The Mariners are out on Marlon Byrd

By Craig CalcaterraJul 30, 2014, 4:30 PM EDT
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One of the longest-simmering rumors of the summer has been Marlon Byrd to the Mariners. Not hottest-simmering, mind you. It’s just Marlon Byrd. But ever since people started getting excited about the Mariners contending and getting excited about the Phillies stinking again, people have assumed that a Byrd-to-Seattle deal was gonna go down.

Nope:

There aren’t many exciting bats on the market. And that’s true even if you stretch your definition of “exciting” to include Byrd. Maybe Alex Rios. Maybe Josh Willingham. But as of now, it looks like the Marlins don’t have a lot going on to upgrade the offense.

Max Scherzer reaches 300 strikeouts on the season

Rob Carr/Getty Images
By Bill BaerSep 25, 2018, 9:09 PM EDT
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Nationals ace Max Scherzer struck out his 300th batter of the season on Tuesday night against the Marlins. Austin Dean was the victim, swinging and missing at a 3-2 curve for the second out in the seventh inning.

Scherzer’s 2018 is the seventh 300-strikeout season since 2000. The others: Chris Sale (308; 2017 Red Sox), Clayton Kershaw (301; 2015 Dodgers), Randy Johnson (334; 2002 Diamondbacks), Curt Schilling (316; 2002 Diamondbacks), Randy Johnson (372; 2001 Diamondbacks), Randy Johnson (347; 2000 Diamondbacks). It’s the 67th 300-strikeout season dating back to 1883.

At the conclusion of the seventh, Scherzer had held the Marlins to a run on four hits with no walks and 10 strikeouts. He entered the start 17-7 with a 2.57 ERA across 213 2/3 innings. Jacob deGrom will almost certainly win the NL Cy Young Award, but Scherzer’s 2018 has been outstanding.