March 27, 2024
And now back to the regularly scheduled regular season….
After the chaos and breathlessness of the past week in MLB, to which I contributed with my posts challenging Shohei’s Version, I welcome the traditional excitement of Opening Day. But even that has been upset this year.
All 30 teams were scheduled to be in action tomorrow, but games @PHI and @NYM have already been postponed due to expected heavy rain. (The ATL@PHI game described below is now scheduled for Friday.) Nevertheless, several traditional match-ups and a couple of non-traditional ones should be highly entertaining, and perhaps even important to the psyche of the teams.
(Globe Life Field, Arlington, TX, April 28, 2022. I sure miss the Ballpark in Arlington.)
Let’s start with the World Champion Texas Rangers, who begin the defense of their title at home against the … Cubs? Yes, an interleague game greets the world champions, and a tough interleague opponent at that. The Cubs are improved and their Opening Day starter, Justin Steele, is coming off a 16-5, 3.06 ERA season. Those numbers were better than the Rangers’ #1 starter, Nathan Eovaldi (12-5, 3.63 ERA). Apparently both Corey Seager and Josh Jung will make the Opening Day start for TEX despite missing much of Spring Training with injuries. However, CHI could certainly spoil the Rangers’ debut as World Champs. And perhaps the Cubs will use that success as a springboard to live up to my prediction that they will win the NL Central.
In an NL East blockbuster, ATL opens with a 3-game series against PHI at beautiful Citizens Bank Park.
(Unfortunately, the forecast for this year’s Opening Day is not as it was in 2022.)
Game 1 will now have to wait until Friday, but Spencer Strider v. Zack Wheeler is “Must See, MLB!” even if falls on Day 2. The winner of this game and of this series will get an important early season lead on its top rival. The AL East offers a pretty good counterpart – TOR @ TBR (no rainouts at The Trop, probably not many fans, either), but Berrios v. Eflin hardly provides the same pitching sizzle. Regardless of the outcome of these Game 1’s, I expect all four of these teams to make the post-season.
LAD faces STL and hopes to get back on the winning track after getting shelled last week by SDO and the media. How the saga of Shohei Ohtani and his interpreter unfolded — and why it’s not over – Los Angeles Times (latimes.com). How will this team respond to continuing adversity? Did LAD just give Will Smith the longest catcher’s contract in MLB history (10 years, $140 million), just to change the narrative? Will Smith Contract Extension Continues Dodgers’ Wild Spending Spree.
Tyler Glasnow was good enough in his debut in Seoul, but will he be feeling added pressure in his first start in Chavez Ravine? He needs to be LAD’s stopper, as the rest of the rotation looks shaky. Shelby Miller (!) is the next game starter, as Yoshinobu Yamamoto has been pushed back to the #3 slot. STL has a lot to prove after a disastrous 2023, and has historically been a Dodger nemesis. If the Cardinals take this series there could be more trouble brewing in LA than just in the federal courthouse!
(Chavez Ravine, August 3, 2019)
Two lesser stories to follow are SFO@SDO and MIN@KCR. The Giants have made a late-Spring push to be relevant again. Both it and SDO need to win against their division rivals to have a chance to make the post-season, so every game counts. Can Yu Darvish outpitch Logan Webb?
And no team made more under-the-radar moves than KCR. If they can come out of the gate winning a series against the consensus favorite in the division, anything could follow. Cole Ragans, acquired from TEX in the Aroldis Chapman trade, was the best pitcher in baseball in August and September last year. A dominant win in his first Opening Day start could propel him into the Cy Young discussion. How Cole Ragans became budding ace for Royals (mlb.com).
(Kauffman Stadium, August 14, 2015)
The last opening game and series I will preview is one that everyone should be interested in: NYY @ HOU. The Astros have owned NYY for almost a decade now, particularly in the post-season. Both of these teams have issues this year, but NYY has many more, with seemingly a new injury announcement every day. New York Yankees Injury Status – ESPN. Even the guys that are not on the IL have serious health concerns, like Judge, Rodon, and Cortez.
Given that NYY missed the post-season last year and HOU was one win from returning to the World Series, HOU already had a significant advantage. A healthy Astros line-up strongly suggests that the dominance over NYY will continue. Getting swept to start the season would set NYY on a downward spiral. HOU, on the other hand, needs to vanquish the nightmare of losing 33 of 42 games at home at the end of 2023, regular and post-season. Three games do not a season make, but this seems like a really important series for both teams.
(Looking for a return to Game 3, World Series, October 27, 2017, Minute Maid Park)
Now to recap, here are my picks for 2024 that I posted previously, plus my World Series winner (the photo above gives you a hint about that):
NL East – ATL
NL Central – CHI
NL West – LAD
NL Wildcards – PHI, SDO, MIL
AL East – BAL
AL Central – DET
AL West – HOU
AL Wildcards – TBR, TOR, TEX
NL Pennant – ATL
AL Pennant – HOU
World Series – HOU
AL MVP – Kyle Tucker
AL Cy Young – Christian Javier
AL Batting – Kyle Tucker
NL MVP – Bryce Harper
NL Cy Young – Spencer Strider
NL Batting – Luis Arraez
Yes, I am going with my favorite team again, but I don’t believe it is an unthinking pick. And if I am right about the years I am predicting for Tucker and Javier, then the team results will surely follow.
And one last posting of the “experts”, in case you doubt my wisdom and are interested in making any last-minute changes. 2024 MLB predictions: Playoffs, World Series, MVPs and more – ESPN. Even if you don’t consult these now, we will have them to compare our results to come November.
Email me your picks by midnight Thursday night to commish@babesbaseball.com. The emails have been coming in steadily all day, but some of you are still thinking, I know.
March 25, 2024
Shohei says “it ain’t so!”
First, the really important news. You have three more days to get your picks in. Please email them to commish@babesbaseball.com by midnight Thursday. Defending Rocky winner Dan Epstein has already delivered his, so the challenge is on to prevent him from repeating as B.A.B.E.S. champion. We know that many of you covet and deserve your own Rocky, and several of you have been very close before. This could be your year. So get your winning picks in now or live with last year’s losers.
To the extent you are interested in a little more analysis, here are two links – the first to the updated projected Opening Day rosters, and the second to some picks by the declared “experts” in the professional media.
https://www.mlb.com/news/2024-mlb-award-winners-predictions?partnerID=mlbapp-iOS_article-share.
And if you think my opinion matters at all, the rest of my picks except the World Series winner are set out below. I am still undecided on the WS, but will make up my mind and post it on Wednesday.
Now, on to the really confounding news. Having practiced law for over forty years and having now lived for sixty-five (my Spring Training birthday was last week), I have seen many odd situations with weird actors who could be nefarious or might just be stupid. I have also owned for many of my years a t-shirt that reads “baseball is life!” If that expression is true, as I believe it to be, then I should not be surprised when those odd situations and questionable characters turn up in the game we all love. This is especially so given the Biblical truth contained in the wisdom of Solomon: “There is nothing new under the sun.” This excerpt from the Chicago Examiner published over 100 years ago proves this point.
“As Jackson departed from the Grand Jury room, a small boy clutched at his sleeve and tagged along after him.
“Say it ain’t so, Joe,” he pleaded. “Say it ain’t so.”
“Yes kid, I’m afraid it is,” Jackson replied.
“Well, I never would’ve thought it,” the boy said.”
Chicago Examiner, September 30, 1920
Although I am no longer as innocent as that young boy back in 1920 (if I ever was), I admit that Ohtani is the last player of all of the 1200 players on MLB 40-man rosters that I would expect to end up in this kind of saga. He might be the last player in all of professional sports to come to mind as the centerpiece of a major gambling scandal. But there he was this afternoon, facing an anxious and questioning world, wearing a Dodgers hat and looking – smug?
That was indeed the impression I got, that he was a man confident that no one with any credibility could contradict his story. His interpreter turned antagonist, Ippei Mizuhara, has already recanted his controverting version, and the strategy of the Ohtani camp is clearly to bury Ippei under the bus. The second baseball thought that came to mind was this one from Jack Buck, which also involved LAD but in a markedly different context: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6JTyWMN_x8. “I don’t believe what I just saw!” When LAD signed Ohtani, clearly these were the type of video clips they were hoping for, rather than this one:
I should add that I also don’t yet believe what I heard, either as a baseball fan, a relatively intelligent adult, or as an experienced lawyer. Ohtani’s story just doesn’t add up to me, especially since he did not give enough details, or answer any questions, sufficient to prove his denial of culpability. As reigning Rocky winner, and current Forbes Magazine sports commentator, Dan Epstein, told me in an email this evening: “All I learned is that he doesn’t think anyone can PROVE he was complicit.”
Here were Dan’s thoughts posted even before the the press conference.
I agree with Dan’s assessment, although of course in our society a person is innocent until proven guilty. Ohtani doesn’t have to prove his innocence to avoid prosecution. The burden is on the parties investigating this matter to ask the difficult questions (as well as the easy ones), and let the information be filtered through the justice system. As for the court of public opinion, however, the information should be disseminated through unbiased public channels. I did not consider the post-statement coverage and commentary on ESPN and MLB Network to be unbiased. (ESPN’s continuation of its relationship with sports betting on the same screen in which Ohtani appeared denying any involvement in betting is a telling statement about the objectivity of the network and of MLB. https://awfulannouncing.com/espn/espn2s-ticker-draws-ridicule-during-shohei-ohtani-press-conference.html.
Even Mrs. Commissioner, who watched the statement and the coverage with me, was startled by the different way Ohtani’s demeanor was reported by these media from that which she personally observed. On ESPN.com, senior baseball analyst Tim Kurkjian is already on film stating why he “believes Ohtani’s statement”. This at least includes Kurkjian’s expressed opinion, but no follow-up analysis was given with respect to the 90-minute interview with Mizuhara that ESPN recorded last Tuesday night! Will there be? On MLB.com, there is still ZERO mention of the gambling story or the Ohtani response! Nothing. Nada. “I see nothing. I hear nothing!” appears to be MLB’s official statement.
Is that the level of “investigation” the MLB Commissioner’s office will put into this matter? Perhaps Ohtani is just too big?
“Who is he anyhow, an actor?”
“No.”
“A dentist?”
“…No, he’s a gambler.” Gatsby hesitated, then added coolly: “He’s the man who fixed the World Series back in 1919.”
“Fixed the World Series?” I repeated.
The idea staggered me. I remembered, of course, that the World Series had been fixed in 1919, but if I had thought of it at all I would have thought of it as something that merely happened, the end of an inevitable chain. It never occurred to me that one man could start to play with the faith of fifty million people–with the singlemindedness of a burglar blowing a safe.
“How did he happen to do that?” I asked after a minute.
“He just saw the opportunity.”
“Why isn’t he in jail?”
“They can’t get him, old sport. He’s a smart man.”
The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald.
In the quote above from Shoeless Joe Jackson, reportedly heard outside the grand jury room, Jackson admitted that he took money, presumably from gambler named Arnold Rothstein, referenced here by Fitzgerald. https://bleacherreport.com/articles/1087222-mlb-the-1919-chicago-white-sox-couldnt-have-done-it-without-arnold-rothstein. As we all know from multiple Hollywood films, Jackson hit .375 in the Series and made no errors. Further, Jackson and seven other players were acquitted of conspiracy to defraud. That courtroom verdict of “not guilty”, however, did not prevent MLB Commissioner Kennesaw Moutain Landis from banning all eight players for life. On August 3, 1921, the day after the acquittals, Landis issued his own verdict:
Regardless of the verdict of juries, no player who throws a ball game, no player who undertakes or promises to throw a ball game, no player who sits in confidence with a bunch of crooked ballplayers and gamblers, where the ways and means of throwing a game are discussed and does not promptly tell his club about it, will ever play professional baseball.
To be sure, no such conduct has been proven or even alleged concerning Ohtani. But will Commissioner Manfred have the integrity and will to ensure that Shohei has told the truth? And even if he has, don’t questions need to asked of the LAA and LAD franchises? Were they any less culpable for permitting this conduct to go on in their dugouts than were the Astros, Red Sox and Yankees in the sign-stealing scandals?
What say you, Rob Manfred? Inquiring minds, like that little boy in 1920, want to know, and even some uninquiring ones….
Here are some of my remaining 2024 picks, which frankly seem anti-climactic at the moment.
NL East – ATL
NL wildcards – PHI, SDO, MIL
AL East – BAL
AL wildcards – TEX, TBR, TOR
NL Pennant – ATL
AL Pennant – HOU
March 21, 2024
I have no words!
Well, that’s not true, but I certainly am struggling to find the appropriate ones. I had intended to give you a day off from my recent barrage of messages, but last night’s and this morning’s events are just too….weird (there are other words that come to mind, but “weird” is in keeping with my theme the past few days.
First, you probably have heard that the most startling gambling story in MLB since Peter Edward Rose in 1989 hit the ESPN website yesterday. Dodgers fire Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter amid allegation of ‘massive theft’ – ESPN. The $700 Million Married Man, who has been as squeaky clean as any athlete in any sport his entire life, apparently wired directly from his own accounts nearly $4.5 million to cover his interpreter’s illegal gambling debts! At least that’s the tip of this iceberg story, which I can see becoming something of a Titantic-like crisis for LAD and MLB. Even if it is proved beyond question that Ohtani did not actually initiate any of these bets for himself, which seems at least in doubt at this stage, how can Commissioner Manfred NOT discipline Ohtani for enabling his friend and fellow LAD employee? Is such enormous illegal betting activity by an employee who sits in the LAD dugout, and the illegal payment of those debts by a LAD uniformed player, not violate the league’s gambling policy. https://content.mlb.com/documents/8/2/2/296982822/Major_League_Rule_21.pdf:
(3) Any player, umpire, or Club or League official or employee who places bets with illegal book makers, or agents for illegal book makers, shall be subject to such penalty as the Commissioner deems appropriate in light of the facts and circumstances of the conduct.
And how could the absence of any discipline be in the “best interests of baseball”? Just what Manfred wanted to deal with as he begins his lame-duck status as Commissioner!
And worse, what if Ohtani’s payments constitute aiding-and-abetting illegal gambling? The report seems to establish that this was not a legal gambling operation under CA law. Therefore, the bookie involved has every reason to point fingers at the biggest fish in order to save his own neck. I knew some weirdness was coming, but my active mind could not have come up with this one.
But, wait! There’s more!
As if Ohtani’s story that broke last night wasn’t terrible enough to spoil LAD’s comeback win in Game 1 of the 2024 season, the events of this morning surely added insult to injury! In case you didn’t get up to listen, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, the $325 million LAD rookie, completed his debut in MLB with this stat line: 1 inning, 43 pitches, 45 E.R.A.! Yes, you read that right. Yamamoto faced nine batters in the 1st inning, giving up five runs, four hits, one walk and one HBP. This is the guy who never had an ERA over 1.50 in his career in the NPB. LAD’s revered president Andrew Friedman’s reputation has just taken a major hit (but wait, didn’t he also sign Trevor Bauer?) One of the most respected executives in all of baseball has some explaining to do!
Yamamoto’s very early exit was followed quicky by that of SDO’s starter Joe Musgrove, (2.2 IP’s, 5 E.R’s). Nevertheless, SDO outslugged LAD 15-11 to take Game 2 (almost blowing a 9-2 lead). LAD’s bullpen wasn’t much better than Yamamoto. Dave Roberts must be wondering exactly what he’s going to do over the next 160 games, or maybe just the next 2 since Yamamoto is scheduled to pitch in Chavez Ravine in Game 4 against STL on March 29. Is there any sports psychologist who can fix Yamamoto’s psyche, or any coach who can fix his mechanics, in the next week? Must see, MLB! On the field and in the courts?
Ok, since I hit your inbox again already, I might as well include more of my 2024 Rocky picks.
Batting Champ – MLB Player Stat Leaders, 2023 Regular Season – ESPN.
I have always said that this is the hardest category to pick since in any given year a player can get in a groove and produce a high average. This is certainly true for young players. Who had ever heard of Luis Arraez three years ago? Yandy Dias for TBR was another example of this last season.
However, like the MVP and Cy Young awards, there are “usual suspects” that you can confidently assume will be near the top of their league in average – Freeman, Betts, Acuna and Seager. Other players with sub-.300 career averages are still capable of having a high-average year: Harper, Ohtani, even Cody Bellinger or Christian Yelich, who is only five years removed from back-to-back batting titles.
MLB batting title candidates for 2024.
Despite the uncertainty, I have adopted a philosophy that in this category you go with the hot hand. Arraez has won the title in the AL and NL that past two years, becoming only the second player to win a batting title in both leagues (can you name the other player? Think NYY.) Arraez is hitting .384 in the 2024 Spring Training and has five straight multi-hit games. Why would we pick anyone else? If Arraez wins his third consecutive title, he will join players named Ty Cobb, Rogers Hornsby, Honus Wagner, Tony Gwynn, Jr., Wade Boggs, and Miguel Cabrera. Not bad company.
List of Major League Baseball batting champions – Wikipedia.
Yandy Diaz does not carry the same assurance as does Arraez. He has a slightly larger body of work, 2,149 AB’s, in which he has batted at a .290 clip. (Arraez is at 1,987/.326). Diaz is at .276 for 29 AB’s in Spring Training. He just doesn’t seem like a repeat winner to me, and no other AL player stands out to me. You may recall that I picked Kyle Tucker to win the MVP, and leading the AL in batting would be a good fact for his candidacy. He also finished behind only four players last year who will still be in the AL in 2024. Therefore, I am doubling-down on Tucker.
NL Batting Title – Luis Arraez
AL Batting Title – Kyle Tucker
Central Divisions:
While I am at it, I will throw in my picks for the AL and NL Central Divisions. These two divisions seem irrelevant to me, particularly the AL. But someone has to win, so I am just going to go with one of my favorite personal experiences. The only time I have seen a game in Wrigley Field was an inter-league affair between CHI and DET. Riding the L North from our hotel on Michigan Avenue, my son Jack and I were certain that we were in Detroit. It was packed with Tigers’ fans! I guess they don’t get many opportunities to see their team play in Wrigley. This was their chance and they took took it, but then this happened in the third inning…
DET won the game, but not until after a two-hour rain delay where Jack and I were treated to a buffet by one of clients in their box. With that hospitality, we joined quite a few fans who stuck around to see the Cubs lose as the clock struck midnight!
(DET@Chi; Wrigley Field, August 18, 2015)
Riding the L back to the hotel after midnight, my son looked at me and said, “Dad, this is so cool!” That is a parenting and baseball moment I will never forget, and as good a reason as any on which to base my Central Division picks.
NL Central Division winner – CHI
AL Central Division winner – DET
March 20, 2024
MLB Season FauxOpener Report (with more Commissioner picks)
For several days I have had a feeling that this is going to be an unusual year in MLB. Of course, TEX being the defending World Series Champions already makes this an unprecedented season in MLB history. This morning as the 2024 season opens, my anticipation of weirdness is just getting stronger. Commissioner Manfred took his most famous team and its most famous player around the world for its season opener to be played in the early morning hours in the Western Hemisphere. Very odd. Well, your Society commissioner is not averse to making similar questionable decisions, or at least seriously considering them. Perhaps it is the over 7,000 feet altitude that is confusing my thinking.
Greetings from the Society’s Spring Training headquarters, Santa Fe, New Mexico. Mrs. Commissioner and I have been here for Spring Break with the grandkids, but unfortunately the Fuego have not yet gathered to prepare for the start of the Pecos League. Welcome to the Home Page of Santa Fe Fuego Professional Baseball Team!. The independent ball season doesn’t open until Memorial Day Weekend, which seems like a very late start, but is that any stranger than MLB starting as early as March 20, with first ever MLB game in Seoul, Korea? (And starting at 4:05 a.m., MDT (that’s 3:05 a.m., PDT for LAD and SDO fans.)
Rising well before the high desert sun to listen to indoor baseball 6,334 miles away, (actually, I was already awake due to the cough and cold I have picked up at this altitude), I am surprised to learn that SF and Seoul are on practically the same latitude, 35.6870 N and 37.5519 N, respectively. Outside the Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul, (capacity, 16,744), the temperature is 44 degrees at 7:07 p.m., (it’s 31 degrees in SF at 4:07 a.m., MT). I have a cup of black coffee in hand as Tim Neverett reports from LAD’s radio booth that Yu Darviish’s first pitch sails outside to former MVP, now Shortstop, Mookie Betts for Ball 1. (Betts is at shortstop for the first time since high school, after winning six Gold Gloves in right field and then moving to second base last year. He’s obviously a team player, and LAD obviously has some line-up issues! But where is Charlie Steiner, longtime LAD announcer and ESPN host? I can find nothing on the Internet and neither Neverett nor longtime color commentator, and former Dodger, Rick Monday, have said anything about him.)
Four pitches later, the first at-bat of this unusual start to the MLB season concluded in the most unusual way: Betts was awarded first base on a pitch-clock violation – a faux base on balls! The next batter, $700 Million Married Man Shohei Ohtani, a two-time AL MVP, begins his LAD career with a towering HR, right? Nah, he hits a weak grounder to second base, but Shohei actually hustles down the line to prevent an era-opening GIDP. So, that is noteworthy at least. Next, former and perhaps future MVP Freddie Freeman strikes out. Not exactly a historic start to the new LAD era for the trio of MVP’s. Oh, and Max Muncy just K’d with the bases loaded in the top of the 3rd inning, still no score. I know it is early, but already I am seeing the issues I expect to dog LAD this year.
Commissioner’s 2024 Picks – West Division
National League
I previewed on Sunday with my MVP and Cy Young picks that I am skeptical of the LAD team despite all hardware and dollars that its roster now possesses. The line-up falls off quickly after the first three, with a lot of k’s (see Max Muncy report above, still batting 5th despite the team adding Teoscar Hernandez to replace J. D. Martinez). There are serious questions about the starting rotation and the bullpen, and of course there is enormous pressure for this team to win.
Compare the situation for the opening day opponent, SDO. No one expects the Padres to challenge LAD, or even ARI, after the disastrous results of 2023. And the team no longer has Juan Soto (! ), or manager Bob Melvin who went to SFO, or even owner Peter Seidler who died from medical complications last November 13. Peter Seidler, Padres chairman and owner, dies at 63 – ESPN. How can they compete? Well, they still have Tatis and Machado (only DH’ing for now due to an elbow injury), and Xander Bogaerts in the field, as well as Darvish, Joe Musgrove and now Dylan Cease as 1-3 starters on the mound. They also have a new manager, Mike Schildt, who won Manager of the Year for STL. A.J. Preller is still the GM, but perhaps he can stay out of the way for one season? Inconceivable?
ARI, of course, came within three wins of a World Series Championship after having won only 84 games in the regular season. They are an excellent club and could again make noise in the postseason with the addition of free agent pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez, but can we really expect this team to win the division?
The same question should be asked about SFO, a team that hasn’t finished over .500 the past two seasons after shockingly winning 107 games in 2021. Those two years got Gabe “The Babe” Kapler fired and replaced by the exact opposite personality, Bob Melvin, a quiet baseball old-schooler who is a three-time Manager of the Year. After missing out on most of the top free agents the past three years, SFO has quietly added some interesting pieces, not the least of whom is reigning Cy Young winner Blake Snell. Logan Webb, Jordan Hicks and Snell will be a formidable rotation in a short series, but how will it fare over 162 games? Especially with the Giants’ anemic offense which was 24th in scoring in 2023. Matt Chapman was added to the lineup, but will his 2023 .754 OPS make a significant impact? Not likely. That takes me back to So. Cal.
LAD scored 152 more runs than SDO in 2023 (906/754), and added Shohei Ohtani to the lineup for 2024, while Juan Soto was removed from the Padres lineup. That run differential resulted in LAD winning 18 more games than SDO did in 2023. So, the gap can only widen, right? Who in their right mind would pick SDO to win the division in 2024? Time will tell about my state of mind, but I’m not going to make that call as badly as I am tempted to do it in what I anticipate will be a weird year. NL West Division winner – LAD
American League
HOU has won this division six of the last seven years, with the lone exception, 2020, hardly counting due to the COVID-shortened season. Of course, TEX handed the Astros the 2023 division crown with its regular season final series collapse but then more than compensated with its post-season World Series-winning run (including a historic 11-game road winning streak). This included a seven-game series defeat of HOU in the ALCS, HOU’s seventh consecutive appearance in that series.
So, which of these teams is favored to win the AL West in 2024? Both teams are essentially the same as last year. TEX has not re-signed pitcher Jordan Montgomery but will have 2023 postseason hero Evan Carter for the full season, and perhaps top prospect Wyatt Langford will make a similar impact in his rookie season. World Series MVP Corey Seager, 1b Nathaniel Lowe and near ROY 3b Josh Jung will start the season on the IL, as will Max Scherzer and Jacob deGrom. The rotation and bullpen remain suspect even as they were during last year’s championship run.
In contrast, the HOU lineup remains intact. Altuve, Alvarez, Bregman and Tucker is a formidable First Four. The starting rotation has issues (they did not add Blake Snell), but certainly should be stronger than TEX’s. Also, Justin Verlander, Luis Garcia, and Lance McCullors, Jr., should all return at some time during the season. The bullpen, already one of the best in MLB, added Josh Hader, so that is a clear advantage for HOU. So, I see HOU as very likely to win more regular season games than TEX. 90 wins by HOU was as much as an unexpected underachievement as TEX’s 90 wins was an unexpected overachievement.
That should settle the division winner unless SEA can somehow finally reach its potential under the leadership of Julio Rodriguez and a stellar young pitching staff. MLB’s longest postseason drought was surprisingly ended in 2022, but SEA then equally surprisingly missed the post-season in 2023, due mostly to TEX’s equally surprising rise to 90 wins. Can SEA improve on its 88 wins? Yes. Can it win more than either HOU or TEX? I doubt it.
No need to even mention the OAK/LV/SLC/Sacramento A’s. Not much need to mention LAA, either, other than that I love Ron Washington and will be happy for him if he can somehow keep Mike Trout on the field for most of the season and Anthony Rendon interested for the same period. Public Enemy No. 1 Anthony Rendon Is Making Good Points About MLB and Its Schedule | News, Scores, Highlights, Stats, and Rumors | Bleacher Report. With his projected pitching staff, the loss of Shohei Ohtani is rendered almost meaningless, but at least Coach Wash will be fun to watch in the dugout again. The Official Texas Rangers Ron Washington dance (youtube.com).
AL West Division winner – HOU
And for the final report of the FauxOpener (supporting my pick):
In a sloppy, unathletic game that weirdly contained more pitch clock violations than hits through the first six innings by SDO, but yet the Padres still held a 2-1 lead. That was when new manager Mike Schildt brought in two relievers acquired from NYY in the Juan Soto trade – Wandy Peralta and Johny Brito. 3 walks and a single later, the game is tied and the bases are loaded. Then Gavin Lux hits a double-play ball to 1b Jake Cronenworth, but the ball goes straight through the glove’s-webbing! Not around it like Bill Buckner, but through it! The result, LAD scores 4 to go ahead 5-2, but not before Shohei Ohtani makes a dumb baserunning move and gets doubled off of second base to end the inning. I told you it is going to be a weird year!
But weirdness does not ultimately require departure from the reality. LAD won the game 5-2, with SDO issuing nine BB’s!. So, I am picking LAD and HOU to win the West divisions. No weirdness there.
March 17, 2024
2024 Race for The Rocky –
I didn’t win our competition last year, but I feel no shame. Both of my predictions for pennant winners were one home win away from reaching the World Series, and HOU would have been favored to win over PHI, and certainly over ARI. But alas, even if all that had fallen into place for me, I would not have beaten Dan Epstein. He proved that in our competition recognizing individual talent is as valuable as evaluating teams. Securing forty points by picking four of the six individual awards will surely put you in contention for the title each year. So, I am going to turn my attention to those picks first this year. I am also going to provide a broader discussion of the choices than in years past, which you may find helpful in making your own selections. Feel free to copy my picks, but don’t complain to me in November if they don’t work out for either of us.
For your review, here is an updated projection of the starting lineups, taking into account the latest injuries and free agent signings. https://www.mlb.com/news/projected-lineups-rotations-for-every-2024-mlb-team.
Commissioner’s Predictions – Part 1
MVP – 2023 MLB MVP Award voting results
National League:
The National League race has a new participant – reigning AL MVP Shohei Ohtani. Only one player has ever won the MVP in both leagues. Frank Robinson won it with CIN in 1961, and with BAL in 1966. The Reds traded Robinson in the 1965 offseason claiming that he was “washed up”. Well, he won the Triple Crown for BAL the next season and played in MLB another 10 years! Frank Robinson was part of the worst trade in modern Reds history (cincinnati.com). Ohtani changed leagues via free agency, of course, but we could still criticize the LAA management as harshly as history has treated CIN’s management. Ohtani obviously no longer had any faith in them, and thus became only the fourth reigning MVP to change teams. MVP Award Winners to Switch Teams After Winning Award (lastwordonsports.com).
Ohtani is surely a strong contender for the award even though he is recovering from another arm surgery that will make him a full-time designated hitter (no pitching in 2024). Could he become the first solely DH to win an MVP award? Total MVP Awards by position (mlb.com). He joins a team with two former MVP’s – Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman – who also finished second and third, respectively, in the 2023 voting. One wonders whether these three will split the vote come next November, especially if LAD’s spending spree proves successful on the field and they all have great years. And what if Japanese import Yoshinobu Yamamoto reproduces his ridiculous stats from the NPB? Sources: Japanese star Yamamoto goes to Dodgers for 12 years, $325M – ESPN (not likely, see below). Pitchers do occasionally win the MVP award, although I think they should be excluded from the vote now that there is a Cy Young award. Pitchers to win MLB MVP Award.
The reigning MVP, Ronald Acuna, remains a worthy candidate but his ability to stay healthy is always a concern. NL MVP Ronald Acuña Jr. returns to Braves spring lineup after knee injury scare (yahoo.com), and he also has competition from his own teammates. Matt Olson and Austin Riley finished fourth and seventh, respectively, in the 2023 voting. And Ozzie Albies is a dark-horse candidate who gets some notice even on a team full of stars (he received two-votes in 2023). And what about Spencer Strider?
Juan Soto is no longer in the National League but two-time MVP Bryce Harper is healthy again and ensconced at first base for PHI, which should reduce his risk of injury (and he’s pretty good at the position, too). Philadelphia Phillies Boss Confirms Bryce Harper Will Play First Base Moving Forward – Sports Illustrated Inside The Phillies. 2023 ROY Corbin Carroll played his way to the World Series and the top five in the MVP voting in 2023. Could he lead ARI to the World Series again and himself to the top of the MVP class of 2024? Can Fernando Tatis put his off-field troubles behind him and resume his place as one of MLB’s best players? And don’t forget about his teammate, Manny Machado. Could even the 2019 MVP, Cody Bellinger, continue his rehabilitation and again achieve MVP form? Or perhaps others such as Paul Goldschmidt, Christian Yelich or even Franciso Lindor? So many possibilities!
But conventional wisdom holds that it will come down to LAD and ATL. It is obviously a fool’s errand to pick anyone not named Acuna, Ohtani, Betts, or Freeman, but I will preview my team picks by saying that I do not believe LAD’s winning the off-season will translate as well into the regular season. So, I am looking east. Acuna is the reigning MVP and Matt Olson led the league in HR’s. But Austin Riley has averaged 37 HR’s and 99 RBI over the past three seasons, and finished 6th, 7th and 6th in the MVP voting. I picked him to win it in 2022, but I am often ahead of my time. This year could be Austin’s time, and I am sorely tempted to pick the ATL third baseman again. In addition to winning his first MVP award, Riley may also win his first Gold Glove. Austin Riley aiming for Gold Glove Award in 2024 (mlb.com). But…
If you consulted the link above you learned that first base is the position that has produced the most MVP’s in MLB history (37), and right field is second (30). Bryce Harper was a right fielder when he won his first two MVP’s, and now he is a first baseman. Foreshadowing? He also wants to prove that he can play beyond the eight years remaining on his contract! https://bleacherreport.com/articles/10109826-bryce-harper-wants-new-contract-to-be-with-phillies-into-his-40s-accepts-move-to-1b. With history on his side and his future on his mind, I expect Harper to have a “best-of-Harper” year. What better way to convince PHI to tack on a few more years to his current 13-year deal than by winning his third MVP award? NL MVP – Bryce Harper
American League:
Eliminating the reigning MVP obviously makes this race more open than at any time in the past five years (when Ohtani debuted), and perhaps even in the five years before that (when Mike Trout won his first award). Adding Juan Soto to the mix makes it even more interesting, especially with him playing in the Bronx, assuming he can stay healthy unlike anyone else wearing a NYY uniform. Aaron Judge dealing with abdominal injury ahead of Opening Day 2024 (mlb.com). (And Gerritt Cole! See below.) Add to this the fact that five of the top ten vote-getters for last year’s award have been in the MLB for fewer than four seasons and you have a clear possibility of a “surprise” winner.
There is some carry over from prior years, of course. Corey Seager is a past winner and two-time World Series MVP (although he also is expected to start the season on the IL), and his teammate Marcus Semien has been a finalist multiple times. Mike Trout is a contender in any season that he can play at least 140 games. (And might he have a chip on his shoulder for the grumblings that he could not get his team to the post-season even with Ohtani?) “I will still be the best player” – Mike Trout reaffirms belief in his abilities as 3X MVP eyes glory with Angels following injury-plagued year (sportskeeda.com). And speaking of chips on shoulders, how badly would Kyle Tucker like to have a truly monster year as he approaches free agency and his agent Scott Boras prepares to demand the biggest contract Astros owner Jim Crane has ever had to consider? Kyle Tucker contract extension? What deal could look like as Astros try to sign another All-Star long-term – CBSSports.com. And he won’t have to improve much to get there since he finished 5th in the voting last year. Speaking of Houston, Yordan Alvarez has to be considered a contender, even though he is primarily a DH. And Alex Bregman, once a regular contender, needs a stellar year to improve his leverage for a new contract. Alex Bregman AL MVP Award vote (mlb.com). That Altuve guy is still pretty good too, but a lot has transpired since he won the MVP in 2017.
Despite all of these established stars to choose from, it still seems like this could be the year one of these youngsters claims the league’s top individual honor. But which one? Julio Rodriguez? Bobby Witt, Jr.? Adley Rutschman? Gunnar Henderson? They all finished in the top 10 of the voting last year. (Or what about a couple of really young guys – TEX’s 2023 post-season sensation Evan Carter, or even its top prospect Wyatt Langford. Texas Rangers Prospects Evan Carter, Wyatt Langford Are World Series Champion Oddity – Sports Illustrated Texas Rangers News, Analysis and More. Nah, that’s too fanciful. Like picking Jackson Holliday from BAL….)
Rodriquez is certainly capable of putting up MVP numbers, but SEA is not a great stage from which to shine. Witt has met everyone’s high expectations already, and KCR has actually improved this off-season, but can you really envision the 2024 MVP playing for the Royals? Royals add Michael Wacha, Seth Lugo among bevy of moves (mlb.com). No, it seems that BAL would be the most likely team to produce a young winner. The team is already established as a power in the AL East, and Rutschman and Henderson finished eighth and ninth, respectively, in 2023. Rutschman seems the obvious preference between the two, given that he plays the most important position on the field, catcher. Adley Rutschman could be legit MVP candidate, not just top fantasy catcher – NBC Sports. It was surprising that Henderson outpointed him in 2023, 77-50. Even more surprising, shortstop has produced the fewest number of MVP’s among all nine MLB positions. Total MVP Awards by position (mlb.com). But there was that MVP named Ripken who played shortstop a few games for BAL….
I am sorely tempted to pick Henderson just to complete the renaissance BAL started with last year’s AL East triumph. I am also tempted to pick Bregman because he has to feel the weight of his declining performance. Count me among the many who feel that his drop-off caused HOU to fall short last year, and I am just not sure he will ever return to his better self. https://www.si.com/mlb/astros/news/houston-astros-gm-gives-disappointing-alex-bregman-extension-update-tyler9.
Trout would be the safer pick since all he has to do is stay on the field to be a finalist. I also like the idea that new LAA manager Ron Washington will help rediscover the magic in the outfield next to Disneyland, and if the team is going to succeed it can only be on the strength of Trout’s performance. Nevertheless, I am picking Kyle Tucker. He is going to hit fourth, behind Altuve, Alvarez, and Bregman. So long as someone like Jose Abreu, Yanier Diaz or Chas McCormick can give him a little protection, he should have many opportunities to drive in runs. You know he is going to hit home runs and steal bases. He might also win another Silver Slugger and Gold Glove award. That sounds like an MVP to me. AL MVP – Kyle Tucker
(This could be a short-lived success for HOU, however. As much as I hate to say it, if NYY does not re-sign Juan Soto, I expect Tucker to be wearing pinstripes when his free agency adventure concludes in 2025.)
Cy Young – 2023 MLB Cy Young Award voting results
American League
Well, the reigning AL winner has not changed leagues, but he has gone on the IL with considerable uncertainty as to when he will return. Yankees’ Gerrit Cole feeling ‘pretty good’ with diagnosis, won’t throw for three to four weeks – Newsday. Even if Cole does pitch this season, this injury seems certain to prevent him from performing at a level necessary to repeat as the Cy Young winner. So, as with the AL MVP race, it is more open than usual, but not just because of Cole’s injury. Last year’s runner-up, Sonny Gray now pitches for STL, and the third-place finisher, Kevin Gausman, will also start the season on the IL, although his injury does not appear as serious as Cole’s. Toronto Blue Jays Reportedly Unlikely to Have Ace Pitcher For Opening Day – Fastball (si.com). The same is true for the fourth vote getter, Kyle Bradish. (Gray is injured as well! What is going on here, Commissioner Manfred? Max Scherzer claims severity of pitcher injuries has increased due to pitch clock, cites famed doctors – CBSSports.com.) Scherzer and other former winners Justin Verlander and Jacob deGrom are also all starting the season on the IL and unlikely to make a serious run at the award in 2024.
Fortunately for baseball fans and for SEA, one of the top five vote-getters in 2023 is still able to take the mound, and apparently be successful. Luis Castillo strikes out a spring-high five batters | 03/16/2024 | Seattle Mariners (mlb.com). The same appears to be true for #’s 6-8, Zak Eflin, Pablo Lopez, and George Kirby. Framber Valdez is apparently healthy, but he has had the same struggles this spring as he experienced in the 2023 post-season. Even so, new HOU manager Joe Espada has little choice but to rely on Valdez from the beginning. Framber Valdez named Astros’ Opening Day starter (mlb.com). Can he turn it around and perform for an entire season in his final year before free agency? Count me as highly skeptical. Corbin Burnes could be really good in BAL, but changing leagues makes him a bit of a wildcard, as his 9.28 Spring Training ERA indicates!
Is there anyone out there that could just appear on the scene? Wait! How about the reigning NL Cy Young winner? Believe it or not, we are ten days away from Opening Day (only 3 if you count the games in Seoul) and the 2023 NL Cy Young winner remains unsigned! Even with all those injuries! Perhaps something will happen this week. Astros in hot pursuit of Blake Snell as his free agency lingers (nypost.com). However, HOU already has a dark house candidate. Last year I picked Christian Javier based on his stellar performance in the 2022 post-season. Unfortunately, he had a down year in 2023. Could he bounce back and turn in a full season of dominance? His Spring Training numbers have been reminiscent of 2022: 1.80 ERA, with 13 k’s in 10 IP. I said before in considering Austin Riley for MVP that I am often ahead of my time. Indeed, I initially picked Riley again this year before changing my mind and going with Harper. This time I am going with my old and new intuition and sticking with it even if Blake Snell signs with HOU. AL Cy Young – Christian Javier
National League
As noted above, the reigning NL winner is still a free agent. He might sign with a NL team before the season starts, but even if he does it seems highly unlikely that he could produce results sufficient to repeat as the award winner. (Isn’t the marketplace telling us just that by not signing him?) Scrolling through the other vote-getters from last year and each of the projected NL rotations, there just doesn’t seem like a wide field of possible winners. Logan Webb, Zak Gallen, Spencer Strider and Zack Wheeler seem likely to repeat as finalists. Perhaps Aaron Nola with his fat new contract in hand? Aaron Nola, Phillies agree to 7-year deal (mlb.com). I also picked Nola to win last year, but I don’t think I will repeat that hunch this year. Webb is outstanding, but SFO just won’t provide him enough run support. Gallen is also very good, but he was exhausted by the end of the World Series last fall, and I think it likely that he takes a step back this year due to overwork. That leaves Strider, who finished fourth last year and who has been dominant in Spring Training: 0 ERA, with 29 k’s in 18 IP’s!
Before picking Strider, however, I have to go back to my ATL/LAD analysis I made in the MVP race. LAD has many pitching injuries (like everyone!), but they did acquire Yamamoto and Tyler Glasnow in the off-season. Yamamoto has been bad (8.38 ERA) and Glasnow has been great (0.90 ERA) in Spring Training. Those are small sample sizes, but it suggests that an “Ohtani-like” debut for Yamamoto is unlikely. Glasnow is definitely capable of dominating any team, but can he stay healthy for an entire season? LAD’s prospects may depend on that, and I have already revealed that I don’t think they will be the successful team people are anticipating. So, Strider it is (although a part of me wants to pick Charlie Morton just because he is getting to be an old guy like me and yet is still out there slinging his “uncle charlie” just like he did in 2015. SF@PIT: Statcast tracks Morton’s nasty curveballs (youtube.com). NL Cy Young – Spencer Strider
March 13, 2024
What’s in a Name? Or A Gender?
When I adopted our Society name back in 2012, and immediately settled on the use of the acronym B.A.B.E.S., I admitted that it was not my best work.
A few weeks ago, I wrote to you that our group needed a name that expressed who we are – and I didn’t mean just a bunch of guys who love baseball and want to be thought of as experts in the field. I wanted a name that was clever, but substantive – one that expressed the significance that baseball plays in our lives and, we feel, in the life of our nation. I’ll admit that what we came up with, the Best American Baseball Experts Society, falls a bit short of those goals…. (March 20, 2012).
Twelve years later, I still accept responsibility for any criticism of this name. (Any plaudits should go to those of you who contributed to the effort – thinking of you, Jed Morrison.) Rather than carry any sexist connotations, my hope was that the acronym would associate us with The Babe, one of baseball’s most revered icons. (It is his silhouette that graces our Society logo.)
I am happy to report that time has proven this to be the case. If you Google “babesbaseball”, you get almost exclusively hits relating to Babe Ruth. And there are a few that report on the rise of women playing the Greatest Game. I assume that means that they are not offended by the use of the term. (For further evidence, see the Instagram site “The Baseball Babes”, where the tagline is “Because women love baseball, too!”)
What strikes me today, however, when I read my post from 2012, is that I inadvertently exhibited the very attitude I was hoping to avoid. Did you notice that I wrote that I didn’t want the Society to be “just a bunch of guys who love baseball”? Obviously, I forgot that “women love baseball, too!” (Mrs. Commissioner, notwithstanding), and that they know a great deal about the game. This is even more true today.
We already know about the success of women in MLB front offices, such as Kim Ng, although much work remains to be done there. Kim Ng’s Departure As Marlins General Manager Highlights Gender Disparities In MLB (forbes.com). We are also seeing progress in the dugout and the broadcast booth. Women break barriers in baseball history (mlb.com). Finally, you may have heard that we are getting much closer to the MLB debut of a female umpire. Female umpire Jen Pawol at MLB Spring Training. This progress has long been evident in B.A.B.E.S membership. We have many female members and have had one female winner, although that one remains something of a serendipitous fluke. Proving My Point Too Well… – BEST AMERICAN BASEBALL EXPERTS SOCIETY (wordpress.com). Today’s member profile, however, proves that our female Society members truly know the game.
Meet Carey Edwards, baseball fan since childhood, and B.A.B.E.S. member since 2018.
(Carey with husband, Terry, and eldest, Casey)
Carey has finished as high as third in our competition, and she was only one Astros World Series home win away from winning the Rocky in 2019! I’ll have more to say about that below, but first, here are Carey’s responses to the Seven-Question Stretch.
1. Favorite MLB team, how long? – Houston Astros since 1985 (when I met my husband)
2. Always been your favorite?– Yes
3. Earliest baseball memory? (Can be playing or attending a game.) – Watching the World Series with my dad when I was in middle school.
4. Greatest baseball memory? – Jose Altuve’s walk off home run in 2017 ALCS Game 6 vs. Yankees.
5. Worst baseball memory? – Astros’ ALCS playoff series with Rangers in 2023.
6. Preference for following a game when not attending: radio or TV? – TV ( but, radio when I am too stressed to watch it)
7. Profession? And would you trade it for a “shot” at a career in baseball – on field or front office? – litigation paralegal, but yes, I would work in a MLB Front Office
Commissioner’s Commentary:
1., 2, and 3. Carey’s initial responses were direct and concise, reflecting her thirty-plus years as a litigation paralegal where she skillfully administers some very complex matters. We learn that her love for the Astros commenced when she met her husband, but that her interest in baseball started much earlier with her father. Through some follow-up questions, however, I learned that her dad had always been a Rangers fan. That immediately made me wonder what her father thought about the proposed new son-in-law, the Astros fan! Carey assured me that her father was fine with it. That was very loving of her father, but as a grandfather myself, I wonder if he was inclined to push back when he saw his grandson being dressed like this.
(Carey’s eldest, Casey, again, but this time with her youngest, Cade. I actually like the futuristic look that the team wore from 1994-1999, but agree that it would not have looked as appropriate when the team moved from the Astrodome to then Enron Field in 2000, and adopted the brick red theme. Cade’s signs and Casey’s rally hat, however, are timeless!)
History proves that both father and daughter were wise for more reasons just laying the foundation for a strong marriage. In 1985, TEX won only 62 games. The Astros won 83, and then followed that with 96 wins and a Western Division title in 1986. The fortunes of both franchises have fluctuated in the ensuing 35 years, but the triumph and heartache for both finally evened out in 2023 due to TEX’s win over HOU in the ALCS, and of course, then claiming its first World Series trophy. More on this below.
4. Carey’s answer here allows me to return to my earlier comments on sexist attitudes. Of all the moments in Astros history Carey chose to single out one HR which did not even result in a championship, but which admittedly was very exciting (and perhaps tainted?).
Disregarding the Astros’ sign-stealing scandal, can I use her answer as evidence that we have not actually come very far in our association of women to baseball? What I probably should ask is whether you can believe that this was actually a Nike commercial?
Chicks Dig the Long Ball (youtube.com).
6., 5. I list 6 first because I want to know if Carey was watching or listening when her worst baseball nightmare came true as the Astros blew another Game 7 at home? It was over early, so Carey probably kept watching on TV, as if she couldn’t take her eyes off the train wreck. Given that HOU lost 23 of its final 31 regular season home games in 2023, and has now TWICE lost all four World Series home games (no other team has done that even once), is it time to acknowledge that a higher power than the MLB Commissioner is punishing the Astros’ past sins?
Further, Carey’s answer to question 5 made me want to know how her father reacted to the Rangers’ triumph. Sadly, Carey informed me that her father did not live to see their unlikely championship. We can assume that he would have shed some tears of joy that both Ross Forbes and David Sanders described in my earlier report on the Rangers shocking march to the title.
7. I am happy to see that Carey would welcome an opportunity to work in an MLB front office. I can assure you that she would receive outstanding recommendations from everyone in my firm who has ever worked with her. Litigation partner Matt Swantner praises her work ethic and her work:
“Carey is incredibly hard-working. She keeps track of every deadline, local rule, filing requirement, and document. I often wonder how she finds the energy and focus to keep up with all of these cases over the last 30 years. Suffice it to say that Carey is a huge key to the success of our law firm.”
This strongly suggests that Carey would be an outstanding addition to the Astros’ analytics department, or that of any team. I wouldn’t be surprised if this is her year to win the Rocky, but will she be brave enough to pick a team other than HOU to win the World Series? Perhaps she will honor her father’s memory and predict a Rangers’ repeat? We will find out soon enough. All picks are due by midnight 3/28.
A post-script: I mentioned at the outset our attempt to adopt a clever name for our society that might enter the baseball lexicon. It should be noted that Carey is likely the only person for whom an entire presidential election ticket was named:
The Democratic Party would have been better off nominating our Carey Edwards!
February 16, 2024
The Road to the Hall of Fame…
Runs from Brooklyn, NY, to Providence, RI, to Dallas, TX?
That surprising question opens this Society member profile, and I hope you will read to the end to discover my answer. You may have followed the Cooperstown Hall of Fame vote last month, which I chose not to address because of my long-standing protest over the current concept. Fame, Fortune, Fallen, Fractured, Failure: 2013 HOF vote gets an “F” – BEST AMERICAN BASEBALL EXPERTS SOCIETY (wordpress.com). But that does not prevent me from touting the outstanding accomplishments of a Society member or his serendipitous connection to baseball greatness, all of which deserves enshrinement somewhere. Why not in B.A.B.E.S. lore?
Charles L. “Chip” Babcock is my law partner and a three-time runner-up in our competition for the James L. Walker Award (2023, 2020, 2018). But as you will read below, Chip is not used to finishing second.
(Chip in Cooperstown in July, 2014, to see Eric Nadel receive the Ford C. Frick Award)
Indeed, Chip has earned a reputation as one of the nation’s top litigators and has garnered many awards from many distinguished trial groups along the way. There are likely more achievements to come as he continues to practice full-time, but the interesting storyline to me is that despite all of his success in a notoriously adversarial profession, Chip remains a down-to-earth, hail-fellow-well-met, in the truest sense of the terms. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/down-to-earth#:~:text=2-,%3A%20unpretentious,down%2Dto%2Dearthness%20noun; Hail-fellow-well-met Definition & Meaning – Merriam-Webster. That is exceedingly rare in the modern world of Rambo litigation. The Professionalism Crises – The “Z” Words and Other Rambo Tactics: The Conference of Chief Justices’ Solution (sc.edu). For just one example of Chip’s sense of humor and apparent humility, see this picture he sent me for the profile with the reference: “My Cousins”:
(I doubt the familial relationship. These mascots look like they have patronized UberEats more often than the outfield sponsor, UberJets, which is probably one of Chip’s clients. Perhaps that is who he was referring to!)
Interestingly, Chip’s path has paralleled that of another congenial guy, one of my favorite persons to listen to and to write about – Eric Nadel. These two boys from Brooklyn have both made good – hall-of-fame good – in their own likeable style, and their respective professions are much better for their efforts. Most of us know that New York’s drinking water tastes great, Why New York’s tap water is called ‘the champagne of drinking water’ – Curbed, but it must have even more salutary powers in Brooklyn. I have more to say about that mystery below, along with my usual responsive commentary, but first you should read Chip’s answers to my seven-question stretch.
1. Favorite Team: Red Sox since 1967
2. Traitor? Yes. Dodgers 1949-1967
3. Earliest Baseball memory: At Ebbets Field in Brooklyn where my dad allowed me to get a hot dog by myself at age 5. (Wouldn’t happen today in New York I don’t think). I saw Jackie Robinson, Pee Wee Reese, Roy Campanella, Gil Hodges, Duke Snider, Carl Furillo and Don Newcombe play from my grandfather’s box seats on the third base line. Hilda Chester, a legendary Brooklyn Dodgers fan, would ring cow bells during the game to the great annoyance of my grandfather who she named “the grouch”.
4. Greatest Baseball Memory: The Hall of Fame game in Cooperstown between the Rangers and Kansas City Royals the year Nolan and George Brett were inducted. Rangers were treating it like the exhibition game that it was and put reserve catcher Geoff Zahn in right field where he made friends with the well served fans in the bleachers. When Zahn, a left handed hitter, came to bat the bleachers started roaring “Call Your Shot”. “Call Your Shot”. Zahn calmly asked for time and stepped out of the box and pointed his bat toward right center. The very next pitch he hit out to right center. Bleachers went wild. After the game the Kansas City pitcher was asked whether he grooved one to Geoff and he denied it, claiming that Zahn hit a nasty slider.
5. Worst Baseball Memory: Bill Buckner, 1986 World Series.
6. Preference For Listening To Game: Radio, especially when my friend, college classmate and fraternity brother Eric Nadel is calling the game. I hired Eric for his first broadcasting job at WBRU in Providence, Rhode Island.
7. Profession and If I Could Call My Shot: Attorney. Is this like a “Damn Yankees” scenario where I have to make a deal with the Devil? In any event, I wouldn’t do it. First, I love my job, but second when you play the game or work in it that’s your work, you can’t really sit back and enjoy it. I felt that when I was a sportswriter before law school. When it’s your job sometimes the romance of the game disappears.
Commissioner’s Commentary:
1. and 2. Well, despite Chip’s admission to being a traitor, my view is that one can hardly make such a judgment on a kid from Brooklyn who transferred his allegiance from the Dodgers to the Red Sox in 1967. First, the Dodgers, as almost any baseball fan knows, were the traitors, or at least their owner Walter O’Malley was. He caused the team to leave Flatbush for Chavez Ravine after the 1957 season, ten years before Chip’s change in allegiance. Of course, the Dodgers’ move west was supported by the typical owner complaint that the ballpark was crumbling and the fan base fickle:
Ebbets Field Draws A Small Crowd – 1952 (stuffnobodycaresabout.com).
(Chip, is that you and your grandfather in the front row behind the third-base coaching box?)
As I am sure Chip knows, there was a ten-year battle between O’Malley and NYC planning czar Robert Moses over the location of a new park. Just why did the Dodgers and Giants move from New York to California? | MLB.com. (Would it have really been the same for Chip and all Dodger fans, anyway, if O’Malley had built the first domed ballpark where the Nets’ Barclay’s Arena now stands?) Ultimately, O’Malley was perfectly happy to be “forced” into a move westward, and to take his cross-borough-rival Giants with him. (O’Malley was nevertheless enshrined in Cooperstown, but not until 2008, thirty years after his death, and over forty years after his GM Branch Rickey was so honored. HOF voters have long memories, and apparently hold grudges….)
Under these circumstances no one should describe as a “traitor” a kid from Brooklyn who not only held onto his Dodger’s allegiance after moving to Florida as a pre-schooler in 1955, but continued to support the Los Angeles Dodgers until 1967 when he moved back up the coast to Providence to attend Brown University. To me, this describes childhood loyalty and a steady maturation process. And it is perfectly understandable that a new Ivy Leaguer with dreams of athletic stardom should choose that time to reevaluate his professional sporting preferences. (It turns out Chip was better at rowing on the water for the crew team than he was at running on the hardwood for the basketball team).
Chip’s early adulthood transformation into a Red Sox fan following his return to the northeast was particularly appropriate when you remember what was happening in Boston in the fall of 1967. 1967 Baseball History – This Great Game. The opposite was happening in the Bronx, 1967 New York Yankees Statistics | Baseball-Reference.com, but I am certain that Chip never even considered supporting NYY after once having been a Dodgers fan. His decision about where to transfer his allegiance was no doubt cemented when Chip moved to Boston for law school in 1973. Subsequently, despite having spent his entire legal career based in Texas, starting out in Dallas but living longer in Houston, Chip has never switched his full allegiance from BOS to either TEX or HOU. So, definitely, no traitor he.
(Speaking of traitors…. Clemens is one of Chip’s many celebrity clients, and one who Chip tells me he truly admires despite Roger turning his back on both the Red Sox and the Astros, as well as other questionable decisions Roger may have made over the course of his career. Chip’s view certainly raises my opinion, but still….”)
3., 4., and 5. This is the first profile in which I get to combine my comments on the member’s “earliest”, “best” and “worst” baseball memories. First, as to Chip’s earliest memory, we can all smile and feel a little nostalgic about the excitement of a 5-year old going to get his own hot dog at the ballpark while his dad continues to watch the game! I agree that no parent or grandparent could permit that to happen today in NYC, or any other park around MLB, which is definitely a cause for nostalgia and a reminder of our lost innocence. But, on the brighter side and more noteworthy, look at that line-up of Hall-of-Famers and Almost-Hall-of-Famers that Chip got to see! And he didn’t even mention a deserving one from my hometown. Carl Erskine Will Receive Hall of Fame’s Buck O’Neil Award – The New York Times (nytimes.com). It is more rewarding, I think, to look back on the stars that you got to see play when you were a child, than it is getting to see star players today that you expect will someday be enshrined in Cooperstown. This is particularly so when you question why certain borderline modern players are in the Hall and many deserving vintage (and some modern) players aren’t. (But I have expressed that complaint in my earlier post, and it does not need to be rehashed here.)
In addition to great players, Chip’s recounting of his childhood visits to Ebbets Field introduced me to a Brooklyn baseball figure I had never heard of – the now obscure Howlin’ Hilda. Hilda Chester (1960) on Dodgers and Baseball – YouTube.
The Enigma of Hilda Chester – Society for American Baseball Research (sabr.org) Apparently, she was a big deal in her day and in Chip’s childhood, and she even has a statue in Cooperstown!
We should congratulate Chip’s grandfather for getting under Hilda’s skin enough to earn his own place among “Dem Bums”. From the attendance shown in the Ebbets Field photo above, Hilda surely could have been heard calling him “Grouch” throughout the ballpark, and perhaps all around Flatbush.
As to Chip’s best and worst memories, I have to say that I am a bit surprised and a little saddened. I am saddened by his singling out Bill Buckner. Game 6 of the 1986 series was, of course, the focal point of the 86 years between BOS’s world championships, from 1918-2004. Like Chip and all other Red Sox fans (not to mention Buckner himself), I personally wish that the play that ruined the second half of Buckner’s life and prolonged the Curse of the Babe had never happened. Bill Buckner’s baseball legacy took too long to change (nypost.com). But even though it did, I don’t believe it deserves to be singled out from all other hapless plays over 86 years (!) of frustration, even though I understand the fixation that Red Sox fans had on that particular moment. It even makes marginally more sense than Chicago’s hatred for Steve Bartman. What happened to Steve Bartman? The story of 2003 Cubs foul ball incident and where he is now | Sporting News. But, still, it all seems so unfair, if not totally irrational. I guess that is why we embrace the term “fan” – short for “fanatic”. I have been guilty of some of that transference in my own life, I admit.
What I am surprised about, however, and completely delighted by, is that Chip did not pick October 27, 2004, as his greatest baseball memory. That was the night the Babe’s Curse and Buckner’s were vanquished by BOS’s four-game sweep of STL in the World Series. It also ended Chip’s then nearly 40-years of disappointment, as well as that of five generations of Red Sox fans. It surely was a night to remember for all Red Sox Nation, including the now-accomplished lawyer, but instead Chip chooses to commemorate a light-hearted moment that took place in baseball’s mythical Valhalla, in a contest that was played purely for the love of the game, and which mimicked one of the game’s greatest legends, which itself is perhaps a myth. The Babe’s Called Shot | Baseball Hall of Fame.
I can think of only two things in that setting that might be more entertaining than journeyman catcher Gregg Zaun doing a Babe Ruth impersonation (and note that it was Gregg Zaun, not Geoff Zahn, as Chip states in his answers. Chip’s a very busy man and obviously did not have time to fact check his erroneous reference to G. Zahn the pitcher rather than G. Zaun the catcher). My first fantasy would be Nolan Ryan plunking George Brett and Brett charging the mound to receive Ryan’s “Robin Ventura” treatment. 26 year old Robin Ventura fights 46 year old Nolan Ryan, a breakdown short (youtube.com). The second would be Brett hitting a home run off of Ryan only to have it disallowed for having too much pine tar on his bat. George Brett and the pine tar incident (youtube.com). (Nolan might also pummel Brett for his wild protest to the umpires, and the umpires might not stop him. Remember, Ryan was not ejected from the game even after pounding Ventura!) But despite the place those two actual events hold in MLB lore, or as entertaining as my re-imagined versions would be, I still like Chip’s simple story.
The pure joy of the moment for the fans, not to mention for Gregg Zaun, exemplifies why we love sports. I even found a Youtube video featuring Zahn at the game; the fan did not actually capture the Called Shot, which of course is appropriate to a reenactment of Babe’s legend. 1999 Hall of Fame Game. Rangers vs. Royals. Zaun Called Shot Game (youtube.com). My guess is that Gregg has never been back to Cooperstown since then, for any purpose. Gregg Zaun Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Rookie Status & More | Baseball-Reference.com. In classic baseball irony, however, Zaun left the Rangers after the 1999 season and played the next two years for the Royals! I wonder if he caught any games for Jeff Austin, the pitcher who threw the “nasty slider” on his called shot. Austin appeared in 21 games for KCR in 2001. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/a/austije01.shtml. Interestingly, I found this report of the event and Austin claimed it was a fastball, not a slider. A Measure of fame – Zaun calls his shot — Rangerfans.com. Mystery surrounds this re-enactment of the “called shot” just as it does the historical event. Did Babe Ruth call his shot? (mlb.com).
6. and 7. So, we finally arrive at my answer to the title question. If you were reading carefully, you noted the amazing facts in Chip’s answer to question 6. He not only knows Rangers’ Hall-of-Fame announcer Eric Nadel, but they were fraternity brothers at Brown, and Chip even hired Eric at WBRU in Providence for his first job in sports journalism. I may have known this connection from my nearly twenty years acquaintance with Chip, but I certainly did not recall it before reading Chip’s answers. Of course, I didn’t doubt Chip’s recollection, but it is compelling to see the verification of their connections right here in the People’s Encyclopedia. Charles L. Babcock – Wikipedia. Eric Nadel – Wikipedia. (I believe Chip is the only Society member with a Wiki page, but please correct me if I am mistaken. Don’t be shy.)
What Chip did not mention in his answers but that we learn from Wikipedia is that he and Eric both hail from Brooklyn, the land of the magic tap-water. Add to these facts their subsequent brotherhood at and graduation from Brown and their rise to the top of their professions in Texas, and you can see why I arrived at the conclusion that the road to the Hall of Fame runs through Brooklyn and Providence and Dallas. Eric received the equivalent of a broadcaster’s election into the Cooperstown Hall of Fame in 2014 when he received the Ford C. Frick Award. Chip’s work has been recognized by essentially every professional bar organization in this country and beyond, most notably the American College of Trial Lawyers and the International Academy of Trial Lawyers. First Amendment Lawyer Chip Babcock | Home.
Being great at your profession is one thing, but being an ambassador for it is another. (Just ask that other Commissioner, who we now know is a lame duck leader. https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2786598-rob-manfred-mlb-cant-market-mike-trout-because-he-wont-help-market-himself. https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/39533514/rob-manfred-says-retire-mlb-commissioner-2029.) I am struck by Chip’s fulfillment of both roles – “I love my job….” – even as he approaches nearly fifty years of excellence at the bar. With forty years in the profession myself, I am not sure which surprised me more – that Chip still loves the practice or that he can still do it with such vigor.
Clearly, the legal profession is better for his commitment, but I can’t help but wonder what kind of GM Chip would have made. Or even better, what kind of color man he would make alongside his fellow Brooklynite, Brown Bear and fraternity brother, Eric Nadel? No doubt thousands of fans would have been just as engaged by Chip’s commentary on baseball as dozens of juries and judges have been persuaded by his explication of the law. Despite his assertion otherwise, I also think he would have continued to find joy in the sports work he began in the early ‘70s, just as he has in the practice of law in the ‘80’s, 90’s, 00’s, 10’s, and ‘20’s. (I write it like that to underscore the amazing duration of Chip’s career.)
This thought takes me back to 1967, the year Chip arrived at Brown in search of a career in sports journalism. The Red Sox had a pretty good team in the booth that year, as well as on the field. https://sabr.org/journal/article/joe-castiglione-remembering-the-1967-red-sox-broadcast-team/; 1967 Red Sox: Yaz and the Triple Crown – Society for American Baseball Research (sabr.org) It must have been an exciting year for a young and new BOS fan.
I know it was a memorable one also for an old(er) and long-time Red Sox fan – my father, Jerry. Dad was disappointed that the curse was not broken, of course, but he chose to revel in the “Impossible Dream” of the almost-World Series victory, as well as Yaz’s Triple Crown/MVP season. I remember this clearly because the next year was my very first in organized baseball, riding the bench as a rookie for the 1968 Cherokee Lions Braves in the Morristown (TN) Little League. The first glove my father got me was as much for his benefit as for mine.
(A replacement for my childhood glove that I found on eBay for $22!)
I wonder if Yaz’s glove is in Cooperstown?
February 7, 2024
MLB DNA – Genes and Tears
(Robert Carington (left) with friend, co-worker, and fellow Cubbie-lifer, Joe Sullivan)
I have written before about my lack of commitment or constancy in my baseball fandom. I was once a “die-hard” Cincinnati Reds fan, enduring a childhood crushing loss in the 1971 World Series to the Baltimore Orioles. This painful life lesson was mitigated, however, with back-to-back World Series titles in 1975-76, my first championships of any kind as a fan. This must have been just a childish fancy, however, because I summarily switched my allegiance to the Texas Rangers when I moved to Dallas in 1984 to begin my law career. Clearly, the Reds were not part of my DNA, but by the degree to which I immersed myself in the Rangers (and from the stress that this obsession ultimately put on my marriage), I could have sworn that my 23rd pair of chromosomes somehow mutated from XY to TEX. But…., shortly after I moved to San Antonio in 1996, my MLB allegiance switched again. This time to HOU where it has remained ever since, although not to the degree that I ever felt it for TEX or even CIN.
I tell you this because my story is the polar (and medical?) opposite of that of Society member Robert Carington, who is the subject of this post. Robert finished second in the race for the Rocky in 2023, just as he did in 2021 and 2016. His consistently high finishes in our competition mirror his constancy in his fandom.
You will see from his survey answers below that Robert has been a Cubs fan since birth, and that he believes his fandom is genetic (that means it is in his DNA, right, Dr. Peck? – Michael, our only medical doctor in the Society that I am aware of). Whatever the medical explanation, Robert has remained loyal to the Cubbies despite moving the width of the country away from Wrigley Field (from Chicago to Houston) while in high school, never again to reside in the Windy City or even the state of Illinois. Those Northsider genes must be very strong.
(Windy City fan – not to mention rainy and cold!)
Indeed, Robert earned his high school diploma (Memorial), his BS in Mechanical Engineering (Rice) and his Masters of Business Administration (U. of Houston) all within the borders of Harris County, Texas, and yet never adopted the Astros as his favorite team. He remained doggedly loyal to his first love despite enduring the Cubs’ futility for the first fifty-five years of his life! And, of course, that was only the second half of the Curse of the Goat, so Robert had over ten decades of justification to become unfaithful, but yet he never wavered.
We must applaud such loyalty. And, of course, Robert’s constancy was finally rewarded in 2016, which not surprisingly shows up as his answer to question #4. I assume the miracle in Cleveland on November 2 of that year made up for the disappointment he and Joe must have felt at their attendance at Game 3 pictured above, although it was a Fall Classic classic! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sxC2tFgVV0.
I have a few other observations about his eternal residency in Wrigleyville, as well as thoughts on some of his answers below. But as with my prior profiles, I will let you read his replies first. True to his DNA, Robert sent me his answers in Cubbie Blue! Unfortunately, I can’t figure out how to change the text color on this program!
1. Favorite MLB team, how long? Cubs fan since birth – genetic
2. Always been your favorite? (Any other traitors, like me?) Yes (no traitor here)
3. Earliest baseball memory? (Can be playing or attending a game.) At a game in the late 60’s at Wrigley Field against the Astros, we had Greyhound Bus Company seats at the visitor’s dugout. Got there early as we always did with my grandfather (a Greyhound exec) and during batting practice, Bob Watson of the Astros handed me his bat after BP as he had cracked it. I could hardly lift it! I still have that bat. If memory serves it is a 36-inch big barrel bat, very heavy (38 OZ maybe?) Not like bats used today.
(Robert with Cubs’ mementos from both childhood and adulthood. He confirmed for us the dimensions of Watson’s piece of lumber – 36″, 38 oz.!)
4. Greatest baseball memory? Nov 2, 2016
5. Worst baseball memory? 1984 playoffs against the Padres. Ball goes through Leon Durham’s legs, and we lose the series after being up 2-0 in a five-game series. I was in east Texas running casing on a well with my Cubs jersey on under my coveralls and Cubs hat under my hardhat with tears running down my face. Driving home to Houston late that night, I listened to an AM station out of somewhere like Kansas City or Kentucky that bounced to my company car and was talking about the game.
6. Preference for following a game when not attending: radio or TV? TV or MLB App, although I love Pat Hughes on the radio.
7. Profession? And would you trade it for a “shot” at a career in baseball – on field or front office? Petroleum engineer. Did not have the talent to play (was most beaned player on my little league team the one year I played and had only 1 hit that could have been called an error). Have an MBA, but probably not front office material.
Well, unlike my prior profiles of Dan Epstein and Alex Rose, I can find little to debate with Robert’s answers, but I can always find something to say.
1. and 2. I have already reported on his devotion to the Cubs, and I have always admitted my own shifts in loyalty. I am curious about other Society members. I assume all you NYY fans have been mistaken since birth, but what about the rest of you? I know at one of you has changed allegiances at least once because I am working on Chip Babcock’s profile. But others? And any multiple changes other than my own?
3. Yet again, we see the connection between baseball and family. Of course, this is no surprise if Robert’s allegiance is genetic, but I am always happy when I see parents and grandparents, or any other relative, providing children with meaningful life experiences at the ballpark.
4. Robert may still be basking in the glow of that miracle event, but my recollection of the night is quite different. Here is what I wrote about the “not-so-classic” Game 7 that ended CHI’s century-long nightmare and continued CLE’s – now 75 years and counting.
November 3, 2016
Can’t anyone here play this game?
Casey Stengel asked that question about the 1962 Mets who were on their way to the most losses in a MLB season and establishing themselves as one of the worst teams in history. Tonight I found myself asking that same question about the two best teams in MLB this year, two of the best managers ever and even one of the best umpires. All of these participants made silly mistakes for any game of the season but virtually unforgivable ones for a Game 7 of the World Series. I heard the radio and the TV announcers call it an “instant classic” but in my opinion it had to be the ugliest Game 7 in MLB history.
Four errors in the field by players and a wild pitch by Jon Lester on which CLE scored two runs! There were many mistakes by the homeplate umpire who seemed to miss the call on every other pitch. There were also several errors in the dugout by managers. Francona left Kluber in too long and Maddon took Hendricks out too soon. Then Maddon paid the price for using Aroldis Chapman in Game 6 with a 5-run lead. He clearly had very little left after 62 pitches over the past 3 games. For a minute I thought Maddon might actually replace Steve Bartman as the most hated man in Wrigleyville. And I always had some doubt about whether Chapman could be trusted when a World Series title was at stake.
But the Cubs held on to win, and that is what will be remembered. As a baseball fan without a personal interest in the outcome of this series, I know that the Cubs victory is good – perhaps even great – for the game, but as one who loves the beauty of the game when played at its best I can’t help but feel that this one fell well short of greatness.
5. Most of us recognize Robert’s reference to 11/2/2016, but does anyone else remember Leon Durham’s precursor to Bill Buckner’s nightmare? I do not, but then I am not a Cubs fan and did not feel Robert’s pain. I do, however, remember this subsequent epic battle. Will Clark Game winning hit vs Mitch Williams 1989 NLCS (youtube.com). Did that result also bring tears to your eyes, Robert?
7. Well, Robert, you may not have felt good – mentally or physically! – about your performance as a Little Leaguer, but hey, you got on base. You could have played for OAK! He Gets on Base (youtube.com). And if you had preferred to go into management, I’m guessing your Mechanical Engineering and MBA degrees, as well as your subsequent career in the oil patch, would translate pretty well to Moneyball. Anyone who can survive four decades in the volatile oil industry, not to mention remain faithful to the unrewarding Cubbies for five decades, certainly has the mettle to manage the stress of a front office job. Of course, I couldn’t promise that there wouldn’t be some tears just as you experienced on that well-site in 1984. We all know that this classic line from Hollywood, however entertaining, is a myth.
(Apologies for the salty language, but Tom Hanks makes a convincing old goat, don’t you think?)
So, there you have the compressed biography of a Cubs fan. At our lunch last week, Robert insisted that the thrill of 2016 has not worn off despite the subsequent slide, and he also expressed excitement about a possible resurgence on the Northside with the shocking arrival of Craig Counsell from Milwaukee. We all remember what happened the last time the Cubs front office fired a perfectly capable manager to bring in an almost legend. Can Counsell do for CHI what he couldn’t do for MIL, just as Maddon did when he came from TBR?
Not to get Robert’s hopes up too high, but the NL Central seems wide open to me. We now have 50 days to think about our picks, which will be due March 28. That’s the day Robert’s Cubbies open the season against the World Champion Texas Rangers. That should be a reminder that anything can happen in 2024, even another world championship for the Cubs. Perhaps, Robert might even move from 2nd to first in the 2024 Race for the Rocky!
(I had to include my favorite personal photo from Wrigleyville. This was taken at midnight on the Addison Street platform of Chicago’s L train. A monsoon and 2-hour rain delay kept us at the ballpark very late, but that just made our experience all the more memorable. Note that both Jack and I acquired hats in the Windy City. His for the Cubbies and mine for the Chicago River Cruises. They mark great memories that make me want to go back. Perhaps we can join Robert for a World Series game in October?)
January 1, 2024
Happy New Year from the Commissioner’s office!
(12:01 a.m., January 1, 2024, B.A.B.E.S. World Headquarters Downtown San Antonio, TX)
BEST AMERICAN BASEBALL EXPERTS SOCIETY 
“Off Season”, what’s that? Way to go Scott….glad to see you finally created a blog so all can have the benefit of the baseball thoughts that I must hear everyday!
WAS Scott Brosoius 3b home grown ? A good guy in the 90’s. Scott, I like your balancing of the Yanks from the 90’s as opposed to present day. I agree, It is honestly not the same- too many bad trades. Eric
Eric, Brosius was drafted by OAK and played there 10 years before being traded to NYY for Kenny Rogers in 1997 (funny, huh?). Brosius became a free agent after that season but resigned with NYY and contributed to World Series wins in 1998-2000.
Great thoughts in the spirit of the season Scott. But no reference to the Evil Empire? That should have been a softball for you….
Jed
Thanks, Jed, but due to my Advent pledge to love my enemies (12/1/12), I refrained from the many opportunities to include NYY in the piece, including making them the evil force that created the need for the Christmas Story in the first place.
okay Scott … Sitting here waiting for your January installment. After all it is January 7th! Having withdraws. Can’t wait to see if the Dodgers bought enough players. I mean properly filled out the roster with capable players. I don’t view it as buying players as much as I believe they are trying to win now as they begin to rebuild a depleted farm system.
Not buying that are you?
Your wait is over, and your work has begun. Before we talk about LAD, we must start thinking about the strength of Spain’s rotation, or whether Canada has enough power on the left side of the infield. So many questions in today’s integrated, global world.
Now that is service! We’re you smiling?
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nhl-puck-daddy/blackhawks-anthem-singer-jim-cornelison-shatters-beer-mugs-131422617–nhl.html
You might enjoy this video! I missed the WBC deadline but when are the MLB predictions due?
Re: the Cardinals “uncharacteristic” World Series fielding snafus, the ESPN radio commentary I heard the other night BEFORE Game 1 was that the Cardinals outfield were the three worst fielders in the league, and under some fielding analytics tool I’ve never heard of (sort of like WAR or some similar acronym), they actually predicted that the Cardinal gloves would lose the game for them. Pretty interesting!