MLB

Cardinals 3, Orioles 1

MLB has been flush with excellent closers in 2024, and Ryan Helsley is right there with the best of them. St. Louis’ closer throws absolute heat, freezing helpless batters on a consistent basis. Helsley recorded save No. 15 in this game, a contest postponed to yesterday due to inclement weather.

The Orioles don’t struggle often, but I suppose an effective recipe to shutting down Baltimore is to limit the top five of its order. Yesterday, Gunnar Henderson, Adley Rutschman, Ryan O’Hearn, Jordan Westburg and Colton Cowser were all held hitless.

Twins 3, Nationals 2

Joey Gallo has posted some stunningly low batting averages throughout his career, but he may be poised to set a new low in 2024. The outfielder-turned-first baseman is just a .195 career hitter, but after going 0-for-4 yesterday, Gallo is batting a ghastly .126, which won’t play regardless of how much power a hitter has — sans some of the Steroid Era’s best sluggers.

Guardians 6, Mets 3

Cleveland isn’t the most talented team — at least on paper — but the Guardians keep on winning, and are now 33-17. The team’s bats have unquestionably overachieved, and Cleveland has a tremendous bullpen, one that won this game with its most important piece, Emmanuel Clase, sidelined after pitching three days in a row.

The Mets are fortunate the NL wild card race isn’t hyper competitive. At 21-28, the season would be slipping away from New York if that were the case. First-year manager Carlos Mendoza needs to get his club on track.

Cardinals 5, Orioles 4

The Cardinals finally have some momentum. St. Louis’ season got off to a rough start — a repeat of 2023 was starting to look likely — but the Redbirds have righted the ship and have now won eight of 10, including a sweep of the Orioles. The NL Central lacks a powerhouse, so the division is there for the taking for the 23-26 Cardinals.

James McCann has never been a heavy-walk guy, but through 72 plate appearances this year, the catcher has yet to walk. Baltimore doesn’t need much offensive production from McCann, but an increase from his .208 on-base percentage would be welcomed.

Angels 2, Astros 1

Tyler Anderson turned in an excellent 15-win 2022 campaign for the Dodgers, so his start to this season isn’t a shock, but it’s still been far better than the majority of his career. The 34-year-old is in the middle of a three-year, $39 million contract, but the 20-30 Angels could consider moving him prior to the July 30th trade deadline.

Alex Bregman’s struggles this season are very ill-timed. The accomplished third baseman is due to be a free agent this winter, and his value has surely dipped at least slightly on the heels of his .209/.277/.330 line to this point. Bregman will get at least a little better — his career OPS of .849 is strong.

Royals 8, Tigers 3

I don’t think it can be argued that the 32-19 Royals are this season’s biggest positive surprise. Most prognosticators were down on Kansas City entering 2024, mainly because the talent pipeline wasn’t producing enough MLB-level players. That’s proven to be untrue, and amongst the Royals collection of talent is the face of the franchise, Bobby Witt Jr. The 23-year-old had another good game yesterday, going 2-for-4 with two RBI.

The 23-26 Tigers, losers of four in a row, are slipping and probably can’t afford to. Detroit is in a tough spot with Spencer Torkelson, who took an encouraging step forward in 2023, but has regressed back to a .617 OPS this season. The Tigers should definitely stick with the young first baseman — his status as a former top prospect and 2023 production give him value — but he needs to turn it up a few notches for the Tigers.