Andrew Meyers Articles - Page 5

Few MLB teams carry more intrigue year-to-year than the Tampa Bay Rays. If you asked the casual baseball fan who the winningest teams of the decade are, there’s a good bet most of them would fail to mention the Rays. There aren’t many consistent winners in Major League Baseball, but the Rays are one of […]

To say the 2024 Chicago Cubs season has been a disappointment is an understatement. Lofty expectations followed the Cubbies entering the year after they came away from the offseason with a rejuvenated Cody Bellinger and secured the services of Shota Imanaga, among other moves. Many had them picked as the favorites for the NL Central. […]

While several MLB analysts tabbed the Kansas City Royals to improve their stock this season, few predicted they would be as good as they are in 2024. The Royals’ busy offseason led many to believe they’d flirt with playoff contention in the American League. With 35 games remaining on its regular season schedule, Kansas City […]

So much has gone wrong for the Philadelphia Phillies over the last two months that it’s hard to forget they were on a record wins pace the last week of May. As the final week of August approaches, the Phillies still hold a six-game lead in the National League East but have lost their perch […]

Despite their run to the World Series last season, the Arizona Diamondbacks weren’t tabbed by many to be among the best teams in baseball in 2024. With less than six weeks until the MLB playoffs, the D-backs are cruising toward another postseason berth, and this time they won’t sneak into the dance. Arizona is firmly […]

Defending a championship is hard. Perhaps that rings true the most in such an unpredictable sport like baseball and a more than two-decade-long trend helps prove that point. Barring an unbelievable turnaround that would border on a miracle, the reigning World Series champion Texas Rangers will not defend their title this year. That would make […]

We are six weeks and a day away from the start of the 2024 MLB playoffs and there is so much to play for during the remainder of the regular season. The most wins of any team right now is 73 with eight total teams sitting on at least 70. No team is on pace […]

The Atlanta Braves are in unfamiliar territory as the second half of August begins. On Aug. 16 last year, the Braves were ahead by 12 games in the National League East and had the best record in baseball by 4 1/2 games. 365 days later, Atlanta is seven games back of first place in the […]

The MLB playoffs are a different animal that makes even the game’s best players look like a shell of themselves sometimes. October is when the stars shine the brightest and clutch performances turn into moments that become lasting images for franchises. A select set of ballplayers were born for the spotlight and the MLB postseason […]

Every baseball fan loves a great award race. If you’re looking for that in 2024, the chase for NL and AL MVP doesn’t look like they’re going to produce much drama. Two superstar sluggers have soared to the top of their respective leagues and need a collapse of epic proportions to miss out on MLB’s […]

As the 2024 Major League Baseball season marches toward the playoffs, award races in both leagues are heating up. While some accolades have a clear favorite, baseball is a funny game and a lot can happen in seven weeks. MLB stars are bound to go through slumps and an ill-timed one late in the season […]

When the calendar hits August, it brings a somber feeling to some as summer nears its conclusion. It also signals the start of crunch time around Major League Baseball as the schedule kicks into high gear and playoff races heat up. With only seven Mondays remaining in the 2024 MLB regular season, teams have few […]

The Major League Baseball season is a grind that is not for the weak. With a 162-game slate squeezed into a six-month window, there are bound to be bumps in the road for MLB’s best teams and biggest stars. Enduring a bad week at the plate is one thing, but months of inconsistent play can […]

The Chicago White Sox – amid the worst season in franchise history – dismissed manager Pedro Grifol on Thursday. The 28-89 White Sox snapped a 21-game losing streak on Tuesday and will begin the search for their third permanent manager since the 2022 season only days later. Grifol was fired less than two years after […]

Just as the Los Angeles Dodgers were getting healthier on the pitching side, the NL West leaders endured a devastating blow during a 6-2 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies on Tuesday. Flamethrowing right-handed pitcher Brusdar Graterol suffered a likely season-ending hamstring strain making his season debut, crushing any hope that the 25-year-old would significantly contribute […]

While the buzz around the franchise isn’t as palpable as in previous years, the Houston Astros remain a contending team that should not be overlooked. The Astros did not have a winning record until the last day of June, but a 33-22 record since the end of May has propelled Houston into another heated race […]

Things are not going swimmingly for the Philadelphia Phillies at the moment. Firmly stamped as the top team in baseball for much of the first half, the Phillies have stumbled in the second half and are finding it difficult to climb out of their funk. Philly has lost six consecutive series and is 4-12 since […]

Are the San Diego Padres finally becoming the team they expected to be in 2024? After entering the All-Star break outside of the National League playoff picture the Padres have won 11 of their last 14 games and are firmly placing themselves in the conversation for the NL pennant. This stretch includes series wins against […]

As teams scramble to make decisions on MLB trade deadline day, the Philadelphia Phillies may be done with their wheeling and dealing. The team with the best record in Major League Baseball made two impact trades over the last five days, acquiring outfielder Austin Hays and reliever Carlos Estevez. The Phillies were a World Series […]

The New York Yankees are acquiring right-handed relief pitcher Mark Leiter Jr. from the Chicago Cubs in a trade, per ESPN’s Jeff Passan. The return for the Cubs is infielder Ben Cowles and right-handed reliever Jack Neely. Leiter has a 4.21 ERA this season, striking out 53 batters with 13 walks. He was one of […]

An ace pitcher on a non-playoff team is always subject to trade rumors. That is the case for Tarik Skubal, the Detroit Tigers’ Cy Young Award candidate who is a hot-button topic days before the MLB trade deadline. Even though there hasn’t been much traction on an actual deal taking place, Skubal’s name continues to […]

Not often does one of the biggest free agents of the previous MLB offseason become available for trade the same year he signs a contract. Less than a week before the 2024 MLB trade deadline, the San Francisco Giants are reportedly listening to offers for reigning NL Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell. The past […]

Despite consistently having one of the lowest payrolls in the sport the Tampa Bay Rays seem to always be in the MLB playoff conversation. While the Rays haven’t made a ton of noise on the field this year, the franchise is still being discussed regularly as the MLB trade deadline approaches. At 51-51, the Rays […]

It’s no secret that the Miami Marlins will be sellers at the MLB trade deadline. With a 37-65 record the Marlins are well out of the playoff race but they do have several players on the roster that can be impact players for a contending team. Miami’s bullpen in particular boasts multiple arms that could […]

Being the best team in baseball doesn’t obligate a franchise to buy at the trade deadline. There is a certain expectation that comes with holding the best record in the MLB though and the Philadelphia Phillies anticipate more than just getting the top seed in the playoffs. It’s World Series or bust for the Phils […]

One of the most highly-discussed players in Major League Baseball heading toward the trade deadline is Miami Marlins centerfielder Jazz Chisholm Jr. The 26-year-old is widely expected to be moved before the MLB trade deadline on July 30, although his market may be dwindling as we speak with contenders like the New York Yankees showing […]

Despite posting their worst single-season winning percentage since 1995 last year, the St. Louis Cardinals expected to field a contending team in 2024. Four months into the season, the Cardinals are five games above .500 and currently occupy one of the three wild card positions in the National League. St. Louis’ recipe for winning this […]

Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Christian Yelich will miss time due to lower back inflammation and was placed on the 10-day injured list Wednesday, the team announced. It’s the second time he was sent to the IL this season with a back issue. Lower back problems have plagued Yelich for much of his career. Yelich was in […]

The Cleveland Guardians will be buyers before the MLB trade deadline. Flirting with the top record in the American League, the Guardians are not a perfect team but they have plenty of talent and there’s reason to believe they can remain a World Series contender into October. Acquiring a few upgrades via the trade market […]

The Philadelphia Phillies enter the final week leading up to the MLB trade deadline as one of the few teams with a clear strategy. Owners of the best record in baseball, the Phillies want to make a few moves to bolster their roster and leave no empty holes as the playoffs hang around the corner. […]

A month ago, there was a buzz around the Seattle Mariners as the likable bunch was cruising along in a non-competitive AL West division. The Mariners won their 17th game in the last 22 on June 18, 11 of those wins against divisional opponents. They held a 10-game lead in the AL West, the largest […]

Not much about the first half of the 2024 season was positive for the Texas Rangers. Entering the season as defending World Series champions and with a solid core built to remain a title contender, the Rangers weathered what felt like an endless amount of injuries and bad luck to at least remain in the […]

The Los Angeles Dodgers are a great baseball team. They should be, given their plethora of superstars and the winning culture that’s oozed out of the clubhouse for a better part of the last decade. The expectation in LA is to win and while the Dodgers have done a lot of winning over the years, […]

Shohei Ohtani is going home. So are Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Shota Imanaga and Seiya Suzuki. Four of the brightest Japanese stars in Major League Baseball will play in Tokyo next March when the Los Angeles Dodgers face the Chicago Cubs in two games to begin the 2025 MLB season. MLB released the entire 2025 schedule Thursday, […]

A look at the standings in any given MLB season in recent years shows the San Francisco Giants flirting with playoff contention. The Giants held a playoff spot at the All-Star break last season and were within a game of the National League’s last wild card spot entering the second half in 2022. San Francisco […]

Few predicted the Cleveland Guardians would be in first place in the AL Central at the All-Star break. Even fewer thought the Guardians would have the best record in the American League, yet here we are on July 17 and Cleveland sports a 58-37 record with a 4 1/2 game lead in the division. Cleveland’s […]

Major League Baseball created the World Baseball Classic to introduce a best-on-best tournament displaying the top baseball players on the planet against each other. While not nearly causing as much chaos as the FIFA World Cup, the WBC serves as a nation versus nation event where MLB and other professional players are pitting against each […]

The Boston Red Sox have quietly hung around in the American League playoff race this season and are playing their best baseball at the halfway point. A few Red Sox players were deserving of a spot in the MLB All-Star Game and Boston sent three players to the Midsummer Classic. Two of them were involved […]

Bryce Harper plans on being at several more MLB All-Star Games before he hangs up his cleats. Like so many others around baseball, the Philadelphia Phillies star wants to see a change to the jersey protocol for baseball’s premier midseason event. He’d like to wear his team’s uniform again in the Midsummer Classic before his […]