MLBRT 8/29/2024

The questions and discussion…  

1) Last week MLBRT had asked a question that pointed out that every team that has been voted at the top of various online sports sites’ monthly power rankings has also had extended periods during the season where they played extremely poorly and recorded a sub-.500 record.

With that in mind… 

Since the 2014 season has never been a MLB year where at least one team reached at least 100 wins for the season.

Considering the various slumps each top team has gone through this season and that at this point in time no team is currently on pace to hit triple-digit wins…

Will any MLB win at least 100 games this season? Why or why not?

As of Thursday morning (8/29) the top three teams by winning percentage are the Dodgers (.596), Phillies (.586) and the Yankees (.582). Assuming no team with a lower winning percentage goes crazy and goes on a long winning streak, and if each of those teams keeps winning games at their present pace, then this is the way things would end for those three teams… Dodgers with 96 wins, Phillies with 95 wins and Yankees with 94 wins.

By that reasoning then there will not be a MLB team winning at least 100 games this season.

However, the Dodgers somehow  keep finding ways to patch together a starting notation, but their offense is at this point in the year essentially healthy and the talent of those returning star players from all of their injuries, plus Ohtani’s possible MVP season, and suddenly the Dodgers have gone 13-5 over the course of their last 18 games for a winning percentage of .722. If they keep winning at that pace then with 29 games left in the seson and doing the math they could win another 21 games.

Putting them at exactly 100 games for the season.

Naw… I don’t see them continuing to win games at that pace especially not with both the Padres and D’backs still harboring hopes of winning the West and with both those teams having a combined seven games left with the Dodgers… Padres three and the D’backs four.

I think those games will wind up being tight, closely fought games and if the Dodgers were to go 4-3 in those games they would gladly take those results. That would also mean that a 100 win season would not be in the mix for Dodgers.  

And frankly, I don’t see either the Phillies or the Yankees going on any sort of hot streak to play out the season.

So, no team wins 100 games this season.  

Interestingly, if the Dodgers were to win 100 games this season it would be their fourth year in a row doing it. And in all of MLB history no team has ever accomplished that.

But sorry no history making for the Dodgers this season as no team will be winning 1oo games this year. 

2) Last week on Wednesday (8/22) the Cincinnati Reds Joey Votto announced that he was retiring from MLB.

Will Votto eventually make it to Cooperstown… is he a Hall of Famer? Why or why not?

While it is true that Votto doesn’t have the counting stats, e.g., 500 HRs, 3,000 hits, etc., it is also true that during the prime of his career he was one of the top players in the game.  From 2009-18, Votto hit over .300 eight times during that stretch and slashed .312/.434/.532 while leading the NL in OBP seven times. And during that time period opposing pitchers would often intentionally walk Votto rather than pitch to him with men on base… he led the NL in intentional walks three times.

If Sandy Koufax can get into the Hall essentially by having a superlative and dominant four-year stretch before he retired at the age of 30 due to chronic pain in his pitching elbow. Then Votto’s ten-year stretch…  2009-18… in the game could certainly serve to be his way into the Hall, too.

If  I had a vote and it was a year with a “weak’ field for eligible Hall of Fame level players I could see myself voting for Votto.

Bottom line,  I think its 50-50 whether he gets selected by the voters to be in the Baseball Hall of Fame.

3) On Friday night (8/23) against the Tampa Bay Rays, Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani stole his 40th base and hit his 40th home run of the season to become only the sixth player in MLB history to join the 40/40 club… 40 home runs and 40 stolen bases. And the 40th home run was as dramatic as it gets… Ohtani slugged a walk-off grand slam to win the game.

MLBRT has asked this question in a previous column but as this season has progressed and 40/40 became a real possibility for Ohtani he stepped up stolen base attempts and stole 12 bases in both July and August and overall had an incredible 40 for 44 stolen base success rate.  And he got to 40/40 in only 129 team games, by far the fewest number of games by any of the previous players to record 40 HRs and 40 SBs.

With 33 games left in the Dodgers’ season… is there enough time left in the season that Ohtani can become the first player ever to record a 50 home run and 50 stolen base season? Why or why not?

If Ohtani was pitching this year then I would say, “No, he won’t achieve the first 50/50 season in MLB.” 

Not unless every time he pitched he wound up throwing complete games so he could get up to bat three or four times in each of those games which would provide with a maximum of opportunities to achieve a 50 HR and 50 SB season.

But since he isn’t pitching and therefore will get as many ABs as possible in the Dodgers remaining games and with the Dodgers offense finally getting healthy to provide protection for Ohtani in the batting order… meaning that opposing pitchers will have to pitch to him more often than not.

I say, yeah, he pulls it off. He slugs 50 HRs and steals 50 bases.

4) The Cleveland Guardians entered August with a commanding 6½ game lead in the American League Central. Three weeks later, that lead has all but evaporated and as of Saturday evening (8/24) the Guardians now have the smallest division edge in Major League Baseball, holding onto sole possession of the Central by a slim two-game margin over the Kansas City Royals and the Minnesota Twins.

With just over a month is left in the regular season, the Guardians and Royals have seven games remaining with one another, including four this week. And the Guardians also have four games left with the Twins, who, in turn, have three more contests to play against the Royals.

Simply put, the AL Central will be decided through the most straightforward method that  can be had in MLB… through head-to-head matchups between the contending teams.

Which team ultimately wins the AL Central Division? Why?

Since I’m becoming a believer in the Kansas City Royals…

And, a non-believer in the Cleveland Guardians…

And, since I also do not believe the Minnesota Twins can overtake either the Royals or the Guardians…  

I am taking the Royals to win the AL Central Division when the dust clears on the regular season.   

5) As of Saturday (8/24) Aaron Judge leads MLB with 49 HRs and is on pace to slug 61 HRs for the season. If he accomplishes the feat it would be the second time in his career he reached the 60-HR mark. Throughout MLB history only two players have ever had at least two seasons where they hit 60 or more HRs… Mark McGwire (1998, 1999) and Sammy Sosa (1998, 1999, 2001).  

With 32 games left in the Yankees’ season, will Judge reach the 60 HR and join McGwire and Sosa as the only players to ever have at least two 60 HR seasons? Why or why not?

It’s going to be tight and probably go right down to the last games of the season, and he can’t have too many let ups such as he recently had during the Yanks recent series with Washington when the Nationals held him homer-less, I say…

Yes.

I think he does hit just enough HRs so that he reaches 60 HRs for the season and joins McGwire and Sosa as the only players in MLB to ever have at least two 60 HR seasons.  

Extra Innings…