Category: MLB

What to Watch This Weekend: NFL Week 1 Runs the Show (But There’s Plenty Else on the Menu)

What to Watch This Weekend: NFL Week 1 Runs the Show (But There’s Plenty Else on the Menu)

Week 1 is here, which means Friday night, all day Sunday, and Monday night are spoken for. Still, there’s a full buffet beyond football—Monza at warp speed, the US Open crowning champs, NASCAR going playoff-mode, and elite climbers turning gravity into a suggestion. All times ET; U.S. viewing info included.

NFL — Week 1, Everybody Punches Back

Friday — Chargers vs. Chiefs (São Paulo) — 8:00 PM, YouTube
A Friday night opener from Brazil, streaming-only. Bring snacks and bandwidth.

Sunday (early) — Steelers at Jets — 1:00 PM, CBS/Paramount+
Former Steelers QB Justin Fields leads the Jets against former Jets QB Aaron Rodgers and the Steelers. Chef’s-kiss symmetry for the brunch window.

Sunday (late) — Lions at Packers — 4:25 PM, CBS
NFC North tone-setter!

Sunday Night — Ravens at Bills — 8:20 PM, NBC/Peacock
Prime-time haymakers with quarterbacks who can dominate with thier arms and legs.

Monday Night — Bears at Vikings — 8:15 PM, ABC/ESPN
New head coach in Chicago, new toys on both sides, old grudges.

College Football — Brand Fights & Border Lines (Sat)

  • Michigan at Oklahoma — 7:30 PM, ABC
    Helmet-brand fistfight under the lights.
  • Iowa at Iowa State — 12:00 PM, FOX
    Cy-Hawk = field position, snarls, and a decibel record in Ames.
  • Illinois at Duke — 12:00 PM, ESPN
    A tidy measuring-stick early in Durham.
  • Ole Miss at Kentucky — 3:30 PM, ABC
    Points are a lifestyle choice. Expect them.
  • Kansas at Missouri — 3:30 PM, ESPN2
    Border War spice never ages.

Formula 1 — Monza: The Temple of Speed

  • Italian Grand Prix (Race) — Sun 9:00 AM, ESPN2
    The slipstream is the law; the Tifosi are the judge.
  • Qualifying — Sat 10:00 AM, ESPN2
    Pole is nice; race-day tow is nicer.
  • F2 & F3 — Support races across ESPN platforms (incl. ESPN+) and F1 TV in the U.S. (check listings).

MLB — September Series to Graze

  • Blue Jays at Yankees — YES; MLB.TV out-of-market
    AL East battle.
  • Mets at Reds — SNY/WPIX locally; MLB.TV out-of-market
    New-look Mets, Great American launchpad.
  • Astros at Rangers — Space City Home Network (HOU); Rangers’ RSN varies; MLB.TV out-of-market
    Lone Star leverage all weekend.

(Treat MLB as a between-windows snack—no need to lock into first-pitch minutiae.)

NASCAR — Cup Playoffs (Round of 16)

  • World Wide Technology Raceway (Gateway) — Sun 3:00 PM, USA Network
    Playoff pressure = pit crews under the microscope.

Tennis — US Open Finals (Flushing Meadows)

  • Women’s Final — Sat 4:00 PM, ESPN/ESPN Deportes
    Hardware and history in prime afternoon.
  • Men’s Final — Sun 2:00 PM, ABC/ESPN Deportes (Preview at 1:00 PM on ABC)
    Daytime coronation energy.

International Soccer

  • USMNT vs. South Korea (Friendly, Harrison, NJ) — Sat 5:00 PM, TNT/Max; Spanish: Telemundo/Universo; also on Peacock
    Useful litmus test in a FIFA window.

IFSC — Lead World Cup, Koper (Slovenia)

  • Lead Finals — Sat 2:00 PM — IFSC YouTube & Olympics.com (geo-restrictions may apply)
    Season leaders Sorato Anraku and Erin McNeice headline—precision under pump.

The Stain’s Remote Plan

Friday night football → Saturday college chaos → Sunday wall-to-wall NFL with MLB snackable innings between windows → Monza at breakfast → tennis trophies → NASCAR elbows out. Monday night is the nightcap. Hydrate accordingly.

What to Watch This Labor Day Weekend (Aug 29–Sept 1)

What to Watch This Labor Day Weekend (Aug 29–Sept 1)

College Football Week 1 is here and it’s glorious — five straight days of real games, real stakes, and real irrational confidence. Plus F1’s back from the beach, the Cup Playoffs fire up at Darlington, Liverpool–Arsenal headlines Sunday, The Hundred crowns a champ, and baseball serves pennant-race spice.

College Football (Week 1)

Texas @ Ohio State

Sat, 12:00 PM ET — FOX
On January 10, Ohio State ended Texas’ season on the way to a national title. Eight-plus months later: run it back to open 2025. Arch vs. the Shoe. Yes, please.

Alabama @ Florida State

Sat, 3:30 PM ET — ABC
Both stumbled last year — Bama dropped four, FSU barely found wins — so someone gets a clean slate and someone gets a fresh bruise.

LSU @ Clemson

Sat, 7:30 PM ET — ABC
Death Valley vs. Death Valley. Tigers win. (We are contractually obligated to make that joke.)

Virginia Tech vs South Carolina (Aflac Kickoff — Atlanta)

Sun, 3:00 PM ET — ESPN
Beamer vs. his past, Hokies vs. the logo they love to hate, and it’s indoors so no weather excuses.

Notre Dame @ Miami

Sun, 7:30 PM ET — ABC
Not quite Catholics vs. Convicts, still a delicious Sunday-night brawl to close your weekend proper.

TCU @ North Carolina

Mon, 8:00 PM ET — ESPN
It’s the head-coaching debut of… Jordon Hudson—er, Bill Belichick—in Chapel Hill. Monday Night college ball and a pregame studio show on-site.

Formula 1

Dutch Grand Prix — Zandvoort

Sun, 9:00 AM ET — ESPN (Race)
Summer break’s over. Max gets a home roar, McLaren’s title push has teeth, and the banking’s still a rollercoaster.

F1 Academy is on the card, too — live via F1’s official channels (YouTube/X) and F1 TV, with select U.S. sessions on ESPN+. Tune in across Sat/Sun.

MLB

  • Cardinals at Reds — Busch bats vs. Cincy kids with the NL Central wobbling week-to-week.
  • Mariners at Guardians — Two bullpens you trust with your life and lineups you don’t; October leverage in August.
  • Tigers at Royals — Greene/Tork vs. Witt Jr.: the AL Central future, present tense.
  • Brewers at Blue Jays — Power vs. prevention; sneakily huge Wild Card ripple series.
  • Diamondbacks at Dodgers — NL West heat check in Chavez Ravine; vibes vs. vibes-and-a-billion-wins.

(Find them on MLB.TV/local RSNs; national windows rotate across FOX/FS1/ESPN/TBS.)

Soccer

Liverpool vs Arsenal (Premier League)

Sun, 11:30 AM ET — USA Network (stream: Peacock)
High-tempo, high-line, high-drama. Title-caliber litmus test before your Sunday dinner.

NASCAR

Cup Playoffs — Cook Out Southern 500 (Darlington)

Sun, 6:00 PM ET — USA Network
The Lady in Black opens the postseason with a tire-eating, wall-kissing reality check. Someone’s championship dream leaves with stripes.

Tennis — US Open (NYC)

Middle Sunday rolls with wall-to-wall coverage (day session around 11:00 AM ET, evening session around 7:00 PM ET), and Labor Day’s Round of 16 begins Monday at 11:00 AM ET. Park it on the couch; hydrate accordingly.

Cricket — The Hundred (Finals Weekend)

Eliminator on Saturday at The Kia Oval; Final on Sunday at Lord’s. In the U.S., watch on Willow TV. Perfect coffee cricket before your afternoon football.

Your Remote-Optimized Itinerary

  • Sat: Texas–Ohio State → Alabama–FSU → LSU–Clemson. Sprinkle in Dutch GP quali replays and a late Dodgers–D-backs nightcap.
  • Sun: Dutch GP with breakfast → Liverpool–Arsenal → Hokies–Gamecocks → Southern 500 → Notre Dame–Miami nightcap.
  • Mon: Belichick’s UNC debut under the lights.

What to Watch This Weekend: August 22-24

What to Watch This Weekend: August 22-24

Every Friday, we’re cutting through the clutter and telling you what’s actually worth your eyeballs this weekend. Big stage, small stage, and the stuff hiding in the corner that you’ll be glad you found. Let’s roll.

Football

Forget the fake preseason stuff—real football is here. Week 0 drops Saturday with FBS and FCS action, and it’s juicier than usual.

  • Iowa State vs. Kansas State — Dublin, Ireland (Sat, Noon ET, ESPN)
    This isn’t your sleepy Week 0 cupcake. Two ranked Big 12 teams, two future NFL quarterbacks in Rocco Becht (Iowa State) and Avery Johnson (K-State), and playoff stakes already in the air. Add in the novelty of Irish pints before kickoff—this one’s appointment viewing.
  • Incarnate Word @ Nicholls (Sat, 1 PM ET, ESPN2)
    Don’t sleep on the FCS. Southland rivals, a Top-5 squad in UIW, and a Nicholls team trying to bounce back from a flop season. Should be spicy down in Thibodaux.
  • Stanford @ Hawaii (Sat, 7:30 PM ET, CBS)
    Normally, this is perfect midnight-on-the-mainland Rainbow Warrior chaos. Instead, we’re stuck with a standard kickoff. Still, plenty to watch: Andrew Luck is running Stanford’s GM chair, Frank Reich is on the sideline, and transfer QB Ben Gulbranson just beat out freshman Elijah Brown for the starting gig. New era vibes for the Cardinal.

Baseball

Rivalry weekend, full blast.

  • Red Sox at Yankees (capped by Sunday Night Baseball, ESPN) — two clubs fighting for positioning in the Wild Card standings
  • Dodgers at Padres — San Diego gets another swing at the reigning champs of the NL West.
  • Mets at Braves — Braves fans haven’t had a ton to cheer for this season, but they always get up to root against the Mets.

And don’t forget: Little League World Series Championship hits Sunday (1 PM ET, ABC). U.S. vs. International, bragging rights for life.

Golf

The Tour Championship is live from East Lake, with $40M on the line. Scottie Scheffler has the inside track, but there are plenty ready to wreck his repeat bid.

Rugby

The Women’s Rugby World Cup kicks off in England. The U.S. opens against the hosts at the Stadium of Light (CBS Sports, late Friday night/early Saturday morning stateside). Pour one more and root for the Eagles.

Soccer

Europe’s back in full swing, and there are some tasty matchups to keep on your radar this weekend:

Bayern Munich vs. RB Leipzig (Fri, 2:30 p.m. ET, ESPN2/ESPN Deportes/ESPN+)
Bundesliga action from the Allianz Arena. Bayern usually dominates Leipzig, but Leipzig loves a statement game.

West Ham vs. Chelsea (Fri, 3:00 p.m. ET, USA Network/Universo)
West Ham hosts Chelsea at London Stadium in a clash that could set the tone for the rest of the season. Expect drama, late tackles, and maybe a surprise upset.

Manchester City vs. Tottenham (Sat, 7:30 a.m. ET, USA Network/Universo)
Early bird gets the goals. Pep’s squad at home, Spurs looking to prove a point. It’s a Premier League heavyweight bout that kicks off bright and early stateside. Coffee mandatory.

Sure, there’s more. But these are the headliners, the sneaky gems, and the built-in excuses not to mow the lawn. The couch is calling—answer it.

The Dodgers Must Fire Dave Roberts

Call this emotional. Call it recency bias. Call it whatever you want. Just don’t call it wrong.

Dave Roberts has been the Dodgers’ manager since 2016. Since then, they have won one World Series – the Covid-shortened 2020 season. This in spite of the fact that the team has wielded a star-studded roster with one of the game’s largest payrolls since then.

Sure, one championship is one more than most other teams have in that time frame. But considering the resources the team has, and how it has spent them over the years to make sure the team is competitive, just one title seems far short of what would be expected.

One could argue, it’s not all his fault. To a degree, they could support it. Sure, he hasn’t any idea how to manage a pitching staff, but he isn’t the one that assembled a roster that required the likes of Billy McKinney and the corpse of Albert Pujols getting key at bats. But at the end of the day, despite imperfections dotting the roster, it comes down to this. Did you win the whole thing? If not, well, why not?

Roberts isn’t without his redeeming qualities. He’s a nice fella. Keeps the clubhouse loose. Makes sure guys get enough playing time to stay involved. Faces the media.

But wow. A blind rhinoceros could handle a pitching staff, and especially a bullpen, better.

Over the 162 game slog of the regular season, his ineptness is generally obscured by a combination of indifference and success in spite of it. After all, about 100 of those games are coming against teams more interested in losing than they are in winning. If you make an absurd bullpen call against the Oakland A’s, it’s unlikely to cost you.

That luxury, however, doesn’t exist in the playoffs. There are no Oakland A’s, Colorado Rockies, et al in the postseason. Decisions matter. And while you can accuse me of cherry picking, the list is too long for that argument to hold water. Whether it’s leaving Kershaw in to die against the Astros when it was clear as day they knew what was coming; or going to Kershaw against the Nationals out of the bullpen, instead of Kenta Maeda who’d been dominant out of it, or Adam Kolarek who was acquired specifically to face hitters like Juan Soto; or leaving Joe Kelly in for a second inning when his ERA after one inning was somewhat close to a billion; or whether it was pulling a cruising and dominant Rich Hill against the Red Sox; or keeping a clearly injured Blake Treinen on the roster over battle-tested veteran Craig Kimbrel, who wasn’t nearly as bad during the season as Dodger fan casuals will have you believe, against the Padres. If there’s a big pitching decision to be made, he’s going to blow it. Every time.

But what about 2020, you say? If you need a reminder, this is the postseason where Julio Urias was utterly unhittable, and closed out the championship in style. Now, I have no firsthand knowledge of this, but I would bet my bottom dollar that there was a conversation had between Roberts and the front office that went something like this.

FO: Any big spot, you’re going to Julio

DR: But…

FO: No buts. You’re doing it.

DR: But Kenley… Kershaw can pitch in relief!!!!

FO: It’s Julio, or you’re fired.

So I digress, there is no need to belabor this point. But tonight, it came to a head.

No, it isn’t his fault that the front office has assembled a bullpen consisting of guys like Shelby Miller and Phil Bickford, while cycling through guys like Andre Jackson, Jake Reed, Dylan Covey, Zack Burdi, and Tayler Scott. It’s not his fault that instead of World Series hero Dylan Floro, they have Alex Vesia, who was so bad he was demoted to the minors a few weeks ago. It’s not his fault that Andrew Friedman got crunk as fuck one night and decided to make Noah Syndergaard an offer resembling one given to a pitcher who could get outs at the big league level. None of that is his fault.

What is his fault is not making the most of the resources he does have – primarily reclamation project turned top three reliever in baseball, Evan Phillips. Sure, there’s arguments to be made that your best reliever needs to be used to get the opposition’s toughest part of their lineup out. I get it. But in the playoffs last season, Phillips was used as early as the fifth inning. Good thing the opposition’s best hitters never come up again after the fifth inning, right?

Time and time again, he’s gone to Phillips way too early and left the likes of Brusdar Graterol to invariably fail in big situations.

Tonight it was the 8th inning, and it wasn’t even the Reds’ best hitters. Fortunately, he’d already used the calamitous Graterol earlier in the game, but going to Phillips in the 8th left Caleb Ferguson, who has struggled badly with his command, for the 9th. Even that is forgiveable, if he’d realized after the second of Ferguson’s four consecutive walk/HBPs, that he needed to make a change. Nope. About 15 pitches too late, he finally went to Shelby Miller, probably the third best option he had remaining at the time which is infuriating on its own level, to predictably give up the game-winning hit.

Back to the slog of the regular season. In years past, this gets papered over. It’s one game, and yes, Roberts is so bad at his job that he makes people yearn for the days of Don Mattingly, but this isn’t the same Dodger team as in recent years. Stars have departed, replaced by rookies who are going through their understandable ups and downs. This isn’t a team that is going to win 100+ games. This is a team that is, perhaps luckily, 9 games over .500 after 61 games. Not awful, perhaps even decent, but gone are the days of running away with the NL West. This team is nowhere near guaranteed to make the postseason, so these winnable games that are pissed away on an otherwise innocuous night in Ohio are going to matter.

Despite the tone of this article, I’m not even mad. I saw it coming as early as the 6th inning. I’m just realistic. I’m ok with this team being probably 25 games worse this season than last season, if it means making a run at Ohtani next offseason. But the trade off is, you have to win the games you have in the bag.

And the truth is, if you have a blithering idiot as your manager, it’s just not going to happen. For all of Roberts’ likability as a person, he’s an all-time bad manager. It’s time for the Dodgers to decide if they’re serious about winning, or if one title is enough for the next 20 plus years.

Best MLB Debuts: May 2023

Some big names made their MLB debuts with 2022 MLB draft pick Ben Joyce joining the Los Angeles Angels bullpen, along with Sam Bachman. Meanwhile up the freeway Bobby Miller earned a win in his Los Angeles Dodgers debut and currently has a 2-0 record with a 1.64 ERA, but that is not good enough for the best debut or the best month. Even further up the California freeway system, Patrick Bailey is hitting over .300 with a couple home runs and a dozen RBI, but he didn’t have the best debut month for the San Francisco Giants in May. For both the pitcher and batter, the player with the best debut was also the player with the best first month. 

Best Hitting Debut & Month:

Casey Schmitt, 3B, San Francisco Giants – Schmitt went 2-4 with a solo home run in his debut, making him the only player to homer in his debut this month. He has gone on to hit another home run, is hitting .325, driven in 16 and crossed the plate a dozen times. Schmitt has been arguably the best player on the Giants over the past month. 

Best Pitching Debut & Month:

Bryce Miller, RHP, Seattle Mariners – Miler didn’t get the win on his debut, but he went six innings while allowing just a single run with two hits. He wound up striking out 31 batters in his 36 innings on the month, with an ERA of an even 3.00 and a 3-2 record.

Pride Night: Dodgers Bungle it Shamefully

How do you screw up Pride Night? How, with billions of dollars at your disposal and thousands of people on your payroll do you screw up any night, for that matter? But especially this one. Pride Night is important.

For as long as there have been sports, the LGBT+ community has been excluded. Shunned. Ridiculed. Especially in baseball. To date, there has never been an openly gay active MLB player. Some came out after retirement, notably Glenn Burke. But how many people do you think gave up on their baseball dream at a young age because they knew they’d be an outcast due to their sexuality? Could we have had more Mike Trouts? Ken Griffey Jrs.? Dwight Goodens? We’ll never know, but odds are the sport and its fans have likely missed out on generational superstars due to institutional homophobia.

If that is ever going to change, the sport and its teams need to execute events like Pride Night correctly. Unequivocal inclusion is the message, and anything short of spotless execution is going to dilute it.

Here’s a summary of how it went down.

The Dodgers announce their Pride Night and the participating organizations. So far so good? This is where it all started going to shit. One of the organizations invited by the Dodgers was the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, a charitable organization of men who dress in drag as nuns. Nobody will dispute the group’s good works, but the problem is, they openly mock Catholics. They claim not to, but they sell dildos in the shape of Jesus on the cross on their website. Read that sentence again.

This is problematic because a large part of the Dodgers fanbase is Latino, their primary religious affiliation, Catholicism. As you can imagine, there was some blowback. The Dodgers were caught off guard, not because Catholics took offense but because nobody had bothered to do any background research on any of the invited organizations. Also getting in on the blowback were people like Florida Senator Marco Rubio, an anthropomorphized pile of excrement if there ever was one.

Then the Dodgers compounded their error by… capitulating to the blowback. They uninvited the Sisters and whoa boy. If the ballclub thought the blowback to inviting the Sisters was bad, they had no idea what they were in for. Prominent California democrats condemned the team for giving in to right wing pressure. Other invited LGBT+ organizations withdrew from the event. Social media went crazy.

And if you don’t think Social media matters, well, why do you think every big league team in every big league sport has an active Twitter account. And wow, did the Twitter warriors go nuts on the Dodgers. Now, it’s true that probably 95% of the people most outraged didn’t actually care one bit what happened. They’re not really “allies.” They have likely never donated a penny to an LGBTQ+ cause, or stood up for an LGBTQ+ person being bullied. They lack the ability to care about anything other than how many likes and retweets they get, how much clout they can acquire, how much attention they can manufacture for themselves. They lack the intellectual capacity to process nuance. They’re honestly good for little. But what they can do is amplify a message. And did they ever amplify it.

Fast forward to Monday, May 22nd, the Dodgers once again flip flopped and reinvited the Sisters to Pride Night, reigniting the slobbering, flop sweating rage of the right wing bigotry machine. And probably, and less vocally, a whole lot of Catholics.

This is where the nuance comes in, and the aforementioned useless clout addicts of the Twitterverse. Not a lot of people outside of the Catholic faith are going to have a ton of sympathy for Catholics. The church has a long history of sexual scandal, pedophelia, homophobia and very public opposition to marriage equality. So when an organization engages in anti-catholic behavior, the sentiment is generally, “so what, fuck ’em.” Well, isn’t that inclusion for you.

Again, more nuance. While all of the warts on the Catholic church on that front were earned, the tides have indeed shifted. President Joe Biden is a lifelong devout Catholic, and the most pro-trans president in history. And while there remains a long way to go with the Vatican, Pope Francis has taken a publicly conciliatory tone toward homosexuality. So I maintain, you are either for inclusion and equality for all, or you’re either a piece of shit or a brainless twit who derives self worth only from online engagement.

Here is how it should have gone down.

  • All organizations invited should have been thoroughly vetted.

  • Once they fucked that up, they should have stuck to their guns, and released a public statement along the lines of this. “It has come to our attention that there are some concerns regarding of Pride Night’s organizations sentiment toward Catholics. While we don’t condone actions that denigrate anyone’s faith, we continue to believe in the importance of what the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence do for the LGBTQ+ community and look forward to their participation in this important event.”

  • Then, when people critized that, they could have followed up with a statement that says, “We continue to hear concerns. While we don’t disregard any of them, the Dodgers remain committed to making baseball and Dodger Stadium a safe and welcome place for all. We believe all people should be treated equally, and if you are not of that same mind, then you are welcome not to attend Pride Night.”

    • But they didn’t.

    All it would have taken is for one low level intern to do some basic research and say, “Hey Boss? They sell Jesus on the cross dildos. Is that…problematic?”

    Hopefully other organizations learn from the Dodgers’ failure.

    March/April MLB Debuts

    Each month here at The Stain we will look back at the players who made their MLB debuts in that month. This month we will extend a few days as the season started on March 30th.

    This year we saw plenty of big name prospects debut with three players in the MLB top 100 prospects coming into the season, Anthony Volpe, Jordan Walker, and Grayson Rodriguez. We also saw Masataka Yoshida debut after being the big international free agent signing, and we also saw a 2022 draft pick in Zach Neto find his way to the big leagues. 

    Best Hitting Debut:

    Joey Ortiz, 2B, Baltimore Orioles – 1-3, 3 RBI – Ortiz got his first career hit in the top of the fifth inning on a grounder into right field scoring both Jorge Mateo and Adam Frazier. Two innings later he connected on a sacrifice fly to score Adam Frazier giving him the most RBI in a debut of anyone to start the season. 

    Best Pitching Debut:

    Logan Allen, LHP, Cleveland Guardians – 6 IP, 5 H, ER, BB, 8 K, W – There were quite a few arms that secured a win in their debut, but nobody performed better than Allen. The first batter of the game was Jon Berti who went down swinging to give Allen his first career MLB strikeout, although Berti did get his revenge in the third as he hit a solo home run for the only run Miami managed to score against Allen.

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    Best Hitting Month:

    Masataka Yoshida, OF, Boston Red Sox  – It is no surprise Yoshida had the best month, as he is a 29 year old Japanese veteran in his first MLB season. That said, he has been much better on the road than at home, where he is hitting below the Mendoza Line. Given his ability to use the whole field it was, and still is, expected he take advantage of the Green Monster in left, but just hasn’t found it enough yet. 

    Best Pitching Month: 

    Jose Hernandez, LHP, Pittsburgh Pirates – In addition to the Pirates being a surprise team in the first month, they have also seemed to find them a quality reliever as well. It won’t likely be a trend to see a reliever have the best month, but given he has only walked one hitter, given up only a single run, and struckout 11 through 11.2 innings over nine outings is proof positive he has become a reliever the team can rely on. 

    Worst Debut:

    Hogan Harris, LHP, Oakland Athletics – 0.1 IP, H, 5 BB, HBP 6 ER – This won’t be a monthly feature, but the stat line is just too eye popping to ignore. Harris managed to face just eight batters in his debut, walking five of them, hitting another, and only recorded one out. He was sent back down to AAA after the game so he currently has a career WHIP of 18.000 and career ERA of 162.00.

    Best Story:

    Drew Maggi, 3B, PIttsburgh Pirates – Another entry that won’t necessarily be a monthly inclusion, but how can you not include Maggi when discussing player debuts this month?!?! Maggi spent 13 season in the minor leagues with six different organizations and seen action in over 1,100 games before finally making his big league debut, with the team that originally drafted him back in 2010. The 34-year old went 0-1 in his debut, but finally got his first career hit in our nation’s capital over the weekend.

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    Los Angeles Dodgers secure Easter Sunday Win at Colorado Rockies

    Los Angeles Dodgers secure Easter Sunday Win at Colorado Rockies

    It was not the start to his Colorado Rockies career that Austin Gomber had envisioned, opening the game with a walk, E1, walk, then allowing Mookie Betts to score on a wild pitch that really should have been an out at the plate had Gomber held onto the ball. His first inning wound up with a stat line of three runs on zero hits that ended with a cannon of a throw from Charlie Blackmon to double up Max Muncy at third base on a sac fly from Gavin Lux.

    The second inning didn’t start out much better as Gomber gave up a leadoff double followed by a sac bund before walking Betts a second time. Betts proceeded to be thrown out attempting to steal second and Gomber escaped the second without any damage. He got out of the third unscathed despite walking the leadoff hitter, then got the Rockies first hit of the game in the bottom of the third and was replaced on the mound by Chi Chi Gonzalez in the fourth.

    That was one of only three hits Julio Urias gave up in his season debut, the last coming in the eight inning on an infield single by Ryan McMahon who eventually came around to score on a double by Garrett Hampson off Jimmy Nelson.

    The first run of the game to come off a base hit was a solo home run by Will Smith to lead off the top of that eighth against Robert Stephenson.

    In the end, it was a quickly played game, nine minutes shy of three hours that saw eight total hits and the Dodgers coming out on top 4-2 despite on the back of that three run, no hit first inning. Gomber loses his Rockies debut while Julio Urias picks up his first win of the season and Cory Knebel his first save.

    Predicting the 2021 MLB Season

    Predicting the 2021 MLB Season

    World Series ChampionsToronto Blue Jays
    AL PennantToronto Blue Jays
    NL PennantLos Angeles Dodgers
    AL EastNew York Yankees
    AL CentralChicago White Sox
    AL WestOakland Athletics
    AL Wild CardToronto Blue Jays
    AL Wild CardMinnesota Twins
    NL EastAtlanta Braves
    NL CentralMilwaukee Brewers
    NL WestLos Angeles Dodgers
    NL Wild CardSan Diego Padres
    NL Wild CardNew York Mets
    AL MVPMatt Chapman 
    AL Cy YoungLucas Giolito
    AL ROYBobby Dalbec
    NL MVPFernando Tatis Jr.
    NL Cy YoungJacob deGrom
    NL ROYKe’Bryan Hayes
    Bizarre Happenings in Spring Training

    Bizarre Happenings in Spring Training

    Spring Training of 2021 is as unique as there has ever been. Typically the oddities are limited to seeing minor league guys come up wearing a number in the 70s or 80s pinch hitting with the massive MiLB dual flapped helmet while listening to the announcers shuffling through their notes to try and find the player’s name. Instead, the minor league guys are wearing single flapped helmets and there aren’t any call ups for the day thanks to the limited number of players in camp, but the rest of the game has gone odd, here are the ones that stand out:

    7 inning Games

    The default length of a game this Spring is just 7 innings. With the previously mentioned limited rosters there aren’t the guys to fill out the 8th and 9th inning duties, so most games end after seven, which is just weird to watch MLB games essentially last as long as a local High School game.

    6 Inning Games

    If 7 inning games are odd, 6 inning games are downright bizarre. In no level of baseball are there games scheduled to go just 6 innings, except Spring Training 2021. A number of games have been scheduled to go just six due to pitching availability.

    8.5 Inning Game

    The March 4 game between the Los Angeles Angels and Arizona Diamondbacks was scheduled to go 8.5 games regardless of the score. The D-Backs happened to be up 9-2 after the top of the 8th, so the box score looks normal, but had the score been flipped, there still would not have been a bottom of the 9th!

    Double Walkoff

    On March 2, the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Philadelphia Phillies 4-2 after 6 innings thanks to not one, but two winning free passes. Bases loaded tied 2-2 with Christopher Sanchez in the mound, Riley Adams gets hit by the pitch to give the Blue Jays the 3-2 victory. One problem, the Phillies wanted to see more from Sanchez, so they allow Phillip Clarke to step into the batter’s box where he proceeds to draw a walk to walk it off….again.

    Free Substitutions

    Also on March 2, John Means got the start on the mound for the Baltimore Orioles against the New York Yankees. Means gave up a single, fly out, single, groundout, single and was pulled from the game in favor of Jay Flaa who got a fly out to end the inning. Fast forward to the top of the second, replacing Flaa on the mound was, yup, John Means! He after struggling with his feel in the first he took a breather then went back out despite having already been removed from the game and finished the second inning on his own, but only going 1.2 innings.

    Box Score Glitches

    So, this one is more of a glitch, or somebody asleep on the job, or both, but the Phillies-Yankees game from Sunday March 7 showed a bizarre scenario. DJ LeMahieu lined out for the first out of the second inning before Aaron Judge is called out on strikes for out number two, then it gets weird. I have yet to confirm what actually happened, mainly because I don’t want facts to get in the way of a good story, but apparently Zach Britton, the pitcher, “starts inning at 3rd base” despite there having already been a grand slam earlier in the inning and he was not on base, and he is immediately out at third. No explanation, not play-by-play just out at third. The box score after the game does not list Britton as having participated in the game, and the Yankees opened the next inning with Aaron Hicks, who was batting behind Judge in the lineup.