A few nights ago, I see the following pop up on my Facebook feed: “Stephen Strasburg to start Thursday for Harrisburg Senators”. I live in Harrisburg. I gave my dad a call, and told him I was getting tickets, and snagged a pair behind the plate. Last night, 8,700 fans jammed Metro Bank Park to […]

Everyone knows the story of Old Yeller. In the good ol’ days, a family gets a golden retriever and he becomes beloved, chasing off bears, hunting varmints and being man’s best friend. Unfortunately, the dog would contract rabies in a fight and the older son, who grew up with Yeller and was the closest to […]

Courtesy of the fantastic Timothy Burke of SportsGrid comes this video from tonight’s Brewers-Cardinals game. Ryan Braun smashes a ball to deep left center field and Cardinals center fielder Allen Craig misplays the ball, sliding into the wall. Braun looks like he’s easily going to score on the play. One problem…on his way around third, […]

In today’s Three Strikes Roundtable, we’re going to look at the biggest disappointments of the season, how much you care about minor league baseball playoffs, and which of the Braves young pitchers you’d want most on your team. Strike One: Which team this season do you feel has been the biggest disappointment overall? Mark Smith: The Twins. […]

We have written about Mariners rookie Michael Pineda a lot this season. Back in July, he seemed to be a lock to win the AL Rookie of the Year award. Here we are at the end of August…and that award isn’t looking so likely anymore. Pineda still leads all AL rookies in fWAR at 2.9, but […]

Merriam-Webster defines the word “valuable” as “having desirable or esteemed characteristics or qualities; of great use or service”. This topic comes up every year when talking about MVP voting. Some people (like SI’s resident windbag, Jon Heyman) argue that the MVP must be from a winning team. Now, does the MVP usually comes from a […]

Justin Verlander of the Tigers won his 20th game last night. Now, I’m not one to make a deal out of pitcher wins, but what the Tigers’ ace is doing right now is pretty astounding. He’s got a 20-5 record, and we haven’t even reached September yet. That’s the best mark in baseball by three […]

When the Tigers acquired Doug Fister last month, I said he’d be an upgrade over all of the pitchers they were trotting out aside from ace Justin Verlander. Well since the trade, Fister has really helped to strengthen the entire Tigers rotation. I realize that his presence has nothing to do with the performance of […]

How many things in life have a 1% chance of happening? According to Google, there’s a 1% chance that an asteroid impacts Earth in 2029, the effects of which I just don’t know since I didn’t read the article (too depressing!) and I’m about as far from being a scientist as you can get without […]

After being awarded a waiver claim earlier this week, the Cleveland Indians have worked out a deal with the Minnesota Twins to bring Jim Thome back to Cleveland. Thome’s season was highlighted by his 600th career home run a couple of weeks ago. For the season, he’s still producing at a solid level, with an […]

Yesterday, I took a look at the NL Cy Young race, and wondered if there actually was a race. I ended up coming to the conclusion that Roy Halladay is far and away the best choice to win the award, with Clayton Kershaw as his only real competition. The NL MVP award is a whole […]

Very odd finish in Tampa Bay tonight…the game was tied at two going into the bottom of the tenth inning. Duane Below started by allowing an infield single to Evan Longoria. Ben Zobrist grounded to Brandon Inge at third, and Inge was only able to get the lead runner, Longoria. Matt Joyce struck out, and […]

We like to have a lot of fun here at the OC, and we do our thing ripping on various players and coaches, but tonight, I’m writing a post about a somber happening. It’s being reported this evening that a body found on the property of former Orioles pitcher Mike Flanagan is indeed his. He […]

I love watching MLB Network. It’s all baseball, all the time. The analysts seem a lot smarter than their counterparts on ESPN…until last night, when I was treated to a conversation between Greg Amsinger, Harold Reynolds and Mitch Williams. The three were talking about NL pitching, and the Cy Young award. Amsinger was attempting to […]

Last night on MLB Network during their recap show, they said something interesting. They said that the Rockies might not be done in the NL West. You’d imagine they would be, after trading ace Ubaldo Jimenez. Colorado is 8.5 out in the NL West after bad weeks from both the Diamondbacks and Giants. One week […]