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 »
Season Previews
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 »
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 »
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 »
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 »
[Ed. note: This preview was split three ways with John LaLoggia handling the fungoes, while Brandon Lee sought some answers on projection systems from Darius Austin] A song to play while reading about the Cubs:… Read more »
[Ed. note: This preview was split between two of our resident Tigers fans, AD and Mark Sands. Enjoy!] A song to play while reading about the Tigers: “Rich Kid Blues” by the Raconteurs. Led by… Read more »
A song to play while reading about the Blue Jays: “Eyes on the Prize” by Arkells Vladimir Guerrero, Jr. is the “face” of the Toronto Blue Jays. He has also yet to play even… Read more »
A song to play while reading about the Phillies: “Let’s Get It On” by Marvin Gaye The opening bars of Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On” might have popped into Bryce Harper and Scott Boras’s… Read more »
Song to play while reading about the Braves: “Just The Way You Are” by Billy Joel The Braves had some cash to burn this offseason (Craig Kimbrel is still available, folks), and some great young… Read more »
A song to play while reading about the Dodgers: “Walkie-Talkie Man” by Steriogram. This was one the best songs on one of the best soundtracks of one of the best baseball video games ever: MVP… Read more »
A song to play while reading about the Reds: “Here Comes the Sun,” by The Beatles because there’s finally reason for optimism about this team. While some contenders with more resources largely sat idle this… Read more »
A song to play while reading about the Yankees: “Never Going Back Again,” by Fleetwood Mac. After years of big spending on aging veterans under George Steinbrenner, Yankees GM Brian Cashman has taken the reins… Read more »
A song to play while reading about the Pirates: “Bankrupt On Selling,” by Modest Mouse. This is likely evergreen for the Bob Nutting-era Pirates, but just as appropriate in 2019 as ever. I have indeed… Read more »
A song to play while reading about the Brewers: “Love & Hate,” by Michael Kiwanuka An entire generation of Brewers fans, myself included, weren’t even alive the one and only time they appeared in the… Read more »
A song to play while you’re reading about the Nationals: “I Will Survive,” by Gloria Gaynor. This team will be fine with Bryce Harper hitting 40 homers for a division rival. Just…just fine. The Washington… Read more »
A song to play while reading about the Red Sox: I honestly never understood the appeal of “Theme Song to New York, New York” until it became the Red Sox’ preferred way to troll the… Read more »
A song to play while you’re reading about the Cardinals: “The Glory of Man” by Minutemen. This song is track 20 on the 1989 CD release of Double Nickels on the Dime, and in 2019… Read more »
A song to play while you’re reading about the Rays: “Roll With It” by Oasis It is eight years since Jonah Keri’s The Extra 2% was published and over a decade since the remarkable 2008… Read more »
A song to play while you’re reading about the Orioles: “Baltimore,” by Randy Newman. I was tempted to use Nina Simone’s version, but Randy’s is just so good. Newman is a dark comedy genius, however,… Read more »
A song to play while you’re reading about the Giants: “LOVE” by Kendrick Lamar, ft. Zacari. (As Kendrick uses his song about love to talk mostly about loyalty, the Giants will find out how many… Read more »
A song to play while you’re reading about the Twins: “Sometimes It Snows In April,” by local hero Prince — because a series of home dates likely to be impacted by weather may set the… Read more »
A song for a team going their own way, and to listen to while reading about the Royals: “Never Follow Suit,” by The Radio Dept. The 2018 Royals may have lost nearly twice as many… Read more »
A song to play while reading about the Mets: “Secret Garden,” by Bruce Springsteen – It’s cliche for a baseball writer to go back to the Springsteen well, but hey, if you change all the… Read more »
