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Shōta Imanaga & Co. made history. Plus: Ken empties the notebook, we consider a potential step toward a safer game and the NL and AL are yin and yang right now. I’m Levi Weaver, here with Ken Rosenthal — welcome to The Windup!
History: Imanaga and Cubs bullpen throw no-hitter
Want to hear something weird? In 1972, the Cubs saw two different pitchers (Burt Hooton and Milt Pappas) throw no-hitters at Wrigley Field. In the nearly 51 seasons since, they hadn’t had another one at home — despite adding five overall. Until last night.
Shōta Imanaga continued his brilliant rookie season by pitching the first seven hitless innings in a 12-0 win over the Pirates. Nate Pearson and Porter Hodge closed it out.
It was the 18th no-hitter in Cubs history. It was also the second — and second consecutive — on the Cubs’ list to be a combined no-hitter, a trend that has only increased in recent years as teams are more careful with their starters’ workloads.
Imanaga’s 95 pitches were the eighth-most in his 26 starts this year, though the pitch count wasn’t entirely his fault. He walked just two, and third baseman Isaac Paredes committed three errors.
The inclusion of the bullpen led to what could become a tricky trivia answer: Who finished Imanaga’s no-hitter in 2024? The answer (Hodge) came in the form of a 23-year-old rookie with just 35 big-league innings under his belt.
It was certainly not a let-up on the part of Cubs manager Craig Counsell, though — Hodge is 3-1 with a 1.80 ERA in 32 games, striking out 45 and walking 15.
The win also staved off a sweep by the Pirates as the Cubs desperately cling to hope for the NL wild card. Below, we’ll take a look at those standings.
Ken’s Notebook: Briefs on Tucker, Wheeler, Turner, Atlanta and Boston
First, more on this later at The Athletic: The Giants and Matt Chapman agreed to a six-year, $151 million extension.
Now to empty out the notebook:
Kyle Tucker: On the FS1 pregame show Wednesday night, host Chris Myers asked me which returning injured player I thought would make the biggest impact. My answer was Astros right fielder Tucker, who has missed nearly three months with a fractured right shin, as The Athletic’s Chandler Rome reported on Monday.
Tucker was brilliant in 2023, tying for fifth in the AL in extra-base hits, finishing seventh in the AL in fWAR and leading the league with 112 RBIs. Here’s an amazing stat about the Astros’ season: Houston was 27-34 before Tucker was injured, and is 48-30 since.
Zack Wheeler‘s three-year, $126 million extension — covering his ages 35, 36 and 37 campaigns — doesn’t begin until next season. The Phillies, though, are not worried about his durability. He ranks seventh in the majors in starts since 2018.
The Phillies know he is too competitive to get complacent, and also know he already has shown an ability to evolve. He added a split-fingered fastball this season and a sweeper in 2023.
Trea Turner missed 6 1/2 weeks with a strained left hamstring early in Philly’s season, but Turner provided ample proof that he was back to full strength last Thursday night, legging out a fielder’s choice in the fifth inning.
His sprint speed on that play was his fastest of the year, and ahead of Bobby Witt Jr.’s fastest. “If you’re telling me I’m running as fast as a 22-year-old, I’m happy.” Actually, Witt is 24, but Turner is 31. And still going strong.
Braves rotation: If they reach the postseason, their rotation could be in far better shape than it was the past two seasons, and perhaps even better than it was when they won the World Series in 2021.
That year, the Braves went with a bullpen game in Game 4 of the NLCS and Games 4 and 5 of the World Series. In 2022, Spencer Strider was coming off a strained left oblique. Last season, Max Fried was coming off a blister. The Braves’ top five starters routinely pitch on five or more days rest. The hope is that it will serve them well.
Boston‘s third straight late-season collapse continued Wednesday night against the Mets. The Sox dropped their fifth straight, making it 18 losses in their last 27 games.
They were 61-52 at the start of this stretch, 2 1/2 games back in the wild-card race; they are now 5 1/2 back. In 2023, they were 69-61 before finishing 9-23. In ‘22, they were 54-54 before finishing 24-30.
Batter safety: Is this the solution?
In the links section yesterday, we told you about Whit Merrifield’s angry postgame quotes on the topic of pitchers throwing too many pitches up and in. He had a right — he had been hit in the head with a 95 mph fastball. Here’s the section that caught my attention:
“The way pitchers are throwing now, there’s no regard for throwing up and in. The guys are throwing as hard as they can, they don’t care where the ball goes. And it’s just … it’s bulls—-.”
Merrifield’s primary concern is the safety of hitters, and rightfully so. We’ve seen what feels like an inordinate number of players suffer broken hands and wrists this year. Just yesterday, Bryce Harper left the Phillies game after being hit in the left elbow, if you need another recent example.
But intentionally or not, Merrifield and the rules committee might be stumbling onto a way for the sport to begin addressing the epidemic of arm injuries in pitchers.
Thus far, the game has done little to convince pitchers to prioritize command over velo and spin. What’s the occasional walk if everyone else is striking out? But after a meeting on Wednesday, Merrified (who is part of the rules committee) stated with a fairly high degree of confidence that the league will be addressing the issue.
It sounds like the consideration is to penalize pitchers for the offending pitches, whether by ejections or fines, much like the NFL did when it needed to address player safety surrounding certain types of tackling techniques.
In a vacuum, it hardly seems fair that an accidental up-and-in fastball should cost a player a portion of his paycheck. But if it’s a step — and it would only be a step, with nobody suggesting this is the big fix — toward reducing the number of injuries … maybe it’s the right move?
Standings Watch: NL good, AL bad in wild-card race
What on Earth is going on? You can go check out the wild-card standings yourself, but here’s a quick summary: Nearly all the AL contenders are fading hard, while nearly all the NL contenders are surging (and we’re even being generous with the word “contender”).
- In the AL wild-card standings, every team from New York (first wild-card position) to Tampa Bay (six games back) has a losing record in their last 10 games, except for one: the Tigers (6-4, 5 1/2 games back, and they’ve lost two straight). That’s six(ish) teams in some manner of slump.
- Three of them — the Royals and Twins, plus the Sox, as Ken noted — are 3-7 in their last 10. The latter two are still in playoff positions, but it’s not like they’re looking great going into the final weeks of the season.
- Meanwhile, in the NL, every team from San Diego (first wild-card position) to St. Louis (5 1/2 games back) has a winning record in their last 10 games, except (weirdly) the previously red-hot Diamondbacks (5-5) That’s six teams who are clawing to maintain some October hope.
- The biggest winners? The red-hot Mets (8-2, 1/2 game out), but the Cubs (7-3, 4 1/2 games back) are trying their best to keep pace.
These things can turn on a dime, but with so many teams still within a wish’s breadth of a playoff spot, the wins and losses matter. It’s shaping up to be a fun next four weeks.
Handshakes and High Fives
Yoshinobu Yamamoto hasn’t pitched since June 15. It looks like he’ll return to the Dodgers rotation on Sept. 10. They could use him.
You know Emmanuel Clase. The Guardians closer is probably the best reliever in the game. But the three rookies setting him up? They’ve also been very impressive — and unexpected. Zack Meisel introduces you to the trio.
Yesterday we told you about the Yankees’ Clay Holmes problem and offered potential replacements. Two names I hadn’t considered: Clarke Schmidt and Luis Gil.
Jim Bowden takes a look at the biggest concerns and one X-Factor player for each of the NL contenders.
Two first pitches, both amazing for completely different reasons. In Texas, it gold medalist Hezly Rivera performed a side aerial before delivering a strike. And in Atlanta, look at Ludacris’ ridiculous prosthetic arms! He threw the pitch wearing these!
It’s #LudaNight in ATL 💪#GetBack pic.twitter.com/XMyA7F5srm
— The Athletic MLB (@TheAthleticMLB) September 5, 2024
On The Windup podcast: Grant, Andy and Sam Miller try to put into words how bad the White Sox are, and share their picks for best September storylines.
Most-clicked in yesterday’s newsletter: Eno Sarris’ look at pitchers who have undergone changes since changing teams at the trade deadline.
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(Top photo: Kamil Krzaczynski / USA Today)
