The best (Mets!), wildest and everything in between from July
Will Leitch
The regular season begins in March, and while there aren’t any scheduled games in October this year, it’s not unusual for the regular season to bleed into that month. But on the whole, it is simple to think of a baseball season in six one-month increments — half a year, broken up into segments. Which means, now that we’re past the Trade Deadline and entering August … we only have two months to go. July is the on-ramp for the home stretch: This is when teams are who they are — for better or worse.
As always, we finish with a look back at the month that was.
Team That Doesn’t Want This Month to End: Mets
For what it’s worth, the Mets’ season did not just turn around during their 17-10 July. (They went 16-8 in June, too.) But July was the month they went from a, “Hey, maybe these guys aren’t so bad after all” team to a, “Yeah, they’re gonna make the playoffs” team. They not only climbed their way into an NL Wild Card spot, they even, briefly, passed the Braves for second in the NL East. Who in the world saw that happening? July proved that the Mets’ June was anything but a fluke. The way it’s going, you wonder if August is going to prove the same thing about July.
Team That Is Eager For the Calendar to Turn: Braves
A certain amount of steam was inevitably let out of the Braves’ season when Ronald Acuña Jr. went down for the year in late May, but there was still every reason to think this was still a playoff team … probably even the top Wild Card seed in the NL. But the injuries kept coming in July, with Ozzie Albies and Max Fried both going down, and the offense — so overpowering last year — continued to sputter. (It was also a miserable month at the plate for Matt Olson.) Even worse, the Mets got hot and have been breathing down their necks all month, even passing them for second place in the NL East at one point. Now the Braves aren’t yards ahead of the rest of the Wild Card field; they’re down in the thicket with the rest of them. Another month like the one they just had — 11-13, including a six-game losing streak from July 20-25 — and they might not even be that.
Play of the Month: Elly De La Cruz crashes the screen
De La Cruz is a human highlight film of his own — I sometimes forget he’s made of the same meat and gristle as the rest of us — and we’ve seen him do some amazing things in the field, at the plate and on the basepaths. But the foul ball he caught against the Marlins on June 15 was special, even for him. Not only does he cover a ridiculous amount of ground, but he also navigates the protective screen in a way I’m not sure I’ve seen anyone do before: It’s like he pulls the ball away from the screen, like he’s snatching it away before the screen can swipe his out. And then he falls into it, the screen and Elly together, and all is forgiven.
Best Single-Game Performance: Dylan Cease’s no-hitter
Remember Cease had given up just one hit in both of his previous two starts. So it’s fair to say he was due. His no-hitter against the Nationals on July 25 was dominance start to finish; he faced just one batter more than the minimum and was throwing more than 99 mph in the ninth inning. It’s the second no-hitter in Padres history, and, you know, it sure looks like the third one might be thrown by Cease, too.
Wildest Game: A wild Twins comeback that falls just short
The Astros had to be feeling pretty good about themselves back on July 5. They’d scored three runs in the sixth inning to overcome a 4-3 deficit against the Twins, then scored one in the seventh, three in the eighth and three more in the ninth. That gave them a 13-5 lead heading into the bottom of the ninth at Target Field. No sweat, right? They even had the Twins down to their last out, still down eight, with only a runner on first. And then: Single. Single. Single. Double. Walk. At that point, the Astros brought in Josh Hader to settle all this down … and he promptly gave up a grand slam to Carlos Correa — 13-12 Astros! But alas: Manuel Margot struck out as the tying run, and a truly absurd ninth inning came to a breathtaking close.
Best Player to Make His MLB Debut: James Wood, Nationals
There just aren’t a lot of physical specimens like Wood. He’s huge. He’s fast. He’s smart. He’s quick. He has a rifle arm. He looks like a middle schooler playing with second graders, sometimes. And he’s also one of the key anchors for the Nationals — the sort of guy they’re building around for the next decade. Like all young players, there are some growing pains, particularly with strikeout rate. But he’s got talent oozing out of every pore. We’ll still be talking about him in 15 years.
Player of the Game Winner: Lawrence Butler (5)
Butler made his debut for the A’s on Aug. 11, 2023, but could just never get it going. Adjustments he attributes to the A’s staff got him back to the bigs this year, and he may never have a month the rest of his life better than he did in July. According to Fangraphs WAR, he was the second-best player in baseball for the month, and he helped lead the A’s to their first winning month of the season.
“I have to give this my top month ever in life. This is for sure,” Butler has said. “It’s probably the most fun I’ve had playing baseball.”
We can certainly tell.
All-Star Squad of the Month
With key July stats
C: Austin Wells, Yankees — .554 SLG, 5 HR, 14 RBIs
1B: Christian Walker, D-backs — .494 SLG, 6 HR, 18 RBIs
2B: Colt Keith, Tigers — .644 SLG, 7 HR, 17 RBIs
SS: Bobby Witt Jr., Royals — .489 BA, .520 OBP, .833 SLG
3B: Rafael Devers, Red Sox — .362 BA, .702 SLG, 24 RBIs
OF: Brenton Doyle, Rockies — .800 SLG, 11 HR, 27 RBIs
OF: Lawrence Butler, A’s — .379 BA, 10 HR, 27 RBIs
OF: Juan Soto, Yankees — .330 BA, .670 SLG, 7 HR
DH: Brent Rooker, A’s — .867 SLG, 11 HR, 30 RBIs
UT: Shohei Ohtani, Dodgers — .404 OBP, .604 SLG, 6 HR
SP: Paul Skenes, Pirates — 1.59 ERA, 33 K’s in 28 1/3 IP
SP: Taj Bradley, Rays — 1.45 ERA, 31 K’s in 31 IP
SP: Michael King, Padres — 1.82 ERA, 29 K’s in 24 2/3 IP
SP: Hunter Greene, Reds — 0.33 ERA, 29 K’s in 27 IP
SP: Blake Snell, Giants — 0.75 ERA, 30 K’s in 24 IP
RP: Tanner Scott, Padres — 0.00 ERA, 6 SV in 9 2/3 IP
RP: A.J. Puk, D-backs — 0.00 ERA, 20 K’s in 12 IP
