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(Photo by Katharine Lotze/Getty Images) Even before a pitch was thrown in 2024, the world realized that the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Atlanta Braves were the two best teams in MLB. It’s easy to see why: the Dodgers added Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow and several other stars to an already elite…
(Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images) The Oakland Athletics might not be true contenders, but they have been awfully entertaining this year. They are 15-17, very close to playing .500 ball. Yes, their future is not in Oakland and perhaps fans are more focused on that than on the actual performance of the 2024 team,…
First base defense is complicated. It isn’t one of the most difficult positions, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have its own challenges. Players in the latter half of their careers who have lost athleticism sometimes adopt the position as their new home, which is interesting because it is much more difficult to learn a…
It’s a great time to be a fan of the Baltimore Orioles. This is now the third season since their emergence from the dark basement of the AL East, and they no longer retain their tatterdemalion appearance. The O’s, at 20-11, have been winning by the very straightforward method of beating their opponents into submission,…
Welcome to another edition of Five Things I Liked (Or Didn’t Like) This Week. As always, thanks to Zach Lowe for coming up with the idea for the column, because it’s a great excuse to watch a ton of baseball and write about plays that make me smile. This week had a little bit of…
Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports Release angles are the vertical and horizontal angles at which a pitcher releases a pitch. They capture the initial angle of a pitch’s trajectory rather than its final angle upon crossing home plate. Release angles can reveal where a pitch is intended to go. However, we already have plenty of data…
Steven Bisig-USA TODAY Sports In my research on JP Sears’ fastball command for my blog Pitch Plots, I discovered a crucial question: Why does a pitch end up where it does? I found that release trajectory is the key variable in determining the location of a pitch. By analyzing release angles along with release height…
Kamil Krzaczynski-USA TODAY Sports Welcome back to Top of the Order, where every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, I’ll be starting your baseball day with some news, notes, and thoughts about the game we love. It would be an overreaction to declare a good-on-paper team dead in the water after 20 games, but the Twins certainly…
Ben Lindbergh and Meg Rowley discuss Meg’s unexpected experience at the bee-delayed Diamondbacks game, Shota Imanaga’s impressive start, Reed Garrett and the trend of pop-up relievers, appreciation for Steven Kwan, reflections on how Mike Trout’s and Bryce Harper’s careers will be remembered, José Abreu’s demotion to the minors, and a declined penalty in baseball. They…
(Photo by Norm Hall/Getty Images) Power rankings, in MLB, allow us to evaluate talent and recent performance. Those who are at the top have been, historically, great performers; but are also doing it right now, as we speak. When it comes to MLB’s Hitter Power Rankings, two members of the Los Angeles Dodgers are on…
