Category: Baseball
The Mets and Braves are Neck-and-Neck in the Playoff Race
Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports There’s only one playoff race this year. That might not sound right to you. The Yankees and Orioles are deadlocked in the AL East. The Guardians are holding the Twins and Royals at bay in the Central. The Padres are looking menacingly northwards toward LA. But those aren’t playoff races, because…
Paul Skenes Unveils His Favorite NFL Team
(Photo by Richard Rodriguez/Getty Images) Paul Skenes has taken baseball by storm and become the type of throwback ace that fans haven’t seen in a long time as he is making a push to win both National League Rookie of the Year and Cy Young in his debut season with the Pittsburgh Pirates. The…
Matt Chapman’s Big Payday Comes Sooner Than Expected… or Later Than Predicted
Stan Szeto-Imagn Images Matt Chapman is the lone member of the so-called “Boras Four” — the quartet of top-tier free agents who remained unsigned when spring training began — who has played well enough to merit consideration in the postseason awards voting, not only with respect to a potential fifth Gold Glove but also down-ballot…
Pretending the White Sox Are Irrelevant: A Professional Perspective
Late Wednesday night, I was poking around the internet looking for inspiration. A badly timed bout of writer’s block had kept me working on my Spencer Schwellenbach article well into the evening, so I wanted to get a head start on Friday’s piece and pick a topic before I went to bed. That’s when I…
Leadoff: The Giants’ Financial Commitments and Matt Chapman’s Impact
Welcome back to Top of the Order, where every Tuesday and Friday I’ll be starting your baseball day with some news, notes, and thoughts about the game we love. Scott Boras clients rarely pass up free agency, but Matt Chapman’s decision to sign an extension with the Giants is one of those rare cases. After…
Josh Smith Becomes More Intimidating the Closer You Get
When you write about sabermetrics, the word jump is your best friend. There are only so many ways to explain that a number got bigger from one period of time to the next, and the word increase carries a vanishingly small amount of sex appeal. On the other hand, jump is an action verb that…
Corbin Carroll Ignites with Impressive Performance
Corbin Carroll Finding His Groove After Slow Start Corbin Carroll had a remarkable 2023 season, earning NL Rookie of the Year honors and signing a lucrative contract extension before leading the Diamondbacks to their first World Series appearance in over two decades. However, the first half of 2024 was a different story, with Carroll struggling…
Is Shohei Ohtani on Track to Achieve 50-50 Milestone? Timing of Feat Still Uncertain
There are a lot of great baseball storylines to keep tabs on this month. Aaron Judge is on yet another historic tear. Bobby Witt Jr. and the Royals are crashing the playoff party. The Brewers and Guardians are showing the league that you overlook the Central divisions at your own peril. But it all pales…
