MLB Bullets And The Secret Life Of Royals

The big news in baseball today is going to be last night's Cubs/Giants game, which may still be in a delay as you read this. But I'm going to leave that for other people to cover.

• The Kansas City Royals have a two-game lead in the AL Central, which is the latest they've been in first place since their World Series year of 1985. Lifetime Royals fans Rany Jazayerli explains in Grantland how we got here and examines whether the Royals can stay there.
• Richard Justice writes that everyone (who's not a Tigers fan, presumably) should be cheering for the Royals. Also, owner David Glass did it his way.
• The Royals made the cover of Sports Illustrated. So I guess we'll be seeing Detroit in October again.
• Billy Butler doesn't just want to win the Central, he wants the Royals to go for the number one seed.
• Rob Neyer says that while Alex Gordon is good, he's not as good as Mike Trout, even though Fangraph's fWAR says he is. He says this is why we need to understand the flaws in every advanced stat.
• Neyer also says the statistics are of no help to predicting the winner of the AL West. Because the Athletics and Angels are so evenly matched, he suspects the winner will be the luckier team, not the better team.
• If the Athletics don't win the AL West, they can't blame the curse of Yoenis Cespedes, writes Cee Angi.
• Cespedes, for his part, was really sad to be leaving Oakland. He hopes his former teammates win it all.
• Bud Selig said once again that the Athletics need a new stadium. But he added "It's complicated. It's very complicated."
• Jeff Samardzija says he made the right choice picking baseball over football.
• Michael Baumann says that the Angels season isn't quite a miracle, it's the result of many small moves that added up to a big improvement.
• The Mariners are sitting in third place and tied with Detroit for the second wild card. Katie Sharp says that not only do the Mariners have King Felix, they have a second ace in  Hisashi Iwakuma.
• Tom Verducci notes that the Mariners, as a team, have the lowest ERA of any American League team since the advent of the designated hitter. The Mariners can't hit, but they sure can pitch and field.
• Anthony Castrovince asks if the Orioles have what it takes to succeed in the playoffs.
• The Orioles demoted Ubaldo Jimenez to the bullpen. Whoever suggested the Cubs should sign Jimenez in the offseason was clearly a moron. Whatever happened to that guy? Was he banned?
• The Orioles/MASN got their injunction against MLB enforcing their arbitration ruling extended.
• The Tigers are fading in the AL Central, and the pitcher they traded to Washington is leading the Nationals to first place. Joe Posnanski writes that the Tigers traded Doug Fister because they were too obsessed with the radar gun.
• Speaking of Doug Fister, he wears a Jayson Werth "Rally Gnome" in his shirt during games. Not while he's pitching, of course.
• Christina Kahrl writes that the Pirates are counting on their stars coming off the disabled list to carry them to the playoffs.
• Jeff Passan breaks down the remaining schedules of all the playoff contenders. In short, the Dodgers should be very happy and the Yankees have the toughest route.
• Rob Neyer asks if the Cardinals need to change their closer. And if so, who?
• Howard Megdal writes about the baseball fandom of Mad Men star Jon Hamm. Yes, he's a Cardinals fan, but he does love the game.
• There was a report that the Diamondbacks have decided to retain manager Kirk Gibson for next season.
• Which Tony LaRussa immediately denied.
• But LaRussa does say that he'll make up his mind soon.
• Cuban free agent Rusney Castillo will make up his mind which team he'll play for soon. The Cubs are out of the running. Unless they're the favorite. It depends on who you talk to.
• Jayson Stark asks what would Ken Griffey Jr.'s career would have been like if he had stayed healthy.
• Nate McLouth is out for the rest of the season.
• As is Twins prospect Byron Buxton. Buxton could play in the Arizona Fall League if he recovers from his concussion in time.
• Astros prospect Mark Appel has pitched better since getting out of Lancaster. But he's frustrated by the pitch count limits the Astros place on him.
• Gabe Kapler has some thought on why some players get hit by pitches and others don't.
• Rays manager Joe Maddon was upset that most of the fans at Tropicana Field were cheering for Derek Jeter and the Yankees.
• Mike Bauman thinks that Maddon is right to be angry.
• Craig Calcaterra doesn't think we need any new rules to speed up the game. Just enforce the rules that are already on the books.
• A look at bats with an axe handle, which at least one study shows would increase bat speed and reduce injuries. (h/t Hardball Talk)
• And finally, this Little League coaches' touching speech to his team in defeat has gone viral.

And tomorrow will be a better day than today, Buster.