Mondays mean Power Rankings on the Barstool Baseball page.
It’s a panel-based show with the absolute-most-informed MLB guys I know at work.
Klemmer is practically a HOF voter.
We pick 3 teams to homer a night.
It’s usually priced like +130 to +200.
Super juicy value fellas.
- There’s maybe 6 very good teams in baseball right now?
The Mariners have the deepest staff in baseball and that’s without a Cy Young winner.
The Padres have by far the most talented 4-man core to build around.
The Angels the 2 best players in the World.
None of these teams would make the playoffs today and that’s crazy on May 15th.
At the time of this blog, I am now WRONG.Suck on that Carl you drunk wrong pussy!
The Rangers now lead MLB with 6.35 runs/9 while Tampa has plummeted to 6.19.
He’s baseball’s MOST SHIFTED player at 99% last 3-seasons.
- The Braves might travel Too Much in that case.
They’re 2nd in Road OPS but 10th in Home OPS.
- I’m a Cubs fan so let’s shit on their futility for a second.
The pitching staff throws about 90mph, on average.
Heading into the season that was a big question mark and turns out I was wrong, again.
The pitching staff has been a tremendous strength, pitching to contact and managing the new game very well.
Nobody and I mean nobody leaves more hitters on base than the Cubs.
Every inning there’s someone on base.
They average almost 8 batters LOB per game.
Sometimes you don’t even get 8 baserunners and the Cubs are AVERAGING that many left on.
Good thing - they’re getting runners on base.
Some of you real shitty teams out there are still trying to solve that problem.
So count your blessings as they come up.
Bad thing - need to score more runs to win more baseball games.
- One of you guys just puked thinking about RBI’s.
I’m mostly fucking around when I say they’re important.
But then a small yet deeply influential voice tells me it matters because it matters to the players.
When the statistics matter to players, they should matter to us.
Maybe not the full weight of a Bill James.
But we should recognize the stuff that matters to players.
Like if Starting Pitchers still get mad about hanging losses then we should talk about that.
Jordan Lyles is 0-7 with a 7.14 ERA
That felt good.
- The AL East still has 5 teams over .500.
But did you know the Red Sox have the 2nd best team OPS in the last 30 days?
Sure it probably blows seeing Nathan Eovaldi carve and slice for Texas.
One thing really working in his favor is this league-wide trend to emphasize horizontal break on offspeed.
Historically the emphasis has been on “depth” which is lingo for getting the ball to drop vertically.
The higher that angle, the more the break, the harder the pitch is to hit.
This is a newer way of looking at offspeed.
What you’ve understood to be NASTY over the years has been adjusted against by the league.
Tight hard sliders and two-seam fastballs still get shit on.
He might have some of the best Horizontal Approach Angle data of his generation without even knowing it.
- I need to go back to the Braves for a minute.
They have a team OPS of .941 against Left Handed pitching.
Acuna certainly helps but NINE FORTY ONE?
The fuck is going on with these Braves.
- The Braves are the best and the Brewers are The Worst.
They’ve got a .681 team OPS against lefties.
Ha-seong Kim has a .680 OPS so your entire lineup is basically a light hitting middle infielder against lefties.
Make the playoffs all you want but someone needs to hold the front office accountable.
I got at least two buddies who went to Whitewater who can handle a lefty.
- MIKE TROUT WATCH: lol nobody cares.
I tried that before and people just yawn because they know it’s something remarkable that ultimately means nothing.
Like the world’s best quarterback is under center for the Toronto Argonauts.
Makes me sick thinking about it.
Are you nervous about Mike Trout?
Let’s go back to the Braves for a second.
I just want to repeat their team OPS against lefties is .941.
If yours didn’t make the list this week, I sincerely mean it: Good Luck.
I need the Red Sox or Astros to make a run this week and spice things up.
PODCAST
We’ll talk about a lot of stuff this week on Barstool Baseball.
Pirates expert Nick Turani will be joining me and Klemmer on Wednesday with a special edition American League Friday.
Right now you might get our Monday Power Ranking show available here:
