Life comes at you fast in the World Series. Just three days ago, the Philadelphia Phillies were on top of the world, having turned Game 3 into their own personal homecoming party with a 7-0 shellacking of the Houston Astros. But that was before Houston turned the tables: First, a combined no-hitter in Game 4, […]
As the calendar flipped from May to June, the Philadelphia Phillies looked absolutely dead in the water. Despite boasting MLB’s fourth-highest payroll and a World Series-pedigreed manager in Joe Girardi, Philadelphia was 21-29 on June 1, eight games under .500 and 12½ games back in the National League East. In a recurring problem, its bullpen […]
The Philadelphia Phillies were expected to be one of the worst defensive teams in baseball this season, with enough errors to fill a weekly blooper reel. That made it all the more surprising on Sunday afternoon in Philadelphia that a baseball team lost on a routine defensive miscue … and it wasn’t the Phillies. So […]
Welcome to Full Count, our new(!) weekly baseball column. Have anything you want me to write about? Email or tweet me at neil.paine@fivethirtyeight.com or @Neil_Paine. Rickey Henderson. Kenny Lofton. Ichiro Suzuki. Kyle Schwarber? Schwarber may not play exactly like those other great leadoff hitters, but he’s been at the front of the Cubs’ lineup in […]
Welcome to Full Count, our new(!) weekly baseball column. Have anything you want me to write about? Email or tweet me at neil.paine@fivethirtyeight.com or @Neil_Paine. Rickey Henderson. Kenny Lofton. Ichiro Suzuki. Kyle Schwarber? Schwarber may not play exactly like those other great leadoff hitters, but he’s been at the front of the Cubs’ lineup in […]
