Heavyweight Battles 

By: Mike Rifkin

It’s April and early in the Baseball season, but the schedule makers gave us a great week of Baseball. Three series stand out above the rest this week. In the American League, the Blue Jays travel to Houston to play the defending World Series Champs, Houston Astros, in what could be an ALCS Preview. In the National League, these two series could be NLCS Previews; the Mets travel to Los Angeles to play the Dodgers, and the Braves travel to San Diego to play the Padres. 

The Blue Jays are coming off winning two of three from the Rays. The Blue Jays are currently third with a .277 batting average, led by Matt Chapman and Vladimir Guerrero Jr., currently the top two hitters in the American League. Blue Jays starting pitching outside of Kevin Gausman has been underwhelming. Gausman, who the Astros will see Monday night, is 2-0 with a 1.35 ERA. The Astros are off to a 7-9 start and just lost two of three to the Texas Rangers. Kyle Tucker and Yordan Alvarez have been great offensively, but the rest of the lineup has struggled. Two players in particular, Jose Abreu and Jeremy Pena, have struggled. Abreu, who signed a three-year contract in the offseason, has a slash line of .239/.282/.269 and doesn’t have a home run yet. The ALCS and World Series MVP, Pena, has a slash line of .227/.301/.409. They will also need Alex Bregman to hit better than .194, especially with Jose Altuve out. 

Pitching Matchups : 

Monday: Kevin Gausman vs. Cristian Javier

  Tuesday: Chris Bassitt vs. Jose Urquidy 

Wednesday: Jose Berrios vs. Luis Garcia.

The Braves and Padres are meeting for the second time this season. The Padres took three of four from the Braves in Atlanta last weekend. The Padres outscored the Braves 25 to 14 in that series. The Padres are coming off losing three of four to the Brewers, while the Braves swept the Royals. Manny Machado was 7-19 (.368) in the four-game series in Atlanta, with two doubles and four runs scored. Ha-Seong Kim and Jake Cronenworth each had a home run in the series. The Padres so far are hitting .231, which is 26th in Baseball. The same cannot be said for the Braves’ offense, tied for fifth in average hitting.274. Matt Olson leads the team with five home runs. Ronald Acuna, Austin Riley, and Ozzie Albies have three homers each. Acuna has a slash line of .373/.455/.567. The Braves will get ace Max Fried back to start Monday. Fried, who injured his hamstring on Opening Day, has been excellent for the Braves since they acquired him from the Padres in the Justin Upton trade. 

Pitching Matchups :

 Monday Max Fried vs. Ryan Weathers

 Tuesday: Spencer Strider vs. Blake Snell

Wednesday: Charlie Morton vs. Nick Martinez

Two of the top five payrolls in Baseball will share the field starting Monday in Los Angeles when the Mets play the Dodgers. The Mets just swept the Oakland Athletics, and the Dodgers are coming off, losing two of three to the Cubs. Neither team has gotten going offensively. The Dodgers are 25th in average, hitting .231, and the Mets are 28th, hitting .217 as a team. Both teams are middle of the pack with their pitching. The Dodgers are second in Baseball with 27 home runs. Max Muncy leads them with six. Freddie Freeman has a .302 average with 28 home runs and 112 RBI in his career against the Mets. Pete Alonso has seven home runs and 16 RBI against the Dodgers for the Mets; Starling Marte had three home runs in the seven meetings last season, while Francisco Lindor hit .348 in those games. 

Pitching Matchups

Monday: David Peterson vs. Dustin May

Tuesday: Tylor Megill vs. Clayton Kershaw

Wednesday: Max Scherzer vs. Noah Syndergaard

Six outstanding teams in these three series, all of which could be an October preview. Sit back and enjoy the Baseball.