This story presented by the official MLB YouTube account is not true. I went through every game Maddux pitched against Luis Gonzalez with Chipper at third (1995-03) and not once did Gonzalez pop up to third to end the inning. There was one time he popped up for the second out after a 7 pitch atbat, but it is not the clip of Chipper catching the ball here. The footage in the video is from many different games, most obvious by the different patches seen on their sleeves. The 3-0 count thing and the story about Maddux setting up a much-needed postseason strikeout of Jeff Bagwell in Spring Training or the regular season, depending on who is telling it, are also not true. To me, these exaggerations are unnecessary; the true stories like his 78 pitch complete game or his juke at home plate should stand as testament to his skill.

With the combination of expanded playoffs, a terribly weak American League, and an upcoming lockout, I really don’t expect many teams to trade.
There are plenty of teams in the AL who should sell that may not (Astros, Blue Jays, Royals, etc) due to a belief in their team. The teams that are good but not World Series caliber (Pirates, Nationals) probably want to hold for next season (whenever that is). So, a boring deadline is probably in the mix.
Anyone else feeling the same way?

Fan Graphs estimation here: https://www.fangraphs.com/projections?pos=all&stats=bat&type=onpacegpp

It puts PCA at an estimated 10.1 fWAR. He currently leads Ohtani in fWAR 6.3 to 6.0.

Barry Bonds early 2000s fWAR:

2001: 12.5
2002: 12.7
2003: 10.2
2004: 11.9

The best NL fWAR seasons since Bonds is Buster Posey in 2012 (9.8)

I love baseball, but I don’t know anything at all about what goes on before and after the game itself. Can anyone share some insight?

What does an average day/week look like for these guys? Between travel, conditioning, press, social media, studying/opposition analysis/strategic meetings…

Then they each have their position specific stuff.

I mean, catchers are like team-captains, generals, and psychoanalysts combined. They also have to know, be involved with, and “manage” both every player and every game. They have to work with every pitcher on their pitches, practice with them individually…

And that’s just baseball. That’s the minimum. To play in Major League Baseball, the minimum won’t do.

What does this say/week look like?

I thought I could get something off my chest regarding the great game.

When I learned baseball(our swedish version is a childs game called brännboll(burnball) I picked a team to follow, counted wins and losses, watch the standings as you do with all sports..

But lately I felt more drawn to the concept of a pastime, I stopped watching and started listening to games, ditched my team and just longed for a game every day to listen to, very much like an audiobook where I get to know the characters and can follow their ups and downs through the days. As a european I dont think I can really understand the concept of a pastime, but it feels closer. How do you Americans feel about the term?

Also, it turns our kids today dont know the game brännboll, likely because they spend their time inside infont of a screen. But a story from the news lately was teachers all over the country decided to ban the game, because it seemed to harm the kids! I had to read it and the game is apparently so hard, it breaks down the kids self esteem and traumatize them for life in the worst cases! I could not believe it! But its a sidestory..:)

How do you like to take in the game that is played daily?
  

As someone who doesn't watch much baseball, I feel the need to ask. Like in the NBA, it's really rare for a contender to suddenly fall off after less than a year.

We're already 100+ games into a season. What's causing the Blue Jays to be last in their division and far from a playoff spot? Why are they struggling? Did Bo Bichette walking in free agency play a role in this?

Miz has already surpassed them all and counting. Those are seasons with a whole pitching staff.

Has anyone else been promised/guaranteed to play at PNC park for the RBI championship weekends just for the schedule to come out and not a single of the 4 games will be played there? But there is a banquet at PNC park to kick off? So why are teams advertising, or the RBI is advertising this and then not following through? The hotels were booked with the discount code in proximity to PNC park yet now there is almost an hour drive to where the games will be held. This is for the 13-16 (ish) age range. We are supposed to be in Pittsburg for this in 2 days for a 4 day thing and just found out today that the promise is null and void.

Walk percentage by year and rank in MLB:

2024: 5.1% (186th out of 207, min. 400 PA)

2025: 4.5% (141st out of 145 qualified batters)

2026: 11.8% (34th out of 137 qualified batters)

From MLB.com:

There is one big leaguer on a particularly fun quest this season. A quest only completed by 10 players in baseball's Modern Era … and also by Will Ferrell and Bugs Bunny. 

Pirates utilityman Tyler Callihan wants to play all nine positions.  

Right now, it's six down, three to go. And Callihan has already gotten one of the hardest ones out of the way! 

The 26-year-old has pitched for the Buccos twice this season in blowout losses. So even though he's a position player, "pitcher" is crossed off the list. So are first base, second base, third base, left field and right field. 

Of course Callihan should go for it. Only 10 players before him have ever done it in one season. Five have done it in one game. But that got me to thinking - would it be possible to play all 9 positions in ONE INNING? Would it be possible without it coming off as Bananaball?

Hello fellow baseball fans,

I've noticed that the Savanna Bananas have no problem doing something that MLB hasn't been able to do in quite some time time, fan engagement.

I just finished listening to Make Me Commissioner by Jane Levy (worth a read or listen), she suggested multiple different ways to increase fan engagement: having guys on the IL meet fans during games, clinics taking place on the field, guys signing autographs after game.

TLDR, what's one thing you think MLB teams could do to increase fan engagement?