Worldwide Sports News

Last Week’s Results

• Tuesday: Brewers 22, Mariners 0
• Wednesday: Mariners 7, Brewers 5
• Thursday: Brewers 7, Mariners 4
• Friday: Brewers 2, Braves 1
• Saturday: Brewers 4, Braves 1
• Sunday: Braves 4, Brewers 2

Division Standings

• Brewers 81-50
• Cubs 75-56 (6 GB)
• Cardinals 66-66 (15.5 GB)
• Pirates 63-69 (18.5 GB)
• Reds 62-69 (19 GB)

Last Week

• Brewers: 4-2
• Cubs: 3-3
• Cardinals: 3-5
• Pirates: 2-4
• Reds: 3-5

Top Pitching Performance of the Week

It was a good week for the Brewer pitching staff: six different pitchers threw at least three innings without allowing a run, which included scoreless starts from Jacob Misiorowski and Kyle Harrison and a nice six-inning, one-run outing from Logan Henderson. But let’s put a little shine on DL Hall. Over three appearances out of the Brewer bullpen, Hall didn’t allow an earned run, and allowed an inherited runner to score on Sunday only when Andrew Vaughn misplayed a weak ground ball that should’ve been the third out. In 5 1/3 innings, Hall struck out seven, walked two, and didn’t allow a hit.

Top Hitting Performance of the Week

When a team scores 22 runs in one game, there are going to be some candidates here, but let’s highlight Garrett Mitchell. He only came to the plate 13 times this week, but in those 13 plate appearances Mitchell was 8-for-12 with a walk, a homer, two doubles, and three RBIs, giving him a not-too-shabby .667/.714/1.083 batting line for the week.

Let’s also highlight Luis Lara, who hit his first pro homer (who cares if it was against a position player) and had a clutch RBI triple on Sunday; David Hamilton, who was 5-for-12 with a homer and a double; William Contreras, who led the team with 10 hits in 21 at-bats this week; and Jake Bauers, the only Brewer to homer multiple times this week.

Injury Notes & Roster Moves

• Speaking of Mitchell, he had to leave Sunday’s game after being hit on the forearm/wrist by a pitch. The official word was “right forearm contusion” and x-rays were negative, so it doesn’t sound like it’s anything serious.
• Cooper Pratt completed his short stint on the injured list and was activated Wednesday. He replaced Brandon Lockridge on the roster, who was optioned to Triple-A Nashville.
• Jihwan Bae, who was designated for assignment when the Brewers signed Jonathan Ornelas, was outrighted to Triple-A Nashville.
• Bo Naylor very briefly made his “debut” with the Brewers on Sunday, when the team was allowed a 27th man for the “special event” Little League Classic. He did not play.
• Sal Frelick continues to get at-bats at Triple-A; according to manager Pat Murphy, he is likely to be activated for the series with the Mets from Tuesday-Thursday this week.
• In a shocker, news came out that Brandon Woodruff, in a major twist, does not need another surgery on his shoulder, and he’ll even begin a throwing program this week that could, conceivably, make him available to pitch before the season ends. Unlikely, but possible.
• JoJo Romero, one of the Brewers’ deadline pickups, threw live batting practice on Friday and could start a rehab assignment this week.
• Abner Uribe threw a bullpen on Tuesday and could be on track to rejoin the Brewers on Wednesday, when his minimum IL stint is reached.

On Deck

• Monday: Off Day
• Tuesday: @ Mets (6:10 p.m.)
• Wednesday: @ Mets (6:10 p.m.)
• Thursday: @ Mets (6:10 p.m.)
• Friday: vs. Rangers (6:40 p.m.)
• Saturday: vs. Rangers (6:15 p.m.)
• Sunday: vs. Rangers (1:10 p.m.)

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The surging Philadelphia Phillies have won nine consecutive games and are -115 favorites to reach double digits tonight.

With a more in-form offense and an ace-caliber arm on the mound, my Phillies vs. Mariners predictions and MLB picks believe the value lies with the road team on Aug. 24.

Who will win Phillies vs Mariners today: Phillies (-115)

The Seattle Mariners own a putrid .259 wOBA vs. righties at home over the past month, ranking dead last in the majors.

They now have to contend with Zack Wheeler, who slots in the 96th percentile in Pitching Run Value. Not ideal.

Logan Gilbert is the more attackable arm. He’s a 66th percentile arm in xERA, and has allowed three runs or more in six of his last nine starts.

The Philadelphia Phillies have hit righties well the past month, ranking fifth in OBP and 12th in ISO. They’re more likely to provide run support.

Back Philadelphia to -125.

COVERS INTEL:The Phillies have struck out at the league's lowest rate (14.7%) against right-handed pitching this month.

Phillies vs Mariners Over/Under pick: Under 6.5 (+100)

The Mariners have faced eight arms who profile similarly to Wheeler, including Chase Burns, Cam Schlittler, and Dylan Cease. They scored five earned runs against the eight starters fitting the criteria.

They’ve had a miserable time going up in class against ace-caliber pitchers, and that should continue against Wheeler tonight.

Philadelphia has not hit for anywhere close to the same level of power on the road, besting only the Royals in OPS. 

Gilbert should be able to limit the home runs in pitcher-friendly conditions, and that will help avoid bulk scoring.

Bet the Under to -113.

Phillies vs Mariners home run prediction: Bryce Harper (+475)

Gilbert combines to throw the fastball and slider more than 60% of the time against left-handed hitters. That sets up well for Bryce Harper, who hits those pitches extremely well.

Harper is sporting a ridiculous .552 ISO against right-handed fastballs, and he’s no slouch facing sliders (.382 wOBA, .229 ISO).

Nobody on the Phillies comes close to Harper’s outputs vs. that combination, making him an appealing buy at +475.

Bet to +450.

Phillies vs Mariners weather

Temperatures are expected to sit in the low 70s with winds blowing southeast. Favorable pitching conditions.

Phillies vs Mariners odds

• Moneyline: Phillies -115 | Mariners -105
• Run line: Phillies -1.5 (+160) | Mariners +1.5 (+190)
• Over/Under: Over 6.5 (-120) | Under 6.5 (+100)

Phillies vs Mariners trend

Philadelphia has cashed the game total Under in 30 of their last 50 away games (+10.35 units, 19% ROI). Find more MLB betting trends for Phillies vs. Mariners.

How to watch Phillies vs Mariners and game info

Phillies vs Mariners latest injuries

This article originally appeared on Covers.com, read the full article here and view our best betting sites or check out our top sportsbook promos.

Hey, I did say in my Up Next for this game that I liked the pitching matchup. I think I probably envisioned a stronger performance from Shōta Imanaga. I’ll hat tip Aaron Civale for his performance in this one, saving a lot of bullpen and also being very effective. I understand and respect that he’ll seek out an opportunity to continue starting somewhere next year. That’s surely the right move, but if he ever wanted to embrace a swing man role for the Cubs organization, I’d welcome it.

I always love when I can physically feel my opinion on something changing as I’m watching a game. For so many years, I was so much about the sanctity of 162 games and for trying to make as many of those games be complete games as possible. Part of the experience of baseball are the milestones, be it single season or career. And also, they let an extended stretch of history be marred by steroids. Numbers were shattered. Hitting records fell to the way side. Players extended their careers and put up historic numbers.

Now in this new era, starters throw a continually dwindling number of innings. The roster shuffle has dozens of players in and out of roster spots. There appears to be an increase of the incidence of what I’ll call soft injured list time. A kind of soft fraud type of manipulating roster limits and trying to save bullets for the postseason. More and more every pitch is a max effort pitch and so almost all counting pitching stats are drifting towards unbreakable.

With this era of max effort, it is clearly a waste of precious ammunition to have a guy throwing batting practice fastballs while they run out the game. Well, at least having an ordinary pitcher do so. Now, we see a larger and larger number of position players pitching. And, they also don’t want those guys getting hurt, so we aren’t seeing guys who were pitchers at some point earlier in their career throwing some reasonable effort pitches at 60-75 miles per hour. Nope, we’re seeing the kind of pitches you’d see thrown to your seven-year-old child’s team seeing live pitching for the first time.

This has now contorted to the point where Carson Kelly was called on to throw an inning of relief, rather than tax anyone to try to protect a 17-run lead. I don’t think before the last year or two I could remember a position player getting action on a team winning by a large margin.

Just like that, I wouldn’t be disappointed if a team were allowed to throw up the white flag and put an end to the game. I don’t think there is an urgent need to do so or anything, but I have no need to ever see these late-inning situations where there is nothing vaguely competitive happening. I certainly don’t think ending a game early is any more of an abomination than the ghost runner in extra innings.

While on the one hand, customers pay to see a whole game, also you do sometimes end one due to weather. Also, if I’d paid to see this game, I’d have probably left no later than middle of the eighth when it was clear there was nothing competitive left to happen.

For me, I find it unfortunate. The Cubs are trying to prepare themselves to try to make a deep run in the playoffs. You could feel the Mariners pulling back in the middle inning of this game and there were some pretty poor attempts at fielding that contributed to the lopsided score.

Yawn. At least it was another win. The Cubs have posted an amazing number of these one-sided games. With the outburst, the Cubs ended the night with the most runs scored in baseball, nosing ahead of the Nationals who have played one more game. They’ve also sneaked into the OPS lead for all of baseball. This has been a really special group this year. It would have been terrific if they had a healthy pitching staff. Hopefully they can pull a respectable group together from this scrap heap to try to make a playoff run.

Three Positives:

• Ian Happ had the big blow of the game, a grand slam. He had two hits, a walk, drove in five and scored two. Season line now at .218/.327/.420 (109 wRC+)
• Pedro Ramirez did take advantage of silly baseball, but I’ll still hat tip three hits, three runs and five driven in. He did most of that damage in silly ball.
• Pete Crow-Armstrong had two hits and a walk. Stole a base, hit another homer. Drove in three and scored two. When all is said and done this is going to be the greatest season in the history of baseball’s oldest team. For all of the things the Cubs haven’t been through the years, they still have some really magnificent baseball seasons in their history and he appears headed to blow past all of them.

Game 131, August 23: Cubs 19, Mariners 2 (75-56)

Reminder: Heroes and Goats are determined by WPA scores and are in no way subjective.

THREE HEROES:

• Superhero: Ian Happ (.352). 2-4, HR, BB, 5 RBI, 2 R, DP
• Hero: Aaron Civale (.256). 4 IP, 13 BF, H, 2 K (W 1-0)
• Sidekick: Michael Conforto (.096). 1-2, HR, RBI, R

THREE GOATS:

• Billy Goat: Shōta Imanaga (-.229). 2 IP, 14 BF, 5 H, 2 BB, 2 R (1 ER), 4 K
• Goat: Nico Hoerner (-.066). 1-4, DP
• Kid: Carson Kelly (-.047). 1-5, RBI, R, DP

NOTE: Carson Kelly’s WPA is solely reflective of his batting and does not include his pitching. 23 of the 96 “events” in this game scored .000 WPA, including all of those while Kelly was pitching. The first of those was Seiya Suzuki’s single in the eighth. Ian Happ’s bases-loaded walk a few batters later was the last one that scored any WPA.

WPA Play of the Game: Ian Happ’s grand slam in the third inning. (.390)

Mariners Play of the Game: Josh Naylor batted with a runner on first and no outs in the third inning, the Mariners down three. He singled, ending the day of Imanaga. (.065)

Cubs Player of the Game:

Game 130 Winner: Tyrone Taylor 16-14 over Alex Bregman (37 total votes). Apologies for not listing David Peterson, who was a valid choice.

Rizzo Award Standings: (Top 5/Bottom 5)

The award is named for Anthony Rizzo, who finished first in this category three of the first four years it was in existence and four times overall. He also recorded the highest season total ever at +65.5. The point scale is three points for a Superhero down to negative three points for a Billy Goat.

• Pete Crow-Armstrong +28
• Alex Bregman +25
• Trent Thornton +13.5
• Carson Kelly +12.5
• Javier Assad +12
• Seiya Suzuki -11
• Edward Cabrera -12.5
• Jameson Taillon -13
• Dansby Swanson -17
• Caleb Thielbar -18.5

Scoreboard Watching: Phillies win (two back of Cubs). Marlins win (eight back). Dodgers win (five up). Padres win (four back). Diamondbacks win (six back). Braves win (one up) over Brewers (six up). So the Cubs gain one back on Milwaukee to end the week. One impressive weekend for the top half of the NL. Only the Cubs and Braves lost their series and the Braves lost theirs in Milwaukee (and Williamsport).

Up Next: On to Arizona to face the Diamondbacks who I noted are six back. They are fourth in the Wild Card chase, two out of the last spot. They’ve split their last 10 games and have a +9 run differential. This one is a battle of two guys who most of us expect to be better. Kevin Gausman (6-11, 4.58) makes his fourth Cub start. He’s failed to escape the fifth in his last two. He actually beat the D-backs as a Blue Jay back in April. He allowed two runs on seven hits and a walk over six innings.

Merrill Kelly (8-11, 5.37) starts for Arizona. The eighth round pick of the Rays in 2010 (251st overall) is 1-3 with a 5.35 over his last seven, so he’s been pretty consistently bad. He’s allowed six earned runs in each of his last two starts and he hasn’t finished six innings since July 9. The Cubs beat him back in May, putting up six earned runs on eight hits and three walks in 4.1 innings. Michael Busch had two hits, including a triple, drove in four and walked in that one.

Diamondbacks relievers have thrown the fourth fewest innings and in turn have the least number of strikeouts. But even if you look at K/9, they are still 27th out of 30. They are 22nd out of 30 in WHIP. So this isn’t a great bullpen. That said, despite the low number of innings (and moderate number of wins), their bullpen is tied for the 11th most holds. They can be beat late, but are no pushover.

Let’s make it two straight wins against a pitcher having a rough year.

The Nats once fearsome offense is now searching for answers. They only scored 20 runs across their 9 game road trip. The team is in desperate need of any spark. If they don’t want to bring up Seaver King, Trey Lipscomb is another player who deserves a shot. 

Entering the 2024 season, Lipscomb had a lot of hype going into the year. He had a solid year in the minors and was pushing Luis Garcia Jr. for the starting second base job out of camp. Lipscomb did not make the team, but quickly got promoted following an injury.

Simply put, Lipscomb fell on his face in his first MLB stint. He hit just .200 with a .500 OPS in 61 games. After that disastrous spell in the show, Lipscomb faded into oblivion. He only posted a .697 OPS in AAA last year. That resulted in the then 25 year old being DFA’d and going unclaimed.

Having gone unclaimed, Lipscomb was back in the Nats system. However, as Rochester manager Matt LeCroy put it, Lipscomb had suffered a setback. This offseason, Lipscomb worked on becoming twitchier and more athletic. That work has really paid off as he is swinging the bat faster and hitting the ball harder.

The improvements in Lipscomb’s quality of contact is pretty crazy. Last season, his average exit velocity was 86.2 MPH, his 90th percentile EV was 103.6 and his max EV was 109.7. This year those numbers have jumped to 89.9, 105.4 and 114.4, a truly remarkable increase for a player who is not that young. 

Predictably, the increase in exit velocities has come with a serious boost in power. Lipscomb has 27 home runs in 110 games this season, the most in the Nats system. Before this year, he had 30 homers in 339 MILB games. The 26 year old has just added a whole new element to his game.

With the way the Nats infielders are hitting right now, I think it is worth giving Lipscomb a shot even if there are some concerns. When you look at his profile, there is one pretty massive red flag. Lipscomb’s chase rate this year is 43.2%, which is really bad. For context, even the free swinging Luis Garcia Jr. is only chasing 38.4% of the time.

There is a pretty good chance that this flaw is just totally debilitating at the MLB level and Lipscomb is just one of those Quad-A guys. However, the Nats are in a position to find this out for sure down the stretch. We know what Jorbit Vivas and Nasim Nunez can do, why not give Lipscomb a shot. With his massive increase in power he has certainly earned it.

Lipscomb might be the most extreme example, but the Nats have done a phenomenal job unlocking power in the minor leagues this season. By my count, the Nats have 5 minor leaguers who are already at 20+ homers, which is very impressive. It really feels like this new regime specializes in adding power.

However, at the big league level it just feels like the Nats are stuck in the mud. With James Wood and CJ Abrams out, the Nats are in need of new blood who can energize this weary team for the last few weeks of the season. The Nats need to avoid total collapse, and calling up red hot and confident hitters like Trey Lipscomb could be part of the solution.

Dana Brown is out as general manager of the Houston Astros.

Brown – who has held the position for just over 3 ½ years – was coming to the end of his contract at the conclusion of the season, but he and the team announced on Monday, Aug. 24, that they have "mutually agreed to part ways."

"Over the past four seasons, Dana has helped our organization win two division titles and has led our baseball front office through key scouting, draft and development efforts," team owner Jim Crane said in a statement. "On behalf of the Astros, I want to thank him for his commitment, energy, and contributions to our organization."

Blake Treinen continued his minor league rehab assignment with a scoreless inning on Sunday for Oklahoma City, his fourth scoreless outing in four tries, first with Ontario and the las three contests in Triple-A.

Treinen struck out two in a scoreless eighth inning on Sunday, working around a leadoff single. The right-hander pitched on one day rest, after having two days of res before his previous wo games. Treinen is on the 60-day injured list with right elbow inflammation and last pitched for the Dodgers on June 19.

Player of the day

Emmet Sheehan seemed to find his groove again in Triple-A, including six scoreless innings on Sunday with nine strikeouts, allowing only a double and two walks. Sheehan induced 14 swinging strikes, including seven with his slider and five with the four-seam fastball.

Sheehan on Sunday retired 14 straight at one point before a two-out double in the fifth for Sugar Land’s first hit of the game. Sheehan faced three hitters with a runner in scoring position on Sunday and retired them all, with a strikeout and two balls that never left the infield.

It was the first game in 11 days for Sheehan, who was called up to the Dodgers for two games last week for relief coverage but was not used. Sheehan’s last two starts with the Comets (August 12 vs. Albuquerque, Sunday at Sugar Land) have totaled 11 2/3 scoreless innings and 17 strikeouts,

Triple-A Oklahoma City

After nine innings of zeroes on both sides, Matt Gorski singled home the free runner in the Comets’ 10-innings win over the Sugar Land Space Cowboys (Astros).

The game was scoreless so long thanks in part to plays like this from Zach Ehrhard in right field.

Double-A Tulsa

Three crooked-number innings cooked the Drillers in Sunday’s loss to the Amarillo Sod Poodles (Diamondbacks).

Tulsa tried to come back with home runs in each of the final three innings. hat included a solo shot from Josue De Paula, one of his three hits on the day. De Paula’s 25 home runs and 59 extra-base hits this season are right around double his previous career highs (30 extra-base hits in 2024, 12 home runs in 2025).

After missing seven games on the injured list, Mike Sirota returned Sunday to play all nine innings in center field. Sirota walked and was hitless in three at-bats.

High-A Great Lakes

Samuel Munoz hit a two-run home run in the 10th inning for the only scoring in the Loons’ win over the Fort Wayne TinCaps (Padres). That followed nine innings of excellent, scoreless pitching, just like for Triple-A Oklahoma City.

For the second day in a row, a 2025 Dodgers draftee struck out seven in three-plus innings for Great Lakes. After Cam Leiter on Saturday, on Sunday it was Jacob Frost, who walked three and allowed two hits in his 3 1/3 innings of relief.

Starter Tyler Gough struck out four in two scoreless frames. In two months since joining the Loons, Gough has a 1.96 ERA and 34.2-percent strikeout rate in 36 2/3 innings.

After struggling mightily with Double-A Tulsa — with a career-questioning 30 walks and 14.94 ERA in 15 2/3 innings — former first-round draft pick Maddux Bruns spent 11 weeks on the development list before returning to game action in High-A on Sunday. Bruns followed Gough with two strikeouts in two scoreless innings, allowing only a single and walk.

Class-A Ontario

Kellon Lindsey showed off his power and speed on Sunday night in the Tower Buzzers’ rout of the Inland Empire 66ers (Mariners). Lindsey had four hits, including a home run, drove in four, and scored three runs. He also stole two bases, the third time this season the former first-round draft pick had a home run and stolen base in the same game.

Luis Gamez struck out nine in four scoreless innings of relief for the win, allowing only a single and walk.

Joendry Vargas, playing third base on Sunday, had three hits, including a double, with three RBI.

Sunday scores

• Oklahoma City 1, Sugar Land 0 (10 innings)
• Amarillo 7, Tulsa 4
• Great Lakes 2, Fort Wayne 0 (10 innings)
• Ontario 11, Inland Empire 1

The week ahead

• Oklahoma City vs. El Paso (Padres)
• Tulsa at Midland (A’s)
• Great Lakes vs. Lansing (A’s)
• Ontario at Stockton (A’s)

Good morning.

Evan Grant writes that the Texas Rangers are turning to Ezequiel Duran to be The Solution in a year of consistent inconsistency for the under .500 AL West leaders.

Kennedi Landry writes that the Rangers were able to claim a series and winning homestand behind yet another solid effort from Cal Quantrill.

Grant writes about the return to the big leagues for Logan O’Hoppe, whom the Rangers are hoping will be a change-of-scenery addition.

Landry writes about deadline acquisition O’Hoppe arriving after finding confidence following a month-long stint in Triple-A.

Jeff Wilson writes that, with the lineup going even quieter than usual, it was the rotation that held it down for the Rangers to win a homestand.

Grant notes that Jake Burger avoided an IL stint after taking a heater flush to the wrist that knocked him out of Saturday’s game.

And, with Sebastian Walcott leading the way, Jim Callis ranks the Rangers just inside the top ten among farm systems with the best infield prospects.

Have a nice day!

All season long, the Orioles have tread water. Their win-loss record has never gotten better than two games above .500 (on April 13) or worse than nine games under .500 (July 8). That type of mediocre form has been enough to keep them in the conversation for a playoff spot, but with just a month of games left to play, they will need to find another gear if they are going make a genuine push for the postseason. This upcoming road trip is their opportunity to pull ahead.

Starting on Tuesday, the Orioles will begin a three-city road trip that takes them to St. Louis, Sacramento, and Denver for nine games against the Cardinals, Athletics, and Rockies, respectively.

The Cardinals are a solid club, boasting a 66-66 record. They have no hope of catching the Brewers in the NL Central, and even the wild card feels like a pipe dream. The Cards are 5.5 games out of the final wild card in the NL. But it’s not impossible for them to bounce back from their current three-game losing streak to go on a run and sneak into the playoffs. The Orioles will need to be careful with them.

The Athletics and Rockies, though, are a different story. Entering play on Monday, these are the two worst teams in baseball. The A’s, at 51-80, are at the bottom of the AL while the Rockies, at 50-80, are at the very bottom of the entire league.

Things aren’t trending better for either team. The A’s are 11-34 since the start of July. They have slipped from three games back in the division at the time to 14 games back now. The Rockies were awful back in May (8-20), improved a bit in June and July (21-29), but have fallen apart recently. They own a 7-13 record in August, which includes an active six-game losing streak.

Why are these two teams bad? It’s pretty simple. They can’t pitch. The Rockies’ 5.54 ERA is the worst in the sport, and the Athletics’ 5.47 mark is second-worst. Even if you slice and dice by rotation vs. bullpen it doesn’t get much better. The Rockies rotation has a 6.18 ERA while the Athletics is 5.35. In the bullpen it’s the Atheltics that are worse (5.66 ERA) while the Rockies are somewhat serviceable (4.80 ERA).

On paper, even the flawed Orioles should have an advantage in the series against these two bottom feeders. But that doesn’t guarantee anything. The Orioles have already lost two of three to the Athletics this year when the two teams met at Camden Yards back in May.

What makes this upcoming road trip even more vital is what follows.

The Orioles wrap up the series in Denver on Wednesday, September 2. The final out there will probably be recorded sometime around 6 p.m. ET. Then, they have to take the 3.5-hour flight home, find a way to get some rest, and then be at Camden Yards and ready for a 7:15 p.m. ET first pitch on Thursday night against a Red Sox team that will have probably already been in Baltimore for several hours before their hosts even arrive.

That game with the Red Sox will begin the final 22-game stretch of their season in which they will play four against Boston, three with Cleveland, six against Toronto, three with Milwaukee, and three against each of the New York teams.

The only perceived “break” in there is the series with the Mets, but even they have been better recently. Every other opponent is at least in the playoff mix with something to play for, whether that be seeding or even getting into the tournament in the first place. If the Orioles performance on the season to this point is any sort of guide, we can expect them to put up a fight against these competitive clubs, but hoping for any sort of streak seems foolish.

But it’s not only the Orioles schedule that we have to worry about, it’s also the schedules of the teams that the O’s are battling for that final wild card spot. An easier path likely means the Orioles need to play just that much better. The news isn’t great on that front, unfortunately.

According to Tankathon, the four easiest remaining schedules in Major League Baseball this season belong to the Twins, Guardians, Blue Jays, and Mariners.

Seattle has the easiest road, thanks in part to a down year for the AL West. Of their 31 remaining games, 17 of them are against the Angels, Athletics, and Rockies.

Toronto is second-easiest. As records exist today, none of the clubs left on their schedule have a .500 or better record. That’s particularly good for them, since they are 33-42 against such teams this season.

To be fair, it’s not as if the Orioles’ remaining schedule is the absolute toughest. They rank 20th on Tankathon, and while clubs like the Guardians or Blue Jays are daunting given the context of the standings, these are still flawed, sub-.500 teams that the Orioles could theoretically take care of.

So, what sort of performance should the Orioles be aiming for?

FanGraphs projects the standings for the rest of the year. They believe that in order to get into the AL playoff field, a team will need to finish with an 81-81 record, exactly .500. They also expect the Orioles to go 15-16 in their final 31 games, ending up at 78-84, last place in the AL East and just three games out of that final wild card spot.

That sounds entirely possible and reasonable. The Orioles have provided no evidence to suggest that they are a better than .500 club. Even when they briefly held a playoff spot earlier this month, they still had a losing record. Bucking that trend, going on a run, and leap frogging several teams that have an easier path from here is not what we should expect to happen. There’s a reason that Baseball Reference gives the O’s just a 9% chance of making the postseason at this point.

But that’s why we play the games. The Orioles could change the math by going on a tear out west, otherwise continuing to tread water, and then taking care of business against the Blue Jays in September. Most of the other games are window dressing.