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• Outside The Confines: The best minor league promo ever

Photo by Soeren Stache/picture alliance via Getty Images Or maybe it’s just me? Happy Friday, everyone! I hope the week has treated you well and you’re looking forward to a relaxing weekend. We have plenty of fun links in today’s OTC, so grab a cup of coffee and get ready for a little overview of what’s going on in baseball. From one pitcher realizing you shouldn’t tweet while drunk, to a ...2025
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• Outside The Confines: Boys keep swinging

Brad Penner-Imagn Images New concerns about the ABS system as MLB unveils a check-swing system. The Boone brothers reunite. A look back at how a volcano affected baseball and other baseball news Good morning. If the Automated Ball-Strike System (ABS, aka “robot umps”) is adopted in 2026, players and umpires have concerns about the margin of error on the system (The Athletic sub. req.) and...2025
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• Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat – 5/20/25
A day late, but certainly not a dollar short, Ben Clemens is here to take your questions....2025
• Outside The Confines: Pete Rose and others have their permanent bans lifted by MLB

Photo by Focus on Sport via Getty Images The path is now open for these players to get into the Hall of Fame. Yesterday, despite previously indicating he would not, Rob Manfred announced that all deceased players would be removed from MLB’s permanent ineligible list. The two biggest names this obviously impacts are Pete Rose and Shoeless Joe Jackson, both of whom were banned for betting r...2025
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• Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat – 5/12/25
To paraphrase Mike Shannon, happy belated birthday to all the mothers out there....2025
• Effectively Wild Episode 2320: Baseball Jobs (Dietician and Fun-Fact Finder)

Ben Lindbergh and Ben Clemens of FanGraphs banter about the latest positional drama regarding Rafael Devers, then discuss whether and why pitchers leaguewide are Yu Darvish-ing and Tyler Holton-ing—that is, throwing more pitch types, and varying their pitch types more based on batter handedness—before answering listener emails about home strike zones and combining bad teams […]...2025
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• Outside The Confines: The best minor league promo ever
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• Outside The Confines: Record Royals

Photo by Julio Aguilar/Getty Images The Royals/Orioles game was a big hit, and made MLB history Happy Monday, everyone! It’s a fine day to be a Cubs fan as they edge closer to the Mets, and things are just looking excellent. The news over the weekend was light, but there were some interesting history-making moments. The Royals set a franchise record for solo home runs in a single game, whi...2025
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• Royals Rumblings - News for April 23, 2025

Photo by Tanner Gatlin/MLB Photos via Getty Images The stoppable force meets the movable object in Kauffman Stadium. David Lesky takes a long look at Kansas City Royals trade candidates (as buyers) at Inside the Crown. [$] Last year, two of the 12 teams in the postseason were under .500 after 23 games. The bar simply isn’t as high to get in, which means more times are in it a lot longer. B...2025
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• Outside The Confines: Shohei Ohtani adds No. 1 Dad to his accolades

Photo by Richard Rodriguez/Getty Images Congrats to the Ohtanis! Happy Monday, everyone. There were some wild games scores this weekend, some crazy plays, some even crazier umpire calls, but in today’s news we’re touching on the highlights of what you might have missed this weekend. For one thing, baseball’s biggest superstar Shohei Ohtani is now a dad, as his wife gave birth to a daughter...2025
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• Outside The Confines: When you don’t wish upon a star

Photo by Justin K. Aller/Getty Images Paul Skenes is a superstar and are the Pirates are wasting him? Players off to a hot start. Are hitters catching up to pitching? And other news from around MLB. Good morning. It’s 1:20 on Friday somewhere. Jeff Passan has the story of Pirates ace Paul Skenes’ road to becoming a superstar. R.J. Anderson believes that the Pirates are wasting Skenes’ t...2025
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• Outside The Confines: Good as Goldschmidt

Photo by Nic Antaya/Getty Images The Yankees’ leadoff man has been unexpectedly clutch for the team. The Yankees are a team built on a lot of money and superstar power, but still, no one would have pointed at Paul Goldschmidt in the lineup and thought he might be the most productive member of the team. Yet, in a recent series against the Tigers, and in fact all through the early part of th...2025
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• Royals Rumblings - News for April 10, 2025

Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images Being shut out is no fun. Sam McDowell at the Star has five takeaways from the first two weeks of the season: Those three hitters in the middle of the order combined for a 1.025 on-base plus slugging percentage (OPS) with runners in scoring position in 2024. Witt was second in baseball at 1.183, Pasquantino 14th and Perez 15th. A year later, that trio has combi...2025
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• Brent Rooker on Athletics’ new ballpark, swing changes and more

Photo by Stephen Brashear/Getty Images Brent Rooker is the main cog for an Athletics team that is trying to turn the corner. In 2024, The Athletics OF/DH Brent Rooker had an outstanding season. As Frank Polito wrote on Athletics Nation, “This past season was clearly the break-out that A’s leadership and our fans expected.” Rooker finished the season 10th in AL MVP voting and won the AL S...2025
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• Outside The Confines: Vandalizing history

Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images The Department of Defense dishonors a hero before reversing course. The pitching injuries are stacking up. The Orioles set a record and no one noticed. A high school baseball powerhouse. Good morning. No comments today. I know most of you would be respectful, but better safe than sorry. The Department of Defense temporarily removed a article praising...2025
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• Royals Rumblings - News for March 19, 2025

Photo by Aryanna Frank/MLB Photos via Getty Images MLB.com examines one player in each camp that is making the biggest impression, with pitcher Daniel Lynch IV representing the Kansas City Royals. There aren’t too many roster battles for the Royals this camp, but Lynch has made the biggest one — the fifth starter battle — at least an interesting conversation. His spring ERA jumped to 3.21 ...2025
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• Outside The Confines: Good as Goldschmidt
2025

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• BCB After Dark: Should the Cubs trade for a closer?

Photo by Alex Bierens de Haan/MLB Photos via Getty Images The late-night/early-morning spot for Cubs fans asks if the Cubs should trade for Astros reliever Ryan Pressly. We’re open for another week here at BCB After Dark: the coolest club for night owls, early risers, new parents and Cubs fans abroad. Come in out of the cold. There’s no cover charge this evening. We can check your coat fo...2025
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• Outside The Confines: Shohei Ohtani’s surprise wedding

Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports The superstar posted the news to social media. Surprise! Shohei Ohtani has tied the knot, and for someone worth nearly a billion dollars, and a superstar athlete in both his native Japan and his present home of the US, one might expect some high-profile nuptials, but instead Ohtani has kept his wedding relatively quiet. Ohtani has married a woman from Japan ...2024
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• Chin Music, Episode 26: That’s a Cat Going Crazy
I’m back from vacation and so is co-host Ben Clemens, so let’s podcast again, shall we? We begin by talking about the good and the bad from the Field Of Dreams game, some silly comments from Mets management about player injuries, and why MLB (and everyone else for that matter) should avoid partnering with Barstool […]...2021
• Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat – 8/9/21
Back from vacation, it's time for another chat. Want to banter about the Mets' meltdown or whatever else catches your eye? Let's talk about it!...2021

2025
"Ben Clemens breaks down a pair of Yankees acquisitions, first baseman Paul Goldschmidt and reliever Fernando Cruz."

2024
"Ben Clemens is already wondering why this season’s bad teams are SO bad, and the season hasn’t even started yet."

2023
"FanGraphs has looked at this periodically and for the 2022 season, Ben Clemens used their methodology to estimate that teams were paying $8."

2022
"At least one analyst I trust believes in the breakout, Ben Clemens at FanGraphs looked at Swanson’s ZiPs projections and percentile outcomes going forward."

2021
"The most significant players to hit the open market this offseason, as compiled by Ben Clemens and the FanGraphs staff."

• Outside The Confines: Boys keep swinging
2025

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• Outside The Confines: Pete Rose and others have their permanent bans lifted by MLB
2025

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• Outside The Confines: Record Royals
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• Outside The Confines: Here comes the Judge

Photo by Daniel Shirey/MLB Photos via Getty Images Aaron Judge is doing things no one has seen before. So are the Rockies, only that’s bad stuff. Trends over the first month and other news from around MLB. Good morning. Mike Axisa argues that over the last calendar year, no one has ever been as good at the plate as Aaron Judge and that includes Barry Bonds. Bryan Hoch notes that Judge ...2025
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• Royals Rumblings - News for April 23, 2025
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• Outside The Confines: Shohei Ohtani adds No. 1 Dad to his accolades
2025

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• Outside The Confines: When you don’t wish upon a star
2025

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• Outside The Confines: Good as Goldschmidt
2025

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• Outside The Confines: Extensions, extensions

Tim Heitman-Imagn Images Lots of players got contract extensions. More on the torpedo bat. The Dodgers are hot and the Braves are not. And other news from around MLB. Good morning. We’re leading off with a whole mess of contact extensions today and none of them are Kyle Tucker. First off, Red Sox lefty Garrett Crochet agreed to a six-year, $170 million contract. extension. Dan Szymborski...2025
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• Outside The Confines: Vandalizing history
2025

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• Outside The Confines: Boys keep swinging
2025

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• Outside The Confines: Here comes the Judge
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• Royals Rumblings - News for April 23, 2025
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• Outside The Confines: Shohei Ohtani adds No. 1 Dad to his accolades
2025

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• Royals Rumblings - News for April 10, 2025
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• Outside The Confines: Vandalizing history
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• Royals Rumblings - News for March 19, 2025
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• Outside The Confines: No deal for Vlad Jr. and the Jays

Photo by Mark Blinch/Getty Images The face of the franchise will become the face of free agency this fall. Happy Wednesday BCB friends! We have some interesting stories ahead for you today, chief among them being that one of baseball’s biggest extensions isn’t happening. The Toronto Blue Jays and Vladimir Guerrero Jr failed to come to an agreement on extension terms. As a result, Vlad Jr,...2025
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• Tuesday Rockpile: Are the Los Angeles Dodgers ruining baseball?

Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images Colorado Rockies news and links for Tuesday, February 11, 2025 No MLB team has had a better offseason than the Los Angeles Dodgers, who have signed a litany of stars: Roki Sasaki; Blake Snell; Teoscar Hernández; Tanner Scott; Michael Conforto . . . There are more, but I have limited space. View this post on Instagram ...2025
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• Royals Rumblings - News for January 31, 2025

Superb Owls indeed! | Photo by YASSER AL-ZAYYAT/AFP via Getty Images Superb Owls, one week early Like baseball and have musical talent? We are now accepting auditions for National Anthem and God Bless America performances for the 2025 season!— Kansas City Royals (@royals.com) 2025-01-30T18:00:51.567Z Raising Royals, the Royals player development account, put out two videos with highli...2025
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• Outside The Confines: Boys keep swinging
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• Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat – 5/12/25
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• Outside The Confines: Record Royals
2025

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• Outside The Confines: Here comes the Judge
2025

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• Outside The Confines: Shohei Ohtani adds No. 1 Dad to his accolades
2025

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• Outside The Confines: When you don’t wish upon a star
2025

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• Outside The Confines: Jackie Robinson Day moments

Photo by Aaron Gash/MLB Photos via Getty Images Yesterday was one of baseball’s most meaningful days. Jackie Robinson Day is a big event in baseball. All 30 clubs play, and all players wear the number 42—retired throughout MLB—to honor the late, great Jackie Robinson. While the event itself is typically a joyful one, recalling the barriers broken by Robinson that paved the way for so many ...2025
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• Outside The Confines: Good as Goldschmidt
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• Outside The Confines: Monday morning MLB moments

Photo by Kevin D. Liles/Atlanta Braves/Getty Images Little tidbits from the weekend. Happy Monday, everyone. Plenty of fun stuff to catch up on from the weekend! We can see what happens when one of the tallest pitchers in baseball stands beside one of the shortest players. Elly De La Cruz fumbled a steal in fairly hilarious fashion. How are the Red Sox now celebrating their home runs? And...2025
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• Outside The Confines: Extensions, extensions
2025

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• Money talks: Craig Counsell will be the next manager of the Chicago Cubs

Craig Counsell and David Ross shake hands on Opening Day at Wrigley Field in 2022 | Matt Marton-USA TODAY Sports There are some really interesting financial elements informing this decision In early December 2021 I was grumbling to myself about free agent signings and deals right before the lockout as I was walking to get coffee. It was right after now World Series champions Marcus Semien ...2023
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• The Dansby Swanson signing by the numbers
Dansby Swanson takes an at bat last June at Wrigley Field | Photo by Jamie Sabau/Getty Images The Cubs landed the last of the big four shortstops. When I posted about the Dansby Swanson signing on social media I said the seven-year $177 million deal was very reasonable, dare I say, “intelligent spending,” given the shortstop market we’ve seen this year. One of my friends, Cubs fan James Lo...2022
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• Outside The Confines: Twist of fate! Carlos Correa to the Mets
Matt Krohn-USA TODAY Sports Carlos Correa spurns the Giants for the Mets. The second-tier free agents start to sign. And other news from around MLB. This shocking news that Carlos Correa has just signed with the Mets broke after midnight on the West Coast last night. I assume this is for real, although Heyman was the man who reported that Aaron Judge signed with the Giants. This does seem...2022
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• How to watch the Royals in 2023
A detailed view of a Bally Sports microphone laying on the field after being used for an interview prior to the Spring Training game between the Detroit Tigers and the Washington Nationals at Publix Field at Joker Marchant Stadium on March 8, 2023 in Lakeland, Florida. The Tigers defeated the Nationals 2-1. | Photo by Mark Cunningham/MLB Photos via Getty Images Royals games on your screen!...2023
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• Outside The Confines: A good old-fashioned trade
Photo by Megan Briggs/Getty Images The Twins and Marlins make a deal based on needs and not contracts. An Oakland legend passes. A look back at free agency and more news from around MLB. I remember when a team trading a batting champion would have been a huge deal. The last player traded the offseason after winning a batting title was Rod Carew back in 1979. The Minnesota Twins traded s...2023
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• Outside The Confines: The Tigers claim the voice of the White Sox

Photo by Ron Vesely/MLB Photos via Getty Images This might be the best offseason move yet. Well, one of the biggest moves of the offseason has nothing to do with players, or even with the shuffle of managers. The Detroit Tigers announced today that after Bally Sports Detroit parted ways with Matt Shepard the new play-by-play announcer for the season will be none other than White Sox great ...2023
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• Outside The Confines: Behind the dish no more
Photo by Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images A former friend is going through some changes. Happy Monday everyone! The big stories over the weekend were the news that the floundering Cardinals are making a bit of a change about where former Cub Willson Contreras will be playing going forward; Royals pitcher Ryan Yarbrough experienced a scary moment on the mound; a former A’s MVP has passed away; ...2023
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• Outside The Confines: The A’s Opera House

Oakland Athletics The A’s unveil their plans for a Las Vegas stadium and it looks... similar to something else The A’s moving to Las Vegas has been a limbo-state story for months now. There doesn’t seem to be a lot of certainty about when or if the A’s are moving, because right now they’re still in Oakland and exploring ways to extend their stay, but they have also unveiled stadium renderi...2024
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1. White Sox

2. World Series

3. Red Sox

. . .

3057. Ben Clemens

• Outside The Confines: No Rays of sunshine

Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images Things are going wrong fast for the Rays. Also the Angels, who bet big on one last year with Shohei Ohtani. And other news from around MLB Just a few months ago, the Tampa Bay Rays were the biggest story in the game for the best start to a season since the 1984 Tigers. Now, they’re the biggest story in the game for not-as-pleasant reasons. The Tampa Bay Ray...2023
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• Outside The Confines: Correa returned to sender?
Photo by Brace Hemmelgarn/Minnesota Twins/Getty Images The Carlos Correa sweepstakes seem poised to end where they began. Sometimes during the offseason (and I’ve done it here myself), we like to post tweet updates showing the wild and wacky path taken by minor league players bouncing from team to team via DNF and signing. Well, I don’t think anyone expected the wildest ride of free agency...2023
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• Outside The Confines: The best minor league promo ever
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• Outside The Confines: Boys keep swinging
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• Royals Rumblings - News for April 23, 2025
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• Outside The Confines: When you don’t wish upon a star
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• Outside The Confines: Jackie Robinson Day moments
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• Outside The Confines: Good as Goldschmidt
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• Brent Rooker on Athletics’ new ballpark, swing changes and more
2025

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• Outside The Confines: Extensions, extensions
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• Outside The Confines: Vandalizing history
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• Royals Rumblings - News for March 19, 2025
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• Outside The Confines: Jackie Robinson Day moments
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• Brent Rooker on Athletics’ new ballpark, swing changes and more
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• Outside The Confines: Vandalizing history
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• Outside The Confines: Spring Training stories

Photo by Cliff Welch/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images Injuries, excitement, sneaky showcases... Spring Training has it all. We’re finally into spring training in a real way, with actual gameplay and so much is going on. Pitchers are getting fired up about ABS... and ABS might also be proving some players have been lying about their height. Three Twins players had a scary near-miss, meanwh...2025
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• BCB After Dark: Should the Cubs trade for a closer?
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• Outside The Confines: Juan Soto tops the free agent market

Photo by J. Conrad Williams Jr./Newsday RM via Getty Images But what will it take to sign him? There are plenty of big names out there who have now hit the free agent market, but likely none is bigger than Yankees’ slugger Juan Soto. Soto, agented by Scott Boras, is sure to fetch a tidy sum, and plenty of teams are already making overtures to try and get him on their roster. Al will have m...2024
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• Outside The Confines: Bad blood

Photo by Harry How/Getty Images Bad blood reigns in the Dodgers/Padres series. The Tigers shocked the Guardians. And other news from around the playoffs. Good morning. I suppose it’s a good morning if you’re a Mets or Padres fan. I assume you know the scores of those games yesterday, so I’m not linking to any game recaps. I will link to the brouhaha that took place at Dodger Stadium durin...2024
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• Outside The Confines: A long-awaited debut for Kumar Rocker

Photo by Alika Jenner/Getty Images The player is poised to make history as he prepares to make his debut. Happy Friday, everyone! We’re halfway through September, which means we only have two full weeks of regular season baseball left. There are still some questions about who will slot in for the wild card spots, and some teams who are poised to win their divisions might want to worry a bi...2024
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• Outside The Confines: One month down

Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images At the end of baseball’s first month, things are starting to take shape. It seems impossible that a full month of baseball has passed us by. It feels like only yesterday we were celebrating Opening Day, and now we’re getting to a point where it might be time to stop saying “small sample size” as an excuse. The Dodgers aren’t a shocker as the NL West le...2024
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• Outside The Confines: The Yankees bid farewell to John Sterling

Photo by Rich Schultz/Getty Images The iconic radio voice of the team announced his sudden departure this week. On Monday, with no preamble, the Yankees announced that their long-time radio play-by-play announcer John Sterling was calling it a career, and his last game in the booth was behind him. The 85-year-old called 5,420 regular season games over his long career. Sterling cited the s...2024
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