If you’re going to spend big on a free agent closer, you should probably shop at the top of the market. That’s what the Astros did this past offseason, shelling out $95 million over five years to bring Josh Hader home. Last season, Hader was unhittable, with a 1.28 ERA in 61 appearances and 33…
Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports On Tuesday night, in his 26th game of the 2024 season, Alex Bregman hit his first home run. It didn’t come a moment too soon. Over his first 25 games, Bregman had run a wRC+ of 65. Until this year, he’d never had a stretch of 25 games in a single…
Baseball Analysis Roughly a month’s worth of the 2024 season is now in the books. The American League East looks great. The Brewers and Guardians are standing up for the Central divisions. The White Sox can only beat the Rays, and the Astros somehow can’t beat anyone. Enough time has passed that I feel confident…
When Matt Waldron made his major league debut for the Padres last June 24, it was a noteworthy event. While a few position players had thrown the occasional knuckleball ast a goof after taking the mound for mop-up duty, no true pitcher had thrown one in a regular season game in two years. The last…
Welcome back to Top of the Order! Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, I’ll be starting your baseball day with some news, notes, and thoughts about the game we love. Angels Struggle Without Mike Trout Things couldn’t be going worse for the Angels. The Halos have stumbled to an 11-19 record in Ron Washington’s first year…
After a podcast preface by Ben Lindbergh about Mike Trout’s knee injury (sigh), Ben and Meg Rowley banter (4:19) about a weekend White Sox sweep, the overdue news that Nike is supposedly fixing the much-maligned MLB uniforms, follow-ups about rule rollbacks, ballplayer dirt ingestion, the “group Maddux,” and promotion/relegation, and the Twins’ summer sausage. Then…
(Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images) The Los Angeles Dodgers have one of the largest contingents of players on the injured list. Some of the names include Clayton Kershaw, Walker Buehler, Dustin May, Tony Gonsolin, Kyle Hurt, Bobby Miller, and Jason Heyward, among many others. Unfortunately, another pitcher has joined them: it’s reliever Ryan Brasier. According…
(Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images) In today’s MLB, home runs and strikeouts are among the most common plays. That’s why games without strikeouts are so rare. The Los Angeles Dodgers were able, on Monday, to achieve the feat: their pitchers struck out six members of the Arizona Diamondbacks, but their batters went all game without…
(Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images) MLB fans and collectors are in for a treat. Few things are more valuable to them than items that were used in actual MLB games: balls, gloves, bats, mitts, etc. Baseball card and collectibles company Topps, together with the league and its teams, is taking things to the next level….
(Photo by Megan Briggs/Getty Images) The Washington Nationals are, against all odds, a decent MLB team these days. After rebuilding for a few years, they have been respectable to open the 2024 season and boast a 14-14 record. Their -5 run differential goes in accordance to that record: at the moment, they are an average…
