After I titled this post, I began to think I may have bit off more than I can chew, but let’s at least take a stab at determining how Oakland continues to succeed in an unorthodox way – and I’m… Read more »
FEATURES
(with apologies to Ogden Nash) Hi, everyone! And welcome to Write-Up For Yesterday, BttP’s guide to what the heck happened yesterday in baseball. We’re not gonna just hand you some scores here, because we trust… Read more »
(with apologies to Ogden Nash) Hi, everyone! And welcome to Write-Up For Yesterday, BttP’s guide to what the heck happened yesterday in baseball. We’re not gonna just hand you some scores here, because we… Read more »
After the long winter of no-baseball, this week returned us to the spring of sports: the opening of a new MLB season. It is time again to escalate, in earnest, our discussion of the game… Read more »
Earlier this week we took a look at how each team performed in free agency, with respect to the price they paid their new signers, and those free agents’ predicted WAR values. By doing this… Read more »
Let me be blunt: reading a traditional box score sucks. Even if you’ve managed to combine your MLB.tv subscription with two screens worth of games on quad view, there’s no way that you can digest… Read more »
(with apologies to Ogden Nash) Hi, everyone! And welcome to Write-Up For Yesterday, BttP’s guide to what the heck happened yesterday in baseball. We’re not gonna just hand you some scores here, because we trust… Read more »
The inaugural edition of BTTP’s wrap-up of yesterday in baseball.
One year ago, the Mets opened against the Washington Nationals at Citi Field in Queens, NY on a freezing cold day. Both Mets starter Dillon Gee and National starter Stephen Strasburg got rocked for four… Read more »
Now that the 2015 season is upon us and a majority of free agents have signed with their respective teams, I thought I would see by how much each team valued a win in dollars… Read more »
The First Ever BttP Community Predictions
This is a continuation of my series on cookie-cutter stadiums. Read Part 1 here. In that installment I stated that Busch Memorial Stadium would be next, but for certain reasons that one had to be… Read more »
This week’s special guest is Russell Carleton, Baseball Prospectus writer and frequent Effectively Wild guest. He joins Ryan Sullivan, to offer his insights on the effects of “the grind,” the value of managers, clubhouse chemistry, drug/alcohol addiction in baseball, and advocating for women in sportswriting. This episode does not contain #GoryMath.
When Oriole Park at Camden Yards debuted in 1992, the writing on the wall was clear: Cookie-cutter baseball stadiums were finished. In the years since, 21 new baseball parks in MLB have been erected. Even… Read more »
The Philadelphia Phillies will open their 2015 season with a bold, necessary plan.
As soon as starting pitcher Cole Hamels realized what was happening, he began looking for the exits. Winning, he announced, is “not going to happen here.” He continued: “This isn’t what I expected. It’s not what the Phillies expected, either. But it’s reality.”
I remember the first time I laid eyes on Dwight Gooden. It was 1985 and he was on the cover of one of my dad’s Sports Illustrated magazines. It’s a wonderful photo, depicting a man… Read more »
During the course of my appearance on the BttP podcast, we touched upon the specifics of covering a minor league team. I thought I would share something I originally wrote during the 2012 season that… Read more »
As the ever so affectionate Tyrion Lannister once said, “Turns out far too much has been written about great men and not nearly enough about morons.” Now, the Cleveland Spiders weren’t necessarily morons, but you… Read more »
The Society for American Baseball Research (“SABR”) recently announced the finalists for its 2015 Analytics Conference Research Awards, which “recognize baseball researchers who have completed the best work of original analysis or commentary during the… Read more »
The Date: October 21, 1987 The Setting: Game 4 of the 1987 World Series, Busch Memorial Stadium, St. Louis, Missouri The Pitcher: Minnesota Twins ace Frank Viola The Batter: St. Louis Cardinals utility man (and… Read more »
You’ll excuse Michael Taylor if he doesn’t come across as one of the top prospects in baseball. You see, it’s not uncommon for someone in his position to be self-centered and wear a certain arrogance… Read more »
When people talk about players who showed enormous potential early in their careers, but never truly fulfilled it, Cesar Cedeno is one of the first names they usually invoke. Cedeno hit the big leagues in… Read more »
This might feel like an odd moment to publish a scouting report on Max Scherzer, whose free agency ended earlier this week when the starting pitcher signed a seven-year, $210-million contract with the Washington Nationals…. Read more »
My favorite baseball movie of all time is The Natural. Go ahead, mock me.
I love it for all that is pure fantasy: whittling Wonderboy from a lightning-split tree, whiffing The Whammer, inexplicable shooting by a crazy woman, busted open balls, deadly outfield walls, exploding clocks in Wrigley, Glenn Close sold as attractive, a shadow lurking owner, Wilford Brimley being tangentially related to Kim Basinger, and of course… the bloody hero’s fireworks display.
Recruiting is a dreadful but necessary part of the job. Perhaps, at a later date, I can go into the ways in which a coach must toe the line between truth-teller and snake oil salesman… Read more »
We’ve passed the halfway point between the last out of the World Series and the first pitch of Spring Training. This is always a dreary time in the calendar for baseball fans. Many of the… Read more »
Praising another important figure in the history of African-Americans in baseball.
Between 2002 and 2013, ten franchises have made it to the World Series only to come up empty. Each installment of this column will look at one of those franchises to see what has happened in the seasons following their World Series loss. Today’s column features the Philadelphia Phillies.
Our new weekly podcast kicks off with Very Special Guest Ben Lindbergh, of Effectively Wild and Grantland fame! Host Ryan Sullivan chats with Ben about being a baseball writer, and everything you wanted to know about EW.
I found something peculiar while researching the career performance of those likely first-ballot Hall of Famers – Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez and John Smoltz. One player who will certainly not be a Hall of Famer, who was very familiar to me as Mets fan with my formative years in the late 1990’s to early 2000’s, kept appearing. It was none other than Pat Mahomes.
