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Chase Utley's dirty slide and MLB's rules are both to blame
During the 7th inning of Saturday night's Game 2 of the NLDS between the Dodgers and Mets, with New York ahead 2-1, one out, and runners on first and third, Chase Utley of the Dodgers went hard into......
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Which MLB teams have a pitcher as the best player in franchise history?
Earlier this year a friend asked me to consider how many MLB teams have a pitcher as the greatest player in franchise history, because there don't seem to be many. Off the cuff, I came up with only...
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My hypothetical 2016 Baseball Hall of Fame ballot
There are at least a dozen players on this year's Hall of Fame ballot whom I'd vote for if I could. The largest obstacle to this is that I'm not a member of the BBWAA, so I don't have even one day of...
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The 30 best players of the 30 years I've been a fan
It was April of 1986 when I showed up for my first day of t-ball practice wearing shorts, and was promptly told by Coach Jerry it would be better to wear long pants. It was a couple weeks after that...
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Best players of the last 30 years, #30: Mark McGwire
It was half my lifetime ago, but 1998 remains more vividly drawn in my memory than any season before or since. Baseballs were flying over fences at a record clip. Not one, but two players were making a...
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My favorite movies of 2015
Movies rarely mean as much to me as they used to. I don't think that's a commentary on the quality of movies being made, as much as a commentary on me. It used to be that almost every year brought...
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Best players of the last 30 years, #29: Wade Boggs
Wade Boggs led MLB with a .357 batting average in 1986, the year I fell in love with the game. He won the AL batting crown for each of the first three seasons of my fandom, and because batting average...
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Best players of the last 30 years, #28: Miguel Cabrera
Even for baseball fans who don't get too caught up in them, numbers tend to be at least part of what the game means to them. More than any other sport, baseball is connected to its own history. By the...
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Best players of the last 30 years, #27: Scott Rolen
Every player in this countdown is someone I believe deserves to be a member of the Hall of Fame. Of the 30 players who'll be featured here, 11 of them have already been voted in; others will get in...
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Best players of the last 30 years, #26: John Smoltz
I can't think of another player who had a career quite like John Smoltz had. He was a 22nd round draft pick, not the sort of player who seems destined to even make the Major Leagues, much less star...
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Best players of the last 30 years, #25: Tom Glavine
The crafty lefty is one of many notable archetypes from the world of baseball. Not as famous or well-regarded as the slugger, the speed merchant, or the flamethrower, the crafty lefty is a pitcher...
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Best players of the last 30 years, #24: Barry Larkin
Barry Larkin was a better baseball player than Derek Jeter.Jeter will rank ahead of Larkin on this list, because being able to stay on the field matters, and Jeter was a lot better at that, but in...
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2016 MLB predictions
I don't remember what happens if you make these sort of predictions and turn out to be right, because it's been a while since I had the correct World Series winner. All the same, each time Opening Day...
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Best players of the last 30 years, #23: Ivan Rodriguez
Some positions in baseball have what feel like a prototype. The prototype first baseman isn't a tremendous defender and may not hit for a great average, but he's got a ton of power at the plate, and...
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Best players of the last 30 years, #22: Roy Halladay
Near the end of this countdown will be four starting pitchers who not only comprise the pitching Mount Rushmore of my life as a baseball fan, they all belong somewhere near the top ten pitchers in...
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Best players of the last 30 years, #21: Kevin Brown
I don't have nearly a large enough readership for anything I write here to generate controversy, but if I did, and if one thing from this countdown were going to cause a stir, I'm certain it would be...
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Bartolo Colon cannot walk
Bartolo Colon is a marvel. He turns 43 later this month, and is MLB's oldest active player. He isn't just hanging on by the skin of his teeth though; through his first five starts of 2016 (plus one...
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Best MLB players of the last 30 years, #20: Mariano Rivera
When I first became a baseball fan, it was clear to me that the Mets were the New York team. And yes, the Yankees played there too. By the time I'd been a baseball fan for nine seasons, the Yankees...
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Best MLB players of the last 30 years, #19: Rickey Henderson
I feel compelled to remind you that I became a baseball fan in 1986, and for the purposes of putting these rankings together, anything before then was ignored. I mention this because from 1980 through...
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Teammates with long hitting streaks in the same season
Red Sox shortstop Xander Bogaerts just finished up a 26-game hitting streak going. His teammate, Boston outfielder Jackie Bradley Jr. recently had a 29-game hitting streak. Two players on the same team...
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