2018 MLB Thread

[FearlessF]

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Shohei Ohtani struck out 11 while pitching three-hit ball into the seventh inning, and Zack Cozart got a walk-off RBI single in the Los Angeles Angels' 2-1 victory over the Minnesota Twins on Sunday.

Ohtani was dominant again in his sixth big-league start, but the Angels' two-way sensation was denied his fourth win when he left after walking Logan Morrison on nine pitches in the seventh. Reliever Cam Bedrosian promptly allowed two hits, including pinch-hitter Joe Mauer's tying RBI single.

Ohtani was making his first daytime home start since he took a perfect game into the seventh inning of a brilliant one-hit, 12-strikeout performance against Oakland on April 8. He was in top form on the mound yet again while throwing a career-high 103 pitches.

[ELA]

So you take a team coming off the worst record in baseball, have 3 starters hurt, and 2 more on scheduled rest days, and you get, what might be the worst lineup I've ever seen, what the Tigers are throwing out there today.  I'm pretty sure 6 of the 9 guys have been in AAA at some point already THIS YEAR.

1. CF JaCoby Jones
2. 3B Jeimer Candelario
3. LF Mikie Mahtook
4. 1B John Hicks
5. RF Niko Goodrum
6. DH James McCann
7. C Grayson Griener
8. SS Jose Iglesias
9. 2B Pete Kozma

There are 3 catchers in the lineup, including one DHing, and one playing 1B and hitting cleanup.  That's awesome

Starting 3B to the DL now too.  I'm not entirely sure how this lineup is even sniffing .500

[ELA]

Robinson Cano suspended 80 games for PEDs

[OrangeAfroMan]

Ah, so that's why he broke his hand!!!

[MarqHusker]

The Dodgers were 91-36 on August 25th  (pace to win 116 last season).  Since then they have been 29-46 in regular season games.    It doesn't look very promising at this point.

[OrangeAfroMan]

LA was nowhere near 1st place last May 1.  But in each of the last 2 seasons, they've managed some crazy 50-game stretch.  I don't see it this year.  The reign is over.  There's a reason it's so hard to win your division 5 straight times, much less six.

[ELA]

Dodgers being even worse, combined with the fact that the AL Central is so bad, that just going .500 might win it, has kept a lot of heat off the Tribe.

Tigers' picked up the series win over them today, coming back from a 4 run deficit with a 5 run 7th.  Indians had runners at 2nd and 3rd, nobody out in the 7th; bases loaded nobody out in the 8th, failed to score a run.  Andrew Miller walked three guys in one inning.  Nothing is right there.  Flip side, I'm having more fun with this 19-22 Tigers team than I've had in a few years.  Funny how expectations change things.  Indians are going to win the division, Tigers are going to struggle to win 70.  Wouldn't know it from the fans right now.

[ELA]

Every Indians game I can't help wonder if the White Sox hadn't collapsed in 2012, and Leyland had retired and handed the job to Francona for 2013 as was the plan.

[OrangeAfroMan]

DBacks have lost 10 of 11, keeping the rest of the teams in the West race.  LA somehow sweeps the Nats.  

[FearlessF]

Ohtani, the two-way star, got his fourth win of the season Sunday. He went 7⅔ innings, striking out nine. After the game, Ohtani was asked whether he'd thought about being in the derby on July 16 at Nationals Park in Washington.

So far, the two-way sensation is living up to Ruthian expectations. But how will he possibly keep this up? We trace his journey back to Japan in search of the surprising answer.

"I don't think I'm at that level yet," Ohtani said. "I'm honored to be in that conversation."

Ohtani has six home runs in 84 at-bats as a part-time DH. The most recent homer came Thursday, when he took a pitch by Rays right-hander Austin Pruitt out to center field. His batting-practice displays have also made a mark. Before Friday's game in Anaheim, Ohtani launched a blast that hit the right-field video board, a distance the team estimated as 519 feet.

Manager Mike Scioscia said Saturday that Ohtani is free to participate in the derby if he is asked.

"That's a player's decision," Scioscia said. "I'm sure there's going to be a lot of things that come into what a player decides, but it's always been the prerogative of a player if he wants to participate in things like that."

If he participates, it won't be Ohtani's first derby -- he won Japan's home run derby in 2016.

[OrangeAfroMan]

I don't think I'd want my players going for 520 ft HRs in BP.  He's gonna pull an oblique.  

[FearlessF]

oh, come on man!

gotta have a little fun at BP

[ELA]

No Home Run Derby or anything, for awhile for Ohtani.  Tommy John surgery, out until 2020.

[MarqHusker]

good day for hooky and some AAA matinee baseball.   Mud Hens in town.   Cristin Stewart/Tyler Alexander might be worth seeing today.  HR or K for Stewart seems to be his m.o.   I know Toledo has a lefty knuckleballer too (Turley?).  He's not starting though.