No matter how much MLB and worthy physicists deny it, and no matter how sincere they are, the balls used in major-league games are, it says here, juiced one way or another. It could be that central baseball, worried that declining levels of offense would bore fans, hatched a fiendish conspiracy; it could be that some…
Ivan Nova is 1-2 so far in 2017. But look closer: In 20 innings pitched with a 2.25 ERA, he’s struck out eight and walked none. Or put another way, after Monday night’s complete-game 2-1 loss to St. Louis:
On Sunday night, Chris Sale became the first White Sox pitcher to strike out at least 200 batters in four consecutive seasons, running up 12 strikeouts over eight innings. It was the 34th time in his career that he’s struck out more than 10 batters in a game. He did so on the way to his eighth loss of the year—a loss…
You probably know how to throw a ball, and maybe even how to do so with some force, accuracy, and/or intention. Maybe you played baseball as a kid, or in college, or once a week this very summer with a ragtag group of friends and coworkers.
The Padres got walloped 16-4 this afternoon by the Mariners, and they lost the first two games of a weird home and away pair of two-game series on opposite ends of the (American) Pacific coast by an aggregate score of 25-7. It only took Seattle five innings to accrue all their runs, which ushered in some silly shit…
Los Angeles Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw is on one of those runs that has baseball writers banging down the door of Elias Sports and plumbing the depths of Baseball Reference, all in an attempt to put whatever the hell it is he’s doing in context. Kershaw struck out 11 Angels in eight innings last night, all while…
Remember back in 2011 when Dan Johnson hit one of the most dramatic home runs of the century against the Yankees, to send the Tampa Bay Rays to the playoffs on the last day of the season? Here’s a refresher.
Johnny Cueto’s postseason form has oscillated between extremes. He shut down the Astros to take the Royals into the ALCS, giving up two runs in eight innings, then reversed those stats and gave up eight in two to the Blue Jays in his next start. The key difference was that Cueto’s dominant start, where he retired the…
What is “stuff”? The New York Times devoted part of its Sunday front page to the question of what, exactly, the term means in baseball. It is, John Branch of the Times reported, an underexamined mystery of the game.
Last night, White Sox ace Chris Sale struck out 12 Cardinals in eight innings, becoming just the second pitcher in baseball history to strike out 10 or more batters in eight consecutive starts. Here are some thoughts about that.
After six seasons with the Red Sox and two with the Mets, Daisuke Matsuzaka is apparently returning to Japan, considering a contract with the defending champion Fukuoka Softbank Hawks. He'll always be remembered for the hype, and for his unhittable pitch that in reality is all but unthrowable.
This chart from Jon Roegele of The Hardball Times shows the MLB strike zone for right-handed hitters has expanded 46 square inches since 2009. And this season had the largest single-year increase of the PITCHf/x era as the zone grew 16 square inches expanding from 459 square inches to 475.
Cleveland Indians starter Corey Kluber shredded the Seattle Mariners last night, shutting them out over nine innings and striking out eight, and taking just 85 pitches to do it. It wasn't an aberration, either: Kluber has been spectacular all year, which is hard to believe considering that he was a fourth-round pick…
I do not envy the hardy fans who watched all 6:27 of the game between the 43-63 Rockies and the 44-61 Cubs, including 12 straight scoreless innings. But those who did stick it out saw something rare: Chicago catcher John Baker pitched a scoreless top of the 16th, and became the winning pitcher when he scored the…
During the fourth inning of last night's game between the Red Sox and Indians, Justin Masterson did something that is pretty damn incredible: he struck out the side on just nine pitches. It was as perfect an inning as a pitcher can possibly have.
Our pals at Fangraphs got Pedro Martinez to sit down with them and wax on about his thoughts on pitching, and the results are fantastic. You should read the entire interview—Martinez is one of the smartest pitchers to ever play and he says a lot of wise and illuminating things—but we felt compelled to make you aware…
The old saying says that it's not illegal if you don't get caught. In baseball, sometimes it isn't illegal even if you do.
Once feared, now largely forgotten, the gyroball retains a stubborn hold on the baseball imagination. Perhaps Red Sox closer Koji Uehara can put the pitch to rest:
