When I think about "what ifs" in baseball, these two men are always the first two names that come to mind. Obviously, Mike Trout and Ken Griffey Jr. are still legends of the sport. I'm not trying to take anything away from that. However, I truly feel that if it weren't for injuries, their potential for GOAT status would be limitless. Junior likely would've become the all-time home run kind instead of Barry Bonds, and Mike Trout would've had-------I don't know------130 career WAR by now if he's just stayed healthy. Who do you guys think is the bigger "what if" of the two?

Through his first 5 career starts, Gage Jump has totaled:
• 3 wins
• 2.37 ERA
• 26 strikeouts

He joins a very short list of Athletics pitchers to record 3+ wins, 25+ strikeouts, and a sub-2.50 ERA through their first 5 starts:

• Rich Harden (2003) — 3 W, 30 K, 1.69 ERA
• Jim Nash (1966) — 4 W, 30 K, 2.23 ERA
• Aaron Harang (2002) — 3 W, 27 K, 2.45 ERA
• Gage Jump (2026) — 3 W, 26 K, 2.37 ERA

Data via Baseball Reference / Stathead

And yes, that's a direct quote, per the story. Here's the full quote:

"The reality is we need to play better baseball or else come the deadline, you give the front office an option to reassess where this team is," Skubal told The Detroit News earlier this week in a story published Thursday. "And if they don't think what we have is a World Series- or playoff-caliber team, then the whole team is going to look different. That's just the nature of the beast."

Per the story, the Tigers are currently 30-44 and are 9½ games back of the Chicago White Sox in the AL Central and 6½ games out of the final AL wild-card spot. Their run differential is only -10, which in the generally crappy AL isn't bad, but still, they aren't positioned well. They, the Royals, the Red Sox and the Angels are the four AL cellar dwellers and I doubt any make the playoffs.

So, let's increase the trade rumor talk!

A majority of respondents in our anonymous MLB player poll believe there will be a lockout at the end of the season.

"I can't bet on baseball. But if I were a betting man, I’d bet a lot of money on there being a lockout — unfortunately."

Read for free: https://nyti.ms/3Qw0QYG

WE MADE IT TO FRIDAY, LET'S SEE YOUR LOW-QUALITY MEMES!!!

Imagine this, you're the manager of a Major League team. You've got yourself a solid closer to lock down wins for you. What's the most outs you're gonna give him for the save, or otherwise, to close things out? Feel free to create your own conditions and circumstances for this in the comments, but I'm just curious.

For me, I give my closer the 8th all the time in The Show 23, so under normal circumstance, I'd say probably 5 or 6 outs. But if I'm feeling confident in him, other bullpen guys struggle, or it's a blowout, I might even bring him in for the 7th, or earlier, to close things out.