The Yankees face their longtime rival Cleveland Guardians for the start of a three-game series at Progressive Field tonight, almost exactly six months after New York won the AL Pennant there. A lot has changed since. Juan Soto, whose extra-innings home run proved the clincher in Game 5, is now with the crosstown rival Mets. … Continued
The New York Mets shocked baseball last October not only when they backed into a Wild Card spot, but beat Bryce Harper and his Philadelphia Phillies in short order in the NLDS. The Mets needed just five games to dispatch heavily favored Philly. Fast forward three weeks into the 2025 campaign, and the standings are … Continued
As the Yankees took three of four from the rival Tampa Bay Rays over the weekend, fans noticed a key difference: the Rays were hosting from George M. Steinbrenner Field. New York’s spring training stadium will be the Rays’ home in 2025 while Tropicana Field is repaired following damage from Hurricane Helene last fall. But … Continued
Clarke Schmidt returns to the mound Wednesday night in what should be a solid pitching boost for the New York Yankees. Schmidt spent the first two weeks of the season on the injured list after needing extra time to ramp up his shoulder. That same shoulder limited the young righty to 16 starts in 2024, … Continued
Juan Soto finally hit his second home run with the Mets in Monday’s 5-1 win over the Minnesota Twins, but that wasn’t his highlight of the night. Soto’s home run was basically garbage-time garnish. It was a seventh-inning two-run shot off of Jorge Alcala that extended New York’s lead from 3-1 to 5-1. He’s batting … Continued
The New York Yankees have a new voice behind the mic at WFAN: longtime Seattle Mariners play-by-play man Dave Sims. He’s in the big chair alongside Suzyn Waldman after 35 years of John Sterling. “It’s an opportunity to work with a franchise that everybody knows,” Sims told me in a recent conversation. “And I’m coming … Continued
The old Yankees-Giants rivalry is back on when the Bronx Bombers kick off a three-game series with San Francisco on Friday night. New York (7-5) are tied with Toronto (8-6) for first place in the AL East after New York came back down to earth in Detroit. San Francisco, on the other hand, is 9-3 … Continued
It’s been a rough few days for New York Yankees outfielder Cody Bellinger, who is back in the lineup after missing Tuesday’s 5-0 loss at Detroit with food poisoning. Speaking to reporters before Wednesday’s afternoon tilt, Bellinger explained it all. He was watching the men’s college basketball final on Monday night and ordered some buffalo … Continued
Clay Holmes will seek his first win with the New York Mets (7-3) when he faces the Miami Marlins (5-5) on Tuesday afternoon. It’s been a mixed bag for Holmes, who was an All-Star closer for the crosstown rival Yankees before signing to start with the Mets. He has a 2.89 ERA and 3.17 FIP, … Continued
It’s not blatantly obvious, but Yankees righty Carlos Carrasco is pitching for his future in Detroit on Tuesday. Granted, the 38-year-old veteran is no stranger to Comerica Park. Carrasco was a frequent visitor during his 12 years with Cleveland and went 6-5 with a 3.72 ERA in 15 games (13 starts) in the Motor City. … Continued
April 7th, but good signs so far for the Mets’ pitching staff: No team in baseball has a better ERA from their pitching staff than the Mets They rank first in both the starter (2.40) and reliever (1.29) categories as well pic.twitter.com/KsngtEcePD — SNY Mets (@SNY_Mets) April 7, 2025 Great outings from all three starters … Continued
We’re nine games into the 2025 Major League Baseball Season and Juan Soto’s New York Mets career. New York is 6-3 early, good for second place in the NL East and one game behind the first-place Philadelphia Phillies. And Soto’s start wearing the orange and blue since signing his record 15-year, $765 million deal has … Continued
Keith Hernandez on a hot mic in Miami on Wednesday night: “Piss-poor hitting.” – Keith Hernandez with a hot-mic moment coming out of commercial 😬 pic.twitter.com/Bxqt5NCyIR — Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) April 2, 2025 The Marlins took a 4-1 lead into the top of the eighth inning before Pete Alonso tied it with a three-run blast. … Continued
Jorge Castillo at ESPN: NEW YORK — Giancarlo stanton, one of the first known adopters of the torpedo bat, declined Tuesday to say whether he believes using it last season caused the tendon ailments in both elbows that forced him to begin this season on the injured list. Last month, Stanton alluded to “bat adjustments” … Continued
The Yankees have been high on Will Warren for a long time. So long, in fact, that he’s getting the ball against Corbin Burnes and the Arizona Diamondbacks on Tuesday after a forgettable 2024. Warren, 25, struggled mightily throughout last season, registering a 10.32 ERA. He was 0-3 in seven games (six starts) and was … Continued
Juan Soto may be the new face of the New York Mets, but first baseman Pete Alonso is the heartbeat. The Polar Bear reminded everyone of that Monday night when he clubbed a grand slam against the Marlins at LoanDepot Park. Alonso’s homer was the big blast in New York’s seven-run fifth inning. PETE ALONSO … Continued
We are three games into the 2025 Major League Baseball Season, “Overreaction Week,” as Yankees manager Aaron Boone dubbed it after his team’s 12-3 win over the Brewers on Sunday. New York completed a three-game sweep in the Bronx and outscored Milwaukee 36-14 while hitting a combined 15 home runs. The same cannot be said … Continued
The Yankees traded Nestor Cortes for closer Devin Williams in the offseason, and the crafty lefty had a rude homecoming on Saturday. Pitching for the Brewers against his former team, Cortes proceeded to give up three home runs on three pitches. First baseman Paul Goldschmidt, leading off for the first time in his career, started … Continued
Juan Soto’s first game with the New York Mets ended with him striking out on a bad pitch in a 3-1 loss to the Astros. In his second game, on Friday, Soto enjoyed better results. His third inning solo shot off of righty Hunter Brown gave the Mets a 3-0 lead. The no-doubter traveled 390 … Continued
Thursday, March 27 marked Day 1 of Juan Soto’s 15-year, $765 million contract with the New York Mets. The star outfielder’s first day at his new job didn’t go as planned. Not only did the Mets lose to the Astros 3-1, but Soto was the final out when he swung at a Josh Hader slider … Continued
The New York Yankees kicked off their Opening Day series with the Milwaukee Brewers in style. Austin Wells, the first Yankees catcher to bat leadoff on Day, and took two quick balls from righty Freddy Peralta. Cue a predictable 2-0 fastball, and Wells launched it 348 feet at 103.7 mph for a solo home run. … Continued
We’ll establish this very early: The New York Yankees are and should be the American League favorites in 2025. This despite the Bronx Bombers getting thoroughly outclassed by the Dodgers in the World Series, going down in five games. This after losing Juan Soto, a fan favorite and difference maker in 2024, to the crosstown … Continued
There’s no greater mystery in baseball this year than the New York Mets, now in their third year under billionaire owner Steve Cohen. It was an epically aggressive offseason in Queens after the Mets got hot late and took the eventual champion Dodgers to Game 6 of the NLCS. Cohen and team president David Stearns … Continued
This time last season, we thought the Boston Red Sox were bound for a rebuild. Finishing (and overachieving) at exactly 81-81 and missing the playoffs for a third time later, that appeared to be true. Cue the offseason, and Boston proved us wrong again. Former pitcher Craig Breslow is back for his second year as … Continued
The Philadelphia Phillies have put in the work both out on the market and down on the farm to give themselves a wide open window. In a way, the NL East is their oyster. This even though the rival Atlanta Braves are always nipping at their heels, and now the Mets are joining in the … Continued
The movie has been released and we can officially give the Toronto Blue Jays the Baseball Razzie Award for Most Overhyped Team Ever. The screenwriter of this masterpiece, of course, was none other than impending free agent Vladimir Guerrero Jr. It’s been three years since his infamous trailer-movie comment regarding his team’s upside. Toronto had … Continued
The Washington Nationals’ 2024 season went exactly as their 2023 campaign: They finished 71-91 and the only difference was that they finished fourth in the NL East last year instead of last. Things haven’t changed much down in DC, and the 2025 season isn’t looking much better. The division is competitive enough that Washington isn’t … Continued
For the third year in a row, the Baltimore Orioles are a team to watch in the American League East. In 2023, their youth movement arrived a year early and ever-so-slightly overachieved to a Wild Card. The 2024 season marked something of a sophomore slump all around. Star switch-hitting catcher Adley Rutschman, in particular, hit … Continued
What to make of the Atlanta Braves is anyone’s guess. Their lineup is powerful from top to bottom, but key pieces are fragile. They have some exciting young arms in the rotation, but some of those key arms are fragile. Put it all together and what do we get? We get an Atlanta Braves team … Continued
Hey, remember last season when we were bullish on the Miami Marlins and saw some playoff appearances in their future? Boy, talk about being wrong in the wrongest way. Not only did the Marlins not make the playoffs in 2024, but they barely showed up at all. Kim Ng leaving the front office had a … Continued
The 2025 season is going to be a long, hard year for the Tampa Bay Rays. The team’s offseason was Murphy’s Law in motion. Hurricane Milton destroyed Tropicana Field’s roof. The Rays will play home games at the Yankees’ George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, but hot Florida summers mean a second half with an … Continued
You’d never know it, but the Milwaukee Brewers have won the NL Central in three of the last four seasons. It’s not as though everyone’s favorite small-business professional sports franchise does much in the postseason anyway. The Brewers have never advanced past the NLDS in that stretch and haven’t been to an NLCS since 2018. … Continued
The Cincinnati Reds have shown a lot of heart and passion in recent years, but not quite enough to get themselves into regular contender status. It’s sad, sad truth. David Bell brought a fiery toughness to the Reds not seen since the prime years of the Big Red Machine. Despite that, Cincinnati only managed one … Continued
New York Yankees ace Gerrit Cole is undergoing Tommy John surgery today, and guess what? The Bronx Bombers are going to be just fine. Don’t tell that to the armchair baseball experts on social media. As far as they’re concerned, this is the end of the New York Yankees as we know it and both … Continued
Nothing about the Cleveland Guardians makes sense. Cleveland is a fairly major city, yet the team hasn’t hasn’t ever fielded an Opening Day payroll above $134 million. The Guardians always seem to be in the postseason conversation, yet haven’t fielded Top 10 run-producing lineups since the Juiced Baseball Craze from 2016-2018. They’re great at developing … Continued
Last season, we predicted that the Detroit Tigers’ best chance at the playoffs was slugging their way to a Wild Card, at best. Well, we were half-correct. The Tigers did indeed clinch a Wild Card berth, but not because of their hitting. Detroit’s bats ranked 24th in home runs and batting average, and 21st with … Continued
That the St. Louis Cardinals finished above .500 in 2024 is nothing short of a miracle. Keep in mind, the team is on the cusp of some major changes. John Mozeliak, the Cards’ general manager since 2007, is retiring at season’s end. Former Rays and Red Sox executive Chaim Bloom is waiting in the wings. … Continued
The Kansas City Royals, in their own weird way, might be baseball’s ultimate small market team. Free agency signings are a rarity. Player development and small budgets are king. If that’s enough to clinch a playoff berth in the oh-so-soft-and-Midwestern AL Central, wonderful! Casseroles and keggers for everybody! Royals ownership must have celebrated accordingly last … Continued
The NL Central will be competitive in 2025 and the Chicago Cubs, ten years after breaking their World Series curse, are primed to strike. It was a quietly interesting offseason for the Northsiders. The Cubbies won 83 games and tied for second with the rival St. Louis Cardinals. Their pitching staff ranked 10th in baseball … Continued
My preseason take on the Chicago White Sox last year was worse than my picking Michigan State in my 2016 March Madness Bracket. Every possible positive outcome just didn’t happen. A team that I thought could rally to a low-seeded Wild Card berth…did not. The White Sox didn’t even stumble or trip out of the … Continued
The Minnesota Twins are Forrest Gump’s box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get from them any given season. One year, they’ll be sub-.500 and out of the playoffs by mid-June. Another, they might hold onto first place for dear life before their eventual Division Series exit, usually at the hands of the … Continued
One year after finishing last in the NL Central, the next Pittsburgh Pirates breakthrough may be coming. The Buccos, despite finishing last and 17 games out of first in 2024, still won 76 games. They weren’t a good team, but certainly weren’t awful. They matched their win total from 2023, their highest since 2018. But … Continued
Maybe it’s bad luck, maybe it’s an old seaman’s curse, but one thing’s for sure. The Seattle Mariners just can’t get it done. Such is the franchise’s life story (Jon Bois’ Mariners docuseries on Secret Base covers it perfectly). Not even the most talented and electrifying of prospects can get Seattle over the hump and … Continued
Two years ago, the Texas Rangers rode a red-hot powerful lineup and a talented (but middling) pitching staff all the way to winning the World Series. One year later, the lineup regressed towards the pitching’s level, on the lower tier of the middle. Adolis Garcia and Marcus Semien both hit under .240, and Corey Seager … Continued
Another season upon us, another where we expect the San Diego Padres to make some noise. “Some” being the key word, of course. The Padres, for all their star power, still have to compete with the Los Angeles Dodgers’ literal baseball machine in the NL West. The Arizona Diamondbacks are also starting to come together … Continued
The Arizona Diamondbacks are no longer just another small market team. Two years after overachieving all the way to a World Series, the Snakes are reloaded and ready to go. Corbin Carroll’s shoulder is healthy. The pitching rotation is deep and finally has a true leader. And for all of general manager Mike Hazen’s efforts, … Continued
Well, it took 14 years, but the Los Angeles Angels finally did it: They finished last in the AL West in the Mike Trout Era in 2024, losing 99 games. Not exactly a strong first season without Shohei Ohtani for veteran skipper Ron Washington. The silver lining is that there is only one way out … Continued
Last season, ESNY pegged the San Francisco Giants as a high-upside hitting team that could support suspect pitching. Instead, the hitting experiment largely failed due to injury and ineffectiveness. The pitching behind ace Logan Webb suffered severe growing pains. What should have been a clear vision became a muddled mess. Middling numbers were posted across … Continued