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Lisa Fernandez Was The Shohei Ohtani Of Softball

When softball helped kick off the Olympics on Wednesday in Tokyo, it was a triumphant return, if only a temporary one. After a 13-year absence, the sport is making its first appearance at the Summer Games since Beijing in 2008. Softball and baseball were eliminated from the official program in the mid-2000s because of a […]

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Which MLB Teams Should Be Making Midseason Deals?

At this stage of the 2020 MLB season, we were already watching the World Series — the Los Angeles Dodgers’ 73rd game of the year was Game 1 of the Fall Classic. But 2021 is a far more normal season, so each team is not yet even halfway through its schedule. That means there’s plenty […]

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The Marlins Are Learning That It’s Better To Be Lucky Than Good

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 […]

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One Month Into The MLB Season, Which Rookies Are Standing Out?

Plenty of rookies have taken Major League Baseball by storm through the years. Ted Williams. Mark Fidrych. Kevin Maas. But Yermín Mercedes, the hitting machine for the Chicago White Sox, has already achieved the ultimate in baseball immortality: There’s a burger named after him. It sounds delicious (Mercedes himself is a fan), but it can’t […]

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