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☆ Stop Us if You’ve Heard This Before: The A’s Have a Stadium Deal
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-26 | by ( Benjamin Hoffman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Built in the multipurpose stadium craze of the 1960s, Oakland Coliseum was quirky from the start. Feral cats, leaking sewage and a possum that lives in one of the television booths wouldn’t come along until later. Unpopular changes to the stadium at the behest of the Oakland Raiders of the N.F.L. The maintenance of the park became unmanageable, and the team’s various owners consistently complained about the lack of amenities. The team averaged only 9,849 fans a game last season, and things are even worse this year, at 8,874.

☆ Dodgers Face Backlash After Rescinding Pride Night Invitation
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Scott Miller | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

By Thursday, what was supposed to be an upcoming celebration at Dodger Stadium had become a lightning rod of controversy. The Los Angeles LGBT Center condemned the Dodgers’ decision on Thursday, demanding that the team reverse its stance on the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence or cancel Pride Night altogether. In part, the center’s statement read: “Buckling to pressure from out-of-state, right-wing fundamentalists, the Dodgers caved to a religious minority that is perpetuating a false narrative about L.G.B.T.Q.+ people. They have been fed lies about the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, and have therefore contributed to the ongoing, anti-L.G.B.T.Q. community.”The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California also announced on Twitter that, in unity with the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, “we will not participate in Pride Night.” The organization pointed out in the post that the Dodgers, who broke baseball’s color line with Jackie Robinson in 1947, had previously been “champions of inclusion.”

☆ Don Denkinger, Umpire Remembered for Botched Call, Dies at 86
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-14 | by ( Richard Goldstein | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Don Denkinger was regarded as one of the finest major-league umpires of his time. Working in the American League from 1969 to 1998, he was assigned to four World Series and three All-Star Games. But when Denkinger died Friday in Waterloo, Iowa, at 86, he was remembered mostly for his famously botched call on baseball’s greatest stage. In 1985, Denkinger was umpiring at first base in Game 6 of the World Series between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Kansas City Royals. The Royals’ Jorge Orta, who led off, hit a bounder to the Cardinals’ first baseman, Jack Clark.

☆ Opinion | No Playing Ostrich With Trump
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-13 | by ( Maureen Dowd | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

WASHINGTON — My brothers Michael and Martin attended baseball’s opening day at the old Griffith Stadium in April 1951, with the Senators (as our team was then called) playing the Yankees. When the boys got home, Martin confessed to our father that he had stood up to boo the president before Michael pulled him down. “Dad told me that President Truman was a great man,” Martin later recalled. “He said that if Truman fired MacArthur, he must have his reasons and that I should never boo another president. And to a large degree, we have Donald Trump and Rupert Murdoch to thank for that.

☆ Vida Blue, Pitching Sensation for Champion A’s Teams, Dies at 73
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-07 | by ( Alex Traub | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Vida Blue, who as a rookie with the Oakland Athletics in 1971 threw an unhittable fastball and became baseball’s hottest player, died on Saturday. The Athletics announced his death but did not say where Blue died or provide the cause. Vida (pronounced VYE-da) Blue was one of the stars of an Athletics team that won the World Series three straight years, from 1972 to 1974. After losing on opening day to the Washington Senators in 1971, Blue, a lefty, reeled off eight wins in a row. By the summer, he was leading baseball in not just shutouts but also wins, strikeouts, complete games and earned-run average.

☆ Baseball’s ‘Peculiar’ Pull Draws in a Former Star
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Noah Gittell | Hiroko Masuike | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. — Daniel Murphy looked out over the grass at Fairfield Properties Ballpark, where the Long Island Ducks were practicing under cloudy skies. “Baseball is a beautiful game,” he said, “and it makes people do peculiar things.”Murphy would know. A three-time All-Star who played his last Major League Baseball game in 2020, he is attempting a comeback with the Ducks, whose 126-game season began on Friday with a road game in North Carolina. Murphy, along with some other long shots, intends to grind it out in the Atlantic League despite being 38 and having earned nearly $80 million in a 12-season major league career. The Atlantic League, which has been active since 1998, is a place of optimism and experimentation.

☆ Baseball Has Changed
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-23 | by ( Matthew Cullen | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

America’s oldest professional sport looks different this year. For the first time in M.L.B.’s 148-year history, clocks in stadiums now count down between every pitch, forcing pitchers and batters into action. The changes — including the pitch clock and others meant to increase action — have led to much faster games with more hits, more stolen bases and less down time. Whether the changes will increase interest in baseball is another question. Today’s newsletter will explore how different this new version of baseball really is, with some charts from my colleague Ashley Wu.

☆ Ball Doctoring: A History of Excuses, Denials and Knowing Winks
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( Benjamin Hoffman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

For nearly as long as baseball has existed, pitchers have been using various methods, legal and otherwise, to doctor the ball. Some want the ball to spin more, some want it to spin less. Some are looking for more movement, and others are looking for more control. In this case, Scherzer, who was ejected from Wednesday’s win over the Los Angeles Dodgers, insists he was using rosin — which is legal — and nothing more. Scherzer made little in the way of excuses or denials about the stickiness of his hands when asked about his decision to drop his appeal and serve a 10-game suspension.

☆ The Oakland A’s Say They’re Leaving for Las Vegas
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( Lindsey Adler | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The Oakland Athletics believe that a new ballpark in Las Vegas could be ready for use by the 2027 season. Photo: Jed Jacobsohn/Associated PressThe Oakland A’s long and colorful residency in Oakland has generated dynastic World Series champions, some of baseball’s biggest personalities and a revolutionary roster-building strategy known as Moneyball. What it has mostly lacked, however, is what the team feels is the combination of fan and government support that would make it a business success, too. So the team said Thursday it has decided to leave the Bay Area for Las Vegas as soon as the end of the 2024 season—with Major League Baseball’s blessing.

☆ Oakland Athletics signal impending move to Las Vegas with agreement to purchase land near strip, per reports
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( Homero De La Fuente | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

CNN —Major League Baseball’s (MLB) Oakland Athletics have signed a binding purchase agreement for land near the Las Vegas Strip, where the team plans to construct a Major League ballpark, according to reports from the Las Vegas Review-Journal and The Athletic, citing Athletics team president Dave Kaval. A general view of play between the Oakland Athletics and the Texas Rangers at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum on August 6, 2020. Lachlan Cunningham/Getty ImagesMLB commissioner Rob Manfred expressed his support on the Athletics’ plans to relocate to Las Vegas. “Welcoming the A’s to Las Vegas would be great news for Southern Nevada as well as our entire state,” Lombardo said in a statement to the Review-Journal. “The prospect of bringing new jobs, more economic development and a historic MLB franchise to Las Vegas is exciting on many levels.

☆ Tampa Bay Rays Tie MLB Record With 13 Straight Wins to Start the Season
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( Lindsey Adler | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Tampa Bay Rays first baseman Yandy Diaz celebrates with Brandon Lowe after hitting a home run against the Boston Red Sox in the first inning on Thursday. The Tampa Bay Rays are putting on a powerful display of what happens when one of baseball’s most potent lineups begins its season against some of the game’s weakest opponents. The Rays won their 13th consecutive game Thursday with a 9-3 win over the Boston Red Sox, tying the post-1900 record for most consecutive wins to start a regular season. The feat has been accomplished only two other times, by the 1987 Milwaukee Brewers and 1982 Atlanta Braves.

☆ Baseball’s Pitch Clock Has a Hidden Benefit for Players: More Rest
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-31 | by ( Lindsey Adler | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The primary goal of Major League Baseball’s new pitch clock is to shave 20 or 30 minutes off of the sport’s plodding three-plus-hour games. But the rollout of the clock this season raises an intriguing side question: What difference could a spare half-hour per night make in the life of a major-league ballplayer? The answer may be a clearer mind, fresher legs and the ability to play more—not fewer—games. That could make baseball’s drive to speed up its games a counteraction to the one of the creeping trends that has detracted from the competitive and entertainment value of the sport: load management.

☆ Play ball - more quickly! New rules aim to speed MLB games
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-28 | by ( Amy Tennery | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

The new rule gives the pitcher 15 seconds in between pitches with the bases empty and 20 seconds with runners on base. Another major change - outlawing the shift - will allow for more hits, making games more exciting for fans. In 2003, the average time of a nine-inning game was two hours and 46 minutes, according to Elias Sports Bureau. An MLB memo obtained by Reuters last week showed the pitch clock was already having its intended effect. The average number of violations per game also dropped from 2.03 in the first week to 1.03 by mid-March.

☆ Top MLB Players Love the World Baseball Classic. Executives Live in Fear of It.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-17 | by ( Lindsey Adler | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Whether the World Baseball Classic qualifies as “meaningful baseball” is in the eye of the beholder. But unfortunate timing for major injuries to baseball’s biggest stars is not. The season-ending injury Mets closer Edwin Diaz suffered to his right knee while celebrating a big win for Puerto Rico in the World Baseball Classic creates a new opportunity for scrutiny about the intermittent international tournament and the dilemmas of allowing star MLB players to expose themselves to off-site risk.

☆ After Record Suspension, Trevor Bauer Returns to Baseball—in Japan, Not MLB
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( Lindsey Adler | Louise Radnofsky | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Trevor Bauer has agreed to a contract in Japan with the Yokohama DeNA BayStars of Nippon Professional Baseball. Trevor Bauer, who served the longest-ever suspension for a player under Major League Baseball’s domestic violence and sexual assault policy, is returning to the field—in Japan, not MLB. Bauer has agreed to a contract in Japan with the Yokohama DeNA BayStars of Nippon Professional Baseball, it was announced on Monday.

☆ MLB’s Pitch Clock Makes a Speedy—and Dramatic—Debut
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-26 | by ( Lindsey Adler | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The new era of baseball’s pitch clock is under way. MLB’s new pitch clock had its first signature moment in the ninth inning of a spring training exhibition game between the Boston Red Sox and Atlanta Braves on Saturday. With two outs, the bases loaded, and a full count, Atlanta batter Cal Conley was called for a third strike after the umpire determined he had not been ready and in the batter’s box with enough time left on the pitch clock. Because it was an exhibition game—in which extra innings aren’t played—the automatic strike also ended the game.

☆ Baseball’s Given Up to the Ghosts
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-17 | by ( Jason Gay | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Major League Baseball has decided it can live with ghosts. Specifically, its “ghost runner,” the runner automatically placed on second base at the start of each extra-inning frame until the game is finished. This daffy device was put in place during MLB’s abbreviated Covid season in 2020, and it has stuck around since in an effort to generate quick runs, avoid deep extra-inning slogs and burned-out bullpens, and complete the average baseball game in less time than it takes to ride a tortoise from Chicago to San Diego.

☆ Tim McCarver, Major League Catcher and Hall of Fame Broadcaster, Dies at 81
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Tim McCarver , the All-Star catcher and Hall of Fame broadcaster who during 60 years in baseball won two World Series titles with the St. Louis Cardinals and had a long run as the one of the country’s most recognized, incisive and talkative television commentators, died Thursday. He was 81 years old. McCarver’s death was announced by baseball’s Hall of Fame, which said he died Thursday morning in Memphis, Tenn., where he was with his family.

☆ Trevor Bauer Is Released by the Los Angeles Dodgers Following Record Suspension
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-07 | by ( Lindsey Adler | Louise Radnofsky | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday released Trevor Bauer from their 40-man roster for the 2023 season, ending the team’s relationship with the star pitcher after he was suspended for 194 games under baseball’s policy on domestic violence and sexual assault. “Two extensive reviews of all the available evidence in this case – one by Commissioner Manfred and another by a neutral arbitrator – concluded that Mr. Bauer’s actions warranted the longest ever active player suspension in our sport for violations of this policy,” the Dodgers said Friday night in a statement posted on Twitter.

☆ The Los Angeles Dodgers Have Unusual Incentives to Retain, Not Release, Trevor Bauer
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-05 | by ( Lindsey Adler | Louise Radnofsky | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The Los Angeles Dodgers have until Friday to decide whether or not to add pitcher Trevor Bauer back to their 40-man roster after his MLB-record 194-game suspension under baseball’s policy on domestic violence and sexual assault. It’s the kind of situation that has often caused sports teams to cut ties with an athlete. And yet the Dodgers have unusual incentives to keep Bauer. Chief among them is the idea that they could be on the hook for paying Bauer to pitch for a competitor willing to take a chance on him.

☆ The Dodgers Face a Decision on Trevor Bauer—Without Knowing All the Facts
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-24 | by ( Lindsey Adler | Louise Radnofsky | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The Los Angeles Dodgers will soon face a decision about whether to carry Trevor Bauer on their 2023 roster—and they’ll have to make it without knowing the full details that Major League Baseball and an arbitrator gathered to determine punishment for the star pitcher under baseball’s policy on domestic violence and sexual assault. The Dodgers must decide what to do about Bauer by Jan. 6, following a ruling on Thursday by arbitrator Martin Scheinman. The arbitrator reduced Bauer’s suspension under the domestic violence policy from the 324-game penalty issued by the league to 194 games. Bauer is immediately eligible to return to the field, and the Dodgers will be on the hook to pay Bauer around $22.5 million in salary next season no matter what.

☆ Trevor Bauer reinstated by MLB’s independent arbitrator
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-23 | by ( The Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +4 min

Trevor Bauer was reinstated Thursday by Major League Baseball’s independent arbitrator, allowing the pitcher to resume his career at the start of the 2023 season. Bauer named the woman and one of her attorneys, Niranjan Fred Thiagarajah, as defendants in the lawsuit. After winning his first Cy Young with the Cincinnati Reds in 2020, Bauer agreed to join his hometown Dodgers. Bauer was placed on administrative leave on July 2, 2021, under the domestic violence policy, a leave extended 13 times. None of the players previously disciplined under the policy appear to have challenged the penalty before an arbitrator.

☆ The New York Mets Sign Carlos Correa to Cap Baseball’s Biggest Payroll Ever
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-21 | by ( Lindsey Adler | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The New York Mets made a dramatic late-night move to sign infielder Carlos Correa—who last week agreed to a huge new contract with the San Francisco Giants—to a 12-year, $315 million deal, putting an expensive exclamation point on a historic spending spree by Mets owner Steve Cohen. Correa was expected to be introduced in a Giants uniform on Tuesday, but the organization reportedly flagged an issue on his physical examination that led to the dissolution of their agreement with the 28-year-old right-hander. In swooped Cohen to grab Correa, who played shortstop with the Astros but is expected to move to third base in deference to Francisco Lindor.

☆ Baseball’s Rule Change Shifts the Market for Left-Handed Pull Hitters
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-20 | by ( Lindsey Adler | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Upcoming rule changes in Major League Baseball may benefit a subsection of players who have signed new free agent deals this winter: Left-handed pull hitters, who have spent the past decade being victimized by baseball’s information age and increased efficiencies in defensive positioning. Major League Baseball next season will ban the defensive shifts that have been especially haunting for left-handed hitters in recent years. Shift victims—including former National League MVP Cody Bellinger, outfielders Andrew Benintendi and Joey Gallo, along with infielders Anthony Rizzo and Brandon Belt—may see an opportunity to improve their performance, and market value, due to the upcoming rule change.

☆ The Mega Contract Is Back in Major League Baseball
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-09 | by ( Lindsey Adler | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

SAN DIEGO—Major League Baseball’s first in-person Winter Meetings since 2019 was a blazing reminder that there is big, big money in baseball. And some team owners are once again willing to spend it far, far into the future. The dizzying pace of deals this week sent a jarring message across the sport: After years of clubs behaving much more conservatively in free agency, the payroll pendulum has swung.

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