Sport Thoughts

The MLB season is down to the final 55 games for all 30 teams. The last two months of the season have become a sprint for contention. MLB Teams like the Chicago White Sox, New York Mets, Pittsburgh Pirates and St Louis Cardinals have waived the white flag on their seasons. The wild card race for both the American League and National League has gotten very interesting. The Tampa Bay Rays, Toronto Blue Jays and Houston Astros have showed  signs of being in full control of their wild card spots. That can’t be said about various teams in the National League. The Miami Marlins, Arizona Diamondbacks and Cincinnati Reds are seeing their seasons spiral out of control. All three teams were 10 or more games over .500 during the month of July. The winning records have changed heavily since after the All Star break. The Marlins were 14 games over .500 at the All Star break. They are now just 4 games over .500. The Diamondbacks were once 16 games over .500 on July 1st. After tonight’s loss, the...

The MLB trade deadline is less than 3 weeks away. Baseball teams often contemplate buying or selling at the deadline. They think of the pros of gaining assets or the pros of starting from scratch. A firesale is often the first step of a rebuilding process. In recent years MLB teams like the Chicago Cubs and the Cincinnati Reds rebuilt and retooled their rosters. In the business of baseball, there is no salary cap. Teams can spend big money on big name players without fearing available cap space. As a result, rebuilds don’t last too long for baseball teams. However, thats not be always the case when analyzing the Washington Nationals. The Nationals were one of the best MLB teams of the 2010’s. They concluded that era by winning their first world series championship. They began the 2020’s era with a shortened 60 game losing season. That season was followed by a mid summer fire sale. Since the day of the sale, the Washington Nationals have been in a rebuilding mode. They show no signs of ...

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 MLB 2023 season is nearing the Allstar break. There are several MLB teams in unfamiliar territory. There are teams like The Tampa Bay Rays and the Atlanta Braves, who have lived up to expectations. The current MLB standings are somewhat shocking. Teams like the Baltimore Orioles, Texas Rangers, Miami Marlins, Cincinnati Reds and Arizona Diamondbacks are the biggest surprise teams. They were all not projected to be contenders. Teams like the New York Yankees, Toronto Blue Jays, Houston Astros, New York Mets, Philadelphia Phillies and LA Dodgers were not predicted to struggle. The more games played, the bigger the sample size for each MLB team. The questions that remain is if the disappointing teams can get hot and if the surprise teams can carry their momentum. Numbers don’t lie and neither does the standing. Will these unexpected contenders make moves at the trade deadline? Only time will tell as the Allstar break approaches. The league will have a better idea and understanding onc...