balls Page 6 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Ronald Acuña has transformed into Superman
The best player in baseball resides in Atlanta. This was always something of the forecast for Ronald Acuña Jr. when he came up through the Braves system. It just wasn’t believed his rise to the top would be quite so ruthlessly achieved. ...

The Cubs are allergic to hits again
Nine games into a season is generally a stupid time to declare any team has major problems. It’s just about five percent of a season. Barely a pimple on the nose of the body of the season. But if you’re the Chicago Cubs, and you’ve had the last couple of seasons they’ve had, and you’re doing/fucking...

Moving All-Star Game out of Georgia is surprisingly right move by MLB
Major League Baseball is not generally an organization that you’d think of as progressive, but Rob Manfred made a big move on Friday, stripping this year’s All-Star Game (something Rob Parker called for Deadspin on Monday) and draft from Atlanta in protest of the state of Georgia’s new voting rights...

MLB and MLBPA need to pull All-Star Game out of Georgia after passing ‘Jim Crow’-era voting laws
Major League Baseball should take action....

Let's see if we can make baseball better by exploiting loopholes in MLB’s rulebook
Major League Baseball’s takeover of the minor leagues has paved the way for the 2021 season to be one of experimentation on the farm, with different rules being tested at different levels in the developmental circuits....

Will the Big Ten’s 21-year national title drought end next month?
On April 3, the national championship trophy inside of the Breslin Center at Michigan State University will be old enough to drink. When that day arrives in three weeks, it will mark 21 years since the Spartans, led by Mateen Cleaves, won their last national title....

How EA Sports rebooted its college football franchise without NCAA licensing
The near eight-year cries for college football’s return to our video game consoles were answered earlier this week. EA Sports announced, initially in very few words, that college football was returning to the brand for a game to be made in the near future. Notably, EA Sports avoided placing the four...

For better or worse, Dustin Pedroia was Boston
There’s an easy-to-reach joke when someone really old dies. “Oh he died years ago, he just fell down yesterday.” That’s basically how it feels with Dustin Pedroia announcing his retirement today. He’s only played nine games in the past three seasons, so his retirement basically announced him. ...

Stop me if you've heard this before, but Nick Saban has COVID-19
Nick Saban has tested positive for COVID-19 again. But this time it’s real. ...

What would a 1,000 mph fastball do to a person? Watch and learn (& do not try at home!)
We’ve all seen it a thousand times: a baseball player tries to field a ball, but can’t catch it and it goes rolling on the outfield grass....

John Wall was way too busy playing spades to pay attention during an ESPN interview
Some things in life cannot wait. ...

MLB’s day of 'madness' an excellent showcase of 2020 baseball* (*not necessarily a compliment)
When the powers that be dreamed up this expanded playoff system/money hunt for baseball’s season-in-a-can, this was the day they were probably thinking of most. The full March Madness treatment in September, with playoff games from noon until past midnight with no break (hell, even the NCAA Tourname...

Rays Rock Red Sox with Historic Lineup
Tampa Bay Rays manager Kevin Cash is pushing all the right buttons this season, as his team is atop the AL East despite having the third-lowest payroll in baseball....

Contrasting Aroldis Chapman with Tom Seaver, Who Never Threw at Anyone’s Head
A hundred years ago, on Aug. 16, 1920, Ray Chapman was killed by a pitch....

LSU’s Ja’Marr Chase Doing a Better Job of Educating Athletes on COVID-19 Than Most Colleges
Ja’Marr Chase is a smart man....

Some Lucky Team Will Get Chance to Ball Out With LaMelo
No matter which team is lucky enough to have the NBA ping-pong balls bounce its way tonight in the draft lottery, the decision should be simple. ...

If You Can Hit a Grand Slam, Do It
Last week, The Associated Press ran a feature on Fernando Tatis Jr., the 21-year-old San Diego Padres shortstop who is living up to the hype as baseball’s best prospect....

Report: Big Ten, Pac-12 Set to Cancel Fall Football Seasons
A combination of health and legal risks have led to smaller college conferences to cancel their fall football seasons. But it looks like the Power 5 is up next....

UConn Listens to Its Players - Announces It Will Call Off 2020 Football Season
This morning, the University of Connecticut announced it would cancel the 2020 football season. The decision makes UConn the first FBS school to cancel football....

Baseball Coronavirus Round-Up: Literally Everyone Will Become Infected at This Rate
On Tuesday, four weeks after testing positive for COVID-19, Phillies second baseman Scott Kingery talked to Jim Salisbury of NBC Sports Philadelphia. He wanted to let everyone know to take the virus seriously, that “it can creep up on you and get you pretty bad like it did with me.”...