MLB and the rush to the All-Star Game and beyond.

keets

This is typically the time of year when I start focusing my Sports Addictive attention to baseball. That is at least partly the fault of the Cavs being in the NBA playoffs and partly the history of the Cleveland Indians --- they tend to be notorious slow starters. Last season they ramped it up in May/June with a 16 game winning streak and they have started to play better ball during the month of June this season.

Several players have been hot lately, mainly Encarnacion and Ramirez, the defense has been sound, Terry Francona seems to have found a good lineup order and the starters are finally settling into a groove. As much as fans like hitting and scoring it seems that pitching always rises to the top, good pitching generally beats good hitting. That's what happened in the World Series last year when the Cubs starting rotation proved good enough in seven games to beat Cleveland's competent but thinner staff. I think Jake Arrieta was the key, he pitched magnificently.

So now we head to the All-Star break and Teams are starting to settle in and show who they might really be. Cleveland is just finishing a series with Baltimore after having swept the Twins in four last weekend. Both of those Teams can hit but have pitching staffs with no depth, they are starting to slide a little. Cleveland, on the other hand, is starting to rise as their pitchers find their groove.

What is your Team doing right now??? Have injuries affected the lineup, have starters been rotating up/down from the minors as the Manager tries to find what works?? Is anyone already positioning themselves for trades in late July or August?? The mid-point of the season always intrigues me as some Clubs start to pull away, others make a run at the leaders and some Clubs like Washington seem like a shoe-in for the playoffs unless a collapse takes place.

Been to one game so far, with retirement looming on the horizon I suppose others may be in the cards!!! Go Tribe!!

Al H.

orioles93

By team is in a downwird spiral and can't pitch at all. Hasn't been a fun month.

Darin

The Royals have won 9 of last 11 and are getting some timely hits. Boston gift wrapped the game for them
yesterday, they walked 3 straight batters before Salvys' grand slam.
Salvy and Moustakas are turning into genuine sluggers, 15 and 19 HR respectively.
Vargas is the most underrated starting pitcher in the game with 10 wins already, he is extremely competitive.
Cain and Hosmer have been solid, as has Whit Merrifield.
Hopefully we'll get Duffy back soon to bolster the pitching staff.

Darin

Justcommen, want to check in and let us know how the Tigers are doing?

keets

Darin, last week Mark commented on the weakness of the AL Central and I think he was mainly reacting to the poor play of the Tigers this year. I pointed out that the Division has an odd habit of being represented in the World Series every year so they must be doing something right.

I just did a quick check of the standings and there is a weird stat that comes into play --- the overall Division W/L percentage of the East and West is about 30 points higher than the Central, but those same Divisions are only playing .500 against the Central.

that's a telling record.

Darin

keets, who went and woke up the Indians! They're starting to get scary again. I liked it
a lot better when they were hanging around the .500 mark.

Regarding the Tigers, I was just wondering if I could get a reaction from Mark. It seems like every year the Tigers' spend
huge amounts of money and they end up with a lackluster team. Kinsler didn't help them win more games, Upton hasn't
helped them win more games. They have a lot of rich ballplayers on that team, but for some reason they don't know how
to win games like the Royals of '14 and '15 and maybe the second half of '17. The Indians with all their talent learned how
to win games, for some reason the Tigers' never have.

keets

Darin, this tends to be the Indians mode of play no matter how they end the season or who the players/manager might be. I can recall only a few seasons in my lifetime when they have come out of the gate ready to play.

this year they have had a few guys start slow and it took Francona a little while to find a lineup that works. what he has with Kipnis/Lindor/Ramirez/Encarnacion batting 1-4 has the potential to really score. there has also been nagging problems with the starting pitching but those seem to be working out now. the rest of the year could be exciting.

that was why I timed this for the All-Star break, that's usually a good time to evaluate what a Team might be able to do.

as for Mark and the Tigers, I mentioned last year that the Team was getting old and slow in a very competitive Division. if they don't re-evaluate what they're doing they will be eating dust for a few years while they try to catch up with Cleveland, KC and the Twins.

coinkat

Cubs have under performed... Not sure they will make then playoffs. And if they don't, we'll always have last year. Growing up I always thought we would see a return trip for the Cubs to the World Series before Northwestern making a return trip to the RoseBowl... I was wrong but at least the Cubs won

Justacommeman

Indeed they stink.

I will tune back in late September. I enjoy my summers as there is little in the way of sports that interest me. Baseball has been like this for me since 1994. Baseball used to me my jam but the regular season holds little to no interest to me. Still enjoy taking about it though. I've seen two partial games this year.

mark

keets

last year as the Indians were rolling to the pennant Mark was riding me about their home attendance being low. fast forward to this weekend --- Cleveland comes home after a 7-1 road trip riding good hitting and strong pitching to be greeted by fans eager to support their push into first place, three sellout or near-sellout crowds. how do they respond??? they lose the first two games and are on the way to losing the third.

that's the sort of thing that stops a nice walk-up crowd from, well, walking-up.

keets

three home games, three sell-outs and.........................two runs total. way to go Tribe, nice tactic to really draw the fans in!!!

keets

Cleveland rolls up another one on Mark's Tigers with Carlos Carrasco having a rare 9-pitch three strike-out inning. he has come a long way from five years ago when he was a maniac who would throw at batters!!! he was talented then, physically, but his head was a mess. it is so nice to see that he has worked hard to accomplish what he has done so far this year.

keets

and Justin Verlander dies yet another slow death at the hands of the Indians. the MLB rumor mill has the Tigers holding him out as trade bait. he should sign with Cleveland to get another opportunity at an October run. the fit would be nice and his record would improve.

Go Tribe!!!

Darin

Cleveland not running away with it as so many MLB network know it alls' had forecasted.

Its a dogfight between 3 teams with the Tigers trying to join the battle.
One thing I disagree with is everyone calling this a weak division. If it is weak,
how come the last 3 AL pennant winners are in this division?
Can't anyone represent the AL in the world series except an AL central team.LOL.

Darin

I'm really glad the Tigers traded J.D. Martinez.
Royals beat the Tigers in 12 innings last night, and I think
if he was still in the Tigers lineup they would have won that game.
Seems like he always got a lot of clutch hits.

Possibly the last game as a Tiger for Justin Verlander last night?

keets

Cleveland would be wise to go after Verlander but I doubt Detroit would send him there.

Darin

There's been speculation that the Dodgers may be interested in Verlander, and their
interest probably increased with the injury to Kershaw.
There were a lot of scouts looking at Verlander last night, but the announcers
didn't mention what teams they were from.