MLB Weekly Wrap-up: April 19-25

While the action in this week’s games was not as plentiful as the two weeks before, there is still lots to digest and discuss. Let’s take a dive into what went on around Major League Baseball.

Fernando Tatis Jr.

Since coming back from the injured list, Fernando Tatis Jr. has struggled immensely, slashing .143/.250/.333 in the 6 games before the Padres weekend series against the Dodgers. Then, on the anniversary of his father hitting two grand slams in the same inning at Dodger Stadium 23 years ago, Tatis Jr. hit 2 homeruns off Clayton Kershaw, making the father son duo the first to have a multi homerun day on the same calendar date at the same venue. The Padres would take this game 6-1

The fun didn’t stop there for Fernando, as the next day he took Trevor Bauer deep twice as well, and he made sure to have fun with it. Tatis mocked Bauer at first base by covering one of his eyes and looking back at the dugout, in reference to when Bauer would pitch with only one eye open in Spring Training. In his third and final at bat versus Bauer, he somehow took a curveball on the outside part of the plate over the left centerfield wall, and hit the McGregor strut that Bauer likes to do when walking back to dugout. Most pitchers would likely be upset with these antics, but Bauer found no harm in these celebrations, as he’s a big proponent of celebrations in baseball. The Dodgers would end up winning this game 5-4.

After some Twitter beef with Bauer the night after, Tatis struck again with his 5th homer of the series, going oppo off Dustin May, then later scored the tying run in the 9th in an 8-7 extra inning victory after facing a 7 run deficit. The Padres now lead the season series with the Dodgers 4-3 and face Los Angeles next in 

The Oakland A’s started their season losing 7 of their first 8 games, and then went on to win 13 straight games. Their streak ended in Sunday’s matchup against the Baltimore Orioles in an 8-1 loss. While they needed some luck in their 13-12 win vs Minnesota after back-to-back errors with 2 outs in the 10th, it was mostly just dominance. During their win streak, Oakland put up a +45 run differential, combining great offense with some great pitching performances. They currently sit in first place in the AL West and have the 3rd best record in Major League Baseball.

Madison Bumgarner

There were no-hitters in each of the last two weeks prior to this week, Madison Bumgarner (unofficially) threw a no-hitter against the Atlanta Braves in game 2 of their doubleheader on Sunday. This no-no follows a 1-hit shutout thrown by teammate Zac Gallen in the first game of the doubleheader. Bumgarner went 7 innings and struck out 7, walking none, with the only baserunner coming on an error by Nick Ahmed in the 2nd inning. Since this was only a 7-inning game, it will not be considered a no-hitter in the record books. There’s talk that this might change though, especially since complete games are still considered just that in a 7-inning game.

Corbin Burnes

If Jacob deGrom didn’t exist, Corbin Burnes would automatically be considered the NL Cy Young favorite so far in this young season. On Tuesday, Burnes made history by setting the record for most strikeouts by a starter to start a season without issuing a walk. He absolutely carved up the dangerous Padres lineup, going 6 innings; allowing 4 hits with 10 strikeouts. Burnes leads the league in FIP at a 0.71 clip and is in the top 3 in almost every category with deGrom and Gerrit Cole. To say that Corbin Burnes isn’t the favorite for Cy Young just shows how great Jacob deGrom has been so far this season.

Surprising Starts

There’s always teams that have a scorching hot first month of the season and fizzle out soon after, but there’s four teams so far that have surprisingly done really well: the Mariners, Red Sox, Royals, and Giants.

The Mariners currently own a 13-9 record in what was thought to be another rebuilding year. They’ve done it against some tough opponents as well, playing playoff hopefuls and teams off to hot starts like the Giants, White Sox, Astros, Dodgers, and Red Sox. There have been plenty of surprisingly great starts on the roster, with players like Ty France, Chris Flexen, and Kendall Graveman exceeding expectations and helping this team win games. Veterans Kyle Seager and Mitch Haniger have done their part as well, and with 2020 Rookie of The Year Kyle Lewis coming back this week, it’s fair to be optimistic about what this team can do.

Carried by a 9-game winning streak after being swept in their opening series, the Red Sox have been hitting their ceiling more than most teams in the league. J.D. Martinez has been an MVP-caliber hitter this year, Xander Bogaerts and Rafael Devers haven’t missed a beat at all, and breakouts from Alex Verdugo and Christian Arroyo have led the Red Sox to the best OPS in baseball. The most surprising part about the team so far is the pitching. Before the season, Boston was expected to have one of the worst pitching staffs in baseball, but so far they have 5 relievers with an FIP under 3.00. Additionally, standout Garrett Whitlock looking like the best out of the ‘pen with a 14.00 K/9, and 4 starters with an ERA+ above average. One outlying issue I see so far is that Nathan Eovaldi and Tanner Houck are the only starters with an FIP below 4.00, but overall this Red Sox team seems the most legit out of all these surprise teams.

Not many seem to notice how good the Kansas City Royals have been. They currently have the best record in the AL, and are currently riding a 4-game win streak. The Royals might have the most surprises on their roster, on the pitching staff and their offense. Danny Duffy is off to a lucky but great start, leading the team with 1.1 bWAR. Brady Singer looks to be a breakout candidate in his second season with that sinker of his, posting a 3.05 xFIP and 10.05 K/9 in his 4 starts. And the bullpen has been one of the best in the league, led by Josh Staumont, Scott Barlow, and Kyle Zimmer. Great starts from Salvador Perez, Carlos Santana, and Whit Merrifield have kept them afloat with their strong pitching. They’re in the middle of the pack in most major team categories, so expect them to fall back down to earth in the coming months.

Lastly, the Giants have emerged more recently as a surprise team, as they’ve won 6 of their last 8. San Francisco has pitched 5 shutouts this year (all caught by backup Curt Casali!), and when they’ve lost it’s been close. They have a +10 run differential and currently have a 14-8 record. The rotation has been the strongest part so far and it’s mostly carried by bounceback seasons from Johnny Cueto, Alex Wood, and Aaron Sanchez, and continued dominance from last years ace Kevin Gausman. The rotation has the 3rd-best ERA and 5th-best FIP in all of baseball. While the pitching has been phenomenal, the offense has been just okay, so it’ll be tough for them to keep this going, as they still haven’t played the Dodgers and have only played the Padres three times so far, arguably the two best rosters in baseball and will both play San Francisco 19 times each. It’s very unlikely they’ll be able to compete, but they should be fun to watch.

What To Watch Next Week

There’s a few recent playoff rematches in the upcoming week, with the Rays facing the Astros and the A’s for the first time since their playoff matchups, and the Brewers and Dodgers also facing off during the weekend. There’s two scheduled Corbin Burnes’ starts to watch out for, with Burnes looking to break Kenley Jansen‘s record of 53 strikeouts without allowing a walk to start a season. Shohei Ohtani is also set to pitch his 3rd game of the season following his last start where he threw 4 shutout innings against the Rangers. Ohtani is also tied for the league lead in homers, so be on the lookout, maybe he can take sole possession of first place!