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ESPN | Jerry Crasnick & Coley Harvey: The biggest news is obviously the Robinson Cano suspension. It’s an incredibly strange case: after allegedly being prescribed a diuretic in the Dominican Republic, he tested positive prior to this season. MLB built a case on an intent to mask another banned substance, so Cano appealed. After undergoing surgery on the fifth metacarpal in his right hand, he decided to drop the appeal. He will serve his suspension while on the disabled list, and if the Mariners do make the postseason, he will be banned from participation.
The Athletic | Eno Sarris: Using his new Command+ metric, Sarris shows how even with some mediocre stuff, Tyler Mahle is capable of fooling big league hitters.
FanGraphs | Jeff Sullivan: Based on just one start, Freddy Peralta has become an important part of the Brewers’ rotation. Using incredible deception he was able to generate 18 whiffs on fastballs en route to one of the best debuts in recent memory.
Baseball Prospectus | Rob Mains: With the incredible jump in strikeouts, it means that for the first time, catchers are making the most putouts of any player on the field (it was always first base, until last season).
FanGraphs | Jay Jaffe: In investigating whether there is a World Series hangover effect, Jaffe discovers that the loser actually out-performs the winner the following year, on average. It would take a whole lot for the Dodgers to do that, though.
The Ringer | Michael Baumann: This is self-explanatory: Jose Altuve is still very, very good. He may have seen a drop in power numbers, but his plate discipline and contact numbers are stable, so we should expect a similar Altuve to 2017.