Last Friday, I made my annual trek to Sacramento for a River Cats game. I head up to Northern California once a year to see my friend Sean, and we used to go to San Francisco or Oakland for a game. With the new park and new team in Sacramento, we’ve been dropping by Raley…
Some thoughts on Ichiro Suzuki and baseball’s “inevitable” return to Washington, D.C.
I’d like to get to a couple of topics today, so let’s jump in… Ichiban! On Valentine’s Day, I made the mistake of making an apparently unflattering comment about an extremely popular player. I wrote: TV, as a visual medium, lends itself to interesting moments, and all of us have a tendency to remember the…
A lot of people have written in to express their astonishment over Joe Morgan’s latest ESPN column. Reduced to its essence, Morgan argues that the ability to reach base isn’t the most important skill for a leadoff hitter, nor even the second-most important. The column is filled with old-baseball-player wisdom, and the rationale behind it pretty much comes down to, “because I’m a Hall of Famer, and I say so.”
One of the most complex and bedeviling problems in baseball today is understanding to what extent large-market teams have an competitive advantage over small-market teams.
A lot of people have written in to express their astonishment over Joe Morgan’s latest ESPN column. Reduced to its essence, Morgan argues that the ability to reach base isn’t the most important skill for a leadoff hitter, nor even the second-most important. The column is filled with old-baseball-player wisdom, and the rationale behind it…
One of the most complex and bedeviling problems in baseball today is understanding to what extent large-market teams have an competitive advantage over small-market teams. Many people have proffered solutions despite not analyzing the problem thoroughly, with most of the plans featuring some sharing of revenues between large- and small-market teams. These plans have generally…
How freaking good are the Mariners?
After looking downright mortal during a season-opening 3-3 homestand, the Mariners have run roughshod over the AL West, ripping off nine consecutive wins over divisional rivals, the last five without their best hitter, Edgar Martinez. They’ve won easy (5-1 and 8-1 over the Angels) and they’ve won hard (late rallies to beat the Angels 5-4 and the Rangers 13-11), but they’ve done nothing but win.
How freaking good are the Mariners? After looking downright mortal during a season-opening 3-3 homestand, the Mariners have run roughshod over the AL West, ripping off nine consecutive wins over divisional rivals, the last five without their best hitter, Edgar Martinez. They’ve won easy (5-1 and 8-1 over the Angels) and they’ve won hard (late…