This is how it works around here. Every year, as Opening Day nears, I dust off my crystal ball and try to predict the future, with a little column we call “The Numbers That Define Baseball.” It’s fun. It’s eye-opening. And it reminds us, every darned year, that this sport is changing so rapidly that […]
The Los Angeles Dodgers have the best lineup in the National League and maybe the best pitching staff, but their two biggest highlights of the season have been two tremendous throws. The first, from Mookie Betts deep in the right-field corner to cut down Ketel Marte trying to stretch a double into a triple, was a Roberto Clemente-esque laser that traveled […]
Star outfielder Mookie Betts and the Los Angeles Dodgers have agreed on a 12-year, $365 million extension that keeps the former American League MVP from reaching free agency this winter, sources told ESPN on Wednesday. Combined with the one-year, $27 million contract he’s currently playing out, Betts’ total comes to 13 years and $392 million. The deal tops the […]
Acrimony defined the complex negotiations to restart Major League Baseball’s 2020 season while society is simultaneously fighting for social justice and confronting the deadly coronavirus pandemic. Baseball is cautiously moving forward with a 60-game schedule beginning in late July. Commissioner Manfred unilaterally implemented a season after several intense weeks of exchanging proposals with the Major […]
The Los Angeles Dodgers’ pending acquisition of Mookie Betts and David Price from the Boston Red Sox for a package including two players from L.A.’s major league roster and no top prospects from their farm system makes the Dodgers massive favorites to win the National League pennant. It’s deserved. The trade has been held up, pending questions […]
After six years with the Los Angeles Dodgers between 2013 and 2018 and one split between the Cincinnati Reds and Cleveland Indians in 2019, the 28-year-old right fielder is a free agent for the first time. Based on his name value and combination of above-average power, speed and arm strength, he ought to be a […]
By Mark Simon The Dodgers are poised to not just dominate the NL West again, but to dominate all of baseball in defensive performance. The Dodgers lead MLB with 62 Defensive Runs Saved. The next-closest team entering Thursday is the Astros with 45. What’s impressive about the Dodgers is that they’ve done this after they […]