players Page 39 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Some proper baseball beef
It’s been a bit since we’ve had some proper baseball beef. As any wrestling fan will tell you, the best storylines that pay off biggest are the ones that cover a long time, sometimes years. Clearly that’s the lesson that Javy Baez and Amir Garrett have learned. Last night’s chapter:...

Will Major League Baseball do to the Cape Cod League what it did to the minors?
ORLEANS, Mass. — The fever dreams of everyone at the offices of Major League Baseball who frets about the aging population of the fanbase look a lot like the scene found one night in early July in Orleans, Massachusetts, home of the Cape Cod League’s Orleans Firebirds....

The Twins did this to themselves
As the Twins pick through the wreckage of their season, it’ll be easy to figure out where it all went wrong. Counting on Byron Buxton to stay upright more than seven minutes, and a bullpen that is the new music video for Prodigy’s “Firestarter.” (I realize both Prodigy and music videos as a whole ar...

The Padres just don’t give a damn
It seems like the Padres kick off every phase of transactions now. They started the offseason when they went after Blake Snell and Yu Darvish. And now they’re just about the first to move before Friday’s MLB trade deadline, as they moved to save Adam Frazier from baseball irrelevance in Pittsburgh. ...

We need to double-check checked swings
The NL West is shaping up to be one of the best divisional races we’ve seen in quite some time. Currently, the Giants, Dodgers, and Padres are on pace to win over 90 games. There hasn’t been a division with at least three teams reaching the 90-win threshold since the NL Central in 2015 (I miss when ...

Nelson Cruz can absolutely still rake
Last night, we had our first big name dealt ahead of the MLB trade deadline on July 30. Twins’ slugger c was sent to the Tampa Bay Rays along with pitcher Calvin Faucher in exchange for two of the Rays’ top-20 prospects. Nelson Cruz is one of the biggest bats in baseball. Since 2010, no hitter has m...

Let’s hope Tony La Russa and Yermin Mercedes have a productive conversation about all this
Chicago White Sox catcher Yermín Mercedes is back after a one-day retirement, showing up in uniform for the team’s Triple-A affiliate in Charlotte....

Look, I’d love to blame Tony La Russa too, but…
It makes for an easy narrative, and one all of us that wants to see baseball evolve into something more fun can easily grab onto. ...

SWAC Media Day was a poopshow, and it wasn’t just Deion’s hissy fit
If his mama named him Deion, I’mma call him Deion....

Naomi Osaka lights up Megyn Kelly, follows with Twitter block heard around the world
As though Naomi Osaka couldn’t demonstrate any more grace in the face of aggressive trolls, she somehow did it again in the form of a simple block on social media....

'It turned my baseball utopia to Hell.'
WASHINGTON, D.C. — From perfect to panic....

At least three Yankees players test positive for COVID-19, pausing MLB’s second-half return
The Major League Baseball All-Star week, highlighted by the annual AL vs. NL game and the Home Run Derby, proved once again to be the best All-Star event in all of professional sports. The baseball world is riding high on the wave of momentum that Fernando Tatís Jr., Vlad Guerrero Jr, Shohei Ohtani,...

Deadspin predicts: Teams that will improve, or regress, in the second half
The All-Star Game has come and gone. The American League continues to wreck the Senior Circuit year-in, year-out, and it’s abundantly clear that Vladdy Jr., Shohei Ohtani, and Liam Hendriks are the coolest dudes in the sport. Now, the attention turns to the second half of the season. Will the teams ...

Sucks to be a Seattle Mariners fan these days, huh?
During the MLB All-Star Game last night, there was a moment in the sixth inning where Rays’ catcher Mike Zunino hit a home run off Mets’ pitcher Taijuan Walker, who was being caught by Milwaukee’s Omar Narvaez. Dodgers’ outfielder Chris Taylor watched the ball soar over his head, as Zunino rounded t...

All-Star Takeaway: MLB is alive, internationally supreme, and going to get better
DENVER — It would be nearly impossible for any fan to have left the MLB All-Star Game here at Coors Field on Tuesday night without feeling good about the game. ...

Angels draft 20 straight pitchers, pass on all belly-itchers
Man, if only the Los Angeles Angels could surround Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani with some pitching, then maybe, just maybe, they wouldn’t waste their careers....

Pete Alonso is electric
The Home Run Derby should be played at the South Pole every year, because clearly it’s the natural habitat of the Polar Bear, Pete Alonso. After a year without the derby (thanks COVID), Alonso was back to defend his 2019 crown, and boy did he....

Even in defeat, Shohei stole the show
DENVER — Not many can get bounced in the first round of an event many thought they would win easily, yet still live up to the hype....

If only this could be Stephen A. Smith’s last take
When Stephen A. Smith opens his mouth, it’s typically bullshit. Generally speaking, when it comes to an opinion of his having anything to do with sports or adjacent to sports, I completely ignore him and accept him for what he is — someone who delivers hot takes and yells loudly because it gets view...

Argentina, and Messi, finally win again
Saturday wound up being one of those days in sports where seemingly everything happens all at once....