Lance Lynn is in The Best Shape of His Life

Add another name to the list, from Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post Dispatch:

Cardinals righthander Lance Lynn, who was challenged and helped by the club to improve his fitness level during the offseason, arrived at the team’s complex Friday with a tightened haircut, no beard, and a significantly slimmed-down frame. Teammates joked they didn’t recognize him. …

Lynn declined to go into the exact details of his lean look, suggesting first that he dropped about 20 pounds from the weight he came to spring training in a year ago. He gained more weight during the season, and that did contribute to his struggles in August and inconsistency later.

Goold actually mentions BSOHL in the article, noting: “Lynn knows how that description is often met with a smirk. So, he didn’t say it.”

Self-awareness really ruins all the fun.

Christian Yelich simply can’t be stopped. The Brewers outfielder (and defending NL MVP) entered Saturday’s game with a league-leading 11 home runs after swatting two against the Dodgers on Friday night, then clubbed another two homers in the first six innings of Saturday’s game.

The first came on a 2-1 pitch from the Dodgers’ Hyun-Jin Ryu, who lobbed a changeup toward the bottom of the strike zone before it was lifted up and out to center field for a solo home run in the third inning.

While Chase Anderson and Alex Claudio held down the fort against the Dodgers’ lineup, Yelich prepared for his second blast in the sixth inning — this one a 421-foot double-decker on a first-pitch curveball from Ryu.

One pitch. That's all. #ThisIsMyCrew pic.twitter.com/CI5BGNHdZl

— Milwaukee Brewers (@Brewers) April 21, 2019

Yelich’s 13 home runs not only gave him a stronger grip on the league’s leaderboard, but helped him tie yet another franchise record, too. Per MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy, he’s tied with Prince Fielder for the most home runs hit by a Brewers player in a single month, and sits just one home run shy of tying Álex Rodríguez’s 2007 record for most home runs hit within any club’s first 22 games of the season.

It may be far too early to predict which players will finish first in the MVP races this fall, but there’s no denying Yelich has already set himself apart from the competition. Through Saturday’s performance, he’s batting .361/.459/.880 with a 1.329 OPS and MLB-best 31 RBI across 98 PA so far.