MiddleCoastBias

Yankees really control their own destiny - finish the season with 3 at Boston and then 3 at Toronto. Their two series will really shake that wildcard picture

I just want to escape this series without losing any time due to illness. We're hit hard enough with the injury bug, don't need to add COVID IL to it.

Boston can't have many players even left on their roster after all of their COVID outbreaks. Beat this decimated team into oblivion and just stay healthy otherwise.

It's low-hanging fruit. Probably easy for the local guys in opposing markets to do some quick research without looking too far into it, have something to say on air Figure in a year or so when he really gets into the national stage, La Pantera will be known everywhere.

Oakland's broadcast calling Robert "LuBob". Somewhere, Ron or Hi8is or whoever it was is quivering in anger that that nickname has taken hold nationally.

Tepera nasty with that sword on Olson. Olson doesn't get fooled like that often, set him up well.

Curious to bury the lede failing to mention we have 3 of the top 10. Love Timmy and he deserves the top recognition, but the Lynn and Liam are giving the FCC censors job security is also highly entertaining.

Evaluating each team's remaining strength of schedule. I like that we play a few "good, not great" teams to stay sharp without getting worn down as we prepare down the stretch. https://www.mlb.com/news/2021-mlb-postseason-contenders-with-toughest-september-schedules

Entirely too early prediction, but Romy's multi-position flexibility and power off the bench make him an excellent replacement for Leury (on paper) at a lower price tag. My guess is that the Sox see what they have in Romy this month and that will inform their decision whether they want to pay to bring Leury back next year.

Sounds like we've got our next Eduardo Escobar

Rutherford is the obvious and clear choice to get the boot. Figure they at least try to trade Adolfo and Mercedes in the off-season, get a lottery ticket out of them. Wright has value to this team as a body in September as they deal with injuries (Gio, Lynn) and give guys rest to figure it out (Keuchel).

I bet we see him hit the IL for a week or two to try to sort himself out in the next few days. They'll let him dry out on the bench and get some back-field work, and then see what we have when he comes back from a break.

Man, that lineup today, woo! Leury just keeping the seat warm in RF for Billy or Engel to come back, and then this lineup is fire

Gavin Sheets. Punt Jake Lamb into the sun if we have to. Gavin should either be added as the call-up, or take Lamb's position outright to allow them to bring someone else up.

I really like this lineup, though I think it's pretty apparent that TLR is resting Tim for the entirety of the indoor turf series to rest/protect his legs. I'll be surprised if we see him today, but I fully expect him back for the cubs series.

Award this all of the points, literally laughing out loud haha

And now the latest drama in the Yermin saga provided by Hector Gomez, Yermin intimating he's going to play in Japan? I don't know why it's even worth sharing at this point but here we are.

This might start the conversation on the face masks, though. Some softball pitchers wear the softball mask (like a very limited facemask frame) that protects them from direct hits to the face. We saw more batters adopt the extended batting helmet with the cheek protector that protects the jaw after the Giancarlo Stanton injury, just like we saw more batters wear the helmet with the first earflap years ago. As a sport, baseball is so stubborn to adopt change, but it's only reasonable to protect players. But with a sport that still sees players wearing button-ups as a uniform, it'll probably be pretty slow to adopt this.

I still don't get how a guy that had an 8+ ERA in the minors this year (and not even through a SSS of like 3 games) gets called up and suddenly dominates, even given what he had flashed a few years ago. Baseball is a fickle sport and defies logic. And I love it.

That's the whole art of pitching - throw something that *looks* good for a split second and get them to swing at something they can't hit. You don't want every pitch thrown in the strike zone, it's not a videogame.

Love Liam's energy, just wow. And the hats-off bow to end it.

Man, Tony has got to be at full mast after that execution of single-steal-productive out-sac bunt.

Going to my first game in Chicago in over 7 years. Been looking forward to this weekend all year, let's get the W!