Baseball Page 852 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Hospital where Anthony Rizzo visits sick children calls COVID vaccine ‘personal choice’
If you aren’t in or around the Chicago area, you might not know about the Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital. A gem of a building located close to Chicago’s Magnificent Mile, Lurie has been the gold standard for treating children with everything from “boo-boos to blood disorders,” as their ...

No, armchair Twitter goofs, you can’t hit top-tier pitching
I’m not a professional athlete. I’m not even an athlete. I used to be, back in my youth. You’ll hear a cornucopia of opinions on sports from me, from strategy to execution. When a player does something fantastic, I’ll say it. When a player does something awful, I’ll say it. What you will never hear ...

This is why no one cares about media access
Shortly after sports returned from their pandemic-enforced break, all leagues announced that media interactions would not take place in the dressing rooms or clubhouse or on the field while the COVID was still ever-present. Press conferences would be conducted in a Zoom-type fashion, and ever since ...

Is Albert Pujols ... good again?
It’s been a minute … maybe even millions of them....

Choose your fighter: deGrom or Ohtani?
New York Mets’ starter Jacob deGrom is kinda having a pretty alright season. More than 60 games in, his 0.56 ERA is half that of Bob Gibson’s from 1968 (1.12 — the lowest single-season ERA in the modern era). He’s also striking out 14.48 batters per nine innings pitched, which would also be the all-...

Jacob deGrom is deBest, but can he stay healthy?
Jacob deGrom is incredible, that’s nothing new. Friday night, the best pitcher on the planet had his third game this season with double-digit strikeouts and no walks, lowering his ERA to 0.56 with six innings of one-hit ball against the Padres....

Vandy’s Kumar Rocker has no more use for college hitters
It’s so unfair, man. ...

HEAR ME OUT: The infield fly rule is dumb and needs to be done away with
Last night’s Astros-Red Sox game had everything. There was a divisive fan moment before the game when a kid called Alex Bregman over under the guise of wanting to get a picture only to pull the rug out from underneath him and call him a cheater. There were six lead changes — more than any game since...

Mom makes MLB catch of the year
Is there anything a mom can’t do? It’s an overused phrase, I know. But it’s pretty true. I’d like to imagine that someone, somewhere, actually has a list of all things the super-moms can do out there. Now, it’s time to add, “mom bare hands foul ball with baby in hand” to the file....

Pete Alonso has no problems with sticky stuff, but big problems with MLB
Break out your tin foil hats, because we’re diving into the Major League Baseball conspiracy well. All the talk around baseball’s proverbial water cooler lately has been about pitchers using sticky substances to increase their grip on the baseball. However, according to 2019 NL Rookie of the Year, P...

Rookie umpire throws bat, hits José Abreu squarely in knee
I know umpires like to clear bats out of the way when they anticipate a play at the plate, but one would think that they would do so with a little bit of caution....

There’s a reason all this ‘sticky stuff’ talk is happening now
There are pretty much just five things going on across baseball Twitter nowadays:...

Brandon Crawford deserves more love than he’s been getting
When the 2021 MLB All-Star Game polls opened on June 3, I filled out five ballots. I’ve voted at least once every day since. And every time, I voted for pretty much the same team with a few minor adjustments. ...

Remember to touch every base
Yes, if you hit a home run you still need to step on all the bases and, of course, home plate. It’s not a crazy, or even a controversial, rule. But sometimes, even the pros forget....

Cubs’ City Connect jerseys advertise a neighborhood they killed
Spend enough time raging against the dying of the light and all you end up with is a sore throat and in the dark. Some things just can’t be prevented, no matter how hard you try and how right you are. The minute you learn that fact is probably the exact minute your childhood dies. ...

Grumpire to home run admirer... Stop gawking and run!
Dallas Baptist University was down by three in the bottom of the seventh. With two outs and the bases loaded in the NCAA regional, redshirt freshman Andrew Benefield came to the plate. Then, well… just watch....

So, Mariners' phenom Jarred Kelenic is having some trouble adjusting
About a month ago, the Jarred Kelenic era officially began in Seattle. In his second game in the big leagues, Kelenic went 3-for-4 with three extra-base hits including a dinger, and the baseball world — including myself — went wild...like Bear Grylls wild. However, perhaps declaring Kelenic the next...

Meet MLB’s All-'Never-been an All-Star' Team
Nowadays, it seems like every baseball player under the sun has been an All-Star at some point in their careers. In 2019, there were four AL second basemen selected for the Midsummer Classic. FOUR! In total, there were 75 players awarded All-Star recognition in 2019. In 2018, 73 players were named A...

The Cleveland Avengers, really?
When a team changes its name, there’s so much potential for creativity. Obviously, there are some aspects that need to be avoided. You don’t want to pick a name that will marginalize or stereotype any groups. You also want to choose something that represents the city, state, or area you’re playing f...

MLB doesn’t need a 'face of baseball,' and the proof is in the playoffs
Mike Trout has as many MVP awards as career playoff games played, with three, and for as much talk as there might be in baseball — even from the commissioner — about MLB’s need for the best player of his generation to take on the mantle of the face of the game, no amount of marketing can make up for...