The Doubleday Double Talk Game of the Day for Thursday, April 4th goes to the day’s match featuring the Toronto Blue Jays and the Cleveland Indians in Progressive Field. Thanks to a stellar combined effort by Cleveland pitchers Trevor Bauer, … Continue reading 4/4/2019 Game of the Day: Toronto Blue Jays vs. Cleveland Indians
For the inaugural Doubleday Double Talk MLB Game of the Day, where every day a Doubleday Double Talk writer will recap the most thrilling, interesting, or exciting game played across the bigs, it has been decided that today’s game between … Continue reading 4/1/2019 MLB Game of the Day: St. Louis Cardinals vs. Pittsburgh Pirates
With the final out of the 2018 World Series, as once again a World Series champion celebrated on the road, I had several thoughts running through my head. First of all, it is strange to think that the Red Sox … Continue reading Into the Dark – an Off-Season Story (Daryll)
For as much as baseball has not changed in the nearly 150 years since the Cincinnati Red Stockings first took the field, the way in which teams go about winning the game has changed a lot. Babe Ruth revolutionized home … Continue reading Modern Playoff Baseball (Daryll)
I couldn’t give a better intro than Giuseppe did – so read his first. The American League had a huge surprise in the Oakland A’s, while in the National League many would consider the Braves and Rockies a big surprise…except … Continue reading 2018 Postseason Predictions (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)
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)
The Home Run Derby is one of the events that takes place during the All-Star Break and it is one of the most difficult and unpredictable to predict. While our predictions are wrong more often than not, that does not … Continue reading 2018 MLB Home Run Derby Predictions (Daryll and Giuseppe)
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)
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)
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)
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)
On Thursday, March 29, Major League Baseball will begin Opening Day earlier than ever, and for the first time since the league expanded to 30 teams in 1998, every team will play on the same day. As the excitement of a … Continue reading A Look at All 2018 MLB Opening Day Starters (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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
‘‘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)
Wade Davis will no longer wear a Chicago Cubs uniform after agreeing to a record-breaking 3-year $56 million contract with the Colorado Rockies. It was questionable at best that star closer Wade Davis would re-sign with the Chicago Cubs after becoming a free … Continue reading Former Cubs Closer Wade Davis Signs Record Deal with Rockies (Giuseppe)
The MLB has announced its final Award Winners of the 2017 MLB season and it is none other than the Comeback Player of the Year Awards. Every Major League season has some unmet expectations as well as expectations that were far … Continue reading Greg Holland, Mike Moustakas Named 2017 MLB Comeback Players of the Year (Giuseppe)
Shortly after it was announced that Giancarlo Stanton had taken home NL MVP hardware, it was announced the 5’6 Houston Astros’ second baseman Jose Altuve had won his first career AL MVP Award. Altuve picked up 27 of the 30 possible first-place … Continue reading Jose Altuve Wins AL MVP Award (Giuseppe)
Sports Illustrated saw this coming in 2014. I saw it coming in March. Now, the Astros have advanced to the World Series to face the Dodgers after winning a thrilling Game 7 Saturday night in Houston. The Yankees will most … Continue reading Astros Advance to the World Series! (Daryll)
The best team in baseball in 2017 is headed to their first World Series since 1988. The Dodgers throttled the Cubs 11-1 to mercifully end the NLCS and advance in 5 games. They hope to follow in the 2016 Cubs … Continue reading Dodgers Moving On to the World Series (Daryll)
It all starts tonight, the most wonderful time of the year with no apologies to Christmas. Baseball Playoff time of course! Even though I don’t have a team in the race this year, that can actually be better for my … Continue reading 2017 Daryll Playoff Predictions (Daryll)
This past week with just his 8th home run of the season, Kansas City’s Alex Gordon set a new single season home run record for all of Major League Baseball. It was the 5,694th home run, breaking the previous home … Continue reading What Matters Anymore? (Daryll)
Just two days after Dellin Betances pitched the 6th immaculate inning of the 2017 season, another immaculate inning was thrown by the Tampa Bay Rays’ rookie reliever Jose Alvarado in a game between the Rays and the Brewers. Alvarado faced the … Continue reading Rays Reliever José Alvarado Pitched An Immaculate Inning In The Ninth (Giuseppe)
The Wild Card playoff berth, since being introduced in 1995 to Major League Baseball, has produced 5 World Series Champions. This includes three straight from 2002-2004 (Angels, Marlins, Red Sox) as well as the 2014 San Francisco Giants. It grew … Continue reading The NOT So Wild Card Race (Daryll)
The end of July is coming – and that means that teams should know by now whether they are going for the playoffs or not. The problem is – with those two wild card spots and some teams zigging when … Continue reading Pennant Race Prediction Check Up (Daryll)
What people can miss about leadership is when it is shown by indirect actions. You expect leadership to be someone calling an inspirational meeting – telling their peers that they will do whatever it takes to lead the charge, fire … Continue reading Unselfish Leadership on Display in Atlanta (Daryll)
Baseball is not above the occasional joke every once in awhile. Perhaps less of a joke than a moment that makes you just shake your head and appreciate the spontaneity of sports all at once. For truly sports (NBA is … Continue reading Scooter Gennett Makes History (Daryll)
Cal Ripken Jr played in 2,632 consecutive games. Lou Gehrig played in 2,130 consecutive games. This is another record that will likely never, ever be broken. As discussed by Giuseppe, the Atlanta Braves star Freddie Freeman was hit in the … Continue reading Being a Superstar Isn’t Easy (Daryll)
In the last 8 days, there have been 2 immaculate innings in the MLB, and now we have a third. First came Craig Kimbrel in the ninth inning for the Red Sox, then came Max Scherzer in the fifth inning for the … Continue reading Kenley Jansen Pitched an Immaculate Inning In The Ninth (Giuseppe)
The unwritten rules in baseball might be due for some rewrites. This past weekend Matt Barnes of the Red Sox threw at the head of Orioles superstar Manny Machado in retaliation for a hard slide Machado inflicted on Red Sox … Continue reading Time to Rewrite the Unwritten Rules? (Daryll)
The other night Shawn Kelley struck out the same batter twice to end a tense game with the Atlanta Braves. After Chase D’Arnaud swung and missed on strike three, the Nationals and Braves began clearing the field, and the post-game … Continue reading Let’s Talk About Umpires (Daryll)
We are now 11 games into the 2017 MLB season which means it is the perfect time to make grand projections on a small sample size. So let me the first to talk about the opportunity for the Colorado Rockies … Continue reading Rise of the Rockies, Revival of Greg Holland (Daryll)
It often comes down to a singular moment. One image – one caption – that can help define a season. When a closer loses a game that would clinch the playoff spot, often he bears the brunt of the whole … Continue reading The Defining Wave in a 162 Game Season (Daryll)
Today I flipped on the television to watch the Giants-Diamondbacks game (what else?) and what I saw was flat out amazing. Something that no one has ever seen before in an opening day game, something unprecedented in history. If you are wondering … Continue reading Madison Bumgarner Hits 2 Home Runs on Opening Day (Giuseppe)
