(Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images) The Detroit Tigers were one of the best teams in the American League in the second half of the 2000s and the first half of the 2010s. With players such as Justin Verlander, Miguel Cabrera, Victor Martinez, Max Scherzer, Anibal Sanchez, Placido Polanco, Curtis Granderson and many others, the Tigers…
(Photo by Justin K. Aller/Getty Images) The New York Yankees are a juggernaut. They are, as of Tuesday, the best team in MLB together with the Philadelphia Phillies, with a 42-19 record. Their offense is potent and their pitching has been phenomenal, particularly the rotation. There are a couple of issues on the offensive…
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. The Brewers sure look like a great team right now, with a commanding seven-game lead in the NL Central even after dropping Monday night’s game in…
(Photo by Ralph Freso/Getty Images) The automated strike zone has become an inevitability that baseball fans have largely grown to accept, as most fans agree that it is a long time coming and would be a great improvement for the sport. However, one ace isn’t so fond of the idea and thinks that we should…
Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports Aaron Bummer is one of the best pitchers in baseball at reaching two-strike counts. He has reached two-strike counts against an impressive 67.8% of opposing batters, which ranks seventh among pitchers who have faced 50 or more batters this year. Bummer’s effective sinker helps him get ahead in the count, but…
(Photo by Mark Brown/Getty Images) The Miami Marlins are off to an awful start and have scored the 29th-most runs in the league en route to a 21-39 record, and after 60 games it is time for the team to start shaking things up. The team made a decision today to part with one…
When we last checked in on Aaron Judge on April 24, the big slugger was scuffling, hitting just .180/.315/.348 through the Yankees’ first 24 games. He had homered just three times, and was approximating league-average production thanks mainly to his 15.7% walk rate. A smattering of fans had booed him on his own bobblehead day…
(Photo by Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images) The Milwaukee Brewers, leaders of the NL Central division, faced the NL East-leading Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park on Monday. It was a duel of heavyweights, and the home club ended up notching the 3-1 victory. In the top of the seventh inning, with the score 3-0 in favor…
On Tuesday morning, Major League Baseball announced the suspension of five players for violating Rule 21, the prohibition on betting on baseball. Minor leaguers Jay Groome of the Padres, José Rodríguez of the Phillies, Michael Kelly of the Athletics, and Andrew Saalfrank of the Diamondbacks were all suspended for one season. But the headline figure…
(Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images) The baseball world was shook in late-March when it was revealed that Ippei Mizuhara, the longtime friend and interpreter of Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani, reportedly performed massive theft with Ohtani’s money to fund illegal gambling activities. For weeks, some people thought he potentially had placed some bets on…
