MLB

Phillies 12, Angels 7

The Phillies’ fortunes have really changed lately, thanks in part to the club winning nine of its past 12 games. If Philadelphia returns to the postseason, which seems to be nearly a sure bet right now, the team’s lineup should make it a dangerous opponent. In this game, the Phillies mashed five homers, including Kyle Schwarber’s 37th of the season.

Yesterday was confirmation that the Angels’ aggressive trade deadline approach was wrong. Not only did Los Angeles drop to 63-70, but the club also placed five players on waivers, including Lucas Giolito, the Angels’ biggest acquisition in late July.

Yankees 4, Tigers 2

At 64-68, it’s been an unusually down year for the Yankees, but Anthony Volpe is giving the team something to look forward to for 2024. The rookie hit his 19th home run of the season last night, and has an OPS solidly over .800 for the month of August. New York may be in a transition period as an organization, but Volpe is a nice building block.

The Javier Baez situation is getting uncomfortable in Detroit. Baez has struggled to hit in his two seasons as a Tiger, and as a result, he’s been dropped to eighth in A.J. Hinch’s lineup. Baez went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts last night, dropping his OPS to .581.

Rays 11, Marlins 2

Isaac Paredes hit 20 home runs for the Rays a year ago in a decent sample size, but it wasn’t clear if the third baseman would be able to repeat that accomplishment in 2023. With 27 long balls this season, Paredes has obviously been up to the task, and he’s just one of a number of unheralded Rays that have combined to from an explosive lineup.

It’s pretty ironic that once the Marlins began to field a solid lineup featuring the likes of Luis Arraez, Jorge Soler, Josh Bell, Jazz Chisholm and Jake Burger, the team began crashing down to Earth. After this loss, Miami is now 66-66, which is still not quite reflective of the Marlins’ -57 run differential.