Baseball is a business and it has been a big business for a long time. Since the book Moneyball was published, there have been a lot of changes in baseball and its business. However, MLB team payrolls have always been a key topic. Some teams are willing to agree a big deal with top free agents. Some teams would like to remain competitive while having a reasonable payroll.
Topps Gallery is a product that you can collect baseball cards and arts at the same time. It consists of artworks from several artists and at the same time, you can collect top rookie and baseball stars. There are two autograph cards (sticker signatures or cut signatures) in a monster hobby box. This time, I bought a few packs and found a big smile.
According to MLB.com, a batted ball with an exit velocity of 95 mph or higher is a hard-hit ball. Hard-hit balls usually produce good outcomes. But not all hard-hit balls produce good outcomes.
Julio Urias’ strikeout in the top of the 9th inning in game 6 of the 2020 World Series helped the Dodgers lift the trophy for the first time since 1988. He and Clayton Kershaw are two top arms in the Dodgers rotation. Clayton Kershaw made his MLB debut in 2008 when he was 20 years old. Urias made it into the big league in 2016 and he was only 19. Two pitchers were top prospects and were expected to be stars when they were in the Dodgers farm system. But their career paths so far are not exactly as expected.
A couple of weeks ago, I was in a sports card shop and chatting with the owner. That owner was very generous and gave me some packs of 2020 Topps Update series. I was so surprised because I didn’t expect this. I opened these packs and found a cool card, which is a short print card of Pete Alonso. On the front, it seems that Alonso was giving a speech on the stage.
Pinch-hitting is very often in a baseball game. MLB Managers decide to let a left-handed pinch hitter hit against a right-handed pitcher or let a right-handed hitter hit against a lefty, we might see managers make this type of substitutions several times in a game. However, when you have some of the top left-handed hitters in the majors, you don’t need to worry.
In the top of the 9th inning of game 6 of the 2020 World Series, 2 outs, 0-2 count, Julio Urias threw a 97-mph fastball and it was a called strike. Julio Urias struck out Willy Adames looking and the Dodgers celebrated as they won the first World Series title since 1988. During the 2020 World Series, Julio Urias threw 13 strikeouts and Willy Adames was struck out 8 times. Strikeouts, we have seen a lot of strikeouts in the 2020 playoffs.
Padres fans must be really excited and can’t wait for the 2021 season. They fell short in 2020, but now they have Yu Darvish, 2020 NL Cy Young runner-up, and Blake Snell, 2018 AL Cy Young winner. It seems that A.J. Preller, Executive Vice President and General Manager of the Padres, made two great trades that make the Padres a highly possible World Series contender.
I just received a Fred McGriff game-used relic card from 2014 Topps Tier one. On the front, it’s McGriff in the Devil Rays jersey and his game-used bat. On the back, it indicated that McGriff’s career on-base percentage of .380 was still the highest in the Rays franchise record.
Spin rate has been frequently shown on TV or from baseball highlights since statcast available in 2015. It surely creates a new way to watch baseball games and evaluate a pitcher. From 2015 to 2020, any dramatic changes in spin rate?
