Sport Thoughts

The Miami Marlins have played a total of 10 games since the MLB All Star break concluded. The Marlins went into the All Star break with a impressive 53-39 record. The record was their best first half record in franchise history. It truly looked like the Marlins had put themselves in the elite contender conversation along with teams like the Atlanta Braves and LA Dodgers. That thought is now far from the truth. The Miami Marlins lost 8 straight games to begin their post All Star break. They were swept by the Baltimore Orioles, St Louis Cardinals and lost two of three to the Colorado Rockies. They currently have a mediocre 54-48 record are without a playoff spot. Their All Star Jazz Chisholm is injured and the team’s remaining schedule does not get any easier. The Marlins offense has been putrid and the bullpen has been taxed. All Star Luis Arraez can not carry the offense on his own. Cy Young Sandy Alcantara has yet to get back into ace form. The August 1st trade deadline is less than a...

The second half of the MLB season begins tomorrow. The post All Star break is always crunch time for contending baseball teams. Each game has alot of meaning to the teams in the playoff hunt. This season will mark the second year that 12 total teams make the MLB Playoffs. 2020 was the first year of the expanded playoff format. Since 2020 the number of playoff teams have gone from 14 to 10 to 12 teams. Several MLB teams are in the midst of playoff droughts. These long droughts date back to the late 2010s or earlier. The Miami Marlins and Cincinnati Reds made the playoffs in the shortened 2020 season but have not reached the playoffs in a full season since 2003 and 2013. The Texas Rangers and Balitimore Orioles have not reached the playoffs since the 2016 season. The Arizona Diamondback’s playoff drought dates back to the 2017 season. Long story short, these contending MLB treams have playoff droughts at stake. Every year there are teams such as the Houston Astros, New York Yankees, Atla...

The second half of the MLB season will begin this Friday. Several teams will be fighting for playoff contention. The conclusion of July will determine the fate of several MLB teams. These teams will be position to buy or sell at the Trade Deadline. Tankathon.com  ranks the remaining schedules of all 30 MLB teams. The Minnesota Twins, Chicago White Sox, Detroit Tigers, Seattle Mariners and Houston Astros have the easiest remaining schedules. These easy schedules could create help havoc in the American League Central and West divisions. The top 5 teams with the hardest schedules remaining include the Colorado Rockies, Washington Nationals, New York Mets, Miami Marlins and LA Angles. Can easy schedules increase the competition in the different division? Can the difficult schedules hurt these playoff hopeful teams?  The second half of the MLB could be very interesting.

The New York Yankees are currently in the middle of a 3 game losing streak. They have a record of 48-41. They recently slid to 4th place in the American League East. The offense has been cold and continues to tumble without the reigning MVP Aaron Judge. Several Yankee hitters are in  awful slumps including: Giancarlo Stanton, Josh Donaldson, DJ Lemahieu and Anthony Rizzo. Starting pitching and the bullpen are the Yankees largest strength. The pitchers need the hitters to step up in a big way. Their recent losing streak has taken the New York Yankees out of a playoff spot for the first time in two months. They are now a game behind the Toronto Blue Jays in the wild card race. The Boston Red Sox are only two games behind the New York Yankees in the standings. If the Yankees continue to fall, they will find themselves as a last place team in the American League East. Can the Yankee hitters regain their offensive stride? Will Aaron Judge return after the All Star Break? All of this to ...