Wild Card Time 2023

Baseball’s Finish Line in Sight

By David A. Avila

We have a race to the finish line.

Several divisions are already decided but those Wild Card spots are still undecided and probably won’t be substantiated until the last day of the season.

The Dodgers, Braves, Brewers and Twins have all basically notched their spots for the playoffs. But an abundance of spots still remain open for the playoffs.

The American League West Division has a fight on its hands with Houston, Texas and Seattle skirmishing between each other for both the division championship and Wild Card spots still undecided. Only two games separate all three times as of Friday September 22.

Though the Astros were always a heavy favorite and last year’s World Series champion, the Texas Rangers and Seattle Mariners scrapped and clawed their way to the contention like wrestlers in a battle royale.

Even with the loss of power pitchers like Jacob DeGrom, Max Scherzer, Ian Kennedy and Jake Odorizzi, the Rangers continue to pound their way to contention behind a hitting attack led by Corey Seager.

Seager currently leads the American League with a .331 batting average. He has also busted 31 homers and 93 RBIs from the shortstop position. He’s had help with Adolis Garcia, Marcus Semien and Jonah Heim providing ample assistance.

In Seattle, Julio Rodriguez personally led the Mariners to a second half rally with his glove, bat and speed. Last year’s Rookie of the Year has 36 stolen bases to go along with 31 homers and 100 RBIs. He has had help from Teoscar Hernandez and J.P. Crawford.

Pitching has been a strong point, especially when Luis Castillo, Logan Gilbert and George Kirby are on the mound. All three have been consistently adamant in keeping their team from falling into losing streaks. Castillo has won 14 games and has a 3.06 ERA. Kirby has 11 wins and 3.58 ERA. Gilbert has 13 wins and a 3.77 ERA.

And then we have the Astros.

Though the Astros were able to re-acquire Justin Verlander from the New York Mets, the ace pitcher and last year’s Cy Young award winner has not been enough. Somehow, the team seems to lack that extra something they had last year.

Michael Brantley has been missing for most of the year and the veteran’s presence apparently is much needed. He has only played 12 games this year and that may have something to do with a lack of offense from the Astro’s hitting attack

Pitching-wise both Luis Garcia and Lance McCullers are missing and that could be a serious void for the Astros.

In the National League a losing streak by the Chicago Cubs has allowed other teams like the Miami Marlins, Cincinnati Reds, San Francisco Giants and even the San Diego Padres to have a slight chance to make the playoffs. Both the Philadelphia Phillies and Arizona Diamondbacks are solidly in place. The Cubs are a question mark with a week remaining.

San Diego, in particular, has finally heated up with a seven-game winning streak that has given them a faint hope to slip into a Wild Card slot. They are four games behind the Cubs who are trying to hang on to the third and final spot.

The Padres remain this year’s biggest enigma. At the beginning of the year more than a few experts predicted they would topple the Dodgers.  Despite a excellent team pitching staff led by Blake Snell, who should win this year’s Cy Young Award, the team has lacked a consistent run-producing attack all year.

Despite a hitting-attack that features Juan Soto, Manny Machado and Fernando Tatis, the Padres have scored 713 runs so far. The division-leading Dodgers manufactured 858 runs, and the Arizona Diamondbacks 713 runs.

It’s a puzzling question that the San Diego front office needs to answer especially in light of its top heavy salary problem. The solution could be another run in the playoffs. But several teams are ahead and that will be a very slippery road to climb.

Lost Years

Several teams puzzled the experts with dismal performances and will not make the playoffs as expected. The St. Louis Cardinals and New York Mets baffled everyone from the very beginning with their performances in the National League. The New York Yankees and Chicago White Sox also fell below expectations in the American League.

New York’s two teams with their seam busting salary contracts seemed destined to meet in the World Series this year.

The Mets added Justin Verlander and the Yanks purchased Carlos Rodon to beef up their pitching. It didn’t work out for either team.

St. Louis lost catcher Yadier Molina to retirement and grabbed Chicago’s Wilson Contreras. Though he covered the offensive portion he did not have the leadership qualities to manage the pitching staff like his predecessor. Catchers like Molina or Buster Posey are valuable and not easily replaceable.

In the Bronx, it all fell apart when Yankee slugger Aaron Judge stubbed his toe catching a fly ball at Dodger Stadium in the early part of the summer. The injury to last year’s MVP caused the Yanks to fall into a tailspin. And with the loss of Rodon for much of the season and Nelson Cortes, that spelled doom for the team.

Across town, the Mets despite a massive team salary could not find the proper mixture of players to survive. And the loss of closer Edwin Diaz certainly caused a dent in in their relief core that they could not survive.

By mid-season the team sent ace pitchers Verlander and Scherzer to other teams. Last year the team won 100 games. This year they won’t crack .500. Who is to blame?