The Rams’ 23-20 win over the Bengals was basically a defensive showcase, with most plays going nowhere. There were, however, about ten plays that stood out and provided all the conversational fodder that was needed, and the game, as had the preceding six playoff contests, came down to the final two-minute drill. The biggest single […]
Some sports columnists are lauding ex-Dolphin coach Brian Flores for challenging the NFL for its dearth of Black head coaches, and commissioner Roger Goodell has said he finds it “completely unacceptable” that the roster of Black coaches has been reduced to one. Critics point out that 70% of the NFL players are Black, as if […]
With the drumbeat for change louder and louder, and with the field of traditionalists shrinking more each year, it seems inevitable that changes, some major, will be made to the sport of baseball in order to increase fan interest and watchability by, among other things, speeding up the game. Indeed, in my youth a two-hour […]
Eddie Rosario’s three-run homer off Walker Buehler in the Braves’ clinching NLCS victory over the Dodgers was one of the greatest at-bats I’ve had the pleasure to witness. It reminded me of a classic home run by David Ortiz, the details of which I can’t recall, except that it was in an even more dramatic, […]
I’m looking forward to the Astros-Red Sox ALCS with pleasure, the Dodgers-Braves NLCS not so much. What a contrast in personalities and style of play. Both AL teams can flat-out hit, up and down their lineups, aided by the DH, too. Both NL teams had trouble scoring–and there weren’t a lot of dominant pitchers causing […]
The Yankees’ 2021 season came to a fittingly ignominious close with a convincing 6-2 trouncing by the Red Sox in the Wild Card Play-In game last night. I say “fitting,” because the punchless Yankees deserved no more after scoring only 7 runs in their final four “must-win” games and being outclassed by the Tampa Bay […]
Traditional baseball statistics are being devalued, as their relationship to actual player value is rightly questioned. A pitcher’s won-lost record is now regularly described as unimportant. One current example is the pitcher who pitches four shutout innings in a 7-inning doubleheader game but doesn’t qualify for a win, even though, percentage-wise, he has contributed more […]
August 21. The Twins’ brief spurt of encouraging wins against Houston, Chicago, Tampa Bay and Cleveland is giving way to the all-too-familiar collapse when facing the Yankees, which leads to a sober reassessment of not only where they are, but where they could be next year. In rereading my preseason predictions on this site, I […]
Ever since they appeared on Sports Illustrated’s cover in 2013, Miguel Sano and Byron Buxton have been linked as the future of the Minnesota Twins. Buxton had been rated the top high-school prospect in the country, the ultimate five-tool player, and the powerful Sano had been featured in a documentary, Pelotero, about the grooming and scouting […]
It’s hard to be too hopeful about the Twins’ 2021 season, because it’s hard to see where they have improved over the last two years. In fairness, though, it should be noted that the Twins have won more games in those two years than anyone else in the American League, so the bar is relatively […]
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