While Charlie Hustle’s passing casts a pall over the baseball world on Tuesday, the fact that the playoffs get underway definitely helps ease some of that pain.

As alluded to above, the Yankees’ rotation will soon get a massive boost with the return of ace Cole. But the fact that this staff has thrived without him is one of the top stories of the first half.

In fact, he’s gotten a bit worse each month, and is still trying to earn his first win in May as he takes the mound vs. Toronto on Monday evening. Even so, Burnes’s record has been solid so far and his ERA (supported by an xERA of 2.99) is at its lowest level since that stellar 2021 campaign.

He pitches for a Cleveland Guardians squad that was expected to be rancid in 2022, yet wound up winning 92 games, and was projected to regress a bit in 2023, but actually wound up being a lot worse than that.

Did some bad BABIP luck play a role? Yes, possibly, even though Judge’s .300 BABIP last year wasn’t awful by normal standards — just his own, given a .340 career mark.

The fact that the Dodgers handed him the ball for Game Two of the NLDS speaks volumes about the confidence they’ve developed in this kid.

Is it any wonder that the Los Angeles Dodgers have established themselves as the favourites to win the World Series this year?