Would be really excited about a Houston/LA World Series. Clash of the titans.
Stros needed another starter, but I hadn’t heard Greinke mentioned as a possibility. Jeff Luhnow does okay at trading deadline deals for Cy Young winners. They didn’t have to give up any of their huge prospects either (3-4-5 top prospects, one of whom is recovering from Tommy John). Deal works for the Snakes because they needed to unload some payroll and made their farm system stronger.
Just came across this tidbit: The MLB leaders in WHIP this season are Justin Verlander, Greinke and Gerrit Cole. All are now in the Houston rotation.
To win the World Series, Vegas SuperBook now has the Astros as the Favorite, followed by the Dodgers, and then the Evil Empire 
My Cardinals let the wrong GM get out of the building.
Truth.
Argh. :x
The Dodgers, Red Sox, and Yankees all did nothing to try to improve their World Series chances. That is unusual. For whatever reason, the Cubs didn’t do much and the Cardinals didn’t really do anything. Both of those teams are in a battle with Milwaukee for the Central. You would think any of those 3 teams would try to get an edge to win the division. My guess is that those NL GM’s don’t really think they can beat the Dodgers, so they didn’t want to lose several of their best prospects to get a key player.
The American League is just loaded with the Astros, Red Sox and Yankees, but the NL is a free-for-all after the Dodgers. I think the Dodgers are beatable in the NL playoffs, but I don’t think the other NL teams think so.
Sadly, there are many teams that are not trying to win. You laugh, but I think most of the MLB is full of owners who are telling their GMs that they don’t have a stomach for a big pay roll with no chance to really compete with the teams you just mentioned. It may mean they can’t stock their yachts quite as well with the expensive wines they like and that’s more important than stocking their starting rotation and bullpen.
That is probably a valid point, Clay. Not much happened at the trade deadline yesterday…the free agent market the last couple of years has been pretty dead. Some players are just signing extensions now, rather than waiting for free agency…take a sure thing now and don’t gamble on free agency. I probably would do the same if I were those young guys. There was not a lot of interest from teams when Bryce Harper and Manny Machado, two of the games best young talents, became free agents after last season. Spending habits are changing in baseball.
When the Dodgers, Yankees, Red Sox and Cubs don’t spend any money then something is going on…those 4 teams are among the richest franchises and owners in MLB. The Cubs, Red Sox and Yankees need some starting pitching to help get them into the World Series, but none of them did anything, really. The Dodgers need relievers badly for the postseason so they can win a World Series. Maybe these owners finally said enough is enough. The pay for these players is absurdly high… I don’t blame the owners for not spending the money, but it is a departure from the past. It may be these analytics are showing where best to spend the money to win or where best not to spend the money. It is interesting.