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• Effectively Wild Episode 2455: The 2026 Preseason Predictions Game

Ben Lindbergh, Meg Rowley, and FanGraphs authors Michael Baumann and Ben Clemens (accompanied by podcast scorekeeper Chris Hanel) play “College Baseball Player or Driver in a Formula 1 Support Series” (5:07), banter about an auction for Team Italy’s WBC espresso machine (10:09), explain the fourth annual preseason predictions game (19:20), and then make 10 bold […]...2026
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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
See more articles Josh Naylor news today
• 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
Check it out Gleyber Torres breaking news today
• 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

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: Feeling a draft
2025

Check it out Sam Dykstra
• 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
Read about Tarik Skubal injury report
• 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: ‘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
Check it out Julio Aguilar injury report
• 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: Good as Goldschmidt
2025

Visit the page Paul Goldschmidt
• Outside The Confines: Vladito stays in Toronto
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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2026
"Ben Lindbergh, Meg Rowley, and FanGraphs authors Michael Baumann and Ben Clemens (accompanied by podcast scorekeeper Chris Hanel) play “College Baseball Player or Driver in a Formula 1 Support Series” (5:07), banter about an auction for Team Italy’s WBC espresso machine (10:09), explain the fourth annual preseason predictions game (19:20), and then make 10 bold […]"

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: The trade season is underway
2025

Click for news about Josh Naylor trade rumors
• Outside The Confines: The deadline is coming...
2025

Visit the page Gleyber Torres contract rumors
• Effectively Wild Episode 2351: The Worst Way to Lose
2025

Read about Meg Rowley salary rumors
• Outside The Confines: And we’re back
2025

Click for news about Brett Davis
• Outside The Confines: Feeling a draft
2025

Visit the page Sam Dykstra salary rumors
• 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
Continue with Clayton Kershaw
• Outside The Confines: Is the Orioles season dead in the water?
2025

Read about White Sox trade rumors
• Outside The Confines: Burnes goes down
2025

See more articles Corbin Burnes salary rumors
• Outside The Confines: The eye of the Tiger
2025

Continue with Tarik Skubal
• Outside The Confines: Not closing time for a while
2025

Check it out Brandon Hyde salary rumors

• Outside The Confines: Feeling a draft
2025

Visit the page Sam Dykstra
• Outside The Confines: Burnes goes down
2025

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

Read about Brandon Hyde
• 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
Visit the page Daniel Shirey statistics
• Outside The Confines: ‘Twas the day before Opening Day
2025

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• Outside The Confines: Tokyo story
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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• 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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• Outside The Confines: Your new Hall of Fame inductees

Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images I just want to talk to that one voter who left Ichiro off their ballot... Well, the long-anticipated time arrived last night as the newest class of MLB Hall of Famers was announced. Ichiro Suzuki was one vote shy of being a unanimous inductee, and I think perhaps anonymous ballots shouldn’t be allowed because I just want to have a quick chat with the pe...2025
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• Outside The Confines: Feeling a draft
2025

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

Continue with Brandon Hyde
• 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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• 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: ‘Twas the day before Opening Day
2025

See more articles Julio Aguilar
• Outside The Confines: Tokyo story
2025

Visit the page Mookie Betts

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

Visit the page Hisashi Iwakuma
• 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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1. White Sox

2. World Series

3. Red Sox

. . .

477. Michael Baumann

• 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
Visit the page Shohei Ohtani
• Nelson Agholor to Eagles: Twitter Reacts to Pick After Marcus Mariota Rumors
2015

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• Outside The Confines: The trade season is underway
2025

Check it out Josh Naylor
• Outside The Confines: The deadline is coming...
2025

Visit the page Gleyber Torres
• Effectively Wild Episode 2351: The Worst Way to Lose
2025

See more articles Meg Rowley
• Outside The Confines: Burnes goes down
2025

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

Check it out Trash Pandas
• Outside The Confines: Good as Goldschmidt
2025

See more Paul Goldschmidt
• Outside The Confines: Extensions, extensions
2025

Continue with Kyle Tucker
• Outside The Confines: Tokyo story
2025

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• Outside The Confines: Rays being sold, and A’s getting bold?

Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images Things are getting interesting! Hello friends! Lots of little news bites to jump into today, but a couple of interesting ones to look out for in today’s links. For starters, the Oakland... er, Sacramento... er... Las Vegas A’s are getting themselves geared up for the future, not just with contract extensions and deals, but also a new uniform patch that promo...2025
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• Outside The Confines: Who’s on first?

Photo by Mark Taylor/Getty Images The issues surrounding baseball stadiums. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. reveals his contract demands. The decline of first base. The Mariners’ front office are criticized and other news from around MLB. Good morning. Jeff Passan looks at the issue of two major league teams playing in minor league stadiums this season. He examines what it means for the Athletics...2025
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• Outside The Confines: And we’re back
2025

Read about Brett Davis
• Outside The Confines: Vladito stays in Toronto
2025

Visit the page Blue Jays buzz
• 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
Continue with Shohei Ohtani scandals
• Outside The Confines: No baseball players won Oscars last night

Photo by FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images But it was still a fun show. While most of the buzz this weekend was over the Oscars, that doesn’t mean there was no baseball news to delve into. The Reds have a suspension scandal to deal with. Former Reds player Joey Votto is heading to his Canadian homeland on a minor league deal. The Twins are getting their sleep, Willy Adames is looking ...2024
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• Outside the Confines: The Twins and Mariners make a trade

Jesse Johnson-USA TODAY Sports The Orioles are being sold. Justin Turner heads north of the border. More trouble in Las Vegas. And other news from around baseball. The College Baseball season starts in 16 days. The Mariners and Twins made a reasonably major trade as Minnesota shipped second baseman Jorge Polanco to Seattle for right-handed reliever Justin Topa, right-handed starter Anth...2024
Read about Justin Turner buzz
• Outside The Confines: The Tigers claim the voice of the White Sox
2023

Click for news about White Sox scandal