All Star Game Over/Under: Cano + Cruz plate appearances
By Ben Renner
The 88th MLB All Star Game is tomorrow, and exactly two Mariners will make the cross-country trip from Seattle to Miami to participate. Seattle manager Scott Servais said he didn’t want to see more than one at-bat apiece from Robinson Cano and Nelson Cruz. Will he get his wish?
The Mariners sit in dangerous territory on the eve of the 2017 All Star Game. At the bottom of the running for the second Wild Card playoff berth, the Mariners could be selling, could not be selling…or buying, maybe, at the Trade Deadline.
But before we march wearily into the second half of 2017: the All Star Game in Miami. Tomorrow at 4:30 PT, (FOX), the game will not count (thank goodness), but the injuries will linger.
Mariners second baseman Robinson Cano and designated hitter Nelson Cruz hobble into the All Star Game tomorrow in Miami with nagging injuries. For Cano, a pesky quadriceps; Cruz, a tweaked knee.
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Mariners manager Scott Servais pleaded with American League All Star manager Brad Mills to “give them one at-bat, and get them out. They need the rest.”
Mills replaces 2016 AL Champion Cleveland Indians manager Terry Francona, who is in recovery after a surgical procedure to correct an irregular heartbeat.
Will Mills get Cruz and Cano their one plate appearance apiece? Will he forget they’re waiting on the bench? Because this All Star Game doesn’t decide the team that gets home field advantage in the World Series this season, the pair of Mariners All Stars will likely have a large influence over how many times they walk to the plate in Miami.
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It’s baseball, and anything can happen, even a tie, in the All Star Game. If I were to bet on how many PAs Cruz and Cano get tomorrow evening, I’d take the under. Perhaps Cruz decides his balky knee isn’t worth trying to leg out a double at Marlins Park. What do you think? Over two PAs, or under combined for the Mariners’ All Stars?