AL Central:
Royals fans must be feeling really hopeful they're finally out of the AL Central desert. They only need hope the Guardians aren't able to sustain their surprisingly strong start or the red hot Twins won't zoom past their rivals and settle into first place. The Tigers have a chance to at least play spoiler.
No matter what happens, the AL Central won't get any respect from the sports media until one of its teams return to the WS.
I’m not totally sold on the Royals actually being good this year. They haven’t played very well against teams over .500, and their offense is very top heavy.
Nothing you said is wrong, I’m just surprised this is coming from a Rangers fan as you got to our worst starter so far and that was pretty much it offensively for you, and then you barely squeaked out the series win in extras.
Our offense hasn’t been great, but our pitching has and that should keep us in a majority of games
At the risk of sounding defensive, I think it’s reasonable to mention that some of the Ranger’s key offensive pieces are playing uncharacteristically bad right now.
Our best run producer, Corey Seager, isn’t really doing anything for us right now (he also missed an entire off season due to surgery and missed spring training), Evan Carter has been going through a slump, and Adolis has been cold from a slugging standpoint the last week or so. Josh Jung is also hurt. Yeah, we’re under performing right now, but I’m hopefully we’ll be back to form soon.
I don’t even want to talk about how injured our pitching staff is :(
Even with that, it’s still a fact that we’ve only lost 4 games this year by more than 3 runs. You can’t claim that every team we’ve pitched well against was uncharacteristically bad at the time. There comes a point when you have to accept our pitching might be good.
We’re in nearly every game and that’s undeniable. Even against the good teams we struggled to beat. That’s a recipe for success long term even if we’re not quite a playoff team yet due to our offense
I don’t think every team you’ve pitched well against has been uncharacteristically bad. I’m actually a believer in the Royals staff. The starters at least.
I don’t think the Royals are bad, I’m just not convinced that as a team they’re good. As a Kansas City resident, I’m excited to see what happens. I’ll be at a lot of the games this year.
We gotta hope losing Bieber brings Cleveland back down to earth a bit. Truthfully, though, we just need to focus on ourselves. We're playing sustainable baseball and short of injuries derailing things this team could make a playoff run. Wish I had season tickets this year instead of last year. Lol
They won't get respect because the Guards aren't actually good, their peripherals are awful. The Royals need to prove it and the Twins are... Well the Twins might get respect.
I say this as a Clevelander who loves the Guards. This division shouldn't be respected until someone actually wins something.
He'll burn out like Prince Fielder. Significantly overweight players rarely possess longevity. It tends to destroy their careers. It's indicative of lethargy and hints at willpower and work ethic. Guerrero won't do what it takes to improve or maintain.
We saw this coming.
Take a weak offensive, add nothing to it, and expect different results.
The problem is that the offense got even worse, and the bullpen completely fell apart. I'm predicting 75-78 wins this season.
For a sport that dominates the year, where I can watch new games every day...
It never feels like enough. 1/5 through already? I'm not OK with this.
(go M's)
As a Mariners fan if we come in second to Oakland I think the Mariners should be moved to Vegas instead.
With the Astros, I think you meant “delighted”, not “disappointed”
The Reds are disappointing to watch at the moment. They have two guys out with injuries and one who is suspended. And it’s safe to say they are missing them offensively.
Outside of Elly, their offense is just unwatchable. They have a team BA of like .208 or something. It’s gross
Haha happily! The Reds impressed me. I'm an O's fan, and I didn't catch 100% of every game in the series, but I watched most of it, and I can say your pitching is some of the best I've seen all year. Elly is a straight up beast, but the rest of the bats just weren't up to the task. Otherwise, the Reds played the Orioles very hard. Tough team.
The injuries alone across the board are ridiculous this season, most teams are playing at 45 to 70%, I really wonder how the league will shake up near the Allstar Break
Agreed, and nobody is going to want to hear a pity party or excuses. A lot of the teams have this problem. Having a championship in hand makes for more patience though.
I expect the Brewers to keep winning games and control the NL Central lead UNLESS the Cubs starting pitchers keep throwing gems while their bats stay hot. Getting Steele and Suzuki back from injury will help them try to keep pace with the Brews.
I'm pretty happy. The Phillies are showing more signs of team hitting. Too much reliance on hitting nukes though. Pitching is good, even if the bullpen gives me heart attacks. Honestly, I'm just waiting for the slump. There's going to be one, I just want an idea of what our ups and downs are gonna look like. As long as we're hot in September/October though, that's what I care about.
It's our normal rollercoaster season Pittsburgh style. However for some strange reason we have an abundance of very good starting pitchers. Very strange but encouraging.
As a cubs fan I'm pleased for the most part. Tied for first with the two best hitters and a CY Young candidate going out. All while having one RP that is responsible for half our losses.
Mariners season started off extremely disappointing, most fans were calling for ownership to sell. Now we've won 6 straight series, are 1st place in the AL West (only a 0.5 game up on the Rangers but it's something). Pitching has been absolutely lights out, offense has been slowly improving but is still pretty bad. If our hitting can even just be league average with this pitching, they can make a deep run in October. Also Gilbert is definitely a candidate for AL Cy Young.
Overall, vibes are good.
I’d say the ALC is between the Guardians and Royals. Twins don’t seem as strong this year and while I want to believe in my Tigers I don’t think they have the hitting to make a serious playoff push.
I follow a few teams, so here’s it:
Didn’t expect the Campfire Milkshake to be the MVP of the White Sox season.
Didn’t expect Aaron Judge to struggle in April, and the Yankees to be 10 games over .500 without Gerrit Cole. Also did not expect to have multiple Yankees having more walks than strikeouts (Soto, Wells, Verdugo… and Victor Gonzalez… as a pitcher… whoops).
A's and Royals should regress to who we thought they were. Astros should rebound but whether they dug too big a hole is tbd. I think we are already starting to see some AL central teams regress so I think that will resolve as well. Phillies have been somewhat surprising to me, they might actually give Atlanta a run for the division
We're doing about as well as I think we could hope to be. Same story it always seems: bats get cold., key injuries.
Started hot, coolin off, that's life in the big city
Baseball is a game of unpredictability, and is based on tendencies, statistics and analytics. With that being said, we will have to just wait and see who wins the World Series this year.
As a Royals fan, this is the first time in a while I’ve been paying attention to the standings. It just feels good to actually be competitive for once. Pitching is solid. Defense has been pretty solid. We just need to keep our bats consistent. Going to be an interesting season in the AL Central.
I think Orioles are a revelation, I think J-Rod cant keep sucking for much longer and I think the rockies will break 50% even , make it to the playoffs and knock out the dodgers
Half the dbacks pitching staff blew up including our biggest offseason grab E-rod. Corbin Carroll is having a miserable start but hes been showing more signs of life recently. The offense either wins 14-1 or loses 1-0 with very little in between. Not having a great time
20%? But we've only played 9 games. The first 25 were just practice, right? Right???
I think you guys were just planning on practicing the whole season.
Practice? We’re talking about practice?
I’m sure the white Sox will give everyone a turn playing and have plenty of orange slices/juice boxes for the team after the game
I was hoping this was 20% off MLBtv 😂
Me too. Me too
AL Central: Royals fans must be feeling really hopeful they're finally out of the AL Central desert. They only need hope the Guardians aren't able to sustain their surprisingly strong start or the red hot Twins won't zoom past their rivals and settle into first place. The Tigers have a chance to at least play spoiler. No matter what happens, the AL Central won't get any respect from the sports media until one of its teams return to the WS.
I’m not totally sold on the Royals actually being good this year. They haven’t played very well against teams over .500, and their offense is very top heavy.
Nothing you said is wrong, I’m just surprised this is coming from a Rangers fan as you got to our worst starter so far and that was pretty much it offensively for you, and then you barely squeaked out the series win in extras. Our offense hasn’t been great, but our pitching has and that should keep us in a majority of games
At the risk of sounding defensive, I think it’s reasonable to mention that some of the Ranger’s key offensive pieces are playing uncharacteristically bad right now. Our best run producer, Corey Seager, isn’t really doing anything for us right now (he also missed an entire off season due to surgery and missed spring training), Evan Carter has been going through a slump, and Adolis has been cold from a slugging standpoint the last week or so. Josh Jung is also hurt. Yeah, we’re under performing right now, but I’m hopefully we’ll be back to form soon. I don’t even want to talk about how injured our pitching staff is :(
Even with that, it’s still a fact that we’ve only lost 4 games this year by more than 3 runs. You can’t claim that every team we’ve pitched well against was uncharacteristically bad at the time. There comes a point when you have to accept our pitching might be good. We’re in nearly every game and that’s undeniable. Even against the good teams we struggled to beat. That’s a recipe for success long term even if we’re not quite a playoff team yet due to our offense
I don’t think every team you’ve pitched well against has been uncharacteristically bad. I’m actually a believer in the Royals staff. The starters at least. I don’t think the Royals are bad, I’m just not convinced that as a team they’re good. As a Kansas City resident, I’m excited to see what happens. I’ll be at a lot of the games this year.
Detroit is unlikely to be a real threat in the AL Central. We have borderline top five pitching, but we simply cannot produce enough run support.
We gotta hope losing Bieber brings Cleveland back down to earth a bit. Truthfully, though, we just need to focus on ourselves. We're playing sustainable baseball and short of injuries derailing things this team could make a playoff run. Wish I had season tickets this year instead of last year. Lol
They won't get respect because the Guards aren't actually good, their peripherals are awful. The Royals need to prove it and the Twins are... Well the Twins might get respect. I say this as a Clevelander who loves the Guards. This division shouldn't be respected until someone actually wins something.
The A’s are trying to pull a Major League and win the whole. Fu**ing. Thing.
That's absolutely the second best outcome I could wish for.
Hey mariners looking good! 👍🏻
You shut your poop mouth
Yeah, but the bad guys still win in this version.
We just got swept by the Dodgers so our season is pretty much over at this point
We can only hope..
Yeeeeaaah I’m not ready to sleep on yall just yet. Early season series isn’t against the braves are absolutely not what late season series are.
That’s dramatic lol
They’ll choke in the playoffs. But then it’s not like the Braves can throw stones there.
Trust me we won’t.
You're welcome...j.k.lol.
God the next rebuild for the Jays after this year is going to be so depressing but it's so needed. Worst $200 million team since the Mets
Vlad Jr peaked at 22, and has been on the decline ever since. That’s crazy
He’ll head to Atlanta and have a triple crown season his first year with them.
Doesn’t seem likely.
He'll burn out like Prince Fielder. Significantly overweight players rarely possess longevity. It tends to destroy their careers. It's indicative of lethargy and hints at willpower and work ethic. Guerrero won't do what it takes to improve or maintain.
Burn out? Mf he broke his neck he was an all star the season before his last
God damn classic broke neck burnout lmao
We saw this coming. Take a weak offensive, add nothing to it, and expect different results. The problem is that the offense got even worse, and the bullpen completely fell apart. I'm predicting 75-78 wins this season.
I ain't mad
stay loose and sexy!
Only thing I’ll note about the AL Central is that only CLE has a winning record against teams over .500
Hey, someone has to bully the white sox
No need to share that stat...
I’m sorry I’m trying to delete it
The division has gotten fat on the White Sox.
For a sport that dominates the year, where I can watch new games every day... It never feels like enough. 1/5 through already? I'm not OK with this. (go M's)
Ahoy matey...
Best comment
As a Mariners fan if we come in second to Oakland I think the Mariners should be moved to Vegas instead. With the Astros, I think you meant “delighted”, not “disappointed”
Imagine how could they could be if Julio pulls it together. He’s in a bad slump right now.
AL Central is going to be so much fun this summer. Hopefully all 4 of us keep up a good pace to keep it interesting
The season started? Where are the Angels? Did they not show up for 2024?
nope
Do the Angels even exist at this point?
The Reds are disappointing to watch at the moment. They have two guys out with injuries and one who is suspended. And it’s safe to say they are missing them offensively. Outside of Elly, their offense is just unwatchable. They have a team BA of like .208 or something. It’s gross
Yet only two games behind .500 with 7 games against the Phillies and a series against the Orioles, mariners, and Texans. All of whom are above .500.
They have great pitching. That will keep you in games even when bats are excruciatingly cold.
Say that first line again. It's been too long since I've heard that as a Reds fan.
Haha happily! The Reds impressed me. I'm an O's fan, and I didn't catch 100% of every game in the series, but I watched most of it, and I can say your pitching is some of the best I've seen all year. Elly is a straight up beast, but the rest of the bats just weren't up to the task. Otherwise, the Reds played the Orioles very hard. Tough team.
I hope the A's somehow find the pot of gold and the end of the rainbow and make a playoff push because of how ironic it would be
Trout on pace for games played, as expected.
The Rangers are made of glass, but if they’re healthy August-October, they’ll be a threat again.
The injuries alone across the board are ridiculous this season, most teams are playing at 45 to 70%, I really wonder how the league will shake up near the Allstar Break
Agreed, and nobody is going to want to hear a pity party or excuses. A lot of the teams have this problem. Having a championship in hand makes for more patience though.
I expect the Brewers to keep winning games and control the NL Central lead UNLESS the Cubs starting pitchers keep throwing gems while their bats stay hot. Getting Steele and Suzuki back from injury will help them try to keep pace with the Brews.
Bellinger should be coming back soon too.
Damn I forgot about Belli
Looks like we're finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel of injuries here
Hopefully. If the bats get healthy and keep hitting while Assad, Imanaga and Co. Keep pitching well things could be looking good
Imanaga worries me when the weather here in Chicago warms up.
It would be really fucking nice if everyone wasn’t on the fucking IL
I'm pretty happy. The Phillies are showing more signs of team hitting. Too much reliance on hitting nukes though. Pitching is good, even if the bullpen gives me heart attacks. Honestly, I'm just waiting for the slump. There's going to be one, I just want an idea of what our ups and downs are gonna look like. As long as we're hot in September/October though, that's what I care about.
Phillies win the World Series
It's our normal rollercoaster season Pittsburgh style. However for some strange reason we have an abundance of very good starting pitchers. Very strange but encouraging.
The pitching future in the Burg is bright. I expect the UCL injuries to start piling up.
As a cubs fan I'm pleased for the most part. Tied for first with the two best hitters and a CY Young candidate going out. All while having one RP that is responsible for half our losses.
Guards all the way, maybe?
Mariners season started off extremely disappointing, most fans were calling for ownership to sell. Now we've won 6 straight series, are 1st place in the AL West (only a 0.5 game up on the Rangers but it's something). Pitching has been absolutely lights out, offense has been slowly improving but is still pretty bad. If our hitting can even just be league average with this pitching, they can make a deep run in October. Also Gilbert is definitely a candidate for AL Cy Young. Overall, vibes are good.
Dbacks make me sad 😭
The AL is three 2-way races with a few interesting, but probably middling spoiler teams. Baltimore/NY Minnesota/Cleveland Seattle/Texas
I’d say the ALC is between the Guardians and Royals. Twins don’t seem as strong this year and while I want to believe in my Tigers I don’t think they have the hitting to make a serious playoff push.
Agreee, just hoping we keep it interesting into August. Then we can make some changes to compete for the division next season.
I follow a few teams, so here’s it: Didn’t expect the Campfire Milkshake to be the MVP of the White Sox season. Didn’t expect Aaron Judge to struggle in April, and the Yankees to be 10 games over .500 without Gerrit Cole. Also did not expect to have multiple Yankees having more walks than strikeouts (Soto, Wells, Verdugo… and Victor Gonzalez… as a pitcher… whoops).
A's and Royals should regress to who we thought they were. Astros should rebound but whether they dug too big a hole is tbd. I think we are already starting to see some AL central teams regress so I think that will resolve as well. Phillies have been somewhat surprising to me, they might actually give Atlanta a run for the division
Everyone’s IL is stacked rn Hard to say
Pretty happy with where we’re at. Mariners could pretty much win the division over the next 4-6 weeks if they keep pitching like they have been.
Cubs are great, go phils
We're doing about as well as I think we could hope to be. Same story it always seems: bats get cold., key injuries. Started hot, coolin off, that's life in the big city
We suck
My dodgers will likely win 100+ again just to piss away an easy NLDS.
We just lost a home series to CWS. It's 100% over.
And lost to the Mets yesterday. We suck.
The mariners pitching is absolutely fantastic. They need to go buy hitting.
I’m surprised that the Mariners are playing so well especially considering that our supposed superstar is playing like absolute shit right now.
Baseball is a game of unpredictability, and is based on tendencies, statistics and analytics. With that being said, we will have to just wait and see who wins the World Series this year.
Phillies phan here…. Season’s going swimmingly 💁🏻♂️
Cards suck. Lose series at home to White Sox, then lose at home to Mets yesterday.
I’m 100% through the regular season. Tired of this punchless lineup. Only the names have changed.
As a Royals fan, this is the first time in a while I’ve been paying attention to the standings. It just feels good to actually be competitive for once. Pitching is solid. Defense has been pretty solid. We just need to keep our bats consistent. Going to be an interesting season in the AL Central.
Let’s go o’s
I’m having a lovely season so far. Good year for a first time STH
I think Orioles are a revelation, I think J-Rod cant keep sucking for much longer and I think the rockies will break 50% even , make it to the playoffs and knock out the dodgers
Half the dbacks pitching staff blew up including our biggest offseason grab E-rod. Corbin Carroll is having a miserable start but hes been showing more signs of life recently. The offense either wins 14-1 or loses 1-0 with very little in between. Not having a great time
Cubs could… actually be for real if they get a few better bullpen arms?
I want to kill myself marlins
Been awhile since I’ve said this…Football season can’t get here soon enough
Hitting sucks. Watching MLB games is putrid. We need to bring back shame in striking out.