playing at an MVP level<\/a>, and despite the dreadful start, the Astros are just three games out in the AL West.\u00a0<\/p>\nA series win this weekend over the back-to-back champion Dodgers was promising. Shane Baz has a sub-3.00 ERA over his past seven starts, Trevor Rogers has a 2.22 ERA in June, and Brandon Young is emerging as another effective piece in a rotation that needs these things to happen.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Josh Jung looks like one of the best third basemen in the American League in a bounce-back season, and Wyatt Langford is on fire right now. Both are vital developments that need to continue.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Nick Kurtz has nine home runs in June alone, the offense is finally waking up as a whole, and 2024 second-round pick Gage Jump already looks like a difference-maker in the rotation.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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After his recent power surge, Nick Kurtz leads all of MLB in RBIs. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson\/Getty Images) <\/p>\n
Elly De La Cruz and Hunter Greene are both on rehab assignments, meaning their returns are drawing near. A rotation featuring Greene, Chase Burns and Andrew Abbott could allow Cincinnati to dream.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Dylan Cease looks like one of the best starters in the American League, Louis Varland has emerged as one of the best relievers in the AL, George Springer has looked much better lately, and Shane Bieber and Addison Barger are getting close to a return. The Blue Jays just have to get Vlad going.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A year ago, the Pirates ranked last in MLB in OPS and runs scored. This year, they rank fourth in both categories.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The offense has yet to play to its capabilities, yet the D-backs are still over .500. Gabriel Moreno, Corbin Carroll, Geraldo Perdomo and Ketel Marte all have an OPS over .800 over the past two weeks, so maybe this is a turning point.\u00a0<\/p>\n
They have the most dominant closer in the game in Mason Miller, Fernando Tatis Jr. and Jackson Merrill are showing signs of a turnaround, and Walker Buehler has a 1.71 ERA in four June starts. It\u2019s hard to imagine Tatis being a league-average hitter all year.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Though he still has only two home runs on the season, Fernando Tatis Jr. is batting .362 over the past 30 days. (Photo by Joe Robbins\/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) <\/p>\n
The Fish are flyin\u2019. They\u2019ve won 14 of their last 18 games, they have All-Star contenders at both middle infield spots, and now Kyle Stowers, an All-Star last year with 25 home runs, is finally getting going. If starter Eury Perez finds his way again after a stint on the injured list, maybe this team ends up becoming a buyer.\u00a0<\/p>\n
For all of their weaknesses on the pitching side, their offense is legit. The Nationals have scored more runs than any other team in MLB.<\/p>\n
Pete Crow-Armstrong is on fire, the rotation should get Matthew Boyd and Justin Steele back in the second half, and there are too many talented pieces for this offense to not be one of the best in baseball, right? \u2026 Right?\u00a0<\/p>\n
For all that has gone wrong \u2014 Cal Raleigh has a .560 OPS, Andres Munoz and Luis Castillo both have ERAs over 5.00, Brendan Donovan hasn\u2019t played in a month, the offense ranks 24th in OPS \u2014 the Mariners are still in first place. You have to imagine the best is ahead.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It has been a rough June in Cleveland, and injuries to Jose Ramirez, Chase DeLauter and Angel Martinez haven\u2019t made things easier. But Rookie of the Year contenders Travis Bazzana and Parker Messick might be capable of carrying the group until reinforcements are back.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The reasons for optimism on the South Side are obvious and numerous. The rebuild is happening faster than anyone could\u2019ve envisioned, and let\u2019s remember the White Sox have done all this without Kyle Teel, their top catching prospect who hasn’t played yet this season due to hamstring and knee injuries. He doesn\u2019t seem far off. The returns of Teel and slugger Munetaka Murakami should provide a second-half boost.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Cardinals’ rotation ranks 11th in ERA, which is far better than anyone could have imagined. If that group can hold up, an offense led by Jordan Walker, Alec Burleson, Ivan Herrera and standout rookie JJ Wetherholt should continue to surpass expectations. The Cardinals have the third-highest expected batting average in MLB.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Their starters rank second in the American League in ERA, and their offense continually puts the ball in play with the lowest whiff rate in MLB. Despite the lack of pop in the lineup, it\u2019s a strategy that\u2019s working. FanGraphs gives the Rays an 85.2% chance to make the playoffs.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Over the past 30 days, Cristopher S\u00e1nchez, Zack Wheeler and Jesus Luzardo are a combined 11-2 with a 2.45 ERA. With that trio atop the rotation, and with Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper hitting the way they are now, the Phillies can dream of October redemption.\u00a0<\/p>\n
No rush, Captain. The Yankees lost Aaron Judge at the end of May and still have a winning record in June. Ben Rice, Cody Bellinger and Paul Goldschmidt have picked up the offensive slack, and the rotation is arguably the best in baseball. This is clearly the best team in the American League.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Questions linger about whether there\u2019s enough offensive power to go on a deep October run, but Brice Turang has developed into a legitimate star, Jackson Chourio has an OPS hovering near .900, and no one will want to face the top pitching duo of Jacob Misiorowski and Kyle Harrison. Perhaps the way last year ended will motivate the Brewers to stray from convention, tap into their deep farm system at the deadline and land one of the best players on the market.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Braves have finally hit a roadblock in their bounce-back season, dropping seven of their past 10 games. The lack of depth in the rotation behind Chris Sale is starting to show, but they have a chance to patch that at the deadline. Their bullpen has been the best in baseball, they have multiple offensive All-Star hopefuls, and they haven\u2019t even gotten the best version of Ronald Acu\u00f1a Jr. yet. They need him healthy down the stretch.<\/p>\n
Mookie Betts is batting .218, Kyle Tucker is a league-average hitter, Will Smith is having the worst offensive season of his career, Teoscar Hern\u00e1ndez hasn\u2019t played in a month, Blake Snell has made one start all year, Tyler Glasnow hasn\u2019t pitched since early May, Edwin D\u00edaz has been out since the middle of April \u2026 and the Dodgers still have more wins than any other team in baseball. Imagine what they\u2019ll do when their best players are performing to their usual level. They feel inevitable.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In an MLB season in which far more has gone wrong than right for many of this year\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":753238,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[6097,48296,95951,305917,592,64,63,61898,5781,21598,5156,58086,82338,17856,14246,6099,263471,80590,81602,361142,5158,5256,7310,91434,51615,5260,118563,6108,32129,77924,6104,21596,41439,164960,5163,29671,91950,5261,5262,1187,102025,5159,2364,591,128516,1830,2704,2365,5160,5157,5162,85,2366,5161],"class_list":["post-753237","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-aaron-judge","tag-addison-barger","tag-alec-burleson","tag-andres-munoz","tag-arizona-diamondbacks","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-ben-rice","tag-blake-snell","tag-bo-bichette","tag-boston-red-sox","tag-brice-turang","tag-bryce-eldridge","tag-bryce-harper","tag-byron-buxton","tag-cal-raleigh","tag-carson-benge","tag-casey-mize","tag-casey-schmitt","tag-charlie-condon","tag-chicago-cubs","tag-chicago-white-sox","tag-cody-bellinger","tag-connelly-early","tag-corbin-carroll","tag-detroit-tigers","tag-dillon-dingler","tag-dylan-cease","tag-edwin-diaz","tag-gabriel-moreno","tag-garrett-crochet","tag-george-springer","tag-geraldo-perdomo","tag-gleyber-torres","tag-houston-astros","tag-hunter-brown","tag-hunter-greene","tag-kansas-city-royals","tag-los-angeles-angels","tag-los-angeles-dodgers","tag-luis-castillo","tag-milwaukee-brewers","tag-minnesota-twins","tag-mlb","tag-munetaka-murakami","tag-new-york-mets","tag-new-york-yankees","tag-philadelphia-phillies","tag-pittsburgh-pirates","tag-san-francisco-giants","tag-seattle-mariners","tag-sports","tag-st-louis-cardinals","tag-toronto-blue-jays"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/753237","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=753237"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/753237\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/753238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=753237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=753237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=753237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}