Shohei Ohtani, Aaron Judge, 100 losses and… a guy with a .220 batting average? It was an eventful weekend in the baseball world.
Let’s dive right into the five most important storylines of the MLB weekend.
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Aaron Judge can no longer hit a home run
Three games, three more home runs for Aaron Judge, the best baseball player on the planet.
Judge is in top form right now, hitting nine home runs in his last 10 games. He hit two more at home against the Colorado Rockies on Sunday to give his Yankees a series-clinching victory. Every time he hits a home run, it’s a wonderful combination of awe and comedy. “No way” quickly turns to “of course he did.”
Unless he gets injured or forgets the rules, Judge is the clear favorite for AL MVP. His second at-bat on Sunday was his 51st of the year, making him the fifth player in MLB history with three 50-home run seasons. The other four are either potential Hall of Famers taken out of the game by steroid exposure (Alex Rodriguez, Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa) or, literally, Babe Ruth. Twelve more home runs and Judge will break the American League record he set in 2022.
And don’t forget: Judge’s sensational season got off to a slow start. In 35 games, he had a .743 OPS and six home runs. That’s a 28-home run pace – productive for many MLB hitters, but woefully inadequate for Judge. Since then, Judge has hit 45 home runs in 94 games. In a 162-game season, that’s good for a 77-home run pace.
It seems irresponsible to call Barry Bonds’ record of 73 big flies in a single season “within reach,” but Judge is the first player in a long time for whom that statement doesn’t feel like an absolute joke.
“If there’s a player in the league that can do it, I think it’s him,” Judge’s teammate Juan Soto told reporters, including MLB.com’s Brian Hoch, after Sunday’s win.
Shohei Ohtani reaches 40/40 before the end of August
A year ago, Braves outfielder Ronald Acuña Jr. became the fifth player in MLB history to hit 40 home runs and steal 40 bases in the same season, joining Alfonso Soriano, Alex Rodriguez, Barry Bonds and Jose Canseco in that exclusive club. Less than 365 days later, that club has another member: Shohei Ohtani, who became the first player to accomplish that feat before the end of August.
The Dodgers’ (provisional) designated hitter entered Friday’s game against Tampa Bay with 39 steals and 39 home runs. He stole second base in the fourth inning after reaching his 40th steal with a single, then hit a walk-off grand slam for his 40th home run. Los Angeles lost narrowly to the Rays on Saturday before winning the series with a late charge on Sunday.
There’s no doubt that the 40/40 club has become less exclusive with recent changes making it easier to steal bases. Acuña, who stole 73 bases last year, probably would have gotten there anyway. Maybe Ohtani would have, too.
But several things can be true: hitting 40/40 is both easier than ever and still incredibly impressive. It’s downright funny that when Ohtani realized he would be out as a pitcher this season after elbow surgery, he decided to steal a lot of bases instead. To a certain extent, that makes sense. He’s always been fast; now he has more energy and fewer inhibitions.
Considering how quickly he reached the mark, there is a slim chance that Ohtani will become the first and only member of the 50/50 club.
Two teams headed in opposite directions and assured of a postseason spot split four games at Camden Yards over the weekend. Baltimore, which got off to a blazing start this season, has been a mediocre effort for nearly 10 weeks. The O’s have a .500 record since June 11.
Houston, on the other hand, has the best record in the American League since May 1. If it weren’t for their terrible April – the ‘Stros went 10-15 that month – Alex Bregman, Jose Altuve and their team would be in the running for a bye in the playoffs.
On Thursday, Astros rookie starter Spencer Arrighetti tore the Birds to shreds in the opening game, allowing just three hits in six scoreless innings. In a postgame interview, the kid from Houston reiterated the resurrection of his boyhood club, telling FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal, “The Astros are back.”
That claim looked less convincing a day later, when Astros relief pitcher Bryan Abreu allowed a cacophonous grand slam by Anthony Santander in the eighth inning that sent Camden Yards into a frenzy. It was a similar story Saturday, with the Astros dominating most of the afternoon until a three-RBI double by youngster Jackson Holliday gave the O’s a 3-2 lead they would never relinquish. Late home runs by Alex Bregman and the underrated Yainer Díaz helped Houston tie the finals.
Although both teams left the matchup with two wins, Houston outperformed Baltimore for most of the series. Ten of the 12 runs the O’s scored in the series came on three hits: Santander’s grand slam, Holliday’s double and a three-run shot by Ramon Urías on Sunday. The Birds have real problems in the bullpen, but it all starts with their lineup, which has five weeks to find its momentum before the games really matter.
White Sox lose their 100th game
The underachieving South Siders continue to make history. With their 9-4 loss to the Detroit Tigers on Sunday, the Chicago White Sox reached the oh-so-terrible 100-loss mark. Well, “100-loss abyss” is probably a more accurate description. Each loss is a stark reminder that this organization is in a dark and grim place.
The Sox, whose 21-game losing streak made national headlines earlier this month, are on pace to finish the season at 38-124, breaking the modern losing record “held” by the 1962 Mets, a club that lost 120 games in the franchise’s first season.
Chicago starting pitcher Jonathan Cannon, who scored the club’s victory on Aug. 7 with a crucial pass stop, was pummeled by the Tigers on Sunday. The rookie pitcher allowed eight hits and four walks in four innings. Meanwhile, a hodgepodge of Tigers relief pitchers limited the Sox offense to four runs. Which, to be honest, wasn’t the worst offensive performance. The White Sox don’t score four runs that often.
Coincidentally, the White Sox will end their unforgettable season with a three-game set in Detroit in late September. The 2003 Tigers hold the American League record for most losses in a season (119) — could be fate.
You’d be forgiven for not attending a Cubs-Marlins series between the worst team in the National League (Miami) and perhaps the most disappointing (Chicago), but something happened on Friday that should stick in your mind.
Chicago rookie outfielder Pete Crow-Armstrong ran around the sacks and hit an inside-the-park home run in just 14.08 seconds, the second-fastest home-to-home time ever recorded and the fastest since Byron Buxton’s 13.85-second insane sprint in 2017.
But while PCA has remarkable wheels that also allow him to play in one of baseball’s best center field defenses, his bat has taken a big step forward in recent months. Granted, the full-season numbers aren’t great (.220/.270/.386), the 22-year-old has posted an OPS just under .800 since July 1.
This is despite the fact that he has had bad luck with batted balls during this time. PCA’s batting average on balls in play (BABIP) should be above the league average of .300 given his velocity, but since July 1, he has a BABIP of .255.
Even with all the under-the-hood metrics for batted balls and swing decisions, the numbers are pointing upward for the electrifying young speedster, who could develop into a core piece of the next good Cubs team.
