Category: Baseball
Royals stage impressive comeback against Rodón, earn split in the Bronx
Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images NEW YORK — Carlos Rodón was dealing… until he wasn’t. Fired up for his first postseason start as a Yankee, with a sellout crowd of 48,034 cheering him on, the 31-year-old lefty avoided the early pitfalls that had characterized his otherwise uneven season by turning in two very strong innings, including a…
Tigers Victorious in Game 2 Thriller Behind Skubal and Carpenter’s Strong Performances
After the Detroit Tigers beat the Houston Astros in the opener of their Wild Card series, I wrote that while Tarik Skubal wasn’t perfect, he was very good, and that was enough to lead his team to a 3-1 win. The same was true in Game 2 of the ALDS, although this time he wasn’t…
Analyzing the Exciting Weekend in Baseball: A Statistical Breakdown
Hang it in the Louvre: Oh, and this one too: The playoffs were absolutely wild this weekend. Out of the six games played Saturday and Sunday, two were all-time classics. First, the Yankees and Royals traded blows before Alex Verdugo produced a game-winning single after a controversial stolen base call. Then the Phillies and Mets…
He’s not your quirky, idealized Boyd
I started writing this article just before the playoffs began, and I framed it to myself as a trailer for an early-2000s romantic comedy. I thought Matthew Boyd and the Cleveland Guardians fit the rom-com formula surprisingly well. After his second breakup with his ex (the Tigers), Boyd was hurt (recovering from Tommy John surgery),…
The Key to Jazz Success: Mastering Tempo
NEW YORK — Let’s just get this out of the way up top: Jazz Chisholm Jr. should have been called out at second base. The replay review of his seventh-inning stolen base showed that his foot had not yet touched the bag when Royals second baseman Michael Massey applied the tag. Chisholm then scored the…
Padres Even NLDS with Game 2 Win, Sparking Emotions in Southern California
Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images Everyone thought it was gone. Jurickson Profar hopped around, ostensibly upset that Mookie Betts’ fly ball had dropped into the left field seats. The camera panned to Betts triumphantly rounding the bases. The scorebug flipped from zero to one under the Dodgers logo. And then, a few seconds later, all was clear:…
Phillies Square Up NLDS With Memorable Victory: No Stopping Them Now
There’s a scene in The Way of the Gun where Ryan Phillippe’s character is torturing some dude — the details are unimportant but gruesome — and he’s leaning over his poor victim, describing all the horrible things he’s going to do if he doesn’t talk. One line has always stuck with me: “Whatever I do…
Treinen and Dodgers Bullpen Propel Los Angeles to Game 1 Victory, with Shohei Adding a Home Run.
Kiyoshi Mio-Imagn Images Three of the best handful of hitters on the planet were on the same field at Yankee Stadium yesterday, and the Phillies/Mets rivalry is as venomous as any in baseball, but take a straw poll of the real sickos and they’ll tell you the marquee Division Series tilt is the one between…
Sunday Spotlight: Detroit’s Justyn-Henry Malloy Faces Uncertainty in a New Chapter
Justyn-Henry Malloy was in the Atlanta Braves organization when he appeared as a guest on FanGraphs Audio in October 2022, this while finishing up his first full professional season in the Arizona Fall League. He became a Tiger soon thereafter. In early December of that year, Detroit acquired the now-24-year-old outfielder, along with Jake Higginbotham,…
Alex Verdugo’s Stellar Performance Saves Job After Near Miss- ALDS Opener Highlights His Versatility and Skill
NEW YORK — Alex Verdugo spent the last five months of the 2024 season dragging down the Yankees’ offense, so much so that in the season’s closing weeks, the team gave an abbreviated look to 21-year-old top prospect Jasson Domínguez. Not until late Friday night did word leak that manager Aaron Boone would stick with…