@^F.r.e.e^@ Astros vs Mariners Live Stream Reddit MLB 2020 Online Free Baseball

Astros vs Mariners Live Stream: The Astros are pretty much locked into the No. 6 seed as the second-place team in the AL West — although as they stumble along at 25-26, they’ve been unable to completely shake a bad Mariners team, which is only three games behind. As of now, the Astros will face the A’s, who dominated the season series 7-3 while limiting the Astros to 25 runs in the 10 games.

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MLB’s 2020 regular season is about to enter the final week. While the crescendo of the playoffs is still ahead of us, this occasions an opportunity to look back upon said regular season and highlight some notable surprises. The toppling of expectations isn’t always a welcome thing, depending upon your rooting interests, but it’s always a compelling thing.

With that in mind, let’s take a look at the five things that surprised the most about this strange and harried regular season — one that spanned just 60 games — that’s drawing to a close.Thanks to the trundling negotiating pace on the part of ownership and what appeared to be some bad-faith tactics by those same actors, it seemed for a while that the 2020 season might never get underway.

Obviously, it remains to be seen whether 16 teams can make it through the postseason as most of them wander outside their regional slates. That we made it this far, though, is a pleasant surprise. That’s thanks in part to the safety protocols agreed upon, and it’s also thanks to the players, who by and large acted responsibly and collaboratively throughout the entire uncertain process. The Giants last season lost 85 games and finished in third place in the NL West in Bruce Bochy’s final season.

The expectation was that 2020 would be a transition year for the rebuilding franchise and perhaps seem them fall deeper into the standings. The free agent departure of ace Madison Bumgarner and the opt-out of franchise legend catcher Buster Posey further lowered expectations, and the Giants became a near-consensus pick for last place in the division. The Giants, however, have methodically defied those forecasts. Right now, the Giants are near .500 despite having played one of the toughest schedules in all of MLB, and they’re very much in the mix for one of the last two playoff spots in the NL.

As for the Blue Jays, they lost a whopping 95 games a season ago, yet at this writing they’re .500 and in playoff position despite not getting all that much from phenom Vladimir Guerrero Jr. The young talent base is impressive, yes, but they’ve arrived ahead of schedule. Sure, it’s thanks in part to the fact that the AL isn’t all that competitive after the top eight, but the Jays prior to Saturday’s loss to the Phillies were better than 90 percent to make the postseason according to the SportsLine Projection Model (@SportsLine on Twitter). They’ll almost certainly make it.

All of that, though, doesn’t compare to the shock of the 2020 Marlins. A season ago, they lost 105 games, but at this writing they’ve improved their win percentage from .352 to .529. At three games above .500, they’re solid bets to return to the playoffs for the first time since 2003 and for just the third time in franchise history. Unlike, say, the Padres, White Sox, and Blue Jays, this time a year ago the Marlins’ rebuilding process didn’t seem to be going all that well. In 2020, however, a number of young Miami arms appear to have leveled up in a big way.

That didn’t happen, though, and against all expectations even the Cardinals — who didn’t play a game from July 30 through Aug. 14 because of their outbreak — are poised to play all 60 of their scheduled contests, depending on how a postponed doubleheader against the Tigers is rescheduled.

To be sure, none of this would be possible without the expanded 16-team playoff field, but even free of that context San Fran, Toronto, and Miami would stand as pleasant surprises in 2020. Last World Series, the Nats prevailed over the Astros in a taut seven games, and in related matters these two teams combined for 200 wins during the 2019 regular season.

This season, though, baseball events have been less kind to the reigning AL and NL champs. The Nationals at this writing are 12 games below .500 and in last place in the NL East. The Astros are .500 and in playoff position, but bear in mind this team won a combined 311 games from 2017-19. They’ll be heavy underdogs in the AL bracket. That’s a swift decline for both squads, and it runs directly counter to what we all thought would happen.

Each has been stung by a notable free agent loss (Anthony Rendon for the Nats, Gerrit Cole for the Astros), and each has endured significant injuries this season. Even in that context, though, the results have been unexpected. In terms of winning percentage decline, the Nats look like the worst defending champs since 1998 Marlins, who cut the roster to ribbons as a cost-saving measure. To Washington’s credit, the club aimed to contend in 2020; the Nats just did a poor job of it.

As for Houston, owner Jim Crane, despite years of wild profitability, didn’t invest in the roster at levels befitting a World Series contender. So here they are, costumed in disappointment instead of another set of rings. Yankees first baseman/short yardage back Luke Voit has in 2020 racked up 20 whomping smackers, which is what we’re calling home runs in this particular sentence. That tally is notable because it presently leads the majors by a relatively cavernous margin. That tally is also notable because it puts the Rear Admiral of Thunderburgers within punching distance of history.

The 2020 regular season, as you’re grimly aware, will span just 60 games, which means the usual record books are not welcome here. As noted within these World Wide Web pages before the season began, Matt Olson of the A’s with 24 holds the record for home runs in a season by a player playing no more than 60 games. At this writing, Voit’s Yankees have 10 regular season games left to play.

Hitting four or more homers in just 10 games, which is what Voit needs to do in order to power-bomb history onto a nearby glass coffee table, would seem to be an onerous task, but note that our hero has reached such heights on two occasions this season. From Aug. 17 through Aug. 20, Voit homered five times in just four games. At this very moment, he’s homered six times in his last six games. October Madness is just about upon us. In a virus-shortened Major League Baseball season in which more than half the teams make the playoffs, at least one is likely to have a losing record.

It wouldn’t be the first time. In 1981, the Kansas City Royals made the playoffs with a 50-53 record. A player strike had interrupted the summer, and baseball celebrated its return by splitting the season in two. The Royals finished fifth in their division in the first half, then first in the second half, good enough for a ticket to October.

The split season was a gimmick, just like this season’s 60-game schedule and 16-team playoff field, a way to make the best of a bad situation. Few took the gimmick seriously, let alone considered it a sign of progress and innovation. It was strictly minor league.

In 2020, though, commissioner Rob Manfred considers an expanded playoff field a sign of progress and innovation.Major League Baseball is coming down the home stretch of the abbreviated 2020 season, and teams are starting to secure their spot in the playoffs. We will see an expanded field this year, with 16 teams instead of the usual ten. In each league, the playoff fields will consist of the three division winners, the three second place teams, and the two teams with the next best record.

We’ll be tracking each team that secures a playoff berth, who clinches a division title, and how the playoff bracket will look, accordingly.hite Sox update: Chicago secured a playoff berth on Thursday, September 17. They clinched with a win and their magic number to clinch the division at the time of this clinching was 8.

Tampa secured a playoff berth on Thursday, September 17. They clinched with a win and their magic number to clinch the division at the time of this clinching was 6.The A’s secured a playoff berth on Friday, September 18. They clinched with a win and losses by the Mariners and Tigers. Their magic number to clinch the division is now down to 1 after a Saturday win. They will clinch the division on Sunday with a win or Astros loss.

Twins update: Minnesota secured a playoff berth on Saturday, September 19. They clinched with a win over the Cubs. They are in second place in the AL Central, three games back of the White Sox.Yankees update: New York secured a playoff berth on Sunday, September 20. They clinched when the Mariners lost to the Padres. They are in second place in the AL East, 3.5 games back of the Rays.The Yankees used a 10-game winning streak to get into position to reach the playoffs for a fourth straight year, but on Sunday, they needed a loss by the Mariners to finally clinch a spot.

After the Yankees fell to the Red Sox, 10-2, at Fenway Park, Seattle was eliminated from contention with a 7-4, 11-inning loss to the Padres.It’s the 22nd time the Yankees have made it to the playoffs in the last 26 years and although the postseason was expanded from 10 to16 teams during this abbreviated 60-game season, their inclusion was no sure thing less than two weeks ago, when they lost five in a row and dropped to .500 and found themselves in danger of slipping behind the Orioles for fourth place in the AL East.