Mariners Moose Tracks, 9/20/23: Shohei Ohtani, Josh Hader, and the San Diego Padres

Are the Padres the most confounding team in baseball?

By Anders Jorstad@AndersJorstad Sep 20, 2023, 7:00am PDT

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MLB: Colorado Rockies at San Diego Padres

Good morning everyone! Here’s what’s happening in the world of baseball.

In Mariners news...

Interesting...I would not have pegged Julio as the king of oppo homers, but what do you know?

Most oppo HR, 2023⁰➡️ 10 -- Julio Rodríguez⁰9 -- Olson, Yelich, Gleyber⁰8 -- Carroll, LeMahieu, Volpe, Ozuna

"I know I've got power, but I don't consider myself as a 'normal' power hitter who's just gonna try to pull up homers."

J-Rod story here ➡️ https://t.co/uqTEPJllzS pic.twitter.com/SxviPeypcq
— David Adler (@_dadler) September 19, 2023

Around the league...

This should come as no surprise, but Shohei Ohtani’s doctor has officially declared that Ohtani should be ready to hit when 2024 kicks off and should be back on the mound in early 2025.
Will Major League Baseball’s antitrust exemption finally be struck down?

The Supreme Court again has a chance to take on Major League Baseball's antitrust exemption. Minor league teams suing MLB filed their petition today: "Having destroyed forty businesses in one fell swoop, MLB will only be further emboldened if the Court denies review here." pic.twitter.com/Cs5zxwSScu
— Evan Drellich (@EvanDrellich) September 18, 2023

Ken Rosenthal and Dennis Lin at The Athletic wrote about what went wrong for the San Diego Padres after a series of bold moves to push towards contention. ($)
Ben Clemens at Fangraphs wonders if Josh Hader could have made it as a starting pitcher.