Preview for June

The month of June in Major League Baseball has started off hotter than an individual wearing a black shirt in the middle of July on a sunny day in Tempe, AZ. Especially is the black shirt had the Houston Astros logo on it, because man are they playing out of this world (get it? ;) ). Here's just a rundown of the events that occurred just on Saturday:

• There were 7 grand slams hit. That's right, SEVEN (7). It was definitely a Major League Record. Perhaps the most notable #PapiSlam was hit by Angels 1B Albert Pujols. It marked the 600th homer of his career! He is the only player to hit his 600th home run in the form of a grand slam (Ryan Spaeder). 

Iconic photo of Pujols admiring his 600th career home run

• Marlins veteran starter Edinson Volquez tossed the first no-hitter of 2017 against the Arizona Diamondbacks Saturday afternoon. He struck out 9, including striking out the side in the ninth to secure the no-hitter and a Marlins win. Edinson was former teammates with Yordano Ventura, who would have been 26 on Saturday. He never played with the late Jose Fernandez, however, he dedicated the performance to both Fernandez and Ventura. 
• The Los Angeles Dodgers capped a 6 run comeback against the Milwaukee Brewers by scoring 1 in the 8th and 5 in the 9th. The first game of the series took 12 innings to decide. NL Rookie of the Month of May Cody Bellinger hit the game-winning solo homer in the top of the 12th.

As we enter the third month of the year for Major League Baseball, things are starting to get a little more serious with the division race. We'll see if these unexpected teams at the top of their divisions such as the Twins, Brewers, Rockies, and Diamondbacks, will stay at the top for another month. 

Not only is this the same for teams, but also players who are at the top of the league in statistical categories. 10-year veteran Ryan Zimmerman of the Nationals is perhaps having the best year of his career. His .372 average and 48 RBI's are the best in baseball. Yankees rookie OF Aaron Judge leads the league in homers with 18. Dallas Keuchel won the 2015 AL Cy Young Award, but the following year he went 9-12 with a 4.55 ERA. Hitters had a .259 average against him. This season, in 11 starts, he is 9-0 with 1.67 ERA, which is the best in the league. Hitters have just a .183 average when facing Keuchel. All-star closer Greg Holland, who missed all of last season due to Tommy John surgery, leads the league in saves with 21. He is a big part of the Rockies success this season. 

Holland dapping up C Tony Wolters after completing one of his 21 saves of the season.

So what's going to happen in June? Will these teams and players stay atop of their divisions/stat categories? Here's what I've got:

• The Minnesota Twins will not be leading the AL Central come July first. In fact, they will be in 3rd place. I expect the Indians and Tigers to have better months. The Indians will be the division leaders at the conclusion of this month.
• The Milwaukee Brewers will also lose their lead by the end of the month. Their bullpen was a huge question mark the start of the season, and it seems to be collapsing quickly. The Brew crew has had 29 opportunities for a save, and have only recorded 18 (worst in the league). The division race is so close between all of the teams, they could drop to last if their bullpen fiasco continues. The Cardinals and Cubs will be the only teams that surpass them.
• The Rockies and Diamondbacks will stay at the top of the NL West. Currently, the Rockies first and the Diamondbacks third, only 2.5 games behind. These teams are for real, and I expect Colorado to remain in first and Arizona to remain in third, only 3 games back at most.
• Ryan Zimmerman will remain at the top of the league in batting average but will lose his RBI lead to Paul Goldschmidt, who will capture the NL Player of the Month honor. 
• Aaron Judge has some competition below him for the lead in home runs, but I think he stays hot and will retain the lead. He will hit 10 home runs in June to keep his lead.

When you have your own cabinet

Here's some other events I've got for June:

• Charlie Blackmon will be the only player in June to hit for the cycle.
• Jake Arrieta, Dallas Keuchel, Chris Sale, and Andrew Triggs will all throw complete game shutouts in June.
• Not only will Arrieta throw a CG SO, he will also hit a dinger in June. Mike Foltynewicz will be the only other pitcher to go deep in June.
• The longest game will be between the Orioles and Indians. It will go 14 innings in the O's favor.
• The team with the best record in June will be the Washington Nationals. They were the best team in April, and I believe they will be the best team in June. Strasburg will help and will be the NL Pitcher of the Month.
• Chris Sale will win AL Pitcher of the Month and Jose Altuve will win AL Player of the Month.
• A team other than the Astros are going to get hot in June. I want to go on a limb and say Oakland, but I think that's too risky, however, their offense has been hot lately. Texas has the talent to do so, but I'm going with Seattle. I think they win 16 games in June (won 3 already). Plus King Felix is slated to come back pretty soon.
• I'm not sure if this trade will happen this month or next. but the Nats will acquire Kelvin Herrera from the Royals. Their bullpen is their weakest link, and are desperate for a veteran closer since they were unable to get one in the offseason.

We are another month closer to October. Can't wait to see what June has for us!

These Stats May Be Surprising

My predictions for May did not turn out too well. Let's take a look at what I had:

Have you Met a better mascot?

Ha, good ole Mr. Met at it again. Here's how I did:

• Charlie Blackmon ended up hitting less than 10 homers, 25 RBI's and stole less than 10 bases. Plus, his hitting streak of 14 games actually ended the day before I posted that article (thanks a lot, ESPN :) ). Despite Chuck Nazty having lower numbers than I thought, he still won NL Player of the Month, as I predicted! Here's how he did it:
• In 28 games in May, Blackmon hit 6 home runs with 22 RBI's while swiping 6 bags. His 5 triples were the most in May, bringing his total for the season at 8, which is more than 14 teams. 
• Although his 14 game hitting streak ended April 30th, Charlie only played in 5 games in which he did not score a hit. He recorded multi-hit games in half the games he played in May (14 games). In fact, he led the league in hits and extra base hits for May and currently leads the league in those categories.
• Chuck Nazty had one of the best averages in the month at a .359. His 47 RBIs currently leads the league, and he's the Rockies leadoff hitter. 

Flowlicious

• Ivan Nova actually won NL Pitcher of the Month in April. Winning that award for two consecutive months is hard to do. I said he would win 5 games in May. Nova only won 2.
• This next prediction was one of my far-fetched ones: I said Orioles 1B Chris Davis would break out against the Royals and hit 4 homers while driving in 8 runs- in one game. 
• He did not accomplish this feat (lol), however, he did manage to hit 2 home runs and knock in 3 runs in 2 games vs the Royals, and the next game against Detroit, he crushed 2 homers (in extras by the way), while obtaining 4 RBI's. This totals up to 4 home runs and 7 RBI's. I was right on Davis heating up, but I should have spread it out in more games instead of just one. 
• The closest pitchers to no-hitters in May were Chase Anderson for the Brewers and Zach Greinke for the Diamondbacks. I predicted Kendall Graveman of Oakland would throw the first no-hitter in May. Still no, no-hitters in 2017.
• Until today! Edinson Volquez tossed a no-hitter today against the Diamondbacks!
• Ervin Santana won 3 games instead of 4, close enough. His 1.75 ERA is the best in baseball.
• I said the St. Louis Cardinals would be the hottest team in baseball in May. Their 13-13 record in the month proved they were perhaps the most mediocre team. Houston was the hottest team in May, winning 22 of their 29 games, including a current 7 game winning streak.
• The longest inning game was not between the Marlins and the Braves, it was against the Reds and Giants, which went 17 innings and ended on a Buster Posey walk-off moonshot. 

Posey in the clutch

• The Houston Astros were by far the hottest team in baseball in May. They scored 180 runs in the month. I predicted the Nationals to lead in runs once again. Houston now leads the league in runs, only by 6 to those Nationals.
• No cycles were hit in May. This was the only prediction I got right!

Despite my predictions being almost entirely wrong, for the most part, May brought us a solid month of baseball. The Houston Astros look to be the team to beat and currently lead their division by 12 games. Dallas Keuchel and Lance McCullers combined for 7 wins and no losses. McCullers had an ERA of 0.99 in 6 starts in May, which was the best among qualified starters during that span. Carlos Correa and Marwin Gonzales had the best averages in May (minimum of 75 at bats) at a .386 and .382. Jose Altuve only struck out 11 times in 115 at-bats in May. Mind. Boggling. 

The defending champion Chicago Cubs had a rough May, going 12-16. Their team average fell from a .255 in April, to a .216 in May. Despite their decline, they are just 3 games back of first place Milwaukee.

You read that last sentence correctly, the Milwaukee Brewers are in first place in the NL Central and it's June. The Colorado Rockies are tied with the Arizona Diamondbacks for first in the NL West. The Minnesota Twins are just a half game back of the Cleveland Indians for first place in the AL Central. Which of these teams will stay at the top of their divisions come July? 

Red Sox SP Chris Sale and Dodgers SP Alex Wood won 5 games in May. The Philadelphia Phillies won 6 games in May. The Phillies also only recorded 1 save in May. The lone save came from relief pitcher Hector Neris, who also notched 2 of their 6 wins. 

Phillies hat giveaway in June

Reds CF Billy Hamilton stole 18 bags in May, which brings his total to 28 for the season. This is more than 17 teams in the league. 

Red Sox closer Craig Kimbrel dominated hitters last month. In 12.2 IP, he recorded 25 strikeouts, did not give up a run, and collected 7 saves. Kimbrel held batters to just a .025 batting average!

Giants starter Jeff Samardzija struck out 49 batters while only walking 1 in 6 starts. Walked just 1 batter in 40.2 IP!

A.J. Griffin, Scott Feldman, Ervin Santana, Brian Johnson, and Robbie Ray all had one thing in common: each threw complete-game shutouts. Who would've guessed that from these guys?

Jacob deGrom was deGrominant at the plate in May. He hit for a .500 (7/14), pretty solid for a starting pitcher. Perhaps he can help the Mets as a pinch hitter one game?

Here's a look at the leaders for the top pitching and batting stats at the end of May:

Pitching                               Hitting
ERA- Ervin Santana 1.75       Average- Ryan Zimmerman .368
Wins- Dallas Keuchel 8         HR's- Aaron Judge 17
Saves- Greg Holland 20        RBI's- Charlie Blackmon 47       
Strikeouts- Chris Sale 110    SB- Billy Hamilton 28

June predictions will be released very soon, stay tuned!