We are just days away from the Major League Baseball trade deadline, so I would like to take this opportunity to remind everyone that it is a good time to reduce the bet size for a few days. This is the time of mid-game handshakes and hugs when players are traded away. That means your handicap can be thrown off significantly because guys are unavailable. Two teams who may be getting rid of guys face off today as the Blue Jays take on the Nationals.
The Toronto Blue Jays are 10 games under .500 for the season, and it is starting to look like last year’s World Series runner-up might have no path to make the postseason. They have been bad on offense, but their pitching staff has been a problem as well. It just seems like nothing is going right for the team, and they are likely to start trading away anyone of interest to those looking to make a postseason push. It is a sad reality, and a follow-up to the progress they made last season.
There have been a number of issues on the mound for Toronto this season, including injuries. Max Scherzer is coming off of the injured list for this start. He was… not good on the hill this season. In May and June, he made five starts. Only one of those starts saw him complete more than four innings of work. He allowed two runs in six innings against the Diamondbacks, but then allowed 22 earned runs in 9.2 innings in the other four outings. Nationals hitters have done well against Scherzer in the past, going 10-for-34 against him.
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The Washington Nationals have been surprising in a different way. This season, the team is 54-52, but they’ve been terrible at home. They are just 22-32 for the season when playing in Washington. The Nationals are in a strange spot because they are competitive in a year they weren’t expected to be, and they have a lot of suitors if they choose to trade away pieces and continue with the planned rebuild. I’m not sure which direction they will go, but some offers might be too good to pass up.
Today, they send out Andrew Alvarez to the mound. He is 2-3 with a 4.22 ERA and a 1.50 WHIP. He has been slightly worse at home with almost a 5.00 ERA when on his home mound. His problem seems to be his walks more than anything else. He has issued 10 free passes in his last 16.2 innings. Couple that with the 16 hits, and it has led to 11 earned runs. The Blue Jays are second-to-last in walks this season, so maybe it won’t be an issue. He has never faced Toronto before, though, so maybe they will be patient against him.
Part of me wonders how much left Scherzer has in the tank. He is 41 years old, so he is probably on his last leg of his Hall of Fame career. This would be a sad way for him to go out, but it doesn’t look like he is going to dominate teams any longer. Maybe his return from injury will give him a bit better of a start.
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I’m going to fade him and the Blue Jays, though. I think the Nationals are a better team with a fairly similar starter (at least at the moment). This is more of a coin flip than I normally like to play, but I think the looming deadline and Scherzer being unlikely to go deep into the game give the Nationals the edge in this one.
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