UPDATE AT THE END Lefty Gomez of the New York Yankees once said, “I’d rather be lucky than good.” That phrase has applied throughout sports history, but perhaps nowhere more pertinent than the 2018 Eugene Emeralds. The Emeralds are the … Continue reading MINOR LEAGUE FLASH: Eugene Emeralds in NWL Championship (Daryll)
Major League Baseball has a widely held assumption they would like to dispel: in baseball you can buy championships. While the 2003 Moneyball A’s were one of the first teams to help buck this trend, the haters shock back with … Continue reading MLB Payroll versus Playoff Reality (Daryll)
Doubleday Double Talk Remembers is designed to connect fans with the game of baseball’s past one player and story at a time. A Doubleday Double Talk Remembers will be published every Friday and will go over the life and legacy … Continue reading Doubleday Double Talk Remembers: Hank Aaron
The Washington Nationals defeated the Philadelphia Phillies last night 10-4. That however belied what was going on beneath the surface of the Nationals: they had given up. After a passionate letter to start the month saying that the Nationals did … Continue reading Washington Nationals Give Up – Nearly Trade Bryce Harper (Daryll)
Ronald Acuna Jr was the headline of Major League Baseball all week. First for the right, baseball related reasons as he hit lead off home runs in three straight games and 5 straight overall. Then – he was in the … Continue reading The Power of the Braves Ronald Acuna Jr (Daryll)
By all accounts the face of the current New York Mets even though he hasn’t played a Major League game in two seasons – David Wright is trying to go against sage advice. He played in a real baseball game … Continue reading New York Mets David Wright Looking For One More Shot (Daryll)
In the movie Field of Dreams, the character played by James Earl Jones late in the movie is talking to Ray Kinsella (Kevin Costner) about moving forward with this crazy idea of plowing his revenue-producing cornfield in favor of a … Continue reading Hall of Fame Weekend Recap (Daryll)
For all the talk about teams tanking in today’s Major League Baseball landscape, somebody forgot to tell the National League. Or the plucky Oakland A’s. The Pittsburgh Pirates don’t seem to care that the Brewers spent all off-season beefing up … Continue reading Madness in the Standings (Daryll)
If only the A’s didn’t play in the American League West… If they didn’t (and still had the same record) – they would be 2nd in the AL Central by about a game, 2nd in the NL West, and about … Continue reading Oakland A’s Playing Well in Crowded AL West (Daryll)
In the original Jurassic Park movie, there is a famous scene where a T-Rex is chasing after Dr. Ian Malcom and other driving a Jeep away from the predator. The T-Rex is closing fast, and as it thrusts itself forward … Continue reading Is Fun Baseball Going Extinct? (Daryll)
All we really wanted were $1 hot dogs. As a sales representative covering the West Coast, I often get to travel around and see the sights in the course of business trips. Sometimes my visits happen to (magically) coincide with … Continue reading A Visit to Coors Field (Daryll)
When doing predictions for 2018, certain divisions seemed all but foregone conclusions. The Nationals would win the National League East. The Dodgers would win the NL West. The Yankees and Red Sox would due it out in the AL East. … Continue reading Can the Seattle Mariners Continue This Run?(Daryll)
The most exciting baseball story of the season looks like it will have an unhappy ending, with news breaking this weekend that the Angels pitching and hitting threat Shohei Ohtani has a Grade 2 Ulnar Collateral Ligament injury – a … Continue reading Say It Ain’t Sho? (Daryll)
As long as Angel Hernandez is “umpiring” in Major League Baseball – there will be a push for an electronic strike zone. Or a completely robotic umpire in his case. Brandon Belt has similar thoughts on Doug Eddings desire to get … Continue reading Is an Electronic Strike Zone Inevitable? (Daryll)
First of all, let’s answer the second question to to the two posed above in headline: absolutely nothing. Betting on sports legally as a gambler – and betting on games you are PLAYING in and MANAGING is completely different. This … Continue reading Legalized Sports Gambling: What Does It Mean for MLB and Pete Rose? (Daryll)
Diamond sports like baseball and softball are unique in that while played as a team sport – they are full of individual confrontation. Pitcher versus hitter. Over and over again. Yet beneath the surface of that conflict lies so much … Continue reading Heroes Made Before Our Eyes (Daryll)
It seems amazing every time I realize it – but the New York Yankees have not won the American League East since 2012. They haven’t won a World Championship since 2009. Which apart from 1962-1977 (15) and 1978-1996 (18 years) … Continue reading New York Yankees Back In Control – And Can Be Better (Daryll)
We are now just about 20% done with the 2018 baseball season. This is both extremely early or starting to see real trends develop in this baseball season. Yes – we know there are going to be a lot of … Continue reading ‘Getting Late Early’ in LA? (Daryll)
Hitting 500 Home Runs used to really mean something. Then MLB allowed steroids by neglect for a fair amount of years, and a bunch of posers cracked the list. There are currently 27 people in the 500 home run, and … Continue reading Albert Pujols Approaching Rarefied Air (Daryll)
Last year Major League Baseball set a record for home runs hit. The common narrative is that players embracing the idea of a higher launch angle did so and though they missed more – when they did connect the ball … Continue reading MLB StriKKKKKKKing Out (Daryll)
I predicted that Tyson Ross would throw a no-hitter…in 2014. Again in 2015. Friday night, a Tyson Ross that nearly left baseball and came back to the Padres nearly threw the first Padres no-hitter in history. Great piece by AJ … Continue reading Padres Tantalizingly Close to No-Hitter (Daryll)
The real answer here is not too much, as we have still played just about 8 games apiece for each MLB team. Yet some early surprises can be gleaned from these 8 games that have already provided some great, some … Continue reading What We Know So Far (Daryll)
Ricky Bobby just wants to go fast. MLB pitchers in the past decade, personified by late inning bullpen men like Aroldis Chapman and shown in the Netflix movie Fastball, have obliged and brought heaters with greater velocity and greater frequency … Continue reading Pitchers Bringing the Heat – For What? (Daryll)
A lot happened yesterday on Opening Day. Giancarlo Stanton hit two home runs. White Sox 3rd baseman Matt Davidson hit THREE home runs. Clayton Kershaw stumbled and Carlos Martinez rumbled around his dugout after a poor start. https://streamable.com/s/d5u51/zzenzm One game, … Continue reading Opening Day Projections (Daryll)
It may still have been a Spring Training game, but don’t call this moment meaningless. Playing in the ballpark he walked in as a toddler, where his recently inducted Hall of Fame father started his career, wearing his dad’s number, … Continue reading Vladimir Guerrero Jr Provides Walk Off (Spring) Moment (Daryll)
We have each made our division predictions now, and so the time comes when we must figure out the next step: how our predicted playoffs will go. It is worth noting I believe that I correctly predicted both the Cubs … Continue reading 2018 MLB Postseason Predictions (Daryll and Giuseppe)
While the Nation’s eyes watch March Madness for upsets like 16 UMBC v 1 Virginia, baseball had it’s own upset last season when the Cleveland Indians lost to the Yankees in the American League Division Series. The Indians went up … Continue reading American League Central Preview (Daryll and Giuseppe)
The National League West was definitely one of the best divisions in baseball last season. They graduated the eventual National League champion Los Angeles Dodgers, saw the Arizona Diamondbacks and Colorado Rockies make the Wild Card spots, and the team … Continue reading National League West Preview (Daryll and Giuseppe)
I don’t yet have kids – but when I do this is a moment I can only hope for: This 2-year-old Dodgers fan was very worried about @redturn2‘s injury on Monday night. (via @agr_dodgers22) pic.twitter.com/JH9nEUcPcB — ESPN (@espn) March … Continue reading Justin Turner Boo Boo Baby (Daryll)
First up in our predictions of the 2018 Major League Baseball season might be the easiest one of all to predict first place. Yet perhaps more than the team at the top, this division will play a hand in the … Continue reading National League East Preview (Daryll and Giuseppe)
Baseball would like to tell you that its waning popularity in the youth market is because it has a pace of play problem. Certainly, eliminating some of the dead time between action is a great goal to keep the attention … Continue reading Baseball’s Personality Problem (Daryll)
Attention, attention! The MLB Season opens up Thursday, March 29th. As in for ALL teams. It’s the first true “Opening Day” since 1968 – instead of a staggered schedule or even opening internationally as MLB has done over the past … Continue reading Doubleday Double Talk MLB Predictions 2018 (Daryll and Giuseppe)
MLB Pipeline released their Top Farm Systems of 2018 and it just so happens that the two teams I follow the most are the top two on the list: the Atlanta Braves at #2 and the San Diego Padres at … Continue reading The Best Is Yet To Come: Acuna Matata (Daryll)
Baseball wants to be more like hockey and less like curling. Yet things aren’t working out so well. The average MLB game time went up to a record 3 hours and 5 minutes last season, and frankly I was surprised … Continue reading MLB Needs to Speed Up Pace of Play (and Initiative to Get there!) (Daryll)
Spring Training baseball has finally commenced, and finally many of the questions that have been asked since the final out of the dramatic 2017 World Series begin to get answered. Can the Astros repeat? Can the Dodgers avenge? Is Shohei … Continue reading Baseball Games Are Being Played: What Matters? (Daryll)
Updated 2/19/19: The Padres today signed Manny Machado to the largest free agent contract in history: 10 years at $300M. Proof of the Jason Werth Effect? I said last year that Hosmer would not be the final piece of the … Continue reading San Diego Padres Signing Eric Hosmer Is Their Jayson Werth Moment (Daryll)
Why do the simplest answers sometimes seem like the hardest to figure out? As legendary Padres closer Trevor Hoffman gets ready to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame this July, baseball might be transitioning away from the career … Continue reading Are Closers like Aroldis Chapman Overrated? (Daryll)
Now that pitchers and catchers reporting to Spring Training is days away, and now that Yu Darvish has hopefully started the free agent pitching domino effect, what is next for the high profile free agents left? It seems likely that … Continue reading Who Will Go Next? (Daryll)
The Philadelphia Eagles surprised just about everybody by winning the Super Bowl on Sunday against the almighty New England Patriots. What some people might forget is that just a couple of years ago this team had been taken over and … Continue reading What to Learn from the Eagles Championship (Daryll)
The US economy is humming along quite nicely. Major League Baseball achieved record revenues of over $10 Billion last season. After several high drama, big market World Series, the sport is very relevant again and poised for future growth. So … Continue reading Slow Market for Free Agents? Or Something More? (Daryll)
This week the Cleveland Indians announced that they will no longer be featuring Chief Wahoo, their cartoon depiction of a hyperbolic personification of Native Americans. Ohio, in fact, does come from the Seneca word for “beautiful river”, but the logo … Continue reading The Problem with the Chief (Daryll)
Chipper Jones was inducted along with Trevor Hoffman, Jim Thome, and Vlad Guerrero, Wednesday into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY. While Doubleday Double Talk strives to bring the best in baseball information, opinion, and analysis, in … Continue reading The Last Great Brave Inducted Into Hall of Fame (Daryll)
‘‘If you have a metric that never matches up with the eye test, it’s probably wrong. And if it never surprises you, it’s probably useless. But if four out of five times it tells you what you know, and one … Continue reading How to Talk Baseball in 2018 (Daryll)
Josh Donaldson and the Blue Jays agreed to a record pre-arbitration settlement Friday, and it could end up being even more of a bargain for the Blue Jays down the road. His one year $23M deal surpasses the arbitration record … Continue reading The Value of Handling Arbitration Correctly (Daryll)
Tonight the University of Georgia takes on the Nick Saban led University of Alabama. Alabama has been a model of consistency and discipline for over a decade now. They have avoided off the field distractions and sent dozens of players … Continue reading Why Do We Hate the Dominant Teams Like Alabama? (Daryll)
