When you’re a franchise like the Chicago Cubs, it takes quite a bit of doing to challenge an all-time club mark for futility, but danged if the Cubs aren’t threatening to do it here in 2011. On June 4, in the final game of a four-game series against the Giants, the Cubs lost by a […]

The Washington Nationals are leading the National League East by percentage points going into Monday’s games. Major League Baseball’s First-Year Player Draft begins Monday. These two events are not unrelated. Two reasons the Nats are (finally) finding success are the contributions of Stephen Strasburg and Bryce Harper, two of the most hyped draftees in history. […]

Yankees 5, Tigers 1: If I were to tell you that one of this game’s starting pitchers — Justin Verlander or Phil Hughes — was going to toss a complete game, I’m guessing none of you would have guessed it would be Hughes.  But that he did, allowing one run on four hits. Verlander loses […]

Ten years ago today, one of the most famous drafts in baseball history occurred. It’s not so famous for the spectacular level of talent in it. Oh, there was talent, but that’s true of all drafts. No, this was the draft made famous because of its depiction in a bestseller. June 4, 2002, was the […]

It took over 50 seasons and more than 8,000 games (8,020, to be precise), but the New York Mets now have done something they had never done before. Johan Santana, two months into his comeback from shoulder surgery, threw 134 pitches to do it, far more than he has ever thrown in his career. He […]

Last year I debuted a system for evaluating what are the most exciting postseason series of all-time. Earlier this year I noted I’ve modified the system a bit to look at regular season games. I’ve already discussed what the most exciting games of April were. Now let’s look at May’s. Of the 425 battles that […]

There were only three freakin’ games last night. Three!  How is this fair? Bah! Bah, I say. Tigers 7, Red Sox 3: Max Scherzer continues to be non-disastrous, which is what the Tigers really need from him. Delmon Young and Quintin Berry each had three hits for Detroit. Alex Avila had one hit in the box score and […]

Mariners 21, Rangers 8: Look, we can point to Justin Smoak driving in a half dozen runs, Jesus Montero nearly hitting for the cycle or any number of other things as being the cause of this bloodbath. But the fact is, Derek Holland shaved his mustache the other day, and there is likely a causal […]

75 years ago today, a nice run for Hall of Fame starting pitcher Carl Hubbell finally came to an end. On May 31, 1937, the Meal Ticket, as people called the Giants ace, lost to the Brooklyn Dodgers, ending a winning streak of 24 straight decisions for him. That’s still the longest winning streak for […]

The news broke earlier this week. Longtime White Sox and Tigers right fielder Magglio Ordonez decided to call it a career. He suffered an ankle injury in last year’s postseason and had gone unsigned by any team since then, so it makes sense that he’s decided to retire. Now that his career is officially over, […]