minorleaguebaseball Page 1 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
You have never been as excited about anything as Naples was about the Scudetto yesterday
Napoli clinched the Scudetto yesterday afternoon with a 1-1 draw away to Udinese. How might you have been able to discern that if you lived in Naples and weren’t watching the match? Definitely had to look closely:...
It’s never enough for Rob Manfred and his greedy pig bosses
You’d think after negotiating a CBA, before which Rob Manfred got to live out his lifelong dream of canceling baseball games, where the owners got a new level of luxury tax penalties, didn’t really have to pay younger players all that much more than the pennies they already were, and certainly didn’...
Minor leaguers get a historic deal that will double their pay…which still isn’t enough
When you’ve been earning next to nothing, and you get offered double that or more, it would take some brass balls to turn it down. That would seem to be the lesson of the MiLB Players Union’s first-ever collective bargaining agreement with MLB. ...
MLB pushing long overdue rule changes for 2023
So far in 2022, the batting average across MLB is .243 — the lowest mark for the entire league since 1968. On-base percentage sits at .312 — the lowest mark since 1972. Slugging percentage is currently at .395 — the lowest since 2014. OPS is at .707, once again, the lowest since 2014. It’s no secret...
How far are MLB players willing to go for their minor league counterparts?
Before I get tossed in the same bin with Buster Olney or Jeff Passan or some other water-carrying stooge for MLB owners, let me scratch and claw for escape from that right off the bat. The MLBPA reaching out to minor league players, and starting the process to welcome them into the union, is a very ...
How rare is the HR cycle?
Since 1900, a player has hit three home runs in an MLB game 624 times. Only 16 times has a player hit four. Nobody has ever hit five....
I thought GMs were supposed to be the smartest people in baseball
In a recent anonymous survey, The Athletic detailed how a few MLB executives felt about the recent trade deadline. Most of the answers were normal, everyday responses to basic questions....
What exactly were the Brewers thinking?
Amidst all the hullabaloo following the Juan Soto trade (Nationals are officially a poverty franchise now, by the way), the Padres’ deal for Josh Hader has been brushed aside, tucked under the rug, becoming an afterthought. It was one of the most surprising trades of the deadline. Nobody expected th...
Well, it wasn’t the massive haul we were expecting…
Juan Soto’s time with the Nationals will be talked about like Alex Rodriguez’s stay with the Rangers. A generational talent who’s MVP-worthy no matter what team’s jersey they put on 100-plus times a year. It was incredibly relevant in real time, but as those moments get further into the past, it bec...
Still awaiting major blockbuster before MLB trade deadline
By the time you read this, the MLB trade deadline might have been set aflame. So far the only big name to pack his bags for a new home is Frankie Montas, who will be a Yankee the next time he puts on a hat for his job. He’ll fit in nicely as a No. 2 behind Gerrit Cole or No. 3 behind Nestor Cortes i...
David Ross completes Cubs’ transformation back to token laughingstock
When the Chicago Cubs hired David Ross as manager, there were only two possible outcomes to his tenure. The first scenario is a return to glory and another ring, which isn’t going to happen this year or next year, or really anytime soon considering the front office has been hocking parts to the rest...
The Giants will be sellers at the trade deadline — here’s how they can improve
The Giants are in the middle of a skid, but according to reports, the team hadn’t planned to sell off their assets before the Aug. 2 trade deadline. That has since changed, according to John Heyman. ...
MLB trade deadline candidates — Arms
Don’t expect the fever dream that was last year’s deadline (Aug. 2), but there are still some impact pitchers who could be on the move....
How else are you supposed to sing Take Me Out to the Ballgame?
Baseball and tradition go hand in hand, like the Fourth of July and fireworks. The teams must line up on the foul lines during the national anthem. Players should never step on the foul line when running onto the field. You don’t talk about a perfect game while it’s going on. You sign Take Me Out to...
Mark Appel never gave up, and we should all take notice
Nearly a decade after being selected No. 1 overall in the MLB draft, RHP Mark Appel will make his major league debut at 30 years old for the Philadelphia Phillies today....
Baseballs really went from sticky to slippery in less than a year
Today is the one-year anniversary of MLB’s ban on sticky substances. In that time, we’ve seen a massive decrease in spin rate, a few suspensions, plus a striptease or two from Max Scherzer and company. Even most fans seemed to like the change. Yes sir, everything was going according to plan for Rob ...
Tommy Pham metes out justice with zero remorse
It seems like any and all TV and film studios are willing to green light content remotely resembling IP. We’re getting universes that we didn’t know existed — think the Warner Bros. expansion from Toon Town to every movie they’ve ever made in Space Jam 2. So, if an exec bereft of creativity could pl...
Only the Phillies could win 10 of 11 and have it not matter
It’s a given in baseball that every team will have a winning streak and a losing streak. The season is too long, too many games, meaning that the roulette wheel will eventually spin on to even the most hapless for a week or 10 days simply because. It used to be that you didn’t think too much about i...
We found something sports-related that Mike Trout can’t do
Mike Trout being the worst commissioner in sports is not the development I expected from 2022. On the field, the Los Angeles Angels star is finally attaining similar levels of individual and team success. The Angels are competing for the American League Wild Card, their pitching is much-improved and...