Summer is Ending Soon - Time to Get to the Ballpark
This week marks the final turn to the home stretch for the Major League Baseball season.
Tuesday, July 31, is the MLB trade deadline. After that, rosters are pretty much locked beyond minor league ball players getting called up for a "cup of coffee" in September.
Once we get through the trade deadline, we are in the stretch run for baseball. August is definitely a baseball month -- a lot of teams still in contention and football hasn't captured our attention yet. It's the last month of summer and I like spending this month with friends, ice cold beverages, and baseball play-by-play in the background.
As we discussed two weeks ago, the National League race is tightly contested by many, and there are only a few teams competing for the five American League playoff invitations.
In the NL, the Los Angeles Dodgers acquired THE best player available this year, third baseman Manny Machado, formerly of the Baltimore Orioles -- big boost. The Chicago Cubs traded for Texas Rangers starting pitcher Cole Hamels and his World Series-winning pedigree, but folks like Paul Kasabian of the Bleacher Report will tell you he is a bust waiting to happen. Many are wondering if the Milwaukee Brewers are going to make a trade for a starting pitcher to help solidify their chances at a playoff spot.
I bet the Philadelphia Phillies, Cubs, and Dodgers will be your division champions, and the Brewers and Arizona Diamondbacks are one pace for the wild card slots. The Washington Nationals are primed for a "miss" this year, and the Atlanta Braves, Colorado Rockies, and San Francisco Giants all could snag a wild card with a late push. Milwaukee really needs to bolster that pitching staff by Tuesday or one of those western teams could catch them.
In the July 25 edition of the Washington Post, Neil Greenberg of the Washington Post told his readers that the second half of the American League season would be a "snooze fest." Thanks, Neil, I told my dozens of readers that 10 days earlier. But, now there is one thing to watch.
In the AL, the Boston Red Sox, Cleveland Indians, Houston Astros, and New York Yankees will take the three division titles and one of the wild card spots amongst them. That final wild card spot has become a dog fight between the Seattle Mariners and the Oakland Athletics. Neither team has made a significant move yet, and they both could use another quality pitcher. Look for these two on the transaction wire before Tuesday.
I am a Cincinnati Reds fan, and I will watch them more than any other team the rest of the way. I always cheer local, and will be watching and hoping the Nationals can play to their potential and compete for the World Series like they should (but are definitely not). Otherwise, I am pulling for the Mariners.
We had the great fortune of living in the Pacific Northwest for two years. If you check the map for Army installations, you can figure out we lived about an hour south of Seattle. So of course, I made getting up to Seattle for some sporting events a family thing.
I used to love going to Mariners games. Leftfield, second deck seats were cheap and the team was bad. That means we could run up there quick on a Sunday, park for pennies near Safeco Field, and get the whole family in at a reasonable cost.
Also, Seattle's Triple-A farm club was in Tacoma (Washington) -- an easy 30 minutes or less from our home. Both Seattle and Tacoma had daily newspapers with reporters that covered the beat of their local team. With that coverage and proximity, I knew the Mariners farm team-deep without even trying.
I hear what you are saying..."It rains all the time in Seattle. Games get cancelled." Nope, they got a roof on that humpy-bumpy. You buy a ticket. You are watching baseball.
And another thing, there are a ton of transplants around Seattle, just like D.C., but in the Pacific Northwest, people don't cling to their childhood roots. It seemed like everybody assimilated along the I-5 corridor. People get out there, get casual, get outdoors, get flannels, and just get into the PNW vibe.
The Seattle Seahawks won their first Super Bowl when we were in Washington state. Here along the Potomac, I have buddies that are Baltimore Ravens, New York Jets, and Denver Broncos fans. Yes, I have a small number of friends that are natives and like the Washington Rednecks, but out in Seattle -- it felt like the entire community bought in and cheered local.
When we were living near the Coffee Capital, I got a book about the Mariners, Shipwrecked: A People's History of the Seattle Mariners, by Jon Wells. Through reading that book I learned about broadcaster Dave Niehaus, another small group of people cheering a hapless team, and why a city would name a street after a baseball player that never played in the field. Man, I am getting all misty thinking about that whole Mariners community and feeling like I need to get my family through SeaTac Airport and up to Safeco next summer.
Check out Macklemore and Lewis' song My Oh My about the Mariners miraculous 1995 playoff run. I smile through the highlight reel in the first half of the video, and by the time the horn comes in at 2:11, I am feeling it deep.
Big month of baseball coming up. The Reds are improving, and the Nats are flailing, but I will be cool if we can just get the Mariners into the playoffs.
Note 1: Saturday we ended up going to have dinner with some family friends that we got to know real well during our time in Washington state. The host brews his own beer. Check out the name of the beer he poured for me...a little HOTPO Pilsner
Tuesday, July 31, is the MLB trade deadline. After that, rosters are pretty much locked beyond minor league ball players getting called up for a "cup of coffee" in September.
Once we get through the trade deadline, we are in the stretch run for baseball. August is definitely a baseball month -- a lot of teams still in contention and football hasn't captured our attention yet. It's the last month of summer and I like spending this month with friends, ice cold beverages, and baseball play-by-play in the background.
As we discussed two weeks ago, the National League race is tightly contested by many, and there are only a few teams competing for the five American League playoff invitations.
In the NL, the Los Angeles Dodgers acquired THE best player available this year, third baseman Manny Machado, formerly of the Baltimore Orioles -- big boost. The Chicago Cubs traded for Texas Rangers starting pitcher Cole Hamels and his World Series-winning pedigree, but folks like Paul Kasabian of the Bleacher Report will tell you he is a bust waiting to happen. Many are wondering if the Milwaukee Brewers are going to make a trade for a starting pitcher to help solidify their chances at a playoff spot.
I bet the Philadelphia Phillies, Cubs, and Dodgers will be your division champions, and the Brewers and Arizona Diamondbacks are one pace for the wild card slots. The Washington Nationals are primed for a "miss" this year, and the Atlanta Braves, Colorado Rockies, and San Francisco Giants all could snag a wild card with a late push. Milwaukee really needs to bolster that pitching staff by Tuesday or one of those western teams could catch them.
In the July 25 edition of the Washington Post, Neil Greenberg of the Washington Post told his readers that the second half of the American League season would be a "snooze fest." Thanks, Neil, I told my dozens of readers that 10 days earlier. But, now there is one thing to watch.
In the AL, the Boston Red Sox, Cleveland Indians, Houston Astros, and New York Yankees will take the three division titles and one of the wild card spots amongst them. That final wild card spot has become a dog fight between the Seattle Mariners and the Oakland Athletics. Neither team has made a significant move yet, and they both could use another quality pitcher. Look for these two on the transaction wire before Tuesday.
I am a Cincinnati Reds fan, and I will watch them more than any other team the rest of the way. I always cheer local, and will be watching and hoping the Nationals can play to their potential and compete for the World Series like they should (but are definitely not). Otherwise, I am pulling for the Mariners.
We had the great fortune of living in the Pacific Northwest for two years. If you check the map for Army installations, you can figure out we lived about an hour south of Seattle. So of course, I made getting up to Seattle for some sporting events a family thing.
I used to love going to Mariners games. Leftfield, second deck seats were cheap and the team was bad. That means we could run up there quick on a Sunday, park for pennies near Safeco Field, and get the whole family in at a reasonable cost.
Also, Seattle's Triple-A farm club was in Tacoma (Washington) -- an easy 30 minutes or less from our home. Both Seattle and Tacoma had daily newspapers with reporters that covered the beat of their local team. With that coverage and proximity, I knew the Mariners farm team-deep without even trying.
I hear what you are saying..."It rains all the time in Seattle. Games get cancelled." Nope, they got a roof on that humpy-bumpy. You buy a ticket. You are watching baseball.
Fathers' Day 2014 at Safeco Field in Seattle.
And another thing, there are a ton of transplants around Seattle, just like D.C., but in the Pacific Northwest, people don't cling to their childhood roots. It seemed like everybody assimilated along the I-5 corridor. People get out there, get casual, get outdoors, get flannels, and just get into the PNW vibe.
The Seattle Seahawks won their first Super Bowl when we were in Washington state. Here along the Potomac, I have buddies that are Baltimore Ravens, New York Jets, and Denver Broncos fans. Yes, I have a small number of friends that are natives and like the Washington Rednecks, but out in Seattle -- it felt like the entire community bought in and cheered local.
When we were living near the Coffee Capital, I got a book about the Mariners, Shipwrecked: A People's History of the Seattle Mariners, by Jon Wells. Through reading that book I learned about broadcaster Dave Niehaus, another small group of people cheering a hapless team, and why a city would name a street after a baseball player that never played in the field. Man, I am getting all misty thinking about that whole Mariners community and feeling like I need to get my family through SeaTac Airport and up to Safeco next summer.
One of my local sports history reads from our time in Washington state.
Check out Macklemore and Lewis' song My Oh My about the Mariners miraculous 1995 playoff run. I smile through the highlight reel in the first half of the video, and by the time the horn comes in at 2:11, I am feeling it deep.
Big month of baseball coming up. The Reds are improving, and the Nats are flailing, but I will be cool if we can just get the Mariners into the playoffs.
Note 1: Saturday we ended up going to have dinner with some family friends that we got to know real well during our time in Washington state. The host brews his own beer. Check out the name of the beer he poured for me...a little HOTPO Pilsner
Comments
Post a Comment