Homer-Smacking Eric Thames Isn't Worried About Drug Tests Because He Has "A Lot Of Blood And Urine"

Home run hero Eric Thames spent last week abusing Reds pitching and mashing big taters, and he picked right back up where he left off this week, smacking three more cuadrangulares in the past two games. He now has eight home runs in six games against the Reds and 11 on the year.

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Chris Coghlan Scores With Spectacular Swan Dive

In the top of the seventh inning against the St. Louis Cardinals, a man achieved flight. After Blue Jays outfielder Kevin Pillar hit a deep shot to right field, Chris Coghlan took off from first base. He rounded third as the throw came, sprinted for home as it arrived, and then launched himself over Cardinals catcher…

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Yasiel Puig Absolutely Snipes Brandon Belt At Home

After the Buster Posey smacked a hard grounder to right field, Dodgers’ defensive marvel Yasiel Puig launched this throw from the outfield, somehow zinging it straight into the glove of catcher Yasmani Grandal in time to cut down Brandon Belt, who was trying to score from second. Puig’s cannon ended the first inning…

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Smart Baseball Can Still Be Fun Baseball

Functionally and historically, the sabermetric revolution in baseball is over. Analytics is not some outsider’s method of attacking institutional baseball; it’s how institutional baseball does business. Every single major-league team receives immense amounts of data from MLB about their players’ batting, pitching,…

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Phillies Smack Three Honkin' Taters In A Row

The Phillies, who haven’t finished above .500 since 2011, are actually making the early part of this season interesting—or at least, entertaining—for their fans. Granted: it’s still April, there’s essentially no chance of them catching the Nationals at any point over the next five months, and their weekend sweep of…

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Something's Off With Kenta Maeda

Kenta Maeda’s start to the season has been, to put it simply, pretty ugly. In four games so far, he’s failed to make it past the fifth inning; last night’s performance was the worst yet, allowing six runs and putting 10 men on base. Now, the Dodgers are saying that they might skip his next start in order to give him…

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Things Are Not Good For The Blue Jays, Who Are Starting A 29-Year-Old Rookie Tonight

Most of the panic around the Blue Jays and their major-league-worst record of 4-12 has focused on their offense, and rightfully so—they’ve been the worst in baseball, with a collective slash line of .215./.283/.323. Three weeks into the season, their team offensive WAR is a negative number. (There are many valid…

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Andrew McCutchen Sure Seems To Think He Still Belongs In Center

Andrew McCutchen became a reluctant transplant to right field this season after he pretty much bombed out of center. The move happened after a long and cold standoff between McCutchen and the Pirates—one that very nearly led to him being traded—but eventually the Pirates “convinced” McCutchen to move over and let…

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The Next Great Cuban Baseball Prospect Is Officially A Free Agent

Nineteen-year-old Cuban outfielder Luis Robert was declared a free agent yesterday, and will be free to sign with a team starting May 20. At 6-foot-3, 205 pounds, he’s considered one of the best international prospects on the market—second only to the already legendary Shohei Otani.

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Former White Sox Pitches Effectively

Former Chicago White Sox ace Chris Sale pitched yet another great game today. With his four-seamer and slider in especially nasty form, he put the golden sombrero on José Bautista and struck out 13 Toronto Blue Jays in total over eight scoreless innings in a 4-1 win for the Boston Red Sox. Sale now has an 0.91 ERA,…

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Cubs Pitching Coach Comes Very Close To Accusing Eric Thames Of Juicing

The Cubs just wrapped a three-game series against the Milwaukee Brewers, during which newly imported Brewers hitting sensation Eric Thames scored six runs and hit .545 with a home run. Thames has exploded onto the scene after spending a few years tearing up the KBO, and he looks like a completely different player than…

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Madison Bumgarner Is In Hell

In four starts so far this season, Madison Bumgarner is 0-3. The Giants have scored five runs with him on the mound and two of those were provided by MadBum himself in the form of a pair of opening day solo shots. That game, which the bullpen blew in the bottom of the ninth, at least went down as a merciful no…

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MLB Is Still Having Trouble Getting Its Clubs To Diversify

Richard Lapchick, a researcher at the University of Central Florida, publishes annual “report cards” on gender and racial diversity in several leagues, and they’ve become the go-to index of diversity in sports. This year’s release of the report card was timed to the 70th anniversary of Jackie Robinson breaking the…

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Clayton Kershaw Didn't Appreciate Having His Start Delayed

Clayton Kershaw dominated the Rockies last night because he is the best pitcher in the world and striking out 10 guys in seven innings is something he can do while hungover. He’s good enough that a momentary delay at the start of the game shouldn’t bother him too much, and yet such a delay really bothered him last…

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