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Greetings, fellow baseball enjoyers! And welcome to our thrice-weekly newsletter/blog.
My name’s AJ… and this is Two-Strike Count.
Imanaga’s incredible start powering Cubs
It was a good bet that Shota Imanaga would be good. But no one, including the Cubs, could’ve predicted he was gonna be this good. Imanaga is off to a historic start at 5-0 with a 0.84 ERA through his first 9 starts. That’s even better than Fernando Valenzuela’s 0.91 ERA in 1981, the year he won the NL Cy Young, Rookie of the Year, and led the Dodgers to a World Series title.
Could the same thing be in the cards for Imanaga and the Cubs?
Definitely.
He’s already been crucial to the Cubs’ success. Chicago’s 8-1 in Shota’s starts and just 18-20 in their other games. And Shota’s been eating up innings, too. His shortest start (4 innings) was only because of a rain delay. Aside from that, he’s been going deep into games and taking pressure off the Cubs’ bullpen.
There’s no question Imanaga’s off to a historic start. His 58 strikeouts through 9 starts is third all-time for the Cubs behind Kerry Wood and Mark Prior and his 9 walks through 9 starts is fewest among Cubs pitchers since 1901.
It’s inevitable that eventually opposing lineups will make adjustments, but Imanaga’s got the stuff to make adjustments of his own and continue to be a key piece for the Cubs. They’re gonna need him, too, as they’ve placed 16 players on the IL since Spring Training.
But the question is, just how far can Shota carry the Cubs even after he comes back down to Earth?
Well, if his first 9 starts are anything to go on, I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised to see the Northsiders playing deep into October.
Soto staying with Yankees not a slam dunk
Considering how last off-season went for Scott Boras, one might think he’d wanna get a headstart on negotiations involving Juan Soto. But everyone, including the Yankees, knows that’s a longshot.
That’s because Boras likes to wait until his clients hit the open market so all 30 teams can bid. At least that’s the plan. That’s not what happened last winter. In fact, some of Boras’ big name clients didn’t sign until Spring Training was basically over.
Now, we don’t know if it’ll be the same story with Soto, but it’s a safe bet a deal won’t get done with the Yankees during the season. And that puts New York in a tough spot. A tough spot with lots of uncertainty surrounding their new star slugger.
Soto, for his part, has told reporters he’s open to signing an extension. Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner knows, though, how Boras works and knows it’s highly unlikely anything will happen until Soto tests free agency this winter. The good news for the Yankees and their fans is only a handful of teams (including the crosstown rival Mets) will be able to offer the $500 million plus Soto will surely command.
The bad news is, thanks to Boras, the Yankees will have to wait and see if Soto’s gonna stay in pinstripes.
It’s time for MLB to nationalize TV rights
Cord-cutting. Failing regional sports networks. The war for streaming supremacy. These are the three main factors that have got Rob Manfred and some of MLB’s owners talking about nationalizing the league’s TV rights.
And, frankly, it’s a conversation that’s long overdue.
Nearly half the league’s teams have their TV rights tied up in the ongoing Bally Sports fiasco, making it virtually impossible for fans to watch their games… and that’s just unacceptable. And it means it’s time for a change.
It’s time for MLB to take a page from the NFL’s playbook and sell all 30 teams regular season broadcasts as a single streaming package. In fact, they’ve already got the framework in place with MLB TV. All they’d have to do is get rid of those pesky blackout restrictions and let fans watch any game they want, whether it’s out of market or not.
But, as with any situation involving money, there are differences to settle. In this case it’s small market owners versus big market owners. The small markets are in favor of centralizing MLB’s TV rights as the best way to grow revenue. Unsurprisingly, the big market owners are reluctant to give up their power over their media rights.
To be sure, there’s a lot of work (and dealmaking) to be done among MLB’s owners in order to sort this mess out, but if they’re as dedicated to growing the game as they claim, they’ll find a way to get it done.
That’s it for this edition of Two-Strike Count, baseball fans. Until next time!
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