Summer of Baseball
The Major League Baseball has made plenty of headlines this season with up and coming stars and a historic amount of home runs in the month of June. MLB players hit a total of 1,101 home runs in June which surpassed the May 2002 mark of 1,069.
The biggest stories this year have come from two young stars; Aaron Judge and Cody Bellinger. Judge, of the New York Yankees has been amazing all season. What he has done this season might lead him to be the third player ever to win Rookie of the Year and Most Valuable Player in the same year. Cody Bellinger, the fastest player to hit 21 home runs, has taken the league by storm, leading the Dodgers to the best record in baseball.
These two rookies participated in the Home Run Derby and the All-Star Game and have led their teams to become World Series contenders. We did not get the Arron Judge vs Giancarlo Stanton match-up everyone hoped for in the Derby, but we saw bombs from both of the players. Arron Judge became the first ever rookie to win the Derby.
Although the All-Star Game doesn’t have any effect on the playoffs anymore, it was still fun. Because MLB stopped making the All-Star game decide which league gets home-field advantage in the World Series, it was easier for the players to go out and have fun.
Bryce Harper has had a bounce back season, with more home runs and has a better batting average than last year. He has improved his game all across the board.
One down side to this season was the injury to Mike Trout, the best player in baseball. He was down for weeks and missed the All-Star game after tearing a ligament in his left thumb sliding into second base. Clayton Kershaw is also down with a back injury. He will be out four to six weeks and will hopefully come back to pitch for the Dodgers during their World Series run.
The Dodgers are making an amazing run as they are the first team to 70 wins this season. They also had the best 50 game stretch since 1912 going 43-7. The Dodgers are the best team in baseball and it looks like no one can stop them.
The Dodgers are trying to win their first World Series in 29 years.
The trade deadline has past and there were some big acquisitions. The Chicago White Sox traded Melky Cabrera for prospects, showing that they are in rebuild mode. Some playoff contenders made some big moves. The Washington Nationals revamped their second-worst bullpen in MLB by adding pitching depth. The Chicago Cubs traded Jose Quintana to help the starting rotation and make a playoff push. The Dodgers brought in Yu Darvish to give them a second ace and back up Kershaw.
The MLB season has been action packed and as the August wavier trade deadline approaches, more headlines are sure to come. As we reach the end of the regular season the intensity is sure to rise as teams push for the playoffs.