Understanding how the Brewers' brand of baseball works, and whether it can last
Only four teams in the Majors have scored more runs than the Brewers have, and it’s tight enough that the Brewers might end up with a top-3 run-scoring offense in baseball by the end of the year. At the same time, every team has outhomered the Brewers, who have a...
Kodai Senga, closer? Here's why it could work
Kodai Senga has the stuff -- and maybe even the moxie -- to succeed as a late-game leverage reliever for the Mets.
Did anyone have that on their bingo card?
Senga carried a 9.09 ERA and an 0-7 record into July, having allowed more earned runs (33) than innings pitched...
Kodai Senga
Red-hot Hoerner's luck is turning, adding another year to his robot-like consistency
As Pete Crow-Armstrong furthered his case for National League MVP on Monday night, hitting a leadoff and walk-off home run against the crosstown rival White Sox, Nico Hoerner put together a day at the plate that (understandably) went a bit overshadowed.
Hoerner went 4-for-5 with a pair of RBIs, including...
Nico Hoerner
The new batting stance that turned Benge's rookie season around
Turn on a Mets game these days, and it sure feels like Carson Benge is always in the middle of something.
Between pulchritudinous catches in right field and a string of jaw-dropping outfield assists, the 23-year-old is making a rather compelling National League Rookie of the Year case.
Benge's emergence...
Carson Benge
The AL Cy Young favorite now has a curveball, and nobody throws it like him
How many pitches does it take to win a Cy Young Award?
Do you need a breaking ball? Do you need an offspeed pitch? Or can you do it with all fastballs, if those fastballs are overpowering enough?
These are the questions Cam Schlittler is making us ask....
Cam Schlittler
He was MLB's worst starter, and now he's the best reliever -- all in one season
Brayan Bello has a 10.35 ERA. He’s been the least effective starter in baseball. Earlier this season, it got him sent down to Triple-A, despite being relatively early in a six-year contract extension.
Brayan Bello has a 0.85 ERA. He’s been the most effective reliever in baseball. Yes, even more...
Brayan Bello
How Jesús Luzardo blossomed into a frontline pitcher
Cristopher Sánchez and Zack Wheeler are co-aces for the Phillies, two of baseball’s top pitchers headlining a dominant rotation.
Those two are supported by Jesús Luzardo, who has pitched like an ace himself and has blossomed into one of the top pitchers in baseball. Acquired from the Marlins during the...
Jesús Luzardo
How Matt Olson became a king of scoops at first base
Matt Olson hates the splits.
Not in the sense of, like, "platoon splits." In the gymnastics sense -- at least, insofar as a 6-foot-4 first baseman can be considered a gymnast.
But that's what catching infield throws is: first base gymnastics. You have to get your body into the right...
Matt Olson
Which 1B are best at receiving throws? New data has the answer
Through the first four-plus months of this season, St. Louis first baseman Alec Burleson has recorded nearly 1,000 putouts. That sounds like a lot of work, and it is; it’s the largest figure of any player in the Majors in 2026. That number, however, encompasses two very different parts of...
Alec Burleson
Freddie Freeman
Matt Olson
How baseball's unorthodox pitchers found their way
These days, pitching sure feels like it's defined by velocity, which continues to tick up.
But there's a small group of pitchers who don't rely on velo at all. They play baseball like it was first designed to be played.
In 1845, the New York Knickerbocker Base Ball Club spelled...
