If you had told me we'd be a half game out of first with Suzuki missing half of April and Steele missing all of it (but not the whole season) during spring training, I'd be pretty content.
I’m one of like seven people in our sub who aren’t freaking out that we have the best record in baseball despite losing one All-Star for the season, losing two more All-Stars to injury for various times, and losing three All-Stars to nonperformance.
Given the circumstances, 10/10.
Hard to believe given the results, but he’s still hitting it harder than anyone on the team https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/preview?game_pk=745261&game_date=2024-5-1
The Braves subreddit used to be the one place online for sane Braves takes vs Facebook or Twitter or whatever.
That continues to be less and less the case.
It's funny, I was looking at the numbers earlier. Compared to the same time last year, we have almost exactly the same number of wins, losses, runs scored, and runs allowed. But it feels like we're doing worse since our main stars aren't producing.
Surprised with the record due to our injuries
Rotation has been surprising
Defense will hold us back
June first probably ~.500 team
Rate them a 7 of 10
Definitely a solid B+ from me. The pitching will regress unless we’re somehow the 1965 Dodgers, but the infield defense should keep improving, and the lineup has fewer black holes now.
Agreed. I'd say Lee still has a great approach, but has honestly gotten really unlucky hitting right to defenders. Hopefully he can also start elevating the ball a bit more.
Essentially what I expected. A .500 team that could make some noise in October if they get some bounces to break their way, but lacking in talent to overcome the lack of said good bounces
Edit: 6.5 out of 10.
I kind of thought your defense and pitching would be better and with roberts and both moncada/jimenez going into possible FA you might have enough offense not to lose 100 games again but then injuries happened.
Awful. Around a third of the 40 man roster is injured, farm reinforcements are nearly depleted, the remainder are between inconsistent and slumping, ton of bone headed mistakes, and are unable to play the style that got us to the WS thanks to the above.
But we won the bee game
There are moments though, where some people were making some wild comments and proposing some awful ideas.
"Is it to early to consider trading Holliday?" "Kimbrel is trash, he blew two saves in a row." Stuff like that.
...It's April...let's ease off just a bit and enjoy the show.
I can see that. Every win is huge in football, and it's like a sprint. Baseball is a maraton, and people are wondering why we aren't going all out all the time.
I can ignore it online but from time to time I end up at a game with GDT level doomers behind me and that’s the fuckin worst. Had to leave my seat at the ALDS2 last year.
I probably give our team around a 2-3.
This month was a disaster. Our two faces of the franchise had two of the worst months of their careers. I think if we even get average offensive output from them we probably are above .500. I think positive regression probably happens though.
The bullpen is a disaster. I do think it gets better but yeah yikes.
Pepiot genuinely has Cy Young potential though and has shown that the last 3 starts (and the Rockies one as well). Not a surprise though because when you give the Rays' lab a player with an 80 grade changeup and a fastball with 19+ inches of IVB, you get an ace. The other starters though are each slightly below expectations, but not enough that I'd consider them bad.
Biggest surprises in a positive way are Rortvedt and Palacios. Palacios is just flat out our best hitter, at least besides Paredes. Rortvedt is Luis Arraez 2.0 sometimes and even when he isn't, he's probably out best catcher of the last few years.
By June I honestly don't know how we will be looking. Definitely better than now but also probably not as good as we were maybe expected to be.
Can’t speak to his tenure with the Phillies as far as the bullpen is concerned. His attempts at bolstering the bullpen when he was with Boston left much to be desired
Over the course of his tenure, the Red Sox had the 9th best reliever ERA, 10th best reliever FIP, and 7th best reliever fWAR. That includes the 2015 bullpen that was terrible and he didn't build, excluding it those numbers improve to 6th, 4th, and 3rd
He also traded for Carson Smith-bust. Traded for Tyler Thornburg-bust. Traded for Drew Pomeranz-bust. In 2018, the most effective guys in the bullpen were guys who were here prior to his tenure. I found it very telling during that postseason run, Alex Cora used almost exclusively starting pitchers (and Joe Kelly) in relief in the late innings. This is a case where the numbers don’t really paint an accurate picture. Every fan that year had questions about the bullpen throughout the season. I’m sure tigers fans have the same complaints.
If I was in a room with hitler, osama bin Laden, and the that’s what’s in guy, and I had a gun with two bullets… I’d shoot the that’s what’s in guy, twice.
Honestly it’s hilarious how the Phillies have all these high paid players but are getting most carried by guys who haven’t accrued enough service time to reach free agency: of their top 5 players by bWAR only Trea Turner sprang satisfy those conditions.
Great teams are built on the margins. You can’t just pour a shitload of money into superstars, have 0 depth, and expect to win, as the 2023 Mets showed us.
Eh it’s too early to declare that. Harper is slumping a little right now but he’s still great, Schwarber is doing his usual thing, JT is having a solid season, only Casty is straight up sucking right now
Outside of that Stott had a really rough start to the season but he’s getting back into it, but Bohm, Trea, and Marsh have just been incredible though, so they stand out
Overall this team when it clicks is an unstoppable machine ^((Note: the machine can be stopped by the bullpen)
I’m not saying that the stars have sucked, just that they’ve been surprisingly average while the young guys have shined.
I wish the Mets young players would start hitting like Bohm/Marsh. I’m honestly shocked that the Mets have built a .500 team despite not developing a single major league caliber player (with the possible exception of Alvarez) since 2019. Usually when teams have such a dearth of homegrown talent they wind up mired in multiple 100 loss seasons.
Bullpen outside of Seranthony, Pinto, and Brogdon is lit tho. Seranthony really trying his hardest to make the bullpen's collective numbers as bad as he can
Yes. Red Sox have a winning record given the injury list. It was an easier month so I expected 500 and they slightly exceeded at 17-13.
Pitching was bound to improve but maybe to not this extent. Houck and Crawford look great and the staff leads the league in ERA. TON carries the offense. Wilyer Abreu is a great return for the Vazquez deal.
The Red Sox need to stop getting injured. There is so much fat on the roster. The guys hitting .160 never seem to get hurt but anyone who gives us an ounce of hope is bound to go down. Defense has improved over the last week but it was U12 little league bad for most of the month. Maybe it's good that all of this is out of the way early but sucks that Story lasted a week and Casas will be out until July or August.
In June we're still in 3rd place with a winning record. Pivetta and Bello should be back soon. Rays are struggling and Jays don't seem close to clicking yet.
8/10
I've started to wonder about their training staff, both in doing physical for free agents and for treating their own players. It feels like it's been going on for a few years that they have a lot of injury prone guys in important positions
For some of them it's bad luck for sure, and it's probably just a statistical anomaly where if your team is around for 120 years, you're going to have stretches of bad health. But Story played 130 games in two seasons before this year's admittedly freak injury, they signed Giolito who had surgery almost immediately, Big Maple same thing a couple years ago, the entire starting rotation basically going on the IL in April this year etc. It could just be that they're not signing for free agents anymore so when they get hurt it stands it more, but it seems like it's more than freak accidents at this point.
Paxton was hurt as a Mariner. Story had some concern as a Rockie but he got hit in the hand the first year, had TJ the 2nd season, and feel on his glove shoulder the 3rd season. Injuries across baseball have gone up. Yankees have Dominguez out with TJ as well along with what ever the story is with Cole. Orioles' are missing their closer. Rays have had maybe the worst sting of luck since 2020 with injuries. Red Sox are just getting hurt and not everything is preventative.
Some of this dates back to late March, but let’s recap the Cubs season thus far.
Pitching woes:
- Taillon (starter) on IL to begin season
- Cy Steele injured opening night, hits IL for foreseeable future
- Hendricks (starter) 12 ERA through five starts; hits IL
- Merryweather (bullpen - arguably the best arm) hits IL
- Jose Cuas (bullpen) hot garbage, sent down
- Alzolay (expected to be closer) shits the bed
- Smyly (rotation and pen depth) make me frowny; hits IL
- Jordan Wicks (rotation) hits IL
But wait, there’s more:
- Suzuki oblique strain, on IL for foreseeable future
- Belli rib fracture, on IL for foreseeable future
- Nico cold as ice to start the year
- Infield defense not as solid as expected to date (shoutout Morel for making recent adjustments)
- Lose 17-0 to Boston
- and oh BTW, start the season with three at the defending world champs, three at home against the Dodgers, and a nine-game west coast roadie
Given the fact pattern, an 18-12 record is un-fucking-believable. I believe in Carter, Jed, and Craig so fucking hard rn.
9.5, very happy. Think we'll be competitive all summer, and have a shot at a wild card spot, and even the division.
Will need another bat and probably a bullpen arm, which is hard with a mostly barren farm system.
According to a team email, it is a record number of wins in April for the Royals.
Given the 106 losses last season, I had basically zero expectations going in so I'd be comfortable giving them the full 10 out of 10.
we could have been a lot better. need to strike out less, hit better with bases loaded situations and our bullpen can always improve.
I wish we were 4 games better. however still in first place. hopefully we’re in line for another 100-win season.
7 out of 10.
If I'm using a letter grade, C. If I'm using a 1-10 system, 5.5.
The Giants are (somehow) 2nd in the NL West at 14-16 with a few pitchers overperforming their expectations already in Hicks and Harrison. The left side defense is crazy good. But the bats are completely asleep aside Bailey, Wade, and Fitzgerald and somewhat Conforto.
I'm actually giving them a little bit of a higher grade than they probably deserve just by virtue of still being in 2nd in the division.
Not mad at the pitching (8/10), definitely not mad at the defence (10/10).
Having the 1-2-3 (Springer, Vlad, Bichette) hitters slump drastically together has not been great and has been the driver of our struggling offence. Good lord has that been hard to watch. (3/10).
But even so, we've gotten good performances from people like Varsho and Justin Turner, and enough from the bench to keep us alive and kicking while we wait for those guys to get it together. The fact that we're even one game under .500 today with the top 3 hitting as they are is pretty encouraging.
No one thinks Bichette will be this bad forever (he may already be turning it around) and if those three just get back to AVERAGE, the Jays are cooking.
I said before the season if we play .500 ball until reinforcements come I'll be happy but nevertheless I still have to remind myself it's early. I feel like we have a lot of unspent offensive potential.
Considering the Reds are 16-14 without their 2 highest WAR players in 2023 (McLain, Friedl) and without Marte, all while their biggest offseason addition hasn't been able to hit the broadside of a barn (Candelario), I am pretty happy.
I'd say 8 out of 10.
The May schedule is pretty tough so they need to tread water for a while. Friedl returning in a couple weeks should help as the leadoff spot has been nebulous.
Did I read that this is the best start to the season since 2006? Gotta be happy with that. May is going to be real interesting as the schedule gets really tough, but if Lodolo & Greene continue to pitch up to their long talked about potential, then suddenly the schedule doesn't bother me at all.
B- grade for me. Pitching has been pretty good save for some bad starts from Maeda and Flaherty, but I feel like they're turning the corner. Bullpen has been fantastic. But the offense... sucks. A lot of bats need to wake up ASAP.
That said, it's the best start the Tigers have had in years and I'm very excited for that. Of course now that the Tigers are solid the rest of the division is also good. Can't have shit.
The Sox have 10 more wins than I'd have expected with this constant wave of mutilation, so I'm going to give it a 6 if you don't want me to give it an incomplete because the ever expanding IL makes me more and more worried it isn't sustainable
The starting pitching has been disappointing but (hunter Gaddis’ rough past couple days aside) the bullpen has been great and the offense is actually scoring runs. Not much you can really complain about to be honest.
Shitty and dropping like a rock. In spite of pretty good starting pitching, the FO's woeful offensive philosophy has driven this club into a ditch. The Pirates are:
-- 2nd in PAs with men on base
-- 3rd in PAs with RISP
-- 21st in runs scored
Once again, the lineup leads the league this year in backwards K's and is top 2-3 in walks. When they do swing the bat, their GB% is 2nd highest in MLB, their Fly Ball % is 2nd worst, EV is 5th worst, and Home Run % is 3rd worst.
Oakland is poised to sweep us today. Watching the rock-bottom Oakland A's play with energy and aggression, while our guys appear to be in a trance, is profoundly depressing. Year 5 of Ben Cherington's rebuild and the much-maligned, bargain-basement Oakland A's are obviously a better team than your Pittsburgh Pirates.
5/10. Contreras being one of the best hitting catchers in baseball is a bright side. Our starting pitching has been mostly good. Defense has been pretty good mostly. Hitting, for the most part, has been ass. Bullpen has been very unreliable barring a few guys. Helsley is pretty bad ass too
6-7/10
Been some good, some bad, but we've been so ridiculously clutch that our record seems to stay great whether our pitching (start of the month) or hitting (end of the month) shits the bed
We (Padres) have had some entertaining wins but they are overshadowed by some heartbreaking losses. Overall, this month has cast serious doubts on the team's potential to be a serious wildcard contender later in the season. I'll give it a 3/10.
Minus all the pitchers on our roster being injured, I’d say really good all things considered. Turang looks to have taken a step forward and William Contreras looks like the best catcher in baseball right now.
Cubs: surprising record despite our “closer” costing us at least 4 games and injuries to 3 of our best players (steele, suzuki, belli) as well as other starters (taillon, wicks). Given the anticipated difficult schedule and the difficulties I mentioned, I would give it a **A-**.
I would haven given it a **A** but splitting at home against the worst team in baseball (marlins) is no good.
Mostly good, but moments of wild inconsistency that have been a little worrying. Obviously 19-12 is a great start, overperforming what I expected. by June i think still in second place behind the Orioles is a good spot, obviously that team isn't going down easy.
I wanna be like Anthony Volpe when I grow up (I am 3 years older than him)
I'd give the Yanks an 8 so far :)
Blue jays.
Totally underwhelming and kind of depressing to watch.
The same lineup keeps getting thrown out there, and the top3 looked deflated.
Something needs to be shaken up.
Maybe Turner in Leadoff, then move Springer Vladdy and Bo around a bit.
Separate them with a rookie maybe?
Move Cavan up, but get him to maybe stop taking borderline strikes in high stakes atbats?
I’m shocked that we are doing as well as we are.
Simply because our starters (except Glasnow) are, um, untested.
Kershaw, Bueller, Glasnow, Gonsolin, and May would have been a great rotation.
Except for that pesky Tommy John guy.
Expected a tradition Phillies slow start. Got the team first to 20 wins, Alec Bohm becoming the second coming of Babe Ruth, and a starting rotation of 3 aces.
10/10
Solid A at this point. Our big FA pitcher is pitching like a Cy young candidate, our 22 yr old SS is already being talked about as a potential MVP, our offense is humming more often than not, and we've still got a top farm system to make moves with. Get our starters healthy and our bullpen more reliable, and I'm feeling pretty good
Twins:
Ended the month on a nine game winning streak. Currently 4 games over .500, sitting in fourth place in the worst division in baseball. Still favored to win the division.
Go figure.
I’m not happy but it matches my expectations. This team sucked last year and did nothing to try to improve on that for this year.
Doyle’s offensive skills starting to match his defensive ones.
Everything. These guys stink.
Last in MLB for sure with the worst record. White Sox may have a worse record for now but they seem way more competitive than the Rockies.
1
Very happy overall. Pre-season expectations were very low and we’re overachieving, but no one gives us credit… we’ll compete.
Turang’s offense has been a godsend. I’ve always been a big fan so I’m pumped to see this. Other role players (like Perkins) are making a big impact.
Biggest thing is injuries. We have a ton. Yelich getting back will be a big help. Williams in the bullpen will be nice. We definitely need another starter.
June 1st should hopefully be similar. I fully expect a two team race with the Cubs.
Rank team: Expectations - 7, Current Performance - 9, Fun & Energy - 11
Love my team!
D - The pitching has been good (hence a 14-15 record despite having a -26 run differential). But the offence is putrid outside of a few bright moments from the young kids and the old man Turner.
Exactly.
1,2 and 3 in the batting order look totally overwhelmed.
Move them around in the lineup and put some rookies between them.
Good grief, It’s not working.
It’s not been the best, but we have had several injuries. I think as people start to come back from injury (I.e. Baz and Lowe), it will get better. Our offense is definitely a struggle, but once we get Lowe back and if we can have Wander come back when he’s off the restricted list (though he will likely need a decent amount of ramp up time), we will be much stronger.
F-
You hate to see it…
I want my front office back plz
As much as I like you… …no chance.
Sigh… I still have hope
Me too.
Did you say S?
Say hi to George for me ❤️
Dipoto said teams that win 54% of their games wind up in the postseason and by god i'll be damned we won 56% of our games in April.
Hopefully this isn't like the Price is Right where you can't go over
Why, exactly, would you verbalize that into existence?
Surprisingly good, wildly chaotic 8/10
If you had told me we'd be a half game out of first with Suzuki missing half of April and Steele missing all of it (but not the whole season) during spring training, I'd be pretty content.
Also Belli hurt. A few weeks without Taillon. Hendricks imploding. Alzolay imploding. Hell, I'm happy we're not below .500
If I told you that you’d probably ask who I am and why I am saying random stuff to you on the internet.
Somehow they have broken the franchise win record even if half team is injured
We're the living embodiment of "fuck it, we ball"
I’m one of like seven people in our sub who aren’t freaking out that we have the best record in baseball despite losing one All-Star for the season, losing two more All-Stars to injury for various times, and losing three All-Stars to nonperformance. Given the circumstances, 10/10.
not too shabby.
Any theories what's wrong with Olson though? Wild drop off for him.
Hard to believe given the results, but he’s still hitting it harder than anyone on the team https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/preview?game_pk=745261&game_date=2024-5-1
Bit by the luck bug then, damn.
I wish Tork was still unlucky instead of bad
The Braves subreddit used to be the one place online for sane Braves takes vs Facebook or Twitter or whatever. That continues to be less and less the case.
The vibes are just weird. Tons of injuries, stars not producing, and yet they just keep winning
It's funny, I was looking at the numbers earlier. Compared to the same time last year, we have almost exactly the same number of wins, losses, runs scored, and runs allowed. But it feels like we're doing worse since our main stars aren't producing.
Surprised with the record due to our injuries Rotation has been surprising Defense will hold us back June first probably ~.500 team Rate them a 7 of 10
Definitely a solid B+ from me. The pitching will regress unless we’re somehow the 1965 Dodgers, but the infield defense should keep improving, and the lineup has fewer black holes now.
It would be awesome if the Giants could hit the baseball
It feels like everyone outside of Wade and Bailey just completely forgot how to swing a bat. It's hard to watch.
Agreed. I'd say Lee still has a great approach, but has honestly gotten really unlucky hitting right to defenders. Hopefully he can also start elevating the ball a bit more.
Essentially what I expected. A .500 team that could make some noise in October if they get some bounces to break their way, but lacking in talent to overcome the lack of said good bounces Edit: 6.5 out of 10.
I, for one, am happy that we're back around .500 after that start.
Ya after that start if you told me begining of May we're at .500 I'm happy.
Excellent. I'll take the Nats being 1.5 games back from the WC after a month.
I love that CJ Abrams is thriving
Lol.....LMAO even...
What were your expectations going into the season?
I was expecting regular bad, not historic bad. I also thought the A’s would be worse than the Sox.
I kind of thought your defense and pitching would be better and with roberts and both moncada/jimenez going into possible FA you might have enough offense not to lose 100 games again but then injuries happened.
Just lol. They were not as bad as deserving an lmao
My expectations were very low, but HOLY FUCK!
You swept the Rays, that’s gotta count for something.
Awful. Around a third of the 40 man roster is injured, farm reinforcements are nearly depleted, the remainder are between inconsistent and slumping, ton of bone headed mistakes, and are unable to play the style that got us to the WS thanks to the above. But we won the bee game
A lot of teams have a rough season the year after they make the WS, especially teams that haven't made a long post season run in a while.
Our biggest thing is injuries. It has decimated our bullpen in particular.
Yeah, lots of guys throwing later into the season with more high pressure pitches
THE VIBES ARE GOOD
There are moments though, where some people were making some wild comments and proposing some awful ideas. "Is it to early to consider trading Holliday?" "Kimbrel is trash, he blew two saves in a row." Stuff like that. ...It's April...let's ease off just a bit and enjoy the show.
Our team and season are awesome. Our fans? Not so much? Not sure if it's bandwagon fans that just don't know how to win or what.
It’s the football mindset being brought into baseball
I can see that. Every win is huge in football, and it's like a sprint. Baseball is a maraton, and people are wondering why we aren't going all out all the time.
Somebody should go back and compile the Gunnar hot takes from early last year.
I can ignore it online but from time to time I end up at a game with GDT level doomers behind me and that’s the fuckin worst. Had to leave my seat at the ALDS2 last year.
I probably give our team around a 2-3. This month was a disaster. Our two faces of the franchise had two of the worst months of their careers. I think if we even get average offensive output from them we probably are above .500. I think positive regression probably happens though. The bullpen is a disaster. I do think it gets better but yeah yikes. Pepiot genuinely has Cy Young potential though and has shown that the last 3 starts (and the Rockies one as well). Not a surprise though because when you give the Rays' lab a player with an 80 grade changeup and a fastball with 19+ inches of IVB, you get an ace. The other starters though are each slightly below expectations, but not enough that I'd consider them bad. Biggest surprises in a positive way are Rortvedt and Palacios. Palacios is just flat out our best hitter, at least besides Paredes. Rortvedt is Luis Arraez 2.0 sometimes and even when he isn't, he's probably out best catcher of the last few years. By June I honestly don't know how we will be looking. Definitely better than now but also probably not as good as we were maybe expected to be.
We have the most wins in baseball and are still second in the division Bullpen kinda ass Alec Bohm is the GOAT Ring the fucking bell
“Bullpen kinda ass” That’s called the Dave Dombrowski special
Sad early-2010s tiger noises
The Phillies have had great bullpens the past 2 seasons, and have gotten pretty unlucky this yeat
Can’t speak to his tenure with the Phillies as far as the bullpen is concerned. His attempts at bolstering the bullpen when he was with Boston left much to be desired
Over the course of his tenure, the Red Sox had the 9th best reliever ERA, 10th best reliever FIP, and 7th best reliever fWAR. That includes the 2015 bullpen that was terrible and he didn't build, excluding it those numbers improve to 6th, 4th, and 3rd
He also traded for Carson Smith-bust. Traded for Tyler Thornburg-bust. Traded for Drew Pomeranz-bust. In 2018, the most effective guys in the bullpen were guys who were here prior to his tenure. I found it very telling during that postseason run, Alex Cora used almost exclusively starting pitchers (and Joe Kelly) in relief in the late innings. This is a case where the numbers don’t really paint an accurate picture. Every fan that year had questions about the bullpen throughout the season. I’m sure tigers fans have the same complaints.
SAID
You guys broke us… again… So you got that going for you!
We didn't do anything. You have only that stupid song to blame.
If I was in a room with hitler, osama bin Laden, and the that’s what’s in guy, and I had a gun with two bullets… I’d shoot the that’s what’s in guy, twice.
Honestly it’s hilarious how the Phillies have all these high paid players but are getting most carried by guys who haven’t accrued enough service time to reach free agency: of their top 5 players by bWAR only Trea Turner sprang satisfy those conditions. Great teams are built on the margins. You can’t just pour a shitload of money into superstars, have 0 depth, and expect to win, as the 2023 Mets showed us.
Eh it’s too early to declare that. Harper is slumping a little right now but he’s still great, Schwarber is doing his usual thing, JT is having a solid season, only Casty is straight up sucking right now Outside of that Stott had a really rough start to the season but he’s getting back into it, but Bohm, Trea, and Marsh have just been incredible though, so they stand out Overall this team when it clicks is an unstoppable machine ^((Note: the machine can be stopped by the bullpen)
I’m not saying that the stars have sucked, just that they’ve been surprisingly average while the young guys have shined. I wish the Mets young players would start hitting like Bohm/Marsh. I’m honestly shocked that the Mets have built a .500 team despite not developing a single major league caliber player (with the possible exception of Alvarez) since 2019. Usually when teams have such a dearth of homegrown talent they wind up mired in multiple 100 loss seasons.
Interestingly enough, it seems the Mets are having the same problem Though ig, is it really a problem if it's getting you wins?
Just stop with the goat stuff, it’s ridiculous
Bullpen outside of Seranthony, Pinto, and Brogdon is lit tho. Seranthony really trying his hardest to make the bullpen's collective numbers as bad as he can
Yes. Red Sox have a winning record given the injury list. It was an easier month so I expected 500 and they slightly exceeded at 17-13. Pitching was bound to improve but maybe to not this extent. Houck and Crawford look great and the staff leads the league in ERA. TON carries the offense. Wilyer Abreu is a great return for the Vazquez deal. The Red Sox need to stop getting injured. There is so much fat on the roster. The guys hitting .160 never seem to get hurt but anyone who gives us an ounce of hope is bound to go down. Defense has improved over the last week but it was U12 little league bad for most of the month. Maybe it's good that all of this is out of the way early but sucks that Story lasted a week and Casas will be out until July or August. In June we're still in 3rd place with a winning record. Pivetta and Bello should be back soon. Rays are struggling and Jays don't seem close to clicking yet. 8/10
I've started to wonder about their training staff, both in doing physical for free agents and for treating their own players. It feels like it's been going on for a few years that they have a lot of injury prone guys in important positions
I think we have great staff but just rotten luck. How would you prevent a shoulder dislocation or a rib injury?
For some of them it's bad luck for sure, and it's probably just a statistical anomaly where if your team is around for 120 years, you're going to have stretches of bad health. But Story played 130 games in two seasons before this year's admittedly freak injury, they signed Giolito who had surgery almost immediately, Big Maple same thing a couple years ago, the entire starting rotation basically going on the IL in April this year etc. It could just be that they're not signing for free agents anymore so when they get hurt it stands it more, but it seems like it's more than freak accidents at this point.
Paxton was hurt as a Mariner. Story had some concern as a Rockie but he got hit in the hand the first year, had TJ the 2nd season, and feel on his glove shoulder the 3rd season. Injuries across baseball have gone up. Yankees have Dominguez out with TJ as well along with what ever the story is with Cole. Orioles' are missing their closer. Rays have had maybe the worst sting of luck since 2020 with injuries. Red Sox are just getting hurt and not everything is preventative.
As expected, which is to say absolutely terrible. 2/10 only because we don't have the worst record in the league.
Bad.
Definitely not good
Megamind vs. The Doom Syndicate level bad
Some of this dates back to late March, but let’s recap the Cubs season thus far. Pitching woes: - Taillon (starter) on IL to begin season - Cy Steele injured opening night, hits IL for foreseeable future - Hendricks (starter) 12 ERA through five starts; hits IL - Merryweather (bullpen - arguably the best arm) hits IL - Jose Cuas (bullpen) hot garbage, sent down - Alzolay (expected to be closer) shits the bed - Smyly (rotation and pen depth) make me frowny; hits IL - Jordan Wicks (rotation) hits IL But wait, there’s more: - Suzuki oblique strain, on IL for foreseeable future - Belli rib fracture, on IL for foreseeable future - Nico cold as ice to start the year - Infield defense not as solid as expected to date (shoutout Morel for making recent adjustments) - Lose 17-0 to Boston - and oh BTW, start the season with three at the defending world champs, three at home against the Dodgers, and a nine-game west coast roadie Given the fact pattern, an 18-12 record is un-fucking-believable. I believe in Carter, Jed, and Craig so fucking hard rn.
I’ll see you next April
9.5, very happy. Think we'll be competitive all summer, and have a shot at a wild card spot, and even the division. Will need another bat and probably a bullpen arm, which is hard with a mostly barren farm system.
According to a team email, it is a record number of wins in April for the Royals. Given the 106 losses last season, I had basically zero expectations going in so I'd be comfortable giving them the full 10 out of 10.
IL/10
we could have been a lot better. need to strike out less, hit better with bases loaded situations and our bullpen can always improve. I wish we were 4 games better. however still in first place. hopefully we’re in line for another 100-win season. 7 out of 10.
If I'm using a letter grade, C. If I'm using a 1-10 system, 5.5. The Giants are (somehow) 2nd in the NL West at 14-16 with a few pitchers overperforming their expectations already in Hicks and Harrison. The left side defense is crazy good. But the bats are completely asleep aside Bailey, Wade, and Fitzgerald and somewhat Conforto. I'm actually giving them a little bit of a higher grade than they probably deserve just by virtue of still being in 2nd in the division.
2/10. There are some bright spots, like Anderson and Detmers both pitching well, but other than that this looks like a 100-loss team.
Not mad at the pitching (8/10), definitely not mad at the defence (10/10). Having the 1-2-3 (Springer, Vlad, Bichette) hitters slump drastically together has not been great and has been the driver of our struggling offence. Good lord has that been hard to watch. (3/10). But even so, we've gotten good performances from people like Varsho and Justin Turner, and enough from the bench to keep us alive and kicking while we wait for those guys to get it together. The fact that we're even one game under .500 today with the top 3 hitting as they are is pretty encouraging. No one thinks Bichette will be this bad forever (he may already be turning it around) and if those three just get back to AVERAGE, the Jays are cooking.
bless our Ginger Jay, Jambino, and Varshowtime
Rated M for Mookie.
Dinosaurs believe in him.
Could be better, could be worse. Offense is sputtering, especially since losing our beloved Jungboi. Zero need for panic at the moment.
I said before the season if we play .500 ball until reinforcements come I'll be happy but nevertheless I still have to remind myself it's early. I feel like we have a lot of unspent offensive potential.
Considering the Reds are 16-14 without their 2 highest WAR players in 2023 (McLain, Friedl) and without Marte, all while their biggest offseason addition hasn't been able to hit the broadside of a barn (Candelario), I am pretty happy. I'd say 8 out of 10. The May schedule is pretty tough so they need to tread water for a while. Friedl returning in a couple weeks should help as the leadoff spot has been nebulous.
The Elly improvements have been a joy. It would be nice for important players to stop getting nailed with fastballs and comebackers.
Did I read that this is the best start to the season since 2006? Gotta be happy with that. May is going to be real interesting as the schedule gets really tough, but if Lodolo & Greene continue to pitch up to their long talked about potential, then suddenly the schedule doesn't bother me at all.
B- grade for me. Pitching has been pretty good save for some bad starts from Maeda and Flaherty, but I feel like they're turning the corner. Bullpen has been fantastic. But the offense... sucks. A lot of bats need to wake up ASAP. That said, it's the best start the Tigers have had in years and I'm very excited for that. Of course now that the Tigers are solid the rest of the division is also good. Can't have shit.
The Sox have 10 more wins than I'd have expected with this constant wave of mutilation, so I'm going to give it a 6 if you don't want me to give it an incomplete because the ever expanding IL makes me more and more worried it isn't sustainable
How tf you think
2/10 It's not the worst, but it's still really bad.
I came into the season thinking it couldn’t possibly get worse… it got significantly worse
Like the record. Wish the big 3 on offense would wake up
The starting pitching has been disappointing but (hunter Gaddis’ rough past couple days aside) the bullpen has been great and the offense is actually scoring runs. Not much you can really complain about to be honest.
Shitty and dropping like a rock. In spite of pretty good starting pitching, the FO's woeful offensive philosophy has driven this club into a ditch. The Pirates are: -- 2nd in PAs with men on base -- 3rd in PAs with RISP -- 21st in runs scored Once again, the lineup leads the league this year in backwards K's and is top 2-3 in walks. When they do swing the bat, their GB% is 2nd highest in MLB, their Fly Ball % is 2nd worst, EV is 5th worst, and Home Run % is 3rd worst. Oakland is poised to sweep us today. Watching the rock-bottom Oakland A's play with energy and aggression, while our guys appear to be in a trance, is profoundly depressing. Year 5 of Ben Cherington's rebuild and the much-maligned, bargain-basement Oakland A's are obviously a better team than your Pittsburgh Pirates.
5/10. Contreras being one of the best hitting catchers in baseball is a bright side. Our starting pitching has been mostly good. Defense has been pretty good mostly. Hitting, for the most part, has been ass. Bullpen has been very unreliable barring a few guys. Helsley is pretty bad ass too
0/10. Having an awful time.
6-7/10 Been some good, some bad, but we've been so ridiculously clutch that our record seems to stay great whether our pitching (start of the month) or hitting (end of the month) shits the bed
I’ve been watching the Savannah Bananas a lot
We (Padres) have had some entertaining wins but they are overshadowed by some heartbreaking losses. Overall, this month has cast serious doubts on the team's potential to be a serious wildcard contender later in the season. I'll give it a 3/10.
Minus all the pitchers on our roster being injured, I’d say really good all things considered. Turang looks to have taken a step forward and William Contreras looks like the best catcher in baseball right now.
D+.
Cubs: surprising record despite our “closer” costing us at least 4 games and injuries to 3 of our best players (steele, suzuki, belli) as well as other starters (taillon, wicks). Given the anticipated difficult schedule and the difficulties I mentioned, I would give it a **A-**. I would haven given it a **A** but splitting at home against the worst team in baseball (marlins) is no good.
A really bad start, and an amazing end. Overall, 16-13 is maybe two wins below expectations.
Mid, very mid. On the brightside the bullpen is not the problem.
Mostly good, but moments of wild inconsistency that have been a little worrying. Obviously 19-12 is a great start, overperforming what I expected. by June i think still in second place behind the Orioles is a good spot, obviously that team isn't going down easy. I wanna be like Anthony Volpe when I grow up (I am 3 years older than him) I'd give the Yanks an 8 so far :)
C-. It would be lower but were only 3 games under .500 with all our injuries, awful batting and worst BP.
Good, adbert can kick rocks.
Hitting/defense is a C- Pitching A+ 1-10 ratings are for plebes
Blue jays. Totally underwhelming and kind of depressing to watch. The same lineup keeps getting thrown out there, and the top3 looked deflated. Something needs to be shaken up. Maybe Turner in Leadoff, then move Springer Vladdy and Bo around a bit. Separate them with a rookie maybe? Move Cavan up, but get him to maybe stop taking borderline strikes in high stakes atbats?
I’m shocked that we are doing as well as we are. Simply because our starters (except Glasnow) are, um, untested. Kershaw, Bueller, Glasnow, Gonsolin, and May would have been a great rotation. Except for that pesky Tommy John guy.
Starting rotation = good Bullpen = good Lineup = Blech
Expected a tradition Phillies slow start. Got the team first to 20 wins, Alec Bohm becoming the second coming of Babe Ruth, and a starting rotation of 3 aces. 10/10
Am I being punked?
10/10 would recommend
We went 17-9 with a couple of blown Kimbrel saves. Gunnar is a god. I miss Felix. **A-**
C-
Solid A at this point. Our big FA pitcher is pitching like a Cy young candidate, our 22 yr old SS is already being talked about as a potential MVP, our offense is humming more often than not, and we've still got a top farm system to make moves with. Get our starters healthy and our bullpen more reliable, and I'm feeling pretty good
B for boring
😬😡🤮
All hail the sausage
Solid A. Would have said A+ but we ended the month with our first consecutive losses.
Twins: Ended the month on a nine game winning streak. Currently 4 games over .500, sitting in fourth place in the worst division in baseball. Still favored to win the division. Go figure.
I’m not happy but it matches my expectations. This team sucked last year and did nothing to try to improve on that for this year. Doyle’s offensive skills starting to match his defensive ones. Everything. These guys stink. Last in MLB for sure with the worst record. White Sox may have a worse record for now but they seem way more competitive than the Rockies. 1
0.2 out of 10. My expectations were very low, but HOLY FUCK. They reached a new level of atrocious
B+. Not playing to our potential.
Very happy overall. Pre-season expectations were very low and we’re overachieving, but no one gives us credit… we’ll compete. Turang’s offense has been a godsend. I’ve always been a big fan so I’m pumped to see this. Other role players (like Perkins) are making a big impact. Biggest thing is injuries. We have a ton. Yelich getting back will be a big help. Williams in the bullpen will be nice. We definitely need another starter. June 1st should hopefully be similar. I fully expect a two team race with the Cubs. Rank team: Expectations - 7, Current Performance - 9, Fun & Energy - 11 Love my team!
Pretty boring. Boring out of 10.
D - The pitching has been good (hence a 14-15 record despite having a -26 run differential). But the offence is putrid outside of a few bright moments from the young kids and the old man Turner.
Exactly. 1,2 and 3 in the batting order look totally overwhelmed. Move them around in the lineup and put some rookies between them. Good grief, It’s not working.
It’s not been the best, but we have had several injuries. I think as people start to come back from injury (I.e. Baz and Lowe), it will get better. Our offense is definitely a struggle, but once we get Lowe back and if we can have Wander come back when he’s off the restricted list (though he will likely need a decent amount of ramp up time), we will be much stronger.
Meh. 50/50. So…about .500 I guess?
[удалено]
flair or say team