Three weeks into the 2022 season, we’re starting to get a clearer picture of the Major League Baseball landscape. Teams played about 10 percent of their schedules with another packed weekend on the books. Sample sizes are getting larger and baseball fan bases are gaining or losing hope.
As teams travel to start a new week, we wanted to wrap up the weekend with some of the best moments from baseball’s last three days, as well as what’s on deck for the week ahead.
highlight of the weekend
Pretty easy call here, right? It is Miguel Cabrera’s historic 3,000th hit. An unpopular (but sensible) intentional walk and a rain shower forced Cabrera to wait a little longer than we all would have liked, but he did the deed and became the 33rd member of the 3,000-hit club on Saturday afternoon. Here’s the milestone knocking against the Rockies:
“I couldn’t even feel my legs in the first shot,” Cabrera admitted to MLB.com’s Jason Beck after the game. “…This one was really special for me because I wanted to do it here in front of my family, in front of my hometown here in Detroit. I’m glad I met it here. I’m glad the people of Detroit got to see it. I hope I get more hits here. Thank God.”
Cabrera is the only player in history with 3,000 hits and 500 homers, along with Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Eddie Murray, Rafael Palmeiro, Albert Pujols and Alex Rodriguez. Aaron (.305), Cabrera (.310), and Mays (.301) are the only members of this group with a lifetime batting average of .300. Miggy is in a very, very, very exclusive club.
It should be noted that Cabrera is approaching another significant milestone: 600 doubles. He sits on 599 career doubles and will only be the 18th player in history with 600 two-baggers when he gets there. Aaron and Pujols are currently the only players with 3,000 hits, 600 doubles and 500 home runs. Soon Miggy will join them.
Robinson Canó competed on Sunday with 2,631 career hits. In October he will be 40. If Canó doesn’t get there, it will be a while before we see anyone else reach 3,000 hits. Jose Altuve and Freddie Freeman are nearing 1,800 hits at age 32. Manny Machado turns 30 in July and will finish the season with over 1,500 hits as long as he stays healthy.
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White Sox keep losing games, players
It’s been a brutal week for defending AL Central champions White Sox. They have lost seven straight games, including six defeats in the last five days, and were sacked by Byron Buxton on Sunday. Chicago were outplayed 45-15 during the seven-game losing streak, the longest since late 2019.
To add insult to injury, the White Sox lost another key player to injury during the losing streak. Eloy Jiménez will be out for at least six weeks with a hamstring injury he sustained on Saturday. He obviously missed almost four months last season with a chest injury. Now he faces another long absence.
Chicago lost Lance Lynn to knee surgery in spring training, then AJ Pollock (hamstring) and Lucas Giolito (oblique) in the early days of the regular season. Pollock and Giolito have since rejoined the team, but many key players still lack time on the South Side.
The season is young and the AL Central isn’t exactly a powerhouse division. Still, the White Sox face some real adversity in the early stages. They’ve been losing one of their top players for several weeks and seem to find a new way to lose every day.
France supplies Mariners
Tyler Lawrence France was a 2015 San Diego State 34th-round draft pick and appropriately went to the Padres. He was delivered to the Mariners on August 31, 2020 in a seven-player deal. The biggest name in the deal at the time was probably catcher/utility player Austin Nola.
Ty France made his first leap into full-time MLB action in 2021 and had a breakout season, cutting .291/.368/.445 (127 OPS+) with a 4.3 WAR.
Will France be a significant part of the first Mariners playoff team since 2001 this season? Both look like this at the moment.
The Mariners have had a solid start to the season and France is a big reason for that. On Sunday, France started with a two-run homer in the first inning. In the 10th inning, he singled to put the automatic runner on third base (the runner eventually scored to force the 11th), ending the Mariners’ 12-inning win 3-to-5. They ended up walking them an 8-2 lead on their first homestand of the season.
It was a sequel for France as he has been on fire lately. In his last eight games, he’s 17-to-34 (.500!) with four homers and 13 RBI. In 16 games that season, he’s undercut .375/.459/.656 with five homers and 19 RBI.
On board
DeGrom’s follow-up MRI: The Mets were one of baseball’s best early days, and their starters carried the Diamondbacks into Sunday’s series finals with a 2.44 ERA. They did it all without Jacob deGrom, who fell down in spring practice with a shoulder injury. He will have an MRI on Monday to check the healing progress. From Deesha Thosar of the New York Daily News:
If all goes well for deGrom after his first shoulder pictures since learning of his injury, he should probably be cleared to return to throwing. DeGrom still has a full run-up ahead of him if he’s allowed to resume baseball activities.
“Everything is going very well,” Mets manager Buck Showalter said Tuesday. “They are very happy with where he is at the moment.”
DeGrom, 34 in June, has not served since July 7 due to various injuries. Before the injury last year, he was excellent (1.08 ERA and 146 strikeouts in 92 innings) and he was looking good in his two starts before the injury this spring. The Mets have started well and their rotation has been great without deGrom, but rest assured they are counting down the days until they get the two-time Cy Young champion back. Monday’s MRI is an important step in this process.
Red Sox vs. Blue Jays (four-game series begins Monday): These two AL East rivals met in Boston last week with the Blue Jays winning two out of three. The season series is moving to Toronto this week, and that’s notable given that several Red Sox players are unable to make the trip due to Canada’s COVID vaccination order for incoming international travelers, including right-hand Tanner Houck. We’ll find out exactly how understaffed the Red Sox will be this week when they add unvaccinated players to the restricted list on Monday.
Cubs vs. Brewers (three-game series begins Friday): When these two NL Central rivals met in the first series of the regular season, it was just Cubs. Chicago won two of three with an aggregate score of 18-9, and they inflicted pain on Milwaukee’s vaunted rotational top three of Corbin Burnes, Brandon Woodruff and Freddy Peralta. However, as of this series, these three are excellent together:
First series against Cubs | 12 2/3 | 13 | 13 | 13 | 10 | 12 | 2 | 9.23 |
Since the Cubs series | 33 | 21 | 9 | 9 | 8th | 39 | 2 | 2.45 |
Six of those nine runs came in a Peralta start against the Cardinals last week, so it’s six runs in that start and three runs in the other five starts these three have made since the Cubs series. Maybe the Cubs have their number. More likely it was just an outlier and possibly a result of the short spring training. The Brewers will get a chance for revenge at home next weekend (it should be noted that only Burnes and Woodruff will set that streak, not Peralta).