MLB 2026

It is funny that the Mariners are in 1st place with a sub-.500 record. You don't see that very often.

One thing the Mariners can claim this year though is... they freakin' "own" the Cards. Until this past week with the Brewers, the Mariners were the only team to sweep St. Louis this season.
 
Well after getting their clocks cleaned by the Brewers, the Cardinals managed to win the series against the Cubs 2-1.

Tomorrow the Texas Rangers come to Busch to face-off against the Cards.
 
It's crazy how baseball is so up and down. Winning and losing streaks can pivot on a single play or a single player.

It's all about September and October. Who's still healthy and standing?
 
The Yankees have been hittin' machines lately.

The other night, every starter had at least two hits. And last night they had scored 13 runs in ONE inning.
 
A big thing will be the decision each team has to make at the trade deadline. Will they be "all in" and shoot the wad for big dollar trades (a lot of times mortgaging their futures), or will they be "partially in" spending some money but not going for broke, or will they be in a selling market (rebuilding for the fuiture) like the Cardinals were last year?

St. Louis was not predicted to be where they are at right now so they have an especially hard decision to make coming up. They have one of the lowest payrolls in baseball, especially when you consider their future commitments. But Busch stadium is a lot fuller this year and the organization has a lot of money to spend if they choose to. My guess is if they continue to perform as well as they are now, they will be "partially in" at the deadline going for pitching only. They really don't need anything else.

Some teams that will also have some tough decisions to make (and soul-searching) are:
  • New York Mets
  • San Francisco Giants
  • Philadelphia Phillies
  • Boston Red Sox
It's kind of ironic that last year the NL Central was considered to be the weakest division in baseball but if you look this year, it is the only division where all 5 teams have been above .500 all year and are now the strongest division in baseball.

But that could all change. It's been a pretty-interesting year so far. I'm glad I have my 2026 MLB.TV package plus the new for 2026 Cardinals.TV package that gives me all 162 games with no blackouts or inability to see games shown on Peacock, YouTube, Prime or any of the other offshoots. This year I get them all!

It cost me $150 but DIRECTV gave me two $50 Visa gift cards as part of the deal so essentially I paid $50.

You can't beat that!
 
Mr Boochie said:
It's crazy how baseball is so up and down. Winning and losing streaks can pivot on a single play or a single player.

It's all about September and October. Who's still healthy and standing?
Click to expand...

The Cubs have been the most "up and down" this season. While watching last night's game Cubs vs Cardinals one of the the announcers stated that the Cubs have broke a record this year. They are the only team in history to have two 10 game winning streaks along with a 10 game losing streak all before the All-Star break. When the Cubs win or lose it comes in streaks this year!

Hopefully they are starting another 10 game losing streak after losing to the Cards last night. lol :D

Now if the Brewers, Dodgers, and Braves would start losing. They are all looking pretty-awesome.

The Rays & Yankees aren't looking too bad either.
 
MuchoReverbo said:
The Cubs have been the most "up and down" this season. While watching last night's game Cubs vs Cardinals one of the the announcers stated that the Cubs have broke a record this year. They are the only team in history to have two 10 game winning streaks along with a 10 game losing streak all before the All-Star break. When the Cubs win or lose it comes in streaks this year!

Hopefully they are starting another 10 game losing streak after losing to the Cards last night. lol :D

Now if the Brewers, Dodgers, and Braves would start losing. They are all looking pretty-awesome.

The Rays & Yankees aren't looking too bad either.
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It's too early in the season to worry about long winning or losing streaks. As long as your team can stay close to the top (in playoff contention) until September, you'll be golden.

It's sad to see Colorado already has a nearly -90 run differential. Run differential tells a lot about how good a team really is.
 
MuchoReverbo said:
It is funny that the Mariners are in 1st place with a sub-.500 record. You don't see that very often.

One thing the Mariners can claim this year though is... they freakin' "own" the Cards. Until this past week with the Brewers, the Mariners were the only team to sweep St. Louis this season.
Click to expand...

Must be a Pacific Northwest thing..

I recall the Seahawks winning the NFC West and hosting a playoff game with a sub-.500 record.
 
Man the Cards won a total nail-biter today against the Reds at Busch. Cards were losing 5-4 going into the bottom of the 8th when Lars Nootbaar crushed a 2-run homer to put the Cards up 6-5 in only his 2nd game back from being on the DL since last year for dual heel surgeries. Last night in his debut Nootbaar had 2 hits and an RBI in the Cards 10-3 win over the Reds. Today he came off the bench as a pinch hitter to hit what ended up being the game-winning HR but it didn't come without some drama.

In the top of the 9th the Reds had bases loaded with 2 outs and a walk was called to tie the game but the Cards appealed it and replay showed it was a strike. The Reds eventually ground out to lose the game but I think Oliver Marmol will need new fingernails for tomorrow's game.

The Cards are the Cardiac Kids this year.

After today's loss, the Reds drop one game below .500 to make them the 1st National League Central team to fall below .500 all season in what has so-far been the most-competitive division in baseball for 2026.

Noot.jpg

"Noot" is back!!
 
How about this guy...

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Milwaukee Brewers right-hander Jacob Misiorowski threw the fastest pitch on record in Saturday's 7-1 win over the Colorado Rockies.

Misiorowski hit 103.7 mph on the radar gun during an at-bat for Rockies third baseman Kyle Karros in the third inning. Nobody has thrown a pitch harder since at least 2008, when full pitch tracking began.

It was one of 52 pitches that notched triple digits.

 
MuchoReverbo said:
How about this guy...

View attachment 3778350

Milwaukee Brewers right-hander Jacob Misiorowski threw the fastest pitch on record in Saturday's 7-1 win over the Colorado Rockies.

Misiorowski hit 103.7 mph on the radar gun during an at-bat for Rockies third baseman Kyle Karros in the third inning. Nobody has thrown a pitch harder since at least 2008, when full pitch tracking began.

It was one of 52 pitches that notched triple digits.

Click to expand...
Did you see Misiorowski's Tyler Freeman HBP yesterday? Thank goodness for earflaps on the helmets.
 
No I didn't see it. I was playing pinball in the background when the Brewers game was on. It was after the Cardinals game.

Hey at least he didn't get hit with the 103 MPH!
 
RVT1K said:
Must be a Pacific Northwest thing..

I recall the Seahawks winning the NFC West and hosting a playoff game with a sub-.500 record.
Click to expand...
7-9 and they then hosted the Saints, the "Beast Quake" run happened that day. It's been over-hyped for sure but was rather incredible.

The Ms always start slow. They just cleared .500 recently, and not comfortably.

It's been mentioned in the thread but run differential gives me hope. They're no Yankees/Dodgers/Braves/Brewers but the Mariners are consistently in double digits on the happy side of that stat.
 
This week's power rankings are out...

1. Braves (previously: 1)
The Braves have been up and down for a variety of reasons the past few years, but one consistent barometer for success has been whether or not Michael Harris II is having a good season. He absolutely is this year, the best of his entire career, and while he has a Rookie of the Year Award, he has yet to be named to an All-Star team. It is time.

2. Dodgers (previously: 2)
Shohei Ohtani obviously. I mean, c’mon.

3. Brewers (previously: 3)
Casual fans are constantly asking how in the world do the Brewers keep winning every year? There are many answers to that question, but honestly, the simplest may be just pointing at Brice Turang and everything he does on a baseball field.

4. Yankees (previously: 4)
Now that Aaron Judge is likely to miss the game, it’s the perfect opportunity to reward Ben Rice, who has in fact put up better numbers so far this season and is someone the Yankees will make sure to have around for a long, long time.

5. Guardians (previously: 6)
You can vote for José Ramírez any time, including this year, if you want. But the future — and, increasingly, the present — of this franchise, one that is in the driver’s seat in the AL Central, is Travis Bazzana.

6. Rays (previously: 5)
You’ve got a lot of choices with the Rays, but no one represents their you never know what you’re gonna get nature better than Jonathan Aranda, who had 92 career RBIs in four seasons heading into the year and has an outside chance to lead the Majors in the category this year.

7. Mariners (previously: 7)
It may have taken him a while to get going, but how in the world do you not want Julio Rodríguez in the All-Star Game?

8. Phillies (previously: 9)
The game seems downright bizarre without Bryce Harper in it, but he didn’t make it last year in what turned out to be the worst year of his career. He’ll be back this year, and very much deservingly so.

9. White Sox (previously: 12)
There are a lot of factors in the White Sox’s stunning success so far this year, but the obvious symbol and manifestation of them is Munetaka Murakami, who may be injured right now but has been as purely enjoyable to watch as we all hoped he’d be.

10. Cardinals (previously: 13)
From one of the worst players in baseball in 2025 to one of the best in 2026, Jordan Walker’s story is one everybody can get behind.
 
MuchoReverbo said:
4. Yankees (previously: 4)
Now that Aaron Judge is likely to miss the game, it’s the perfect opportunity to reward Ben Rice, who has in fact put up better numbers so far this season and is someone the Yankees will make sure to have around for a long, long time.
Click to expand...

Ben Rice has been a fantastic addition to the team. Rice and Judge were essentially tied stat-wise before Judge got hurt -again. This is the only possible knock against Judge - he is prone getting hurt and missing games. Stanton, too.
Most of the team is pretty strong but the Yanks need a catcher that can hit.
 
I've been a Cubs fan since the 60's but grew less interested as I got older. Now I don't really care. I might still be interested if I could watch on TV for free like the old days. I'm not paying to watch the most boring pro sport on earth.
 
So in other words, you really never were a baseball fan because if you were, not being able to watch every single game for free on WGN along with the Bozo Show and Cuckla Fran and Ollie wouldn't be a deal-breaker. Now baseball is the same as all the rest of the sports. You can still be a fan and watch games for free.. just not all 162 of them.

Hey look on the bright side.....

Since according to you, baseball is the most-boring sport on earth, I guess you are now free to go do something a lot more "exciting" like make some more wonderful posts on the AudioKarma forum like your latest contribution to this thread.

See... there's a bright side to everything if you look hard enough. :rolleyes::thumbsup:
 
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I saw a news headline yesterday that caught my attention. It was entitled:

Two pilots killed in plane crash en route to pick up former MLB star​


I didn't know what it was about but clicked on it to see and saw that it was a plane that was on it's way to pick up one of my favorite players of all-time and a treasured St. Louis Cardinal.

Thank God he wasn't on that plane!

Two pilots killed in plane crash en route to pick up former MLB star
 
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