THE BEST, WORST, AND MEH OF JUNE
Bye, Bye, June
WE’RE DONE WITH THE FIRST HALF AND NOW WE’RE DONE WITH JUNE
THE FIRST-PLACE TEAMS
On June 1, the Yankees led the AL East by 5.5 games over the Jays and the Rays. On July 1, the Yankees lead the AL East by 1.5 games over the Rays and 2.0 games over the Jays.
On June 1, the Tigers led the AL Central by 6.0 games over the Twins and the Guardians. On July 1, the Tigers lead the AL Central by 11.5 games over the Guardians and 12.5 games over the Twins. The Tigers have the fifth-largest division leads entering July since divisions began in 1969. The Mariners led by 20 games in 2001.
On June 1, the Mariners led the AL West by 0.5 games over the Astros and 4.0 over the Rangers. On July 1, the Astros lead the AL West by 6.0 games over the Mariners and 8.5 games over the Angels.
On June 1, the Phillies and the Mets were tied for the lead in the NL East. On July 1, the Phillies lead the NL East by 2.0 games over the Mets.
On June 1, the Cubs led the NL Central by 3.0 games over the Cardinals and 5.5 games over the Brewers. On July 1, the Tigers lead the NL Central by 2.0 games over the Cardinals and 3.0 games over the Brewers.
On June 1, the Dodgers led the NL West by 3.0 games over the Padres and 4.0 over the Giants. On July 1, the Dodgers lead the NL West by 7.5 games over the Padres and 8.0 games over the Giants.
On June 1, the Tigers were playing .644 ball and had the best record in the AL and the majors. The Yankees were next at .614.
On June 1, the Dodgers, Cubs, Phillies, and Mets were playing .621 ball, the best record in the NL.
On July 1, the six first-place teams have the best records in the majors. The Tigers and the Dodgers are both playing .624 ball, the best records in their respective leagues and the majors. The Astros are next at .595, followed by the Phillies (.588), Cubs (.583), and the Yankees (.571). The Dodgers’ magic number is 71.
LET’S GO TO THE NUMBERS FROM JUNE
The AL teams were 199-197, and the NL teams went 198-200.
The AL East went 76-57 (.571). The AL Central went 51-79 (.392)
The Astros won the month with a 19-7 record. The Nationals had the Bizarro record of 7-19.
The Rays had the highest BA in the majors, hitting .280. The Guardians hit .206, the lowest in the majors.
The Tigers had the highest OPS (.806) and the Guardians had the lowest (.606)
The Rays led the majors in scoring with 151 runs. Arizona was next with 143.
In 25 games, the Guardians had more walks (74) than runs scored. They scored just 72 runs.
The Giants led the majors with 105 walks, and the Yankees were next with 103.
The Blue Jays only struck out 158 times, the fewest in the majors. The Royals were next with 169.
The Rockies struck out 263 times, the most in the majors, and the Yankees were next with 251.
The Rays stole 27 bases (the most) and the Dodgers stole seven bases (the least).
Yandy Diaz was the batting champ. He went 40-100 to hit .400. Freeman was next. Not Freddie Freeman (he only hit .200), but the Rockies’ Tyler Freeman, who hit .373.
You know the guy you were all hating on in the first couple of months? Juan Soto had June’s highest OPS at 1.196. And the guy you thought was done the first couple of months, Max Muncy (Dodgers version), had a 1.113 OPS. The A’s Max Muncy had a .659 OPS.
Cal Raleigh was one of four who hit 11 homers in June. He was joined by Soto, Eugenio Suárez, and Jo Adell. Ozzie Albies didn’t homer in 96 AB, nor did J.T. Realmuto in 82 AB. In 99 AB, Jake Magnum hit .303 with no homers.
Mookie Betts (100 AB) and Freddie Freeman (95 AB) each hit one homer. Julio Rodriguez hit one homer in 114 AB.
Jung Hoo Lee and Paul Goldschmidt each went 12-84. Their .143 BA was the lowest of the month.
Michael Harris II hit 148. Rhyss Hoskins hit .150. Rookie sensation Jac Caglianone hit a far from sensational .157.
Francisco Lindor and Raphael Devers each hit .204.
Catchers William Contreras and Tyler Stephenson each went 18-83 (.217).
Fernando Tatis Jr. and TJ Friedl each went 23-98 (.235).
Chase Meidroth and Aaron Judge each went 24-95 (.253).
Shohei Ohtani and Manny Machado each hit .265.
Third basemen Nolan Arenado and Jose Ramirez each hit .275.
Shortstops Trey Turner, Trevor Story, and Bobby Witt Jr. all hit .286.
Brandon Nimmo and Brent Rooker each went 34-104 (.298).
Besides hitting homers, Cal Raleigh hit .300.
Pavin Smith hit .194, Will Smith hit .268, Cam Smith hit .303, and Josh Smith hit .311.
Cody Bellinger and Spencer Steer each went 29-96 (.302).
Marcus Semian and Andy Pages each went 33-102 (.324).
Brewers Christian Yelich and Brice Turang each hit .333.
Ronald Acuña Jr. and Riley Green each hit .360.
José Caballero hit .145 but stole 10 bases.
Aaron Judge struck out 42 times. Kyle Schwarber struck out 38 times. Shohei Ohtani struck out 33 times, and Pete Alonso struck out 32 times.
Tommy Pham went 5-9 (.556) with runners in scoring position. Max Muncy and Brandon Lowe were each 9-18 w/RISP. Rhyss Hoskins was 0-18 w/RISP.
Tarik Skubal went 5-0. He had a 1.89 ERA and struck out 39 in 33.1 IP.
Clayton Kershaw, Jacob deGrom, Framber Valdez, Shane Baz, and Garrett Crochet were all 4-0.
Bailey Ober and Luis Severino each had five losses.
Zack Wheeler allowed two earned runs in 31.0 IP. He had a ridiculous ERA of 0.58.
Ranger Suárez and Logan Webb each had six Quality Starts.
Webb struck out 43 in 40.1 IP, second in the majors. Crochet, also in 40.1 IP, struck out 55.
Zack Littell walked two in 30.0 innings.
They don’t call him “Walker” for nothing. Walker Buehler walked 17 in 20.1 innings. He also allowed 28 hits, 27 runs (25 earned), and seven homers. Alex Cora still plans to have Buehler make his next start, as scheduled, Saturday against the Nationals.
HOW DID THE RED SOX JUST GO 14-12 WHEN THEY SCORED SO MANY RUNS?
The Red Sox scored 132 runs in 26 games in June. That’s 5.08 runs per game. So, how did a team scoring that many runs per game end up with a 14-12 record in the month? 5.08 RPG, is the fourth highest in the majors in June. The Rays, Dbacks, and Brewers had a combined .610 winning percentage. The Sox were at .538. The same as the Marlins, who scored 4.73 runs per game, good for 10th, tied with the Reds, who were 15-11 for the month.
The answer, my dear Watson, is elementary. This dysfunctional team was tied with the Rays (17-10, best record in June), having scored at least 10 runs in five games. In those five games, they scored 60 of their 132 runs, and they won all five games. When they did not score at least 10 runs, they went 9-12, and in those 21 games, they scored 72 runs, averaging 3.43 runs per game.
WILYER GIVE ME A BREAK?!?!
Last night, Wilyer Abreu hit an inside-the-park homer and a grand slam. The last Red Sox to hit both in the same game for Boston was Jim Tabor on July 4, 1939. What made this so delicious that I gained weight writing this was that Tabor's inside-the-parker was his slam. The only other guys to do this were 8/3/58 Roger Maris, 8/4/30 Charlie Gehringer, 7/4/1923 Everett Scott, and 6/5/1890 Jocko Fields. Maris did it for the Kansas City Athletics. He missed hitting for the cycle in that game because while he had four hits, he didn’t have a single.
OUCH!
Astros shortstop Jeremy Pena, who was headed to the All-Star Game, is now headed to the IL with a rib fracture. I'm just over 4 to 6 weeks of pain from a rib fracture, but I'm old; I hope it’s a speedier recovery for Pena.
A League of Their Own was released on July 1, 1992
There’s plenty of crying in baseball.
I WILL NOT BE THE ONLY BASEBALL NEWSIE WHO IGNORES BOBBY BONILLA DAY
Every July 1 (2011-2035), the Mets pay Bobby Bonilla $1,193,248.20—the amount he receives every year on that day from 2011 to 2035, even though Bonilla last played for the Mets in 1999. In addition, Bonilla has a second deferred contract with the Orioles for an additional $500,000 per year from 2004 until 2029. And, he doesn’t even have to write a terrific blog like this and hope that you will subscribe to it.
