Perhaps no single player can be more valuable to a team’s success in the postseason than Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw.
While he had a disappointing outing on Friday in his first start after more than a two-month layoff due to a disc herniation, a healthy Kershaw can only positively affect the direction of the Dodgers’ season.
Which other MLB teams saw their road to the playoffs change course?
There was neither a red carpet nor a flourish of trumpets at Marlins Park on Friday night, but there might as well have been. For the mighty Clayton Kershaw had returned.
… For three innings.
Out since June 26 with a bad back, the Los Angeles Dodgers ace was going to have a tight pitch count no matter what. The Marlins’ tough at-bats hastened the speed with which he racked ’em up, so he was done after throwing 66 pitches and allowing two runs on five hits. The Dodgers mustered just three hits of their own against Jose Fernandez, who struck out 14 in seven innings, before going down 4-1.
So, yeah. It wasn’t a prodigal-son-level return for Kershaw. But then, that’s what any rational person would have been prepared for after such a long layoff. It’s what Dodgers manager Dave Roberts and pitching coach Rick Honeycutt expected.
“Rick pointed out to expect him to be in midseason form is unfair,” Roberts said, per Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register. “We all know Clayton is going to expect himself to be dialed in. We’ll see. I think we all hope for the best and expect to see a lot of good things from Clayton. But I think the most important thing, the most encouraging thing is to make sure he gets out of the start feeling well.”
There are positive takeaways from the left-hander’s oh-so-brief return. After Jon Heyman of Today’s Knuckleball reported Thursday that Kershaw is still “pretty banged up,” the biggest is that his back didn’t break down. He didn’t look like he was struggling physically, and he walked away unharmed when he had to make a tough play on a swinging bunt by Christian Yelich in the third inning.
And right out of the gate, Kershaw showed that the long layoff hadn’t robbed him of any electricity. Mike Petriello of MLB.com noted he came out spinning some A-OK heat:
Kershaw also featured some good breaking balls, and he wasn’t wild, having 46 strikes out of 66 pitches. With five strikeouts and no walks Friday, he has 150 strikeouts to just nine walks all season. The two runs he allowed only pushed his ERA to 1.89. On balance, his 2016 season is still worth gawking at.
It’s not going to have a happy ending unless he and the Dodgers go out on a high note, though. And that’s not happening unless Kershaw fixes the ills that plagued him against Miami.
Kershaw may have been throwing strikes, but his three-inning stint is a case study for the difference between throwing strikes and throwing good strikes. He had trouble hitting catcher Yasmani Grandal’s targets with his fastball. Considering he was throwing a career-high 63.1 percent of his fastballs in the strike zone before Friday, it’s not like Kershaw had this problem before he got hurt.
His breaking stuff, meanwhile, was a mixed bag. Here’s Andy McCullough of the Los Angeles Times:
Those bad breakers included two the Marlins whacked for run-scoring hits: a solo home run off a hanging slider by J.T. Realmuto and an RBI single off a hanging curveball by Chris Johnson.
In so many words: Kershaw looked partially like himself and partially like he had some rust.
I know—I’m also wearing my surprised face. His three National League Cy Youngs, his MVP and his numerous statistical achievements make Kershaw a pitching god among his peers, but a little over two months is a long time to spend on the disabled list. He made just one rehab start that lasted three innings and 34 pitches prior to his major league return, which should count as his second rehab start despite the hype.
The Dodgers can be cool for now. They have 22 regular-season games remaining, giving Kershaw space for up to four more starts. That could give him enough time to build up his stamina and find his bearings.
L.A. holds a 4.5-game lead (as of this writing) in the NL West that the San Francisco Giants seem incapable of erasing, so he could be back to his usual self in time for the National League Division Series.
It’ll be time to worry if/when Kershaw isn’t up to speed for October. Maybe his back will give out again. Maybe he won’t be able to get back in a groove. Or maybe both. One way or the other, it wouldn’t be good.
No one doubts the Dodgers can muster up some hits. With runs typically at a premium in October, though, they’re not going to go far unless they can pitch. It won’t be easy to do that without Kershaw. His absence would up the pressure on Kenta Maeda and Rich Hill. That’s not to mention L.A.’s bullpen, which went from a league-leading 2.83 ERA in the first half of the season to a 4.11 ERA in the second half.
Things would look different with a healthy and operational Kershaw in the Dodgers’ plans for the postseason. Cliff Corcoran for USA Today noted how well a trio of Kershaw, Maeda and Hill would match up against the Washington Nationals, who just lost Stephen Strasburg to injury indefinitely. That would give the Dodgers the chance to start off on the right foot.
And while having Kershaw in the rotation wouldn’t fix the Dodgers’ bullpen, it would shorten the bridge to Kenley Jansen on days he pitches. That plus their surging offense could allow for a deep trip into October.
However, Kershaw’s thud-like return to action is a reminder that all of this is theoretical until he shakes off the rust. The Dodgers didn’t need him to be his best right out of the gate, but they need him to get better as soon as he can.
Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com and FanGraphs unless otherwise noted/linked.
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Flipping the calendar to September means a number of things: the end of summer, the start of a new school year and a seemingly uncontrollable outbreak of MLB pennant race fever.
It’s also the month in which the biggest stars on teams in the midst of those races have a chance to earn their paychecks. Some will do just that, rising to the occasion and leading their teams to not only regular-season pennants but also (hopefully) postseason success.
Others will succumb to the pressure and fall flat, leading their clubs to disappointing regular-season finishes that find them watching the playoffs from the comfort of their living room couches.
Of course, a player doesn’t necessarily have to be on a contending club to have an impact on the outcomes of those races. Some will have the opportunity to rise to the occasion and play the role of spoiler down the stretch.
Here’s a look at 10 stars who will play crucial roles in deciding which teams wind up atop their respective divisions by season’s end.
On Thursday morning, it was announced that Tim Tebow, the polarizing quarterback who hasn’t touched a football in any way that matters since 2012, signed with the New York Mets to play minor league baseball. Based on the early reviews of the move, it appears Tebow is no less polarizing as a baseball player.
In an unusual parallel, across the sporting landscape in a dark corner where fringe meets niche, a similar story unfolds on Saturday night: Pro wrestler CM Punk will make his professional MMA debut when he fights Mickey Gall at UFC 203, with no meaningful qualifications beyond fame and fandom of the sport.
The case of Tebow is one of a freak athlete and genuine cultural phenomenon looking to find a place deep in the minor leagues and work his way up. The online hate and hot takes he generates are much more about him as a guy—the bible thumping, the swagger, the passion of those who love him—than the athlete.
Physically speaking, he’s undeniable. A bear of a man with fast-twitch fibers to burn, toughness and leadership qualities, no one would ever suggest he’s not an athlete. They may not be sure he’s a baseball player, but he’s raw and toolsy, and if he was 10 years younger, he’d probably be taken in the earlier rounds of the MLB draft. He’s everything a scout looks at and salivates over.
The case of Punk, real name Phil Brooks, is grossly different.
Punk is 38 years old, battered and broken from years as a professional wrestler, and he’s not fooling anyone about being past his athletic prime. He’s almost entirely guts at this point, willing himself through two years of preparation just to see if he can win a fistfight at the highest level. Some people love him and others hate him, but it’s hard not to respect him.
But with all of that considered, people generally seem more open to Tebow as a baseball player than to Punk as a mixed martial artist. One can’t help but wonder why that’s the case.
If it’s not the athletic merits of the two, perhaps it’s the road each is travelling in their respective new careers.
Tebow, if he’s ever going to make it to The Show, will do so by proving he can hit at the minor league level and also adopting a position and fielding it adequately. Punk is already at the top of the game, essentially walking out of some hard training sessions in a Milwaukee gym and into the shark tank of the toughest division in the toughest sport in the world.
It’s not hard to see how some might ruffle at that.
If not the roads travelled, maybe it’s the level of respect each would have gotten in their prior athletic pursuits.
Tebow made his bones in America’s game, continually winning The Big Game at every level he played, often in the face of long odds and numerous doubters. Again, not everyone loves him, but no one would ever deny his athletic prowess and the legitimate decoration it’s garnered him.
Punk was, comparatively, a phony in the eyes of many. A fake. People see pro wrestlers and believe that a predetermined outcome cheapens the athletic feats of those performing. They ignore the nightly physical toll of the game, to say nothing of the baseline strength and agility it takes to perform at the highest levels.
Still, if one were committed to that comparison, you could see how they might make the argument.
And if it’s neither of those things? Well maybe it’s just the fans themselves.
Baseball is a game that’s so deep and so challenging that a team giving up a minor league roster spot to try out a celebrity vanity project is almost irrelevant—especially in September, especially for a team in the hunt for a Wild Card spot like the Mets are. Fans just can’t commit the energy to caring about who’s reporting to the Arizona Fall League, and outside of a guy who might be losing a roster spot to Tebow, the limited grumbling about the signing reflects as much.
MMA is newer; it’s more aggressively defended by those who love it. Most who do are still raw from notable public figures denying its merits, politicians muddying the waters of its legitimacy and mainstream media treating it as a sideshow. It was relegated to internet chat rooms long before it was a billion-dollar industry, and fans often still treat it as such. That an outsider like Punk could walk into the top promotion and call his shots is almost personally offensive to some of those fans who’ve been around since the dark ages.
Regardless of the stance a person is taking, though, in the face of all of this, the stories themselves are not grossly different from one another: A guy with a degree of athletic fame in another walk of life is looking for a fresh start in a new endeavor.
The rest of it, including how people react and why, isn’t that important. If the athletes themselves are happy and someone is willing to pay them for it, the differences in cultures surrounding the two sports and the backlash generated within those cultures should be the last thing on anyone’s mind.
Follow me on Twitter @matthewjryder!
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It’s September, folks, and things are getting weird.
The New York Yankees sold at the trade deadline, and now they’re postseason contenders.
The New York Mets gave an actual minor league contract to Tim Tebow, a 29-year-old ex-NFL quarterback who hasn’t played baseball competitively since high school.
It’s an even year, but the San Francisco Giants are sinking like a kettlebell in quicksand.
Up is down, night is day.
Thankfully, you’ve got another edition of Bleacher Report’s MLB Team of the Week to keep you grounded. The names change, but the rules remain the same: Here are 10 players—one per position, including a starting pitcher and designated hitter—who busted box scores over the past seven days.
To qualify, a player needs to have made at least two starts at the position in question or one start in the case of pitchers. And while this is primarily about individual output, we award extra credit for flashy stats that led to ticks in the win column.
Limber up your commenting muscles and proceed when ready.
New York Mets third baseman Jose Reyes enjoyed a pair of big performances Tuesday and Wednesday against the Cincinnati Reds, becoming the first player all season to record back-to-back games in which he both hit a home run and stole a base, per ESPN Stats & Info.
Following a day off Thursday, the 33-year-old infielder will look to make it three games in a row—however unlikely that may be—when the Mets start a three-game road series against the hapless Atlanta Braves on Friday.
Best known for his first tenure with the Mets, which lasted from 2003 to 2011, the former All-Star played for three different teams between 2012 and 2015, spending time with the Miami Marlins, Toronto Blue Jays and Colorado Rockies.
Coming off a down 2015 season and facing an extended suspension for a domestic violence incident, Reyes seemed to be in serious danger of falling off the MLB radar this year, despite having two seasons remaining on the six-year contract he signed with the Marlins prior to the 2012 campaign.
Eventually released by the Rockies back in late June, Reyes rejoined the Mets on a minor league contract shortly thereafter, with the team apparently undeterred by his troubling domestic violence incident.
The move has worked out splendidly if assessed purely from an on-field perspective, as Reyes boasts a .287 batting average, .341 on-base percentage and .485 slugging percentage, with six home runs, 30 runs, 15 RBI and eight stolen bases in 40 games (167 at-bats).
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The New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Rays combined for an unusual feat in Thursday’s game at Yankee Stadium, playing the first MLB contest all season that included multi-homer efforts from three different players, per Elias Sports Bureau (via ESPN Stats & Info).
Completing the feat were Yankees catcher Brian McCann, Rays outfielder Kevin Kiermaier and Rays outfielder Steven Souza, with each player contributing two apiece.
Yankees first baseman Tyler Austin also went deep for a walk-off win at the bottom of the ninth inning, but despite the total of seven home runs, Thursday’s game ended with a reasonable 5-4 score in favor of the Bronx Bombers.
Each of the seven homers was a solo job, with the game’s other two runs—both scored by New York—coming on an RBI single and an error at the bottom of the first inning.
Prior to Thursday, it had been more than two years since any MLB game featured three multi-homer performances, dating back to May 23, 2014, when Giancarlo Stanton, Mark Reynolds and Garrett Jones did the honors in a 9-5 victory for the Milwaukee Brewers over the Miami Marlins, per ESPN Stats & Info.
Thursday’s victory was the fifth in a row for a surging Yankees team that finds itself right in the thick of the American League playoff hunt, despite selling off a number of veteran players before the trade deadline.
New York is now just four games behind the Boston Red Sox for first place in the American League East, and only two games behind the Baltimore Orioles for the final wild-card spot.
Tampa Bay, on the other hand, owns the AL’s second-worst record, sitting at 59-80 after Thursday’s tough loss.
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In a vacuum, news that Washington Nationals starting pitcher Stephen Strasburg has strained the flexor mass in his right elbow might seem like a gut punch to the team’s hopes of winning the World Series.
Strasburg is, after all, a former No. 1 overall pick who has looked every bit an ace through much of the 2016 season.
Though Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post reports that Washington’s righty may not be done for the year, it’s only reasonable to look at the worst-case scenario, one in which Strasburg is unable to pitch again in 2016.
And you know something? It doesn’t look all that bad.
Throughout the season, the Nationals have boasted one of MLB‘s best starting staffs. Washington’s starters have an ERA of 3.57, third in the majors.
Sure, Strasburg has been part of that. But it’s more a credit to the depth of a staff that includes players such as Max Scherzer (2.88 ERA), Tanner Roark (2.89 ERA) and the currently injured Joe Ross (3.49 ERA).
The Nationals hold an eight-game lead in the NL East, so there’s little concern about whether this team will get to the playoffs. The worry is whether Strasburg’s absence will be felt in October.
But what the players on this staff have proved—particularly Scherzer and Roark—is that they’re capable of filling the void in the rotation. Scherzer leads baseball with a 0.92 WHIP and was considered Washington’s ace even before the Strasburg injury. Roark’s 1.18 WHIP is only marginally worse than Strasburg’s 1.10.
While Strasburg’s record of 15 wins ranks second on the team, that’s partially because he’s getting an NL-best 6.50 runs of support per start. Several players, including Nationals back-end starters Gio Gonzalez (4.40 ERA) and A.J. Cole (4.56 ERA), are capable of holding a team under six runs.
Most starters’ seasons would look good with that kind of run support.
The Nationals have scored the fourth-most runs in the NL, so it’s reasonable to assume whichever starter is on the mound will get support from the team’s offense.
But a team only needs two dominant starters to win a playoff series. They have that in Scherzer and Roark.
In the five-game division series, a team’s top two starters are always scheduled to pitch three of those games. That’s all you need to win. So if Scherzer and Roark both pitch well, Washington shouldn’t have any concerns about winning the NLDS.
In a seven-game championship series, a similar scenario would play out. Scherzer and Roark would be scheduled to pitch at least four games in a seven-game set—the exact number a team needs to advance.
Baseball has seen such a scenario play out. The pitching duo of Curt Schilling and Randy Johnson combined to start five games in the 2001 World Series, leading the Arizona Diamondbacks in a seven-game win over the New York Yankees.
They are Hall of Fame-caliber pitchers. But Schilling had a 2.98 ERA that season, worse than either Scherzer or Roark’s total.
It puts more pressure on the Washington duo, for sure. But they’re capable. And even if they falter, Nationals manager Dusty Baker holds an ace in his pocket: the team’s bullpen.
Washington’s relievers have been just as good as their starting counterparts. The unit’s 3.28 ERA ranks second in MLB among bullpens.
The Nationals have three relievers—Matt Belisle (1.88), Sammy Solis (2.35) and Blake Treinen (2.44)—who have made at least 30 appearances for the club and have ERAs under 3.00.
The group is an insurance policy that can easily be cashed in to pitch the last five innings of an important playoff game. Baseball saw the Kansas City Royals win the World Series last year with the game’s best bullpen.
Any time a pitcher like Strasburg gets injured, it makes the team worse. But assessing the damage of his loss isn’t found in comparing the Nats to where they were when he was playing at his peak.
Come October, the Nationals won’t be looking in the mirror. They’ll be staring down other NL teams.
The doomsday scenario can be answered by asking this simple question: Do the Nationals still have the pieces to win?
Before Strasburg was hurt, it seemed Washington had more than enough to win a World Series. Without Strasburg, the team might have just enough.
But it’s all the same if the season ends with a trophy.
Seth Gruen is a national baseball columnist for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter: @SethGruen.
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Los Angeles Angels designated hitter Albert Pujols enters Friday’s game against the Texas Rangers with 29 home runs for the season, needing just one more to become the fourth player in major league history to record 14 or more seasons with 30 or more home runs, per Sportsnet Stats.
Already universally regarded as one of the best right-handed batters of all time, the 36-year-old slugger should soon find himself in rather fine company, joining Hank Aaron (15 30-plus-homer seasons), Alex Rodriguez (15) and Barry Bonds (14), per Baseball Almanac.
Pujols has had 13 such seasons, tying him with Babe Ruth and Mike Schmidt for fourth-most in major league history.
While still productive in the power department, the Angels’ high-priced DH has otherwise seen his production tail off, even after accounting for his recent hot streak.
His .271 batting average would be solid for most players, but it pales in comparison to his .310 career mark, and the same can be said for his .328 on-base percentage (career .393) and .468 slugging percentage (career .574).
However, if he’s merely being judged by his standards since leaving the St. Louis Cardinals after the 2011 season, this has arguably been Pujols’ best campaign in an Angels uniform.
His 110 RBI are already the most he’s recorded since 2010, and his .796 OPS would represent his best mark since his inaugural season in Los Angeles.
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The MLB playoff push is reaching a fever pitch, but the minor league playoffs are underway at most levels. As such, it’s a good time to look at the breakout prospects of 2016.
Every team has a handful of elite prospects that casual fans know by name, but without fail there are always a handful of relatively unknown players in each system who push their way into the top-prospect conversation.
Whether they’re from a talented player returning from injury, a promising prospect repeating a level with increased success or a low-level minor leaguer turning raw tools into on-field production, breakout performances come in all shapes and sizes.
So here’s a look at each club’s biggest breakout prospect of 2016, as well as a few honorable mentions also worth keeping an eye on.
Note: Preseason prospect rankings refer to the 2016 Baseball America Prospect Handbook.