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This is part of Clayton Kershaw's legacy, too

Clayton Kershaw is the best pitcher of the 21st century. This much isn’t really in dispute. A career 2.48 ERA and 2.82 FIP over 16 years is unimpeachable. There’s three Cy Youngs to go with it, and an MVP in 2014 when he had a 1.77 ERA and a 0.857 WHIP, which is beyond stupid. He probably should hav...

The Legacy of Jim Thorpe | Joe Pantoliano's Ultimate Sports Fantasy

It’s getting a little late a little early for the San Diego Padres

One of the many things about the expanded playoffs in MLB is that a team doesn’t have to be good for six months. Or really even three. Put two good months together and a team can probably Forrest Gump their way into the dance. It’s what the Phillies did last year, after all. That’s what the San Dieg...

The Cincinnati Reds are in first place, but they’re not there yet, and their owner still sucks

Given where the NL Central is, and where their various teams are in their “processes,” it’s not really a huge shock that the first part of the season was the Pittsburgh Pirates burning hot for a bit, fizzling out, and now a new, young, rebuilding team can rise to the top for a while and see what lif...

The New York Yankees are running out of numbers to issue

The New York Yankees have a long, storied history, with 45 players being inducted into the Hall of Fame. The Bronx Bombers have also retired the numbers of their greats — players and managers, including some that aren’t in Cooperstown. All in all, the Yankees have retired 22 numbers — including from...

Deion Sanders has lofty football goals — and a potential foot amputation on the horizon

Despite the limited amount of time it’s been since Deion Sanders became a college football head coach, it feels a lot longer — and weeks like this last one are why. “Coach Prime” has been in the news not once, but twice. The former is trivial, the latter is not....

Trevor Bauer calls new sexual assault allegation an extortion attempt

Three months after former Major League Baseball and current Yokohama DeNA BayStars pitcher Trevor Bauer had his lawsuit against Deadspin dismissed, new accusations of sexual assault have surfaced. This time, it’s for an alleged incident that took place in late 2020 in Arizona. Per USA Today, the wom...

Deion Sanders is escalating his feud with Pat Narduzzi

Deion Sanders’ recruiting tactics have been pilloried or celebrated far and wide across the college football spectrum since he became the top dog in charge of the University of Colorado’s football program in December. Since then, most of Sanders’ peers have been tightlipped about their concerns surr...

Toronto Blue Jays players didn't want Anthony Bass participating in Pride Night [Update]

Anthony Bass should have learned to stay off of social media — and perhaps pitch better— as he was DFA’d by the Toronto Blue Jays on Friday afternoon....

Texas Rangers don’t need Jacob deGrom to be one of MLB's best teams

The weirdest part of the news of Jacob deGrom’s impending season-ending Tommy John surgery, which in all likelihood could keep him out of the Texas Rangers’ rotation until the beginning of the 2025 season, is that the first-place team in the American League West doesn’t need him. Is deGrom a massive...

The Mets are gonna Mets, even if Jacob deGrom is in Texas

While there will be plenty claiming they always knew the Texas Rangers took too big of a risk in signing Jacob deGrom this past winter, the allure of deGrom was simply too much. And it should be. Especially if you don’t really care about the money, which more MLB owners shouldn’t. The Rangers have p...

Alek Manoah has been so awful the Blue Jays sent him to the rookie circuit [Update]

A 30,000-foot view of the Toronto Blue Jays so far this season wouldn’t detect any huge problems. The offense, while maybe not tearing a hole in the Earth or indeed time as might have been predicted, is still 11th in MLB in runs. Bo Bichette is second in batting average, Vladito is bashing the shit ...

Sometimes basketball is as simple as having taller guys everywhere

I wouldn’t pretend to be a basketball expert. My colleague Stephen will be around later to do that stuff. I do know there are myriad ways of designing an offense and defense and how to guard pick-and-rolls and rotations and a bunch of other things that coaches play with throughout a playoff series. ...

The Philadelphia Phillies' offense is doing that thing again

The Philadelphia Phillies are an imperfect being. Yes, they’ve been that way for pretty much their entire existence. But every baseball fan/watcher knows that the recent vintage of the Fightins is kind of a top-heavy outfit, that generally plays defense like it’s just about to sneeze, and the bullpe...

The San Diego Padres are the first to get out of their Bally Sports TV deal

In a few years, baseball TV will look very different. We’re getting a glimpse now, thanks to Bally Sports missing a payment to the San Diego Padres, essentially ending their rights deal. MLB is stepping in already, and starting later today MLB is taking over the broadcasts for the Padres. And of cou...

Clayton Kershaw whines about his poor, misunderstood Christian faith

Looking for a night to not go to Dodger Stadium? Might we suggest July 30? Not only is it usually ungodly hot in Chavez Ravine at the end of July, but Clayton Kershaw will be pushing Christianity and faith on everyone. There are just way more pleasant places to eat a hot dog and drink a beer in L.A....

Remember when Gary Sanchez was a thing?

There was hope that when the New York Yankees called up Gary Sanchez that he’d be the team’s backstop of the future. Sanchez showed plenty of pop — he hit 33 home runs in 2017 in his first full season in the Bronx, and 34 in 2019 — but was also a defensive liability. He committed double-digit errors...

Ronald Acuña Jr. might be starting his own historic club the way he's playing

Atlanta Braves star Ronald Acuña Jr. is running away in the National League MVP race. He’s tied for first in MLB in runs, third in hits, sixth in batting average, fifth in OPS, and second in stolen bases. He has 11 home runs and 22 stolen bases through 51 games, helping the Braves to run away with t...

Aaron Boone wants to yell at real people, not robots

Aaron Boone has a knack for early showers. You can blame it on a short temper or having the pinky-up attitude of being the Yankees’ manager. Whatever the case, no one has spent less time helming his team from the dugout in Major League Baseball than Boone this season, or since the start of the 2018 ...

How many wins do the Angels need at the deadline to keep Shohei Ohtani?

If the Los Angeles Angels don’t make the playoffs this season then there’s no question that Shohei Ohtani is gone. Now in his sixth MLB season and heading into free agency, he has yet to reach the postseason and has said that winning is the most important thing to him....