Following a devastating season for pitcher health, two Cy Young Award winners returned to the mound this past week.
The New York Yankees’ Gerrit Cole pitched four-plus innings on Wednesday, and the Texas Rangers’ Max Scherzer worked five scoreless innings on Sunday. Each right-hander was making their season debuts.
Cole and Scherzer are two of the lucky ones, as they were able to return this season. Shane McClanahan, Sandy Alcantara, Félix Bautista, and Shohei Ohtani have yet to pitch in 2024 and are unlikely to do so. Spencer Strider and Shane Bieber pitched briefly but are now out for the remainder of the season. And they’re not the only ones.
As a result, the Yankees and Rangers received a boost when their two stars returned from injury. Cole and Scherzer joined teams in quite different positions. New York leads the AL East despite losing two of three to Baltimore and Atlanta. Texas, meanwhile, is three games under.500 and could need any assistance the 39-year-old Scherzer can offer.
The Yankees have the best ERA in the American League, demonstrating how well their rotation has performed even in Cole’s absence, but he may return at the perfect time. The day after Cole made his season debut, Luis Gil, who has been mainly outstanding this season, was knocked out in the second inning of a 17-5 loss. Later in the week, Giancarlo Stanton was placed on the injured list due to a hamstring injury. So Cole’s ability to pitch despite missing time with elbow issues could be critical in the coming weeks.
Of course, with pitchers nowadays, any hope should be tempered. Scherzer was sidelined late last season with shoulder troubles and underwent back surgery in the summer. The three-time Cy Young Award winner allowed only one hit in his Saturday start against Kansas City.
TRIPLE CHANCES
Ohtani’s chances of winning MVP were hampered by Tommy John surgery, which kept him off the mound this season. But with Atlanta outfielder Ronald Acuña Jr. out for the season and Los Angeles teammate Mookie Betts also out with a broken hand, perhaps the door is open for Ohtani. However, his job as a designated hitter will certainly work against him.
Winning the Triple Crown would undoubtedly keep Ohtani in the debate, as he currently leads the National League in batting average (.321) and home runs (23). He ranks third in RBIs (57), seven behind leader Marcell Ozuna.
TRIVIA TIME.
Which team has allowed more than 17 runs in a game this season?
LINE OF THE WEEK.
Pablo López struck out 14 in eight scoreless innings, leading the Minnesota Twins to a 3-0 victory over Oakland on Sunday. That came one day after Bailey Ober pitched an 89-pitch complete game for the Twins in a 10-2 triumph.
Minnesota has won ten of its last fourteen games, and despite being seven and a half games behind AL Central leader Cleveland, the Twins are in the second wild-card slot.
RETURN OF THE WEEK
Jason Heyward’s grand slam and Teoscar Hernandez’s three-run homer led the Los Angeles Dodgers to an 11-9 victory over the Colorado Rockies on Tuesday night. With two outs in the ninth inning, Colorado manager Bud Black was ejected after debating whether Hernandez swung at a 1-2 pitch. The first base umpire ruled he did not, and he went on to hit the game-winning home run.
According to Baseball Savant, the Rockies had a 99.6% chance of winning in the eighth.
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