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MLB News & Moments You Should Know: 7/24/2024

Highlights, milestones, and some sad injury news.

Asher Dratel
MLB Morning News 7/25/2024

Stay updated on everything baseball with our morning MLB News & Moments articles. We’ve got you covered to keep you in the know.

Hey it’s the first Thursday since the All-Star Break! Hi everybody.

 

Today’s Headlines

 

Subway Sweep 2: Complete The Sweep

Stop me if you’ve read this one before, but: The Mets absolutely embarrassed the Yankees to sweep one part of the Subway Series.

This, of course, being the second time they’ve done this means they have now fully swept the series, going 4-0 for the first time since 2013, and it wasn’t even close on Wednesday, with the final score 12-3.

The Yankees got out to an early lead thanks to a leadoff Gleyber Torres HR:

And then Juan Soto robbed Jeff McNeil of a likely HR in the next inning:

…and that’s about all there was to look forward to for Yankees fans.

The Mets tied it up in the third thanks to a Tyrone Taylor home run on a ball way above the zone:

Taylor finished the night 3-for-5 with three runs and a pair of RBIs, plus a great diving catch in CF.

The Yankees did manage to take back the lead thanks to, who else, Juan Soto hitting his 20th home run of the season:

…but then Pete Alonso absolutely teed off on a middle-middle cutter from Gerrit Cole in the fourth inning and the Mets were off to the races:

Mark Vientos deposited a ball into the left-field seats in the eighth after two more runs scored on more traditional, in-the-park means:

And not to be left out, Francisco Lindor had a double-dinger night, from both sides of the plate:

 

All in all over this two-game set, the Yankees gave up another seven HRs, bringing the four-game tally to 14 home runs given up compared to 13 total Yankees runs scored across all four games. Hard to win games like that.

This win brings the Mets to only one and half games back of Atlanta for the first NL Wild Card, and they’re currently up half a game on St. Louis. The Mets do gotta get a better home run prop, though.

 

The Rayturn

Meanwhile, out on the West Coast, it was also a rivalry night as the Giants took on the Dodgers in LA. The…101 Series? I know the Dodgers/Angels games are called the I5 Series or something, but that just seems like trying to make fetch a thing. Anyway, it was Robbie Ray’s return to the mound following his recovery from Tommy John surgery, and it was a very Robbie Ray night, overall.

First inning: Flyout, HBP, Walk, HBP, Walk, Strikeout, Pop out. So that’s one Dodger run without a hit.

The next four innings?

The Dodgers wouldn’t get their first hit until the seventh, when Chris Taylor doubled to right field. Meanwhile, Ray ended the night with a line of 5 IP, 0 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, and 8 Ks. That’ll play, especially for your first day back at work. And as a nice bonus, the Giants went on to hashtag beat LA 8-3.

As a bonus for you, dear reader, have the opposite of baseball ASMR:

 

Some Relief For Diamond Sports Teams

Well, I guess that subheader is unhelpful since technically every baseball team is a “diamond sport team”, huh?

More specifically, the league and MLBPA have “agreed to alter the collective bargaining agreement so that the league can use its portion of competitive-balance-tax proceeds to give teams losing TV money up to $15 million each — with an estimated limit of $75 million in those payments leaguewide.”

“This year, with the [Supplemental Commissioner’s Discretionary Fund] expected to total near $150 million, MLB proposed to expand the universe of clubs that are eligible to receive monies from the fund,” the MLBPA wrote in a memo to players. “Under MLB’s proposal, the clubs that have been affected by declining local media revenues caused by regional sports network (RSN) developments would benefit from this expanded flexibility. All clubs with declining local media revenue are eligible to receive monies from the fund, regardless of revenue sharing status, market size or payroll level.”

This should help head off some teams using the (ongoing, protracted, unending) bankruptcy of the Diamond Sports Group and their Bally RSN channels as an excuse for cutting payroll, although as with all things in baseball economics, we shall have to see what happens when teams actually get their hands on that money.

 

Boston Wants Some More-a Cora

The Red Sox won’t have to worry about a manager for a while yet, as they signed an extension with Alex Cora that will keep him in town through 2027:

Cora’s in his sixth year managing the Sox, although he did take a year off as a result of MLB’s investigation into Houston’s sign-stealing scheme. He led Boston to a WS win back in 2018,  took them to the ALCS in 2021, and overall has a .545 winning percentage as a manager.

 

Bad News From Yelich

We’ve known for a couple of seasons now that Christian Yelich is dealing with an ongoing and chronic back issue that has seen him miss time on a regular basis since 2021, including a handful of IL stints. Well, this most recent one seems to be more serious than his earlier 25-day long trip for a back strain. The Brewers placed him on the IL on Wednesday with “lower back inflammation,” but Yelich spoke to reporters and brought up the possibility of season-ending back surgery:

 

Best Moments From Yesterday

 

Elly De La Cruise Control

We got a Nice, Round Number alert in yesterday’s slate, as Elly De La Cruz stole his 50th(!!) of the season:

Elly made it a weird, un-round number in the same game, as he then stole his 51st(!!!) of the year later in the same game. Oh, and also after that first SB in the video above? He came around to score on what turned into a good ol’ Little League Home Run courtesy of Spencer Steer:

 

A Note On The Nats

I have no idea what to make of the Nats at this point. They have a nebulously intriguing group of guys on the roster this year, but they’re certainly not good. But they’re fun? I dunno, here’s a pair of highlights from Wednesday down in the ol’ District, starting off with one of those intriguing guys, Juan Yepez:

Ok well, that makes it seem like things are going well for the Nats. But they ended up losing 12-3 yesterday to the Padres, which meant we got some position player pitching action. Or in the case of Ildemaro Vargas, position player shot putting?

I uh, can’t recall seeing another player throw a “pitch” like that, even if they’re moonlighting as one does late in blowouts.

Vargas did dial up the velo all the way to 51 mph later in the inning, while also showing that pitchers are athletes, too!

That’s really all I got for you from the Nats today. But I think that’s plenty, really.

 

Mile High Brawl

It was A Heck Of A Day for everybody involved in the Boston vs Colorado game yesterday. The Rockies absolutely shellacked the Sox, winning by a final of 20-7, but it was the benches-clearing brawl in the fourth that’ll probably be what everybody really remembers. The altercation got kicked off by Cal Quantrill making some uh, choice comments to Reese McGuire that I can’t quote here for multiple reasons and ended with the bullpens getting involved wildly late thanks to the huge Denver outfield:

I…yeah. It’s a baseball “fight” with lots of pushing and shoving but still, what a ridiculous spectacle.

 

A Decade Duo

Two Dodgers got to celebrate a big career milestone on Wednesday:

Enrique Hernández also got to enjoy his own bobblehead day with his entire family, including a first pitch from his daughter:

 

JoCC Jams

You see, because C is the roman numeral for 100? And personal favorite player Joc Pederson hit his 200th career home run last night? Get it?

Well I liked it.

 

Injuries and Other Moves

 

⚾ Mike Trout is aborting his rehab assignment and returning to California for further evaluation on his surgically repaired knee. That stinks.

⚾ The Dodgers made a flurry of moves Wednesday, returning Tyler Glasnow from the IL, putting Miguel Rojas on the IL, optioning Landon Knack, and signing Nick Ahmed to a major league deal.

⚾ Atlanta moved outfielder Michael Harris II to the 60-day IL to free up a spot on the 40-man. Harris wasn’t expected back before 60 days from his original injury, so this is just a paperwork move and not the result of any setback at this point.

⚾ Mets pitcher Christian Scott does not need surgery at this time for his UCL injury. He’s going with rest-and-rehab at this point, although that seems like it would still mean he’s done for this season.

 

Articles You Should Read

 

The Oakland Athletics Aren’t The Team You Think They Are – Randy Holt

Let’s Make Some Deadline Trades! (2024 Edition) – Dan Szymborski, FanGraphs

Rewriting Hall of Fame Plaques, Part 1 – Daniel R. Epstein, Baseball Prospectus (sub rq’d)

 

Fantasy Baseball Coverage

 

Is It Legit?

Closing Time

Starting Pitcher Streamers

Asher Dratel

Asher hails from Brooklyn, wears a 2008 Joba Chamberlain jersey to every Yankees game he attends, and pronounces BABIP funny. Appreciator of Beefy Lad dingers and beers. @asherd.xyz on Bluesky.

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