MLB Network’s MLB Now program on Sunday focused on three teams that have been disappointing this season.
They are the MLB’s highest-paid team, the New York Mets ($303.6 million), the third-place San Diego Padres ($248.9 million), and the perennial playoff team, the St. Louis Cardinals ($176.5 million). In short, high-payroll, low-efficiency teams. St. Louis’ team payroll ranks 14th온라인카지노.
The current standings are 35-43 with the Mets losing 1-2 to the Milwaukee Brewers today, 37-41 with SD, and 32-45 with St. Louis. SD was on the doorstep of a five-game winning streak before faltering last week, going 2-5 in a seven-game series on the road and at home against the San Francisco Giants and Washington Nationals. Manager Bob Melvin and shortstop Xander Bogaerts both criticized their players and teammates after the losing series against Washington.
The focus of the broadcast was which of the three teams would have the last laugh in the playoffs. SD was the favorite, while the Mets and Cardinals had a hard time making the PO.
We analyzed the three wild-card teams as of today. SD is currently 6.5 games behind the third-place LA Dodgers (43-34). The Mets are at 8.5 and the Cardinals are at 11.0. The flip show is very difficult. SD has four teams in front of them, the Mets have five, and the Cardinals have seven.
I also used sabermetric records to compare offense (WRC+), pitching (ERA+), and defense (DRS).
Offense is measured by WRC+. This is a run created statistic. The number is adjusted to account for factors outside of ballpark and era. In WRC+, 100 is the league average. Higher is better.
For pitchers, ERA+ normalizes a player’s earned run average across the entire league. External factors such as ballpark and opponent are taken into account. 100 is the league average and higher is better.
DRS is Defense Runs Saved, which is the number of runs a defender prevents from being scored, and takes into account things like errors, fielding range, outfielders’ shoulders, and double play ability.
SD ranks 13th in WRC+, 8th in ERA+, and 5th in DRS. These numbers alone show that the team’s high-paid players are not hitting well. The fifth-place DRS indicates that Kim is a big part of the problem. Overall, aside from the offense, the pitching and defense are postseason-caliber.
The Mets and Cardinals are unlikely to make it to the PO because their pitching and defense are terrible. The Cardinals are 8th in offense, 25th in pitching, and 28th in defense. The Mets are 12th-27th-22nd.
For the Mets, the struggles of the Max Scherzer-Justin Verlander tandem, both likely Hall of Famers, have hurt the starting rotation. The offense has been equally lackluster. Last season’s slugger Jeff McNeil and outfielder Starling Mattei have a combined WRC+ of just 91 in 2023. Last year, it was 140. The team was third in the league with 116 in 2022 and 12th with 103 this year.
The defense is even worse. In June alone, there were 50 defensive misses. They’re not errors.
The last time St. Louis had a season with a winning percentage below .500 was 2007. The Cardinals are a defense that produced five Gold Gloves last year. Their team DRS in 2022 was 67, tied for fourth in MLB. So far this year, they are 28th at -27. They never finished worse than fourth from 2019 to 2022.