THE USB Baseball Report: Twelfth Edition

Hi, hello & welcome to THE USB Baseball Report! I'm Steve Cook, and we have officially hit the dog days of summer in Cincinnati. Not only is the team a dog, but it's so hot...

HOW HOT IS IT?

I'll tell ya, it's so hot that some Cubs fans showed up to the ballpark & the air coming out of their mouths caused the first five rows to pass out from heatstroke. It's so hot that all the hot dog buns were toasted. It's so hot that Tony Perez was out there sweating like a politician on Election Day. It's so hot that that guy St. Louis drafted in the first round of the draft tested positive for water. It's so hot that the fireworks display scheduled for after Friday's game went off early because the firecrackers lit themselves. 

Enough of that. As you can tell, the heat is getting to me a little bit. So let's dive right into the baseball!

Will the Cubs win the most games ever this season?

One of the things about baseball is that you can't get too excited or too depressed early. As good or bad as a team might look early on, the 162 game season has a tendency of evening everything out. 2016 is no different. The Chicago Cubs looked like the best team in the history of baseball early on. The offense was going crazy, the pitching was shutting everything down, they were 25-6 and the surefire pick to win this year's World Series & possibly a few after that. People were talking about them challenging the 2001 Mariners for most regular season wins in baseball history.

Now we've hit the end of June, and the Cubs don't even have the most wins in Major League Baseball. There's nothing wrong with 48-26, in fact they still have the best winning percentage in baseball. But while the Cubs have been mediocre since that start & struggling to a 23-20 record, the Texas Rangers & San Francisco Giants have gotten on hot streaks of their own and each team sits with 49 wins after Sunday's games while the Cubs have lost six out of seven games and are looking for answers.

They'll find them soon enough because they're going to Cincinnati today. They also get to host the Reds at Wrigley next week, so they should be back on track pretty soon.

The other big story of April was Houston having a pretty big problem. The Astros started out 7-17 and the statistics were against them after a month into the season. Only one team in the history of baseball made the postseason with a record of 7-17 or worse to start the season, the 1914 Boston Braves. Will they finally have company on that list 102 years later? 

Maybe!

Lookit the Astros sitting there at 39-37. My World Series pick! They're ten games back of the Rangers, yeah, but they're right in the thick of that wild card chase. Oh, it's only the end of June and we're not even halfway through the season yet. Plenty of time for the Astros to catch the Rangers...it sure would be nice if they could beat them occasionally. Might help.

What have we learned here? Hot starts are great, but they're not everything. Cold starts are bad, but they can easily be overcome. It's a marathon, not a sprint. Sometimes it pays to be a tortoise instead of a hare. It's not where you start, it's where you finish. Have I left out any cliches?

Reds Update

The Reds got a win in Arlington against the Rangers! They didn't do a whole lot else, but Reds fans were busy over the weekend celebrating the induction of Pete Rose into the Hall of Fame.

The Reds Hall of Fame. It's not Cooperstown, but it's as close as most in the Greater Cincinnati area will get. (And widely recognized as the best MLB team Hall of Fame out there.) MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred made his ruling on Rose going into Cooperstown over the winter, and while he put the nix on that, he did give the Reds approval to put him in their Hall of Fame and officially retire his number. The number 14 had been unofficially retired by the Reds ever since Rose left baseball in 1989, only worn since by one other Red during the last month of the 1997 season: Pete Rose Jr.. 

This was great news for the Reds. They have no intention of contending this season, and when your fans know you're not going to be any good, they have less of a reason to attend a game. The Reds got to make an entire weekend out of Pete Rose festivities due to Manfred's ruling. Friday night was the reunion of the 1976 World Series Championship team. Saturday was the induction of Pete Rose into the Reds Hall of Fame. Sunday was the retirement of Pete Rose's #14. Great American Ballpark was packed with over 40,000 fans for each of these games because Cincinnati fans love to celebrate the Big Red Machine. The 1970s were a better time in Cincinnati, and anytime we can talk about Rose, Morgan, Bench, Perez, Foster, Concepcion, Griffey, Geronimo & Sparky (and those pitcher guys too), we're happy to do it. 

And let's be honest, these guys aren't getting any younger. The more we can honor them now the better. Joe Morgan missed this weekend due to an illness, and he didn't look very good at last year's 1975 reunion. You hate to be grim about these things, but 2016's been an extremely terrible year for famous people dying. That's why we get nostalgic and honor the past. You never know when it's going to go away. Or when greatness is going to come again.

It won't be this year. The Padres won the first three games in Cincinnati but the Reds managed to salvage a win on Sunday behind eight shutout innings from Anthony Desclafani. You gotta shut people out if you're going to get a win with this team. With games against the Cubs & Nationals coming up, I don't see a whole lot of shutouts on the horizon.

Can Cleveland Make It 2 For 2?

One of my favorite things to do as a fan of Cincinnati sports teams over the past couple of decades has been to mock Cleveland for never winning anything. The Browns are a perpetual dumpster fire. The Indians had a couple of good years in the 90s but couldn't get the job done. The Cavaliers had LeBron James. Then they lost him. Then he came back to get Cleveland a ring. Most of us were skeptical because it was Cleveland. There was also the matter of the Golden State Warriors winning the most regular season games of any team in NBA history. But lo & behold, the Warriors choked the title away & Cleveland has finally won themselves a sporting championship. It's been a week and I'm still not sure it's really sunk in. Cleveland has a championship. I've never had to deal with this sort of thing before. Now it's Cincinnati looking up at Cleveland, with a lonely 1990 World Series championship sitting there collecting dust and waiting for another one to go next to it. Strange times. A question comes to my mind that begs addressing in this column...

Can Cleveland make it 2 for 2 in 2016?

Can the Indians follow up the Cavaliers' performance & bring another championship to the city of Cleveland? Their recent performance certainly says its possible. After getting swept by their division rivals in Kansas City, the Indians reeled off sweeps over the White Sox & Rays, and swept the Tigers over the weekend to keep their momentum going as the hottest team in the American League. That's nine straight wins if you're scoring at home, or even if you're alone.

What's their secret? It's the pitching, stupid. (If I was ever a baseball GM I would pull a James Carville and put a poster with that quote over my desk) Cleveland leads the AL in ERA, WHIP, opposition batting average & shutouts. Danny Salazar leads the team in wins & ERA. Corey Kluber has 103 strikeouts and is showing the form that won him a Cy Young in 2014. Carlos Carrasco has missed time due to injury, but is lights out whenever he's active. Trevor Bauer has been top-notch lately & Josh Tomlin's 8-1. There's no weak links in the Cleveland starting rotation. 

They'll need their offense to step it up to contend throughout the season, and during this streak they've been getting more runs. They've been using their speed to their advantage. Can they keep it up? Tough to say, but the only thing that would make this Cleveland story even more crazy would be the Indians overcoming the odds & winning another championship for Cleveland. Maybe Sports Illustrated was a year off in their hype job.

If the Browns make it 3 for 3, I'm retiring. From writing, from life, from everything. 

Three Series To Watch This Week

1. Cardinals vs. Royals (In KC Monday-Tuesday, In STL Wednesday-Thursday): Last year at this time we were all worried about the prospect of an all-Missouri World Series. Granted, Royals fans aren't nearly as annoying as Cardinals fans, but the idea of having to watch two teams from that state settle the championship made most well-meaning baseball fans reach for their vomit bucket. This year neither team has dominated the way they did parts of last season, and right now they're both in second place of their division looking up at teams that have been more impressive. One of these teams has a chance to break out in this series.

Also, I like the whole two games in one place then two games in the other thing they do with some of these interleague series. 

2. Cubs at Mets (Thursday-Sunday): The Cubs came into the NLCS all excited after winning the NLDS over the hated Cardinals, only to get smacked around and swept by the Mets in four games. Here's a chance for the Cubs to somewhat redeem themselves for that performance and get themselves back on track. The Mets are getting closer to the slumping Nationals and could use some wins here to keep that going. The Cubs play the Reds before and after this series, so if they stumble here it'll be all right. 

3. Blue Jays at Rockies (Monday-Wednesday): The Rockies were fun for a minute but they've settled back into their customary position near the bottom of the NL West. This series is worth watching because you've got Jose Bautista, Josh Donaldson. Edwin Encarnacion and all those Blue Jays power bats going to the thin air of Denver & Coors Field. If you like high-scoring games (and who doesn't?), this will be one of the best series of the season.

Welp, that's all we have time for this week. Join us next time for more baseball fun!