...And Down The Stretch They Come! MLB enters the home stretch

I just finished watching the Braves win with a walk-off home run from Justin Upton, and while baseball is still fresh in my brain, and before I switch my brain into English Premier League mode, I feel like I should type about baseball.  I think it's time to take a look around the leagues quick and see what's up.  

But before we look at the standings, remember Antonio Alfonseca?  That dude had six fucking fingers.  

Anyway...

 Fun.

Prediction for the AL?  I think it ends up being exactly as it is right now.  Perhaps Oakland will win the west, and Texas makes the wild card game, but that's about all I'd change.  

National League!!!!

Also fun, but maybe not as fun.  

The Dodgers and Braves have insurmountable leads.  The Reds are surging, the Cardinals are bleeding and the Pirates are hanging in there.  To me, the National League is a five team race already.  It will end up exactly how it is, and that's the way it should be.  Arizona has no business in the postseason this year. Neither do the Gnats.  

Three quarters of the season is over already.  I'm not one to advocate the watching of American League games often, but now I must do so.  There's just so much left to be decided out there.  Alright, have a good day, and go Arsenal! 

Baseball Needs More Day Games

Baseball needs more day games.  I mean it.  More more more day games.  Of course, this is a pretty selfish request.  As a subscriber of MLB.tv, I have the privilege of watching whatever baseball game I want (except for the Braves and Reds whom are blacked out in my area) whenever I want.  When I want it is in the early afternoon.  As a stay at home dad, when the wife is away at work until 4:30 pm, I get to stay home and watch baseball...er the kids.  I watch the kids...and baseball.  I think there should be a baseball game on every day.  After all, baseball is supposed to be a lazy afternoon pastime anyway, right?  So I end up with a lot of Cubs games, which would be fine if they were a better team.  I mean, this week they certainly looked like quite the contender for the pennant, but let's be serious for a minute, they were playing the White Sox, after all.  It's not like they were beating up on any first place teams... Oh, except the first place Arizona Diamondbacks.  But let's not get carried away with that.  Watching the Cubs all the time is okay...but you know, I'd like a little variety.  A little bit of everyone every day would be really nice.

I usually look forward to Wednesdays, because that's when a lot of series' wrap up with day games so the teams can hit the road early for their next town/series.  I win there. A whole bunch of day games. Saturdays and Sunday's provide excellent day game action.  I can watch them.  I'm not in charge of any kids when those games happen but...I'm at work.  Don't tell my employer but I watch a lot of baseball while on the job.  Sorry, boss, I have an addiction to feed.  So that's good.  Day games on the weekend are good.

This little story comes about because I've become a baseball consuming monster.  I did this last May/June as well.  The big difference is that this season I've been watching baseball regularly since the day the season began.  Last year, it was only at about this time of the year that I started paying any attention to the season at all (thanks Stanley Cup Playoffs).  So I've gotten the same increase in baseball consumption as last year, but this time it's on top of my previous obsession.  This means I'm staring at clocks waiting for games to start.  This means that on days where there is no day games, I get sad and lost and lonely.  Thankfully, as I write this all down, there are games set to begin in about 15 minutes.  Indians - Rays, yo!  And they just finished up playing each other at like, two this morning because of rain delays.  Love it.  I just love it.  So lets watch some baseball, and preferably when the sun is high in the sky.  

Breaking the Records

I think it would be safe to say that 25-year-old Cleveland Indians center fielder Michael Brantley will never be a household name as a baseball player like Joe DiMaggio is. But in as little as 34 games from now, he might just be mentioned in the same breath as the legendary Yankees outfielder for many baseball years to come.

There are many numbers in baseball that we all recognize immediately and know what they mean. 2,141, 715, 755, 762, 61*, 70, 1947, 1908, 4,256, 511, 42 and last but not least, 56

56 is Joe DiMaggio's hit streak number, and Brantley is the player who has come closest to reaching that number this season. You may say "C'mon, Brad, Brantley's current hit streak is only at 22 games, you can't possibly think he'd break that record at this point." Lots of guys get to 22 game streaks, and no one has come close to 56 in a row in many years.

The point I'm trying to make here is not that I think Brantley will break the record, but I want to know how you would feel if he actually did? Wouldn't that kind of be a bummer? Wouldn't that just feel weird? A mediocre player on a mediocre team breaks the long-cherished record of one of the games all-time greats? I mean, i think its completely possible. Just go out and get a hit. It's one of those records that doesn't take an entire, spectacular career to achieve. It just takes being spectacular for two months.

It makes me understand how people felt about Rodger Maris breaking Babe Ruth's record of 60 homers in a season. The Babe was a legend, and to have his record fall to this guy, not even the star player on his own team at the time, I can see where the derision came from.

Will Michael Brantley break the record? I highly doubt it, and if he did, I think we'd all feel kind of weird about it. The last person to seriously challenge the record was Pete Rose, when he it safely in 44 straight. He was the Hit King. If he would have broken it, that would have made sense. So not to knock on Michael Brantley, but...HIM? Say it ain't so.

I suppose if he did break it, that maybe he would become a household name among baseball fans. Maybe he would become huge star? It's hard to say would become of Michael Brantley if he did it. Perhaps in 20 years, it would make sense that he broke the record? Only time will tell.