mlb Page 78 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Joe Morgan, championed by the analytics he hated, passes away at 77
Most old-time baseball men hate sabermetrics for fear of their own legacy. They’ll never admit that, but it’s what’s at the heart of it. That pretty much spreads to every industry, where the way we used to do it is obviously better than the way we do it now (and sometimes that’s true). That somehow ...

There are like 50 teams in New York and they all suck — including the Yankees
Start spreading the news: New York is OFFICIALLY the Loser Capital of sports....

Butler does it again — but like, at a whole ’nother level — to extend NBA Finals
If you watched Game 5 of the NBA Finals on Friday night, you know that just watching it was incredible and that not a whole lot needs to be said. The Heat extended everyone’s stay in The Bubble with a 111-108 win, with Jimmy Butler getting the best of LeBron James in a back-and-forth battle for the ...

MLB Playoffs gets signature moment in 'Bellinger-robs-Tatis' — the problem is sport doesn't have enough of them
You knew it as soon as you saw it. It’ll be a play that MLB will try and dine out on for years to come. ...

Division Series playoff preview: Where the hell are we?
Baseball has gotten back to the playoff rounds we remember, sort of. The wild card round, which everyone thought was going to produce some real chaos and be totally unfair, only threw up one true upset: the Marlins beating the Cubs, because the Cubs can’t hit fastballs, which seems like it’s on the ...

The Heat is off in NBA Finals; Time is a flat circle in WNBA Finals; Central teams all spit bit in MLB playoffs
The Lakers and Heat did indeed play a basketball game...

MLB’s day of 'madness' an excellent showcase of 2020 baseball* (*not necessarily a compliment)
When the powers that be dreamed up this expanded playoff system/money hunt for baseball’s season-in-a-can, this was the day they were probably thinking of most. The full March Madness treatment in September, with playoff games from noon until past midnight with no break (hell, even the NCAA Tourname...

It’s time to ban the A’s and Twins from MLB playoffs
Major League Baseball began it’s playoff key party yesterday, with all the American League wild-card series kicking off. And while this season has been weird/a farce/an abomination to the sport and really all logic (if you lean that way), there was something exciting about having a day full of baseb...

Are the White Sox actually good?
Of course they are, what a stupid question, right? What would cause a seemingly rational (or close to it) person to ask such a question that would indeed put his personal safety in danger just from the people in his inner circle of friends? ...

Padres’ Clevinger could be lost for the postseason, and that sucks
Because it’s 2020, the most fun team in baseball just has to take a gut-punch to its title hopes....

This is the future baseball wants for you; and eat, drink and be Murray
MLB will have you believe that this was a dramatic night in the last week of its season. And on the surface, it does look like that. Teams got more bunched, there were walk-offs and extra innings and standings swings and such. However, flip up the hood and you’ll see the engine is just a hamster tak...

Lightning Do Mighty Fine Impression of Dallas Stars to Tie Series With Dallas Stars
Every Stanley Cup Final, and really any championship series, ends up being some sort of referendum on where that league and sport is. Because original ideas generally are treated like an infestation of Asian Longhorned Beetles by 75 percent of every front office, no matter the sport, and whomever wi...

If It’s Normalcy You Seek, Then a Jackass in Fenway Is What You Need
If you had to wager which stadium would see a fan quite possibly risk his life, merely for the opportunity to yell at everyone around and act like a yahoo to an audience of no one, Fenway Park most definitely would have been the chalk....

Expanded Playoffs Suck, But Here’s a Way to Fix It
Rob Manfred says this season’s expanded baseball playoffs are likely to remain in place for 2021 and beyond, and everybody hates it....

Orange Skies in Bay Area Just the Latest Sign That End Times Are Here
The skies in northern California right now can best be described as burnt sienna, or something that you’d expect to find swirled in the whipped cream of your pumpkin spice latte....

Hall of Famer Lou Brock Dies at 81
St. Louis Cardinals legend and Hall of Famer Lou Brock died on Sunday at age 81. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that he had been dealing with several medical issues, but did not give a cause of death. His passing comes in the same week as another iconic star of the 1960s and 1970s, Tom Seaver....

Contrasting Aroldis Chapman with Tom Seaver, Who Never Threw at Anyone’s Head
A hundred years ago, on Aug. 16, 1920, Ray Chapman was killed by a pitch....

My Son Is Also Named Dort: The Game 7 That Wouldn't End Because Refs Ref It Up
It was another primetime night for the NBA in Orlando, and generally their worst nightmare is when the refs hijack such an occasion. NBA refs can never decide if they want to be the show or not, and the indecision tends to just make it worse (credit the other sports arbiters for knowing exactly what...

Russell Westbrook Finally Gives Thunder Fans A Moment To Remember
The Bubble Domes continued at pace last night, and perhaps the story was OKC forcing a Game 7 against the Rockets in their first-round series. Or rather, the story within the story. ...

While the Rest Of MLB Only Sees What Isn’t, A.J. Preller Sees What Could Be
As I wrote in the Mourning After, it seems strange that any MLB team would view this season with anything other than suspicion or derision. It’s hard to have any feel for what your team is after just 30 games, if your team has even gotten to 30 games. The expanded playoffs mean that just about anyon...