MLB The Show 21 Franchise Discussion Thread

[countryboy]

Cardinals take series from Reds

The Cardinals (16-5) have won yet another series on the season as they took 2 of 3 from the Reds over the weekend.

The Cardinals lost the series opener on Friday night, but bounced back to win the final two over the weekend.

The Cardinals will now travel to Washington for a 4 game series with the Nationals

[HozAndMoose]

All Star Break - 2023

Things are looking good as we prepare to start the 2nd half of the season. The Royals sit in 1st place at 53-38. The division is close though with a 3 game lead over the Twins while the White Sox and Indians are both within 5.5 games. We have won or split all but 2 series since June. We were swept in 2 games by the Redsox as well as a 2 game sweep by the Reds. We had 4 sweeps of our own taking down the Twins, Tigers, Whitesox, and Yankees all in 3 games. The Astors and Dodgers are still on pace to win 100+ games at 59-23 and 55-34. Though they are now joined by the NL leading Mets who it at 56-34. Meanwhile, the Orioles are no longer one of the 2 worst teams in the majors. The Pirates still have the worst record at 31-60. But the Tigers are now the worst team in the AL at 35-57.

Standings

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Team Transactions

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League Injuries

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While the offense has continued to do enough to win it needs to get a lot better if we want to make any noise should we end up in the playoffs. We are performing about the same as we have all season. Still 21st in AVG at .252 while we have moved up 2 spots in OBP now 27th at .315. And we are 1 spot back in SLG% sitting in 16th at .427. We have the 18th most runs with 397, 13th in Doubles with 152, 1st in Triples with 26, and 12th in Home Runs with 120. Our 65 Stolen Bases is 6th in the league but lead the league in SB% at 79.3% thanks to our league-low 17 Caught Stealing. We have started to Strikeout a bit more now in 12th with 671. And our Base on Balls is slightly better with 285 putting us 26th overall.

Batting Stats

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Team MVP in the first half goes to Whit Merrifield as he continues his bounce-back season after signing his 2-year deal. On pace to hit the most home runs of his career while also walking slightly higher than his career high. The breakout player would have to go to Edward Olivares. Through his first 213 games, he hit .243/.303/.381. Now through 68 games this season he is hitting .294/.359/.463. And the Least Valuable Player has to go to Salvador Perez. While he doesn't have the lowest WAR on the team he has been terrible and has spent most of the last month backing up Kyle Higashioka. .180/.240/.284 with 6 HR in 222 AB. The defense has been great with no errors in 521 innings but his bat is unplayable. And the worst part is we still owe him 45 million dollars through 2025.

The mediocre offense has continued to be carried along by the pitching staff. Our ERA is down to 3.58 good for 3rd in the league. We are 2nd in Home Runs allowed with 100, 9th in Walks Allowed with 304, and 11th in Strikeouts with 731. Blown Saves continue to be an issue though with 16 now on the season putting us in a tie for 24th. And defensively we have been slightly above average with a .989 Fielding % good for 13th overall.

Pitching Stats

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Brady Singer has continued to be the best starter in the rotation putting up a 2.28 ERA and 1.10 WHIP in 106.2 IP. Brad Keller has been better dropping his ERA from 5.24 to 4.58 over his last 40 innings. While Duffys late-career resurgence keeps on ticking with a 3.38 ERA over his 101.1 innings. The 6 spot in the rotation is still an issue. Asa Lacy is being sent back down to AAA to start the 2nd half. He had a 5.90 ERA in 39.2 innings. Chance Adams is being called up to take his spot. In 117 innings down in AAA he has a 2.99 ERA and 1.21 WHIP. The bullpen despite the blow saves at times is outstanding right now. No one currently in the pen has an ERA over 3.90. Holden Capps and Colin Poche both have an ERA barely over 1 at 1.10 and 1.15.

Players of the Month

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MLB All Star Game

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We have 71 games left in the season. 35 of those games will be at home, 32 against teams at or under .500, and 29 games left in the division. We open up the 2nd half with back to back home series against the Mariners and Tigers before heading out on the road to face the Cubs and Indians. Chance Adams may not get much of a chance if his first start doesn't go well. Adding another starter before the deadline is a big possibility as well as another bat that could help push the offense to the next level.

[countryboy]

Cardinals place Andrew Knizner on 10 Day IL

The Cardinals have placed catcher Andrew Knizner on the 10 Day IL due to a strained hamstring. Knizner injured himself in Friday's game against the Reds.

Knizner has done a good job as the backup to Molina and has played more as the Cards try to manage Molina's load in an attempt to keep him healthy all year, something that didn't occur in 2021.

Knizner is currently hitting .243 with 1 homerun and 6 RBI's in limited time as has done a great job of calling games behind the plate.

Ivan Herrera was recalled from Memphis to fill the vacant roster spot.

[MattyIce]

Cardinals Sweep Reds in Wild Weekend at Busch

Game 1: Arenado Walkoff HR
Game 2: Bader robs HR, Cards win 2-1
Game 3: Carpenter Walkoff HR

[skeletore2002]

I'm a Yankees fan, but I like using the Red Sox in franchise. I have no emotional connection to the players, so I don't get pissed and quit when it's not going well. And I have no problems making changes to the team.

I'm 41 games into the season so far, playing every game. In first place by a couple games over the Jays. I can't get any run support for Chris Sale, who is 3-4, despite an ERA around 3.00. I'm dominating with Rodriguez though, who's 5-0.

Bogaerts and Devers are having great years, but the rest of my lineup has been struggling. JD Martinez is batting .201, but leading the league in walks.

Really enjoying this franchise, and it's my goal to play all 162.

[decga]

Three game sweep of D-backs and it was all about the pitching!!

Game 1: We won 2-1.. Morton dominates the D-Backs starting line-up. Going 8 innings strong, yielding 1ER and W. Smith nails down the save.

Game 2: We won 2-1 again. Young Ynoa shines. Hurling 7 innings and managing thru the D-backs starting lineup. Giving up only 1ER. Smith with another save.

Game 3 : We won 1-0! My ace Soroka finally gets it rolling. he had a no hitter going through the 6th inning. He was my struggling SP, his ERA was at 4.50 coming into the game vs. the D-backs. He yielded another hit in the 8th inning. My bullpen maintains the shut out! Smith with another save. 10 for 10 in save opp. on the year.

We are 13-8 on the year. 2nd place, 0.5GB of the 1st place Marlins in the NL East.
The Cubs are rolling in for a four game series.. They are also 13-8 on the year and 2nd place in the NL Central.

[countryboy]

Cardinals and Nationals split 4 game series

The Cardinals (18-7) split their 4 game series with the Nationals to start the week.

The teams traded wins with the Nats winning the series opener and Wednesday nights game, while the Cards won Tuesday night and Thursday's afternoon matinee. The series was a showcase of pitching and defense as there were no more than 3 runs scored in any game by either team.

The Cardinals will now travel to Chicago for a 3 game weekend series with the Cubs who are currently in 2nd place in the division, 2 games behind the Cardinals.

[Itsma806]

2021 Baltimore Orioles July 23-August 1st

Overall record:61-44

Orioles looking strong headed into series with Yankees

The Orioles came out of the all star break wanting to play better than .500 baseball as since April, they had been exactly .500. Since the break, the team has been 10-4 winning each series aside from a split in a two game series with the Marlins. The teams success could be because of the level of competition they have faced as four of the five teams they have faced have been in last place in their respective divisions (Kansas City, Tampa Bay, Miami and Detroit. Still, a very welcome stat has been the teams uptick in offensive production. Rio Ruiz continues to excel as he hit homeruns 29 and 30 in the last game of the Detroit series. His homerun total currently has him tied for second in the American League with Yordan Alvarez. In first by a decent margin is Giancarlo Stanton (37).

Michael Brantley has been a welcome addition to the team and currently leads in batting average (.278). Ryan Mountcastle is closing in at (.276) but he has been known to go on very hot and very cold streaks throughout the year. Jahmai Jones is also currently over .270 (.271). His production as significantly improved since he was moved to the bottom third of the lineup after starting the year in the lead off spot.

Grayson Rodriguez made his first two starts of his young career during this stretch. Both starts were great as he currently sits at a perfect 2-0. In the first game, he allowed just two runs in seven innings of work while stirking out two against the Marlins. His seconds start was a complete game shut out in the last game of the series that closed out the sweep versus the Tigers.

Speaking of the Tigers series, Dean Kremer nearly had a perfect game in the second of the series which ended in a 5-0 victory for the Orioles. Kremer brought a perfect game into 9th before Miguel Cabrera hit a single to lead off the inning. A double play and another out later and Kremer would finish his one hit, no walk, complete game shutout.

Up next is a series in New York as the Orioles travel to take on those pesky Yankees who currently sit a game and a half behind Baltimore (60-46).

Trade deadline moves around the league

Astros get
Randy Arozarena CF 26 YO 82 OVR B Pot

Rays get
Forrest Whitley SP 21 YO 70 OVR A Pot
Tim Mendoza 1B 25 YO 44 OVR C Pot
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Mets get
Omar Narvaez C 29 YO 76 OVR C pot

Brewers get
Brett Baty 3B 20 YO 66 OVR A Pot
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Yankees get
Sandy Alcantara SP 25 YO 79 OVR B Pot

Marlins get
Anthony Volpe SS 18 YO 67 OVR B Pot
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Indians get
Lourdes Gurriel LF 27 YO 87 OVR B Pot

Blue Jays get
Josh Wolf SP 19 YO 68 OVR B Pot
Brayan Rocchio SS 19 YO 70 OVR A pot
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Astros get
Nicky Lopez SS 26 YO 74 OVR B Pot

Royals get
Alberto Ybarra 1B 23 YO 73 OVR C Pot
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Braves get
Rafael Devers 3B 24 YO 84 OVR A Pot

Red Sox get
Bryse Wilson SP 21 YO 66 OVR B Pot
Drew Waters CF 20 YO 66 OVR B Pot
William Contreras C 23 YO 64 OVR B Pot