We’ve passed the first quarter mark of the MLB season, and will be at the mid-July All-Star break before we know it. It’s right around now that the season can begin to feel a little bit long, as the excitement of the first 30 games or so wears off and the pennant races haven’t all become clear yet. That said, we’ve already seen a lot of fascinating developments and interesting stories in the MLB this season, so we thought we’d go over some of the biggest headlines so far.
Sensational Rookie Debuts
This heading more or less speaks for itself. But to expand on things, we have a few MLB rookies performing extraordinarily well, even compared to lofty expectations. Specifically, the Braves’ Ozzie Albies and the Yankees’ Gleyber Torres have been nothing short of electric. A recent article called it “extremely rare” for two rookies to be doing what these two have done, and if anything that’s an understatement. It feels as if we might be witnessing the arrival of two genuine, career-long stars, which always makes a season more exciting.
The Return Of The Rivalry
With apologies to fans of other teams in perfectly good rivalries, “The Rivalry” in baseball has always been Yankees-Red Sox. That said, it’s gone somewhat stale for several years now. This was due to the Red Sox finally winning a few World Series, as well as the Yankees having a few down (for them) years. Now, however, the Red Sox and Yankees are quite clearly two of the best three teams in baseball, and they’ve already played some dramatic and feisty games. Both teams are fairly young and extremely talented, and it looks as if The Rivalry is back for the long haul.
The MLB & Sports Betting
The sports betting movement has been swift and somewhat shocking as a side story to the MLB season. Many don’t realize that casino activity has existed outside of Las Vegas for some time now. Online gaming in this space has been available in New Jersey for a while now, as well as in Delaware and more recently Pennsylvania. But there is now a more sweeping movement toward legalized sports betting as opposed to just casino gaming, and it may be nationwide. The MLB’s involvement with this process has been a surprise, and could lead to a whole new dimension of baseball fandom.Max
For some more off-field news that’s had a major affect on the MLB season, the news that Robinson Cano would be missing time due to a violation of the league’s drug policy was disheartening. Cano will miss 80 games, which makes for the harshest suspension in quite some time, and the most high profile one in years. Cano remains immensely talented, and his absence is bad for the game – not to mention for the Mariners (though they rallied in the immediate aftermath with a hot streak).
Mike Trout
We’ll keep this one short: Mike Trout is having another sensational season, and is further asserting himself not just as the best player of a generation but as one of the finest baseball players in history.
Rotations In Houston & Washington
This is a story that could change or dissipate over the course of the season, but in the early going it’s rather extraordinary how much two pitching rotations are dominating the league. At the time of this writing, three Houston pitchers (Justin Verlander, Gerrit Cole, and Charlie Morton) are among the AL leaders in ERA; meanwhile, three Washington pitchers (Max Scherzer, Stephen Strasbourg, and Gio Gonzalez) are in the top-five in the NL in wins, with two of them (Scherzer and Gonzalez) in the top-three in ERA. We don’t see rotations as strong as these two very often.
