MLB Bullets is big in Japan

Yeah, the Indians won their 20th straight. We’ll get to that in a moment.

• Reports out of Japan are that ace pitcher/hitter Shohei Otani will make the move to MLB in 2018. The 23-year-old will cost himself a lot of money by coming to MLB before his 25th birthday, but he says he doesn’t care and he just wants to pitch in MLB.
• Jeff Passan explains what’s next for Otani. Unfortunately, the Cubs are still under the $300k limit on signing players until July 1.
• A look at Otani’s slider will tell you why teams covet him. Unfortunately, if he isn’t going to sign with the team that offers him the most money, that probably means he’s going to the Yankees, Red Sox or Dodgers. Of course, if he signed with the team that would offer him the most money, that probably means he’d sign with the Yankees, Red Sox or Dodgers. So either way. (The Dodgers are in the penalty box too, actually.)
• The other big news that broke last night was that the Athletics have picked a site for their new stadium. Assuming they can get everything done (and part of a community college has to be moved), the park would open in 2023. Let’s hope this gets built.
• Now the Indians. Jay Jaffe looks compares the Indians win streak to the other longest winning streaks in baseball history.
• Grant Brisbee explains how the development of Jose Ramirez epitomizes the Indians.
• Michael Hattery explains how the Indians integrate analytics into player development. You can’t just tell a player to increase their WAR.
• It’s not all good news for the Indians as outfielder Bradley Zimmer is out for the season with a broken hand.
• Jeff Passan looks at what went into both the Indians winning streak and the Dodgers losing streak.
• The Dodgers ended their losing streak last night, albeit not without a ninth-inning scare. But first, they had to lose an 11th-straight game on Monday night in San Francisco that went until 2:11 in the morning.
• Neil Paine warns that historically, hot and cold streaks in September have no correlation to postseason success. That goes for both the Indians and Dodgers. Diamondbacks too, I’d guess.
• For example, Mike Lupica remembers the 2000 Yankees, who lost 15 of their final 18 regular-season games before winning the World Series. (And the Dodgers did at least clinch a Wild Card spot yesterday.)
• However, beyond just the losing, Dave Cameron argues that the Dodgers look “beyond terrible” at the moment with some significant flaws to fix before the playoffs start.
• Tom Verducci thinks he has identified the Dodgers “fatal flaw” that could doom them in the playoffs.
• Clayton Kershaw got the win last night, so his bad start the time before was likely just a bad start. But Sam Miller explains how to tell the difference if Kershaw just had a “bad night” and if there is really something wrong.
• Michael Baumann looks at how the Nationals suffered a ton of injuries to big stars and still won the NL East. Yeah, the Nats did some things to compensate for the injuries, but the best thing they did all season was to get MLB to allow them to stay in the NL East.
• Cliff Corcoran writes that the Twins’ 2017 turnaround is no illusion.
• Jerry Crasnick writes about how the Diamondbacks turnaround in 2017 was fueled by an infusion of front office talent from Boston. Where have I heard that before?
• MLB released the 2018 schedule and David Schoenfield has what you need to know.
• Dayn Perry has one schedule “quirk” for each team.
• The A’s will have one game next season with free admission to celebrate their 50th anniversary in Oakland.
• Dave Cameron believes that the A’s have found another “building block” for a future contender in first baseman Matt Olson.
• A pitch clock is likely coming to MLB next season, but the commissioner and the player’s union are trying to work out a compromise before that happens. As I’ve said before, I was against a pitch clock until I saw it in practice in minor league parks. You don’t even notice it after a couple games. (Please, broadcasters. Don’t put the pitch clock up on the screen.)
• Unheralded by almost everyone, Jacoby Ellsbury broke Pete Rose’s all-time career record—for reaching base on catcher’s interference. I’m waiting for the ESPN 30 for 30 on the chase.
• Craig Edwards makes the case for Charlie Blackmon for National League MVP.
• Buster Olney explains why sluggers may find the free agent market tough this winter.
• Neil Paine laments how injuries derailed David Wright’s Hall-of-Fame career. It’s hard for me to like a Mets player, but I always admired the way Wright played and I find his current state a shame as well.
• Angels pitcher Alex Meyer will have labrum surgery. He’ll probably miss all of 2018.
• Mariners outfielder Jarrod Dyson is out for the year with hernia surgery.
• Tigers pitcher Michael Fulmer will undergo ulnar transposition surgery. The hope is he’ll be ready for Opening Day.
• Orioles catcher Welington Castillo, for the second time this season, was hospitalized after taking a foul ball in the groin. No Homer Simpson jokes here. Get well, Beef.
• Ever wonder where the infield dirt comes from? Elizabeth Bloom explains why it all comes from Pennsylvania.
• I know Albert Pujols isn’t popular around here, but I’ll give him and his wife Deidre Pujols a round of applause for their work in fighting slavery and human trafficking.
• And finally, former Cub Darwin Barney hit a triple for the Blue Jays on Monday, even though he had to . . .well, I guess you could call it “crawl” into third base. Swim? Flop? If someone has a better word for what Barney did, I’m open to hearing it.

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