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• Effectively Wild Episode 2383: How to Call a Collapse

Ben Lindbergh brings on Michael Baumann, who immediately makes Ben regret it by subjecting him to a lyrical ode to Effectively Wild inspired by the Taylor Swift song “Wood.” Then they play “College Baseball Player or Make and Model of Car?” before recapping the three decisive Game 3s of the wild card round (with an […]...2025
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• Which improbable success or failure are you hoping for now?

With just a weekend series (and maybe another game) left, there’s some potential for weirdness still to happen. I remember that a few weeks ago, Michael Baumann at FanGraphs ran an article, the gist of which was, “the lack of playoff races means the system is working,” in the sense that if there are six […]...2025
• Outside The Confines: Trade deadline roundup

Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images What a feeding frenzy. Weeks and weeks of speculation, rumor-mongering, and hug watching, the trade deadline has come and gone. Many moves were made, though none felt like earth-shattering blockbusters. Teams solidified themselves as wanting to contend (we see you Padres) while others seemed to be admitting defeat (sorry about your season, Twins). It’s certa...2025
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• Outside The Confines: The calm before the storm?

Photo by Nick Cammett/Getty Images Emmanuel Clase is placed on leave amid a gambling scandal. The trade deadline is off to a slow start. Bryce Harper and Rob Manfred face off. Good morning. Monday morning, I awoke to an alert on my phone that Guardians closer Emmanuel Clase was placed on non-disciplinary paid leave amid a gambling scandal. I then opened my email inbox where I found a pr...2025
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• Royals Rumblings - News for July 29, 2025

Thomas Shea-Imagn Images Seth Lugo likes us, he really likes us! Seth Lugo talks about wanting to stay in Kansas City. “After being here for a year and a half, me and my family just fell in love with the city,” Lugo said, with his wife, Amanda, sitting in the front row of the press conference and the two Lugo boys, 5-year-old James and 3-year-old Myles, trying their very best to remain at...2025
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• Outside The Confines: The trade season is underway

Photo by Chris Coduto/Getty Images Arizona deals first baseman Josh Naylor to Seattle, and they’re not done yet. Other players who might get dealt this week. It’s Hall of Fame induction weekend. Good morning. Trade season is open. The Diamondbacks traded first baseman Josh Naylor to the Mariners for two pitching prospects, left-hander Brandyn Garcia and right-hander Ashton Izzi. Daniel K...2025
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• Outside The Confines: Trade deadline roundup
2025

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• Outside The Confines: The calm before the storm?
2025

See more articles Emmanuel Clase injury report
• Royals Rumblings - News for July 29, 2025
2025

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• Outside The Confines: Feeling a draft

Ethan Holliday | Steve Sisney/For The Oklahoman / USA TODAY NETWORK The MLB Draft is this weekend, and we have what you need to know. The trade deadline is approaching. The Yankees and Dodgers look vulnerable. And other news from around baseball. Good morning. The MLB Draft starts this Sunday night and here’s all the basic information on the event. Melissa Lockard also has a more in-dep...2025
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• Outside The Confines: Young guns

Photo by John Fisher/Getty Images Wander Franco is sentenced. The injured lists keep growing. A look back at the first half and ahead to the second. And other MLB news. Good morning. I think we have the All-Star Game balloting covered around here already. So I’ll skip that. Rays infielder Wander Franco was found guilty of the sexual abuse of a minor in the Dominican Republic and sentenc...2025
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• Outside The Confines: Is the Orioles season dead in the water?

Mitch Stringer-Imagn Images The Rockies and White Sox get all the attention for tanking their seasons... Happy Wednesday, BCB readers! Lots of little goodies for you in today’s news. A three-time All-Star has announced his retirement, the O’s appear to have given up the ghost for the season, plenty of trade deadline chatter, and how Chris Sale’s latest injury might impact the Braves. Ple...2025
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• Outside The Confines: Burnes goes down

Joe Rondone/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images Diamondbacks ace Corbin Burnes needs Tommy John surgery and there are repercussions. The Red Sox are floundering but have a potential star in the minors. The Rockies are sinking. And other news from around MLB. Good morning. We’re starting with the butcher’s bill tonight. Diamondbacks ace Corbin Burnes will undergo Tommy John ...2025
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• Outside The Confines: The eye of the Tiger

Photo by Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images Tarik Skubal dominates Cleveland. Paul Skenes is going nowhere. The Dodgers fly in style and other MLB news. Good morning. Reigning American League Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal threw a “Maddux” on Sunday, a complete game win with under 100 pitches in a 5-0 win over the Guardians. What’s more amazing is that Skubal struck out 13 batters in his ...2025
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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: Not closing time for a while

Photo by Heather Barry/Getty Images Phillies closer Jose Alvarado is suspended for PED’s. The Orioles fire Brandon Hyde. The Mets/Yankees rivalry heats up. And other news from around baseball. Good morning. The Orioles fired manager Brandon Hyde after a 15-28 start. Third-base coach Tony Mansolino takes over on an interim basis. And the Orioles promptly lost two more games. Several O’s...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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• Outside The Confines: Vladito stays in Toronto

Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and the Blue Jays agree to a massive contract extension. Tragedy in the Dominican Republic hits baseball. More on torpedo bats and two long losing streaks are broken. Good morning. You’ve probably heard this already, but Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and the Blue Jays agreed on a 14-year, $500 million contract extension. Michael Baumann l...2025
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• Outside The Confines: Free the hair!

Photo by Hunter Martin/Getty Images The Yankees’ most old-fashioned policy has ended Start spreading the news! The Yankees are changing one of their silliest and longest-standing rules about player grooming: they will now allow players to have “well-groomed” beards. On the face it it (pun very much intended) this is not massive news, but considering how set in their ways the Yankees have b...2025
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• Cub Tracks’ best paw forward
Photo by Matt Dirksen/Getty Images All the #Cubs, #MLB, and #MiLB news you can use, four days a week. Clark is looking for a Clark bar and a Clark station, on Clark St. Welcome to today’s edition of Cub Tracks news and notes™, a greatest-hits collection of Chicago-style beat writers and bloggers, ground from #Cubs, #MiLB, and #MLB baseball, overheated, steeped in writers’ tears, and then c...2023
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2025
"(The Athletic subscription required) Michael Baumann wants to know what the heck happened to Brett Baty."

2024
"Michael Baumann writes thinks everyone is overreacting to the late singings this winter and that a signing deadline would mostly benefit the owners."

2023
"He’s dealt with a litany of injuries through his career as FanGraphs’ Michael Baumann highlighted humorously in this write-up: (Interior doctor’s office, day."

2022
"”— Michael Baumann (@baumann_md) October 9, 2022 They've lost this fan."

2021
"In a crossover event Marvel would envy, Meg Rowley and guest co-host Michael Baumann of The Ringer discuss Games 1 and 2 of the World Series, what the loss of Charlie Morton means for Atlanta, the narrative role of the starter, how to navigate the moral conundrum that is fandom, the ever-growing length of postseason […]"

2020
"Baltimore is also adding six players to the 40-man roster in advance of tonight’s deadline to protect players from the Rule 5 draft: infielder Rylan Bannon, outfielder Yusniel Diaz, right-handers Michael Baumann and Isaac Mattson and left-handers Zac Lowther and Alexander Wells."

2018
"The tweet in question, from The Ringer’s Michael Baumann, jokingly details a ludicrous course of treatment for Bauer, currently on the mend from a broken right fibula, including plans to “rid his body of CIA nanites."

2017
"The Orioles signed two of their top pitchers on Friday, inking second-round supplemental Draft pick Zac Lowther and third-rounder Michael Baumann."

2016
""It was a strategy born of desperation," as The Ringer's Michael Baumann noted, "but from that desperation sprung a solution that was, through 10 of the 11 wins Cleveland needed to take home a title, practically unbeatable."

2015
"However, as former Grantland writer Michael Baumann noted after Iwakuma threw a no-hitter against Baltimore in August, the right-hander's strong second half does point to big things ahead: Iwakuma is like the contrapositive of Clayton Kershaw."

• Outside The Confines: Trade deadline roundup
2025

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• Outside The Confines: The calm before the storm?
2025

Continue with Emmanuel Clase
• Royals Rumblings - News for July 29, 2025
2025

See more articles Seth Lugo
• Outside The Confines: The trade season is underway
2025

See also Josh Naylor contract rumors
• Outside The Confines: The deadline is coming...

Mitch Stringer-Imagn Images Who will buy, who will sell? The countdown to the trade deadline is officially in the single-digit number of days, so don’t be surprised if the next eight days are a whirlwind of updates on that front. Who will buy? Who will sell? For many teams that question is still up in the air, but baseball front offices are going to need to make up their minds pretty soon,...2025
Read about Gleyber Torres trade rumors
• Effectively Wild Episode 2351: The Worst Way to Lose
Meg Rowley and guest co-host Michael Baumann discuss the Brewers’ recent win streak, what’s contributing to their success, and the general state of the National League playoff field and what it might mean for the trade deadline. Then they consider the worst ways to lose (and win) a baseball game on the back of the […]...2025
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• Outside The Confines: And we’re back

Brett Davis-Imagn Images The break is over and it’s time to get serious. While the All-Star Game is always a fun little break, it certainly feels nice to get back to the regular season, especially when things seem to be going well. The Cubs are firmly atop the NL Central and have their eyes set on the postseason, but to get there, we’ll still need to contend with the trade deadline. While ...2025
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• Outside The Confines: Feeling a draft
2025

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• Outside The Confines: Goodbye June, hello July

Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images The trade deadline and draft approach. Clayton Kershaw is on the verge of 3000 strikeouts. What’s wrong with the Mets? The Moon Mammoths are born and other news around baseball. Good morning. It’s July already. It’s getting late early, as Yogi would say. Will Leitch has seven questions as we head into July. Mark Feinsand looks at the biggest trade...2025
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• Outside The Confines: Young guns
2025

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• Royals Rumblings - News for July 29, 2025
2025

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• Outside The Confines: Feeling a draft
2025

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• Outside The Confines: Burnes goes down
2025

Visit the page Corbin Burnes scores
• 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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• Outside The Confines: Not closing time for a while
2025

Check it out Brandon Hyde stats
• 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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• Outside The Confines: ‘Twas the day before Opening Day

Photo by Julio Aguilar/Getty Images The season is about to start, so there are predictions. Some players get traded. Others get cut. A look back at Freddie Freeman’s dramatic World Series home run and other news from MLB. Good morning. Last day without baseball for a while, no? On the eve of (domestic) Opening Day, ESPN dot com previews all 30 teams and ranks them into tiers. Tom Verduc...2025
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• Outside The Confines: Is Mookie Betts trading strike-outs for strikes?

Photo by John E. Moore III/Getty Images (It’s a very clever joke because he bought a bowling league franchise.) It’s not mystery that baseball players, being athletes, are often fond of more than one sport. Plenty of baseball players were on multiple teams in high school and college, lots of guys play golf (some, like Justin Verlander were actually semi-pro, at least according to his old T...2025
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• Outside The Confines: Tokyo story

Photo by Masterpress/Getty Images The Dodgers take Japan, but Mookie Betts isn’t feeling so good. Some season previews. Everyone is looking for healthy pitching. And other MLB news. Good morning. I’m now convinced the Hanshin Tigers are the best team in baseball. The big news that came out of Tokyo last night is that Dodgers star Mookie Betts will miss both games against the Cubs with a...2025
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• Outside The Confines: Down goes Cole

Photo by Brandon Sloter/Getty Images The Yankees ace needs Tommy John surgery. And other news from around MLB. Good morning. Yankees ace Gerrit Cole will miss the entire 2025 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery. Max Fried says he’s “ready to step up” in Cole’s absence. Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said the team needs to add pitching, but “very little is available.” Bus...2025
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• Royals Rumblings - News for July 29, 2025
2025

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• Outside The Confines: Feeling a draft
2025

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• Outside The Confines: Young guns
2025

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• Outside The Confines: Boys keep swinging
2025

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• Outside The Confines: Not closing time for a while
2025

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• Outside The Confines: Fade to Black

Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images The Rockies fire their longtime manager. The Red Sox are trying to calm a feud with their star slugger. And other news from baseball over the weekend. Good morning. On Saturday, the Colorado Rockies lost 21-0 to the San Diego Padres. So on Sunday, the Rockies fired their longtime manager Bud Black. Bench coach Mike Redmond was also let go. Third base coach Warren...2025
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• Outside The Confines: Here comes the Judge
2025

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• Outside The Confines: Good as Goldschmidt
2025

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• Outside The Confines: Vladito stays in Toronto
2025

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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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• Hisashi Iwakuma to Dodgers: Latest Contract Details, Comments, Reaction
2015

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• Jung Ho Kang Injury: Updates on Pirates Star's Knee and Return
2015

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• The Drew Smyly signing by the numbers
Drew Smyly pitches against the Giants at Wrigley Field in September | Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images Smyly will return to the Cubs It’s hard to avoid a sense of déjà vu writing this piece because I’ve written it before — I also did this five years ago, the first time the Cubs signed Drew Smyly to a two-year deal when he was recovering from Tommy John surgery. The Cubs took a second f...2023
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• MLB.TV takes promised postseason games away from fans in the UK and other countries
Douglas DeFelice-USA TODAY Sports This is not a good look for you, Rob Manfred, but it’s also not surprising. Major League Baseball says it wants to promote the game internationally. To do so, it’s going to hold several games in Europe — the UK and France — over the next few years, including the London Series in 2023 involving the Cubs and Cardinals next June. This is a good thing. Promoti...2022
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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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• Minor League ballplayers officially have a union
MLBPA chief Tony Clark | Photo by Joel Auerbach/Getty Images The MLBPA has been officially named as the representative of most minor league ballplayers in collective bargaining. The Major League Baseball Players Association has officially succeeded in its efforts to unionize the minor leaguers. Arbitrator Martin Schienman officially certified that more than 50 percent of minor league ball...2022
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• Lynch pitches well, but offense quiet in 3-2 loss to Orioles
Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images Daniel Lynch had his best start of the season, going six innings with just three runs allowed, but the offense managed just two runs in a 3-2 loss in the series opener to Baltimore. Lynch walked just one hitter and struck out four in his longest start of the year and his first quality start. It was a shaky start for Lynch, when Austin Hays led off the ...2023
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2. World Series

3. Red Sox

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468. Michael Baumann

• Outside The Confines: Is Mookie Betts trading strike-outs for strikes?
2025

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• 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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• Nelson Agholor to Eagles: Twitter Reacts to Pick After Marcus Mariota Rumors
2015

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• Which improbable success or failure are you hoping for now?
2025
• Outside The Confines: Trade deadline roundup
2025

See more Zack Meisel
• Outside The Confines: The calm before the storm?
2025

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• Royals Rumblings - News for July 29, 2025
2025

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• Outside The Confines: The trade season is underway
2025

Visit the page Josh Naylor
• Outside The Confines: The deadline is coming...
2025

Check it out Gleyber Torres
• Effectively Wild Episode 2351: The Worst Way to Lose
2025

Visit the page Meg Rowley
• Outside The Confines: Young guns
2025

Visit the page John Fisher
• Outside The Confines: Burnes goes down
2025

Check it out Corbin Burnes
• Outside The Confines: The best minor league promo ever
2025

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• Outside The Confines: Trade deadline roundup
2025

Read about Zack Meisel gossip
• Outside The Confines: The calm before the storm?
2025

Click for news about Emmanuel Clase
• Outside The Confines: And we’re back
2025

Read about Brett Davis scandal
• Outside The Confines: Young guns
2025

Continue with John Fisher gossip
• Outside The Confines: Vladito stays in Toronto
2025

Visit the page Blue Jays
• 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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• 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: 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: A new chapter in the Ippei Mizuhara betting scandal

Photo by Masterpress/Getty Images A freshly released criminal complaint offers shocking details in the betting scandal. Ippei Mizuhara, the former interpreter for Shohei Ohtani has been charged with bank fraud after stealing $16 million from Ohtani. In a newly publicized criminal complaint, texts were released between Mizuhara and his bookie, as well as details regarding how much he won (a...2024
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• Outside The Confines: Opening Week is here!

Photo by Frank Jansky/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images The pre-season ends this week, real baseball is almost here! Well, friends, we have officially made it. This is the last Monday without baseball! (Well, regular season baseball. that is.) It’s so thrilling to realize that this is the week baseball begins in earnest and we can switch from saying “Spring training doesn’t count” to “it’s ...2024
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