Happy birthday, Tyler.
The entire baseball world has struggled to move on from the sudden, tragic death of Angels pitcher Tyler Skaggs. No one knows why he passed, and we won't know until season's end at the soonest. But all we know is that he's gone. The Angels, already a team struggling to hang on in the American League playoff race, were dealt a blow larger and more painful than any playoff elimination. It's easy to wallow in sadness after losing a loved one. Grief is only natural, after all. But on the night of July 12th, 2019, 11 days after his passing and one day before what would have been his 28th birthday, the Angels chose to celebrate their brother. On Friday, the Angels kicked off their second half against the last place Seattle Mariners at Angel Stadium. Every Angels player wore Skaggs' name and number 45 on his back. Skaggs' mother, Debbie, threw out the ceremonial first pitch. The pitch was right down the middle. The Angels bats erupted early and often, scoring 7 of their 13 runs in the first inning. It was a magical offensive night, but the offense quickly gave way to a more powerful magic on the loneliest place in sports. Skaggs made the last start of his life in this building on June 29th, two days before his death. There, he toiled alone for 4 and a third laborious innings against the Oakland Athletics. He allowed 2 earned runs on 2 hits and 4 walks. He would receive no run support and would take the loss in 4-0 shutout victory for the A's. Alone. The pitcher's mound offers a unique form of solitude in professional sports. Your only lifeline is the occasional chat with your catcher, coach, or manager when he's seen enough of you out there. Otherwise, you have to battle with yourself through every second. When you're cruising and executing, it can be simple enough to win these battles. But Tyler Skaggs' final start offered no such luxury. He battled and lost alone. His lifeline, manager Brad Ausmus, took the ball from his hands for what would be the last time. Skaggs didn't have a lifeline shortly after midnight on July 1st. He died alone. It's a pitcher's lot in life to triumph and falter alone. When Taylor Cole, a 29-year old journeyman called up from the minors on July 4th, stepped on the mound to open Friday's game, it seemed at first glance that he too was alone on the hill. But as the outs piled on with no Mariner hits to show for it, it became clear to all watching that Cole was not alone. Tyler was with him. Cole pitched the first 2 innings and gave up no hits before ceding to Felix Peña. Peña pitched like a man possessed, racking up 6 strikeouts and allowing only one baserunner--a walk to DH Omar Narvaez--through 6 innings, from the 3rd to the 8th. After the Angels did not score in the 8th inning, Peña came in for his seventh inning and the stage was set. Three outs to get. Mac Williamson hit the first pitch of the 9th high in the air to right center field, but it was a routine play for Mike Trout. One down. The speedy Dee Gordon nubbed a tapper back to Peña, who scampered to his right off the mound, fielded and fired a bullet to first base in time. Two down. The last batter was Mallex Smith. After a first pitch slider from Peña missed outside for a ball, Smith chopped his second offer to second base. Luis Rengifo knocked the ball down, recovered, and fired to first base within three seconds. And just like that, the Angels had done it. They had achieved a miracle. Such a feat lived in the pages of fairy tales, not real life. Yet, it had happened all the same. The Angels threw a combined no-hitter in honor of their fallen teammate, Tyler Skaggs. It felt, and still does feel, like a decree from a higher power. It felt demanded, expected. The baseball gods wanted a proper tribute to Tyler Skaggs, and they got a master class from his domain. After the game, teammates settled around the pitcher's mound and placed their Skaggs #45 jerseys on it. The loneliest place in sports felt a bit less lonely. But perhaps the greatest revelation, perhaps the greatest sign of a higher power orchestrating this game, came from a single date in history.
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Tonight, the New York Yankees defeated the Tampa Bay Rays 8-4 in 11 innings. This marks the Yankees' 11th consecutive win over AL East teams. Overall, the Bombers sport a 29-7 (.806) mark against their division foes, the best division record of any team in the league. This may not seem overly impressive: the Orioles and Jays are pushovers, the Red Sox are weaker than last year's iteration, and the Rays, while good, have stalled offensively. But "impressive" and "important" are two very different things, and among all the games a team plays in a season, the divisional matchups are the most important. Sometimes, they directly influence divisional races.
Let's look at last year's AL East, for example. The 2018 Red Sox, en route to a World Series title, posted a 52-24 record against AL East foes. Nearly half of their franchise-record 108 regular season wins came against their division rivals. The Yankees, who finished in second place and earned the first Wild Card spot, finished 44-32. This is an 8-game gap between the Red Sox' record and the Yankees' record. The Boston Red Sox won the AL East in 2018...by 8 games. Now back to this year's AL East landscape. The Yankees, as of tonight's win, hold an 8.5 game lead over the Rays. Remember, the Yankees are 29-7 against the divsion. The Rays are 17-16. While not as perfect of a fit in the frame as last year's divisional picture, it's clear that divisional play has heavily impacted the Yankees' and Rays' chances. Of course, this idea mostly applies to teams that have legitimate intra-division competition which, in this league, can honestly be said about every division in MLB right now. Every division has more than one team above .500. But for the sake of argument, let's take the 2018 Cleveland Indians, who played in a farcical division. Three tanking teams and one mediocrity were simply there for Cleveland to send them up the draft board and farm meaningless victories before they were swept at the hands of a juggernaut in Houston. These Indians went 49-27 against the AL Central division. They were 42-44 against everybody else. In addition, they went 23-31 against teams with a winning percentage at or above .500. So, yes, context matters. But this year will show the importance of beating your division. As of July 4th, 17 teams were at .500 or higher. For a league that has been criticized for having too many tanking teams, that's a triumph. And there are plenty of divisional battles being waged. Just look at the NL Central this year. No team is out of it. The Cubs, Brewers, Cardinals, Pirates, and Reds could ALL finish in either first or last. THAT will be a fun division upon which to look back and test this idea again at season's end. Once the smoke has cleared on THAT divisional battle, we'll see if I'm full of baloney, or if I'm on to something. I probably won't admit that I'm wrong either way. Thanks for reading! I really want to keep writing, and I think shorter, less stat-intensive pieces like this will really help keep my fires burning and my fingers moving. Be sure to let me know what you think either via the comment system that apparently does exist (I dunno how to work it though, you're on your own) or on Twitter @BlockIslandBall. |
About MeI'm Jeremy, and I like baseball. Watching it and writing about it mainly. This is where the latter goes. My other hobbies include video games, singing, biking, and slacking off. I live in New Jersey and go to school at Goucher College in Baltimore. That's me on TV! If you want a better look, check out this video. Watch the stands on Kyle Lewis' home run very closely. Look for the skinny guy with the Yankees hat.
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