NEWSLETTER
The NL East race has been one of my favorite stories in baseball for months, and it’s not reached a new level of interest, with the Braves catching the Mets in the standings with less than a month to play.
Braves Catch Mets in NL East
The Mets losing control of the NL East after 147 consecutive days atop the division is being called a collapse by some over the past 12-ish hours. An 8-2 loss to the Pirates to allow Atlanta to move into a tie with them didn’t help in that department. Still, the defending World Series Champion Braves have been an MLB-best 62-24 since June 1, so they’re not in this race by luck.
The Mets – who took the lead of the NL East on April 11 – became the eighth team since 1969 to see a divisional lead of 10 games or more disappear:
Despite the embarrassing statistical company the Mets have joined, they’ve hardly choked anything away to the Braves. New York went 19-11 in August and 17-8 in July and haven’t had a losing month this season (although they are 2-3 this month).
(Michael: Nope. They are cowards and should’ve paid up for Willson Contreras and David Robertson at the deadline. We tried to tell them. Now they can eat dirt. Go Braves)
The Braves have been one heck of a story once again this season. With Austin Riley having a season worthy of the MVP discussion and Spencer Strider in the conversation for the NL Rookie of the Year Award, the Braves are a team looking like they might be able to become the first repeat World Series Champions since the New York Yankees won three straight (including one against the Braves) from 1998-2000.
If the Mets needed anything else to go wrong today, the team will place Max Scherzer on the IL. Scherzer was pulled from his most recent start due to fatigue in the oblique that caused him to spend two months on the IL earlier this season.
Scherzer says the injury isn’t a cause for concern:
It sounds like Scherzer will miss one start, with the trip to the IL simply being a way for the Mets to get another arm on the roster in the meantime. The Mets have the easiest schedule in baseball the final four weeks of the season (according to Tankathon), with just three more games against the Braves on the slate.
MLBPA Joins AFL-CIO
Just a day after the MLBPA asked the MLB to formally recognize them as the official collective bargaining representative for the minor league players’ interests, the MLBPA has joined the AFL-CIO.
“The MLBPA and every single one of its 1,200 players have a home in our movement because this union understands and lives the meaning of the word solidarity by leveraging the power of sports and helping others,” AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler said. “Together, with our 12.5 million members, we will bring our strength to their fights, including working to organize 5,400 minor league players.”
MLBPA released a statement on the news:
Tape Measure Home Runs
Christian Yelich drilled a 499-foot moonshot into the third deck at Coors Field on Tuesday night, marking the longest home run of the season, according to Statcast, and the third longest tracked since Statcast began tracking data in 2015.
Only Nomar Mazara (505 feet) and Giancarlo Stanton (504 feet) have hit longer home runs in that span. Stanton’s blast came at Coors Field as well when he was still playing for the Marlins in 2016. Hitting in front of him in the Marlins lineup that day? Christian Yelich.
Yelich’s blast was a fun sight, but it ultimately didn’t help the Brewers as they fell to the Rockies and dropped three games back in the NL Wild Card race.
Twins catcher Gary Sanchez also hit a deep bomb this week, sending a 473-foot home run into the seats at Yankee Stadium on Monday afternoon. Sanchez’s blast was the fourth longest home run this season and the longest outside Coors Field.
