Hope you’re all enjoying your last holiday weekend of the summer of 2021.
Usually the “dog days” of a baseball season refer to that time deep into the hottest part of the summer in late July and early August. It’s an especially apt term when talking about the teams that don’t really cut it in terms of making a deep playoff run or don’t figure into the postseason conversation at all.
But that term “dog days” seems especially fitting right now because so many teams are just pooped. Sure, the excitement for 8-10 of the 30 teams will start to build. But trying to figure out from night to night how starting pitchers will perform while battling the never-before-seen industry-wide weary arm syndrome is sometimes as unpredictable as anything I have ever seen on a major-league baseball diamond.
Big-league pitchers were either shut down altogether or pitched very few innings in 2020, adding up to a massive unknown.
Entering their game Sept. 5, the Dodgers and Giants were tied atop the National League West. Giants manager Gabe Kapler elected to make it a bullpen game. Nine Giants pitched. Don’t be surprised if you see more and more of that in September.
These kinds of “dog days” have never been seen before, and it’s hoped we’ll never see them again.
Here are this week’s MLB power rankings:
1. San Francisco Giants (87-50, No. 1 last week)
2. Los Angeles Dodgers (86-51, No. 2)
3. Tampa Bay Rays (86-51, No. 3)
4. Milwaukee Brewers (84-54, No. 4)
5. Chicago White Sox (79-58, No. 7)
6. Houston Astros (79-57, No. 5)
7. New York Yankees (78-58, No. 6)
8. Boston Red Sox (79-60, No. 8)
9. Atlanta Braves (72-64, No. 9)
10. Seattle Mariners (75-62, No. 13)
11. San Diego Padres (73-64, No. 12)
12. Toronto Blue Jays (73-62, No. 14)
13. Oakland Athletics (74-63, No. 10)
14. Cincinnati Reds (73-65, No. 11)
15. Philadelphia Phillies (70-66, No. 15)
16. New York Mets (69-68, No. 19)
17. Cleveland Indians (68-66, No. 17)
18. St. Louis Cardinals (69-66, No. 16)
19. Los Angeles Angels (68-69, No. 18)
20. Kansas City Royals (61-75, No. 20)
21. Detroit Tigers (65-73, No. 21)
22. Colorado Rockies (63-74, No. 22)
23. Chicago Cubs (63-75, No. 26)
24. Minnesota Twins (59-77, No. 23)
25. Miami Marlins (57-80, No. 24)
26. Washington Nationals (56-80, No. 25)
27. Texas Rangers (48-88, No. 29)
28. Pittsburgh Pirates (48-89, No. 27)
29. Arizona Diamondbacks (45-93, No. 28)
30. Baltimore Orioles (43-92, No. 30)