The first half is over. It was a time of mixed fortunes. Here’s a look back at the first half of the year in key words.
June – There was one player who broke out in a big way in June. Shohei Ohtani. In 27 games in June, he hit .394 with 15 home runs. That’s a new Angels monthly home run record. That’s not far off the total number of home runs Kansas City hit in June (17). The major league record for most home runs in a single month is 20, set by Sammy Sosa in June 1998, but Sosa’s record is now worthless.안전놀이터
Ohtani’s 15 homers in June put him over the 30-homer mark for the season. Ohtani is only the ninth player to hit 30 homers before July. In 2013, Baltimore’s Khris Davis hit 31 homers through June. At the time, Davis ended the season with 53 home runs. For now, Ohtani needs to surpass his previous career-high of 46 home runs in a season in 2021.
Reversal – Footballs are round, baseballs are round, and there’s no telling what the outcome will be. Atlanta’s dominance was somewhat predictable. But Texas, first in the American League West, Cincinnati, first in the National League Central, and Arizona, first in the National League West, upset everyone’s expectations. The regular season has been a foregone conclusion for a while now, but maybe this year’s autumn baseball will shake things up.
Payroll – The big winners of the last Stovrig were the New York Mets. The New York Yankees spent more in free agency, but the Yankees were dominated by Aaron Judge and Carlos Rodon. The Mets spent every “cheat key” owner Steve Cohen allowed them. The San Diego Padres, looking for their first championship, also spent a whopping $900 million, including extensions.
The Mets, Yankees, and Padres are the top three teams in opening day team payroll (Mets $355.43 million, Yankees $275.24 million, and San Diego $257.61 million). However, the Reds are not reaping the rewards of their massive spending spree. Rather, 26th-ranked Cincinnati ($84.17 million), 27th-ranked Tampa Bay ($76.20 million), and 29th-ranked Baltimore ($60.42 million) fared better. Just as happiness is not in order of performance, performance is not in order of salary.
Shorten – The goal of Major League Baseball this year was to shorten the length of games. This led to the introduction of pitch clocks to sanction overly long pitching intervals. It’s been met with both excitement and concern, but at least it’s doing its job. This year, the average game is noticeably shorter at 2 hours and 40 minutes (compared to 3 hours and 10 minutes in 2021 and 3 hours and 6 minutes in 2022). The shortest since 2 hours 39 minutes in 1984. Pitch clocks still cause some confusion, but it’s good to see that the on-field challenges have been addressed.Perfect – The perfect game, which hasn’t been seen since Felix Hernandez in 2012, is back. The protagonist is Domingo Herrmann of the Yankees. Herrmann threw a 99-pitch perfect game with nine strikeouts against Oakland.
It took 3,969 days for the 24th perfect game in Major League Baseball history. It was the longest since the 4,755-day gap between Catfish Hunter’s 1968 perfect game and Len Barker’s 1981 perfect game. Hermann, who quenched this thirst, was actually far from perfect. He was in contention for five roster spots in spring training this year, and his closest outing to perfection was a 3⅓-inning, 10-run outing. “A perfect game by a less-than-perfect pitcher,” was how the local media described Hermann’s twists and turns.
Foreign bodies – the story of the first half. Even more so when the league’s best pitcher, Max Scherzer, was caught with one. Since Major League Baseball began testing for foreign substances in June 2021, Hector Santiago and Caleb Smith have been caught. But neither was as controversial as Scherzer. In the end, Scherzer was suspended for 10 games, putting a stain on his career.
Scherzer’s return to the mound was marred by a poor outing against Detroit in which he allowed six runs in 3⅓ innings, but he has since redeemed himself by going 6-0 with a 3.45 ERA in his last 10 starts. Three pitchers have been suspended this year, including Scherzer, as Major League Baseball has stepped up foreign substance testing. One is Herrmann, the perfect pitcher, and the other is Mets reliever Drew Smith.Gold Star – The first half of this year saw three hitters reach 2,000 career hits. They are Elvis Andrus, Andrew McCutchen and Freddie Freeman. Freeman had the added bonus of reaching 300 career home runs. Nolan Arenado and J.D. Martinez also reached the 300-homer mark. McCutchen, Manny Machado, and Anthony Rizzo are also on the verge of reaching the 300-homer plateau in their second half (McCutchen with 297, Machado with 296, and Rizzo with 294).
Closers Kenley Jansen and Craig Kimbrel have both surpassed the 400-save mark. Another living legend, Clayton Kershaw, added 10 more wins to his season and surpassed 200 for his career.
Rookies – Once again, there were a number of rookies making their mark this year. The most powerful is Arizona’s Corbin Carroll. He’s the epitome of a Hotazun, and he’s leading Arizona’s surge. His FanGraphs.com win shares of 3.8 rank first among all rookies, including pitchers. It’s also fifth overall among all players, and Carroll is already a lock to win the league’s Rookie of the Year award. Beyond Rookie of the Year, he’s in the MVP race.
Texas’ Josh Young, Baltimore’s Gunner Henderson, Houston’s Hunter Brown, and Miami’s Yoenis Cespedes are other rookies to keep an eye on. Add to that Cincinnati’s Eli Dela Cruz, who has been dominant lately, and he’s off to a fearsome start. Del La Cruz has hit for the cycle in his first 15 games.
Falling Off – It’s been said that the strongest team is the healthiest team. That means you have to watch out for injuries. Texas lost highly touted outfielder Jacob deGrom to Tommy John surgery. The Yankees’ Aaron Judge also suffered a ligament injury to his big toe while fielding. The Angels’ Mike Trout will miss a significant amount of time with a fractured fibula.
The Dodgers are the most depressing team in terms of injuries. They lost Gavin Lux to a torn knee ligament before the start of the season, and it seemed like every day during the season was another injury. With Dustin May also out for the season, the Dodgers now have 15 players on the disabled list, the most in the majors. Meanwhile, Washington’s Stephen Strasburg, who underwent surgery for thoracic outlet syndrome, is not sure if he will ever take the mound again.
