Major League Baseball: 2022 Season

[Blitz24]

Here's something depressing for us Reds fans: this season has seen the departure of the likes of Castellanos, Lorenzen, Barnhart, Miley and Garrett. And you can now add to that list Gray, Suarez and freakin' Winker! Votto and his fantastic contract is still around. Nothing against him, as the man has had quite a few incredible years here and been a fan favorite. But can we trade him to a team where he can win a ring, pretty please (while unloading said contract)? Oh, and here's the topper I just read about today. Ken Griffey Jr. is, at the moment, the 6th highest paid player on the team. Yep, the Kid is still being paid by Cincy all these years later.

I'm beyond pissed. We went through 5 or 6 seasons of crapball, to 2 years of a decent to semi-decent team, right back to what's going to be several more sure-to-be God awful, painful seasons. Just...why?

Your owner has $2.4 billion no money. That's why.

Meanwhile, the Colorado Rockies decided to trade Nolan Arenado for pennies on the dollar due to his desire to leave, let SS Trevor Story walk and not attempt to trade him and now finally have signed 3B/OF Kris Bryant to a 7 year deal with a no-trade clause. This team might have changed GMs over the off-season but it's evidence they still have no idea what they are doing.

 

[JohnBM01]

From free agency, to... the Minnesota Twins. Carlos Correa signed with the Minnesota Twins from the Houston Astros. So this is going to be a huge boost for the Twins. And meanwhile, a big hole to fill in Correa's abscence.

 

[JohnBM01]

Remember, baseball fans- the new season starts this Thursday! Be sure to cheer on your favorite team(s) and hope they have great seasons. Enjoy the 2022 season!

 

[JohnBM01]

GTPlaneteers... Major League Baseball is back! The first series of 2022 will be played today and tonight. There was fear this season wouldn't happen thanks to a CBA not agreed upon. Well now, the season will start and play 162 games. The Atlanta Braves will be able to defend their World Series championship (at the expense of my Houston Astros) this season. My Astros will hit three cities to start the season: L.A. Angels, Arizona, and Seattle. We won't be home until about April 18.

Not to start something, but someone predicted this season's Wold Series will have the Milwaukee Brewers defeating the Chicago White Sox. Could THIS be our 2022 World Series? LONG way out to find out if that holds true.


Enjoy the 2022 Major League Baseball season!

 

[JohnBM01]

Here are the first series of the 2022 season:

• BOS Red Sox at NYY Yankees (postponed)
• SEA Mariners at MIN Twins (postponed)
• MIL Brewers at CHI Cubs
• CLE Guardians at KC Royals <<< CLE: formerly the Indians
• PIT Pirates at STL Cardinals
• NYM Mets at WAS Nationals
• CIN Reds at ATL Braves <<< ATL: defending champions
• HOU Astros at LAA Angels <<< HOU: 2021 World Series runners-up
• SD Padres at ARI Diamondbacks

MIL at CHI, CLE at KC, and PIT at STL are all on going as of the time of this post.

 

[JohnBM01]

The Houston Astros won 3-1 at the Los Angeles Angels last night (since it was past Midnight here in Houston at the time). They won on Opening Day for the 10th straight time. The Astros tied the Boston Beaneaters on that feat for most Opening Day wins in a row; the Boston Beaneaters accomplished this between 1887-1896. If the Astros win on Opening Day in 2023, they'll set the new record for Opening Day wins in a row.

Now, those of you who know me, I usually make series summaries and not just talk about one game. So I'll talk about the series when it concludes. This is a four-game set between Houston and the L.A. Angels.


Elsewhere...

* The Cincinnati Reds spoiled the Atlanta Braves' title defense with a 6-3 victory in Atlanta.

* The New York Mets did good also. They won 5-1 at the Washington Nationals.


Congratulations to all other Opening Day winners!

 

[JohnBM01]

It's about time I prepare my first series summary of the 2022 season.


Houston Astros at Los Angeles Angels - 4 Game Series

[GAME 1] The Astros came away with a 3-1 victory. It marks their 10th straight Opening Day victory.

[GAME 2] Unless you were listening on AM 790 here in Houston, the only way you could follow this game was by watching on AppleTV+. From what I heard, Jose Altuve hit a leadoff homer to set the mood. The real damage came when the Astros hung eight runs on the Angels in the 7th inning. This included Jeremy Peña hammering a home run as his parents were being interviewed. Astros won 13-6.

[GAME 3] Justin Verlander retuned to pitching in a regular season or postseason game for the first time in 624 days. His pitching kept the Astros in the game, but the rest of the Astros forgot their offense, in a 2-0 fail.

[GAME 4] The Los Angeles Angels were leading 1-0 when I first saw the game in the Top of the 5th. The Astros went ahead later in the game, scoring four unanswered runs to win 4-1.


UP NEXT: We take Monday off and get ready for a two-game Interleague series at the Arizona Diamondbacks. We're in the Desert next.


If you want to talk about the games, you can mention single games or provide series summaries. I prefer summaries to keep everything together. So feel free to let us know how your favorite team(s) did in their most recent series!

 

[Dolph Drago]

The Reds came away from the reigning champs in Atlanta with a 2-2 split. Considering the key departures that took place in the offseason, I'll take it.

Game 1: 6-3 Reds
Game 2: 7-6 Braves
Game 3: 2-1 Braves
Game 4: 6-3 Reds

Of note:
-Opening Day (Night) was a pleasant surprise. I assumed Cincy would lose.
-The Reds were down 7-3 with 2 outs in the 9th in game 2 and put up 3 runs on the closer, Kenley Jensen. Unfortunately they came up 1 run short
-Game 4 saw Hunter Greene make his pitching debut. He claimed the win with 5 innings of 3 run ball. Art Warren also picked up his first career save.
-Despite the fact I didn't recognize all the names on the team, the offense impressed and managed to put up 6 runs three times in the series
-Both losses were by only 1 run

 

[Blitz24]

Mets managed to win 3 of 4 vs Washington, but the last game was an ugly loss punctuated by two poor fielding decisions by 1B Pete Alonso, turning a 2-1 lead in the 8th into the eventual 4-2 loss.

 

[JohnBM01]

We still road trippin', yo. This time, the Houston Astros entertained some Snakes in the desert. Let's see how this quick series went.


SERIES: Houston Astros at Arizona Diamondbacks - 2 Games

[GAME 1] It was a pitching duel in Phoenix as the Astrus drew first blood on a solo homer. Then later, the Diamondbacks went yard to level the game at 1. The Astros scored a late RBI in the Top of the 9th to lift the Astros past their former NL foe.

[GAME 2] The Diamondbacks led on a bases loaded hit-by-pitch. Then later, some good base running led to the Astros tying the game at 1. Astros pitching was pretty horrid early. They were glad this game didn't see the D-Backs lead by more than just 1-0. Regulation solved nothing in this one, so we needed extra innings. The two teams traded runs in the 10th inning. Arizona went walk-off to sink the Astros in extras. Poor pitching was to blame for this Astros loss.

GM1: (2-1; Houston)
GM2: (3-2, 10 innings; Arizona)

So we split this two-game set in Phoenix.

NEXT: Three games at the Seattle Mariners to conclude this early road trip. Starting Friday.


Let us know how your favorite team(s) is/are doing if you wish.

 

[Dolph Drago]

Not a good home opening series for the Reds who were entertaining the Cleveland Indians Guardians.

Game 1: 10-5 Cleveland
Game 2: 7-3 Cleveland

The Reds found themselves down 4-0 early in game 1 before putting up a 4 spot in the 6th to tie it up. Naquin played a big part in that, hitting one off the batter's eye in dead center. Things looked up, albeit no change in score through 8. Then that darned bullpen proceeded to do its best 2021 impression, getting rocked for 6 runs in the 9th, including a grand salami. Cincy's 1 run in the bottom of the inning wasn't quite enough to bring them back... I missed most of the second game today since it was an early afternoon game and I had to work. Nick Lodolo had a rough outing in his debut, pitching 4 innings while giving up 5 runs. Not much else to say about it.

The Redlegs currently sit last in the NL Central at 2-4. Yay.

 

[Blitz24]

Mets went into Philadelphia won 2 of 3. First game though saw a meltdown of the bullpen as they squandered a 4-0 lead and lost 5-4 giving up all 5 runs in the 8th. Mets also lost SP Taijuan Walker for a bit due to shoulder inflammation as he went on the IL.

2nd game saw the Mets replacement SP Tylor Megill throw 5.1 scoreless frames and the bullpen hung on this time for a 2-0 victory. The game was scoreless until the 5th inning when OF Brandon Nimmo took SP (and ex-Met) Zack Wheeler deep. Edwin Diaz closed the door for the save.

Wednesday's game was a matchup between aces Max Scherzer and Aaron Nola which featured both SP failing to get past the 6th inning. Both pitchers had command issues but Nola got bit by the HR as Nimmo again managed to score a big fly before Nola departed after 3.1 IP and 3 runs allowed. Scherzer went 5, only allowing 1 run with 7 Ks. DH Pete Alonso feasted this game with a 3 run HR and 2 doubles, collecting 5 RBI en route to a Mets 9-6 victory.

After a 5-2 start, the Mets travel home to face off vs. Arizona tomorrow with Chris Bassitt on the mound. Tomorrow will be Citi Field's opening day and coincides with the long-waited reveal of Mets legendary SP Tom Seaver's statue and Jackie Robinson Day.

 

[JohnBM01]

Happy Easter! Sleepless in Seattle. The Houston Astros went to the beautiful Pacific Northwest to meet the Pacific Northwest's only MLB team. So here's how this three-game series went...

* HOU Astros at SEA Mariners (3-games)

[GAME 1] It was early and often offense as Jake Odorizzi stunk up the joint on pitching. After the Mariners hit a three-run homer late, already up big, I stopped watching. We failed hard- 11-1.

[GAME 2] How do you respond after getting punched in the mouth? Well, with Justin Verlander on the bump, we did REAL good. The other star for the Astros was Jeremy Peña. His first hit was a triple. He would end up being a homer shy of "hitting for the cycle." 4-0 victory for the Astros. Rubber Game for Game 3.

[GAME 3] The Astros couldn't follow up on their shutout of the Mariners from Saturday. They ended up failing hard. Only Houston scoring was on a two-run homer. Seattle was just too much for the Astros to handle. We fail 7-2 in the Rubber Game.

SCORES:
GM1: (11-1; Seattle)
GM2: (4-0; Houston)
GM3: (7-2; Seattle)

NEXT: LAA Angels at HOU Astros (3-game series)

So this road trip in review- win at LAA series, split at ARI series, and lose at SEA series. Let's see how home goes for us next.


Congratulations to all other series winners! Good job to any series splits! How did your team(s) do?

 

[Dolph Drago]

The Reds suffered a 4 game sweep at the Dodgers and have now lost 6 straight.

 

[JohnBM01]

Ouch. Sorry, Dolph Drago. The Dodgers now get the defending champion Atlanta Braves next. Meanwhile, your Cincinnati Reds will be at the San Diego Padres.

My Houston Astros finally get their first home stand going when we host the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim for a three-game set starting tonight. Bats need to wake up for the Astros after a slow time in Seattle.

 

[Blitz24]

The Reds suffered a 4 game sweep at the Dodgers and have now lost 6 straight.

Well, you do have Hunter Greene who might be something until the Reds give him away in a few years.

 

[Dolph Drago]

Well, you do have Hunter Greene who might be something until the Reds give him away in a few years.

That's true. He did set the record for most 100+ mph balls thrown in a single game in his last start. Impressive considering it was only his 2nd career start. So that's something, I guess.

 

[JohnBM01]

After three straight series on the road, the Houston Astros return home, hoping home cooking can go well. Their first home test is against the Los Angeles Angels. Here's the summary...

* LAA Angels at HOU Astros - 3-game series

[GAME 1] It was hit the ground running for the Astros. The Astros won easily 8-3. The win was bittersweet, though, as José Altuve had to leave the game with a hamstring injury. He's currently on the 10-day IL. Luis Garcia was solid pitching, and Yordan Alvarez was the big man in landing homers.

[GAME 2] The Angels get a modicum of revenge with a 7-2 victory. The wind was out of the sails of the Astros for this one. Rubber Game for Wednesday.

[GAME 3] We debuted our lovely Space City uniforms. Jake Odorizzi was the starting pitcher for the Astros, and he absolutely STUNK- 30+ pitches, loaded the bases... all in the Top of the 1st! So now Blake Taylor has to right Odorizzi's wrongs. That included an almost Grand Slam by the Angels. Astros already in a 6-0 hole after the Top of the 1st. Only good news is that the Angels did no scoring since. Bad news? Only ONE hit. Lovely uniforms, ugly loss. 6-0 win for the Angels. Astros couldn't bail out Odorizzi.

GM1: (8-3; Houston)
GM2: (7-2; Los Angeles Angels)
GM3: (6-0; Los Angeles Angels)

NEXT: Toronto (3 games), starting on Friday

The Astros don't have as strong a start so far. Now we're in 4th in the AL West behind the Angels. Now 6-6 on the 2022 season.


Congratulations to all other series winners! Good job to those who split so far.


[UPDATE] Now 4th in the AL West and 6-6 after this game. Changes made.

 

[Joey D]

I can't stand the Yankees so normally I wouldn't bother watching when the Tigers played them, but given that Miguel Cabrera was only three hits away from 3,000 I felt like I had to watch tonight. I'm glad I did because he notched two more bringing the total to 2,999. Hopefully, tomorrow he bags the milestone. Then it's only 7 more hits until he ties Al Kaline. I doubt he'll get to Ty Cobb's 3,900 hits before he retires though. But I'll be happy with Miggy in second place overall for the Tigers.

 

[Dolph Drago]

Sweep! That's what the Padres did to the Reds... That's 3 straight sweeps and 9 straight losses. In fact, we haven't notched a victory since the final game of the opening series in Atlanta a week and a half ago. Chew on that for a while.

No offense. Meh to ugh pitching. After losing so much firepower in the offseason, those that were supposed to step up have mostly been hurt or sick. That list includes Senzel, Stephenson, Pham and 2021 Rookie of the Year, Jonathan India, who just went on the 10 day IL with a nagging hammy issue.

Runs scored in the losing streak? 5, 3, 3, 1, 2, 1, 2, 0. You ain't gonna win many games with those types of numbers.

Cincy gets the day off tomorrow, thankfully. But then it's 3 against the Cards, another off day, followed by another 3 against San Diego. Could it be 15 straight by next Thursday? Tune in to find out!

 

[JohnBM01]

If you think we're mad here in Houston after Ohtani picking us apart, look to Facebook. Even I was saying "GET. HIM. OUT." in regards to Jake Odorizzi. I had to make changes to my latest post. We're 6-6 now and 4th in the AL West. The Toronto Blue Jays come on down to H-Town this weekend.


Elsewhere (other musings)...

* I looked up the sweep the San Diego Padres put on the visiting Cincinnati Reds. Combined score: 25-4, San Diego. Ouch. Cincy will keep things in the Midwest and against the NL Central when the St. Louis Cardinals visit Cincinnati's beautiful ballpark. Redlegs meets redbirds.

* No. 3000 will have to wait for Miguel Cabrera. However, his Detroit Tigers did good with a 3-0 win at home over the New York Yankees.

* CURRENT BEST RECORD (at the time of this post): AL: Toronto and Los Angeles Angels (8-5 each); NL New York Mets (10-4) (be proud, Blitz24, also best overall record)

* CURRENT WORST RECORD (at the time of this post): AL Texas (2-9); NL Cincinnati (2-11)


Lot of baseball still to go. So keep on playing hard!

 

[Joey D]

I typically don't get too emotional about sports, but since the Tigers have been such a big part of my life growing up and into adulthood, I could not be more excited about Miggy hitting number 3000. Now just waiting on number 3008 to surpass Kaline.

 

[JohnBM01]

This home stand concludes with the Toronto Blue Jays coming to town. Believe it or not... the Blue Jays are pretty good. Can the Astros get out of their losing funk with Toronto in town? America vs. Canada here in H-Town. Let's get it...

* TOR Blue Jays at HOU Astros - 3-game series

[GAME 1] The Houston Astros led 3-0 until the Blue Jays tied things up. Then in the Top of the 9th, the Blue Jays get an extra base hit to go ahead 4-3. The Astros failed to score in the Bottom of the 9th, end up failing 4-3 even with Justin Verlander pitching for Houston on this night. Now we are BELOW the .500 mark after this fail.

[GAME 2] George Springer used to lead off games and usually hits leadoff homers when he was with the Astros. Unfortunately, he still hits leadoff homers... for the other team. Toronto was up 1-0 early. Since I was out with my family, I was unable to follow the game in any capacity. We've now lost four in a row by failing 3-2. Astros try to avert the sweep with Game 3.

[GAME 3] When I first followed the game, it was 5-2, Astros heading into the Top of the 6th. The teams traded a few extra runs as the game had nothing solved tied at 6-6. Jeremy Peña hit a bomb to center to snap the Astros' four-game losing streak.

GM1: (4-3; Toronto)
GM2: (3-2; Toronto)
GM3: (8-7, 10 innings; Houston)

NEXT: at Texas (4 games), starting on Monday

Sweep prevented, but my goodness how sweet that bomb was! This will help the Astros feel good heading into their next series. We still need some of our players to come back from injury to keep the good vibes going.


Congratulations to all other series winners! Feel free to let us know how your favorite team(s) is/are doing.

 

[Dolph Drago]

Cincinnati snapped their 11 game skid in their series finale against St. Louis in by beating Adam Wainwright of all people. Nick Lodolo picked up his first major league win by pitching 5.2 innings of 5 hit, 1 run, 0 walk, 7 strikeout ball. No need to talk about the other two games. Here are the finals -

Game 1: 4-2 Cardinals
Game 2: 5-0 Cardinals
Game 3: 4-2 Reds

The offense continues to be anemic, with those 4 runs in the final game doubling what they scored the rest of the series. But hey, we're up to 3 (THREE!) wins on the season.

 

[JohnBM01]

Everyone has been chewing out the Houston Astros on their cheating scandal in 2017. Well, a new name has recently been caught stealing signs in the past. Major League Baseball has come down on the New York Yankees for their 2015-2016 cheating scandal. A letter regarding the Yanks' cheating scandal were made public recently while trying to hide it away from MLB. MLB punished the Yanks $100K USD, a slap on the wrist considering the Astros were fined $5M USD, lost draft picks, and having a tarnished legacy for their scandal. Sometimes, I think people just look for any reason to hate Houston heavily for whatever reason. It sickens me as a proud Houstonian and as a proud fan of Houston sports.

I'll have my series summary of the Astros at the Rangers when it concludes.

 

[Barra333]

I hate the Yankees as much as the next guy, but we already knew they cheated, and what they did was not on the same scale. Yankees crossed the road against the pedestrian signal. The Astros ran a red light and mowed down some pedestrians, drove off and apologised for being caught.

More specifically, the Yankees spied on the signs that opposition teams were using. It was still up to the players on the field to relay them to each other, dependent on someone being on 2nd base. Astros straight up told their hitters what was coming from the dugout.

 

[JohnBM01]

Texas state pride is on the line. The Houston Astros decided to go up north to meet the Texas Rangers. Let's get it on...

* HOU Astros at TEX Rangers - 4-game series

[GAME 1] It was 1-0, Astros for a good amount of the game. The game then became a 3-2 lead for Texas. Texas blew it open going up 6-2 on the Bottom of the 8th, and that was the final score.

[GAME 2] Jake Odorizzi usually stinks as a starting pitcher for the Astros. This time, he lasted more than one inning. The Astros gave Odorizzi some run support. I mean like, 5-1 run support. That would be the final as the series is tied at 1-1.

[GAME 3] The Astros led 1-0 after one inning, but then the Rangers slapped on a go-ahead two-run bomb to go ahead 2-1. The Astros would eventually win 4-3.

[GAME 4] It was a pitching duel for six innings as Justin Verlander was money pitching today. The Astros finally lit the scoreboard in the Top of the 7th. Texas followed up with a run of their own to tie the game at 1. Kyle Tucker, however, was having none of that, as he bombed a two-run jack to go ahead 3-1. The Rangers had liftoff on a solo homer in the Bottom of the 9th to make ir 3-2, Astros; but it was not enough as the Astros took this four-game series.

GM1: (6-2; Texas)
GM2: (5-1; Houston)
GM3: (4-3, Houston)
GM4: (3-2; Houston)

NEXT: at Blue Jays (3 games), starting on Friday

The Houston Astros are now 10-9 on the 2022 season, 3rd in the AL West. We're leaving the USA for the weekend and entertain the Toronto Blue Jays in their house. It is never easy taking on AL East teams (even including Baltimore). I'm sure the Astros want revenge after losing the last series between these two.


Congratulations to all other series winners! Congratulations also to those who won today! Feel free to let us know how your favorite team(s) is/are doing of late.

 

[Dolph Drago]

There was finally some life in the bats of the Reds in their series against San Diego, and it resulted in a sweep! Of Cincinnati...

Pitching, pitching, pitching. It struggled. Pretty much one inning in each game did us in. An 8-run 4th inning in game 1, a 4-run 3rd inning in game 2, and 4-run 6th inning in the finale. Considering the losses were by 3, 3 and 2, if we hadn't completely fallen apart in ANY of those innings, it would have resulted in at least 1 win.

Game 1: 9-6 Padres
Game 2: 8-5 Padres
Game 3: 7-5 Padres

We remain stuck on 3 wins with 16 losses. Oh, and you know how rookie pitcher Lodolo had that decent game against the Cards in their last win Sunday? Yeah, he's been put on the IL with a back strain. Of course he has.

 

[Blitz24]

Former Reds SP Trevor Bauer has been officially suspended for 324 games for violating MLB’s Joint Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault, and Child Abuse Policy after an investigation into allegations of sexual assault. Due to the fact he was on the restricted list since July 2021, his contract was still being paid until today. The Dodgers are likely absolved of the $60 MM still owed.

 

[Dolph Drago]

Well at least the Reds got their first Cy Young winner in franchise history with him. Talk about hero to zero.

Unrelated to that mess, I've found one little nugget as I was looking at the standings. As of now, Cincy has a winning percentage of .158. That is 2nd worst in MLB history, only behind the 1899 Cleveland Spiders who finished with a .130 winning percentage. The worst in the modern era (1900-present) were the Athletics of Philadelphia in 1916, who won 23.5% of their games that season. I don't foresee the Reds being this horrendous the remainder of the season, but they might not finish far off that at their current pace.