Today, Miguel Cabrera goes for the Triple Crown. How long has it been since someone won the Triple Crown? Well, it was last done by Carl Yastrzemski in 1967. That’s 45 years ago. Let’s see if we can put that in perspective. Last time someone won the Triple Crown, the A’s played in Kansas City. […]

Don’t you love the word “penultimate?” Me too! Yankees 4, Red Sox 3: It took 12 innings, but Raul Ibanez’s heroics won the day. He homered off Boston closer/arsonist Andrew Bailey to bring the Yankees back from a 3-1 deficit in the ninth and then he singled in the improbably-in-the-game Frankie Cervelli to walk it […]

Fifty years ago today, one of the greatest pennant races came to an end—with a game that was both great and greatly appropriate. The 1962 season looked like it was going to be the Dodgers’. They led the National League almost all summer long. Their lead was never too comfortable, peaking at just five games, […]

Tigers 6, Royals 3: Before the season began I said something to the effect of “if I had to bet the lives of my children on the outcome of any division, it would be the Tigers winning the AL Central.” I repeated that line on the radio a bunch of times.  I was sweating it […]

40 years ago today, Mickey Lolich came through with one of the greatest clutch pitching performances in Detroit Tigers history. Oct. 2, 1972 began the last series of the baseball season. 1972 was a strange season, due to a brief players strike at the outset of the year, all teams lost a handful of games. […]

Orioles 6, Red Sox 3; Yankees 9, Blue Jays 6: 159 games and NOTHING has been decided in the AL East. And, say what you want about the new playoff setup, but the fact that it matters so much who wins the division makes this a fantastic final three days. The Yankees close things out with […]

Thirty years ago today, Phil Niekro picked a mighty nice time to have the greatest game of his life. In maybe the most important start of his career, Niekro gave the Braves exactly what they needed at a time it was needed most. For much of the year, you never would’ve guessed Oct. 1 would […]

It was 15,000 days ago that a pitcher made one of the greatest debuts in baseball history. And as it happened, the pitcher went on to be a bit more than a one-game wonder, too. It was a young hurler for the Houston Astros named J.R. Richard. 15,000 days ago was Sept. 5, 1971, and […]

Mets 6, Pirates 5: R.A. Dickey wins his 20th, striking out 13 in the process. I don’t care if wins aren’t supposed to matter. It’s cool. He’s old and he struggled for years and he has no freaking ligament in his elbow and he seems like a pretty cool guy and all of that and […]

So I’m sitting here working on the Hardball Times Annual 2013 (which is, alas, not yet ready for order) and editing a great article by Chris Jaffe on the history of major league umpires and their balls/strikes calling. Meanwhile, over at Bill James Online, Bill posts an article (for subscribers only) that compares the strikeouts […]