Bases Covered is a roundup of the most interesting stories in baseball.
Washington Nationals ace Max Scherzer is having another fantastic season. He’s currently 8-4 with a National League–leading ERA of 2.26.
The 32-year-old already has two no-hitters in his career and is the sixth pitcher to win the Cy Young Award in both the NL and AL. And now, as the Washington Post’s Neil Greenberg explores, he’s eclipsing Clayton Kershaw for the title of baseball’s best pitcher.
“You’d probably want to face Kershaw rather than Scherzer at this point in their careers,” Greenberg notes. “Scherzer is getting batters to swing and miss 15.4 percent of the time, whereas Kershaw has seen his swing-strike percentage drop from 15.3 per cent in 2016 to 12.6 per cent this season.”
Take a look at the full comparison here.
Four home runs allowed – and a win
(Mark J. Terrill/AP)
Speaking of Clayton Kershaw, the Dodgers ace had a rough outing versus the Mets on Monday, allowing four home runs — a career high — over 6.1 innings. In all, Kershaw gave up six runs on six hits and a walk. Even though the Mets got to him, Kershaw picked up the win after Mets starter Zack Wheeler put up an awful start.
Wheeler allowed seven runs over two innings in the Mets’ 10–6 loss. If there was a silver lining for the club, it was the experience of 23-year-old Gavin Cecchini. He was promoted to the big leagues last week and hit his first major-league home run off of Kershaw.
“It’s obviously a good feeling to hit my first home run and have it be off the unbelievable pitcher that he is,” Cecchini said after the game. “He just made a mistake, hung a curveball, and I put my best swing on it.”
Buying or standing pat?
(Frank Franklin II/AP)
The New York Yankees are in the midst of a tough battle in the AL East. The team sits atop the division, but the Red Sox are close behind them, which begs the question: Should the Yankees be buyers at the trade deadline, or should they stand pat?
It’s a question they’re forced to ask in part because their hot start to the season might be hard to sustain down the stretch. As Filip Bondy writes in the New York Times, GM Brian Cashman has a touch choice ahead of him, because “the 2017 season originally was supposed to be a building block for the Yankees, a period when young prospects evolve at an appropriate pace and the club would aim to be a true championship contender by, say, 2019.” Here’s more on their dilemma.
An out-of-nowhere MVP candidate
(Bill Kostroun/AP)
Hard-hitting Yankees rookie Aaron Judge has been the story of the season so far. And since Mike Trout is on the DL, Judge has emerged as the favourite for the AL MVP.
Not since Ichiro Suzuki has a player “started from a place similarly close to nowhere” and won the award. Here’s a look at the numbers via FiveThirtyEight.
Hot bat
Edwin Encarnacion had a slow start to the season, which is typical for the Dominican slugger. That slow start is a distant memory now, though, as Encarnacion’s bat has been on fire recently. The 34-year-old scored four runs on Monday in Cleveland’s 12–0 thrashing of Orioles. A day earlier, Encarnacion drove in all of Cleveland’s runs in a 5–2 victory over the Twins.
Here’s a look at how Encarnacion and teammate Jose Ramirez have been contributing in big ways for their division-leading team.
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