More Murakami

As I’m writing this lead in I just watched Munetaka Murakami hit another absolute mammo-tank, so he gets the thumbnail. Let’s get into it.

It finally happened! The Curse of Mamdani has ended!

The unlikeliest of heroes, Mark Vientos delivered a fisted single in the 8th Inning that scored Brett Baty and the Mets finally snap their 12 game losing streak

Let’s just say Vientos needed this to prevent a possible mutiny by Mets fans after pulling this move:

The Mets finally put together a complete game, with Clay Holmes going 7 strong (2 ER, only 5 HA) and the bullpen putting up a pair of 0’s en route to a win.

You can tell it meant a lot to the people of NYC

The Mets have to build on this immediately if they want to sneak back into a playoff race.

Oneil Cruz got his revenge on Wednesday night. After Evan Carter stole Cruz’s go ahead home run on Tuesday, he the Pirates’ breakout star made sure to put this one where nobody could get it

Pirates starter Braxton Ashcraft didn’t factor into the decision, but he went 7 IP, 2 ER, with 5K’s and only allowed 4 hits. He now has a 2.43 ERA on the year and Pirates have likely found another piece to a potential 3 man playoff rotation.

Here’s one I bet you haven’t seen before

And that shit is somehow a single??? Bullshit. Justice for Gilbert.

But I’m sure he’s not too pressed as the M’s went on to win on a Josh Naylor walk off single

The Mariners are maybe starting to crawl back into the AL West race, and if they’re going to do that, they very much need Naylor to continue rounding into form (.346 BA L7) and of course have Raleigh continue to do this:

Now the owners of the longest losing streak in the Bigs at 8, the Phillies are scuffling in a MAJOR way.

How they continue to give Taijuan Walker (9.13 ERA) serious workload is beyond me, as he surrendered 5 runs and really never game the Phils a chance in this one

The Cubs had a couple nice surprises today, with Matt Boyd returning and pushing to 4.2 IP, Michael Busch got his first HR of the season, and as captured above Seiya Suzuki is heating up off of his IL stint to open the season

Elsewhere in AL West daytime action the Astros stole another game from the Guards to win the series.

And Yordan Alvarez continues to make his mark on the AL MVP race

Peter Lambert was masterful in this one, throwing 6 shutout innings with 8 strikeouts, before handing it off to the bullpen for 3 more shutout innings to blank the Guardians

The wagon has replaced it’s wheel and the Braves are looking as menacing as ever.

They got Michael Harris back from the paternity list and he’s putting forward a real good case to dad strength being a thing

The Nationals continue to be one of the most polarizing teams in baseball especially when you read about stats like this one:

The official Mike Trout-stan newsletter regrets to inform the haters that he has done it again

OH — and Jose Soriano threw 5 more Shut out innings bringing his season ERA down to 0.24 !!!!!!!

Angels only 1 game back in the West

Finally these POSERS get what is coming to them, as Cincy get it shoved up their behinds by former Red-leg Nick Martinez. He went 8 Innings, 1 Earned, with 6 K’s and got the Rays a comfortable victory they needed to keep up with the Yankees

Speaking of the Yankees, just another ho-hum victory over the Red Sox. They will go for the sweep tomorrow.

On Wednesday night Max Fried carved up Boston, going 8 shut out innings with 9 punchies

But this really wasn’t the worst thing to happen to the Sox somehow. The real mf of it all was the revelation they are selling YANKEES merch in the team store?!?!?! WHY???

I simply refuse to believe this isn’t AI. Can’t make me

THE GIANTS DID IT AGAIN

And they spoiled this MASTERCLASS by Shoehi Ohtani

And how they did it? Well of course the worst hitting catcher in the sport Patrick Bailey of course

Speaking of those who can’t hit, when is it time to hit the panic button on Kyle Tucker? He’s now down to .233 with a .676 OPS after another 0-4 outing on Wednesday

This isn’t another “bash the Royals” post, I promise. In fact I’ll compliment Carter Jensen really quickly. He’s been IMMACULATE since sleeping through his alarm

But no, in fact this is praise for the Orioles, who haven’t gotten a ton of shine from me lately

They badly needed a bounce back from their horrendous series against the Guardians, and they took care of business against a bad Royals team and won the series on the road.

A big set against the Red Sox starts Friday.

Well, well, well, it appears “pitching chaos” did not work out for the Brew Crew on Wednesday

Piggy backer Chad Patrick got roughed up by Spencer Torkelson and Kevin McGonigle (.913 OPS)

It all came down to bases loaded in the 9th, with Brice Turang (.967 OPS) against Kenley Jansen (3rd All Time in Saves)

The ol’ vet still got it. Tigers 7-3 in L10 and now only a half game back in the Central

I’m sure this game happened but you can’t really prove it

Those sons of bitches just keep doing it. I love that the Rockies are an actual competitive baseball team in 2026. Especially at home where they are 7-5.

Tomoyuki Sugano went 5.2 IP 1 ER to lower his ERA further to 3.42 in one of the better bounce back stories in baseball this season

And Hunter Goodman hit his 6th BOMB of the year, continuing to prove himself as one of the best hitting catchers in baseball

As for Walker Buehler? 4 Earned on 8 Hits in only 2.2 IP to raise his ERA to 5.75… it’s not looking good for the guy… maybe Umps will start giving him those fringe strikes he so clearly deserves

Man I wanted the ChiSox to pull that off. They have essentially a two man lineup right now

Muni Murakami continues to morph into prime Adam Dunn:

and sneaky Colson Montgomery has been one of the more prolific power hitters in baseball since the 2025 All Start break

And to finish off this piece let us CELEBRATE for Ildemaro Vargas

I love when journeymen have breakout seasons deep into their careers. Makes for the best “Remembering Dudes” choices. And Lord knows you get to put your opponent into a pretzel with the V last name. IYKYK

Have a great day everybody