Strikeouts for days, Yankees continue their reign, and the AL Central has two teams in the top five — just like we expected
It’s just the second week of the season, but teams are already battling hard for division leads — or maybe working to make up for a poor start. For White Sox fans checking in on everyone else, you might get discouraged about all of the good news our rivals are experiencing, but I assume we are way past that by now. I’m just the messenger!
Team Trends and Divisional Updates
The Kansas City Royals continued their hot start right into the second week, now 11-6 on the year with an MLB-high +39 run differential. They went on a seven-game win streak and jumped 12 spots in the MLB rankings, from 18 to sixth! They are also battling with the Cleveland Guardians for first place in the AL Central, and are just one game back from the American League-leading New York Yankees. And while they are in the middle of the pack in OPS, K.C. boasts the second-best team ERA at 2.86 — trailing only the Boston Red Sox.
The Kansas City Royals are 9-4 and have the third-best record in the American League behind the Yankees and Guardians. Kansas City has now won seven straight, sweeping the White Sox and Astros. Royals starters have a 1.96 ERA and have averaged the most innings per start in MLB.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) April 11, 2024
The New York Yankees maintain their dominance, leading the AL East and sporting the best record in baseball with 12 wins and a .706 win percentage. They have the third-best pitching staff in the league with a 2.93 ERA, and Anthony Volpe and Juan Soto have bolstered the offense with a 1.003 and .973 OPS.
Yankees fans experiencing Anthony Volpe’s breakout this season pic.twitter.com/BuIYcsyyP4
— Mike Salvatore (@MikeSalvatore10) April 15, 2024
There’s a tight race happening in the NL Central, with the Milwaukee Brewers and Pittsburgh Pirates tied for first, and the Chicago Cubs and Cincinnati Reds right on their heels. The Brewers rank second in the NL in OPS, and even the St. Louis Cardinals have stepped it up over the past week, with a 2.25 team ERA —best in baseball.
Dodgers:
Braves:
NL Central:FRESH POWER RANKINGS! @BenVerlander pic.twitter.com/O7sLzdJ6Lw
— Flippin’ Bats Podcast (@FlippinBatsPod) April 15, 2024
Top Performances of the Week
Tyler Glasnow tore up the Minnesota Twins with an incredible outing (three hits, and 14 strikeouts to match his career high). He now leads the NL with 34 Ks.
Jackson Holliday ended his 0-for-13 streak to start his career, driving a base hit on Sunday that sparked the game-winning rally for the Baltimore Orioles, extending their “avoiding the sweep” streak to 96 series — dating all the way back to 2022.
Jackson Holliday’s first Major League hit. pic.twitter.com/KUYOKOf8zN
— MLB (@MLB) April 14, 2024
Shota Imanaga was unstoppable once again and seems to be adjusting to MLB nicely. He shut down the Seattle Mariners on Saturday and boasts a shiny 0.00 ERA and a 0.717 WHIP after his first three starts.
Nice start to Shota Imanaga’s big league career: ERA 0.00 so far. Per @ESPNStatsInfo: He’s the 5th pitcher since 1913 to not allow an earned run in each of his first 3 MLB starts (min. 12 IP), joining: Andrew Abbott (2023)
Luis Gil (2021)
Mike Norris (1975)
Bernie Boland (1915)— Jesse Rogers (@JesseRogersESPN) April 14, 2024
Michael Busch has been on an absolute heater, blasting a homer in five straight games. He’s third in the NL in OPS, bolstered by an insane .731 slugging percentage.
Cedric Mullins had a web gem of a diving catch in center field, then followed it up with a two-run blast. He’s leading the Orioles with a .551 slugging percentage.
Andrew McCutchen clubbed his 300th career home run. We love a good Cutch bomb.
Andrew McCutchen joins the 300 home run club! pic.twitter.com/rdRtMPiBUF
— Baseball Quotes (@BaseballQuotes1) April 14, 2024
Oakland catcher Shea Langeliers had himself a three-homer game against the Rangers last week.
THREE-HOMER NIGHT FOR LANGELIERS AND THE A’S LEAD pic.twitter.com/EsWOrejYUl
— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) April 10, 2024
Pete Alonso picked himself up this past week, wreaking havoc with a 1.586 OPS over the last seven days, homering in back-to-back games to fuel a .429/.538/1.048 slash line.
Pete Alonso homers in back-to-back games and ties it for the Mets! pic.twitter.com/dCjcG8WsPy
— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) April 13, 2024
Who rode the struggle bus this week?
Chicago White Sox fans already knew it was going to be bad, but they’ve had a truly horrendous start to the year. They rank last in runs, slugging, home runs and OPS, second-to-last in walks, 25th in ERA, and are averaging just two runs a game with the worst run differential in baseball. You get the point — they are bad.
Two of their “core” guys, Andrew Vaughn and Andrew Benintendi, are in the Bottom 5 in slugging in the American League. It’s been a tough few weeks to be a dude named Andrew on the White Sox.
This is called “hitting for the cycle” https://t.co/ua7HoHKjjd
— Patrick Nolan (@SoxMach_pnoles) April 11, 2024
Oh, and they’ve been shut out six times already in just two weeks, matching a team you probably didn’t know existed, from 117 years ago.
The Chicago White Sox join the 1907 Brooklyn Superbas as the only teams in MLB history to be shut out six times in the first 16 games, per @CodifyBaseball
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) April 16, 2024
I don’t know if anyone knows what is going on in the AL West. The Houston Astros don’t seem to be panicking despite sitting in last place, likely because nobody is playing that well yet, and they are only three games behind the Texas Rangers. The Rangers are back on top for now, but they’ve been hovering at .500 and duking it out with the Los Angeles Angels. The Oakland A’s are a complete wild card, and are in third place ahead of … both the Astros and Mariners? Send help to the whole division.
The A’s are just 2 GB of the Rangers for first place in the AL West pic.twitter.com/s3L1DQqJ6n
— The Rickey Henderson of Blogs (@RickeyBlog) April 11, 2024
Sticking with the AL West, let’s talk about the Mariners. They are fighting to stay out of last in the division, they have the fifth-lowest team OPS (.618) in baseball, and it doesn’t seem to be getting better, as the team is batting just .206 over the last seven days. It also does not help that superstar Julio Rodríguez is slashing just .190/.250/.206, falling within the Bottom 10 of the league in OPS. Is it time to panic? Maybe!
The Miami Marlins’ second week was not much better than their first. They have just one more win than the White Sox (3-14) and rank second-to-last in OPS and slugging. And to make it worse, top slugger Jake Burger is headed to the IL. The pitching also hasn’t been much better (5.06 team ERA, fourth-worst in the league). The Marlins aren’t driving the struggle bus, but they are certainly second in command.
The Oakland A’s catcher hit 3 homers tonight
The Miami Marlins catcher have 1 hit the entire season https://t.co/iqPw7Av7yO
— Hot Whistle (@drillyamama) April 10, 2024
Injuries continue to sweep the league, and while some key players like Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer are due to return in the (relatively) near future, other players continue to go down:
- Boston’s Tyler O’Neill (leading the league in OPS) collided with Rafael Devers on Monday, requiring eight stitches on O’Neill’s eye and him entering concussion protocol.
- Spencer Strider officially had TJS to repair his elbow and he will be out for the rest of the season.
- Burger and Seiya Suzuki are some of the top players on their respective teams, however, both are headed to the IL with oblique strains.
Random MLB News
Nestor Cortes is going rogue on the mound again … what is this windup?
NEW NESTOR CORTES MOVE UNLOCKED! pic.twitter.com/d90G8iQwAC
— MLB (@MLB) April 14, 2024
The name “Naylor” tends to haunt White Sox fans, and for good reason, as both Naylor brothers went deep against them in the same inning. Ya hate to see it.
Josh and Bo Naylor both hit HRs in the SAME INNING on National Siblings Day
(via @MLB)pic.twitter.com/nPhiYwjm8I
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) April 10, 2024
Jurickson Profar and Will Smith exchanged words after Profar was almost hit by a pitch. Because it’s the Los Angeles Dodgers against the San Diego Padres, the benches cleared for some good old-fashioned yelling and shoving. Profar ended up going deep for the lead the next day. F*** around and find out, as the kids say.
Dodgers catcher Will Smith called Jurickson Profar “irrelevant” after they were at the center of a benches clearing incident yesterday
Profar just gave the Padres a three-run lead in the seventh pic.twitter.com/7tcDhMc68N
— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) April 15, 2024
The White Sox signed Tommy Pham for whatever reason, so perhaps now they can decrease their season loss total from 140 to 137.
Which White Sox do you want Tommy Pham to slap? https://t.co/DKue8ypb6h
— Chorizy-E (@chorizy) April 15, 2024
I very much appreciated this play and had to share. Shout-out to Lucas Erceg in a vague attempt to mimic Mark Buerhle.
We’ll see what Week 3 has in store!