One of the most exciting aspects of every MLB season is when young up-and-coming players have breakouts that make pretenders into contenders, or contenders into champions, or simply just give their team’s fan bases new hope. This is my annual roster of the players I think are most likely to have “breakout” seasons. My definition…
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…
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. By Andy McCullough, Will Sammon and Sahadev Sharma The email from the New York Yankees arrived just past 6 p.m. a little more than a week before the first game of…
By Grant Brisbee, Andy McCullough and Stephen J. Nesbitt Every week, we ask a selected group of our baseball writers — local and national — to rank the teams from first to worst. Here are the collective results. It’s been 139 days since the New York Yankees fumbled Game 5 of the World Series and the…
Monday’s deep dive into Paul Skenes, perhaps the most interesting extension case in baseball, was a sneak peek of Extension Week. Now I’ll start a broader look at potential extension candidates, concentrating today on players whose value is less speculative: impending free agents. These players are, in general, less likely to sign an extension with…
It’s time for another round of the tested, trusted, completely objective, never-been-questioned, all-math, no-bias MLB franchise rankings. First, a change: Rather than span the Wild-Card Era (1995 to present) as we have done previously, the franchise rankings will henceforth cover the past 25 years, a floating time frame that feels right to start this year…
Art Schallock, a little-known New York Yankees left-hander who treasured his late-in-life fame as the oldest living former major-league ballplayer, died Wednesday at age 100. Schallock pitched a few dozen games for the Yankees from 1951-54, long enough to leave him with charming and oft-told tales of friends like Yogi Berra and Mickey Mantle. Schallock…
With spring training in full swing and Opening Day three weeks away, it’s time for my annual offseason report card that includes a breakdown of every team’s major-league signings and trades. Here are my final offseason grades for all 30 teams, along with each club’s best move, an “under-the-radar” move, a top storyline to watch,…
When I rank prospects every offseason here at The Athletic, I’m considering the players’ eventual peaks and their long-term values, which is why you’ll see prospects who were just drafted or have only played in the complex leagues alongside prospects who’ve already made their major-league debuts. For readers more interested in which prospects might have…
TAMPA, Fla. — Just days after the New York Yankees amended one of the most recognizable rules in American professional sports, another iconic tradition for the organization will change in 2025. Following losses, the Yankees will no longer play Frank Sinatra’s “(Theme From) New York, New York” as fans exit the stadium. On Sunday at…