You’re surely familiar with the trope of aging sluggers who sell out for pull-side power because they can’t catch up to the fastball like they used to. They need to start gearing up to swing earlier, forcing them to guess what pitch is coming instead of reacting to what they see. They hope that extra…
Wendell Cruz-USA TODAY Sports If you’ve been in a ballpark a half hour or so before game time, you’ve probably noticed the starting pitchers playing catch with a teammate or a coach in the outfield. You’ve likely also observed them subsequently going into their respective bullpens to warm up, readying themselves to face hitters once…
Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley discuss whether Nike’s City Connect uniforms are losing their appeal, the Dodgers’ recent setbacks with injuries to Mookie Betts, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and Kyle Bradish, the imminent returns of star pitchers Gerrit Cole, Max Scherzer, and Clayton Kershaw, Carlos Correa’s impressive performance at the plate, Elly De La Cruz’s unexpected scoring…
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. No division race is tighter than the AL East, with the Yankees leading the Orioles by just 1.5 games ahead of their three-game matchup that begins…
(Photo by Rebecca Noble/Getty Images) Former Cy Young winner and World Series champion CC Sabathia knows a thing or two about being an ace, and it’s great to see that he’s still following the game closely while enjoying his retirement. In a recent media appearance, Sabathia shared his admiration for one of the game’s…
Josh Rojas Turning Left – A Defensive Transformation At first glance, Josh Rojas and Derek Zoolander don’t have a lot in common. Rojas is a third baseman, while Zoolander is a fictional male model. Rojas is from Arizona, while Zoolander is from an unnamed coal mining town in Appalachia. They have different jobs, different lives,…
Triston Casas — as evidenced by his Talks Hitting interview last summer — has a thoughtful approach to his craft. The 24-year-old Boston Red Sox slugger, who is currently on the injured list with torn rib cartilage, is not afraid to be himself, as many fans experienced during his in-game interview with ESPN on Sunday…
While Tarik Skubal has pitched his way into the Cy Young conversation, Jack Flaherty has done his share of the heavy lifting when it comes to helping the Tigers toward respectability. After years of battling injuries, capped by a rough campaign that included a mid-year change of address, the 28-year-old righty is in the middle…
2:04 Jay Jaffe: Tomorrow I’ll have something on the Yankees and Anthony Rizzo’s broken arm. Injuries have cut into my list of players I was planning on checking into; some of those might have to wait until after I return. We’ll see 2:04 MP: Kelenic going to get an article soon about turning his season…
(Photo by Michael Nagle/Getty Images) MLB, and baseball as a whole, lost a true legend of the game on Tuesday with the passing of Willie Mays. Many people have Mays as a top-ten player, and some would even say top five. He was truly a joy to watch for those around him and helped break…
