (7), Brewers (8.5), Dodgers (5.5)

              NL WC: San Diego Padres (1.5 on the Mets), Arizona Diamondbacks (1.0), New York Mets (1.0) – Teams Chasing: Atlanta Braves (1.0 GB), Chicago Cubs (5.0 GB)

              AL WC:  Baltimore Orioles (5.5 on the Twins), Kansas City Royals (2.5), Minnesota Twins (3.0) – Team Chasing – Seattle Mariners (3.0 GB), Boston Red Sox (3.0 GB), Detroit Tigers (3.0 GB)

Brendan’s Top Three:

1.      LA Dodgers – The Dodgers beat the AL Central leading Guardians who had everything to play for this weekend. They are six games up on the Padres in the division race and have won seven of their last ten games. This is a fairly balanced team with one of the best bullpens if not the best bullpen in the league. The Dodgers did lose by six runs last night to be fair. This team does not blow leads and will be dangerous come post season time. (Next series: Chicago Cubs)

2.      Houston Astros – The Astros played the Diamondbacks this weekend and won two out of the three games. The Astros have been one of a select few teams that have shown true signs of consistency. With that said, they did get swept by the Reds last week but found a perfect way to bounce back by really taking it to the reigning National League Champions. (Next series: Oakland Athletics)

3.      Phillies – The Phillies have had quite the season, being tied for the best record in the major leagues. The Phillies played the Miami Marlins last weekend and split the series, dominating the first two games but getting dismantled in the final two games. The Phillies play the Rays and the Mets and will look to keep their amazing season going full steam ahead as they prepare for the playoffs. (Next Series: Tampa Bay Rays)