Posey, Gray could be league leaders
With the Giants seemingly joining the A’s in a season unfulfilled, let’s look at what’s left, the story lines worth watching a year after both teams won 88 games and earned playoff berths. Posey’s push: Bryce Harper is on an MVP mission, and Dee Gordon legs out infield hits whenever he pleases. As left-handed hitters, they would seem to have an advantage in the National League batting race over Buster Posey, who plays a more grueling position. But Posey is the only candidate among the top three hitters who has shown he has what it takes to win a batting title, having done so in 2012 at .336 amid the fall of Melky Cabrera. Plus, Posey is hot — .467 in his past 13 games after hitting .159 in his previous 12. He could become the second player in the history of the franchise to win multiple titles, joining Barry Bonds. Duffy’s drive: Matt Duffy could be the only NL rookie with a .300 average and 70 RBIs, but the Cubs’ Kris Bryant is favored to win the rookie award (.271, 24 homers, 91 RBIs) even though he has twice as many strikeouts as Duffy in fewer at-bats. What a deep rookie class: the Giants’ Chris Heston, Pittsburgh’s Jung Ho Kang, Philadelphia’s Odubel Herrera and Maikel Franco, St. Louis’ Randal Grichuk, New York’s Noah Syndergaard, Milwaukee’s Taylor Jungmann and Bryant’s teammates Addison Russell and Kyle Schwarber. The Dodgers’ Joc Pederson, an early favorite, has shown tremendous flashes of power and defense, but he strikes out more than Bryant and has a batting average near Mario Mendoza’s career mark. Gray’s grind: Sonny Gray, second in American League ERA at 2.28, has as many as four starts remaining to challenge Houston’s Dallas Keuchel and Toronto’s David Price and become the A’s first Cy Young Award winner since Barry Zito in 2002. Unlike Gray, his competitors are key factors on first-place teams. The Astros are 11 games above .500 when Keuchel pitches but one game under .500 when he doesn’t, and Price is 6-1 since his trade from Detroit. Gray trails both in strikeouts per nine innings and strikeout-towalk ratio.
Burns’ bid: Houston shortstop Carlos Correa is the trendy choice for AL Rookie of the Year, but just being in the conversation is a tremendous accomplishment for Billy Burns, who took full advantage of Coco Crisp’s absence to give the A’s a valuable presence in center field and atop the order. He has far more at-bats than any other AL rookie, 158 more than Correa, who was called up in June. Burns tops all AL rookies in steals and is among the leaders in batting average. Correa has 18 homers and plays shortstop as if he were Derek Jeter. Others in the conversation: Minnesota’s Miguel Sano, Cleveland’s Francisco Lindor, Toronto’s Roberto Osuna and Texas’ Delino DeShields. Donaldson’s destiny: Josh Donaldson has a better WAR than the man o’ WAR himself, Mike Trout. And a better batting average and slugging percentage. And more homers, doubles, RBIs and runs. And fewer strikeouts. Until further notice, case closed. That Donaldson had three years of team control remaining in Oakland is what continues to bite A’s fans. From the Blue Jays, the A’s received Brett Lawrie, Kendall Graveman, Sean Nolin and Franklin Barreto. But Donaldson is a superstar and MVP in waiting. Céspedes’ ceiling: In Oakland, he played like Superman. In Metropolis, he just might be Superman. Yoenis Céspedes, a Met for a month and a half following his trade from Detroit, has played so well that he made himself an NL MVP candidate. No one ever won an MVP in a year he was traded or, among position players, with fewer than 100 games played in a league. Céspedes won’t reach 60 as a Met. Just as MVP talk gained momentum, the sinking Nationals sent national baseball writers a reminder of all the categories Harper dominates. Let it be told, Céspedes is most responsible for burying Harper’s Nationals. Rotation’s restoration: At this time last year, Giants scouts monitored possible playoff foes. Now they can monitor free-agent pitchers to beef up next season’s rotation. It’s an ample list of candidates. But if we are to learn from last winter’s pursuit of Jon Lester, they’d like a left-hander to accompany Madison Bumgarner and, if re-signed, Mike Leake. Hello, Mr. Price. If the Giants balk at investing $200 million for someone used every fifth day, the consolation prize could be Scott Kazmir, who has a 2.63 ERA and would be an upgrade though he isn’t considered in elite company with Price, Johnny Cueto, Jordan Zimmermann, Jeff Samardzija and, if he opts out of his contract, Zack Greinke. A BumgarnerLeake-Kazmir threesome would be better than sticking with the status quo, which was iffy this year. Streak’s susceptibility: The Giants have announced 395 consecutive sellouts, baseball’s longest active streak. Might it end during the final 14 home games? The Giants say they expect sellouts the rest of the way, meaning the streak would carry into next season. Even if we see more empty seats, especially in the upper corners. Virtual sellouts count and satisfy the sellout criteria. It’s about tickets distributed (including complimentary seats), not tickets sold or actual attendance. Regardless, the Giants hold the league record and are a long way from Boston’s bigleague record of 820, which ended in 2013. Milestone’s march: For the Giants, Bumgarner is two wins from 20, Brandon Crawford one homer from 20 (he wouldn’t mind hitting .250 or higher for the first time) and Duffy three percentage points from .300. For the A’s, Gray is 61⁄3 innings from 200, Burns three percentage points from .300 and Crisp one career steal from 300.