MLB Weekly Recap (July 6-12): Home Run Derby! + Standings Before the All Star Break

Hey babes!

Welcome back to another weekly MLB recap! 

This week, we’re recapping July 6–12, the final stretch of games before the All-Star Break. Some teams entered the break hotter than ever, others desperately needed the reset, and the Diamondbacks shocked everyone by sweeping the best team in baseball. Also, I break down the rules for the Home Run Derby and list the 8 players to swing in this Mid-Summer Classic ~

In this episode, we talk about:

• All the sweeps from the final week of the first half
• My sneaky team of the week
• The Red Sox entering the break on a winning streak
• The Athletics losing nine games in a row
• The home run leaderboard and the Home Run Derby’s new swing-based format
• Every division leader heading into the second half
• The hottest series to watch after the All Star Break
• This week’s soft take: everyone deserves the chance to stop, reset, and begin again

Whether you’ve been following every game or you just need a quick catch-up before the second half begins, I’ve got you covered. I’m so happy you’re here!

Welcome to the softest corner of sports media!

**Edit: the All Star Game will be shown on FOX not Netflix!**

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Transcript

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Hey babe! Welcome to Baseball for Girls, where baseball means 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, settle in, and let's get into today's episode. Let's play ball. So it kind of officially started on Friday, July 10th, and had some events over the weekend, including the draft and the futures game that happened yesterday. But today we're really gonna focus on the games that happened last week as well as the home run derby that's happening tonight, Monday, July 13th at 8 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, and tomorrow night will be the actual all-star game that will happen at 8 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. Both of those events are gonna be taking place on Netflix, so you have to have Netflix in order to watch it. So let's just jump right into it. Like I said, overall for this week, everyone's just been getting a hype for the all-star break, and some teams have really been thriving at this last part of the first half of the season. So to get into the sweeps during the weekday series, the Red Sox swept the White Sox in a three-game series that was quite impressive. I was not expecting the white the Red Sox to win all three games, especially with how good the White Sox have been. And the Tigers swept the athletics, the Marlins swept the Mariners, unfortunately. And then over this past weekend, the Yankees swept the Nationals, the Orioles swept Kansas City Royals, so proud of them. The Guardians swept the Marlins, the White Sox swept the Athletics, the Diamondbacks swept the Dodgers, which was completely unexpected, and then the Red Sox swept the Mets as well. And this week, my sneaky team of the week is going to be the Arizona Diamondbacks. The Diamondbacks are just above 500 at 510. They've won 49 and lost 47 overall. They've won six and lost four of their last 10 games. They're currently on a four-game winning streak, and they are 11.5 games behind the LA Dodgers. So that means that they are in the National League West Division. So I chose the Diamondbacks this week just because they have been winning a lot of series. They, like I said, are on that four-game winning streak. They swept the Dodgers this weekend. They've been winning a lot of series. This past week they split their series versus San Diego. So they won two out of four in that series. They did lose their series against the Brewers last weekend, but I mean it was the Brewers. But they won their series against the Giants during the weekday series. And overall, they've won two of their last three series. So I think that they are starting to kind of get their groove. I'm thinking maybe after the All-Star Break, they might start to really heat up. Um, so they are definitely a team to watch out for. They've been kind of going under the radar, but they're now the second team in the National League West, right underneath the Dodgers. So the Dodgers are at the top of the division, and then it's the Arizona Diamondbacks. Granted, yes, they are still 11 and a half games behind, but they are now above the Padres in that division. And now for our little temperature check where we talk about the teams that are heating up and cooling down. I'm only going to talk about one for each this week just because I really want to get into the home run derby and like talk about that some more. So for the team that's heating up, I chose the Red Sox. So the Red Sox are still below still below 500 at 489. They've won 46 and lost 48 overall. They have won nine and lost one in the past 10 games. They're currently 10 games behind the Tampa Bay Rays. And like I mentioned, they are on a nine-game winning streak. They've swept three teams in a row. So they swept the Mets this weekend, the White Sox during the week, and they swept the Angels last weekend. The last time the Red Sox lost was on July 1st, and that was a game versus the Nationals. They also lost that series. I said that they were the sneaky team of the week about two weeks ago, now during that week where they lost um that series versus the Nationals, and then they came back and swept the Angels. So now I'm thinking maybe that switch that they had a couple um probably about two months ago now, where they fired their manager, Alex Cora, and now they have a new manager. So now I'm thinking that this new manager is starting to really kick in for them, maybe, and they're really starting to get their groove. Hopefully they'll be able to keep this up after the all-star break. But we do know sometimes when teams are really hot and then they go for a break, it might be harder for them to ramp back up. But regardless, that this has put the Red Sox in a really good position within the AL East. Like I said, they're 10 games behind, but it's still not impossible for them to somehow make it to the top of the division. And then for the team that's cooling down, I did choose the athletics for this week just because they are on a nine-game losing streak. So the athletics are a bit below 500 at 427. They've won 41 and lost 55 games overall. They're only eight games behind the Texas Rangers, so they are in the AL West, and they've won one game and lost nine games in their past 10. The last time they won was on July 2nd, and that was versus the Angels, but they did lose that series. And now for the home run leaderboard, and then we'll go into the home run derby that's happening tonight. So exciting! So for our home run leaderboard, the top three for this week, we still have Kyle Schwarber at the very top. He now has 32 home runs. We know that Kyle Schwarber is the designated hitter for the Philadelphia Phillies, and he will be participating in the home run derby. There was a lot of back and forth, it seemed like. I didn't really go into all of the different articles, but there were some articles like maybe two weeks ago that said that he decided not to do the home run derby. And then last week, like on Friday, I saw a notification saying that Kyle Schwarber is going to be in the home run derby, so then I was kind of confused. But the official roster just came out, and he is he's going to be doing the home run derby this year. Then we have your Don Alvarez, who is also a designated hitter, but for the Houston Astros, he now has 31 home runs. And then Ben Rice, who is the first baseman on the New York Yankees, he now has 29 home runs. Okay, so let's get into the home run derby. So I know it's tonight, so you might be listening to this after the home run derby has happened. I still think it's pretty fun. So there's gonna be three rounds. They're all gonna be based on how many home runs you can get within a certain number of swings. So in the first round, it'll be 20 swings, and the top four hitters with the highest home runs will go to the next round, and then in the second round, it'll be more like a bracket where the number one hitter and the number four hitter will go against each other, and then the number two hitter and the number three hitter will also go against each other, and so that's based off of that first round, like the top four amount of home runs. And in the second round, it'll only be based off of 15 swings, and then in the third round, it'll also be 15 swings, and it'll be the top two winners. So the winner from the number one versus number four, and the winner from the number two versus number three hitters, those two will go against each other and it'll be a winner take all. There are a couple of situational rules. So there's the final swing rule. So if you hit a home run on the final swing, so on the 20th swing or the 15th swing, depending on the round, you can keep swinging until you miss. So if you hit a home run on the 20th one, then you get to hit another ball. And if you hit another home run, you get to keep hitting until you miss. And then for tiebreakers, if there's a tie in the first round, the player that has the longest home run is gonna win. And if there's a tie in the bracket stage, so like the second round or the third round, it'll be a three-swing swing off where whoever gets the most home runs in those three swings will win. Okay, so let's get into the lineup of the home run derby for tonight. So it's gonna be eight players who are gonna go up for the home run derby. And I think it'll be in this exact order that is listed on the MLB app. So the first hitter is gonna be Jack Caglione. He is a right fielder for the Kansas City Royals. Currently, he is at 15 home runs on this season. Then it'll be Junior Camanero. He is the third baseman for the Tampa Bay Rays. He currently has 28 home runs on this season. Then it'll be Wilson Contreras. He is the first baseman for the Boston Red Sox, and he has 20 home runs this season. Then it'll be Bryce Harper. He is the first baseman for the Philadelphia Phillies. He also has 20 home runs. Next would be Minataka Mirakami, who is the first baseman for the Chicago White Sox. We've talked about him a couple of times. He's been in the top three a couple of times as well. And currently he has 20 home runs. Then it'll be Ben Rice, who's the first baseman for the New York Yankees, like I mentioned earlier. He's at 29 home runs. Then it'll be Kyle Schwarber, who is the designated hitter for the Phillies. He has 32, like I just mentioned. And then finally, it'll be Jordan Walker, who's the right fielder for the Cardinals. He has 22 home runs. So those are the rules and the players that are going to be doing the home run derby tonight. It's going to be so exciting. It's going to be so fun. And like I mentioned, it's going to happen at 8 p.m. Eastern Standard Time and it will be showing on Netflix. Also, I wanted to go through the division leaders going into the All-Star break. So just looking at each division and seeing who is at the top right now. And I think you'll find that actually a lot of them are pretty much the same. The only two divisions that seem to be constantly changing are the AL Central and the AL West, but I'll just get into that now. So the Rays are still at the top of the American League East. The Rays are above 500 at 596. They have 56 wins and 38 losses over this season. Currently, they have won five and lost five of their past 10 games, and they lost their most recent game. The Yankees are second to them. They're only three games behind. And recently the Rays split their series with the Yankees. It was a four-game series where the Rays won two and the Yankees won two. They recently swept Kansas City last week. Then for the AL Central, there's actually a tie between the White Sox and the Guardians. So go through the White Sox first. They are just above 500 at 526. They have 50 wins and 45 losses on the year. Currently, they have five wins and five losses in their past 10 games. They're currently on a three-game winning streak, and the team that's right below them would be the twins, who are three games behind. The White Sox also swept the athletics this past weekend, but like I mentioned, they were swept by the Red Sox during the weekday series. And like I mentioned, they are tied with the Guardians. And last weekend they played the Guardians where they split a four-game series. And so the Guardians are at the same statistical level, so they're above 500 at 526. They have 51 wins and 46 losses. In their past 10, they've won six and lost four, and they're currently on a four-game winning streak. During the weekday series, they lost the series versus the twins. But this weekend they swept the Marlins. And the Marlins, if we remember, had the best record in June, which was 15 to 4. So 15 wins and to four losses. So the Marlins are a really good team, and the Guardians were able to beat them. For the AL West, the Rangers are at the top of the vision for right now. So the Rangers are just above 500 at 510. They've won 49 and lost 47 games this season. In their past 10, they've won five and lost five. They're currently on a one-game winning streak. The Mariners are only a game and a half behind them. Previously, the Mariners were at the top of this division. So it does seem like this is a division that will be pretty close. The Rangers won their series versus the Astros this weekend, which was not really expected. Typically, the Astros actually win those series where it's the Lone Star series, is what they call it, the Astros versus Rangers series. So like those that Texas face-off. So the Rangers winning was a pretty big deal. Now moving on to the National League. So and the NL East, the Braves are still at the top of that division. They're way above 500 at 579. They've won 55 and lost 40 games this season. They've won five and lost five of their past 10. The team that is right below them is the Philadelphia Phillies. They are five games behind the Braves right now. This past weekend, the Braves lost their series versus the St. Louis Cardinals again. So in my recap last week, the Braves lost their series versus the St. Louis Cardinals during that weekday series. But they did win their series versus the Pirates during this week. And they won their series versus the Mets last weekend. But before that, they had lost three series, including one series where they were swept by the Padres. So I think I have mentioned previously in one of my recaps that the Braves have been cooling down. They were very far ahead of everyone else in the pack for quite some time. So this slump that they're going through, they're not really being completely affected by it as much as other teams will probably be probably be affected by it. So we'll just have to wait and see how the Braves are able to bounce back. But for the NL Central, the Brewers are still at the top of their division. They are way bef way above 500 at 615. They have 59 wins and 37 losses on the year. They've won five and lost five of their past 10. They're currently on a three-game losing streak. They were just swept by the Pirates this weekend. And the team that's right below them is the Cubs, who are five games behind. So recently the Brewers won four out of their five games versus St. Louis. So during this past week, the Brewers and the Cardinals had to play five games in a row because they had to make up a game. So the Brewers won four out of five of those. They won their series versus the Diamondbacks last weekend. And before that, they took three out of four games versus the Reds during that weekday series. And the week before that, they were playing the Reds and they swept them. And two weekends ago, they lost their series versus the Cubs. And if we remember a couple of months ago now, I think April-ish May, the Cubs and Brewers played against each other, and the Cubs took the series from the Brewers. So the Brewers have not been able to win again a game against the Cubs. And we know that they are in the same division. And the Cubs, like I mentioned, are five games behind. And finally, for the National League West, the Dodgers continue to dominate not only the division, but also all of baseball. They have a record of 629, so way above 500. They've won 61 games and lost 36. Currently, they've won five and lost five of their last 10. They're on a three-game losing streak right now because of their loss versus the Diamondbacks, who swept them. The Diamondbacks are also right below them in the division. They are 11.5 games behind the Dodgers right now. During the week, the Dodgers won their series versus the Rockies. And last weekend, the Dodgers took three out of four games from the Padres, who are 12 and a half games behind the Dodgers. So before this sweep by the Diamondbacks this past weekend, the Dodgers had won the last five series that they have been playing before this sweep. So the Dodgers are and continue to be a force to be reckoned with. And I will not be surprised if they take this division and win it for the year at the end of this season. And I also won't be surprised to see the Dodgers back in the World Series, and maybe even winning three World Series in a row. I mean, that would just be insanity. The last team to do that was the 2000 New York Yankees. They won three World Series in a row. And before that, I believe it was the Blue Jays, and that was like in the 90s. So it's not a very common occurrence, but it has happened before, but it has not happened in this century. So the Dodgers make history all the time, and I won't be surprised if they make it again this year. Okay, so that this has been a very long episode, but just to end it off with the games I'm excited for for this week. So this week there's not really any games until the end of the week. So Thursday, the Mets are playing the Phillies. The Mets have continued to struggle. They are at 412, so a lot below 500. They've won 40 and lost 57 games overall this year. They've won four and lost six of their past 10. They're currently on a three-game losing streak, and they're 16 games behind the Braves. Meanwhile, the Phillies have made a complete turnaround for this season. They're quite a bit above 500 at 557. They've won 54 and lost 43 overall this season. They've won five and lost five of their past 10. They're currently on a two-game winning streak, and they're only two games behind the Atlanta Braves. So the Mets and the Phillies are in the same division, so this is an interdivision series. So that is always exciting. And then over this weekend, there's another interdivision series between the Tampa Bay Rays and the Boston Red Sox. It's gonna be a doubleheader on Friday. So super excited about that. I love a good doubleheader, and we know that the Rays are the top of the American League East and have maintained that for the majority of this season. So it'll be a fun series to watch, especially seeing as the Red Sox have kind of started to heat up a lot over these past couple of series. And it'll be good to see if they're able to keep that rolling after the all-star break and see if they're able to take down the king of their division. Okay, so finally, my soft take for this week is to always take a break just to reset. The good teams are taking a break and the struggling teams are taking a break right now. And it is a well-deserved, well-needed break for both kinds of teams. Just because you're doing really well doesn't mean that you don't deserve to stop. And just because you're struggling, it doesn't mean that you don't deserve to stop and reflect and appreciate how far you've come. Even if you're on a nine-game losing streak, everybody gets the same amount of break and has the same chance to come back after the all-star break and have a great rest of the season. Who knows? Maybe this break is what the athletics need to jumpstart their season back. The athletics are not a bad team this year, so I won't be surprised if they are able to bounce back and end the season above 500. Okay, so that's all I have for you guys today. Thanks for sticking around. I know this was just a little longer than my usual recaps, but we had a lot to cover, and I had so much fun recording this, so I hope you guys enjoyed listening. The recap next week will be a little bit shorter because there's only gonna be the weekend series to recap. There isn't gonna be any series throughout this week, but I hope you guys enjoy the all-star break. I hope you get a chance to watch the home run derby tonight, and you get to watch the all-star game tomorrow night at 8 p.m. on Netflix. Get you a free trial for Netflix for seven days. Watch the all-star game, cut it off, don't forget to turn it off. And I hope you guys enjoy. Thanks again for joining me in the softest corner of sports media. And I'll see you guys next time. Bye.