Yasiel Puig and the Giants brawled again on Tuesday. This time, it wasn’t Madison Bumgarner, but Nick Hundley who took offense to an unconscionably insignificant Puig “transgression.” Yasiel yelled “fuck” after fouling off a ball:
20-year-old Braves slugger Ronald Acuña Jr. is molten hot right now, blasting eight homers in his last eight games and lead-off dongs in each of his last three. If you’re Marlins starter Jose Ureña, facing the Braves tonight, you can either take Acuña’s recent success as an exciting challenge to your own skills, or…
Miami Marlins CEO Derek Jeter apparently feels he can show his face in public again, opening up to Jerry Crasnick for an ESPN feature on the future of the team, and boy, was the author willing to make him comfortable.
That fan to the right of the top photo? That’s basically me every time a baseball fight breaks out. “Oh! A fight!”
“He’s the best leadoff hitter I’ve ever seen,” Braves teammate Ender Inciarte said of Ronald Acuña Jr. “He’s the best player I’ve ever seen.” Gushing praise, from a teammate, sure, but counterweigh that bias with the fact that Acuña is still just 20 years old. And at least over the last week, it has been absolutely…
Ben Zobrist was ejected in the ninth inning of the Cubs’ 7–0 home loss to the Brewers Tuesday, for arguing (what else) balls and strikes with home plate umpire Phil Cuzzi. The beef went back a few innings, to when Zobrist took a called third strike in the sixth, and reacted angrily. Zobrist survived the initial…
Braves outfielder Nick Markakis has built himself a solid, respectable baseball career—one better than 99 percent of guys who ever pick up the ol’ ball and stick. A .290 career hitter with a wRC+ of 111 in 12-and-three-quarters seasons with Baltimore and now Atlanta, Markakis has never been especially spectacular—save…
Here’s Miami Marlins first base coach Perry Hill, wearing a soggy leaf of lettuce under his batting helmet to stay cool during yesterday’s sweltering afternoon game against the Atlanta Braves:
The Oakland A’s are good, and they are hot, and they are young, and this week they have the opportunity to make a statement. Three games against the Mariners, whom they lead by 2.5 games for the second wild card spot, and then three games against the Astros, whom they trail by 2 games for the division. “The next…
This is wonderful. Reds utility man Brandon Dixon made his first career pitching appearance Monday night, in the ninth inning of an eventual 10-3 loss to the Indians. His pitching line was great: Dixon threw 10 total pitches; no one of them was harder than 74 miles per hour; the slowest came in under 66 miles per…
The Mets beat the Yankees Monday night, 8–5, for their second consecutive win, and fourth in five games, and sixth in nine. They’re coming off their first consecutive series wins since April, and recently got long-suffering Jacob deGrom his first win since mid-June. Things are finally looking ... know what, let’s not…
Ronald Acuña Jr.—the second-most impressive sub-legal drinking age player in the NL East—is having an extremely good time these days. He’s batting leadoff for an Atlanta Braves team that suddenly finds itself half a game up in the division, and he is smoking the hell out of the damn baseball.
Leonys MartĂn has been out for the Indians with an undisclosed illness since Wednesday, August 8. This started to look like it might be quite a bit more serious than the usual flu-like symptoms on Friday, when manager Terry Francona gave an ominous update of MartĂn’s condition:
Even in a profession that asks old men to talk about baseball non-stop for four hours a night, the Atlanta Braves’ announcing team stands out for its dedication to infuriating dumbassery. Most often, it’s the duo of Joe Simpson and Chip Caray who do the heavy lifting, running their mouths about suitable batting…
Minor league baseball is nuts, man. The Burlington Bees had already bled two runs to the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers in the bottom of the ninth of Friday’s Class-A game, but they still had two outs and two strikes against batter Nic Pierre with the bases loaded. The Timber Rattlers’ left fielder struck out—and his team…
After closing three games in three days, Edwin DĂaz was supposed to have Sunday off. It didn’t look like the Mariners would need him anyway, as they trailed the Astros heading to the ninth. But Ryon Healy homered to tie the game, and then Mitch Haniger doubled in the go-ahead run in the 10th, and DĂaz told his bullpen…
Lost in the thrill of rookie David Bote’s spectacular walk-off grand slam was the best pitching duel of perhaps the entire season. New Cubs acquisition Cole Hamels threw seven innings of one-hit, one-run ball, and Max Scherzer, favorite for a third straight Cy Young, did him one better with three hits and 11…
When you’re playing baseball as a kid, just messing around with a bat and a ball in the park or your backyard, what are you picturing? Every time, it’s you’re down three, bases loaded, bottom of the ninth, two outs, two strikes.
Ramon Laureano has played a total of five games in the majors, all this season, all since the start of August. It’s been a fun start! He’s already had a number of defensive highlights, and his first hit in the bigs was a walk-off game-winner in extras, in his first career game.
On Monday, the defending champion Lamigo Monkeys of the Chinese Professional Baseball League announced that they had signed former Oregon State pitcher Luke Heimlich, who pleaded guilty to molesting his 6-year-old niece in 2012. Heimlich was probably a first-round talent, but he was not drafted by any major league…
