Fan Interference

On Thursday, Miguel Cabrera entered the game with 2,999 hits. He finished that game against the Yankees still with 2,999 as he went 0-3 and then was intentionally walked in the eighth, his final plate appearance of the day. He was thwarted again Friday, this time by a rain-out. No matter, playing as the Tigers’…… Continue reading Cabrera Collects Hit #3000

The Tampa Bay Rays had a combined no-hitter against the Red Sox through 9 innings. Too bad for the Rays’ pitchers that their batters couldn’t get on base either—they had two hits and did not plate a run. The first batter up in the 10th spoiled the no-hitter; Bobby Dalbec hit a triple. That hit…… Continue reading Rays Lose No-Hitter in Extras, but Win

It’s tempest in a teapot time. Miguel Cabrera got intentionally walked in today’s game between the Detroit Tigers and the New York Yankees, which the Tigers won 3-0. It was the bottom of the eighth. Two men were on. It would be Cabrera’s last plate appearance of the day. Yankees skipper Aaron Boone ordered an…… Continue reading Cabrera Intentionally Walked with 2,999 Hits

This was an eyebrow raiser for me. The Washington Nationals had pregame festivities that included the US Army’s premier show jumping team—the Black Knights—parachuting into the stadium. Somehow word of that didn’t get to the DC National Park police. From their perspective, there should not have been an aircraft over the Capital building. Seeing as…… Continue reading Nats’ Pregame Show Causes Capital Evacuation

First, let me acknowledge something…baseball already has a rule in place for how long a pitcher has to deliver a pitch. If no one is on base, the pitcher must start his windup and deliver his pitch within 12 seconds of receiving the ball. If the pitcher fails to do this, the home plate umpire…… Continue reading In Favor of a Pitch Clock

Yesterday Clayton Kershaw got pulled after pitching seven perfect innings, and it’s okay. The Dodgers ultimately defeated the Twins in a non-perfect manner—they gave up a hit and therefore a bit of baseball history. Today there are “Should Clayton Kershaw Have Been Pulled?” posts on various websites. To be sure, a perfect game would have…… Continue reading A Non-Controversy

The final stumbling block before the new Collective Bargaining Agreement was ratified, and the lockout ended, was the notion of an international player draft. The owners have been pushing for one since well before the 2011 CBA, and the players have resisted the idea. In 2011 they compromised through a soft cap on international signings.…… Continue reading The International Draft

Aaron Judge is in his sixth year in the majors. In his final arbitration year before free agency, he will be making $17M. As one of the signature players for the Yankees, they wanted to lock him into a long term deal. He set opening day as the deadline to come to a new deal.…… Continue reading So, What’s Judge Going to Do?

Yesterday was National Beer Day. When Diamondbacks’ rookie Seth Beer was told that by his wife, he replied that it better be a good day for him. He then went out and hit a walk-homer for his team…sounds pretty good to me. It was his second big league homer, having parked one last year when…… Continue reading Beer Me!

Earlier today I pointed out that today, on Opening Day, every fan can theoretically have hope. I have to say theoretically because fans of certain teams have to know a winning season is extremely unlikely. Their hope is to see progress, signs that there will be a brighter future. The Pirates and Orioles are two…… Continue reading Ode to the 1971 World Series

Everyone is tied 0-0. Everyone at least in theory has hope. The long winter of our discontent is over. Despite owner shenanigans, there is a new collective barraging agreement. This season was delayed a week, but we fans will have no other impediment to our viewing pleasure for the next five seasons. Now we get…… Continue reading Opening Day

MLB has approved a thing called PitchCom. It’s a device the catcher can wear on the wrist of the gloved hand. He can key in the pitch and location, and the pitcher (and up to three other teammates) can hear it through a small ear piece. It’s been tried out in spring training, and apparently…… Continue reading The End of Sign Stealing?

In the past I’ve done preview posts division by division and a separate one for award predictions. I am not doing that this year. Consider it a victim of the lockout. In the compressed spring training I was unable to keep track of all the transactions let alone put together 7 in depth preview posts.…… Continue reading Preview 2022

Albert Pujols built a sure-fire Hall of Fame case as a St Louis Cardinal over the first 11 years of his career. Now he will have one more season for the Cards. He and the team have agreed to a one year, $2.5M deal. Obviously he will not play more than spot duty at first…… Continue reading Albert Pujols Returns to Cardinals

Carlos Correa has signed a 3-year deal to join the Minnesota Twins, for $105.3M and an opt out after 2 years. Just yesterday I was telling a Twins fan friend/coworker that the only way salary dumping Josh Donaldson would make sense is if it was the Twins who signed Correa. Last season Correa was worth…… Continue reading Twins Sign Carlos Correa