Greetings baseball fans. It certainly seems like there’s no joy in Mudville nowadays. But I’ll get to that later. First, about the top players.

Brian Dozier of the Minnesota Twins who as B says is 41st and is one of the second basemen in the MLB and had 34 HRs and 94 RBIs and 16 SBs in his age 30 season. It’s not like anyone to make an age 30 season into a career year. He is one of the elite stars that doesn’t shine as much as the best of the best do, if you think about it. Dozier only averages about 32 dingers a year, but what makes him elite is that he is good in delivering a day-for-a-lifetime for The Twins and then go 2 for 4 with 2 RBI the next day. No matter how he does it, he always finds a way to polish up his beautiful golden statue by producing for The Twins.

Kyle Seager of the Seattle Mariners is the older brother of Corey Seager who should have some really good baseball genes from the family and I think even though Kyle Seager is aging and can get into slumps and can get into big streaks with his homers and moderate hits to all fields, dazzle the crowd with his occasional burst of speed and the occasional snags he puts up on the hot corner, he is an All Star caliber player. However, he is a big fix-it-up job especially when the Seattle Mariners are merely fighting for a play-off spot (They kind of really don’t have a chance, but who knows, it’s baseball). He was ranked perfectly in The Top 100 Players.

At 43^rd place is Tampa Bay Rays centerfielder Kevin Kiermaier, who is one of the more powerful centerfielders (all-round wise) in the game and is one of the more all-out kind of guys who jumps for balls that no one else would (except Kevin Pillar). Kiermaier could still steal a moderate amount of bases and was 15th among centerfielders in HRs and SBs, could get triples (he got 3 last year) and still hits to all fields and only is 27, which is MVP class but there are better players than him in the AL, he should definitely switch with Lorenzo Cain for 37th.

Next is Jacob DeGrom of The Mets, he could have a complete game, one-hitter or go 5 innings allowing 9 runs and 17 hits. This guy is Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde when it comes to his pitching. His 3.53 ERA, which is right smack in the middle, 15 wins which is way above average and 31 games started which is also right smack in the middle. The stats that he posted in 2017 are one of the best among 4-year players like him. The mere thought of him winning the Rookie of the Year dazzles my mind when there was a half-decent class of first years in there with Billy Hamilton, Kolten Wong and Ken Giles, he is a MVP, Cy Young, All-Star caliber player, which only a few pitchers ever qualified for those three words in the same sentence about them. He might even start being in the same thought as Pedro Martinez and Nolan Ryan.

Marcell Ozuna of the St. Louis Cardinals is one of those players where you have a couple of decent years at your team, then have a huge break out season like he had in Miami last year with .312 average, 37 HRs and 124 RBIs, all three of them being career-highs and he got to be an All Star, Golden Glove and Silver Slugger all in the same year. Then he gets traded to the Cardinals with a 1-year $9 million contract, which doesn’t sound promising and even less promising looking at what the Cardinals outfield looks like this year. He deserves his spot well and let’s see what kind of a show he brings on this season when he’s already slugged two this year.

And now to Mudville. 

The Mets are in a slump – no doubt about it. Like all great streaks, this one had to end someday and all people knew that this one would end too. But hopefully they’ll bounce back against the Braves on 4/19 and Asdrubal Cabrera will continue to feast on pitchers. He’s fourth in the NL in batting average. Yoenis Cespedes is also in a slump, getting only whiffs as the pitchers start their grand festivity by feasting on him a lot. But, as always, the Mets will return to grandness because of their elite pitching (and some hitting in there too). I think it’s nice what the Indians and Twins are doing in Puerto Rico, playing a 3-game series and I think it’s fairytale-like that Frisco’s Lindor homered in his hometown. The A’s gave away free tickets on Wednesday, 4/17; so, the way to get the free tickets is that you have to sign up on a form online, you get free tickets including parking for that Wednesday, and they routed by the White Sox 10:2 which I think is good, I mean, you get free tickets and then you see your favorite team lose. That’s just sad. So the A’s tried extra hard to win and they did. Also, the Cardinals just called up what I think is the strongest guy in baseball, Tyler O’Neil, and, I mean, check this guy out, he’s ripped, I mean, his father was a bodybuilder too, so, that’s no surprise that he should be one too. Also, this just in earlier today, the Braves signed Jose Bautista to a minor-league contract to play the hot-corner (third base). Eric Thames, I thought he cooled down after his breakout season last year, but no, hit two 2-run homers two days straight to beat the struggling Reds, WOW, this guy keeps on amazing. The Blue Jays are also off to a hot start, sweeping the Royals in a three-game series that’s good. Clayton Kershaw is not being Clayton Kershaw, well, I mean, the Dodgers aren’t being the Dodgers either – they’re in a bigger slump than the Mets, sheesh, hopefully, their bats and cannons can pick it up a little. On 4/18, Dixon Machado and the Tigers walked-off the O’s at Comerica today. The two weird things about it is that Machado doesn’t have that much power, mostly speed and fielding, but hey, everyone has a breakout season. The second weird thing is that Jose Iglesias was kicking off the celebration with his feet, if you watch the video you’ll see. Also, today I heard talks that maybe Aaron Boone will drop Giancarlo Stanton down in the order because of his Big-Apple slump (Copyright, Trademark Yulian Avhustyn).

Well, baseball fans, I will have to say one more thing to you before I leave – Watch your shirt, the mustard might drip, so where was I, oh right, your challenge for today, if you want to do it, there weren’t any of you who did the challenge last time, so, Take 2, what is the fastest player in all the divisions. Also, do you like Big-Apple Bad Time or The City That Never Sleeps Slump for Giancarlo Stanton and Yoenis Cespedes’ down-hill slides?