ESPN’s Jayson Stark Goes Around MLB on Big Board Sports
Two weeks into the Major League Baseball season, there's no better voice for some perspective on what we've seen so far than ESPN's Jayson Stark.
My early takeaways: Aaron Judge has the broad shoulders to pick up some of the slack left behind by his fellow 24-year old slugger and he has the bat. Judge is drawing comparisons to Miguel Cabrera as a hitter, but as I watch him stand at home plate and swing with an upright style, I see Giancarlo Stanton. Either way, I think the Yankees will take it.
The Red Sox have managed to keep their heads above water despite injuries to David Price and Jackie Bradley, Jr and a flu bug that basically ran through the entire clubhouse. Chris Sale is as good as their is in the starting pitching department and he'll pile up the wins in Boston with that explosive offensive, even sans David Ortiz.
The Mets, meanwhile, are creating a carbon copy of 2016. Home runs = wins. Last year, of their 87 wins, the Mets homered in 77 of them. In their current 5 game winning streak, New York has hit 14 HRs. The biggest problem here is not only the reliance on the long ball, but the fact that 11 of those 14 home runs during this winning streak have been of the solo variety. It's a long way to the postseason, but that's when the Mets will face consistently solid starting pitching and run production as opposed to simply hitting the ball out will become more vital.