Quick thoughts on each series over the front half of this week:
Los Angeles @ Oakland
Is Major League Baseball actually going to enforce their foreign substance rule for pitchers like they said they would? Trevor Bauer’s spin rate held steady from 2020 in his Dodgers debut. He pitches again on Wednesday.
Atlanta @ Washington
Hopefully there aren’t any new setbacks and this can get underway tomorrow as currently scheduled. If it does, fun matchup.
New York (NL) @ Philadelphia
More from the NL East. Always fun to see Jacob deGrom start. Curious if the juggled schedule will affect him at all. Also, full disclosure: I completely missed that the Phillies swept Atlanta. Whoa!
Tampa Bay @ Boston
The Red Sox aren’t really as bad as they looked against the Orioles…right?
Houston @ Anaheim
Well, hard to not focus on Shohei Ohtani after last night. Sounds like he’s good to go, but little things can last a long time, so hopefully he really is ok (he’s not supposed to be in the lineup tonight and that seems normal after a start on the mound, so don’t sweat it too much).
Milwaukee @ Chicago (NL)
The Brewers are kind of a de facto NL Central favorite. Or at least, so it seems to me. The Cubs aren’t out of the mix, though, and tonight’s is the first of nine meetings between the pair over the next three weeks. If one team sweeps the other this week, it’d be a pretty significant early setback for the latter.
Baltimore @ New York (AL)
Just as we expected: first-place Orioles, fourth-place Yankees. Enjoy this.
San Francisco @ San Diego
The Padres and Dodgers play a big portion of their games against the same three bottom-of-the-NL-West teams. I’ve said this before, but whichever team wins more of those easier games (emphasis on those last two letters—nothing’s all that easy in baseball) is going to have some space to work.
Minnesota @ Detroit
It feels like folks are sleeping on the Twins. Maybe I’m just out of the loop, or maybe the playoff futility’s weighing them down in the eyes of the people, but they’re the best team in their division.
Toronto @ Texas
Would be fun if the Blue Jays could give the Yankees a race. Enjoyed that set this weekend.
Chicago (AL) @ Seattle
Why would folks be sleeping on the Twins? Possibly because of the White Sox, who didn’t have great results in Anaheim but played fine (closer losses than the win).
Kansas City @ Cleveland
If Cleveland struggles like they did in Detroit, how significant of a selloff are we looking at?
Pittsburgh @ Cincinnati
If you’re going to win the NL Central, you don’t have to beat the Pirates.
But it would help.
St. Louis @ Miami
I’m biased against each, but it does seem these two teams are worse than most would think.
Arizona @ Colorado
Is it too early to say teams are playing out the string?
