MLB’s 2019 postseason has had more than its share of surprises, from Washington’s amazing comebacks — and the Dodgers’ meltdowns — to St. Louis’s 10-run first inning in a do-or-die game against Atlanta. Even the Tampa Bay Rays extended their plucky season by pushing the Houston Astros to the brink of elimination, before losing Game […]
Gerrit Cole was always supposed to make hitters swing and miss. But there was a time when the No. 1 overall pick in the 2011 draft, with a 100 mph fastball in his arsenal, failed to meet expectations. In his five years with the Pittsburgh Pirates, Cole hovered around average in strikeout performance. By FanGraphs’ […]
Before the MLB playoffs get going, Hot Takedown reflects on the 2019 regular season. We discuss if a season that felt like a highlight reel was actually good for baseball, whether the wild-card games should exist and who we think will win it all. The first month of college football is behind us, and after […]
This year’s MLB playoffs are rife with juicy storylines and potential rematches. It’s one of the deepest fields of great teams ever — a record four ballclubs won 100 or more games in 2019. And in the World Series alone, five of the six most likely matchups (according to our prediction model) would feature a […]
If you’re looking for feel-good stories this baseball season, it’s tough to top the Minnesota Twins. Picked by our model — and others — to finish a distant second in the American League Central, with only a 36 percent playoff probability, the Twins instead dominated the division for the majority of the season. Our predictions […]