Tuesday MLB power poll
Hey, why not, right?
The power poll is a football season staple, but now with Memorial Day in the rearview, we’re taking stock of all things baseball.
We’re going to twist the MLB power poll a bit. We’ll blend the top five teams across the league with some of the best or worst things about the grand ol’ game.
True or false on this Tuesday: MLB is a better product with the rules change of the last couple of years.
Who’s with me? (I mean what else are we going to chat about on a random summer Tuesday? The fact that Aaron Rodgers is still not a Pittsburgh Steeler yet?)
Powerful
1 Detroit. Yes, that Detroit, which is 35-20 and on a similar pace as the 2006 team. Plus, this team is built for a lengthy postseason presence with a bona fide ace – and 2024 AL Cy Young winner – Tarik Skubal and 2024 postseason warrior Jack Flaherty atop a rotation that also includes surging former No. 1 overall pick Casey Mize and Jackson Jobe.
2 Philadelphia. Kyle Schwarber, dark horse NL MVP candidate? Dude has unreal power. That’s not breaking news, but if he stays hitting .257 with a stout .974 OPS, he’s a true driver of one of the best lineups in all of baseball. And that’s with relatively tepid starts for Bryce Harper (.267) and JT Realmudo (.232). But about that bullpen? Yikes.
3 Los Angeles. The Dodgers are so deep they are 33-21 with these pitchers still unavailable currently: top flight starters Shohei Ohtani, Roki Sasaki, Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow as well as lock-down relievers Evan Phillips, Michael Kopeck, Blake Treinen and Kirby Yates. Wow. If they get healthy, the Dodgers could have like a 24-win month on the horizon.
4 New York. I think this weekend’s Dodgers-Yankees series should be a ton of fun. And Max Fried has been an absolute baller. In year one of his post-Atlanta, he is 7-0 in 11 starts. He has allowed 10 earned runs in those 11 starts, which translates to 1.29 ERA and 0.93 WHiP.
5 Chicago. I see you, Cubs, who have won eight of their last 10. And even at 12 games over .500, the Cubs’ metric of expected won/loss says their plus-93 run differential means they could/should be better.
As for baseball power (off the field), let’s try this. Best/iconic MLB caps for TV or movie characters:
5 Benny “The Jet” Rodriguez’ Dodgers hat in “The Sandlot.”
4 Gordie LeChance’s Yankees cap that he got from his older brother in “Stand By Me.”
3 Billy Crystal’s Mets hat in “City Slickers.”
2 Doughboy Baker’s Detroit hat in “Boyz in the Hood.”
1 Magnum’s Tigers cap. Of course, this is 1. And it’s not close.
Thoughts?
Silent crossroads
College football as we knew it was corrupt. Paying players. Recruiting shenanigans. Academic scandals.
Now, almost all of that has been worked within the rule structure, and it’s a bigger mess.
Is this the first scenario when transparency has made a serious and high-profile scenario worse? Discuss.
The root of this is money, and the greed among schools, players and conferences has been a unifying piece to this.
It’s paramount for college football to embrace a theory floated in F1 racing that has been practiced perfectly during the NFL’s ascent to the top of the pop culture mountain in America.
These sports are based on competition, but the competitors have to embrace being teammates more often than when they are rivals.
College football conferences, brands and program are teammates every day for six months a year and in the other six moments, they are teammates six of the seven days of the week. Only in those 15-or-so game days are they competitors.
College football has a class fight looming that could be more divisive than the quagmire that is NIL or portal possibilities.
The playoff field will expand from 12 to 16 in the coming years, and the power programs are drawing lines in the negotiating sands.
The SEC and the Big Ten want four automatic bids apiece, two each for the ACC and Big 12 and one for the highest ranked Group of Six champ. The 4-4-2-2-1 format would also have three at-large bids available.
The ACC and the Big 12 understandably want five qualifying spots for the five conference champions and then 11 at-large bids open.
Now, as the spring meetings start, there are salvos and shots being taken across the leagues.
For a sport in which the hand wringing is at an all-time high, this debate could fracture college football way more than other issues before us.
Hoops hoopla
Two basketball notes of note this morning.
Caitlin Clark will miss the next two weeks with a quad injury.
According to CBSsports.com, after playing in all 139 games in her college career at Iowa and all 46 games of her first season with the Fever and the first part of this year, Wednesday will be the first game Clark has missed since her sophomore year in high school.
Hey, it’s sports and injuries happen. But you have to feel a bit for the legion of Clark fans who have paid extra-swollen ticket prices to see the biggest individual star in current team sports.
The second basketball item comes from the OKC win at Minnesota, because the takeaways are layered.
It was a tremendous game – something that has not often been the case in these playoffs.
The Thunder look like the best team in the league, and they are doing it with a slew of guys around Shai Gilgeous-Alexander who are far from household names.
Which leads to some interesting questions about SGA:
Is he the best player in the league?
Moreover, is he the best pro to ever play for Kentucky?
I was flabbergasted to learn that he became the first former Wildcats player to be NBA MVP.
Thoughts?
This and that
› The college baseball bracket was dropped Monday. Vandy is the No. 1 overall seed, and the top four seeds are all from the SEC with Texas, Arkansas and Auburn rounding out that crew.
› Best news for every Lakers fan centers on the news that Luka is going full Rocky in Moscow and crafting a revenge body.
› Volcanoes are mesmerizing, you know. And scary. Don’t touch that relic, Bobby Brady.
› We took in the latest “Mission: Impossible” with Tom Cruise over the weekend. I enjoyed it. Very tense. But this nugget intrigued me. Cruise and the director of his MI blockbuster are focused on making a movie about Les Grossman, Cruise’s hilarious agent character in “Tropic Thunder.” Count me in. Side question: What was the last really good comedy you saw in the theater? Go.
Today’s questions
True or false, it’s Tuesday. Morning, Ernie.
› True or false, trading for Kirk Cousins is a better decision right now than signing the artist-once-known-as Aaron Rodgers.
› True or false, you’d have a better shot at putting the bat on a Paul Skenes pitch than making contact against UT star pitcher Karlyn Pickens, who touched 79 on the radar gun over the weekend.
› True or false, you will watch Dodgers-Yankees.
True or false, you had a favorite MLB cap growing up. (If T, share the team. I wore the brim off my LA Dodgers hat.)
› True or false, SGA is the best former UK NBA player ever.
As for today, May 27, let’s review:
On this day in 2002, some round-faced fella from Smyrna started working at the TFP. Where did the time go?
On this day in 2022, “Top Gun Maverick” was released. It deserved more in the awards circuits.
Bill Walton died on this day last year.
Cornelius Vanderbilt was born on this day in 1794.
Rushmore of colleges/universities named after a person.
