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The warm glow of MLB’s Hot Stove warming glow — NL WestEverywhere except Houston, it’s time for teams and fans to try and get to where Houston is. Or it will be in January or February instead of November and December, like it used to be. Anyway, we run through what teams might need and what they might do, for most of them these things don’t line up, and...

At least we know Gabe Kapler isn't to blame for the Giants' underwhelming seasonThe San Francisco Giants have been one of the biggest disappointments of 2022. That was expected. We couldn’t expect Brandon Crawford to have another career year at 35 years old. Brandon Belt, Darin Ruf (no longer with the team), and Mike Yastrzemski have all had down seasons. Kevin Gausman is gone,...

The San Francisco Giants cannot catch the baseballThere was always going to be a bit of a comedown from a 107-win season for the San Francisco Giants. Unless you’re operating on a higher plane both organizationally and financially like the Dodgers, all the things that have to go right for a team to win that many games one season are not going to do...

Top candidates fit to manage Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani

Two weeks ago, the Los Angeles Angels were on top of the world. They had the best record in the AL West. Mike Trout was healthy and playing at the level we’ve come to expect. Shohei Ohtani had gotten off to a rocky start on the mound, but he’d lowered his ERA to an incredible 2.82 after his May 18 s...

Yes, a pitcher can be the best player in baseball, especially if he also hits 40 HRs

Quarterback is the most important position in football because a quarterback has the ball in their hands for nearly half of the game. They control the game’s pace of play, the efficiency of the passing attack, and although it’s not done nearly as much nowadays, they can even call their team’s plays....

32 teams need to hear this: There is no pitching formula for the playoffs

Many years ago now, baseball pundits and fans tried to come up with a “secret sauce” for success in the playoffs. It can be pretty infuriating to simply accept that the sport’s biggest prize is handed out at the conclusion of a tournament that is essentially random. There had to be a reason these th...

The Dodgers’ trade deadline was better than you think

Last night, the Dodgers’ Max Scherzer threw six innings of shutout baseball to lead his team to a 4-3 win. With that victory, coupled with a Giants loss to Milwaukee, the Dodgers took sole possession of first place in the NL West....

The Giants just won’t die

For everyone who isn’t a child of Will Clark or Jason Schmidt, watching the Giants hold off the Dodgers in the NL West has been something like watching one of those nature videos of a lion stalking a wounded antelope. It’s not a question of if or when. It’s going to happen....