Daily Briefing: May 5, 2021

Revenge Tour [READ IN BROWSER]( By Jeffrey Bellone - May 5, 2021 🟢 REVENGE TOUR In front of 10,850 cursing and booing fans (many holding trashcan-themed signs), the Houston Astros got a taste of how much their cheating scandal angered Yankees fans. Only five players remain on the roster from the 2017 Astros team that Major League Baseball found to have illegally stolen signs, but that didn't stop Yankee Stadium from serenading them with what I will call, [carefully chosen words](. Jose Altuve, whose two-run, walk-off homer knocked the Yankees out of the playoffs in 2019 and who many fans feel "stole" the 2017 AL MVP Award from Aaron Judge, received the brunt of the heckling. He went hitless in four at-bats. As for the actual game, the Yankees won 7-3 and have now won nine of their last 12, lifting themselves back above .500 for the first time since early April. 🟢 NOT YOUR TYPICAL DODGERS A day after learning that young starter Dustin May was lost for the season to Tommy John surgery, the Dodgers had to feel good about their chances in their doubleheader against the Cubs with Clayton Kershaw and Trevor Bauer scheduled to pitch in the two games. However, Kershaw had his shortest outing of his career, allowing four runs before being pulled after the first inning, and Bauer lacked his usual command (four walks in 4.1 innings pitched), resulting in a twin-bill sweep that ended with a walk-off single by Cubs third baseman David Bote in the ninth inning of a seven-inning game (I guess we call that extra innings now). The Dodgers tied the game in the seventh inning on a home run by Max Muncy off Craig Kimbrel, who hadn't allowed a long ball since August 29 of last. year. Tied at one in the eighth inning, the Dodgers plated two more runs, only to have the Cubs respond with two of their own in the bottom of the frame. Finally, the game ended on Bote's clutch hit. After starting the season 13-2, the Dodgers have lost 12 of their past 17 games. Combined with May's injury, their recent slump has lowered their [odds to win the NL West]( from 65.2% on Opening Day to 58.7% today. ⚫️ WHAT ELSE HAPPENED? ▫️ Cincinnati Reds relievere Amir Garrett was [suspended seven games]( for "inciting" a benches-clearing incident on Saturday. The left-hander taunted Anthony Rizzo after striking him out in the eighth inning of that game. Cubs shortstop Javier Báez was also fined. ▫️ White Sox starter Dylan Cease had quite the night for the White Sox on Tuesday. He was dominant on the mound, taking a no-hitter into the fifth inning and striking out 11 Reds hitters. But he also contributed with his bat, collecting three hits. Pitching in a National League park, it was his [first time seeing live pitching since his senior year of high school]( in 2014. This newsletter is made possible due to the generous support of our members. If you are reading this email or use FanGraphs in your daily baseball routine, please consider supporting us. [BECOME A FANGRAPHS MEMBER]( YESTERDAY'S MOST PIVOTAL PLAY After winning the first game 12-4 (having scored ten runs in the first inning), the Giants appeared to be heading toward a doubleheader sweep of the Rockies, with a 6-2 lead in the final inning of the night cap (giving them a 98.1% win probability). However, Colorado rallied to score six runs in the bottom of the seventh, capped off by a three-run, walk-off homer by Charlie Blackmon. SCORES (HOME TEAMS IN CAPS) Giants 12 ROCKIES 4 (7/DH) ROCKIES 8 Giants 6 (7/DH) Rays 8 ANGELS 3 CUBS 7 Dodgers 1 (7/DH) CUBS 4 Dodgers 3 (9/DH) RED SOX 11 Tigers 7 Cleveland 7 ROYALS 3 White Sox 9 REDS 0 Rangers 6 TWINS 3 (10) ATHLETICS 4 Blue Jays 1 MARLINS 9 D-Backs 3 MARINERS 5 Orioles 2 Braves 6 NATIONALS 1 PHILLIES 6 Brewers 5 Pirates 2 PADRES 1 Track every game using our [LIVE SCOREBOARD](. The White Sox Just Lost Their Most Important Player by [Dan Szymborski]( Before the injury, ZiPS projected the White Sox with a five-game edge in the division — a comfortable advantage, but not one that represented dominance in the Central. Losing Robert changes things considerably, even projecting, as I do here, that he would come back in September at 100%. Expressing the division race in terms of probability change highlights just how big a deal this is for the Sox. [READ MORE ]( 📝 RECENTLY PUBLISHED [Semantics Aside, Rays Prospect Cole Wilcox Has a New Sinker]( by David Laurila [Changing the Role of Changing the Rules]( by Tess Taruskin [Front Office Conference Call Agendas: National League]( by Kevin Goldstein [Starting Pitcher SIERA Underperformers -- May 5, 2021]( by Mike Podhorzer [MLB DFS Pitching Analysis: May 4, 2021]( by Alex Sonty [I Simply Can't Get Enough of These Absurd Mets-Phillies Games]( by RJ McDaniel [Kris Bryant, High Ball Hitter]( by Ben Clemens [Dustin May's Breakthrough Cut Short by Tommy John Surgery]( by Jay Jaffe [Bullpen Report: May 5, 2021]( by Jon Becker [Roto Riteup: May, 5, 2021]( by Justin Mason 🔑 SITE TIP KBO DATA is again updating daily on FanGraphs! We expect that all data should be updated around 12 AM ET following the previous day’s games. In addition to bringing back KBO data for the 2021 season, we’ve also included a number of improvements for the 2020 and 2021 seasons thanks to our friends at Sports Info Solutions. Pitch types, velocity, Swinging Strikes (SwStr%), Swing%, Contact%, First pitch strikes (F-Strike%), Called Strikes (CStr%), and Called Strikes + Whiff Percentage (CSW%) are now available. This data is currently available on the [player pages]( and will be making its way to the [leaderboards]( soon. 🎧 FANGRAPHS PODCASTS [EFFECTIVELY WILD EPISODE 1689: Take Artists]( Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley banter about being fully vaccinated, injuries to Dustin May, Luis Robert, Jesús Luzardo, Jacob deGrom, Shohei Ohtani, and others around the league, grumbles about Tony La Russa’s managing, the Angels’ perplexing, persistent .500-ness, the Mets firing and hiring hitting coaches, and surprising pricing for players on Cameo, then follow up on the Dodgers’ shifting against righties, umpires declaring plays too close to call, and handing out flagrant fouls for hit by pitches before ending with Stat Blasts about the most consecutive taken pitches and the longest pitcher outings without a ball being put in play. 🎧 [The Sleeper and the Bust Episode: 924]( - Major Injuries Are the Worst 🎧 [Beat the Shift Podcast]( - Is It Too Early Episode w/ Ian Kahn ⚾️ ROSTER REPORT ACTIVATED FROM INJURED LIST - Diamondbacks RP Joakim Soria, Marlins 3B Brian Anderson, Padres SP Dinelson Lamet, Rays RP Collin McHugh, Nationals RP Will Harris, Nationals OF Juan Soto were all activated from the 10-Day IL. PLACED ON INJURED LIST - Cubs SP Jake Arrieta, Brewers OF Christian Yelich, Athletics C Aramis Garcia, Giants INF Tommy La Stella, Cardinals RP Jordan Hicks, Rays SP Michael Wacha, Rangers INF/OF Brock Holt were placed on the 10-Day IL. - Rangers C Sam Huff was transferred to the 60-Day IL. TRANSACTIONS - Angels OF Scott Schebler and Nationals INF/OF Hernán Pérez were designated for assignment. For the latest roster information, please visit our [RosterResource]( pages. [Semi-Normal Feels Fully Great On Opening Day]( by JJ Cooper, Baseball America ($): "Kannapolis' in-stadium organist interjected song snippets all night. If you were a fan attending your first game or your 500th, there were many of the marks of what makes minor league baseball a draw around the country. “It’s a mark of return to normalcy for everybody,” Millward said. It wasn’t entirely normal. But after 20 months of waiting, semi-normal felt even better than normalcy did two years ago. Anyone who loves minor league baseball has now experienced life without it, which made Opening Day all the sweeter." [Michael Brantley Has Some New Tricks]( by Matt Wallach: Pitcher List: "Sweet-spot rate isn’t a perfect stat, as the quality of contact is left out of the equation, but it certainly is not a bad thing to be towards the top of this leaderboard, and generally, the hitters at the top so far this year are off to good starts. Essentially, this is just a fancier way of saying that Brantley is hitting the ball a lot more optimally. More line drives and more balls in the sweet spot usually equals good results. It’s shocking, I know. But, we can see that is the case for Brantley, as he is getting better results overall on line drives than he normally would in a full season." 📚 MORE READS: [How is the Mets’ Jacob deGrom throwing this hard and still getting better? ‘I’ve never seen anything like it]( by Tim Britton, The Athletic ($) [Dylan Cease is making the right adjustments]( by Brian Menendez, Beyond the Box Score [The 10 Most Interesting Kris Bryant Trade Destinations]( by Michael Baumann, The Ringer [@fangraphs]( [FanGraphs]( [FanGraphs]( [RSS]( [FORWARD]( [SUBSCRIBE]( Copyright © 2021 FanGraphs Inc, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you subscribed to the FanGraphs Newsletter. Our mailing address is: FanGraphs Inc 1200 N Hartford St. Apt 312Arlington, Va 22201 [Add us to your address book]( Want to change how you receive these emails? You can [update your preferences]( or [unsubscribe from this list](