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Major League Baseball (MLB) has always been, and always will be a turbulent sport. Major upsets, unmet expectations, broken records, and new legends. The 2023 Major League season just after this year’s All-Star Break is no different.
One of the many great highlights of the season was the Tampa Bay Rays’ 13 consecutive wins to kick off the season; not only did this set a new club record, but the Rays tied the 1982 Atlanta Braves and 1987 Milwaukee Brewers for the most consecutive wins to open a season since the start of the 20th century.
Another shining moment was Yankees starting pitcher Domingo Germán’s perfect game against the Oakland A’s on June 28th. Aside from being the first perfect game thrown since 2012 (a year in which three perfect games were thrown, by the White Sox Phillip Humber, the Giants’ Matt Cain and the Mariners’ Felix Hernandez), a jarring 11 year time gap, it was the 24th in MLB history and the 4th in Yankees franchise history; the most for any team in the league.
Somebody who is having a terrific season so far is Miami Marlins’ infielder Luis Arráez. Arráez became the first Marlin ever to hit for the cycle this season, as well as the first Marlin to have three five-hit games recorded in one season. His last recorded .400+ batting average was on June 24th in a 4-3 home win against the visiting Pittsburgh Pirates in which he went 1 for 3, driving home the Marlins’ leading run. Arráez’ dominance at the plate naturally landed him a starting spot at the All-Star Game on July 11th, in which he went 2 for 2 with each hit being off the first pitch. His average has fallen below the fabled .400 line, but it is not out of the realm of possibility that he becomes the first MLB player since the great Ted Williams to hit above .400 for a season.
Though this year’s All-Star Game unfortunately posted a record low in viewership for the third consecutive year, it was still notable irrespective of shallow attention. This edition of the Midsummer Classic snapped the American League’s 11 year domination of the event. The All-Star Break festivities also included a Home Run Derby win for Blue Jays’ Vladimir Guerrero Jr., following in his father’s footsteps from the 2007 Home Run Derby, thus making the pair the first father and son in MLB history to have won the event.
Though the All-Star Game may not have attracted that much viewer attention, professional baseball itself certainly is, and this can very well be attributed to the success of the implementation of the pitch clock, larger bases, and other changes designed to make games shorter but more eventful. As a result of the pitch clock, the average game took two hours and thirty eight minutes to complete; down from the roughly three hour matches of seasons prior. On top of this, larger bases have led to more stolen bases, and restricting infielders to the edge of the infield has allowed more hits which brought up the league’s batting average. Thanks to these new rule changes, ballpark attendance and television viewership is once again on the rise following a 9 year decline.
A notable surprise coming into the second half of the season was the dominance of the Baltimore Orioles. Few expected the Birds to be this successful this year, checking into the All-Star break at 54-35 and ranked 2nd in the AL, and third overall in the Majors just behind the Rays and Braves in 2nd and 1st respectively. Should they play their cards right, The Birds should snap their 6 year Postseason drought and clinch the division, especially given the slowing pace of the American League leading Rays who were just two games ahead.
On the opposite end of the spectrum is the disappointment that is the 2023 New York Mets season thus far. Standing 6 games below .500 at 42-48, the Mets, with the highest payroll in baseball, is failing to light a candle to the 2022 Mets, who went into the break at a solid 58-35 and ended the regular season with 101 wins. Some key shortcomings include inconsistent hitting, with slumps from first-baseman Pete Alonso and shortstop Francisco Lindor, as well as cold bats from the DH Daniel Vogelbach and third-baseman Mark Vientos. To add further insult to injury, the Mets’ pitching staff is inexcusably poor, with Cy Young Award winners Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander floundering in spite of their $43 million dollar salaries, an injured Edwin Díaz, and David Peterson being the team’s only reliable closer. With these developments in mind, it will not at all be surprising if the New York Mets, the highest paying team in baseball, ironically becomes sellers at the trade deadline and misses a Wild Card spot in the fall. (Update since time of writing: the Mets have become sellers, trading away David Robertson and most notably Max Scherzer to the Texas Rangers).
Baseball is in its best shape in a long time, and the rest of the 2023 season promises much more excitement to come!
