Sports
Twenty-one potential playoff teams. Plus: The day the Angels were dealt
The Windup Newsletter 
It’s mid-August, and most of this past weekend’s games still had playoff implications?? Plus: Past and present players celebrated different milestones, and bad umpiring was on display. Also, Ken Rosenthal got the skinny on the Mike Trout … uh … what’s the opposite of “invitational?”
I’m Levi Weaver — welcome to The Windup!
Weekend Recap: Many teams remain in playoff race
I truly believe this has been the most entertaining regular season in recent memory. Not because every team is good (I’m familiar with the AL West), but it’s Aug. 10 … and 21 teams are either in or within 3.5 games of a playoff spot.
That’s 70 percent of the league’s teams — and thus fans — who still have something resembling hope. (I’m sure there’s a league-sponsored commercial coming soon to celebrate that parity.)
Anyway, here’s a quick ranking of every series this weekend featuring those 21 teams. Sorry, Reds-Nats and Mets-Pirates. (And here are the MLB standings, for reference.)
- Braves-Yankees: New York snapped Atlanta’s eight-game winning streak in 10 innings on Friday, then won again Saturday. Atlanta salvaged a win on Sunday, also in 10 innings. All three were one-run games.
- Guardians-White Sox: Cleveland won Friday when White Sox manager Will Venable made a first-inning blunder, but Chicago battled back to win the next two in a huge series, taking a 3.5-game lead in the division.
- Astros-Padres: A collision between two red-hot teams went San Diego’s way; it won two of three to climb to within a game of a wild-card spot.
- Orioles-Rangers: After losing the first two games, Pete Alonso’s two-homer Sunday helped Baltimore avoid a sweep, and kept Texas a half-game behind Houston.
- Blue Jays-Phillies: Toronto won two before Philadelphia’s thrilling 12-inning win on Sunday. Toronto’s not dead, at 3.5 games out in the AL. Philadelphia, in a rough stretch, is now tied for the second and third NL wild-card spots, because …
- Diamondbacks-Dodgers: Arizona (63-56) won two of three to pull even with Philadelphia. Meanwhile, L.A.’s malaise continues. The Dodgers are 1-7 in August.
- Rays-Mariners: Tampa Bay swept Seattle. The Mariners are now four games out in the division and 3.5 games out in the wild-card race, tied with Toronto.
- Twins-Brewers: Minnesota took the first game, but lost ground in the playoff chase (1.5 games out) when Milwaukee won the next two. Check out these two catches by Brewers OF Luis Lara.
- Athletics-Red Sox: Boston extended its winning streak to nine games on Friday with a 13-1 trouncing, but the A’s took the last two.
- Cubs-Royals: Chicago did what it’s supposed to do: win two of three on the road against a bad team.
- Angels-Marlins: The Marlins (60-59) refuse to die. They took two of three at home and are three games out in the NL.
- Tigers-Giants: Speaking of refusing to die, Detroit (58-60) hasn’t wilted after the deadline. It’s 4-2 since then (winning two of three this weekend) and is just one game out in the AL.
- Rockies-Cardinals: I thought the Cards (59-59) were toast, but they took two of three at home against Colorado and are 3.5 back in the NL.
More playoff race: Stephen Nesbitt and Chad Jennings pored over the schedules to see which playoff contenders have the toughest and easiest paths to the postseason.
Middle Relief: A trade deadline day like no other
Today, Ken Rosenthal tells us the story of how a team golf outing, orchestrated by Mike Trout, became a game of Angels trade deadline “Survivor.” Here’s an excerpt:
It was Aug. 3, the day of baseball’s trade deadline, an off day on the East Coast before a series in Baltimore. About a dozen Angels were gathered near the first tee, ready to begin a long-awaited round of golf at the course that Tiger Woods designed for superstar Trout.
Little did the players realize, some of them would be former Angels very soon.
“It seemed like every four or five holes someone was getting the call,” said Trout, who watched his team bonding event turn into one big breakup.
Trout, 35, was eager to host his teammates near his hometown of Millville, N.J., at his private, invitation-only club, Trout National — The Reserve. But he planned the outing in the spring, without realizing the date’s significance on the baseball calendar. Nor could he know back then that the Angels, a team that rarely acts as sellers at the deadline, would tear it down.
Suffice it to say, no team ever experienced a deadline day like this.
Three players were traded while taking in the rolling hills of Trout National — reliever Brent Suter, outfielder Jo Adell and reliever Ryan Zeferjahn. A fourth, reliever Kirby Yates, learned he was dealt after the round was over while in a car heading back to Trout’s home.
“It was pretty wild watching everybody go,” said Yates, a 12-year veteran. “None of us have ever seen that many guys get traded at once.
“After somebody went, we just kept saying, ‘All right, who’s next?’”
A fifth Angel traded that day, right-hander José Soriano, wasn’t part of the group, which the previous night boarded a bus upon landing in Baltimore for the two-hour drive to Trout’s home in New Jersey.
Soriano, 27, doesn’t golf. He was asleep in his hotel room when he was awakened by a phone call the next morning informing him he was heading to the Blue Jays.
Everyone else — the dozen or so players who stayed overnight at Trout’s home, plus coaches and staffers who arrived on a bus from Baltimore the following morning — was at Trout National.
“I’m bummed I wasn’t invited,” Angels interim general manager John Mozeliak joked. “I was a little tied up that morning.”
Mozeliak, preoccupied with trade negotiations, did not know nearly half his team was golfing. Trout came to realize, as he organized the outing, that it might be an unusual day. The group, he said, had an idea that trades were coming.
Suter got the first call, right before the players teed off.
“Everyone was putting on a green,” Trout said. “We were all sitting there, all on the tee box.”
For the rest, click here.
Challenge: MLB’s Emil Jiménez problem
He doesn’t have the years under his belt to be a C.B. Bucknor or Angel Hernandez, but if umpire Emil Jiménez keeps this up, he’ll be a household name soon enough.
We introduced you to Jiménez in late June, noting that (among other things) he had perplexingly refused a timely challenge by Jasson Domínguez. Then in mid-July, Jiménez did it to Domínguez again.
And during Saturday night’s Tampa Bay-Seattle game, Jiménez was back at it. This challenge was ruled to have taken too long:
I pulled out my stopwatch. It’s about 2 seconds after the ball crosses the plate. But you can’t challenge a call that hasn’t been made, and Jiménez doesn’t start his punchout until the 1.5-second mark. By the time he finishes the motion, Julio Rodriguez is already tapping.
Mariners manager Dan Wilson was (predictably) livid and promptly ejected (you can see that video here). Then it got worse.
In the next half-inning, Jiménez flat-out ignored another challenge, this one by Jonathan Aranda of the Rays. This time, third-base umpire Doug Eddings had to walk in and override the situation, granting the challenge. As you can imagine, the Mariners and their fans were not thrilled.
Jiménez isn’t the only umpire who has done this, but it’s becoming a problem.
More umpiring: For the sake of space, I’ll just let Rob Friendman, known on X as “Pitching Ninja,” show you Dan Merzel’s “highlight” reel from Saturday. I don’t remember the last time I heard “He started it!” from anyone older than 6 years old.
On Sunday, Merzel kept it going, ejecting a still-upset Chris Sale before the game even began. Brendan Kuty has that story here.
Achievements: More big moments from the weekend
It was a big weekend for honoring past players and celebrating current ones. Here’s a rundown of who achieved what:
Honors:
Milestones:
Handshakes and High Fives
The A’s and GM David Forst have parted ways.
Reds reliever Tejay Antone is one of just three pitchers to return to the big leagues after a third Tommy John surgery. He has become one of manager Terry Francona’s most trusted arms.
One major shift in Pete Crow-Armstrong’s game? His performance against left-handed pitchers.
Astros’ setup man Bryan Abreu has flipped a switch. He credits … socks?
The Twins promoted Kaelen Culpepper, and the 23-year-old infielder homered in his MLB debut.
Hunter Greene’s season is over in Cincinnati. He’ll undergo elbow surgery next week on a partially torn ligament.
Most-clicked in our last Windup: Luis Arraez jumping over a tag before realizing it was all over.
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