There’s nothing that excites a journalist quite like a deal coming together past its initial deadline. Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s 14-year, $500 million contract extension with the Blue Jays came nearly two months after Guerrero’s deadline to end talks at the start of spring training. It capped off another week of significant extensions across the sport,…
By Patrick Mooney, Ken Rosenthal and Sahadev Sharma CHICAGO — At first glance, the post from an X user named @Brooks_Gate seemed like something a multibillion-dollar company would ignore. It consisted of a chart that used estimated data to illustrate the percentage of revenue spent on player payroll. Rather than sitting at the top with…
CLEARWATER, Fla. — Do you miss those robots yet? We’ve spent the past five weeks watching them pop out of hiding, every time a catcher, hitter or pitcher tapped his head to ask his favorite robot umps: Where the heck was that pitch? Then, almost instantaneously, a six-second animation would roll on the ballpark videoboard…
Editor’s Note: This article is part of our Rankings & Tiers series, an evaluation across sport about the key players, front offices, teams, franchises and much more. Welcome to The Athletic’s fourth annual MLB Position Player Tiers, where we rank the top 100 position players in baseball based on their expected all-around hitting, fielding and baserunning value for…
TAMPA, Fla: A computerized system that calls balls and strikes is being tested during Major League Baseball spring training exhibition games starting Thursday after four years of experiments in the minor leagues. Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred is an advocate of the Automated Ball-Strike System, which potentially as early as 2026 could be used to aid…
There was a game in El Paso where even a two-touchdown lead wasn’t safe. … There was a game in Houston where a pitcher allowed four base runners on three pitches. … And then there was that game in Los Angeles where Mookie Betts hit for the Strangest But Truest cycle of his career. (Spoiler alert:…
First prize — We tip our cap Here at Strange But True Injury Central, there’s only one thing we love more than a good Injury of the Year caper. And that’s having the same player churn out an injury caper sequel that elevates him onto this list for the second year in a row. So…
I swear this all happened in the Strange But True baseball year of 2024: A man played for both teams in the same game. … Another guy made an out on his own intentional walk. … And history was made at Coors Field, all because a pitcher did not throw a pitch. I mention all that because it’s…
Stephen Strasburg retired, Patrick Corbin’s deal with the Washington Nationals finally expired and Chris Sale roared back to form in a major way. That means there are changes to the annual rankings of MLB’s worst contracts. With Black Friday deals in the past and baseball’s hot stove on the verge of heating up, risk-averse executives…