Category: Baseball
FanGraphs Power Rankings for the Week of August 26 to September 1
As the regular season enters its final month, there are several teams hovering on the edge of the playoff picture, making the postseason races quite exciting as the 2024 campaign comes to a close. This season, our power rankings have been revamped to be more reactive to teams’ performance throughout the season. We have adopted…
Searching for the Most Consistent Pitcher
Patrick Gorski-USA TODAY Sports In the pre-PitchCom era, major league teams had more rigorous protocols for protecting their signs than your bank has for securing your account. It wouldn’t surprise me to learn that some teams’ custom PitchCom audio clips are read in a modified pig latin created by a pitching strategy staffer. That the…
Brewers Standout Placed on Injured List
(Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images) The Milwaukee Brewers, even after losing manager Craig Counsell and trading ace Corbin Burnes, have been able to enjoy a fantastic season to this point. Their 58-43 record leads the NL Central with a five-game cushion over the St. Louis Cardinals, and they have been rock-solid with limited resources as…
Report on Cooperstown’s Progress in 2024: Part One
Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports It has not been a very good year for pitchers aspiring to reach the Hall of Fame. Two of the four starters widely perceived to have sealed the deal have yet to throw a single pitch in the majors thus far — one hasn’t even signed and may in fact be…
Despite First Career Loss, Pirates Young Ace Makes History
Mandatory Credit: Aubrey Washington /Allsport The Pittsburgh Pirates and the St. Louis Cardinals played an exciting game on Tuesday, one that featured a pitching duel between young ace Paul Skenes and veteran starter Lance Lynn. In the end, the Cardinals came out on top and handed Skenes his first career loss. It wasn’t, by any…
The Elusive Nature of Line Drive Rate in Baseball
Joe Nicholson-USA TODAY Sports “An egregious error of Umpire Hurst in construing the rules helped Boston to two runs and added to the confusion of the Orioles. In the fourth inning Boston had three men on bases and one out. Ryan came to the bat and scratched out a short fly over third base. Jennings…
Executing Some Deadline Trades: 2024 Edition
We are now less than a week away from the July 30 trade deadline, and aside from the Hunter Harvey trade before the All-Star break, not much has transpired. However, that could soon change in the upcoming days. As is my custom, I have put forth eight potential trades that teams may want to consider…
Ranking the Trade Value of Players 21-30 for the 2024 Season
As is tradition at FanGraphs, we’re using the lead-up to the trade deadline to take stock of the top 50 players in baseball by trade value. For a more detailed introduction to this year’s exercise, as well as a look at the players who fell just short of the top 50, be sure to read…
Analyze This: Dissecting Effectively Wild Episode 2194 and the Phenomenon of the Breakout Fakeout
Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley discuss the content of Hall of Fame plaques, the importance of stats in baseball, and various player updates. They cover topics such as Mike Trout and Clayton Kershaw’s return to the field, J.T. Realmuto’s recent comeback, James Paxton’s departure from the Dodgers, Jo Adell’s performance, Jarren Duran’s breakout, Francisco Vicioso,…
Bryan Woo: A Success Story Defying the Odds
Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports Bryan Woo wasn’t highly regarded when the Seattle Mariners selected him in the sixth round of the 2021 draft out of Cal Poly. That’s understandable. The low-slot righty had a 6.36 ERA in his three collegiate seasons, including a 6.11 mark in his injury-hampered junior year. After undergoing Tommy John surgery…