I’m not going to lie. It has been a weird season. A global pandemic, sixty games, multiple COVID-19 disruptions, rule changes so hastily made that Calvin and Hobbes would be proud…you get the picture. Normally,… Read more »
AMERICAN LEAGUE WEST The Astros have lost their GM, manager, and Gerrit Cole, but they still have a potential best-team-in-baseball core. The A’s will push them every step of the way. They’re not the only… Read more »
AMERICAN LEAGUE CENTRAL There are good teams in Minnesota and Cleveland. There are bad teams in Detroit and Kansas City. The White Sox are the one in the middle. A “wild card” both in terms… Read more »
AMERICAN LEAGUE EAST The A.L. East asks the question: What do you get when you combine one recent champion (Red Sox), the best regular season team of the last decade (Yankees), a perennial close-but-not-quite contender… Read more »
Back on March 16th, Jonathan Mishory launched a series of polls — a contest based on Survivor — for visitors to the Effectively Wild podcast’s Facebook fan group. Through 29 rounds, votes were tallied and… Read more »
Milwaukee Brewers – by Andrew Ingrelli
Minnesota Twins – by Lee Pietruszewski
New York Mets – by Michael Conte
Houston Astros – by Daniel R. Epstein
KC Royals – by Nathan Valentine
Miami Marlins – by Jon Jacoby
Cincinnati Reds – by Mark Neuenschwander
Cleveland Indians – by Marina Bostelman
Colorado Rockies – by Dan Freedman
Boston Red Sox – by Jamieson Weiss
Chicago Cubs – by Ben Bailey
Chicago White Sox – by James Cardis
Arizona Diamondbacks – by Nick Strangis
Atlanta Braves – by Matt Mudd
Baltimore Orioles – by Chris Baber
As MLB gets underway in 2020 with a revised and reduced schedule, we’ve done the same with our season previews, using a special “60 Words for 60 Games” format. Our writers have returned, this time… Read more »
Enough is enough! There is and was a litany of reasons why trading Mookie Betts (and David Price, and the 3/$96M remaining on his deal) made sense, including not wanting to spend nearly $60M for… Read more »
In 1991, the world witnessed the debut of a super-fast, super cool dude with an attitude to match. The beginning of his career was brilliant, and while the high point was early and quick, his… Read more »
2019 was supposed to be a big year for the Phillies. They acquired Bryce Harper, the biggest free agent of the offseason. They further solidified an already-promising lineup with other new faces, including an aging… Read more »
The Nationals are World Series champions and the offseason is here. Before we start looking ahead to the spring, however, it’s time to look back…to the spring. That’s right, no-one who made a preseason win… Read more »
When it comes to Nippon Professional Baseball, the most persistent topic of discussion tends to be the names of the players who are going to try and make the jump to Major League Baseball. There… Read more »
Many months back I sent an email to my editors here at Banished to the Pen pitching the idea of relegation being brought to Major League Baseball. They were receptive, but then in my research,… Read more »
Scrolling through the all-time best seasons in sWAR found on the Seamheads Negro League Database, the name Dick Lundy doesn’t appear until the 40s, and in total he only makes the one appearance. It’s not… Read more »
Presented here is a virtual baseball card series that aims to serve as an introduction to sabermetrics: Why is on base percentage better than batting average? What’s a good OPS? What does wRC+ mean? Most… Read more »
The former Mudville nine faced likely loss upon that date, (they’d moved from Mudville years before — it was best to relocate). With Cooney-Barrows out one-two, in the ninth, down five to three, a tiny… Read more »
When discussing the great Negro League players one gets used to hearing about the same group of players. Satchel Paige, Bullet Rogan, Josh Gibson, Cool Papa Bell, and a few others are the mainstays of… Read more »
Ivan Nova is sneakily special. Six pitchers threw more than 160 innings in 2016, 2017 and 2018, and had ERAs below 4.20 each of those years: Max Scherzer, Justin Verlander, Corey Kluber, Jake Arrieta and… Read more »
The Baseball Project is a baseball-themed rock super-group, made up of veteran musicians Scott McCaughey, Steve Wynn, Laura Pitmon, Peter Buck, and Mike Mills. The band started when McCaughey and Wynn met and discovered a… Read more »
Franmil Reyes. Franimal. La Mole. There are a few names for one of the most interesting players in the big leagues this year. He certainly has one of the most interesting triple-slash lines — Reyes… Read more »
[Ed. note: Banished to the Pen contributor Mike Moriarty passed away on April 28, 2019. This was a piece submitted shortly before his passing, and we’re running it today as a tribute to Mike. He… Read more »
For the longest time, the Negro Leagues were more myth and legend than they were fact. Stories were told about players, teams, leagues, seasons, managers, and careers that painted many as legends more than they… Read more »
The knuckleball is a beautiful, mysterious, fang-toothed monster of a pitch. It is Ali-like in its ability to both float and bite, seemingly at random. It’s uncontrollable for throwers, catchers, and prospective hitters. It’s no wonder so much… Read more »
The purpose of this series has always been to shed light on aspects of the Negro, and associated, Leagues that deserve recognition. Great seasons that have never gotten their due, excellent careers that went unnoticed,… Read more »
Welcome to the fifth edition of Banished to the Pen’s annual win prediction and projection extravaganza. In the name of making everyone accountable for predictions they usually didn’t want to make, as well as keeping… Read more »
There has been much consternation, and dare I say some gnashing of teeth, about the state of the Boston Red Sox bullpen on the doorstep of the 2019 season. In its annual positional power rankings,… Read more »
