boston Page 23 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
100-win Rays come up short again, which is where this is all heading
The Red Sox kneecapped the Rays, 6-5, in the bottom of the ninth last night — another walkoff — and the ending of a series usually launches a 1,000 ships carrying annoying narratives. The big one from this one is that the Rays’ way of doing things, with their positionless pitching staff, essentially...
This was your human element moment
I’m not here to claim that anyone should feel sorry for the Tampa Bay Rays. While MLB would love to position them as the plucky underdog, what they really are is the model that almost every team owner has pointed to while yelling at their front office saying, “Why can’t we win that cheaply?!” while ...
This doesn’t feel like the first time the Dodgers and Giants have met in the playoffs
Tonight will be the first time in MLB history we see the Dodgers and Giants compete in the postseason. For such a storied rivalry, it’s crazy to think that in the year 2021, there’s still something new for these franchises to experience with one another. Sure, there are some discrepancies like the 1...
It’s not the Green Monster’s fault the Yanks lost
Believe it or not, it was actually the Yankees’ fault. Though, if you were on Bombers Twitter last night, you might’ve thought The Green Monster, that renowned 37-foot-high, left-field wall at Fenway, bribed the umpires, stole signs for the Sawx, and ran over Geritt Cole’s hamstring with a Honda Acc...
What <i>are</i> the Yankees now?
I suppose one of the things that makes me feel old, one of the many things, is how I would perceive the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry versus someone who is 30 or under. I lived long enough in the era of the Yankees pissing all over the Sox to still have some base inkling toward that whenever these two lin...
Aaron Judge finally lives up to expectations
For years, many believed that Aaron Judge had everything to be a real superstar, the face of MLB....
Tom Brady’s return made Bill Belichick’s son look constipated
This game lived up to the hype last night....
This year’s Wild-Card Game matchups are the best ever
“Get your popcorn ready,” ...
No wild-card chaos
Most seasons, on the last day, we hope for some kind of chaos to hit MLB’s playoff system. I think, deep down, it’s because people want to see the wild-card sham proven to be just that. Because having teams play a game just to play a game to get into the playoffs after 162 games and six months is pr...
Order out and settle in: Today is gonna be a really good baseball day (and night)
All of the games in Major League Baseball are scheduled for 3 p.m. Eastern on Sunday, so that if and when playoff races come down to Game 162, nobody has an advantage of taking the field already knowing what their pennant race rivals have done....
Another Oakland A’s window is closing without much to show for it
Considering the constraints (some of them self-imposed, admittedly), it’s kind of amazing how often the A’s can reinvent themselves and put together a window of contention. The problem is those windows don’t tend to lead anywhere....
Step into the batters’ box against this guy… if you dare!
Would you step up to the plate in a Major League game if you knew there was a 10 percent chance you were about to get hit by one of the pitches? Maybe you’d put a foot in the box and stand in the corner and hope the pitcher had enough control this time, but every time that pitcher started his windup...
ESPN’s ‘Cy Young Predictor’ is laughably on the fritz
Predicting who is going to win major awards across the Big 4 American sports is one of the nation’s most popular pastimes. Oftentimes, arguments can be made for several different players. That’s why several years ago, ESPN put out its Cy Young Predictor, an AI system that would take a pitcher’s stat...
Who you gonna believe?
If baseball media were more interested in anything other than carrying water for the owners, parlaying their connections into free Springsteen tickets, what Hunter Renfroe alleged yesterday would become a story. Luckily for MLB, that’s not the case....
The Triple A’s love feeding the AL East MVP candidates
Long live the Oakland Triple-A’s!...
Every coach <i>ever</i> has been called a bum at some point — but now these three add 'Hall of Famer' to their resumes
Players get all the hype. Coaches usually get all the blame. But some rise above it to reach the pinnacles of success as the masterminds behind the championship rings....
Paul Pierce, an all-time great scorer, was well ahead of his time
Anytime an all-time great moves into broadcasting following their playing career, it’s a risky proposition for how people will ultimately view their legacy. Whether or not that matters is entirely up to them, and some would say it shouldn’t. But depending on how the player performs on the desk or in...
It may be incremental, but it’s progress
Vaccinations were the news of the night, as they tend to be these days. But at least it was news on the side of people being rational about it to the people being irrational morons. That was something of a gear change from most of the time....
MLB record-holder ...Robbie Ray?
An MLB record was broken last night. Toronto Blue Jays’ southpaw Robbie Ray through a seven-inning gem last night (4 H, 1 BB, 2 ER, 10 K) en route to a victory over the Baltimore Orioles. He’s now recorded three straight games with double-digit strikeouts. That’s not the record though. Of all the gr...