baseball Page 17 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
MLB’s shift ban hasn’t solved baseball's real problem, but it also probably can’t
A little more than two months into the MLB season, the first with a shift-ban that keeps two infielders on each side of second base, and the league will probably declare victory. There are more hits, and left-handed batters are seeing more grounders and line-drives are resulting in base hits, which ...
5 activities better suited for an MLB stadium series than Pickleball
Here at Deadspin, we’ve penned so much inflammatory shit about pickleball that I feel bad degrading Americans for working out. If you want to spend your summer playing jumbo Ping-Pong, that’s OK. Lather up a sweat, burn some calories, and spend $89.95 on a paddle that assuredly won’t collect dust in...
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. ...
Toronto trolls Blue Jays pitcher Anthony Bass for his bigoted views
In a rare display of an MLB team following the lead of its fans, or at least being in the vicinity, something satisfying took place last night in Toronto when bigoted Blue Jays asshat Anthony Bass came out of the pen:...
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...
The Celtics find an even better way to lose than just getting swept
Remember the “Minneapolis Miracle?” You might, but if you don’t it’s when the Minnesota Vikings pulled out a last-second win in the divisional round over the Saints when the entire New Orleans secondary decided to reenact a Three Stooges routine. However, it doesn’t really get the play that, say, th...
Which MLB hot starts through Memorial Day are here to stay?
We’ve reached Memorial Day, the first real milestone of the MLB season. The first seven weeks or so don’t decide who makes the playoffs, but it gives us a pretty good barometer. But which (at least somewhat surprising) starts are here to stay?...
Boston Celtics got a lucky bounce — along with Game 7 and all the momentum
After falling behind 3-0 in the Eastern Conference Finals, Boston Celtics’ guards Jaylen Brown and Marcus Smart told the media, “Don’t let us get one.” Not only did the Celtics get one, but they got a second and a third in a row to tie the series and become only the fourth team in NBA history to adv...
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 ...
MLB scheduling change making it easier for American League East to assert its dominance
Six months or so after the NFC East was the best division in football, the American League East has overtaken MLB. No team is below .500 as of Friday morning/early afternoon, and the fives clubs are a combined 105-56 against opponents outside the division. The Tampa Bay Rays (37-15) and Baltimore Or...
The WNBA needs more roster spots — and expansion is the only way to get them
In an era dominated by social media, women’s basketball is experiencing a moment like never before. Brittney Griner is back. The WNBA has countless storylines. And thanks to Angel Reese, Caitlin Clark, and Jill Biden, the collegiate game is shattering TV ratings. But, for the game to reach another l...
Roberto Firmino will play his last game for Liverpool as my heart aches
The shelf life for soccer players might just be the shortest around. Baseball would like to get there, but in the world of football it still basically works that once you hit 30, they start counting down the clock on you. So on one hand, it seems Roberto Firmino has been playing for Liverpool foreve...
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....
Newsmax's Greg Kelly claims there's 'nothing gay' about baseball, which he clearly doesn’t watch
I can’t even claim to really know what Newsmax is, other than it has a name that sounds like something a satire show would come up with to spoof an enclosure of right-wing baboons throwing various feces at each other and the camera and the real thing being actually far more ridiculous than any spoof...
Believe in fun, believe in the Diamondbacks
There was always hope that a young, funky team would finally not just get the best of the Dodgers, but signal the end of the now decade long run of the Dodgers running roughshod over the NL West. Yes, the Giants got them once, in a season where the Dodgers still won 106 games. And we know what happe...