As Major League Baseball nears the end of the regular season, one slugger reached a milestone while another is still in pursuit. For this week’s WISE Sports Radio baseball segment, we covered Albert Pujols hitting his 700th career home run and Aaron Judge chasing his 61st of the season.
Among our other topics: Will Tony La Russa return to manage the Chicago White Sox next season? Don Mattingly will not return to the Miami Marlins. And what can MLB do to boost offense in the sport?
Topics on this week’s WISE Sports Radio baseball segment include a 1952 Mickey Mantle card going for $12.6 million, Justin Verlander’s calf injury, Ichiro being honored by the Seattle Mariners, a surprise number retirement for Willie Mays, and Paul Goldschmidt’s MVP-caliber season for the St. Louis Cardinals.
We also discuss the Major League Baseball Players Association giving minor-league players the opportunity to join their union, a benefit that is long overdue for a labor force that is woefully underpaid.
Our WISE Sports Radio segments will go on a two-week hiatus while Pat Ryan takes a vacation. Unfortunately, that means we won’t be talking baseball leading up to and after the Major League Baseball trade deadline. But hey, a summer break is welcome. The show returns Aug. 8.
Going into that break, we discuss how Adam Duvall’s season-ending injury could affect the Atlanta Braves, David Ortiz’s enormous popularity, Buck O’Neil finally getting into the Baseball Hall of Fame, Shohei Ohtani’s trade value, the collapse of the Boston Red Sox, and two St. Louis Cardinals stars whose refusal to be vaccinated could be costly.
The World Series begins this week with the Houston Astros and Atlanta Braves playing for Major League Baseball’s championship. For our weekly WISE Sports Radio segment, we preview the series which has some definite local interest with the Braves involved. What does each team need to do to win this series?
We also discuss whether or not Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts should worry about his job status and the St. Louis Cardinals naming Oliver Marmol as their new skipper. And we mix in some football talk at the end with rumors that the Carolina Panthers want to trade for Deshaun Watson.
Baseball’s postseason is now in the Championship Series round. Four teams remain! The winners go to the World Series. Both the American League and National League series were very entertaining over the weekend, providing close games and thrilling finishes. Our WISE Sports Radio baseball segment leads off with the Dodgers-Braves and Red Sox-Astros matchups
We also discuss Major League Baseball planning to provide housing for all of its minor-league players beginning next season, a long overdue move. And after the St. Louis Cardinals’ shocking firing of manager Mike Shildt on Thursday, we look at who might take over that job and Shildt being a possible candidate for the San Diego Padres’ opening.
Ian Casselberry 