grapefruit-league Page 4 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

A Major League Baseball team in Utah is a terrible idea
At a time in which it appears that Major League Baseball is seemingly doing all it can to keep African-Americans from being on Big League rosters, a group in Salt Lake, Utah is throwing its hat in the ring to land a franchise in the coming years. Remember this the next time MLB Commissioner Rob Manf...

Another notch in Clayton Kershaw's belt
We already know Clayton Kershaw is headed to Cooperstown, but the Los Angeles Dodgers star pitcher just hit a nice milestone en route....

The Tampa Bay Rays can sure beat the tar out of awful teams
You can only play who is on the schedule. That’s an axiom as old as baseball, and it’s mostly true. The Tampa Bay Rays got to start their season with nine games against MLB’s kids with mittens pinned to their jackets year-round, and they’ve done all they can do. Which is to beat the ever-loving piss...

How every MLB team will tank their seasons and break their fans' hearts in 2023
You can all give up the Rogers Hornsby quotes, already. We made it Opening Day, when hope springs eternal for millions of MLB fans across the country, a least for a few days/weeks. We’d all love to believe that our team has as much of a chance of winning the World Series as any other but, realistica...

Opening Day is a reminder of how little Major League Baseball thinks of African-Americans
Hot dogs. Peanuts. Cracker Jacks. Racism. It can only mean one thing — Opening Day of a new Major League Baseball season is here. And today, of all days, is a great example of how things haven’t changed and remain the same, or gotten worse. ...

Is there actually a reason to watch the Pittsburgh Pirates?
The Pittsburgh Pirates have been the prime symbol of everything wrong with MLB. They play in perhaps the league’s best ballpark. They have a passionate fanbase that is just screaming for a team worth their time, assuming they haven’t all been chased off (and they may need the Pirates soon given that...

Here are the Braves, sittin’ on top of the world
Life must be pretty good for the Atlanta Braves. They can kick back and watch all the headlines be about the New York Mets and their Correa fiasco, or the Mets and their Edwin Diaz fiasco, or the Philadelphia Phillies signing Trea Turner without really solving the problem that their outfield will lo...

Is it finally time for the Toronto Blue Jays?
Once the Toronto Maple Leafs get Andrei Vasilevskiy’d in the first round again, it’s not like the angst level in the T.O. will fade all that much through the summer months. That’s because the Toronto Blue Jays have reached the same threshold as the Leafs passed a few years ago, where you go from you...
![The most Mets thing ever? [Updated]](https://images.deadspin.com/tr:w-900/a2250627fd5242550d5bc10207d4d106.jpg)
The most Mets thing ever? [Updated]
If I asked you, before the WBC, which team might have a player seriously injured not just during the World Baseball Classic, but doing something non-play involved during the WBC that feels like the baseball gods got loaded and said, “Hey watch this!”, there would only be one answer, right? You could...

Six former Phillies all died of the same brain cancer — was it the turf?
The Philadelphia Inquirer gave a masterclass on journalism this week, publishing a report on the toxic chemicals infused in the turf at Veterans Stadium, which was (at least in part) launched by someone coming to the realization that six former Phillies players all died of the same rare brain cancer...

New Yankee Carlos Rodón thinks the Bronx faithful are more passionate than SF Giants fans
The New York Yankees head into 2023 as favorites to win the AL East and the second-biggest favorites to win the World Series. Yes, expectations are high for this team, but that’s nothing new. When a brand as iconic as the Yankees fails to meet its lofty season goals, fans get mad. Despite consistent...

The Red Sox actually paid someone
At Monday’s Winter Classic, John Henry appeared, as the hockey team he owns (the Penguins) was playing the Boston Bruins at the ballpark he owns (Fenway Park, as owner of the Red Sox as well). Henry is more reclusive than a lot of owners, so it’s hard to know if he’s as deluded as some billionaires ...

Does Boston's Chris Sale still hold any trade value?
Boston ace Chris Sale is set to be 34 years old in 2023. He has a career 3.03 ERA and is the all-time leader in strikeouts per nine innings and strikeout-to-walk ratio. From 2013 to 2018, Sale never finished worse than fifth in AL Cy Young voting. He’s also pitched only 48.1 innings since the start ...

I hope Steve Cohen breaks it all
This isn’t some argument that Steve Cohen is some type of hero. Or even a good guy. I’ve made it pretty clear what I think of any billionaire and the possibility of them being decent people. Camel going through the eye of a needle and all that. ...

T.J. House comes out, no thanks to baseball
Late last week, former MLB reliever T.J. House came out in a heartwarming and beautiful Instagram post. Coinciding and inspired by the Respect For Marriage Act, House included pictures of him and his recent fiancé, while telling the story of his journey to arrive at the decision to come out. ...

Aaron Judge to remain a Yankee
After a long night of negotiations, the biggest offseason domino fell early this morning as Aaron Judge, the AL MVP who gambled on himself this season and had a historic 2o22, has decided to return to the Yankees on a 9-year deal worth $360M, according to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. The massive d...

The Phillies don’t know when to settle
Dave Dombrowski and the Philadelphia Phillies apparently don’t understand the new atmosphere of baseball. The expanded playoffs mean, or were supposed to mean, that teams don’t have to go all out for 95-to-100 wins anymore. The Phightins are proof! 87 wins and a trip to the World Series!! You just h...

The 5 best landing spots for Jacob deGrom
Oft-injured, but damn near unhittable when healthy, former New York Mets ace Jacob deGrom was bound to draw numerous suitors once free agency started, and while the rumors haven’t been circulating at quite the speed we expected, deGrom’s market has heated up recently, but the heat hasn’t come from t...

Can Yanks keep Judge with historic deal?
The New York Yankees have offered star slugger Aaron Judge an eight-year deal, worth roughly $300 million, according to ESPN insider Jeff Passan....