MLB Weekly Recap (July 13-19): The Second Half Begins with a Bang!

Hey babes!

The second half of the MLB season is officially underway, and the momentum shift is already here ~

In this week’s recap, we dive into the first series after the All-Star break, where several teams came back looking completely different.

This week’s episode includes:

• The Orioles, Red Sox, and Brewers completing weekend sweeps
• Why the Pirates are my Sneaky Team of the Week
• Temperature check for the teams heating up and cooling down
• The latest home run leaderboard
• Jordan Walker’s unforgettable Home Run Derby victory
• A preview of two exciting series this week: Orioles vs. Red Sox and Mariners vs. Rangers

Plus, my soft take on why baseball teaches us to forgive ourselves, begin again, and trust that one difficult stretch doesn’t define an entire season.

Thanks for joining me in the softest corner of sports media!

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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 we are jumping right back in right after the All-Star break. So the All-Star Game was last Tuesday, and we know that the American League won yet again. If you would like to hear a recap about the All-Star game, I do have an episode that I posted last week. So you can go back and check out that episode that gives a full recap of the All-Star Game. So for the All-Star Break, there were no games played Monday through Wednesday, other than the All-Star game on Tuesday. So there were no regular season games played until Thursday evening where the Mets went to the Phillies for a three-game series. The Mets ended up taking that series, actually, spoiler alert, which I wasn't really expecting. I did think that the Mets were gonna win that first game just because of the pitching matchup. Aaron Nola is a really good elite pitcher. He's been struggling a lot this season, but he was definitely instrumental in the Phillies going to the World Series back in 2022. However, there were several several batters in that lineup that had seen Aaron Nola and had pretty good records against him. But anyway, I'm not getting into just that one particular game, but that was the only game that played on Thursday. So the rest of the games started on Friday and ended on Sunday for that three-game series. The only series that was four games was the rays at Red Sox, but other than that, all the other games were in a three-game series. So overall, I think that the weekly, I guess the weekend vibe for this week was just that the bounce back is very real coming off of this all-star break. A lot of these teams have been climbing above 500 after struggling during this first half of the season, and they're hoping that after the all-star break, they can continue this good momentum and really have a good rest of the season and hopefully make it into the postseason. So there were only three sweeps this weekend. The Orioles swept the Astros, the Red Sox swept the Rays, and the Brewers swept the Marlins. So the Red Sox have been on fire lately. Red Sox right now are on a 13-game winning streak. That is the first time that that has happened for the Red Sox since 1948. I was just listening to MLB Network, just like the sports guys announcer people, and they were pretty much saying that the Red Sox have really been taking advantage of the mistakes that other teams have been making. They have not been missing any mistakes that happen, and they've been taking advantage of all of them, which has led them to this 13-game winning streak. Regardless, we are happy for the Red Sox. This is an incredible feat after the not great first half of the season that they were having, and they are definitely hoping that they can continue this momentum as they are climbing above 500 for the first time since the beginning of the season when they were one to one for the first two games of the season. Also, the Orioles are on a seven-game win streak right now. This is the first time they've had a seven-game win streak since September 2023. They have really been benefiting a lot from good pitching. Trevor Rogers is the ace pitcher for the Orioles right now, and he has been winning all of his starts lately, which has really given the Orioles that leg up that they need in order to get closer to 500. And you know, the Brewers swept the Marlins, but the Brewers have just been chuggling right along. They have been doing well this entire time. So it was not a surprise that they were able to sweep another team. However, the Marlins have been struggling as of late. It definitely is surprising that they the Brewers were able to sweep the Marlins. I would have thought that it would have been a much closer series than what it was, just because of how good the Marlins were in June of this year. But I'll touch more on the stats for these teams in the temperature check. So first I'm gonna talk about the sneaky team of the week. This week I chose the Pirates. They currently have a record of 52 wins to 48 losses, which brings them above 500 at 520. Currently, they are 10 and a half games behind the Brewers. So we know that the Pirates are in the National League Central. They have won seven and lost three of their past 10 games, and they recently just won their series versus the Guardians this past weekend. They've won three out of the past four series, where in one of those series was a split versus the Phillies, and the only loss was versus the Braves, where they lost the series, but they weren't swept by the Braves. Interestingly, the Pirates have the worst bullpen ERA. So remember, the bullpen are the relief pitchers that come in after the starter. So their bullpen really struggles, but I do think that the Pirates are a team that you have to beat. They don't give up easily, and god forbid it's Skeins Day because you're definitely gonna lose. Because we know that Paul Skeins is the ace pitcher for the Pirates. He is their best pitcher and he completely dominates the game. So for the teams that are heating up, I chose the Orioles. So just like I was saying, the Orioles are currently on a seven-game win streak. They have won 49 and lost 51 games overall this season, which brings them just below 500 at 490. They're currently eight games behind the Tampa Bay Rays. They've won seven and lost three of their past 10 games. And like I mentioned, they're on that seven-game win streak, which is the first time that's happened since September 2023. They are really benefiting from their pitching staff as well as their players just improving overall and playing better as the season has progressed. They did just lose Adley Rutschman, who is the catcher for the Orioles. Literally today, I saw that he was just put on the injured list and he should be returning in 10 days. The other team that's continuing to heat up are the Atlanta Braves. So the Atlanta Braves, we know, are at the top of the National League East. They have 57 wins and 41 losses overall this season. They're quite above 500 at 582. They've won five and lost five of their past 10. But in particular, in these past three games, Drake Baldwin, the catcher, and Austin Riley, the third baseman, have been doing really well in these past three games. Both of them have had three home runs. Baldwin has eight RBIs, and Riley has five. Drake Baldwin has zero strikeouts while Austin Riley only has two. And Baldwin has 10 hits out of 14 at bats, and Austin Riley has six hits out of 12 at bats. So these players are really starting to heat up right after the all-star break. They seem to have really benefited from the week-long break that they got. And so I think that we'll continue to see the Braves get better and better as the weeks go on, especially once Ronald Acunia Jr., who I believe is a center fielder or right fielder for the Braves, once he gets back off the IL, the Braves will continue to do really well. And that's why I think that they are starting to heat up even more right now. Especially after the kind of slump that they were going to right before the all-star break. For the teams that are cooling down, I chose the Houston Astros. So the Astros have 47 wins and 54 losses, bringing them below 500 at 465. They are currently four games behind the Texas Rangers. They've won three and lost seven in their past 10 games, and they're currently on a four-game losing streak. They've also lost four of their past five series. And when they played the Rangers the last time, they lost that series, which was unexpected. Typically, the Astros win versus the Rangers. So that is a testament to how the Astros are struggling right now. The other team that I think is cooling down are the Miami Marlins. So, like I was mentioning earlier, the Brewers just swept the Marlins this past weekend. The Marlins have 52 wins and 48 losses this season, which brings them above 500 at 520. They're currently six games behind the Atlanta Braves. They've won four and lost six of their last 10 games, and they're currently on a six-game losing streak. So we know that means that they must have been swept before the All-Star Break. And so they were swept by the Guardians in that last series before the break. And like I said earlier, it is quite surprising just because the Marlins were doing so well at the first half of this season. So we'll have to see how they are either able to bounce back or they may continue to have a bit of a slump for maybe the rest of this month. They are likely to be buyers during the trade deadline and will likely try to get new players to help supplement any areas they feel like they are lagging in. So we'll have to see what the Marlins do for the trade deadline and how it will impact the rest of their season. And speaking of the trade deadline, so the trade deadline is August 3rd. I will talk about it a little bit more once we get a little bit closer, just because everything right now are just rumors. We don't really know what's gonna happen, and I'd rather just talk about the trades that did happen versus the ones that might happen. But Terek Scuble is definitely one of the top people that are rumored to be traded to someone else before the deadline. So we know Terek Scuble as the ace starting pitcher for the Detroit Tigers. The Tigers would be very remiss to lose him, however, they would probably benefit from some fresh new talent in their lineup. So we'll have to see what the Tigers end up doing before the deadline. And now to go through the home run leaderboard. So Kyle Schwarber, the designated hitter for the Philadelphia Phillies, is now at 33 home runs. Then we have Jordan Alvarez, also a designated hitter, but for the Houston Astros, he's currently at 31 home runs. And then Hunter Goodman, who is a catcher for the Colorado Rockies, he now has 30 home runs. And just an honorable mention, we have Junior Camonero, who is the third baseman for the Tampa Bay Rays. He now has 29 home runs. And of course, we know that last Monday was the home run derby. I talked about the home run derby in last week's recap. And in that episode, I went through the entire lineup of all the players that were going to be hitting in the home run derby last Monday. Junior Camanero did play in the home run derby, but he did lose. The winner for the home run derby was Jordan Walker. And honestly, it was so intense to watch. So at the end in the final round, it was basically Schwarber. So Kyle Schwarber from the Philadelphia Phillies, the one that has 33 home runs on this season. It was him versus Jordan Walker, who has 22 home runs. And I think at the time maybe he had 20 or 21. But at the very end, Schwarber had 11 home runs in the final round. And so Jordan Walker had to beat 11 home runs in order to win. I went through the rules for the home run derby in that previous episode. But basically, each round has a set number of swings. And the final round, it was only 15 swings. And you see how many home runs you can get in 15 swings. So Shorber got 11 and Jordan Walker got 12. But what was what was really fun to watch from this game was that on the last swing, if you hit a home run, you're allowed to keep swinging until you miss, basically. And so Jordan Walker had one swing left and only had eight home runs. He then proceeded to hit four home runs in a row and then won the home run derby. It was electrifying to watch. He actually hit six home runs in a row to get to 12. So it just made it so much fun to watch, especially kind of hearing Jordan Walker's story. Also, his parents were in the crowd, so then the camera kept going over to them and they were just like cheering every single time that he hit a home run, which is so special to watch. We know that Jordan Walker has had some injuries and just other issues that prevented him from playing in previous seasons. And this was really his first season, fully healthy. Jordan Walker is the designated hitter for the St. Louis Cardinals, and he became an all-star this year. He played in the all-star game. So this has just been a very special year for Jordan Walker. Also, he won a million dollars. The prize for the home run derby is a million. I did not know it was that much money. I knew that they won money, but a million dollars. So Jordan Walker just won a million dollars for hitting 12 home runs. Good for him. We love that for him. I mean, that makes me feel a lot better that Kyle Schwarber didn't win since he literally won last year. And I'm sure I'm not sure if a million dollars was the prize last year as well. But if it was, then you know, Kyle Schwarber. I mean, come on. You know, give someone else a chance. And he did. And I'm so happy for Jordan Walker. I don't really watch a lot of Cardinals games, honestly. But whenever I do, I'm definitely gonna start looking out for Jordan Walker. And now, just for the games that I'm looking forward to this upcoming week, the Orioles are playing the Red Sox tonight for a three-game series. Very interestingly, combined, the Orioles and Red Sox are on a 20-game win streak. So we know the Orioles are on the seven-game win streak, and the Red Sox have a 13-game win streak. So it's gonna be really interesting to see who loses their win streak tonight. It's kind of insane that both of these teams are on a win streak and somebody has to lose. I feel like this game is gonna go in extra innings. It's gonna be tied for a while. And honestly, we know just statistically, once you go into extra innings, the home team is just much more likely to win just because of a walk-off probability. However, those statistics are a little bit more skewed now with the ghost runner rule. I can make a more of like a tiny baseball lesson episode about how the rules change slightly in extra innings. So technically, you would think that the home team is just more likely to win just because they're able to have a walk-off. But with the ghost runner having an increased probability of scoring in the top of the 10th, it kind of makes it even out a little bit, I think. But anyway, we'll see who wins. I think it's gonna be an extremely close game. I don't know who's gonna win. The Red Sox currently are 50 wins to 48 losses, so they just got over 500. They're now at 5'10. They're currently six games behind the Tampa Bay race. They have won 10 and lost zero of their past 10 games, and like I mentioned, they're on a 13-game win streak. So the Red Sox and the Orioles are in the same division, they're both in the American League East. So this is an interdivisional series. They've already had two series previously. In the first three-game series, the Red Sox won, and in the second three-game series, the Orioles won. So their record versus each other this year is three to three, so Red Sox three, Orioles three. So honestly, it's completely up in the air. We have no idea who's gonna win tonight. The other game that I'm looking forward to this weekend is gonna be the Mariners versus the Rangers. So that is another interdivisional series. So the Mariners and the Rangers are in the American League West. Head to head, the Rangers lead this season. So the Rangers have won four, and the Mariners have won two times in the six games that they have played against each other this season. The Mariners are currently 50 wins to 50 losses, so they're right at 500 as of today. They're only a half game behind the Rangers, and they've won four and lost six of their past 10 games. They're on a two-game winning streak just because they won their series this weekend versus the Giants. The Rangers, on the other hand, kind of have a very similar record. They've won 50 games as well, except they've lost 49 games this season. They're just above 500 at 505. They are the top of the American League West. They have won five and lost five of their past 10 games, and they just lost their series this weekend versus the Braves. So the Mariners and the Rangers have very similar records. Obviously, this may change as the week goes on and they play different teams throughout the week. But regardless, this will be a very interesting game to watch. The standings will likely change by the weekend, but if the game was to happen today, it would be a fight for the leader position of the AL West. But like I mentioned, that may change by the time the weekend gets here. And finally, for my soft take this week, I just think that baseball teaches us to forgive ourselves constantly and to remember we're gonna have struggles, we're gonna have ups and downs, we're gonna have 13-game win streaks, and sometimes we'll have six-game losing streaks. We can't always control the outcome of situations, but that doesn't mean that we give up on ourselves, we are in a constant state of forgiving and beginning again. Well, that's all that I have for you guys today. I hope that you enjoyed this episode, and if you did, feel free to share it with someone else who you think that might enjoy it. Don't forget to rate and review this episode. It really helps the podcast reach more people. And thank you for joining me in the softest corner of sports media. I'll see you guys next week. Bye bye.