The manager sets the tone. Boone’s carefree approach is reflected in the team’s performance on the field. He has mastered the art of looking unbothered while his team invents new ways to blow games.
MLB may have finally evolved the All-Star Game to the point where it no longer knows what it is for. The ceremony is lavish, the staging immaculate, the production values high enough to make an emperor blush. But beneath the glitter, the game itself can feel like an afterthought, a moving backdrop for the spectacle that surrounds it. P.T. Barnum would have admired the scale. I’m not sure he would have loved the baseball.
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No announcers or brightly-colored anythings or disgraced former ballplayers intruded on that, which was nice. But, the fact they were really close to being able to should be taken into account by Netflix. This is the first year of a three-year contract to broadcast the event.
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I remember racing home to see the 1968 game and watching Don Drysdale pitch three innings of one-hit baseball. The Great Juan Marichal followed that up with two innings of high-leg-kick mastery. And 1976, during his unforgettable Cinderella season, Mark “The Bird” Fidrych earned the start for the American League All-Stars—a moment that captured the rise of a pitcher unlike anything baseball had seen before or since. It felt real. It was real.
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We can’t have lollipops on the field. Baseball has always been known as the dental-care sport. That’s why players have always been given copious amounts of chewing tobacco so that plaque doesn’t build up on players’ teeth during a game. That’s one reason why DJ LeMahieu always had a dip in under Boone’s watch.
You see, that’s smart.
Even when it behaves, the DirtCam is hardly essential viewing. Its grand contribution might have been today and will likely wind up on late-night TV. But the thing typically offers only a shaky, dirt-level angle that adds little insight and occasionally gets coated in a face full of infield spray.
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Andrew: National League looks stronger. Bob: Agreed.
Check back with us in a couple of weeks to see how your ballot measured up. Then, it’s Round 2of voting!
The impact would extend beyond the draft itself, affecting the quality of play, weakening baseball communities, and reducing the chances for American kids to play for a Major League franchise.
Read moreThe Guardians can’t hit. Fortunately for them, they haven’t needed to. Part of the Tigers problem seems to be leaving the starters in too long. How fun is it to talk about the White Sox having a playoff shot! They’re in the right division to do it. If they can make a move for a little help, they could reach…Kansas City can’t do much of anything right.
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How fun is it to talk about the White Sox having a playoff shot! They’re in the right division to do it. If they can make a move for a little help…
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The pitching should improve with Skubal’s return and Detroit is in position to save some team some money during a fire sale and get another bat…or two. They’re only 8.5 games out of first.
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The hitting isn’t the problem. The pitching is.
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Shame on Major League Baseball for failing to give Sacramento its due. Kudos to the team for leading the division through the early going of the 2026 season.
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They are slowwwwwww. Who’s leading off? It doesn’t matter because no one is young enough, fast enough, or on base enough to steal a bag.
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One NL Central team is the result of four years of drafting and trading at the minor league level. There are so many questions. The price of experience will be steep. A 70-win should be considered a success.
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What in the hell am I paying for? No idea. It certainly isn’t consistent baseball coverage.
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Pete Crow-Armstrong is trying to hit a home run every time up. Yes, he hit 31 home runs. Yes, he drove in 95. But, he also left 281 men on base. That was 12th worst in the majors. He was exposed in the National League Division Series against Milwaukee (.118 ave., six strikeouts and one walk.).
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It’s going to be a battle. Three teams are pretty obvious playoff contenders.
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It’s going to be easy to root for this team, but there is not enough starting pitching to get to the playoffs, even if every offensive player adds another 10 points to their batting averages.
Read moreGausman was rocking back and forth on his left foot. In rhythm, he rocked, rocked, lifted his leg and delivered a pitch. Merzel called it immediately. Dodger, Hyeseong Kim was awarded second base.
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The incentive to run is clearly already there. In 2024, a record 122 players stole at least 10 bases, with 48 reaching 20 or more. Similar totals followed in 2023 and 2025. Additional “incentives” are unnecessary.
The use of enlarged sliding mitts are also unnecessary and should be prohibited.
Luis García isn’t terrible. His 4.08 career ERA is the second-worst of the staff. Richard Lovelady is a lefty. He and his career ERA of 5.35 will likely be shipped out first, if he continues to give up more than a run every two innings.
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Assume the worst, celebrate if all goes well.
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If Tampa can even get two of their bottom five to hit, they have a chance to win 90.
Read moreJoin USA Bobsled Hall-of-Fame John Morgan for a chat about the state of two sports, tips for young announcers, Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, the “Night Train,” and some very interesting, rarely-talked-about medical conditions of one of baseball’s most famous names. Saranac, New York is a thing!
Read moreThis Bud’s not for you. Rather, it turns it into a bad kegger.
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By the time September 15 came around, the Phils were on a roll. They had owned first place since July 17. It appeared a World Series berth was merely a formality. The Phillies’ front office had that ticket availability plan – however unusual.
Read moreAdvertisements .are available to be purchased. Please contact the publisher for details. Somehow, allowing gambling to be associated with professional sports has allowed gamblers to…wait for it…infiltrate professional sports. Somewhere, a U.S. Supreme Court justice is saying, “Whaaaaaaat? How’d that happen?” This week, Cleveland Guardians pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz were indicted on charges they took bribes from gamblers.
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The Freddie Freeman walk-off homer was a crowd-pleaser; and yes Shohei Otani was otherworldly in reaching base in all nine plate appearances with an epic night. But had it not been for a gutsy relief outing by a guy few outside of Dodgertown have even heard of, all this would have gone for naught. Had you ever heard of Will Klein?
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The ninth was set up for Guerrero to be the hero.
Now in the 11th, he has to be the savior. He delivers. His ability to pull his hands in at hit a ball down the line with power is outstanding. He does it again with a rope down the line.
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Fans could not get enough of the home run. And why not? They were seemingly drenched ad nauseum by giddy announcers and a plethora of analysts ballyhooing all kinds of metrics such as Exit Velocities, Launch Angles, and Expected Home Run Rate, or xHR%. The players themselves were given to cartoonish theatrics after hitting one out, from fancy bat-flips to the perfunctory pointing, glaring and glittering of bling as they sashayed around the bases.
Read moreAdvertisements for thespitter.com are available. Reach tens of thousands of potential customers. Contact for rates and information. I hate to tell you this, but it is not June 28. Your bullpen is not reliable. Anthony Banda is falling so far off the mound to the right that it is almost impossible for him to know where the ball is going.
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Advertisements or thespitter.com are available. Reach tens of thousands of potential customers annually. Contact the publisher for rates and information. I don’t know when I started taking notes. Hours ago. Here they are. I’m going to bed. Game three Edman swinging at everything neck and higher. Then can’t get low enough to field what should have been an inning-ending double
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Advertisements This one could be fun. The storylines seem never ending. The Toronto Blue Jays were last in the World Series in 1993 and won it with the famous Joe Carter home run. George Springer won another game in the postseason with his 23rd career homer…after limping through a game and a half with a sore knee (Fouling a ball
Read more“Managers have to read the room. Snell and Yamamoto didn’t even break a sweat. Yamamoto look like he could’ve pitched forever.”
Read moreAdvertisements The whipsaw contest between the New York Yankees and the Toronto Blue Jays in Game 3 of the American League Division series was driven by…bad baseball. It started early. Toronto’s Ernie Clement busts his tail down the line on a grounder to first. Pitcher Carlos Rodon doesn’t cover. Ben Rice slides instead of dives and catches a spike. Safe
Read moreAdvertisements You would expect more from a manager with 14 years of experience as a catcher in the Major Leagues, especially one who put up really good numbers (.262 batting average, .995 fielding percentage) over a career that came up just one short of 1300 games. But, the postseason is a different animal from the regular season and Mariners’ manager
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…consider if you immediately come to their defense to protect them when someone like a teacher or coach tells them to correct the same behavior you’ve been nagging them about for years.
Read moreDo we really want to hear one of the game’s best pitchers take a batted ball off the forehead because an announcer didn’t know when to shut up?
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“I can only run so fast,” said Ohtani after recently slowing down to allow Arizona Diamondbacks first baseman and bag of donuts impersonator, Josh Naylor, to roll to first base ahead of him.
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A team hopes to use five or six…maybe seven…god forbid… eight starters during a year. The Dodgers have used 16 so far, including bullpen games.
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… it’s very possible there could be more Devers dingers to left than there will be splash hits in McCovey Cove.
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No Rs in Bawston, which means Bahb and Andew’s histoy tou continues in seach of knowledge and a wicked awesome dawg.
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This could get ugly…fast.
Aaron Boone will have to manage his tail off. Brian Cashman will have to spend some money. Right now, this is an 85-win team.
“Bobby was in his championship Little League game. He really showed me something. Struck out three times. Made an error that lost the game. Parents were throwing things at our car and swearing at us as we drove off. Gosh, I was proud” –Bob Uecker, “Mr. Baseball”
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Baseball, baseball, baseball. The Spitter Podcast is back with some strictly audio versions and some audio of full posts for those who have finally stopped reading and driving.
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Advertisements For years, I railed against the off-kilter angle of Fernando Rodney’s hat. Why? Maybe because I had nothing better to do. Or I keep seeing grownups doing dumb things that kids copy and then suffer the consequences of those actions. Or it just looked moronic. Turns out he had a reason, and a good one at that. The following
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It’s time for Major League Baseball to truly get into the 21st Century, with a bow to its storied past, and make changes that make sense.
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Advertisements Not even 24 hours after the Los Angeles Dodgers had coughed up a World Series game due to failures across the board, the New York Yankees appeared on the threshold of perhaps becoming the first team to ever come back from a 3-0 deficit to even reach a sixth game. Game 5 starts much as Game 4 had ended:
Read moreIn the end, 11-4 is not the least of L.A.’s problems. Sloppy play and Aaron Judge coming out of a slump are.
Read moreThe Moffitt 8th Grade road trip to Washington D.C. and New York City took a couple of detours from the typical middle school trip. There were many more stops, many more cities, many more baseball games, and many more hot dogs.
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inally. Major League Baseball has sought me out. Me alone, I’m sure. “What does Bob think?” someone must have asked. “I have a pretty good idea,” came the reply. “He writes down virtually everything he thinks on Thespitter.com website. Kind of annoying to tell you the truth.”
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Please allow me to pleasantly and kindly review the version of the anthem as sung before the Major League All Star game home run derby by Ingrid Andress and explain to all of you as to why it was so amazing.
Read moreAdvertisements What has been a great season for the Philadelphia Phillies took a turn Thursday as Bryce Harper limped off the field at the end of a 7-4 loss to the Marlins…just an inning after Kyle Schwarber left the game with groin tightness. Their impact is impossible to ignore on a team with some quality players, but only one who
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Advertisements It is not often that we can be the very best at something. Major League Baseball umpire Angel Hernandez’s career has seen a lot of “bests.” Let’s celebrate them now that he has called it quits after 30 years of missing things. The best check swing strike three call: Bryce Harper’s bat was parallel to the inside of the
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It almost seemed like this was destined to happen eventually. I, for one, had never been able to make the jump to the online version. The internet had already begun to infringe on the willingness of readers to wait until Tuesday to read about events they could find online today…and that was before Covid.
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The Rockies’ offensive advantage during Helton’s playing days because of the thin, mile-high air are well-known. But, Helton wasn’t exactly a AA player on the road. He hit .287 with an .855 OPS.
Read moreThis could be one of those teams that has an offensive surge in the second half and wins 55 games. Or, the offense comes alive and the pitching falls apart and they win 35.
Read moreYou can’t lose Trea Turner, Corey Seager, Justin Turner, and Alex Verdugo without it catching up to you eventually, especially if Mookie Betts is trying too hard to carry the load and the Swiss Army Knives like Chris Taylor aren’t hitting. The bullpen is full of gas cans. We don’t know how long this is going to last but we do know this is going to be painful, at least for a little bit.
Read moreMaybe the 2023 Diamondbacks are a flash in the pan, maybe not. Regardless they have already racked up enough wins to make their August and September games meaningful.
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Not surprisingly, they have started off well (26-14). But after looking at the numbers, it is really shocking how they are doing it.
Read moreThe experts say there’s no way Tampa Bay can continue winning with what they have, and every year Tampa Bay proves them wrong.
Read moreThe question for Toronto is, do baby giraffes like domed stadiums?
The Jays also have hopes for another player with a pretty good nickname, Daulton “Little Wheels” Varsho.
Read moreAdvertisements A’s marking time until new stadium or move Giants can’t retain players -no help from minors Mariners back to reality and sub 500 Angels can’t win with two best players -another non playoff season Astros solid everywhere back to the WS Guardians came together last year -play well as a team Tigers keep hoping for a renaissance like the
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It’s what happens to windup pitchers once someone gets on base that often becomes a problem.
Read moreMatt Barnes is now my favorite professional ball player named Matt Barnes. Granted, the bar was set pretty low.
Read moreFor six decades, plus a year, Roger Maris has held the home run record. That record is in danger of finally falling.
Read more“…stop whitewashing the history, acting as if the story ended in 1947. And, MLB would do small but important things to bring back the connection to black fans so that the interest spreads to the talented among us. “
Read moreWins are hard to get nowadays. Pitchers are pulled from games earlier and earlier. According to Bleacher Report, there were 734 complete games in 1982. We are on pace this year for…four
Read moreAdvertisements Or, how an over-protective manager robbed a player of a chance at immortality. Of course Dodger manager Dave Roberts should have pulled Clayton Kershaw from the game after 80 pitches and a perfect game after seven innings. After all…um…nope. What I mean to say is, it’s better for Kershaw to be denied the opp…ur…nuh uh. Let’s try…cooler heads will
Read moreBob Moffitt: (Posey was) rookie of the Year, MVP, 7-time All Star in 10 full years in the field, four Silver Sluggers, one Gold Glove,
Steve Harmon: Not arguing at all that he wasn’t great, that he accumulated all that platinum. But one thing he didn’t accumulate were the numbers. I’m sorry, but 1,500 hits and 153 home runs – even for a catcher.
Yes, they Braves are hot, but I don’t know if Atlanta is the second coming of the Minnesota Twins.
Read moreWhat’s the record for blown saves in a game by one team? Better question. How can you not know?
Read moreTwo baseball scribes return to their roots to celebrate the game of baseball and a pretty magical movie.
Read moreEvery single year, he registered exactly zero (0) complete games. I mean, talk about pushing him beyond his limits!
Read more(Bunting is) another lost art, yet another skill that has been swallowed up faster than a mom-and-pop wiped out by a new big-box store.
Read moreIt was fun but you had to have thick skin. “For Chissake Gaffney you just cost me 75 cents,” someone groused after the 14 year old served up a three-run gopher ball. We noticed the “House” was doing pretty well.
Read moreGood play or cheating… or failure by everyone responsible for getting a simple, stupid call correct?
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Boston fans welcomed Carl Yastrzemski’s grandson with open arms … as the enemy. It’s a bit of sportsmanship saved only for a place that appreciates its history in a historic place … a place that wouldn’t be here without the 1967 Red Sox.
Read moreSome of the voting was on point. Some was a Canadian conspiracy. A couple of the finalists do not have the stats to be there. Several of the second place finishers also did not deserve the votes they received.
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To put it simply, they are middling at best, with three guys doing excellent work. It’s just not enough hitting and not enough relied pitching to do much of anything.
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