This week in the Corner we look at how the long season has affected some teams who looked primed for a playoff run, but now not so much.  The September 1st call ups have entered and some early returns are being paid on investment.  Surprisingly the waiver trade deadline came and went with no significant moves to note.  Look for playoff previews for the Wildcard and Divisional rounds of the playoffs soon. 

 

 

The Milwaukee Brewers seem to finally have lost the horseshoe they had tucked away at Miller Park this year as the St. Louis Cardinals finally overtook them for the division lead.  The Brew Crew lost starter Matt Garza for a month but he isn’t the reason they have slid, reliever Mike Fiers stepped in and went 4-1 in that span.  The bullpen has slipped some and prolonged slumps from Khris Davis among others have caused them to fall from the top.  They are now fighting with Atlanta for the final wildcard spot.  Even if they miss the playoffs this will be considered a step forward year for the team.  Ryan Braun has been booed on every road trip but has responded well and played well for the most part.  The additions of OF Gerardo Parra at the trade deadline and calling up rookie starter Jimmy Nelson haven’t swung the momentum back in their favor as losing 11-12 games all but sealed their demise.    

 

The Atlanta Braves are trying to play themselves out of the wildcard.  They took big pitching losses in spring training losing Brandon Beachy and Kris Medlen to Tommy John surgery, but came out of the gate firing on all cylinders and are looking to cling to the final wildcard ahead of the Pirates and Brewers.  The offense once again has gone cold late in the season and Julio Tehran and Ervin Santana have lost the luster from earlier in the year.  Case in point, they got no hit by the Phillies. 

Pittsburgh Pirates used their gas up just getting into the race.  An injury to star Andrew McCutchen in early August where the team went 5-9 stunted the cause.  He’s back now but the pitching doesn’t look as good as last year and that magic, much like Boston’s seems to be a thing of the past.  Francisco Liriano is 3-10, Charlie Morton is 5-12 and Gerrit Cole has spent time on the DL. 

 

One of these three teams will earn the final wildcard game and a trip to San Francisco even though each is trying not to for various reasons.  I’ll take the Pirates to get back to the post season for a 2nd straight year; the first time since the early 1990’s. 

 

The Detroit Tigers have seen their fortunes change in much the same fashion as the Brewers.  From opening day the Tiger’s bullpen has been suspect all the way down despite spending money on Joe Nathan and trading for Joakim Soria to stop the bleeding.  What they didn’t count on was Justin Verlander turning into a batting practice pitcher.  With an eye on next year, likely without Max Scherzer, the team traded for David Price at the deadline, but an injury to Anibal Sanchez mitigates that addition.  They are in a dog fight with the Royals for the division, and with the Mariners for the wild card with both races within a game in the standings.  Attrition may be the thing that keeps them on the outside looking in come October 1st. 

 

The Toronto Blue Jays were leading the division for much of the first half of the season, mostly due to Edwin Encarnacion’s huge power month of May and Mark Buerhle taking a bath in the fountain of youth.  Then EE got hurt for a month and Buerhle’s time at the spa came to an end.  The symbolic end to their playoff chase was when star Jose Bautista publicly questioned what direction the team and front office were going.  Surprisingly Jose Reyes has been healthy the whole year.  Closer Casey Janssen hasn’t helped matters post All-Star break. 

 

Texas Rangers manager Ron Washington resigned due to a personal matter.  He was adamant that his or his wife’s health is not the reason, and was more adamant that his 2009 cocaine relapse was not the reason for his resignation.  I’m willing to take him at his word.  Even though the Rangers own the worst record in baseball, next year they still have Yu Darvish, Prince Fielder, Derek Holland and Adrian Beltre back all at full health, so it’s not like this is a team in rebuild mode.  Good luck Wash.  Ex utility man Tim Bogar takes over for the rest of this season. 

 

 

Dodger prospect Joc Pederson is regarded as one of the best in all of baseball, and the can’t miss prospect received a promotion and has promptly gone 2-14 with 7 K’s.  Not quite the introduction he or the Dodgers hoped for.  On the other hand the Royals promoted Terrance Gore from AA, where he hit .221 in 106 games.  Not impressive? He had 47 stolen bases in the minors this year and in his 2nd game in the big leagues stole 3rd base and came home on a throwing error.  Speed kills, especially in this new era where home runs are not as plentiful.   Xavier Scruggs got the nod in St. Louis from AAA due to hitting .350 with a 1.088 OPS against left-handed pitchers this season.    Look for more guys like Gore and Scruggs to impact the last three weeks of the season and playoffs. 

 

 

No big moves as several teams put claims in on Bartolo Colon and Cole Hamels amongst others, but teams couldn’t come to terms and were pulled back.  Teams are generally hesitant to give up prospects for any reason, but when they have the exclusive opportunity without having to worry another team will offer more, like at the non-waiver deadline, there shouldn’t be the hesitation.  You like the guy and want him enough to claim him- don’t stop half way.  There is always the claim made to block other teams but this didn’t seem like one of those deadlines based on the teams that made claims on players.  Tampa yes that Tampa made a claim and attempted to add salary to their team, hey if Oakland can do it they can try too right?  Philadelphia is likely waiting until the offseason to fire GM Rueben Amaro before they start a rebuild that should have started two years ago.