Mark Appel turned 30 on July 15, and he’s already retired once. But the former top overall draft pick is pitching again this season, starting for the Triple-A Lehigh Valley IronPigs, staying ready if the Philadelphia Phillies call. Appel knows all about the challenges of making the major leagues after turning 30 — it is […]
To say the Houston Astros are disliked would be an understatement. “Loathed” seems closer to the mark. Nearly two years after Houston’s cheating scandal shook the sport, most baseball fans still aren’t over it — particularly since their ability to yell at the team in person was put on hold by COVID-19 last year. While […]
First, we talk about the race in the NL East between at least the Braves and the Phillies — and perhaps, also, maybe the struggling Mets. Since it’s only Neil and Geoff today, much attention is paid to the Mets’ struggle to play at least as well as their expectations. But even as far as […]
When it’s time for pitcher Marcus Stroman’s turn in the rotation, he runs to the mound to throw his warmup pitches, rap music blasting over the PA system to get him hyped up. He gets himself set, and right as he releases his pitch, you see it: a durag tucked under his cap. A durag, […]
Partway through the 2018-19 season, just months before his Toronto Raptors would go on to win the franchise’s first NBA title, coach Nick Nurse had a problem. Kyle Lowry, Nurse’s All-Star point guard, was in a shooting slump — and no one could figure out why. Nurse, an analytics-driven coach who also ran dedicated shooting […]