In 1946, the St. Louis Cardinals needed the first-ever playoff series to sneak past the Brooklyn Dodgers, but swept that best-of-three tiebreaker to attain the World Series. They met the Boston Red Sox there. Boston… Read more »
The Los Angeles Dodgers have agreed tp sign second baseman Alexander Guerrero, a Cuban defector with no American professional experience, to a four-year, $28-million contract, according to Jesse Sanchez of MLB.com, with a handful of… Read more »
Imagine if Joe Girardi had elected to leave the New York Yankees for the Chicago Cubs, or even for the broadcast booth. Given everything else that has happened since the end of the season, managerial… Read more »
Cincinnati Reds second baseman Brandon Phillips might soon have the same title, but with a different employer. Trade rumors are encircling him as the MLB offseason approaches, and it looks like Phillips’s turbulent, disappointing 2013… Read more »
Jacoby Ellsbury hit the ball fairly sharply, but turning a double play would have been nearly impossible. Jose Iglesias got to the ball just behind second base, but he never had it, not even for… Read more »
The St. Louis Cardinals are National League champions for the second time in three years. Their 9-0 thumping of the Los Angeles Dodgers Friday night put an exclamation point on a series that showcased all… Read more »
I don’t know how Jose Abreu’s long and unparalleled success in Cuban baseball will translate to Major League Baseball. I don’t know if he will join the lineage of Paul Konerko, Frank Thomas and so… Read more »
Mike Napoli didn’t get a very good look at Anibal Sanchez the first time around. Sanchez had held Napoli’s Boston Red Sox hitless in his six innings during Game One of the 2013 ALCS, striking… Read more »
The news itself is a bit stale: Ryan Sweeney signed a two-year, $3.5-million deal to stay with the Chicago Cubs nine days ago. At the time, I thought little of it. The terms of the… Read more »
There really wasn’t much drama during Game Four of the 2013 ALCS. The Detroit Tigers won 7-3, and the score probably belied an even more lopsided game. It was 5-0 after two innings, 7-0 after… Read more »
When Adrian Gonzalez stepped to the plate in the bottom of the third inning Wednesday, with Game 5 of the 2013 NLCS tied at two, no Los Angeles Dodgers batter had hit a home run… Read more »
My brother-in-law has real live friends, at least on the Internet, instead of shouting his thoughts into the void 2,000 words at a time. He shot me an email yesterday afternoon, after a conversation on… Read more »
Peter Gammons speculated publicly this month that Tampa Bay Rays ace left-hander David Price could be a member of the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2014. I have enormous respect for Gammons, his industry knowledge, his… Read more »
Mike Napoli is creatying a very positive post-season reputation for himself. His home run in Game 3 of the 2013 ALCS, off Justin Verlander, helped erase what has been a tough series for him otherwise…. Read more »
Justin Verlander didn’t get cute on Tuesday. He didn’t try to fool the Boston Red Sox, nor go looking for broken bats or quick innings. He just threw his fastball by one Red Sox batter… Read more »
Justin Verlander will face the Boston Red Sox in Game 3 of the 2013 ALCS on Tuesday, in a 4 o’clock Eastern time start. FOX has to be bummed about the bad break they caught,… Read more »
All four teams left in the 2013 MLB postseason—the St. Louis Cardinals, Los Angeles Dodgers, Boston Red Sox and Detroit Tigers—are built to last, to one degree or another. Each is terrifically talented, and none… Read more »
At first, it’s a little bit hard to see what makes Boston Red Sox starter Clay Buchholz so tough on opposing batters. He can throw hard, but usually isn’t blowing people away, and anyway his… Read more »
Everything you need to know about Game One of the 2013 ALCS Saturday night, you can learn from the sequence of pitches Anibal Sanchez threw to Shane Victorino with an 0-2 count in the bottom… Read more »
The Los Angeles Dodgers and St. Louis Cardinals are the powerhouses of the National League, this side of World War II. Branch Rickey’s legacy lays most heavily on these two teams, one for whom he… Read more »
The quote for which Moneyball might be best known lies on page 275 of my soft-edged, creased-spined paperback copy. Author Michael Lewis asked Oakland Athletics GM Billy Beane why it was that, after a long… Read more »
If I had St. Louis Cardinals manager Mike Matheny’s job, Adam Wainwright wouldn’t have taken the mound for the ninth inning on Wednesday night in St. Louis. As small a thing as it sounds, I… Read more »
With news Wednesday that Joe Girardi had signed a contract to stay on as manager of the New York Yankees, any delusions that the Chicago Cubs would find their new skipper in short order seem… Read more »
The Boston Red Sox are balanced, deep and relentless. That’s the takeaway from their American League Division Series showdown with the Tampa Bay Rays, which Boston closed out with a 3-1 win Tuesday night. Shane… Read more »
There will be no more opening the At Bat app at noon and finding anything to do but answer the phone in my office, until next April. There will be no more walking home with… Read more »
Clayton Kershaw is the best pitcher in baseball, and has been the best in the National League for three years. He’s headed toward Randy Johnson and Warren Spahn territory, to a very real conversation about… Read more »
In the St. Louis Cardinals’ two losses thus far in the National League Division Series, they have scored just four total runs. The Pittsburgh Pirates have effectively shut them down since the third inning of… Read more »
The Boston Red Sox have baseball’s best offense. They’re deadly. They’re even more deadly at home, though, where their right-handed sluggers can take aim at the Green Monster. And they’re at their most deadly when… Read more »
I love the Rays. Joe Maddon is a delight, in addition to bring the game’s best current tactician. Evan Longoria is maybe the most underrated player in baseball, and one of these years, Joe Sheehan’s… Read more »
Mickey Lolich had a two-year peak. He pitched over 3,600 innings in the Major Leagues over parts of 16 seasons, but in only two did he post a sub-3.00 ERA, or any ERA more than… Read more »
