MLB Weekly Recap (April 13-19): Hot Divisions & Cold Streaks

Hey babes! 

Welcome back to another weekly recap of everything you need to know from around the league, without having to watch every single game.

This week (April 13–19), we’re breaking down a surprisingly dominant NL Central, where every single team is above .500 (yes, really!), plus all the sweeps, streaks, and standout moments you might’ve missed.

We get into:

• Why the NL Central is the hottest division in baseball right now
• A full rundown of this week’s sweeps (and who should be nervous…)
• The Mets’ 11-game losing streak + other teams cooling down
• Sneaky teams to watch like the Angels (hello, Mike Trout comeback era?)
• Shohei Ohtani’s insane 51-game on-base streak
• Current home run leaders and why the race is just getting started

Plus, we do a little temperature check on who’s heating up vs. cooling down, and end with a soft reminder that baseball (and life) is all about showing up, even when things aren’t going your way 

And of course, we preview some of the most interesting matchups for the week ahead so you know what to keep an eye on.

Whether you watched every game or none at all… I got you. 

Thanks for hanging with me in the softest corner of sports media!

Transcript

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Hey babe! Welcome to Baseball for Girls, where baseball meets soft girl energy. I'm Shaughnessy, and here we do baseball with heart, humanity, and a little humor. So, whether you're brand new to the game or deep in your baseball era, you're in the right place. So grab something cozy and settle in. And let's get into today's episode. Let's play ball. Um, so first we're just gonna start with the overall weekly vibe. So the National League Central has been smoking hot. Okay, all of their teams right now are above 500. So the National League consists of so there's two different leagues in Major League Baseball. There's the American League and the National League. Um, and in the National League Central, there are the Reds, so the Cincinnati Reds in Ohio, St. Louis Cardinals in Missouri, the Pirates, uh, the Pittsburgh Pirates in uh Pennsylvania, the Chicago Cubs, and the Milwaukee Brewers. So all of these teams are above 500, which basically means they are winning more than half of the games that they've been playing. So when I say above 500, um it's like a statistic. Um, so it's 0.500. Um, and so that's just how the how everyone kind of refers to the how well a team is doing. So for example, for the Cardinals, um, in their last 10, they've won seven games and lost three, and they're currently on a five-game winning streak. And so just from that you can tell, like, okay, they've been winning more than they've been losing. So it typically would be safe to say that they are like over 500, versus like a team like the Guardians, who are like right at 500, like right up a little bit above 500, I believe, but their last 10, they've won five and they've lost five. So you can't always you cannot always use like their last 10 as an indicator for the um for if they're above or below 500, really, you're looking at the total amount of games that have been played, and right now I think we're around 22 to 23 games um in. And so if you've won more than 12, you're definitely over 500 at this point. And so, like I said, all of those teams in the NL Central are above 500. Most um divisions, so the NL Central is a division of the National League, and each league has three different divisions: um, an East, West, and a Central. And it kind of as the name implies, it depends on the region of the team, um, but it gets a little convoluted, a little confusing, um, just because there's so many teams concentrated in different regions, and so for example, even though the um Philadelphia Phillies and the Pittsburgh Pirates are both in Pennsylvania, they're not in the same division, they are both in the National League, but the uh Phillies are National League East, while the pirates in Pittsburgh are considered to be National League Central. So it's they kind of divide it like that, but I think more interesting would be the Yankees and the Mets. So they're both in New York, but the Yankees are in the American League while the Mets are in the National League. So you really can't just like look at the map and try to guess which league they're in. Um, you'll probably be able to guess maybe which division they are in, but maybe not so much guessing which league just by looking. Um, so I always just look on the MLB app, honestly, because they have a section on the app that tells you which team is in which league and which division and all those things, and it gives you all of the statistics, and it's definitely updated quite regularly, so that's the best resource to use. But let's get into some of the sweeps that have been going on. So this past week during the weekday series, the Padres unfortunately they swept the Mariners. The Mariners are one of my favorite teams, so sad. Um, and the Dodgers swept the Mets. Um, we'll talk about how the Mets have been doing a little bit later. Um, the Tigers swept the Royals and the Rays swept the White Sox, and over the weekend, so this past weekend, during the uh Friday, Saturday, Sunday series, the Braves did end up sweeping the Phillies. They had a late game Sunday night, um, and the Braves swept them, so they won all three of those games. Um, the Yankees swept the royals. If you remember, I just said the Tigers just swept the royals, so the royals are also not doing too hot. The Astros were swept by the Cardinals, and the Cubs swept the Mets, and the Reds swept the Twins. And so if you notice, I just mentioned the Reds had a sweep, the Cubs had a sweep, and the Cardinals had a sweep. All three of those teams are in the National League Central. The only teams that didn't sweep from the National League Central this past weekend are the Pirates and the Brewers. Um, so just notes on those two teams though. For the Brewers, they did just lose their game yesterday. Um, and they've won four games and lost six games from their last ten, but they did win that their weekend series versus the Marlins, and they won their weekday series versus the Blue Jays. Um, but the week before they were having a bit of a rough go. They were swept by the Nationals and they l during the week, and then they lost um their weekend series versus the Red Sox. So the Brewers have been struggling a little bit, but they are still well over, well not well over 500 there. I think at 561. Um, so they're still over 500, but they're um they're definitely at the bottom of the very well-rounded, it seems, National League Central. And for the Pirates, they've won six and they've lost four of their last 10, and they won their game yesterday. And so they did win their weekend series versus the Rays. They had a four-game series during this past week versus the Nationals that they split, so they won two of those games, and the Nationals won the other two. And then last weekend, so not this past weekend, but the weekend before, they won their series versus the Cubs, and the uh week before that, they won their weekday series versus the Padres, and we know the Padres are also a really good team above 500. So all of these teams in the National League Central have been doing doing their job, they've been showing up every day and winning games, and they're a division that you don't always consider to be one to watch out for, but they are making a name for themselves right now. But a sneaky team that I feel like we should really watch out for are the Angels. So the Los Angeles Angels have been doing pretty well. They are they've won five games and lost five games in their past ten. Um, and they are on a two-game losing streak. However, they split their series with their four-game series with the Yankees this past week, even though they did end up losing to the Padres this past weekend, they lost their series versus the Padres this past weekend. They only won one of those uh out of three, but the weekend prior they won their series against the Reds, and they did end up losing their series versus the Braves during the week, um, and the week before that. But what really makes them stand out is Mike Trout. He has been having a really good start, he had a lot of injuries these past couple of years, but announcers continue to say that he looks like he used to. He definitely suffered from a lot of injuries, but now he seems to be back on his game, knock on wood. And one of their pitchers, Jose Soriano, he has been doing exceptionally well, completely under the radar. No one really talking about it, but he has a five to nothing record, so that means of his past five, it was first five starts, he's won all of them, and he has a.28 ERA, so 0.28 earned run average. I'd say that typically an ERA for a pitcher, maybe on average, is around two, a little bit over two, like two point something. Um, and he's at 0.28. So that is elite right now. So the angels, they're definitely someone to watch out for. Um, I know they played the Mariners um like about two weeks ago now, um, where they won that series against the Mariners, and that was the first look I really got at the Angels. I hadn't really been watching them, and I was quite surprised. They're they're doing really well, and so they're definitely a sneaky team to watch out for if they're coming to your town. I would uh I'd recommend looking into them. So now I'm gonna go into our temperature check for this past week. So we're looking at the teams that are heating up and the teams that are cooling down. So let's like look at those cooling down teams first. So the Mets are currently on an 11-game losing streak. That is the longest streak, um, losing streak ongoing right now in all of baseball. So we don't know what's going on with the Mets right now. Um they're hoping to figure that out, I'm sure, but they're not doing too hot. Um, the Royals, like I mentioned, they were swept all of last week. They are currently on a seven-game losing streak, and they've only won two games and lost eight games in their past ten. So they are also kind of struggling right now. And very surprisingly, with the same record almost, are the Phillies. The Phillies have also won two games and lost eight in their last ten, and they are on a five-game losing streak. And a lot of those games have been at home, so I know Phillies fans are not happy about that. Honestly, Philly's fans scare me. So I'm worried about those boys. I hope they're making it home safe because they have been losing and not only losing, but losing by a lot. Um, a lot of those games they lost were by double digits. So the Phillys have some things to work out. But for the teams that are heating up, we got the Padres. They did recently snap their eight-game winning streak when they played the Angels. Um, but they've had three walk-offs in one week, which is pretty unheard of. I believe that's like one of the first times that's ever happened. So when I say a week, I mean like within seven days, they've had three walk-off games. So two of them were versus the the Rockies, and the last one was versus the Mariners. So the Padres did sweep the Mariners during their weekday four game series last week. So the Padres have been doing pretty well. They're kind of a sneaky team, but also not really. You should always be afraid if the Padres are coming to down. Another team that's heating up is the Tigers. Even though they were swept by the Twins um last, like not this past week, but the week before, April 6th through April 12th week. Um, they were swept by the twins in that week, four-day weekday series. They did go on to sweep the Marlins um that weekend. They won their Royals series um during the this past week, so April 13th through the 19th, and this past weekend they won their series versus the Red Sox. So they are starting to get their groove and really working things out. Um, you know, Tarek Scoob Skooble is their top pitcher, he's their all-star, their Cy Young winner. Um, Cy Young is the like pitchers award that they um give out. Um, so they have some good tools to work with for sure when it comes to their pitching staff. So they are starting to heat up, and I'm excited to see where they go. I do like the tigers, so I'm excited for them. I think that my favorite stat from this past week is that Shohei Otani has an on-bass streak of 51. So that means in 51 games in a row, he's made made it on base. Either a walk, a hit, a hit by pitch, anything. He's been on base 51 games in a row. Um, so obviously that means it's spanning back to the this previous year, but that's still incredibly impressive. Next, I want to touch on some of the home run leaders that we have. I'll try to keep track of home run leaders throughout the season. And so, right now, our leader is Jordan Alvarez. He plays for the Astros and currently he has 10 home runs. Then we have Aaron Judge, obviously plays for the Yankees, and he has nine. And then we have Jordan Walker, who plays for the Cardinals with eight home runs. But there are actually a lot of other players that are around eight or seven home runs um so far this year. So the home run leaderboard is really getting kind of crowded. So right now it's not really a question of who's leading, but who is about to take off, and that is what I really want to keep track of throughout this season. And now for my soft take for this past week, so the season is still in its early bloom. Um, so the stats are really still forming, and so not all the leaders have really locked in. So even though I have all these sweeps and the teams that are heating up and cooling down and all these things, like everything is gonna change, everything evolves in baseball, especially with 162 games. Um, we're really not far enough in to have very good statistics um to really get a full picture of how these teams are really gonna be doing. Um, definitely too early to tell for playoffs or anything like that. So we just remind ourselves to be gentle with these players, be gentle with ourselves. Baseball teaches us that there's a lot of failure um before there's success, and even when there is success, you can celebrate it, but also remember that tomorrow's a new day, and you might not be as successful tomorrow as you were the day before. But that doesn't mean that you give up or you stop trying, you just keep showing up, and that's what baseball teaches us. And to close out, I want to talk about some of the teams or some of the games that I'm really excited about for next week. So, even though I say next week, I mean the week that's happening right now. So it's today, April 20th through the 26th. So for the weekday series, the Orioles are gonna be playing the Royals, so the Kansas City Royals. Whenever I hear Orioles and Royals, they sound exactly the same to me. And I'm always like, the Orioles are playing the Orioles. I don't know what what, but yeah, no. The Baltimore Orioles are playing the Kansas City Royals. Um, and I'm only excited about that because, like I said, the Royals have not been doing very well. Um, the Kansas City Royals have not been doing very well, and the Baltimore Orioles have not been doing very well. So I'm hoping that the Orioles can uh take some take take take some games from the Royals and um, you know, do a little better. Hopefully, the Baltimore Orioles are able to have some good games and kind of get ahead um and take advantage of the the Kansas City Royals not doing very well right now. The other um matchup I'm excited for this um week is the athletics versus the Mariners. Same vibes, the Mariners have not been doing very well, so I'm hoping they can take some games from the athletics. That's a little bit of wishful thinking. I mean, the athletics have been doing pretty well, even though they lost their series against the White Sox this past weekend, and they did split their series versus the Yankees during their weekday series. Um, throughout there was a four-game weekday series this past week. So the Angels won two, the Yankees won two. Um, they the athletics swept the Mets. Granted, the Mets have not been doing well anyway, but at the time it sounded like a big deal, and that was the first time that the Athletics had ever swept the Mets in their entire franchise history. So this athletics team, I touted them as the sneaky team to watch out for last week. So hopefully their reputation does not precede them, and the Mariners are able to take advantage of these athletics with their historically not so good reputation, um, and maybe get some games from them. The other games I'm looking forward to are the Yankees versus Red Sox games this this week, um, mostly just because that is an interdivisional series, so the Yankees and the Red Sox are in the American League East. The Orioles are also a part of the American League East, as well as the Toronto Blue Jays and the Tampa Bay Rays. So whenever there are two teams that are playing against each other within the same division, it's just called an interdivision game. And finally, I'm really interested in the twins versus Mets game. So this has kind of been a dragging the Mets podcast episode. I am I'm neither a Mets fan nor Not a Mets fan. I mean, I did buy Francisco Lindor's shoes when it came out because they were really cute, but not necessarily um a fan either way. But the I would like to see if these Mets are gonna start to ramp up a little bit, um, especially coming off of an 11-game losing streak. Hopefully they can snap that. Um, but the twins are right at 500, and like I mentioned, the Mets are on a losing streak, so the big question: will the twins take advantage of these struggling Mets, or will the Mets get their groove back uh with a very mid kind of twins team? Um, as the twins have lost their last four games, so they're on a four-game losing streak. Um, but like I uh mentioned a little bit earlier when talking about the Tigers, the twins did sweep the Tigers in that uh weekday series during April 6th through April 12th. So the twins are a pretty good team. So we'll see how that how that unfolds this week. And for the weekend series, I'm looking forward to the Phillies versus Cubs rematch game. Um, so the Cubs have already played the Phillies at home, so now the Phillies are going to the Cubs. Um, so and that game happened not last week but the week before. Well, about two weeks ago now, they played um the Cubs played at the Phillies, and so like I mentioned, the Phillies are below 500, they are struggling, they were just swept in a three-game series by the Braves over the weekend. So we'll see how this goes. They lost that series against the Cubs, so we'll see. I mean, the Cubs just swept the Mets, that's getting less and less impressive. Um, since everybody has swept the Mets at this point, but I mean, typically the Mets are supposed to be a pretty good team, so saying that you were able to sweep them is still a pretty big deal. So we'll see. We'll see how that goes. Um, the other game I'm really interested in are the Padres versus the D-Backs. I do like the Padres and I do like the D-backs. I like a lot of the pitchers on the D-backs, so that's the Arizona Diamondbacks and the San Diego Padres, so they'll be at Arizona. Both of those teams are above 500, they're both in the same division, which is the National League West division. Um, the Padres have won nine and lost one in their past ten, and they're on a two-game winning streak. The Diamondbacks have won seven and lost three of their last ten, and they just lost a game yesterday. So it should be a pretty good game. Obviously, we don't know how the week is gonna unfold, and so those are gonna change those statistics probably as well. So we'll see. And finally, I'm really interested in the Guardians versus Blue Jays game. Um, just because I really like the Guardians, and the Blue Jays are in my division, so as I mentioned, I'm an Orioles fan, so we are not Blue Jays fans, but I actually do like a lot of the players on the Blue Jays team, and so the Guardians vs. Blue Jays is considered an interleague game because the Guardians and the Blue Jays are in the American League, but the Guardians are American League Central, and the Blue Jays are, like I mentioned, are American League East, so they're that's an interleague game. And so the Guardians are above 500, and they've won five and lost five, and they're on a two-game winning streak, while the Blue Jays are below 500, they've won four and lost six of their last 10, and they just won a game yesterday, so they're they're not doing very very well. They're at the bottom of the American League East division as far as standings, and so we don't know how that's gonna change over this week, but it'll still make for a pretty interesting game um for this weekend series. Well, thank you so much for tuning in for another episode of Baseball for Girls. I honestly didn't get a chance to really watch a lot of games this past week, but that is why I created this podcast is so that I would have a good excuse to sit down and look at all the things that have been happening this past week in baseball and send it out into the world, and so everyone else can um hear what happened, even if they didn't get a chance to watch it either. So I'm definitely excited for some of the games that are happening this week um and seeing how the players are doing. And I hope you tune in again next week for another episode, another recap of the MLB games that are going on. It'll be for the week of April 28th through the 26th. And yeah, I hope you enjoyed this episode. Don't forget to rate and share with someone who you think might like it. And that's all for me. And I hope you have a great rest of your week. Bye.