mlb Page 59 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

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...

Does longevity plus consistency really equal Hall of Fame worthiness?
One of the more popular and most intensely argued sports debates that happen every couple of weeks, it seems, is the debate over who’s a Hall of Famer and who isn’t. No matter the sport, this is a conversation that can go on for hours, whether it’s happening on TV, radio, or in the barbershop....

We all need a friend like Juan Soto
The Washington Nationals were eliminated from playoff contention fairly early this season. They finished last in the NL East and had the third-worst record in the Senior Circuit. Their season was pretty much over by the time the trade deadline rolled around. With several of their star players set to...

Deadspin Fixes: the MLB playoff format
I noticed Dodgers fans were already bitching to protect themselves even before first pitch about the unfairness of the playoff system that saw their team win 106 games yet faced with the indignity of having to play in the Wild-Card Game. Followed nicely with Yankees fans complaining last night, beca...

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...

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....

A few MLB postseason storylines you might not know
As the baseball playoffs begin, you already know the big storylines....

The last playoffs
A few years ago, I was in a bar and got into an argument with a semi-regular (who I didn’t much care for) about which sport has the best postseason. He was a real #PleaseLikeMySport hockey fan, and I had felt (and still do) that the MLB playoffs had surpassed the NHL playoffs as the most enjoyable. ...

The San Francisco Giants, the ones who stood out
I had about four different drafts of this in my head before I actually sitting down (or in my case, stand up, as I work in reverse) and writing it. I wanted to proclaim the Giants as the anti-rebuild success story, which they kind of are. But not wholly, because it’s one year....

Why are fans OK with this?
MLB would like us to think that there was a poignant moment in the A’s-Astros game, and to a lesser extent the Mariners one. It’s when Carlos Correa and Kyle Seager were pulled from the game mid-inning to receive a standing ovation from the crowd. ...

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...

Rockies take fast, easy way out on GM ‘search’
When Jeff Bridich and the Rockies “mutually agreed” that the general manager was stepping down in April, the team announcement made a promise about the future....

The Cubs are the dumbest
There are people out there, who — unlike me — didn’t fire the Cubs as a fan back in July after they completed their three-year sandbagging of the roster that brought them their first World Series win in 108 years. That should have been enough to see Wrigley be more desolate than the Atacama, but tha...

Rays playing 5D chess up in here
Analytics have taken over the world of baseball. Depending on who you ask, you’ll get one of three responses:...

Javy Báez has quietly turned his season around with the Mets
It’s easy to forget that the Mets have existed recently. The biggest news coming out of Queens since they’ve fallen out of playoff contention have been Francisco Lindor and Javy Báez’s “thumbs down” debacle, Jacob deGrom getting hurt more often than Mr. Glass from Invincible, and a TikTok trend invo...

Massive regular-season win streaks mean nothing in the playoffs
The Cardinals’ team-record winning streak has gotten St. Louis into the playoffs, but the old saying in baseball is that momentum is only the next day’s starting pitcher, and as good as the Redbirds have been in September, bringing home a first World Series championship since 2011 remains a longshot...

Fat Bear Week is the event you didn't know you needed
Perhaps you have your own signs that summer is coming to an end. Here locally, it’s the ending of outdoor street fests or concerts. MLB playoffs might be another for you. Every place and individual probably has its own marker. But another one for all of us is the annual “Fat Bear Week” competition p...

Lighten up, Wainwright
I understand that every team in every sport is desperate to make the “only the guys in this room believed in us” the rallying cry of their team. It’s easier to think you’re the underdog, and when you’re a professional athlete you need anything and everything to drive through an interminable season. ...

Bradley Zimmer has family bragging rights for life
You remember playing baseball in the street with your siblings? Your brother or sister would also play the role of both announcer and pitcher. They’d toe the rubber and come up with some absurd scenario every time like “Two outs, full count, bottom of the ninth, down by three, bases loaded, Game 7 o...

Rooting for maximum chaos in the AL wild-card race
With just six days left in the MLB regular season, the AL wild card race is tighter than Batman’s tights. Five teams, all within four-and-a-half games. These are the types of races dreams are made of. We’ve even got a few series between the teams involved. It’s all lining up perfectly, just as Major...