Major League Baseball pennant races are nearly non-existent
Major League Baseball pennant races, with teams jockeying for first place and a spot in the postseason, are part of the excitement of baseball season after season. The daily changes of teams at the top of the standings keep fans interested in closely following the sport.
However, heading into yesterday’s (Wednesday) MLB schedule of games, three of the six division leaders were in front by at least eight games. The Yankees (50-24) held the smallest lead at 2.5 games over the Baltimore Orioles in the American League East. Half of the teams were more than nine games out of first place. Most have very little chance to win their respective divisions.
The wild card provides an opportunity for some of those teams to reach the postseason. The Mets, which had won eight of their previous nine games before facing the Texas Rangers on the road last night, were still two games below .500 at 35-37 and 13.5 games behind the first place Philadelphia Phillies in the NL East. But they were just one-half game out of a wild card spot.
One of the key decisions for the Mets owner Steve Cohen and general manager David Stearns, as well as the leaders of other teams, is whether they will obtain players to make a run for the wild card or trade assets such as Mets All-Star first baseman Pete Alonso, who will be free-agent after the season ends, to build for future seasons mitigate potential free agent losses. The pressure is on the Mets to get value for Alonso if he won’t re-sign with them. With influential agent Scott Boras representing the star, it’s expected he’ll be seeking the most money for his client, setting a number the Mets may be unwilling to meet.
Injuries always play a part in division races. The Phillies lost catcher J.T. Realmuto to knee surgery on June 1. He’ll be out for a month. On Father’s Day Sunday, Los Angeles Dodgers infielder Mookie Betts, one of the NL’s top MVP candidates, suffered a broken hand after being hit by a pitch. His loss could impact the Dodgers (46-29) maintaining what was a comfortable nine game midweek advantage over the second place Arizona Diamondbacks (36-37) in the NL West.
The Yankees also lost first baseman Anthony Rizzo on Sunday. A broken arm will sideline him for four to six weeks. On the plus side, the Yankees were scheduled to have ace Gerrit Cole make his season debut last night after recovering from forearm inflammation. While pitching hasn’t been a problem for the team as they led MLB in ERA at 3.02 when they went up against the Orioles last night, getting the reigning Cy Young award winner back should make them even better.
Not having close division races across the league could cause fans to focus on other summer activities instead of spending time at stadiums watching games live, on TV or through streaming apps. Unless there are drastic changes, there will be few close races in September in the final weeks of the regular season to keep fans of many teams engaged.
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