Fan Interference

Today Salvador Perez tied a record by Johnny Bench, and with 16 games to go in the season will likely break it: most home runs in a season as a team’s primary catcher. Bench hit 45 homers in 1970, earning an MVP and leading the Reds to an NL pennant. However, what does this mean?…… Continue reading “Home Runs as a Primary Catcher”

There’s 20, or fewer, games left in the season. We now have a team that’s clinched a playoff spot; the Giants. I don’t think even most die-hard Giants fans had them being the first team to qualify for the postseason back in March…but it’s seemed pretty inevitable since May. Meanwhile a few teams are getting…… Continue reading Clinched/Eliminated Update 9/14

My first reaction when I saw Ryan Braun’s retirement announcement was ”Didn’t he do that last year?” Turns out, no, he hadn’t. The Brewers didn’t give him a new contract/let him walk last October…and nobody else did either…but he never declared himself retired until today. In short, MLB had retired him, and now he has…… Continue reading Ryan Braun Retired

Last night Max Scherzer carried a perfect game into the 8th inning (broken up by a double). He surpassed 3,000 career strikeouts. For the third time in his career he struck out all three batters in an inning on 9 straight strikes. (Only Chris Sale, who got his third earlier this summer, and Sandy Koufax…… Continue reading Cap Tip to Max Scherzer

Tonight the Brewers’ Corbin Burnes and Josh Hader combined for the official 9th no-hitter of the season. It was actually the 11th, but MLB ridiculously doesn’t recognize ones from scheduled 7 inning games. Either way, that’s the all time most no-hitters in a single season. There were 8 in 1884, which was the first season…… Continue reading The Year of the No-Hitter Continues

9/11. It’s a date every adult American in their upper 20’s or older knows. We all remember where we were and what we were doing when we heard what was happening. It was a day that changed our history and is thus indelibly imprinted upon us, same as Kennedy’s assassination to Americans over 65 and…… Continue reading Where I Was on 9/11

Odd. You know how the iPhone puts up word suggestions as you type? As I was typing the title to this post, one of the three suggested words to follow “the” was “Yankees.” The phone knows. A couple weeks ago those Yankees were riding a 13 game winning streak, mostly against losing teams. Since it…… Continue reading Bad Week for the Yankees

Marcel Ozuna has entered into a pretrial plea agreement regarding his domestic violence case. The terms include 6 months of supervision (that can be terminated at three months if other terms are met), 200 hours of community service, a 24 week family violence diversion program with an anger management course. If he completes those, the…… Continue reading Marcel Ozuna Update

Caledonia, MN is a small midwestern town much like any other. As has happened many times in other small towns, one of its key employers is closing up its facility there and moving the jobs elsewhere. The difference here is what that company happens to be. For 20-ish years Miken has manufactured baseball helmets and…… Continue reading Small Town Blues

Last week I brought up what I call “black magic numbers”—how close teams are getting to be eliminated from division or playoff contention. I thought I’d update it today. As far as clinching on the good side goes, no teams has clinched a spot yet, and no team is within a magic number of ten…… Continue reading Clinched/Eliminated 1 Week into September

Okay, enough serious stuff for now. Earlier today I walked into the physical therapy center at my clinic and saw the TV for the patients was playing “Raiders.” Now, I love that movie; it’s a rollicking good adventure, but I can’t resist pointing out something to people—ie, that Indiana Jones’ affect on the outcome of…… Continue reading What If Indiana Jones Wasn’t in “Raiders of the Lost Ark?”

Trevor Bauer’s domestic/sexual violence case has been a headline grabber for over a month. However, it is not the only case in MLB under its joint agreement with the MLBPA this year. There are three others whose misdeeds ought not be forgotten. Here they are: Sam Dyson—He was suspended for the entire season as of…… Continue reading Don’t Let Trevor Bauer Make You Forget Other Cases

Jeff Passan has an article up on the ESPN website that is very worth reading: https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/32119416/will-trevor-bauer-ever-pitch-again-next-los-angeles-dodgers-mlb Reading it also prevents me from delving too deeply into this case myself. What Bauer did/is alleged to have done is disgusting. He has been on administrative leave, paid leave, since the story broke two months ago. There is…… Continue reading Trevor Bauer

We’re now getting down to the last month of the season. Everyone talks about remaining head to head games among contenders. Granted, that’s the quickest way to catch up with a division leader/for the leader to relegate a pretender to also-ran. However, playing an easy schedule can help to. Let’s see how this might affect…… Continue reading Remaining Strength of Schedule

Yadier Molina will play next year. He signed a 1 year, $10M deal to spend one more year behind the plate for the Birds on a Bat. He and the Cardinals have portrayed it as a final contract, indicating 2022 will be his swan song as a player. The only surprise is that he is,…… Continue reading Yadier Molina Signs Deal to Play in 2022