Does anyone really want to sit through a 25-1 game? Even if you are a fan of the home team it's not a great fan experience to watch a blowout one way or the other. There have been big blowouts in the regular season, playoffs, and World Series. Watching position…
Yankees-Dodgers series, White Sox finally win after 14 straight losses. Marlins pitching injuries. Gerrit Cole is on the way back. Will MLB try to curtail advertising to bet on baseball? Not likely but... All-Star game voting is in full force but there are also changes in All-Star weekend this year…
The inclusion of Negro League statistics in MLB is overdue but also presents fans with some new all-time numbers to review. That's a little weird but people will get used to it. Eventually. Additional playoff games would more than make up for the incremental loss of gate and TV revenue.…
Angel Hernandez umpired 33 years of MLB. He stepped down this week and received no demand that he continue. His time was over. Reigning NL MVP Ronald Acuna Jr. went down with an awful ACL injury (again), and will miss the rest of the 2024 season. The last time Acuna…
How has banning the shift worked out for Major League Baseball? Not so great. Batting averages are still among the lowest in MLB history. It's true that a smash through the hole in the right side is more often a hit and no longer fielded easily by an infielder in…
The #mets finally won a game. The end of May is not normally a time that teams can be considered done for the season except for a few teams. The #rockies and #whitesox fill that bill. But even the #angels and #athletics are within striking distance of first place? This…
Blasts and swords will become terms baseball nerds will use to describe batter's strengths and weaknesses. Squared-up contact too. We took a look at the new nomenclature put out by Statcast/Baseball Savant and it interesting and amusing. What's the difference between a barrel' and a blast? We talk about that…
The #astros are finally rising from the ashes in the AL West. The #mariners are hanging on to the division lead with the #rangers in hot pursuit. How about the #yankees pitching and the resurgence of Aaron Judge? What's wrong with the #diamondbacks and #reds? How are the #royals staying…
Back in the day starters pitched the whole game and a relief pitcher was only used out of absolute necessity. That hasn't been true for more than 50 years. 200 career wins for a pitcher is the new 300 and that number is falling. We discuss pitchers not getting credit…
Pirates Paul Skenes finally made his #MLB debut vs. the Cubs and topped 100 MPH 17 times striking out 7 and got the win in a bizarre finish. Tigers Tarik Skubal is having a Cy Young-type season. How about Aaron Judge and Juan Soto for the Yankees? A 1-2 punch…
Vince Wetzel's 'Lose Yourself' has multiple story lines and is a worthwhile read. Think about a modern day player looking to join the 'greatest hitter who ever lived' Ted Williams as the newest member of the .400 BA club. It's been a rough go for A's fans as they watch…
Summer sausage & #twins won 12 in a row with a little help from a bizarre packaged summer sausage that the Twins kept in their dugout. Whatever the impact the Twins are squarely back in the hunt in the AL Central which is still led by the Guardians. The #dodgers…
First, Chase Utley did not play his entire career with the Phillies as he played four seasons for the Dodgers. Maybe we blocked that out because of Utley's slide on Mets Ruben Tejada? 2nd baseman Ryne Sandberg is deservedly in the Hall of Fame. So is Roberto Alomar. On the…
The Phillies are just going about their business quietly while everyone pays attention to the Braves an Dodgers. Can the Brewers and Guardians keep it going? The Royals are hanging tough and the Mariners are in 1st place. Max Fried honors Greg Maddux by throwing a 'Maddux' Listen to the…
After the inductions this July, 58 of the 273 (21%) players elected to the Hall of Fame will have played only for one franchise. As Gordon pointed out, before baseball had free agency players did not move around nearly as much not because they didn't want to but because they…
Red Sox Cam Booser made his MLB debut at 32. 34YO Oriole Alberto Suarez pitched in the bigs for the first time in 7 years. We lost Whitey Herzog, Ken Holzman, and 97YO 'Boys of Summer' star Carl Erskine. We talk about each team in each division from the Yankees…
A conversation around MLB player union issues can easily make your eyes roll. So we sprinkled in a little Scott Boras since he's one guy everyone loves to hate. Except for his clients of course. When MLB brought in the MiLB players into the union 2 years ago it went…
Are the Pirates and Royals for real? Both teams have gotten off to great starts but we've seen it before. We're at nearly 10% of the 2024 season has been played and there are a bunch of things that are happening as predicted. But not everything! How about Mookie Betts?…
Remember 'chicks dig the long ball'? That was in the 1990s when Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine did a TV spot about the baseball's obsession with home runs. Today's pitchers love to light up the radar with triple digits or at least get as close to that as they can.…
Guardians Shane Bieber, Braves Spencer Strider, Marlins Eury Perez all came up with elbow injuries last week and now face 18 months after they get Tommy John Surgery. The NL Central has gotten off to a better start as a division led by the Pirates and Brewers. But the NL…
A hot foot during game play? In MLB it was fairly commonplace for a long time but no longer. Rookie still get hazed but we don't often hear about it. Being thought of as a character is not as cute as it once was either. Because players make too much…
What's the biggest story coming out of the first week of MLB? Injuries to Justin Steele and Royce Lewis? Opening Day records being set by the Diamondbacks and Tyler O'Neill who hit a home run in his 5th straight opening day! Mookie Betts doing Mookie Betts things hitting 4 home…
Last season we had Michael Orton join the podcast to talk about his book 'Opening Day 50 for 50'. We enjoyed that so much that we asked Michael to rejoin us to talk about what's gone on in Baltimore with the Orioles and his favorite team the Nationals. But we…
The first episode in our 5th season of Almost Cooperstown! We pick all 30 teams in order of finish in their individual divisions. Yes we picked the Dodgers and no we didn't pick the Rockies or A's to win much at all. Who will win AL MVP. NL MVP? 2024…