MLB Playoff Race Heats Up: Astros vs. Mariners Battle | GSMC Sports Podcast

welcome back into the gsmc sports podcast as we're going to be diving into the current playoff race in the MLB where we're coming out of the allstar break obviously so much was made of it at the time where teams currently standed and just sort of looking at the biggest stories coming out of the break the first of which being that the Houston Astros are officially back and not to give myself credit or anything but I was never ready to count out the Astros even when they had the disastrous start that they did they were 12 games under 500 they were 10 games back of the Mariners for the division I believe but they had been putting it together after a hot June and were coming out of the allstar break with a series against their division rival the Seattle Mariners who held the number one spot in that Division and the Astros won two out of three to jump ahead of them it was the first time specifically after that second game that they won on June 20th they pulled ahead and were first in the AL West for the first time all season and it has been pretty tremendous to see the way that they have put this all together seemingly pretty quick where the Astros were still eight games under 500 headed into June and since then then they have gone 27 and 15 to not just climb out of a deficit but they are now at the top of the division now because of yesterday's games they ended up losing to the Oakland Athletics so they are currently tied with the Mariners for that number one spot in the AL West but still for all of these injuries that they have been putting up with over the course of the year to see the resilience that they've been able to play with I know there are a ton of people people that are always ready to sort of dance on the grave of the Houston Astros in large part because of some allegations against them at the end of the 2010s but you just have to give credit to this organization and the way that they continue to show consistency resilience and there's a reason why they are riding the streak of I want to say it's seven ALCS appearances in a row so you know the Astros you have to give them their credit even if you dislike them now on the other side of this series for the Mariners was a really rough stretch not to mention that their star player Julio Rodriguez as well ended up suffering an ankle injury as he was trying to make a play in the field in that third game and ultimately it sounds like the x-rays are negative and that he is going to be back at some point soon he's currently being listed as has dayto day but it was just sort of a slap in the face along with the fact that they have been massively struggling as of late where they are 9 and 17 over their last 26 games uh only during that stretch only the Chicago White Socks the worst team in baseball have a lower Ops the offense is just not producing enough for them and they're just kind of having down Seasons across Ross the board for a lot of their key players which to some degree does include Julio Rodriguez he's still having a good season you know kind of hovering closer to League average though as opposed to the past couple Seasons where he was one of those borderline MVP candidates he was at least having that sort of consideration and that's just not the case this year and they have needed him to be more now again by no means what I want to put it all on Julio Rodriguez you look across the line here they're starting to make moves where they just put Ty France on waivers considering the fact that you know they just need more from especially their first baseman but slash two 223 312 and 350 so far this season they are definitely going to be in play at the trade deadline of trying to make some sort of spark moves now replacing first base would be you know obviously one of the top priorities there there is a pretty substantial uh first baseman that is being shopped this trade deadline in Vladimir Guerrero Jr now are the Mariners necessarily the type of franchise and ownership group that you are convinced that they would be willing to go all in on a package that would Co that would cost a lot for vlat Jr I would say probably not so I definitely don't want to get anybody's hopes up there but you know it would be pretty a pretty fun experiment I think to see vlat with the rest of these guys in Seattle um you know it's interesting because the again the organization hasn't necessarily shown an elite desire to become a World Series Contender now they're thinking that I think they have a quote exactly where they're talking about winning somewhere around 98 games and just trying to be competitive on a year in year out basis the way that the MLB currently is with the playoff format and just in general with baseball where teams can get hot and just sort of carry it through to a world series title Allah the Texas Rangers last season but you know ultimately it we know that the Mariners have a very clear strength being their their pitching they have probably the best starting rotation in the MLB when you look at the combination of guys like Logan Gilbert and George Kirby and um and Luis Castillo Bryce Miller I'd probably throw I mean probably the worst out of the group but you know still one of still a guy that you can feel good about in any sort of a playoff series and you know ultimately um I think that when you look at where this team is at it's it's a weird it's a weird situation considering the fact that they are still you know amongst the top of the AL West but the way that they've been trending it's clear that they need something else they have the worst strikeout race rate in baseball and would they want to potentially look into mortgaging some of that pitching talent in exchange for a hitter you'd guess probably not but either way they're going to need help offensively so know we'll see how things play out there feels like this is the golden opportunity for the Astros to just pull away from the Mariners but at the same time Seattle's got to be sitting there thinking that even though the two teams seem to be headed in different trajectories they still have a great opportunity to pull this away from the Astros if they can get themselves right but the other biggest change in terms of the playoff race is that third wild card spot in the American League the Red Sox were really hot going into the allstar break and they were holding that final wild card spot when they went into it but since then they have fallen apart and again The Vibes were high for the Red Soxs who were able to knock off the Kansas City Royals in that final series before the break as well where the Royals are the team that right now they are currently competing with for that spot and they were able to win two out of three but since then they have lost four straight games and you know we just talked about the Mariners and where they currently stand you know whoever doesn't win that AL West is going to be in the conversation for that wild card spot as well now maybe you feel like the twins could potentially see some amount of drop off but it's going to be very contested in both of these both of the leagues for those final Wild Card spots and this is not the type of baseball the Red Sox we're hoping for coming out of the break and you have members of the front office already it's it's been a contentious couple years with Red Sox fans and their organization but the fact that you had breslo at one point about a week or so ago talking about how this Red Sox team has shown that they're worth investing into and now he just put out a quote saying he's not sure what direction they are really going to buy into yet I feel like they are going to drop out of this and that the Royals are going to be able to stay ahead of them as they are now 11 games over 500 they haven't lost the game yet coming out of the All-Star break now granted three of those wins came against the white socks who were the like I mentioned worst team in the MLB but the Red Sox also just lost last night to the Rockies in a crazy game so you can only use that level of competition cards so much but it's going to be an interesting sort of to see how these organizations are going to act I don't really see the Royals going out and being buyers I feel like they are probably mostly locked into what they already currently are the Red Sox have an opportunity to be they are a bigger Market but it's not something that I really see happening so you know let me know what you think about the bottom of the American League Wild Card race there quickly here on the national league it does feel like for the most part that the divisions are kind of going to be wrapped up the Phillies have been significantly ahead of anybody else in the NL East for the majority of the Year currently have an eight and 1 half game lead over the Atlanta Braves who also have just picked up a couple injuries to Max freed and Aussie Al so Phillies have to feel good about where they're at same with the Dodgers eight and a half game lead over the San Diego Padres the central is where things can get a little bit more contentious where the Brewers did very much exceed expectations during the first half of the year and that's a team that especially when they are you know sort of almost ready for I don't know if Redemption is the right word but they feel like they have been knocking for a while they see their manager go and get bought out for the richest deal in MLB history when Craig Council left for the Cubs that they feel like they can you know kind of I wouldn't say stick it to council because he was a great manager for them for all those years but to see him leave the Cubs struggling definitely underperforming there for the Brewers to be able to sort of take off it is a pretty interesting proposition there but as for the wild card there as well you look at the Pittsburgh Pirates Who are off to again we're only talking about sample size of a few games here but able to steal a series against the Phillies and you know especially that first game the way they were able to dig it out in the I think it was the ninth inning um believe that they walked it off like that that's just for an organization that I feel like a lot of America is kind of rooting for to some degree with the Pirates seeing them get that type of win against the Phillies and following that up as well with a series win they're now a couple games over 500 and just half a game out of that wild card spot but you look from the Cardinals who are in that second wild card spot to the Arizona Diamond Backs there are it looks like you know five teams within a game and a half of one another so that's going to be a very contentious Race by the end of it and going to be interesting to see how all of that plays out but you know let me know where your predictions lie right now in terms of the expectations for what the postseason will look look like we are going to be Switching gears here a little bit to the NBA and giving some final thoughts on the summer league which just wrapped up last night with the Miami Heat winning the championship so stick with us and we will be right back with more coverage on that