When Aramis Ramirez announced his retirement from Major League Baseball last week, it brought the total to five of some of the bigger stars of the 2000s who decided to hang up the ol’ cleats. He joins Torii Hunter, Tim Hudson, Barry Zito and Dan Haren as the current list of candidates that are eligible for Hall of Fame induction in 2021. Do any stand a chance?
Are any 2021 MLB HOF candidates Cooperstown ready? Keep reading to find out!
A lot of fun is about to go down in the MLB. It is Hot Stove season and while we are still a little bit away from the Winter Meetings, this free agent class is sure to build excitement.
Between my work as editor at Grading on the Curve and now with John Sickels over at SB Nation’s minorleagueball.com, I have done a lot of work on the Atlanta Braves farm system. I’d like to think I have become pretty familiarized with their farm system, which was no easy task as it completely revamped itself under John Hart last season.
Hart and the Braves went pitcher happy in the offseason, trading away big time contracts for Manny Banuelos, Max Fried, Tyrell Jenkins, Matt Wisler, and Mike Foltynewicz and now seemed primed with an exciting arsenal of young arms heading up the pipeline. When you add 2012 Braves first round draft pick Lucas Sims and Touki Toussaint into the mix — whom they acquired for Phil Gosselin — they have an endless supply of cannons.
The scary thing is that they added even more to that arsenal in this year’s MLB draft. In the first round alone, the Braves were able to nab two highly regarded pitchers. One was Mike Soroka. The other was Kolby Allard.
Over at minorleagueball.com, I have been compiling a series of prospects that I am excited to watch in this coming 2016 season. Allard was my most recent installment. Only 18-years old, Allard is far away from the Majors, but hopefully I get to see him and meet with him in Rome this coming season.
Allard could easily be the steal of the draft. He was widely considered the best prep school pitcher in America, but because of a senior season spent on the shelf due to stress issues in his back, Allard’s draft stock fell. Some even felt the Braves gambled too much taking him at 14th overall, but by season’s end, Allard looked like everything advertised in is MiLB debut.
I know you want to know why I am excited about Allard, and you know you are as well. It’s all provided in the link below, so take a read.
Simply put, that was a great World Series. The Kansas City Royals trailed in EVERY game of the Fall Classic, yet somehow won this World Series without an inkling of a doubt, four games to one. The past two nights were just about as exciting as October (and November) baseball can get.
Read on for reflections of the Kansas City Royal’s magical run to the top
Some things make me laugh. Others make me scratch my head. And some things just make you go hmmmm (who’s old enough for that C and C Music Factory reference?)
You got to hand it to the Mets, folks. Win or lose, they certainly are involved in some of the more exciting World Series ball games of all time. Last night’s doozie from The K included an inside-the-parker, a network blackout, a Bill Buckner-esque scare on the night of the anniversary of the ’86 Mets win, a game-tying bottom of the ninth-home run and a walk-off sac fly win in the 14th. And there are six games left…
So, after waiting 30 years to get back to a World Series, the Kansas City Royals made sure that kind of gap wouldn’t occur again by making it to back-to-back Fall Classics. For the New York Mets, its the first time this millennium (but not century) that they have been this far into October. It’s the battle of two young teams, and one that should be awesome.
So, how does The Wayniac see it going down?
Well, Back to the Future day ended, and like Robert Zemekis did when they promised us hover boards, they got it all wrong.
No, the Chicago Cubs did not win the World Series. And yes, they were swept by Daniel Murphy. But at the end of the day, Cubs fans should not be disappointed in the least, and in fact, should hold their heads high.
Just a quick post tonight. I am sure much of the Wayniac Nation was watching, but man, you got to love what’s going on in Chicago!
Go crazy Cubs fans, you have been waiting a long time for this.
A day after the MLB mark for home runs in a single day of playoff baseball was set, the Cubs used three more home runs — including one shot by Kyle Schwarber that hasn’t landed yet and a go ahead blast into orbit by the suddenly awoken giant Anthony Rizzo — boosted the Cubs into the NLCS for the first time since 2003.
It’s amazing to me that this was the first playoff series that was clinched at Wrigley Field. I know the Cubs have been the lovable losers of the MLB for over 100 years, but Wrigley Field and its hallowed ivy walls are legendary. I can’t even imagine what is going on for those thousands of fans that are on hand to witness that this evening.
What about Joe Maddon? If there was any doubt that this guy is the best manager in baseball, it was erased tonight. No other manager could go to his bullpen and replace Trevor Cahill with Fernando Rodney and THEN bring in Clayton Richard to close out the inning. Are you kidding me? All three of those guys were kicked to the curb by their respective teams midseason, and Maddon used them effectively to win the deciding game against the St. Louis Cardinals, MLB’s only 100-win team in 2015.
What a series. Now sit back and watch Clayton Kershaw and Steven Matz in what is sure to be a great pitcher’s duel to see who’s next on the Cubbies chopping block. Man, I love the MLB Postseason!
I wrote a few weeks back how teams like the Houston Astros and Chicago Cubs are bringing America’s Pastime back to the forefront and making the sport fun to watch again. The past two nights have shown why.
The Cubs and Astros have advanced past the win-or-go-home Wild Card round and are truly playoff teams now. So what can we expect going down the road?
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