Faves
Posts that long-time readers have read and new readers have not.
Welcome to all the new subscribers this morning!
Whenever I get notified of a new subscriber, I worry that they are going to be very impatient waiting for me to post something, especially when it’s a holiday period and that next post might not be coming for a little bit. So I’m putting a list here of what I’d consider my favorite posts on this platform. Hopefully, these few hundred thousand words will tide new readers over, or at least put my mind at ease.
1.
Fourth Place! The story of the mediocre team that, for a month, could not lose.
[And also the other 12 parts in this still-going series: Part 2, Jack Barron’s Gigantic Exposé Of Obsolete Brain Wash; Part 3, Heroic & Tragic & Joyous & Juvenile; Part 4, Have You Heard The One About The Worst Pitching Staff Ever?; Part 5, They Boo Shortstops, Don’t They?; Part 6, Based On A True Story; Part 7, The Three Streaks of Joe, Ted and Bob; Part 8, The Last Good Pitch; Part 9, Team Sport; Part 10, Nothing Gets Weirder Than Hope; Part 11, Mike Trout Is Fun: Fact; Part 12: What’s Schupp?; Part 13: Mistaken Identity.]
2.
August And The Umpire Manual. Baseball’s semi-secret second rule book.
3.
Baseball And The Algorithm. A modern parable about MLB’s most popular (???) video.
4.
I Dream Of Fewer Broken Wrists. A somewhat radical suggestion about inside pitches.
5.
Ballplayers Reject The Dropped Third Strike Rule. Data about hustle.
6.
Baseball’s Copa Shot. My favorite shot.
7.
Some Moments Pick You. The five players who got to do the perfect thing.
8.
The Most Frustrating Start Kershaw Ever Pitched. A fairly weird guy has a fairly weird choice for his worst start ever.
9.
Strange Things Happening Every Day. A post mostly about harvesting olives.
10.
Time To Address The Fundies. A theory for why fundamentals are dead.
11.
It’s Tag. They Should Shoot It That Way. Fewer cuts make for better ball.
12.
Games Should Take ~20 Seconds Longer. The one time the clock is bad.
13.
A Multiverse Theory Of Baseball. Probably my favorite post so far!
14.
For Sale: Line Drive, Never Caught. How to describe a stupid play in as few words as possible.
15.
Caring Is Contagious. The revelation of the 2023 WBC.
16.
Elly De La Cruz Jumps But They Get Increasingly Preposterous. A great basestealer was a terrible jump-getter.
17.
The Denzel Clarke Catch Was A Long Time Coming. A narrative arc of a highlight phenom.
18.
Please Clap. On the modern tradition of standing ovations for struggling stars.
19.
Errors Are Hits Now. COVID changed the official scorers.
20.
The Seven Rockie Sins. Short films about the 2025 Rockies failing to ball.
21.
Kris Bryant Prefers Country. The friendship between Bryant and Rizzo is gorgeous.
22.
Everything/Nothing Matters. The smallest play that changed everything, the biggest play that changed nothing.
23.
Webb 2.0. Logan Webb threw the exact same pitch twice in a row, and the results were unexpected.
24.
Does That Hurt? Baseball’s weird relationship to pain.
25.
Fourteen Pictures About One Thing. The history of Sad Kershaw.