Almost Cooperstown

Send us Fan Mail Yankees-Dodgers series, Phillies go across the pond vs. the Mets.  And betting on baseball is out of control.  What was your big moment last week? We cover a bunch of things in a quick hitting episode.  All-Star game voting is in full force but there are also changes in All-Star weekend this year at Globe Life Field in Arlington. The futures games on Saturday will be followed by a...

Send us Fan Mail The argument that team owners would be unwilling to give up the revenue from the 8 additional games between 154 and 162 is weaker than ever.  The additional playoff games would more than make up for the incremental loss of gate and TV revenue.   Players could have a bit more rest and maybe we would not need to start the MLB season in late March and carry it through early October. ...

Send us Fan Mail Angel Hernandez umpired 33 years of MLB. He stepped down this week and received no demand that he continue. His time was over. Reigning NL MVP Ronald Acuna Jr. went down with an awful ACL injury (again), and will miss the rest of the 2024 season. The last time Acuna Jr. had a season-ending injury the Braves won the World Series.  Josh Gibson is now the player with the highest all-...

Send us Fan Mail The infield shift has been banned for about 1 1/2 seasons and the results are that left handed hitters have had some benefit mostly at the expense of right handed hitters. Baseball batting averages are still among the lowest in MLB history.  Watching teams struggle to get hits and score runs can be a chore.  Pitcher injuries continue to blossom.  Can anything be done about it?  We...

Send us Fan Mail Happy Memorial day to all of our listeners and their families. A memorial service could be held for a few #MLB teams including the #Mets and #Rockies.  But the #Guardians and #Phillies keep flying high.  The #Royals won 9 out of 10 but gained no ground in the AL Central. #Orioles have starting pitcher health issues. #Astros are playing better but are relying heavily on Justin Verl...

Send us Fan Mail Blasts and swords will become terms baseball nerds will use to describe batter's strengths and weaknesses. Squared-up contact too. We took a look at the new nomenclature put out by Statcast/Baseball Savant and it interesting and amusing.  We talk about what is the actual description of the bat's 'sweet spot' and how that figures into some of the news stats.  As...

Send us Fan Mail Like Lazerus, the #Astros are finally rising from the ashes, while the #Guardians continue to surprise, #Yankees and #Orioles are the class of the AL East.  The #Phillies are better than we thought w/the #Braves looking up at them for a change. #Cubs Shota Imanaga is the early Cy Young candidate along with Ranger Suarez and Chris Sale.  Is it too early to talk about Wild Card race...

Send us Fan Mail HOFer Cy Young's record 511 wins are safe in the record books as ones that truly will never be broken. DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak has a better chance of being broken.  20-game winners are also going by the wayside with only Spencer Strider last season, Kyle Wright the year before and Julio Urias in 2021. None of those pitchers are currently pitching, all for very...

Send us Fan Mail Aaron Judge and Juan Soto for the Yankees are keeping them close to the first place Orioles. The AL playoffs are a long way away but teams can play their way out of the wild card if they're not careful.  Pirates Paul Skenes finally made his #MLB debut vs. the Cubs and topped 100 MPH 17 times striking out 7 and got the win in a bizarre finish. Tigers Tarik Skubal is having a C...

Send us Fan Mail We love baseball books and Vince Wetzel's 'Lose Yourself' is a fun read.  Fictional Oakland A's OF Brett Austen is trying to join the great Ted Williams as the newest member of the .400 batting average for a season club.  A's fans don't have much to cheer about despite this year's decent start for the undermanned team.   Since the A's are sl...

Send us Fan Mail The Twins won 12 in a row with a little help from a bizarre packaged summer sausage that the Twins kept in their dugout.  Whatever the impact the Twins are squarely back in the hunt in the AL Central which is still led by the Guardians.  The Dodgers had an interesting week highlighted by a zero strikeout game by the offense on Tuesday vs. the Diamondbacks in an 8-4 win.  Mookie Be...

Send us Fan Mail 2nd baseman Ryne Sandberg is deservedly in the Hall of Fame. So is Roberto Alomar.  On the other hand, Bobby Grich, Lou Whitaker, and Jeff Kent are not, and it's unlikely that Robinson Cano will ever make it for off-the-field reasons.  Chase Utley has a chance, and Jose Altuve is on track.  We compared all of these players stats and careers and it's amazing how much alik...

Send us Fan Mail Braves Max Fried had gotten off to a spotty start to his season but his 92 pitch shutout in an hour and 54 minutes vs. the Marlins announced he's just fine.  Shohei Othani has 17 doubles already which is on pace for an all-time record. How about Elly De La Cruz?  1.7 bWAR in a month. If he keeps up what he's done in April he will have a bWAR more than 10 and 100+ stolen...

Send us Fan Mail 58 of the 273 (21%) players elected to the Hall of Fame played only for one franchise.  As Gordon pointed out, before baseball had free agency players did not move around nearly as much not because they didn't want to but because they were not allowed to! We talk about the only set of teammates that were elected to the HOF in the same year. There are 9 teams that lack a one t...

Send us Fan Mail The Angels were 9-9 for a moment this week with Mike Trout leading the way.  Could they possibly make the playoffs? Then they proceeded to lose 3 straight.  Same old.  AL West is a dogfight even with the Astros still mired in last place. The Twins have been having trouble scoring. They could use a good week coming up as the Guardians are sailing even without Shane Bieber and can t...

Send us Fan Mail Having a discussion around MLB player union issues can easily make your eyes roll. So we sprinkled in a little Scott Boras since he's one guy everyone loves to hate.  Except for his clients of course.  When MLB brought in the MiLB players into the union 2 years ago it went kind of quietly but it's no small deal.  Rumors of mutiny within the MLBPA have come around Harry M...

Send us Fan Mail Are the Pirates and Royals for real? Both teams have gotten off to great starts but we've seen it before.  We're at nearly 10% of the 2024 season has been played and there are a bunch of things that are happening as predicted. But not everything! Shohei Ohtani is great as is Juan Soto. The Dodgers are good. So are the Yankees and Braves.  But those teams have issues as a...

Send us Fan Mail If the expression 'chicks dig the long ball' is still true as it was in the 1990s when Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine did a TV spot about the baseball's obsession with home runs, today's pitchers love to light up the radar with triple digits or at least get as close to that as they can. Pitching labs are the newest tool to get the most out of a pitcher's repe...

Send us Fan Mail What was the signature moment of the past full week in MLB?  Ronel Blanco's no hitter? The earliest date for a no-hitter in history!  Or was it Bryce Harper's three home runs in a game last week?  It might have been a few moments when star pitchers Eury Perez (Thursday), Shane Bieber (Friday) and Spencer Strider (Saturday) all went down with UCL injuries and face Tommy J...

Send us Fan Mail How do you feel about Major League Baseball players giving each other a hot foot during the game?   It was fairly commonplace for a long time but no longer.  Being thought of as a character is not as cute as it once was either.  Is it because MLB players make too much money?  Are there still any good pranks being played in MLB?   We talk about a few of the better pranks and others...

Send us Fan Mail MLB 2024 Opening Day has come and gone but there was drama in New York at 2nd base with new Brewer Rhys Hoskins and Mets Jeff McNeil. Each week of the season on Monday we will recap the week that was with games through Saturday and we will try to keep it to 30 minutes or less.  Watch the episode on YouTube:  https://youtu.be/8taZmsDEp-I Thanks for the intro and outro music this se...

Send us Fan Mail We had such a good time last year in Episode 401 talking with Author Michael Ortman who wrote 'Opening day 50 for 50' where he recounted attending 50 straight opening days.  We talked about some of this year's opening day matchups, why some pitchers are declining to take the opening day start, which was unthinkable not that long ago! We also get serious and talk aga...

Send us Fan Mail Here we are,  the 1st episode in season 5 where we offer our predictions in order of finish of all the MLB teams. Who will be be the 2024 MVP in each league? Who will win the Cy Young in each league? Who will be Rookie-of-the-Year in 2024?  Are the Dodgers really the class of the National League? How about the Texas Rangers? Can they repeat? Watch this episode on YouTube: https://...

Send us Fan Mail When it comes to Pat Ahearne, it's a really interesting story. He was the NCAA CWS MVP in 1992 when his Pepperdine Waves went all the way. That effort surely helped Pat get his 1st MLB contract with the Detroit Tigers. He pitched 4 games for them in 1995 starting three of them, over a two week period in June. But he was not able to make it back to the big leagues.  Yet he kep...

Send us Fan Mail The last of our 6 division previews.  It might be saving the best for last although the AL East might tip the scales.  Dylan Cease to the Padres will make a difference and the Padre lineup is formidable, but who can top Betts, Ohtani, and Freeman as a top three in the lineup.  The D'Backs will not catch anyone by surprise this year and their additions of Eugenio Suarez and Ed...