MLB Six Pack: 5 teams that are hot and 1 that is not
Hot: New York Yankees
After spending much of April giving their fanbase heart palpitations, the New York Yankees have won seven of their last 10 games, and maybe, hopefully, started the long climb out of the basement of the AL East. The Bombers did have Oakland visiting for three games, and any team that is struggling surely likes to see that on the schedule. New York outscored the A’s 28-10 and took all three games.
Much of this winning streak has to do with Aaron Judge’s return from the injured list. The Yanks are 4-2 with Judge back in the lineup, and he has four homers and a 1.295 OPS during that stretch. Harrison Bader is just delightful to watch play center field and, while routinely dazzling with his glove, he has also hit .333 with 11 RBI since taking over the everyday center field role. Oswaldo Cabrera has been on a little heater lately, with 8 RBI of his own since May 7, and Anthony Rizzo has led the offensive surge, batting .357 through the first two weeks of the month, with four homers and 10 RBI.
The pitching has been bleak, not terrible, but definitely not great either. Only the Cardinals and A’s have allowed more hits since the calendar flipped to May, and that the Yankees are 9-5 speaks to how well the batting order has been rolling. New York has scored 83 times in those 14 contests and trails only St. Louis in runs scored this month.
Hot: St. Louis Cardinals
St. Louis, by the way, is also 7-3 in their last 10 games and showing signs of life. At 17-25, they are still the worst team in the National League, so let’s not get ahead of ourselves, but as Dr. Leo Marvin says, “baby steps.”
No one has been hotter for the Cards than Nolan Arenado. Entering May with a .239 batting average and .600 OPS, he has raked in his last 12 games, batting .320 with five homers and 16 RBI. Nolan Gorman has also impressed, with four homers and 11 RBI, and Lars Nootbaar has really turned it on the new month as well, hitting .380.
The pitching has been better lately with Miles Mikolas leading the way, as he has only surrendered five earned runs in 16 May innings, but St. Louis has not won a Jordan Montgomery start in over a month (six losses in a row when he starts). While that’s not entirely his fault, he and Jack Flaherty have too many blowups for the Cards to produce sustained periods of prosperity. What that all means is that St. Louis needs those three guys to light their torches and guide this team out of the darkness of last place. Just 6.5 games behind Milwaukee, the pennant is still an attainable goal.