This will be the We’re under 20 games left in baseball’s regular season and a couple of teams that are fighting for a wild card spot just lost their top players.
Last week the Chicago Cubs lost Javier Baez to a fractured thumb. Then just last night the Milwaukee Brewers lost Christian Yelich to a fractured kneecap To no one’s surprise both players will be out for the remainder of the regular season.
There are actually some reports that have Baez returning in October, but I think that’s going to be more of a wait and see type of situation.
As for Yelich you have to figure he’s done and you have to wonder if the Brewers playoff chances went with him.
Over the weekend Milwaukee took three of four from the Cubs. The Brewers have won of their last games and have cut the Cubs lead for the second National League wild card spot to just one game.
Obviously it’s going to be tough for the Brewers to make up even that one game with their best player out, but don’t count them out. The one thing that Milwaukee has on it’s side is going to be the schedule. After the Brewers wrap up this series with the Miami Marlins they head to St. Louis for a three game series with the NL East leading Cardinals. That the series with the Cardinals Milwaukee won’t play a team with a winning record as they close out the season.
Once the Brewers are done with the Cardinals this weekend they’ll have two series at home. One against the San Diego Padres and then one against the Pittsburgh Pirates before they finish the season on the road. They’ll got to Cincinnati to play the Reds before they wrap up the season with 3 games in Colorado against the Rockies.
As for the Cubs they’re wrapping up a series against the Padres before coming home for three series. They’ll host the Pirates for 3 games, the Reds for 3 games and then the cardinals in a four game series. The Cubs also wrap up their season on the road, but there games are in the division as they go to Pittsburgh for 3 games before finishing the season with 3 games in St, Louis against the Cardinals.
The Cubs do have the second best home record in the National League, but they’ve been terrible on the road. The Brewer as have been good at home as well. They have the fifth best home record in the National League, but just like the Cubs haven’t been very good on the road.
You might also be surprised to learn the Brewers actually have a negative run differential. Milwaukee is -27 in that category while the Cubs are a +81.
Don’t forget that if either or both of these teams falter there are still three teams that are close enough to take that final wild card spot away from them. The Philadelphia Phillies are two games back. The Arizona Diamondbacks are two and a half games back while the New York Mets are still in the mix just three games back.
The St. Louis slowly pulling away in the NL Central and the Washington Nationals looking like they’ve locked down one of the NL wild card spots this is the last race left undecided down the stretch.
So who do you have taking the last wild card spot? Will the Cubs hold on? Or can the Brewers continue to stay hot without Yelich? Will one of the other three contenders end up with that final playoff spot?
The Most important part of Yelich’s injury was how it affect the Brewers and their playoff chances, but his injury also affects something else; the MVP race.
Yelich was the National League MVP last season and was definitely in the race for the award again this season. It seems to me that with Yelich most of the reports I’ve heard have just more or less handed the award to Cody Bellinger, but that may be a little quick to judgement there.
Bellinger is clearly the best player on one of if not the best team in baseball, but his batting average has fallen to .306 and he’s had some second half struggles. I’m not sure if this has opened the door for another player, but there are some options out there.
Has no one noticed the kind of season that Anthony Rendon has had and just imagine where the Nationals would be without him. Rendon is currently leading the National League in hitting at .335. He also has 41 doubles, 32 home runs and 114 RBI’s. Sounds like an MVP candidate to me.
I’m also hoping that people are considering Freddie Freeman as an MVP. Freeman is hitting .305 and he has 38 home runs and 117 RBI’s and is the clear leader of this Atlanta Braves team that is running away with the NL East.
Now Yelich is still going to get MVP votes and deservedly so, but missing the final 18 regular season games is going to hurt his chances of repeating.
I’m not even going to get into any kind of debate on who the MVP in the American League is. There are no if and’s or but’s about it; Mike Trout is going to win the MVP and I won’t be surprised if he’s a unanimous choice for the award.
Now there have been a lot of seasons where the media has tried to force Trout into the MVP conversation when he didn’t belong there, but this season is not one of those. Even with though he’s missed a few games lately due to a toe injury he still has 45 home runs and 104 RBI’s for a under .500 Los Angeles Angels team. Trout is also hitting .291 this season and while he has struck out 120 times he has walked 110 times. He has also made it into double digits in stolen bases as he’s at 11 right now.
This will be the sixth time in the last seven seasons that Trout has finished 1st or second in MVP voting and the one time he didn’t finish in the Top 2 he finished 4th. He was also hurt that season and only played in 114 games the year he finished 4th.
Even with Trout putting up these numbers the Angels have only managed to get into the playoffs one time in 2014. Trout is signed with the until 2030, but at this point you have to wonder if will see Trout in the playoffs at some point in time.
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