3 Up, 3 Down: Pirates, Mets, Rays Top Good List During Exciting Week 4 in MLB Season
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It's been a long time since the Pittsburgh Pirates have been part of the national baseball conversation, but that's all changed this week.
Seven straight wins will do that.
Pittsburgh won three games in Colorado to start Week 4, then came home and swept the Cincinnati Reds in a four-game series, allowing only six runs in four days. They are 16-7 now, have the best record in the National League, and passed the Milwaukee Brewers for first place in the NL Central on Sunday.
This from a team that was projected to win 67 games this season. They're nearly a quarter of the way there already, doing it with great pitching, solid defense and timely hitting. They're feeling good about themselves.
"It shows what we're doing and how we're doing it is working," said Pirates manager Derek Shelton said, who also received a contract extension this week. He's been there since 2020 — the Pirates went 142-239 in his first three years — and this was the final year of his original four-year deal.
Here are three things I liked this week, starting with the Pirates.
3 things I liked this week
1. Upstart Pirates have perfect week
You can say what you want about beating up on weak teams like the Colorado Rockies and Cincinnati Reds, but you still have to get it done on the field — and the Pittsburgh Pirates are doing exactly that.
They won three in Colorado and four at home against the Reds, taking over the lead in the NL Central. They've already scored 111 runs, and are third in the NL in earned run average at 3.63. The Reds only scored six totals runs in the four-game sweep. They're also taking advantage of the new pitching rules, stealing a league-leading 26 bases already.
Derek Shelton, the former batting coach in Tampa Bay, is one of the good guys in baseball, and kudos to the Pirates for being patient with him during this rebuild, something the small-market Buccos are used to. He's earned his contract extension.
Pittsburgh manager Derek Shelton receiving a contract extension this week, thanks in part to the Pirates' impressive 16-7 start that includes a current seven-game winning streak. (USA TODAY Sports)
We're about to learn a lot more about the Pirates. in the next two weeks, they have series with the NL favorite Los Angeles Dodgers, the red-hot Tampa Bay Rays and the scary Toronto Blue Jays. They're nine games over .500 now, and they'll probably take that mark two weeks from now. Let's check back in two weeks.
2. Mets doing things the right way
The New York Mets wrapped up their longest road trip of the season on Sunday night, losing 5-4 for back-to-back losses to the San Francisco Giants. But they went 7-3 on the West Coast trip, sweeping the Oakland A's, winning two of three against the Los Angeles Dodgers and splitting with the Giants.
“If you said we were going to finish 7-3 at the start of it, I think we would have taken it,” said Jeff McNeil of the Mets. “That’s a pretty good trip out here. A long trip. Being able to have that kind of record with the trip out here and the back and forth, I think that’s pretty good.”
One thing I've really liked about the Mets so far is they've been playing good, sound fundamental baseball. When rookie third baseman Brett Baty made an error on Saturday, it was the first infield error all year for New York, over 21 games.
Give the Mets a lot of credit for hanging in there. They have played 17 of 23 games on the road to start the season, and to go 14-9 is damn impressive, especially as they still try to figure out bullpen roles. (Sunday night was a head-shaker.) They get a much-needed day off on Monday, then three games with the struggling Washington Nationals before a huge four-game series with the Atlanta Braves this weekend.
New York Mets right fielder Jeff McNeil (1) is congratulated by third baseman Eduardo Escobar (10) after hitting a solo home run against the San Francisco Giants during the sixth inning at Oracle Park. (John Hefti-USA TODAY Sports)
3. More great stuff from the Rays, of course
Sure, there might be some bias here because I cover the Tampa Bay Rays a lot, but how can you not include them every week with all they've been doing? They were 5-1 this week, wrapping up the weekend with a three-game sweep of the Chicago White Sox. They Rays are 13-0 at home, and that's the longest home winning streak in team history.
They keep winning in different ways, too. In their first 10 home wins, they didn't even have to bat in the bottom of the ninth. But then, on Friday AND Saturday, they had walk-off winners, first. a homer from Brandon Lowe against White Sox reliever Reynaldo Lopez in the ninth and then a single by Randy Arozarena to win Saturday's game in the 10th inning, after the Sox chose to walk Wander Franco intentionally to get to Arozarena. Silly, right?
The Rays, who are 19-3 now, have homered in all 22 games, a major-league record to start the season. They've scored 149 runs, best in the majors, and allowed just 61, also best in the majors. That's just stunning, best on best.
They've lost starter Jeffrey Springs to Tommy John surgery, but Zach Eflin came back from a short IL stint on Sunday and looked good. Tyler Glasnow is throwing again and will be back in May, more than likely. And rookie Taj Bradley has been great in two starts so far. He'll pitch again on Monday night against Houston, and seems here to stay. And let's not forget ace Shane McClanahan, who has a 1.87 ERA so far and 37 strikeouts in five starts — all Rays wins.
Stacking wins is a big deal, regardless of who they come against. The Rays are already 4 1/5 games ahead of the Baltimore Orioles — who's played a comparable schedule — and they are six games ahead of both the Toronto Blue Jays and New York Yankees, both of whom have issues.
They play the Astros the next three nights, and I'm really looking forward to that. They are avoiding Houston's top two starters — Framber Valdez and Christian Javier — but the Astros have won four in a row, including a sweep in Atlanta, so this is a big April showdown.
3 things I didn't like
1. The Dodgers bullpen is a mess
The Los Angeles Dodgers are just 12-11 so far, despite having a lineup that rakes from top to bottom and a starting rotation that's good and hasn't even hit its stride yet. But the Dodgers' bullpen has been brutal, and it's becoming a series issue.
The LA bullpen has a 5.05 earned run average, third-worst in the National League ahead of only San Francisco (5.29) and Philadelphia (5.09). They've given up 43 runs already and 11 homers. They've had three games in the past week — all losses — where their bullpen gave up three runs or more.
The Dodgers are one of those MLB teams that have a license to print money, so if this keeps up, expect them to get aggressive in making some trades. They won't wait until right before the trade deadline either, because it might be too late by then.
Los Angeles manager Dave Roberts (30) talks with relief pitcher Shelby Miller in a game at San Francisco. (Neville E. Guard-USA TODAY Sports)
2. The White Sox have similar issues, too
The best news for the Chicago White Sox last week was the good news that closer Liam Hendriks is now cancer-free. That's wonderful, and certainly the most important.
What's happening on the field is secondary, of course, but he's clearly being missed. It was on full display this weekend in St. Petersburg, when the White Sox lost twice on walk-offs with bullpen collapses. Their bullpen ERA is 6.22, with only Oakland and Kansas City being worse.
The White Sox (7-15) got swept by the Rays and fell to a season-high eight games below .500. They have lost four straight, six of seven and nine of their last 11 games. At 7-15, the White Sox are off to their worst start to a season since 2018, when they went 6-16 out of the gate. That team wasn't expected to contend for a division title; this one is.
This needs to be fixed, too.
3. The A's are done in Oakland
The worst rumor is baseball finally fact. The Oakland Athletics announced on Friday. that they have purchased land in Las Vegas to build a new stadium and move the team. They've needed a new stadium in Oakland for 20 years, and it's never happened. It just doesn't work anymore.
I'm not a big fan of franchises moving, but the A's have done this before. They played in Philadelphia from 1901 to 1954, in Kansas City from 1955 to 1967, and in Oakland ever since.
This is a proud franchise, one that has nine World Series titles, including four in Oakland. They've won six AL pennants in Oakland, and 17 AL West titles. But the 55-year-old Oakland Coliseum is a dump, and the A's were always treated like a second-class citizen there. Everything was about the NFL's Raiders and keeping them happy, which turned out to be impossible, too. They moved to Las Vegas first, and have been a great success in the desert. The A's expect to do the same.
The Bay Area is a huge sports market, but the A's just don't generate any buzz. And Oakland, frankly, is not San Francisco. Even the NBA's Golden State Warriors, who played in Oakland for years in the same parking lot as the Coliseum, chose to move to San Francisco when they needed a new arena.
I feel bad for the small group of Oakland fans, but this franchise will thrive in Vegas.
