The Eye: A look at all of Sunday's in-game action

Welcome to the Eye. It is here that we’ll be building out a monster of a daily roundup throughout the day and night. We’ll have recaps, injury news, rumors, fun stuff and a look ahead to Monday. Park it here or just come back in the morning to catch up on everything, your call.

As for Sunday, the Rays will be attempting to snap a seven-game losing streak as they wrap up their series in the Bronx. The Giants, meantime, have lost five in a row and now find themselves 4.0 games back of the Dodgers in the NL West. The longest win streak? It’s the Brewers at seven games. The bad news is that they’re still 18 1/2 games off the pace in the tough NL Central.

Let’s talk about that tough NL Central for a second, shall we? Add it all up, and here’s how baseball’s six divisions stack up in terms of cumulative games above or below .500 in 2015 (i.e., how many games above or below .500 they are against teams from outside the division) …

NL Central: +23
AL Central: +9
AL East: +5
AL West: +3
NL West: -7
NL East: -33

As you can see, the NL Central is tops by a pretty wide margin. (Of course, the NL Central is just 34-37 in interleague play this year, so bear that in mind before leaping to any cross-league conclusions.)

Now let’s dig a little deeper with the help of the BaseRuns system available at Fangraphs. BaseRuns attempts to model a team’s run-scoring and run-prevention capabilities at the granular level — i.e., on a plate-appearance-by-plate-appearance basis and with the effects of hit “sequencing” removed. Basically, it’s a measure of how good a team is at controlling the fundamental outcomes of the batter-pitcher encounter. It yields what a team’s record should be based on core skills.

By this system, the NL Central should be a combined 22 games over .500, which, as you can see, is right in line with their actual mark. So generally speaking, the excellence of the NL Central isn’t a byproduct of good fortune. It’s been earned. In a related matter, the NL Central, if the season ended today, would place three teams in the playoffs.

The NL Central, fronted by the first-place Cardinals, has been a powerhouse thus far. (USATSI)

And now let’s open the Eye for Sunday …

Today’s MLB action (all times ET) (Full scoreboard)

Milestone Watch

Longest current hit streak: Rockies shortstop Troy Tulowitzki has hit safely in 17 straight games.

Prince Fielder: Needs three hits for 1,500 for his career.

Albert Pujols: He’s presently sitting on 573 career doubles. He needs one more to tie Bobby Abreu and Charlie Gehringer for 20th place on the all-time list.

Brewers: The Brew Crew’s current win streak is noted above. There’s also this …

Daily Awards

Lineup of the day: Let’s hear it, Red Sox …

Notice anything interesting? Now for the big reveal …

Desperate times call for desperate measures.

Well wishes of the day: Baseball’s not the only game in town on Sunday …

Adorbs of the day: George Springer may be on the DL, but he’s not too hurt to entertain this little guy …

More to come.

Injuries, News & Rumors

Indians’ Nick Swisher nearing rehab assignment

Angels pitcher Jered Weaver feels good after bullpen session

Red Sox’s Justin Masterson to pitch out of bullpen

Cubs SP Tsuyoshi Wada to begin rehab assignment Monday

Cubs activate Jorge Soler; option Matt Szczur

Click here for more MLB player news.

Looking Ahead to Monday’s MLB action (all times ET)

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