I have suffered a great deal of loss in my years. I have attended more funerals, and delivered more eulogies, than most people do in a lifetime. And when someone dies, we, as a society,… Read more »
COMMENTARY
The World Series is over, and there will be many think-pieces written about the incredible seven games we witnessed. The highlights, lowlights, improbable goats and heroes. But there is a fair chance that many things… Read more »
At about 11pm Eastern time on Saturday night, as the Dodgers wrapped up Game 4, my wife asked me the following question: “Do you want to get some new shoes from shoe hero before we… Read more »
When I coached my son’s baseball team, the kids would often have “big league” moments – trying to do it like the pros. Whenever I saw it, I would tell the player: “Just show me… Read more »
In the Summer of 2012, a few years before Sports Illustrated christened the Houston Astros the 2017 World Series champions, my son’s travel baseball team ventured to Lancaster, California to watch the Single-A Jethawks play…. Read more »
The Astros won the AL pennant on Saturday night. A clean 4-0 victory over the one-season-too-soon Baby Bombers. However, one pitch could have changed it all. If you checked Sportscenter Friday night, you would have… Read more »
I am an attorney. As such, my bookcases are stocked with legal tomes, filled with confusing text, obscure events, and various and sundry arcana. After practicing for nearly twenty years, I rarely reach for any… Read more »
CC Sabathia, now 37, is having a great postseason. Across three starts (15.2 IP), he’s allowed just 11 hits, 7 walks, and four earned runs. In his most recent start, in game three of the… Read more »
Some moments are indelible. When they happen, we know we have witnessed history. And no matter what happens after, those moments will be lodged in our memory, forevermore. “The Giants win the pennant…the Giants win… Read more »
The MLB divisional round wrapped up after a week-plus of blowouts, nail-biters, comebacks, choke jobs, missed challenges, mold, pitching changes, so many mound visits, and everything in between. The focus switches to the LCS now,… Read more »
Many people may remember last Tuesday’s AL Wild Card game for the six first-inning runs (including three homers); or the fact that the starters recorded a combined seven outs; or Gary Sanchez taking a foul… Read more »
Yankees manager Joe Girardi is as good a candidate as any to win the Manager of the Year award. Before the Wild Card game against Minnesota on October 3, he was cheered loudly by the… Read more »
Clayton Kershaw was born my sophomore year of high school. For reasons that we need not get into here, I cannot possibly be his father. However, when he takes the… Read more »
October is here and so are the playoffs. It’s baseball’s most exciting time of year, unless you root for one of the 20 teams who aren’t invited. In that case, it’s a bittersweet reminder of… Read more »
When the Cleveland Indians caught the Houston Astros in the American League standings, I asked three of my Yankee fan friends who they’d rather play. The Yankees, of course, are sitting in pole position for… Read more »
My grandmother’s longtime boyfriend was a man named Smitty. Every New Year’s Eve, Smitty would go into homeless shelters in New York City and hand out cigars to the men and candy to the women… Read more »
There was a time when Andrew Cashner had the kind of potential that baseball fans can really dream on. He had a high-nineties fastball, great promise with his changeup and slider, and a high ground… Read more »
Chad Bettis pitched in a Major League game on Monday for the Colorado Rockies. It was his first professional start since undergoing chemotherapy during the spring after it was discovered the testicular cancer he had… Read more »
Everyone has their preferred sports play archetypes that lead to deep dives down the YouTube rabbit hole in time-consuming, auto-play compilations. For some, it’s the long home run or the dinger robbery. It could be… Read more »
Even with the addition of the second wild card, at some point a team has to look at their season and figure it’s not ending in a postseason trip, let alone a World Series. For… Read more »
General managers are lazy. They have all season to make trades, yet they wait almost exclusively until right before the trade deadline. Slackers, the lot of them. Nevertheless, the trades came furiously during the month… Read more »
The new Statcast Sprint Speed metric is now available to the public and the leaderboard is both fun to look at and about as revelatory as many trade rumour tweets. At the top is Billy… Read more »
The Home Run Derby (presented by something, I assure you) doesn’t matter. It never has, really, but occasionally it has been fun to watch. The best example of this is Josh Hamilton‘s impressive display in… Read more »
The bullpen issues of the Washington Nationals are troubling and deep even for a team running away from their rivals in the National League East. It was the biggest question mark coming into the season… Read more »
It helps to be fast to steal bases, but stolen bases certainly aren’t all about speed. So much of the steal is about reading the pitcher and knowing when to run. As Vince Coleman told… Read more »
On Effectively Wild episode 503, Ben and Sam answered an email question I submitted about the MLB Draft and whether any team would ever consider blowing past its pool allotment and incur future penalties (a… Read more »
The harsh, angry sun tormented a desolate landscape. A sour wind howled through the scorched hills and barren valleys. Little life remained in the wasteland of Southern California. The once pleasant spring had been shattered… Read more »
At the Major League level, almost all regular position players are at the top of their profession. They are the cream of the crop and have outperformed 99.9% of their peers to even make it… Read more »
We’re watching history in the making. Josh Tomlin is the best pitcher of our lifetimes at avoiding walks. Since 1900, only Cy Young, Deacon Phillippe, and Babe Adams have lower BB/9 among qualified starters, and… Read more »
On Thursday, Blue Jays pitcher Marcus Stroman knocked an 0-2 Julio Teheran offering just over the right field wall at SunTrust Park for his first career home run. It was the third homer Teheran allowed… Read more »
