Category: MLB Baseball

ReinforceMets: Impending Returns to Fuel the Playoff Push

by Derek Reifer, posted in Baseball, MLB Baseball

The Mets have cooled down in the couple of weeks since their historic 15-1 stretch, but have still done enough winning to keep themselves firmly in the playoff picture. While they’re a team that’s been known to have the injury bug over the past few seasons, this season things have been very different. Jacob deGrom, Noah Syndergaard, Marcus Stroman, Zack Wheeler, and Steven Matz are all (for now) healthy, and the intact rotation is the top-5 unit Mets fans always assumed they would have “if they stayed healthy”.

Continue reading “ReinforceMets: Impending Returns to Fuel the Playoff Push” →

Seth Lugo, Always a Diamond in the Rough

by Derek Reifer, posted in Baseball, MLB Baseball

The Mets have a really amazing pitcher named Jacob. He’s one of the best arms in the league, shutting opponents down with such regularity it’s become boring. He’s an imposing figure on the mound, standing 6 feet, 4 inches tall. And his last name isn’t deGrom.

Continue reading “Seth Lugo, Always a Diamond in the Rough” →

Inning by Inning, the Decisions that Could’ve Haunted Mickey Callaway – But Never Did

by Derek Reifer, posted in Baseball, MLB Baseball

On Monday night, the Mets beat the Phillies, 7-6, in extra innings.

Continue reading “Inning by Inning, the Decisions that Could’ve Haunted Mickey Callaway – But Never Did” →

Why Are There So Many Arm Injuries In Baseball?

by coachgurney, posted in Baseball, MLB Baseball, Youth Baseball

The Arm, by Jeff Passan, is a well-researched and chronicled look at the abundance of UCL tears and Tommy John surgeries in recent years.  Passan provides a wide array of possible causes with no clear, decisive thesis of why the injury is so widespread. Overuse? Year round showcases like Perfect Game? High Pitch counts? Bad mechanics? After 342 pages, he does not offer a concrete answer for the epidemic because, at this point, no one really knows.

Continue reading “Why Are There So Many Arm Injuries In Baseball?” →

The All-MLB Free Agency Team

by Derek Reifer, posted in Baseball, MLB Baseball

February is right around the corner. Winter is almost on its way out, and pitchers and catchers start to report to spring training in just 2 weeks. The MLB landscape, though, is far from set.

Continue reading “The All-MLB Free Agency Team” →

Gone Are The Days

by coachgurney, posted in Baseball, MLB Baseball

Since its creation, baseball has always served as a metaphor for our country. In the 20th Century, artists like Norman Rockwell and the creators of the film Field of Dreams used the game to contrast modern, urban obsessions with America’s simple, rural, and more grounded roots. Contemporary America is a long way from those values – and the national pastime is too. Today, baseball is more about power, data, recruiting overseas talent, and total revenue earned than playing the game the old, “right way”. These changes reflect the newer America: an appetite for speed and immediacy, emphasis on increasing power/production, utilizing immigrant labor, and profit maximization. A majority of fans may be happy with the majestic home runs and electrifying strikeouts they witnessed in the 2017 World Series. But, there are some who believe that it is baseball that has lost something fundamental about its essence.

Continue reading “Gone Are The Days” →

What Just Happened in Flushing?

by Derek Reifer, posted in Baseball, MLB Baseball

On August 19, after a brutal 8-1 loss to the San Francisco Giants, the New York Mets, defending champions of the National League, were 60-62. Their playoff odds were 6.7%, per Fangraphs. 6.7%! It wasn’t quite the home stretch to the 2016 season the Mets had visualized when they entered the year looking to defend their pennant and complete the path to redemption in the World Series. When they re-signed Yoenis Cespedes on January 26, they looked poised to do it, with a rotation that was being hailed as potentially one of the greatest of all time, and a mostly-intact offense from last season’s number one NL offensive team in the second half. Baseball wouldn’t have it that way.

Continue reading “What Just Happened in Flushing?” →

Bryce Harper: $400 Million Man?

by jmsyanks12, posted in Baseball, MLB Baseball

Fresh off of his 2015 National League MVP season, including a league leading 9.9 WAR, Bryce Harper is one of the most exciting and talented young players in baseball. At the tender age of 23, Harper’s best years likely lie ahead of him, though his contract with the Washington Nationals will keep him off the free agent market until after the 2018 season. With 2016 right around the corner, and considering the outfielder’s potential, it’s certainly not too early to start conjecturing about the possibilities that surround his future and, perhaps, the first $400 million contract in professional sports.

Continue reading “Bryce Harper: $400 Million Man?” →