There are dozens of Cubs previews out there, but as far as I can google, none that are set to a soundtrack of Mountain Goats songs. John Darnielle was on Effectively Wild’s Cubs preview this… Read more »
Season Previews
This is not the greatest song in the world, no This is just a tribute – “Tribute,” Tenacious D The 2015 Los Angeles Dodgers were expected to be a powerhouse. A world beater. A… Read more »
The Tampa Bay Rays will celebrate their 20th season in 2017, and for much of that history they’ve been defined by their off-field actors: original team owner Vince Naimoli oversaw some very poor teams and alienated any potential fans in the first several years of ownership before being bought out by Stuart Sternberg.
Heading into 2015, the Cleveland Indians were one of the most confusing teams for projection systems. The roster had a superstar level performer on either side of the ball in Michael Brantley and Corey Kluber,… Read more »
Let’s remember the World Series last year, ending at Citi Field after game five on a chilly night in November. The Royals defying the odds and PECOTA, making their second appearance in a row, and… Read more »
The 2015 Red Sox were a thought experiment gone awry. The team was built around its 2013 championship core, but augmented in such a way as to capitalize on major league baseball’s current pitcher-friendly environment…. Read more »
It’s an even year; they’ll win it all. … Wait, I need more than that? Oh, well, I guess there’s more to the story then. While it is true that this is an even year,… Read more »
Think about a moment that helps sum up the 2015 Nationals season. A team that most experts picked to win the National League East easily in a division with two teams at the beginning of… Read more »
For the Houston Astros, the 2015 season represented some sort of near-redemption, an almost-coronation that brought them back into the good graces of fans across Houston. They finished 86-76, won the Wild Card game against… Read more »
“Bautista with a drive, deep left field, no doubt about it!” Independently, those eleven magical words don’t add much value, though when collectively exclaimed from the voice of Kenny Albert they evoke an unparalleled escape… Read more »
“My momma always said, ‘Life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.’” -Forrest Gump Things felt different when the Yankees geared up for their Wild Card showdown with… Read more »
Jerry Dipoto overhauled much of the Mariners’ roster this offseason. Will it be enough to give King Felix the chance to pitch in the postseason?
After a record streak of 20 straight losing seasons–this team lost 105 games as recently as 2010–the Pirates have made the postseason three straight years. In a way, though, it’s been unfulfilling. They’ve failed to… Read more »
I know it’s over – still I cling I don’t know where else I can go -The Smiths ************************ .272/.313/.385 84 wRC+ -Bo Hart Last year, my theme for this piece was “not yet,” as… Read more »
Last offseason, the Chicago White Sox appeared to be going into the 2015 season in “win-now” mode. They signed Jeff Samardzija. They signed Melky Cabrera. They signed David Robertson. Adding those three guys with the incumbents… Read more »
Tell me you predicted the Texas Rangers would win the AL West in 2015. Go on, tell me! Of course you didn’t. I didn’t. Nobody did! And yet, there they were, sitting atop the standings… Read more »
Let’s take a Quantum Leap for a moment. I’ll be Al Calavicci to your Dr. Sam Beckett. We materialize in the dry heat of the desert. As I check my handlink, I inform you that… Read more »
Mark Sands and AD are back to preview the upcoming Detroit Tigers season. While the Bob Seger lead-in to our 2015 season preview still feels on-point, we missed pretty badly on our prediction that Detroit… Read more »
Outside of the Upper Midwest, admitting one’s Twins fandom is akin to declaring vanilla your favorite ice cream or missionary your favorite sexual position. The Twins are both unremittingly dull and steadfast in their belief… Read more »
Sam Miller described the San Diego Padres entering the 2015 off-season as “the boringest franchise” (Effectively Wild, episode 591). But after spending much of the 2000s mired in the range of 70 wins, General Manager… Read more »
What a difference a year makes. Going into 2015, the Milwaukee Brewers returned qualifying players at six of the eight field spots (with a seventh within a handful of plate appearances) and solidified the last… Read more »
History is full of great rivalries. If one were trying to conceive of the Mt. Rushmore of animosity, it might just be Mozart vs. Salieri, Burr vs. Hamilton, Coke vs. Pepsi, and Stone Cold vs…. Read more »
Behold, the fool saith, “Put not all thine eggs in the one basket” – which is but a manner of saying, “Scatter your money and your attention”; but the wise man saith, “Put all your… Read more »
In the 1959 Vincent Price horror film House on Haunted Hill, a menacing rich man invites a group of young strangers to survive the night at an enormous, ghastly estate he has co-opted for his… Read more »
To say the 2015 Oakland Athletics season was disappointing already reflects something about how you view them. After 2014, a year where they looked championship-caliber only to sputter into a Wild Card game exit, the… Read more »
There are, generally speaking (and it is dangerous of course to discuss these things too freely in terms of generalities), two types of villains in Shakespeare. There are individuals who become seduced towards immorality or… Read more »
Last year, I wrote the season preview for the Baltimore Orioles. This year I am at it again, albeit with far less enthusiasm and optimism. Whelp, it’s 2016 and I am two months from 30…. Read more »
In 2015, the Cincinnati Reds finished with a record of 64-98, scoring 640 runs and allowing 754 runs, and things don’t seem to be looking up. But hey, they play the games for a reason,… Read more »
At the beginning of the 2016 MLB season, the Atlanta Braves find themselves in the midst of a very public rebuilding process that is both literal and metaphorical. As they reconstruct their home, this time… Read more »
Last year, Banished to the Pen ran season previews in an “out of the box” format, wherein the writer posed questions and preceded to answer them in depth. This style of writing is familiar to… Read more »
