These are exciting times for baseball fans. The MLB regular season draws ever closer while the World Baseball Classic has reached its final stages.
Amid this backdrop, the week has been marked by an unlikely cricketing audition by a Major League slugger and further uncertainty in regards to baseball’s terrestrial TV presence during 2009. Continue reading
Those baseball-free winter months now seem like a lifetime ago. One of the great joys of the baseball season is that there is something to capture your imagination every single day and that trend has started already. With another memorable week in the World Baseball Classic, more coverage for the sport on a national radio station in Britain and, most importantly, the BaseballGB fantasy draft taking place, there is plenty to write about in this edition of ‘Weekly’ hit ground ball. Continue reading
Baseball rarely graces the realm of the BBC, so people tuning in to Radio Four yesterday morning would have been surprised to hear stories of Fenway Park and the Boston Red Sox coming out over the airwaves. Any thoughts that the bandwidth had been hijacked by an American station would also have been put to rest quickly by the unmistakably English accent of the presenter. Continue reading
There’s nothing quite like the first week of Spring Training games. From the players to the fans, everyone has a smile on their face as the sport comes out of hibernation once again.Â
As the players are busy running through training drills to prepare for the season ahead, this also seems like a good time to start preparing for our season here at BaseballGB (not that we really have an off-season). So treat this as a Spring Training edition of my feature column: ‘Weekly Hit Ground Ball’. Continue reading
Download the WHGB 2008 Annual (pdf)
It seems much longer than one month ago since the Philadelphia Phillies won the World Series. After the 2,430 game regular season (2,431 in the end this year) and the drama of the postseason, MLB comes to an abrupt halt and an established part of your daily routine (checking the scores, maybe watching a game) disappears.Â
It’s a bit of a shock to the system, but in some ways it is a necessary process.  An MLB season is packed full with action and incidents, heroes and villains, astonishing feats and costly errors, and you need a period to sit back and reflect on what has happened.Â
To help you do just that, we are publishing today the ‘Weekly Hit Ground Ball 2008 Annual’. WHGB is a feature column published every Sunday during the regular season here at BaseballGB. The twenty-six columns from the 2008 regular season have been brought together in a pdf alongside an overview of the first two rounds of the postseason and a series of articles about the World Series. Continue reading
All the fun of the ‘fair’
Baseball fans have enjoyed a compelling play-off race during the final week of the regular season, one in which two postseason places are still to be decided heading into the final day (and it might not even be the final day). But for some people it hasn’t been worth watching. The Yankees’ Hank Steinbrenner has tried to dampen the excitement by railing against the current divisional structure.  Like a five-year old who has been told he can’t stay up late and watch TV, Steinbrenner has been jumping up and down and screaming “It’s not fair, it’s not fair, it’s not fairâ€.  Continue reading
Yost is toast
With only two weeks of the season left to go, the Brewers shockingly sacked manager Ned Yost last Monday. While a poor September had caused a growing number of Milwaukee fans to question Yost’s decision-making skills, few expected him to be fired at this late stage. Teams that are tied for the wildcard midway through September just don’t make such major changes. Until now, that is. Continue reading
The Angels rule the WestÂ
The Los Angeles Angels were celebrating on Wednesday as they became the first team to win their division in 2008. The AL West was secured after a 4-2 victory over the Yankees was followed one hour later by the Texas Rangers’ defeat to the Mariners. With their magic number first reduced to one and then to none, the party could begin in Anaheim.
However the speed at which they’ve achieved this feat makes it difficult to evaluate just how well the Angels have played. Are they overrated or underrated? Continue reading
The case of the missing error
Wednesday’s historic instant replay home run call marked the first use of the new technology brought into the game as an acknowledgement of the difficulties faced by umpires today. However an official scorer might dispute the notion that umpires have the most difficult job in the game. At least an umpire has three colleagues to lean on. Except for the World Series, where a panel of three take on the task, the official scorer carries the weight of making scoring decisions on his own shoulders. Bob Webb’s shoulders have needed to be broad this week. Continue reading
One month to go
Five months ago, the thirty Major League teams were getting ready for the 2008 season with hopes, dreams and great expectations of what the year may bring. On the final day of August, those teams are now facing the reality of what their season may amount to. For some, September will be a thirty day period that they want to get over and done with as soon as possible. For others, the coming month could end in triumph and lead to even greater glory. Continue reading