Someone should do a statistical analysis of Bob’s jinx rate. Not because it’d be meaningful, just because it would kill the joke

Cubs locker room must be so angry right now, a lot of them at themselves for not thinking to ask for the day off

Every reliever in baseball is either a closed brown paper bag with the word "reliever" written on it, or else Kenley Jansen

An encore for yesterday's column as we hit the weekend. When we speak honestly about the dead, we're testing our own integrity and objectivity. To lie about them is to erase them and rewrite their story for your own purposes. I don't say any of that in here, but I s'pose it's implicit. Baseball!

I guess I should promote it. This one is about Roald Dahl, war, and being forcibly drowned in an empty field in Europe. Also, the Rockies, a bit.

My last Box Score Banter of the year. Free to read, as they always are.

Writing is too hard. They should make it easier

The Dodgers are getting perilously close to Phillies territory in terms of "looking up the score after reading the posts and realizing they're actually winning"

Today for @baseballprospectus.com I ranked baseball's best and worst backsplashes.

oh so now apparently people aren't supposed to touch grass

"High five! High five? No? Yeah? OK."

As I was moved to say in the comments, "If the goal is to venerate someone for purposes that have nothing to do with the reality of their lives... That's a manipulative politics that has no relationship to critical thinking and is in fact actively opposed to it." That's what this column is about.

The Tigers have one batter in the lineup with an OPS below .720. The Guardians have one batter in the lineup today with an OPS above .720

I ranked walls. If you want to make your own power ranking of walls, here's a doc with all 30 backsplashes: docs.google.com/document/d/1...

lot of important info in here, but I want to say one thing that should undo a lot of the whining from around the league about Tanner Scott's deal: he was still available in mid-January, the Dodgers signed him because no one else would. That's the beginning and end of that one.

Today for @baseballprospectus.com I ranked baseball's best and worst backsplashes.

wrote about the state of the Rizzo Crash, my worries about the Rizzo Straddle, and the shock on Rizzo Weekend pebblehunting.substack.com/p/the-rizzo-...

My latest for @endlessmode.bsky.social is my entry into the remakes debate. They should have purpose and justification to exist for reasons other than dollar signs, and the literary tradition of revisions and new translations of classics like The Iliad have already shown the industry how to do that.

It absolutely is. You should read RJ's novel as well, but any time we get some sportswriting, you have to stop what you're doing. www.amazon.com/All-Things-S...

Until they make a rule against it this is always the slam dunk when it comes to this prompt

social media sites need a "you don't say" button

Also leads off with some volleyball chat, which I add because we need some listeners to chime in and tell what it is I'm missing on that front

At @baseballprospectus.com today: The zombie runner has shortened extra-inning games, but how much?

Also, I went back and unlocked the original February study for all to read, if what you want to read is a bunch of math about how teams don't let their runners get thrown out at the plate enough. You can read it here: www.baseballprospectus.com/news/article...

opened up my kid's backpack before school this morning and he had four hoodies in there. upsetting number of hoodies

I think this is one of the better things I've written. When you compare two pitchers on the same team, you can get a really clear look at the million different things that go into team defense.

My Redford film of choice is Three Days of the Condor, which is also my 70s film of choice. OK, actually, it's my Max Von Sydow movie of choice, but they work so well together as foils

Before the season started, I went on a deep dive on a very niche topic: sacrifice fly success rate and third base coach cowardice. The year’s almost over, so I revisited the topic to see if trends held up. Are teams better at this? Are they leaving runs on the table?

Congratulations to Cal Raleigh for his "MVP in plenty of other seasons" season

Every year around this time my wife asks if we want to do a pumpkin patch and I have to be like “no. our children are 12 and 10. agritourism has no hold on us anymore”

(when my team is barely fending off teams for a playoff spot) swear to god, feels like these other teams win more than half the time

When the guitar kicks in, 1:30 into the They Might Be Giants song Hall of Heads (1992)

not even going to turn on the mariners game until the 11th, why bother

mods asleep post rich hill's next likely MLB team power rankings www.baseballprospectus.com/news/article...

Posted earlier today: Patrick Bailey, by himself, has accounted for nearly 19 percent of all net positive framing runs saved in MLB this season. That's ... incredible. He also goes through catcher's mitts as fast as you (probably) go through a roll of toilet paper. www.nytimes.com/athletic/662...

It's wild to be 90% of the way through the season and see the designated starter at any team's position on B-Ref have this number of plate appearances

I restrained myself, because I go in and out with that game and I'm out right now. Gold stake isn't that fun, honestly. But maybe I'll try to get the boys into Luck Be a Landlord for next time

Couple of pieces from me out today, for your reading enjoyment. First, for Box Score Banter, I recapped the Mariners' big long night, and the joys of messy September extra-inning baseball:

I don't believe I deserve Luke Jackson. If I do, I'd like to see the charges

no, seriously

Wild to me that the M's pitched to Trout with the go-ahead run on third and two bases open. Sad to me, a little, that it was obviously the correct choice

catcher's box now

You have to beat the Rockies by at least three or it shouldn’t count. The loss still counts but not the win. I’m sorry but it’s fair

Some advice to remember: Never say “he might be turning the corner” about someone facing the Colorado Rockies

Someday a team is going to look to hire a generalist manager, and that’ll be my chance

Paying a psychic to tell me which innings not to watch Jesús Luzardo

just remembered i wrote trevor rogers' comment for the baseball prospectus annual. enjoy:

This was really fun, and a great look at how simple questions can have complex answers. Some great visuals too.

Kevin Gausman shut out the Astros in the amount of time it would take to listen to the entirety of Melon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, plus five minutes of regretting that decision

Watching a shutout in 2025 is basically like watching a no-hitter in 1990, except there were more no-hitters in 1990