Latest blog entries about MLB
Happy Thursday. Tomorrow we has something we haven’t seen for 32 years, the Blue Jays in the World Series. Ben Nicholson-Smith tells us that Bo Bichette has been taking balls at second base. I’ve always thought that second would be his position. But expecting him to learn a new position for the World Series is, […]
1911 News broke early, in the Chicago Tribune, that Nixey Callahan would be returning as White Sox manager in 1912, replacing Hugh Duffy. Owner Charles Comiskey emphasized having a manager in Chicago year-round, to help with spring training arrangements and offseason moves — Callahan was a Chicago resident. (The official announcement was made on October […]
The School: University of Missouri Record: 6-1 (2-1 in the SEC) Ranking: AP #15, Coaches’ Poll #14, and SP+ #8 Mascot: Truman the Tiger, who looks like he might have gotten into some special catnip. Location: Columbia, Missouri. Coach: Eliah Drinkwitz. No, I did not leave out a letter. “Drink” may have the dorkiest headshots […]
The abrupt end of your postseason life leaves little time for teams to formally say goodbye and thank the fans for their support. Instead of preparing for an opponent, the players are clearing out their lockers and getting ready for an unexpected start to the offseason. Dylan Cease is entering the unknown void of baseball […]
Last week, the Pittsburgh Pirates made one of their first additions of the offseason, claiming outfielder Will Robertson off waivers from the Chicago White Sox. INF/OF Ryan Kriedler was designated for assignment to make room for Robertson on the 40-man roster. Robertson was drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays in the 4th round of the […]
Four Royals hitters were named finalists for the Silver Slugger Award at their respective positions – catcher Salvador Perez, first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino, shortstop Bobby Witt Jr., and third baseman Maikel Garcia, who was nominated at the utility player position. The Royals are one of three American League teams with four finalists, along with the […]
On a Wednesday night in Frankfurt filled with positive signs as a Liverpool side that had struggled to start the 2025-26 season—and especially struggled over the past four games, all of which had ended in defeat—one of the best was watching left back Andy Robertson dominating his flank both on and off the ball. One […]
With the 2025 Texas Rangers season having come to an end, we shall be, over the course of the offseason, taking a look at every player who appeared in a major league game for the Texas Rangers in 2025. Today we are looking at first baseman Blaine Crim. The fact that we are writing about […]
Somehow, Edwin Díaz has never finished a season with the Mets with more than 32 saves. Having recently wrapped up his sixth season—and seventh year—with the team, Díaz was utterly dominant, finishing the 2025 campaign with 28 saves as he threw 66.1 innings with a 1.63 ERA. That’s his second-best single season ERA, even in […]
The 2025 World Series is set! The National League champion Los Angeles Dodgers will attempt to win their second consecutive championship, and standing in their way, are the American League champs, the Toronto Blue Jays. I understand that many Phillies fans might have lost interest in the baseball playoffs as soon as Orion Kerkering threw […]
Freaky in Fayetteville Shift Black and Gold Shift It Never Rains In Tiger Stadium* Shift Robert Kekaula Memorial Shift
It’s the Thursday Crawfish Boil! Houston Astros News Injuries and roster moves Astros survey Maldonado says he wants to be a manager Mallicoat passes away (HC) Mets talk to Snitker about vacant manager job (NYP) Best WS runner-up since 2000 (FS) Roster analysis: The Pen (HC) AL West News Time to look at the Mariners […]
Entering May, it looked like Vinnie Pasquantino’s unfortunate and untimely thumb injury of 2024 lingered. Before that game, which was the finale of a three-game series in Tampa, Pasquatch owned one ugly slash line: .177/.242/.327. It’s pretty amazing, then, that he ended the season with an OPS of .798, 20% above league average, while setting […]
To put it simply, the catching position was a disaster for the Washington Nationals in 2025. As a positional group, Nats catchers finished last in wRC+ with 65 and 28th in Defensive WAR, resulting in a league-worst -1.4 fWAR, worse in the league and one of only 2 teams to be in the negatives, with […]
Welcome to the 2025 edition of Ranking the Rockies, where we take a look back at every player to log playing time for the Rockies in 2025. The purpose of this list is to provide a snapshot of the player in context. The “Ranking” is an organizing principle that’s drawn from Baseball Reference’s WAR (rWAR). It’s […]
On the eve of the first pitch of the 2025 World Series, two west coast teams have announced their new managerial hires. Former A’s catcher Kurt Suzuki will take the helm of our AL West rival Los Angeles Angels. Suzuki has served as a front office assistant for the team for the past two years. […]
Before the 2025 season began, the Cubs reportedly approached Pete Crow-Armstrong with a contract extension offer: It’s unclear how many years and option years would have been included in such a contract, but nothing was done beyond that. And all of that happened either early in the 2025 season or perhaps before it even began. […]
Morning, all! The Rangers traded for Jake Burger last year in the hopes to improve on their weak 2024 offense, but things didn’t exactly work out as planned. Burger is aiming to turn things around in 2025 after undergoing wrist surgery. We also have a podcast that asks if the Mariners were the perfect team […]
2025 In A Discarded-On-The-Dugout-Floor Nutshell Payton Tolle, a towering lefty who started his first professional season in High-A Greenville a few months ago, tore through the minor league system and showed a burst of promise before his lack of command on his secondary pitches got the best of him. He’s still not yet 23 and […]
Manny Machado, Jake Cronenworth named 2025 Silver Slugger Award finalists (Matt DeWalt – Gaslamp Ball) Machado (3B), Cronenworth (UTIL) named Silver Slugger finalists (Padres.com) One eye-catching prospect stat from each farm system (Sam Dykstra and Jonathan Mayo – Padres.com) Padres’ Manny Machado, Jake Cronenworth named NL Silver Slugger finalists (Jeff Sanders – U-T) https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6735473/2025/10/22/hagen-smith-anderson-brito-arizona-fall-league-pitchers/ (Keith Law – The...
A couple months ago, I talked about the Cardinals somewhat odd pitching depth situation. The pitchers who were supposed to be solid MLB depth for the 2026 season (if not in the rotation) got hurt. Tekoah Roby, Cooper Hjerpe, Tink Hence and Sem Robberse without injuries were supposed to all be pitchers you were relatively […]
The Rangers are playing well but can’t finish—and Joe, Eric, and Jonny Lazarus have thoughts on what that means for Panarin, the kids, and Chris Drury’s next move.
The Phillies made a bit of a surprise trade last offseason when they acquired Jesús Luzardo from the Miami Marlins in exchange for one of their top prospects in Starlyn Caba. The price for Luzardo wasn’t necessarily the surprise, but rather that the Phillies were acquiring another starting pitcher despite already boasting one of the […]
The Orioles selected Kade Strowd in the 12th round of the 2019 draft. The West Virginia product became Rule 5 eligible after the 2022 season, but Baltimore did not feel any pressure to protect the reliever. Strowd reached Double-A Bowie in 2023, but the O’s got away with leaving the Mountaineer off the 40-man roster […]
Despite the ALCS going a full seven games and the Blue Jays not needing to travel anywhere before the World Series starts, we’re now sitting through day three of no baseball. The reason for this is of course money. MLB and the networks pre-determine the World Series dates and want them locked in ahead of […]