In honor of the 2022 Major League Baseball season, which starts April 7 — and is actually a thing! — FiveThirtyEight will be focusing our attention on the most intriguing team in each division. Today, we take a look at the National League East, home of the defending world champions, but also several of the […]
As fans rushed the court to celebrate Providence’s first regular-season Big East Conference championship, the novelty of the moment was heightened by the decisiveness with which it was earned. With a near addiction to crunch-time theatrics, Ed Cooley’s Friars had collectively built a reputation as college basketball’s newest cardiac kids. Entering its pivotal matchup with […]
Last year, the Miami Marlins were the biggest surprise in baseball, overcoming modest preseason expectations — and an early season COVID-19 outbreak — to not only make the playoffs, but also win a postseason series. Along the way, they needed breakout performances from pitchers (like Pablo López and Sixto Sánchez) and hitters (like Miguel Rojas […]
Chad Henne was the unlikeliest of NFL playoff heroes last week. The Kansas City Chiefs’ backup quarterback had run for just 19 net yards since 2014. Yet on a critical late-game third-down against the Cleveland Browns, Henne somehow scrambled for 13 of the 14 yards he needed to convert. Then, in the middle of color […]
It took a couple of bold pickups the week of the trade deadline, but the Kansas City Royals had finally done it. Solidified themselves as clear front-runners for the American League pennant? Emerged as outright World Series favorites? Not quite. Kansas City’s big accomplishment was simply amassing enough talent to break .500 down the season’s […]