It’s kind of perfect that on the weekend when so many teams had doubleheaders due to canceled games on account of a killer pandemic, the league is trying to trudge through while pretending “just going to their happy place” is an actual medical prescription, and when the A’s became the latest team to join the list of those with positive tests, teams are still treating Monday’s trade deadline like normal. There are still GMs who believe the guillotine awaits if they don’t shore up their rosters, even in a season where even playing it isn’t guaranteed.
The Padres have been especially spry, this being their first season back in the limelight (the universal dream), as they spent the weekend acquiring new pieces. First it was 1B/DH Mitch Moreland. Then reliever Trevor Rosenthal. Then they netted two different catchers in Austin Nola and Jason Castro, cashing in some of their bevy of prospects to do so.
The Cubs made a deal for Jose Martinez. The Rockies got Mychal Givens, whoever that might be. The A’s picked up Tommy La Stella. The rumors about Dylan Bundy or Joey Gallo or Mike Clevinger continue to fly before today’s 3 p.m. EST deadline.
Only the Padres gave up serious prospects, but it’s a wonder why a team would give up anything for this carnival game/scam of a season. One, it’s not real, and most teams and fans know it. Certainly there won’t be any parades or shared memories over beers in 15 years over whatever happens in October, wherever it happens, if it happens. Second, whatever the last month of the season holds can be ended in a matter of 24 hours. There’s no trade to make to assure you won’t run into a buzz-saw starter one day and then just can’t get a blooper to fall the next game and be done in the first round or preliminary round or whatever the fuck they’re going to call the bag-over-head demolition derby that is the two-of-three with which the playoffs start. You’re going to be holding all kinds of bags if you give up a serious piece for the right to have your season ended early.
Still, baseball probably loves the idea of fans talking about trades like normal or getting excited about what their team does or infuriated by what they don’t do instead of all the ridiculousness that this season actually is. They always win.
The Bubble Cities continued on after their strikes to protest the killing of Jacob Blake. The NBA moved into its second round, with the Celtics putting their first through the throat of the Raptors in Game 1. The Lakers, Clippers, and Bucks ended their first-round series this weekend, with the Clippers bringing to a close Luka Dončić’s fireworks show. They tried to do it physically with Marcus Morris going for the clothes line from hell as Dončić drove toward the basket. The move got Morris ejected. Dončić tried to carry the whole team the rest of the way on the one leg he’s got left and the concussion/fractured skull he barely missed out on despites Morris’s effort, but it wasn’t enough. This series assuredly will be a big part of the montage when Dončić leads the Mavs to the title in the future he seems destined to.
We will get at least one Game 7, as the Nuggets and Jazz have been unable to settle their differences conclusively. Jamal Murray went for 50 on Sunday which outdid Donovan Mitchell’s 44.
Meanwhile, the NHL moved toward the conclusion of their second round with six games on the weekend. The Lightning took a stranglehold of its series against the Bruins, as the Bs are finding out you can’t have just one line and try to honor the memory of Mike Milbury by playing like brainless assholes and win playoff games. The Islanders are showing the world just how much of a paper tiger the young Flyers are by going up 3-1 without breaking much of a sweat, while the Stars have discovered the Avalanche don’t have a goalie and have been robbed of their depth through injury. They did their best to blow a three-goal lead, twice, in Game 4 yesterday but couldn’t quite manage it.
The cosmic ballet rolls on.
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