Start your engines! Photo via: Wiki Commons.
The time has come, it's the track we all circle on our calendars, Talladega. Easily one of the most famous racetracks in America, no one can predict what's to come and in every corner, the big one is lurking. In this race last season, we saw five wrecks involving four or more cars. With the urgency of the playoffs, there is a good chance we see lots of torn-up race cars this weekend. This will be a race you won't want to miss as there will be drama aplenty. The pit-road strategy will play a part in the race, but will be much different from what we are accustomed to seeing. At Talladega and Daytona we usually see manufacturers pitting together to make sure they can maintain a pack and get back to the front.
Last week at Vegas, Denny Hamlin cruised to his second victory of the season and clinched his spot in the next round. The race was dominated by Hamlin as he led 137 laps. His only real challenger, Kyle Larson was knocked out of contention after a bad pit-stop. Hamlin has really been peaking at the right time, as he won the opening race in the last round. He is going to be one of the threats for the championship.
While most of the playoff drivers took most of the spotlight last week, one of the best stories of the race was Tyler Reddick. It was another great for the second-year driver as he ran as high as second. I have really been impressed with the young California driver as he continues week in and week out to improve. Making the playoffs this year was a big step for this team and they just continue to build. He could very well be rounding into a championship contender next season.
The playoff race after one week has some pretty big names below the cutline including Kevin Harvick, Alex Bowman, William Byron, and Christopher Bell. For Harvick, this is not something he is used to as he has made the championship race five times, a record he shares with Kyle Busch. He currently sits seven points behind Brad Keselowski in ninth. This team has been fast and in the top ten, but just hasn't been able to put it together and score a victory. He will be in a good position to make up some points on Brad and keep it close, but will need to avoid the big wreck. This has plagued him in the past two fall Talladega races, as he has been involved in crashes in both of them.
Alex Bowman came into this season in my eyes as a championship favorite and at the beginning of the season, he looked like he was going to be with three victories. He has really been struggling though since his last victory at Pocono. Last week at Las Vegas, he really seemed to have no speed at all as he finished 22nd. He will need to step it up if he wants to make the next round. Talladega is a tough track for him with a mediocre 19.86 place finish. On the bright side, he will benefit from a good 11th place starting spot and will be lined up with teammate William Byron. He is currently 13 points out of eight in 10th place. It will be quite the uphill climb.
Speaking of Byron, he's in the same situation. He's currently 9th in points, only four points behind Brad Keselowski. He has the easiest path to the next round. All he needs to do is put together two races where he finishes better than Brad and based on the season he has been having, he very well could. Last season, Byron was half a lap away from a chance at victory. He will be a contender to win this weekend.
Lastly, Christopher Bell has the steepest hill to climb to make his way into the next round. It would almost appear that he is in a must-win situation in one of these next two races. He currently sits twenty-five points below the cut-off line in 12th place. He barely scraped into the second round but after a third place finish and a few extra stage points, he's been able to keep his head above water. He will need to be near perfect this round to move on.
The driver that I have winning this weekend is a bit of a wild card, but I am going with Matt DiBenedetto. With his 2022 plans highly uncertain next season, this race could possibly be one of his last chances to get a victory in the Cup Series. He has been so fast at the superspeedways and in contention to win each and every year, but something either goes wrong or he makes the wrong move at the wrong time. This time though, he is going for way more and is coming off a great race last week at Las Vegas after finishing 12th. His 25.54 average finish hasn't been the best, but he has been consistently up front. Look for DiBenedetto to capture his first career victory as he rolls off 15th come Sunday.
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Through 20 games, the Houston Astros have managed just six wins and are in last place in the AL West.
Their pitching staff trails only Colorado with a 5.24 ERA and big-money new closer Josh Hader has given up the same number of earned runs in 10 games as he did in 61 last year.
Despite this, these veteran Astros, who have reached the AL Championship Series seven consecutive times, have no doubt they’ll turn things around.
“If there’s a team that can do it, it’s this team,” shortstop Jeremy Peña said.
First-year manager Joe Espada, who was hired in January to replace the retired Dusty Baker, discussed his team’s early struggles.
“It’s not ideal,” he said. “It’s not what we expected, to come out of the shoot playing this type of baseball. But you know what, this is where we’re at and we’ve got to pick it up and play better. That’s just the bottom line.”
Many of Houston’s problems have stemmed from a poor performance by a rotation that has been decimated by injuries. Ace Justin Verlander and fellow starter José Urquidy haven’t pitched this season because of injuries and lefty Framber Valdez made just two starts before landing on the injured list with a sore elbow.
Ronel Blanco, who threw a no-hitter in his season debut April 1, has pitched well and is 2-0 with a 0.86 ERA in three starts this season. Cristian Javier is also off to a good start, going 2-0 with a 1.54 ERA in four starts, but the team has won just two games not started by those two pitchers.
However, Espada wouldn’t blame the rotation for Houston’s current position.
“It’s been a little bit of a roller coaster how we've played overall,” he said. “One day we get good starting pitching, some days we don’t. The middle relief has been better and sometimes it hasn’t been. So, we’ve just got to put it all together and then play more as a team. And once we start doing that, we’ll be in good shape.”
The good news for the Astros is that Verlander will make his season debut Friday night when they open a series at Washington and Valdez should return soon after him.
“Framber and Justin have been a great part of our success in the last few years,” second baseman Jose Altuve said. “So, it’s always good to have those two guys back helping the team. We trust them and I think it’s going to be good.”
Hader signed a five-year, $95 million contract this offseason to give the Astros a shutdown 7-8-9 combination at the back end of their bullpen with Bryan Abreu and Ryan Pressly. But the five-time All-Star is off to a bumpy start.
He allowed four runs in the ninth inning of a 6-1 loss to the Braves on Monday night and has yielded eight earned runs this season after giving up the same number in 56 1/3 innings for San Diego last year.
He was much better Wednesday when he struck out the side in the ninth before the Astros fell to Atlanta in 10 innings for their third straight loss.
Houston’s offense, led by Altuve, Yordan Alvarez and Kyle Tucker, ranks third in the majors with a .268 batting average and is tied for third with 24 homers this season. But the Astros have struggled with runners in scoring position and often failed to get a big hit in close games.
While many of Houston’s hitters have thrived this season, one notable exception is first baseman José Abreu. The 37-year-old, who is in the second year of a three-year, $58.5 million contract, is hitting 0.78 with just one extra-base hit in 16 games, raising questions about why he remains in the lineup every day.
To make matters worse, his error on a routine ground ball in the eighth inning Wednesday helped the Braves tie the game before they won in extra innings.
Espada brushed off criticism of Abreu and said he knows the 2020 AL MVP can break out of his early slump.
“Because (of) history,” Espada said. “The back of his baseball card. He can do it.”
Though things haven’t gone well for the Astros so far, everyone insists there’s no panic in this team which won its second World Series in 2022.
Altuve added that he doesn’t have to say anything to his teammates during this tough time.
“I think they’ve played enough baseball to know how to control themselves and how to come back to the plan we have, which is winning games,” he said.
The clubhouse was quiet and somber Wednesday after the Astros suffered their third series sweep of the season and second at home. While not panicking about the slow start, this team, which has won at least 90 games in each of the last three seasons, is certainly not happy with its record.
“We need to do everything better,” third baseman Alex Bregman said. “I feel like we’re in a lot of games, but we just haven’t found a way to win them. And good teams find a way to win games. So we need to find a way to win games.”