Listen, we know it’s tough to catch up on everything happening in the baseball world each morning. There are all kinds of stories, rumors, game coverage, and Vines of dudes getting hit in the beans every day. Trying to find all of it while on your way to work or sitting at your desk just isn’t easy. It’s okay, though, we’re going to do the heavy lifting for you each morning, and find the things you need to see from within the SB Nation baseball network as well as from elsewhere. Please hold your applause until the end, or at least until after you subscribe to the newsletter.
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None of the 10 MLB playoff spots have been officially decided yet, but with just a few weeks to go and some leads much larger than others, we have a pretty good idea of who is going to be in the postseason. Barring a major collapse, the Royals and Dodgers will win their divisions, and then teams like the Yankees, Blue Jays, Cardinals and Pirates look like locks to make it either through their divisions or the Wild Card. There is one spot that is undeniably still up for grabs, though, and that’s the second AL Wild Card. The Rangers and Twins are separated by just 1.5 games, with the Angels still lurking at 3.5 back, too.
Both Texas and Minnesota were victorious on Monday, with the Rangers shutting out the Mariners and the Twins besting the Central-leading Royals. It’s unclear which of the two teams is actually better, as they have both been outscored on the season and should probably be under .500, but they also both made major upgrades midseason that changed their teams: the Rangers traded for Cole Hamels, while the Twins brought up Miguel Sano. Hamels needs no introduction, of course, but the rookie Sano has managed to crush 15 homers in 56 games and owns a 159 OPS+ on the season.
The Rangers and Twin don’t face each other the rest of the season, as Minnesota is playing against AL Central opponents from here on out with the exception of one series against the Angels. The Rangers will face the Angels four more times, as well, so if Los Angeles plays things right, they might be the ones holding the Wild Card at season’s end. With so much of the rest of the playoff picture already painted, this two-team (and possibly three-team) race is a welcome one.
- Reds' minor leaguer Ray Chang played all nine positions on Monday, because his other option was to take the day off.
- Yankees' starter Nathan Eovaldi will miss at least two weeks thanks to elbow inflammation.
- Their current AL East rivals, the Blue Jays, might get rotation reinforcement from Marcus Stroman, who threw 79 pitches in his rehab start on Monday. He'll need to pitch better than that to be of use in the majors, but as we've seen from Stroman before, the ability is there.
- Are you sitting down? You must steel yourself for this shocking news: Marlins players are expressing displeasure with the team, and wish Jeffrey Loria would sell it.
- David Ortiz is three homers shy of 500 in his career, and he knows he'll succeed so long as he doesn't try to hit homers.
- The Dodgers keep on getting injured, with Yasmani Grandal and Jimmy Rollins the latest to get banged up.
- If you could pick one pitching prospect to build your team around, who would it be? Christopher Crawford asked around the industry for an answer.
- Bryce Harper was not happy with Nationals fans after Monday's game. Nationals fans are not happy with his comments.
- Grumpy Cat threw out the first pitch before the D-Backs' game. Well, the cat didn't throw the pitch, but still, Grumpy got all dressed up for the occasion and the photos and video are adorable.
- Rockies pitcher Kyle Kendrick hit his first career homer, so now he's only 170 dingers behind what he's allowed in his career.
- Would you like to see Caleb Joseph strike out then break his bat over his knee?
- The Mets subtweeted the hell out of Matt Harvey because we live in the future, people.
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