Sorry for the lack of an update last week. Life and work got in the way and, by the time I had the free time to write something up, it felt too late to push the weekly news round-up out the door. I can’t guarantee this won’t be a thing in the future, but I promise I’ll try to get these up consistently at the beginning of the week. Now, let’s take a look back at the biggest stories in MLB from the last week.

Are the Houston Astros in Danger?

One thing I and, likely, most fans didn’t have on their 2024 bingo cards was the Houston Astros falling flat on their faces to start the year. Cards on the table, I am not an Astros enjoyer (though I love Yordan Alvarez) and part of that comes from how frustratingly good they’ve been since 2017. They’ve won their division every year from then on save 2020 and have appeared in seven straight American League Championship Series.

So it’s inherently shocking when this team that has been seemingly undeterred by the losses of Carlos Correa, George Springer, Gerrit Cole, etc. all of a sudden blows a tire to start the season. As of writing, they are 10-19 and nearly lost to the Guardians after coughing up a five-run lead. If we’re focused on last week, it was a mixed bag. It seemed like they could potentially take a game or two against a hot but badly injured Chicago Cubs team, but that ended in a sweep. They did at least enjoy a couple of comfortable wins against the even worse Colorado Rockies, but that’s hardly an achievement for a team with yearly World Series aspirations.

So, what gives? Well, the big bugaboo for them is health, particularly with their pitching staff. Cristian Javier, Jose Urquidy, Lance McCullers Jr., Luis Garcia, and Kendall Graveman are just some of the names in the rotation and bullpen currently out of commission. The recent loss of Javier especially hurts after he twirled four gems to open the season, leaving his ERA at 1.54. They’ve really struggled to make up for that lost production too. Ronel Blanco has been a very pleasant surprise, but their pitching staff as a whole ranks 26th in baseball with a 4.92 ERA, ahead of only the sport’s most dreadful teams like the Angels, Rockies, White Sox, and Marlins. Add in underperformance from high-end bullpen arms like Ryan Pressly (6.75 ERA) and new acquisition Josh Hader (7.59) and you have a recipe for disaster despite having baseball’s fifth-best offense (116 wRC+).

That said… I wouldn’t bet against them for the rest of the year. Again, that offense is still scary and while not everyone has heated up to start the year (Alex Bregman: 65 wRC+), it’s still humming along as normal. Better health will help them a LOT in terms of pitching. And, perhaps most importantly, the AL West as a whole is off to a sluggish start. The division-leading Mariners are only 6.5 games ahead at 16-13. That is incredibly catchable for this Astros team, assuming they right the ship soon.

Are they digging a big hole? Yeah. It’s not enough to declare them dead though. There’s a lot of baseball to go and, for as weird and basebally as an early Astros collapse is, it would most certainly not be weird for them to climb out of that hole and into the playoffs.

Have You Heard the Good Word, Mason Miller?

Oakland A’s fans haven’t had much to cheer about over the past few years, but 2024 is at least offering a slight reprieve on the field. The green and gold brigade are 14-17 which isn’t good, but it’s not terrible like last year. One reason to stay tuned is the surprising effectiveness of the Athletics’ bullpen, particularly their 25-year-old fireballing closer Mason Miller.

Last week, Miller further proved he could hang with the big dogs by silencing the heart of the Yankees order with Anthony Volpe, Juan Soto, and Aaron Judge to notch his seventh save of the season. He’s now 7/7 in those opportunities and has often pulled them off in dominant fashion. For New York’s star hitters, he unleashed his hellish fastball which clocks in at a league-leading average of 100.7 mph to send them down in order. However, he showed he’s capable of even more by topping out with a 103.3 mph strikeout pitch to Soto while also blowing 102 mph+ pitches past the other Yankees.

Whenever Miller steps on the mound, it’s easy to see why he’s been so effective. Aside from having such firepower, he’s also capable of painting it on the corners. He only has four walks so far against 25 strikeouts in 12.1 innings. On top of that, he also boasts a nasty slider with far more movement than the average breaking pitch which only serves to make the fastball all the more deadly. To show just how nasty Miller is, just look at his Statcast page – he ranks in the 100th percentile in expected ERA, expected batting average against, whiff rate, fastball velocity, and strikeout rate.

If you haven’t had a chance to watch Miller mow down batters, fix that. Now.

MLB Brings Back Players Weekend… With a Catch

At first, MLB had my full attention with the announcement that Players Weekend was making a comeback this year. I love Players Weekend and I’ve sincerely missed its presence in baseball since its last iteration in 2019. The league has bid farewell to many of the crotchety old unwritten rules that governed the game and sucked a lot of fun out of celebrations and whatnot, but even so, dedicating some extra time to having fun and showcasing player personalities on and off the field is awesome and something I whole-heartedly approve of.

Each day will focus on a different theme related to player personalities with relevant events in the ballpark, on broadcasts, and social media. Day 1 emphasizes friendships, personalities, and hobbies, day 2 will spotlight the charitable causes close to players’ hearts, and day 3 will cover the parents, family members, teachers, coaches, and anyone else who helped their journey to the majors. Oh, and players will down “youthful” New Era hats and can utilize whatever (legal) custom bats and cleats they so desire. Sounds good, right?

Well, this also came at the expense of one of Players Weekend’s best aspects. This year, players won’t be wearing custom jerseys with their nickname on the back, which gets a massive thumbs down from me. Seeing the weird nicknames of everyone in the league plastered onto cool custom fits (or those lame black and white ones) was the highlight of the old festivities. There’s a certain amount of insight you can get about a player through learning about their nickname and, most importantly, it was just fun. For anyone willing to shell out, it was also a chance to own a pretty unique piece of sports memorabilia. I’m especially displeased that I won’t be able to buy an officially licensed “Big Dumper” jersey.

Either way, it should be fun and I’m all for MLB showcasing its players’ personalities. Baseball still lags so far behind the NBA and NFL in name recognition that every event like this helps. I’m just saying, nicknames on the back of jerseys would turn Players Weekend from a fun event into peak baseball.

Shohei Ohtani Breaks Hideki Matsui’s Home Run Record

We all knew it was going to happen, it was just a matter of when and where. Shohei Ohtani surpassed the great Hideki Matsui for the most home runs hit by a Japanese-born baseball player with his 176th long-ball. The milestone dinger came against the Mets at the expense of Adrian Houser (who will get his own dedicated weird history piece here soon, keep an eye out for that) and played a role in the Dodgers’ blowout win over the Mets.

Matsui had extremely high praise for the two-way superstar, even though his own numbers are nothing to shake a stick at (.282/.360/.462/119 wRC+). More importantly, he hoped for what many of us wish for Ohtani as his career rolls on – health.

His presence, his ability as a player, he’s just a great player. The numbers on my end are just not comparable. … I’m sure many of the fans have their expectations as far as what he may do, what he may accomplish. As far as myself, my hope is just that he stays healthy.

– Hideki Matsui, via an interpreter per MLB.com

Year one with the Dodgers on his new 10-year, $700 million contract has been fruitful for Ohtani thus far despite the off-field controversy and his inability to pitch. He’s hitting a career-best .341/.406/.635 with a 188 wRC+ and helping lead Los Angeles to an NL West-topping 19-13. At only 29, he still has a lot of record-breaking potential left in him and, as much as I wish he was on my team, I can’t help but acknowledge how exciting it is to be able to see him playing in my lifetime.

Weekly Weird

We once again turn to the Weekly Weird to round out the update and this was a very obvious one. I love it when Aaron Boone gets ejected because he is one of our greatest modern ejection tantrum artists. I absolutely want to talk about his infamous “savages in the box” rant at some point, but for now, I leave you with a case of mistaken identity. After getting into a spat with Hunter Wendlestadt, Boone was tossed after the umpire blamed the Yankees skipper for yelling something toward him when, in actuality, the offending line came from a fan. Better yet, the moment came with a hot mic that caught much of their argument after the ejection.