The Big Story – Sox and Yanks Do Battle: Well, it wasn’t much of a battle, as the Sox won three of four over the weekend in NY. That made it six of the last seven vs. their rivals and 8-2 overall in 2025. We start the week with the Sox in the top wild card spot by a half game at 71 and 60. Next up is playing 16 straight games against bottom-feeding Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Arizona, Oakland and under .500 Cleveland. If they take care of business, they’ll give themselves a cushion by the time they see the Yanks next on Sept. 12. The only caution is nine of the games are on the road, where they’re 30-35 in 2025.
Sports 101: What MLB team has had the most no-hitters broken up in the ninth inning?
News Item – Pats’ Pre-season Game 3: They lost. No one of interest played. Being forced to pay full price for a ticket to that game was a joke because it told us absolutely nothing.
News Item – Juan Soto: I know few in these parts care about the NL. But after the Mets outbid the Yankees and (supposedly) Red Sox let’s take a look at the impact his 32 homers, 76 RBI and .249 average has had on the team. In the Bronx, even though they’re just a half game behind Boston, the team that went to the 2024 World Series is considered a mess by the media and fans alike. In Flushing it’s had less impact than you’d think. At the moment the Mets’ record is 69-60 for a .539 winning percentage. That’s lower than last year’s .549 WP in an 89-73 season. However, it’s a different story at the box office as with a month still left to go in the season their attendance stands about 200,000 ahead of 2024 at 2,522,264 compared to 2,329,299, while the Yanks are down 522,000 with 15 home dates left.
The Numbers:
49 – after hitting two Sunday homers, Seattle’s Cal Raleigh has moved past Salvador Perez for most by anyone who caught 50 percent of his games, and with 40 he’s two behind Javy Lopez’s record 42 while just catching.
14 – career high and AL leading wins for Garrett Crochet against five losses with a MLB-leading 207 k’s and a second best in the AL 2.38 ERA.
… Of the Week Awards
Alumni News: Mookie Betts: Starting with his lingering illness this spring that has him still looking to find his stroke in late August, it’s been a rough year for the Mookster, as in a career-worst year where he’s hitting .244 with 13 homers and just 54 RBI.
History Made – Yankees: The Yanks matched their own record set earlier this year with nine homers in a 13-3 drubbing of Tampa Bay. Most notable was Aaron Judge hitting his 40th, Cody Bellinger and Giancarlo Stanton each hitting two and that trio starting off the game with back-to-back-to-back homers to give them a 3-0 lead after just four batters.
Random Thoughts: Alex Cora is going to have to explain to me why taking one of the fastest and most dangerous men on the bases in baseball out of the leadoff spot to bat Jarren Duran in the power third spot and put the more powerful Roman Anthony at leadoff makes sense. However, from the RBI perspective, moving Ceddanne Rafaela back to ninth to hit in front of both guys makes a lot of sense, as does moving Rafaela and Duran to 8 and 9 respectively if you want Anthony’s .400+ OBP since July 1 at the top of the order.
What makes the Brewers having the best record in baseball even more impressive is that they have the 11th-lowest payroll in the NL.
Sports 101 Answer – The all-time leader for ninth-inning no-no’s broken up against their pitchers is Cleveland with 11 after Soto homered to break up Gavin Williams’ bid with one out in Cleveland’s 4-1 over the Mets two weeks ago.
Final Thought – Waiting For Jerry Jones’ Latest Contract Screw-up: It’ll probably wind up just costing the Cowboys owner a lot more money than it should have instead of what it would have if he’d gotten it done earlier. But if it doesn’t and Micah Parsons goes on the trade block the Patriots should be ready to open the wallet and give up two first-round picks and other later picks if needed, as I stand by what I said prior to the draft: that the Patriots should have done what was needed to move up to get Penn State edge rusher Abdul Carter. An elite pass rusher added to what they brought in during free agency would likely have made them a Top 5 defense. Parsons would do that on Day 1. So they should be ready to act if they get lucky and he becomes available.
Email Dave Long at dlong@hippopress.com.