In my journey of studying Spanish, I have tried many different methods: classes as a local language center, Anki flashcards, a language learning notebook, Netflix, and memory palaces. Yet not until this year did I think to combine one of my passions (baseball) with this learning goal of understanding Spanish.

I realized I spent lots of hours listening to baseball games, watching baseball games, listening to baseball podcasts, etc. What would happen if I devoted at least part of that time to the same content but in a new language? …

You must have seen the play by now, one of the weirdest, most inexplicable defensive and base running plays on the diamond…ever.

2 outs in the 3rd inning, runner on 2nd. Baez hits a grounder to 3rd base for what should be a routine final out of the inning. The throw is off line a bit, causing first basemen Will Craig to veer off the bag. Baez approaches him down the base path and Craig settles in for the tag for the final out of the inning.

However, Baez does the unexpected. He stops and starts running backwards, retreating…

Watchmen is a graphic novel, so in some ways it may look simpler on the surface than a text-heavy book traditionally taught in school. However, Watchmen is incredibly complex and nuanced and can be explored from many different perspectives and angles. I believe you could spend weeks, months, or even a full semester immersing into the study of this classic text. I have taught Watchmen in a 12th grade English class called Critically Reading Graphic Novels for the past two years, and I still feel like I am still scratching the surface of this multi-layered text. …

It’s an inevitable rite of every spring in recent memory: baseball experts forecast the upcoming season and select the Angels to finish ahead of the A’s in the AL West.

The Bay Area has a lot of things going for it: vibrant culture and diversity, beautiful weather, pristine natural spots, awesome food; however, its snarled traffic is definitely a downside, temporarily waylaid by the pandemic, but now returning in full force. Angels’ mythical marvel Shohei Ohtani, for all his two-way supernatural powers, was himself subdued by the force of Bay Area traffic on Thursday, proving to be one of the few things that can stop him this year (although diminished velocity in his last start might be a cause for concern).

Ohtani was scheduled to pitch on Thursday night, his…

The book and film Moneyball presents a sharp dichotomy between traditional, grizzled, old-school baseball lifers vs. new-age, analytics-driven math whizzes straight out of the Ivy League or MBA programs. This contrast can also be seen in how we write and think about baseball. When we tell the story of baseball, do we frame our writing around narratives, entertaining yarns, and emotions or around numbers, hard data, and logic?

The Baseball Prospectus Annual attempts to do both. In an opening essay of the 2021 Annual titled “Statistical Introduction,” Bryan Grosnick writes:

“Sports are, fundamentally, a blend of athletic endeavor and storytelling…

Padres pitcher Joe Musgrove threw a no hitter last Friday, notable for lots of reasons: Musgrove grew up in the San Diego area, he is in his first season with his hometown team, and the ability to pitch all 9 innings is becoming increasingly a rare feat.

What stood out to me (besides having Musgrove on one of my fantasy teams) is the number of ex-Pirates pitchers who have excelled after leaving Pittsburgh, so I wanted to do some digging into those very best ex-Bucs who are thriving elsewhere.

(1) Gerrit Cole, Yankees

Besides the mythical exploits of Randy Arozarena, one of the lasting images from last year’s World Series was Kevin Cash’s early removal of Blake Snell despite Snell dominating on the mound with a pitch count only in the 70s.

The trend continues this year as ace Jacob DeGrom was pulled in the Mets’ first game of the season against the Phillies after 6 innings of dominance:

“To the Phillies’ delight, Mets manager Luis Rojas removed deGrom after six innings and 77 pitches. Rojas said he wanted to be cautious because deGrom had not pitched in 10 days, a result…