- Just a little quick (and unoriginal) rant before things get going. The NFL has Thanksgiving, the NBA has Christmas, the NHL has New Year's. The MLB year after year has Fourth of July on a silver platter and the best they can come up with is red, white, and blue gear that is shoddily designed and that's it. And we wonder why people say that this league doesn't know how to market itself. With that out of the way...
- I felt that little aside was needed because despite it being the day of fireworks (til 4 fucking AM) and cooking there wasn't much in the way of either in the Pick One Challenge.
- Only two of the ten participants ventured outside of the Cleveland/Detroit doubleheader. Both Nate and Ed got a single from Washington's Luis Garcia and Tampa Bay's Wander Franco respectively in two of the day's early starts. Franco's single was one of only two hits the Rays had in their shutout loss to the Red Sox.
- While his Mets were victorious against the Reds, Matt kept the Challenge from being nothing but hits as a former Met, Amed Rosario, went 0-for-7 while his Guardians got swept in the twin bill by the Tigers.
- Surprisingly, there was not a single overlapping selection between the two teams with six different Guardians and two different Tigers selected.
- Both Detroit players earned their backers a solitary base. Kody Clemens did the job for Lenny while Javier Baez did so for Ryan.
- The single section for Cleveland was person more as Andres Gimenez (Al), Jose Ramirez (Colin), and Steven Kwan (Pavli) all got singles. Gimenez only got one bite of the apple in Game 1 while Ramirez and Kwan played both legs.
- Only two extra base hits came from Cleveland over the course of the two games. In Game 2 it was a double off the bat of Scott's selection Franmil Reyes, who blanked in Game 1.
- The extra base hit for Game 1 was a home run from Buddy's selection Josh Naylor. The Canadian slugger didn't even get into Game 2 but his fourth inning solo shot in the opening contest provided the only runs they would see in the opening matchup and earn the day's top score.
- Optimally, Kansas City catcher MJ Melendez did his best Salvador Perez impression with a pair of home runs against the Astros for eight total bases.
Image Credits: Player Photos (Baseball Reference)