Most Deserving All-Star Candidate From Each American League Team

Most Deserving All-Star Candidate From Each Team: AL Edition   Baltimore: Manny Machado While Mark Trumbo is enjoying a bounce back season and currently leading the American League in homers, Manny Machado has been one of the best players in the MLB this season. He’s hitting .325, good for fourth in the American League, and […]

Making Baseball Work in Montreal

The City of Montreal would like you to know they are ready for Major League Baseball to return. With the help of the Toronto Blue Jays, huge crowds filled Olympic Stadium the last two exhibition seasons to watch the Jays play the New York Mets and Cincinnati Reds. Fans of the old Expos will remind […]

Could MLB Really Return to Montreal?

The Toronto Blue Jays recently held two exhibition games in Montreal, Quebec against the Cincinnati Reds, drawing nearly 92,000 into Olympic Stadium. The home of the Montreal Expos from 1977 until their move to Washington after the 2004 season, the stadium, built for the 1976 Summer Olympics, was considered an albatross. Throw in a shaky […]

Should MLB Adopt the 154-Game Schedule?

New Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred recently suggested he was open to the idea of reducing the regular season from 162 to 154 games. The 154 game schedule is not a new idea. The American and National League adopted the format before the 1904 season, ensuring the eight teams in each league played their […]

The Baseball Historian’s Notes for August 19, 2013: All Hail the Hidden Ball Trick!

In a sport increasingly known for money, technology and deeds of avarice, the hidden ball trick has to be one of the rarest and time-honored plays in baseball. It’s something that has been utilized since the earliest days of the game, yet still has a place today. One blog post from several years ago reported […]

Baseball Notes for March 31, 2013

Major League Baseball’s 2013 Opening Day is finally here! With another season comes the return of Baseball Notes. Without a single regular season game having yet been played, there is already plenty to talk about. ***One of the worst-kept secrets in baseball has been revealed to the public. Boston Red Sox rookie outfielder Jackie Bradley […]

Clearing The Bases

Well all of the fantasy rankings have been completed, it’s time to talk about real life baseball.  There will be very little fantasy talk in this column as I will be making predictions on how the divisions will end.  Predictions are never all that easy and in some cases completely useless once the season begins […]

Clearing The Bases

What shall we talk about tonight?  So many things going on in the world of fantasy baseball that I feel we need a news and notes column to go over each team.  We’ll do the American League first, followed by the National League on Thursday.  As always, these teams are in no particular order.   […]

White Sox Rising

May 31, 2012 When the Chicago White Sox swept the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field two weeks ago it was fun but, really, can’t an old person with a fly swatter beat the Cubs? The Sox, however, were apparently emboldened by that three-game ear-gouge of their crosstown rivals because now the Pale Hose are taking […]

Bobby Valentine: Enemy of Progress

The Boston Red Sox started off this season in miserable fashion, dropping 5 of their first 6 games, displaying atrocious pitching, and losing MVP candidate Jacoby Ellsbury to injury. Things didn’t look good heading into last weekend, but the team somehow rallied and put together an impressive 3 game winning streak against the formidable Tampa […]

BBA Names Arizona’s Gibson, Tampa Bay’s Maddon Top Managers

Top Blogger Organization Awards Connie Mack Award For 2011 Arizona Diamondbacks manager Kirk Gibson and Tampa Bay Rays manager Joe Maddon were named the 2011 Connie Mack Award winners today by the Baseball Bloggers Alliance.  The Connie Mack Award recognizes those considered the top manager for the season. Gibson took over an Arizona team that […]

Touring The Bases With…Durham Bulls GM Mike Birling

Mike Birling is the General Manager for the Durham Bulls located in Durham, North Carolina, in the International League. They have been an Affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays since 1998. Their Stadium is Durham Bulls Athletic Park. (a) International League Champions 2002 – 2003 – 2009 Seamheads.Com: What was your first job working in […]

Wildest Card Wednesday Looked Like Tournament Play!

Immediately, after Wildest Card Wednesday’s games had concluded, the folks at MLB Network and ESPN were saying that this was the greatest night of baseball in the game’s history. Now that we have a few hours’ perspective, it is clear that they were absolutely right. There has never been a night in which the numbers […]

Something Stirring Beneath the Surface

The younger set cannot remember one of the iconic pictures of my youth: Nikita Kruschev, Russian Premier and head of the original Axis of Evil in Moscow, angrily banging his shoe on the desk at the United Nations, screaming to the US envoy to the UN, “We Will Bury You!” It was the headline in […]

Independents May Have Most Major Leaguers Ever in ’11

Well-Traveled Hurler DeLaRosa Helps Independents Edge Closer to All-Time High for Most Major Leaguers The door has swung completely open for Independent Baseball to claim perhaps its most important achievement before the season ends.  This could go down as the summer when the greatest number of players made it to the major leagues.  After all, […]

Boston Hitting .500 in $20 Mil Club

Much can be said about the Boston Red Sox foray into the $20 million club. This year, for the first time in its history, the club signed a player for $20 million…a year. And, Boston followed that up a while later and signed a second player for $20 million…a year. Boston lost its first six games […]

Budweiser’s Sudsy Salute to the Troops

Budweiser beer, a major sponsor of the Tampa Bay Rays, has a commercial running at the Trop that I and a number of friends find really offensive. Whenever a company (or a political party) wants to curry favor with “American citizens,” it makes a big show of saluting the troops. No team salutes the troops […]

Rays To Honor St. Petersburg’s Fallen Police Officers

ST. PETERSBURG, FL—The Tampa Bay Rays will “retire” the official radio call signs of the three St. Petersburg police officers killed in 2011, the first officers lost in the line of duty in St. Petersburg in more than 30 years.  The ceremony will take place at Tropicana Field prior to the Rays-Orioles game on Friday, […]

REO Speedwagon to Open Rays Summer Concert Series

Iconic classic rockers REO Speedwagon are kicking off the Tampa Bay Rays summer concert series this year on April 30th immediately after the game against the Los Angeles Angels. This is the fourth year Tampa Bay has had post-game concerts and considering the Rays are under .500 it couldn’t come at a better time since […]

Starting With Three Losses: A Historical Perspective of The Olde Towne Team

A long, cold, wet winter that still hasn’t completely transformed into spring here in the Pacific Northwest was made much more palatable by the thought of All-Stars Carl Crawford, Adrian Gonzalez and Bobby Jenks wearing Boston’s carmine hose for the first time, not to mention veteran reliever Dan Wheeler, who wrapped a 2.36 ERA for […]

2011 Pre-Season Preview: AL East – Tampa Bay Rays

CF BJ Upton Tampa Bay Rays (2010 record: 96-66) Everyone thinks the Rays will take a significant step backwards in 2011, but I am not so sure those people are right. Tampa is one of the best-run organizations in baseball, and I think they have the young horses needed to minimize the impact of the […]

MLB Preview, 2011: Red Sox Rank Best in Positional Analysis of the AL East

A few weeks ago, I initiated a series of articles analyzing and ranking the starters for all of the clubs in the American League East. The series concluded with the belated publication of my analysis of the DH’s on Friday. So, now it’s time to rank the organizations within the division on the relative strength […]

2011 AL East Positional Analysis And Ranking: Designated Hitter

I am finally at the end of my series examining the relative strengths and weaknesses of the teams in the AL East, on a position-by-position basis. The players at each position have been ranked in relation to their peers within the division, with each team being assigned points based on where their player ranks in […]

2011 AL East Positional Analysis And Ranking: Closer

I am in the midst of a series examining the relative strengths and weaknesses of the teams in the AL East, on a position-by-position basis. The players at each position are being ranked in relation to their peers within the division, with each team being assigned points based on where their player ranks in comparison […]

AL East Positional Analysis And Ranking: Starting Rotation (No. 5 Starter)

I am in the midst of a series examining the relative strengths and weaknesses of the teams in the AL East, on a position-by-position basis. The players at each position are being ranked in relation to their peers within the division, with each team being assigned points based on where their player ranks in comparison […]

AL East Positional Analysis And Ranking: Starting Rotation (No. 4 Starter)

I am in the midst of a series examining the relative strengths and weaknesses of the teams in the AL East, on a position-by-position basis. The players at each position are being ranked in relation to their peers within the division, with each team being assigned points based on where their player ranks in comparison […]

AL East Positional Analysis And Ranking: Starting Rotation (No. 3 Starter)

I am in the midst of a series examining the relative strengths and weaknesses of the teams in the AL East, on a position-by-position basis. The players at each position are being ranked in relation to their peers within the division, with each team being assigned points based on where their player ranks in comparison […]

AL East Positional Analysis And Ranking: Starting Rotation (No. 2 Starter)

I am in the midst of a series examining the relative strengths and weaknesses of the teams in the AL East, on a position-by-position basis. The players at each position are being ranked in relation to their peers within the division, with each team being assigned points based on where their player ranks in comparison […]

AL East Positional Analysis And Ranking: Starting Rotation (Staff Ace)

I am in the midst of a series examining the relative strengths and weaknesses of the teams in the AL East, on a position-by-position basis. The players at each position are being ranked in relation to their peers within the division, with each team being assigned points based on where their player ranks in comparison […]

AL East Positional Analysis And Ranking: Right Field

I am in the midst of a series examining the relative strengths and weaknesses of the teams in the AL East, on a position-by-position basis. The players at each position are being ranked in relation to their peers within the division, with each team being assigned points based on where their player ranks in comparison […]

Fantasy Baseball Outlook: Top Five (Starting) Pitching Prospects For 2011

Tampa Bay’s Jeremy Hellickson is targeted for stardom. By the end of 2012 he will slide into the #2 spot in the rotation to create a dynamic duo, along with David Price. In articles such as this, many websites give readers a list of the best overall prospects at a given position, but the intention […]

AL East Positional Analysis And Ranking: Center Field

I am in the midst of a series examining the relative strengths and weaknesses of the teams in the AL East, on a position-by-position basis. The players at each position are being ranked in relation to their peers within the division, with each team being assigned points based on where their player ranks in comparison […]

AL East Positional Analysis And Ranking: Left Field

I am in the midst of a series examining the relative strengths and weaknesses of each of the teams in the AL East, on a position-by-position basis. The players at each position are being ranked in relation to their peers within the division, with teams being assigned points based on where their player ranks in […]

AL East Positional Analysis And Ranking: Shortstops

I am in the midst of a series examining the relative strengths and weaknesses of the teams in the AL East, on a position-by-position basis. The players at each position are being ranked in relation to their peers within the division, with each team being assigned points based on where their player ranks in comparison […]

AL East Positional Analysis And Ranking: Third Base

I am in the midst of a series examining the relative strengths and weaknesses of the teams in the AL East, on a position-by-position basis. The players at each position are being ranked in relation to their peers within the division, with each team being assigned points based on where their player ranks in comparison […]

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