That was the case on Tuesday night, when Arizona Diamondbacks ace Zac Gallen threw a 94 MPH fastball that was pretty far out of the strike zone and definitely below Judge’s knees. The umpire called a third strike and Judge expressed his displeasure. The replay from the side angle clearly shows it was a ball.
This is your weekly (daily?) reminder that we could use some robot umpires to go with the human ones. Here’s the clip and some reaction:
Aaron Judge not having a single career ejection when umps have screwed him over his whole career might be his most impressive feat pic.twitter.com/jyY5OjSqsC
And with talk that these uniforms could wick moisture better, there was this: on Friday, in the New York Yankees’ 7-1 win over the Houston Astros, you could see Pinestripes players sweating right through them.
I’m not kidding here. Carlos Rodon’s uniform turned a different shade of gray. You could see patches on Aaron Judge and others. Fans reacted as you’d expect:
"The Nike-generated, Fanatics-produced uniforms are supposed to be 'performance jerseys,' according to MLB commissioner Rob Manfred. They were created to be lighter and more breathable."
Analyzing the 2024 New York Yankees World Series odds, futures and projected win total with expert MLB picks and predictions.
[gambcom-standard rankid=”3011″ ]
The 2023 New York Yankees averaged a below-league-average 4.15 runs per game while allowing 4.31. They were perhaps a bit fortunate to finish 82-80, which was good for 4th place in the AL East.
Many of the particulars from that 2023 roster return this season, and Yankees management is looking for a healthier outcome for that group. The club was beset by key injuries throughout, something that has become a familiar refrain with this franchise. To that end, the 2024 spring training campaign has seen plenty of injuries, chief among them a right elbow problem (nerve inflammation) for ace starter Gerrit Cole. The veteran right-hander is expected to be out until at least June.
New York’s run production will have to answer, and on that front, the Yankees have added OF Juan Soto, he of 160 home runs through the 1st 6 years of his career.
Let’s analyze the New York Yankees’ World Series odds, along with their projected win total, playoff, division and AL odds as we make our expert MLB picks and predictions.
New York has the 4th-shortest odds to win it all. The Los Angeles Dodgers (+350), Atlanta Braves (+450), and Houston Astros (+800) have shorter odds.
At +900, New York has an implied probability of winning the World Series of 10% or 9/1 fractional odds.
The Chicago White Sox, Colorado Rockies and Oakland Athletics have the longest odds; all 3 are pegged at +50000.
The YANKEES (+900) assessment is an aggressive one; it calls for a successful Cole comeback, improved production in the rotation and more health in the batting order than what seems justified. PASS.
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New York Yankees playoff odds
Will they make the playoffs: Yes -250 | No +200
At -250, the implied make-the-brackets probability is 71.43%. That’s a fair hurdle, not because the Yanks figure as a 92- or 94-win team but because the AL East and overall AL Wild Card races figure as more compressed (more teams in the above-average category and fewer in the great category).
There is value in a YANKEES (-250) play.
[gambcom-standard rankid=”3012″ ]
New York Yankees win total
Over/Under: 91.5 (O: -105 | U: -115)
Peg New York’s offense as being more productive than it was in 2023. But the pitching, while potentially solid, has a glaring question mark in Cole and a lot of little question marks in how other pieces fit together.
With preponderance of games coming against talented-but-not-great teams like the Baltimore Orioles, Tampa Bay Rays, and Toronto Blue Jays, the UNDER 91.5 (-115) is the leverage play here.
New York’s implied win probability here is 36.36%. Its going to take some significant improvement over what was a 22-30 mark in AL East games a year ago, but this return figures on offering a sliver of value when pegging the division to maybe 3 teams making a lot of 2-steps-forward-1-or-2-steps-back climbs and falls in 2024.
Consider a small-unit wager on this prop. Something closer to +200 would be a full-value offering, but YANKEES (+175) to take the East flag is fair.
To win American League
Odds: +400 (bet $100 to win $400)
The Yanks are the 2nd-shortest odds here, behind the Astros (+300) but ahead of other contenders like the Orioles (+550) and Texas Rangers (+650).
New York has had its problems with Houston, and we should want a return just a bit higher here. PASS.
While he waits for a new contract, Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield showed off his many talents on the diamond
Baker Mayfield is about to be one of the hottest quarterbacks on the open market when free agency kicks off next week (unless the Tampa Bay Buccaneers can keep him with a long-term contract extension before then), but he took some time Thursday to show off his skills in another sport.
Across the street from Raymond James Stadium, Mayfield took part in batting practice with the New York Yankees at Steinbrenner Field, their spring training home.
Mayfield was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2018 NFL draft, but watching him take cuts with the Yankees, it’s obvious he spent plenty of time on the diamond in high school:
While Bucs fans wait for news of that contract extension that will keep Mayfield in town for a few more years, it looks like the star quarterback isn’t too worried about it for the moment.
It’s only spring training, but we’ve already got some beef ahead of the 2024 MLB season.
On Friday, New York Yankees star Gerrit Cole threw a fastball that Toronto Blue Jays slugger Daniel Vogelbach sent deep into the Florida night. There would be no problem with that, but Vogelbach gave a little bat flip and maybe Cole thought his home run trot was a little slow for a game that was happening on the first day of March and not in the regular season.
“Yeah, what’s the day? Are we still in February? March 1st? Yeah, he enjoyed that homer,” Cole said on Friday, per MLB’s Bryan Hoch. And Cole added this when asked if he’d remember that: “I don’t forget a lot of things.”
KG will next need a jersey retirement ceremony and a statue in Minnesota.
Welcome to Layup Lines, For the Win’s basketball newsletter. Subscribe here to get it delivered to your inbox every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Have feedback for the Layup Lines Crew? Leave your questions, comments and concerns through this brief reader survey. Now, here’s Bryan Kalbrosky.
Simply put, the two individuals do not see eye-to-eye or get along. Despite playing for the team for more than a decade, Garnett has called Taylor a “snake” who does not know “[expletive] about basketball” and that only represents a fraction of what he has said about the businessman.
Taylor is on the way out, though, and a new ownership group will gain control. Now that Marc Lore and former MLB star Alex Rodriguez are about to take over, Garnett could eventually take a role with the team. Here is more from Brian Windhorst (via ESPN):
“Garnett’s guidance is brought up often by [Karl-Anthony] Towns. And with the Wolves on the verge of finally being sold by longtime owner Glen Taylor to Marc Lore and partners including Alex Rodriguez, that influence might be drawing closer.
Assuming the transaction is finalized, there is a chance Garnett will take a role with the organization, sources told ESPN. He has been in a bitter dispute with Taylor and distant from the franchise in recent years.”
His role is unclear but in May 2021, Pioneer Press journalist Charley Walters reported that Garnett would likely be “heavily involved” in the Timberwolves basketball department once Rodriguez and Lore eventually took control.
The following year, Walters (the same reporter) added that Rodriguez and Lore also wanted Garnett to join their ownership group with a significant investment. The expectation was that an overdue Garnett statue and jersey retirement would follow.
While these are just rumors for now and may not happen, as a sports fan, it is also very cool that Rodriguez may bridge the gap between Garnett and his longtime franchise.
In so many ways, the two former players mirrored each other during their professional careers. Both were very hyped prospects and top picks in their respective drafts then had similar longevities and long-term success playing their sports, reaching their highest moments at similar points in their careers.
Garnett played in the NBA between 1995 and 2016 while Rodriguez played in the MLB between 1994 and 2016. KG was a 15-time All-Star and won his only championship in 2008. A-Rod was a 14-time All-Star who won his only championship in 2009.
Although it was the only time he received the honor, Garnett was the NBA’s MVP in 2004. Rodriguez won the award in the American League for the first time in 2003 (then won it again in 2005 and 2007).
These are also two of the greatest players of their eras who lived up to their lofty hype. Garnett and Rodriguez never got to win a championship for the teams that drafted them, though. A-Rod has said that in retrospect, he feels that he may have left the Mariners “too early” (via Seattle Times):
“I always think about that – boy, if I stayed one more year, with Ichiro, maybe we could take on Goliath and actually get over the top,” he said. “But that never came.”
Even though leaving the team was the right call for him, if he comes back to the franchise, perhaps his presence can help keep the talented roster together moving forward.
Nowadays, the Timberwolves have two former No. 1 overall picks that they drafted on their roster: Anthony Edwards and Karl-Anthony Towns. The team is enjoying tremendous success as the top seed in the Western Conference.
When projecting the long-term future based on payroll, for financial reasons after also owing a massive salary to Defensive Player of the Year frontrunner Rudy Gobert, it will be a challenge to keep this core group together.
But for the fans who are watching this team in Minnesota, it would likely be incomparable to see the continuity of the homegrown talent win for the team that drafted them. Anything that Rodriguez and KG can do to convince them to stay would go a long way.
Especially as they are playing elite basketball, meanwhile, there is no better time than the present for KG to have a role with Minnesota. The idea of a statue and a jersey retirement ceremony should follow shortly after that, too.
The Most Singularly Strange NBA Moment
Bally Sports San Antonio
The Spurs mascot dressed up as Batman and chased a loose bat around the court during the Timberwolves game.
If that doesn’t make sense, I get it. Cory Woodroof has you covered:
“In one of the most singularly strange moments in the 2023-24 NBA season, a bat got loose in the San Antonio Spurs’ Frost Bank Center and got promptly chased by the Spurs mascot wearing a Batman costume and holding a giant net.
Don’t worry; the world around you is not glitching to reveal The Matrix. This is a thing that actually happened in San Antonio on Saturday night, and it’s apparently not the first time?”
If Rutgers football isn’t back, it’s about as close as it can get without crossing the threshold.
On Thursday the Scarlet Knights capped off their first winning season since 2014 with a 31-24 victory over Miami (FL) in the Bad Boy Mowers Pinstripe Bowl. And seeing as how the game was at Yankee Stadium, which meant Rutgers was basically playing in home territory, it only felt right that ESPN’s play-by-play man Drew Carter ended the broadcast with a Bronx victory tradition.
Carter channeled his inner John Sterling and sent Rutgers into the offseason by paying homage to the longtime Yankees broadcaster’s famous call.
Drew Carter called the Pinstripe Bowl today for ESPN, and fittingly, Carter imitated John Sterling to sign off from The Bronx.
Good morning, Winners! Happy Friday Jr. It’s almost the weekend, folks. Can’t you just feel it?
Let’s talk about the Yankees for a second. The blockbuster deal between New York and the San Diego Padres has all of the Lakers and Cowboys fans on my timeline ecstatic.
For those of you who may have been out of the loop, the Yankees sacrificed a bunch of pitching to land Juan Soto and Trent Grisham from the Padres. Our Charles Curtis has trade grades here. The Yankees’ grade was an A, of course, because how could it not be?
New York just landed a 25-year-old star heading into the prime of his career coming up on a contract year. We haven’t seen the best of Juan Soto yet but what we’ve already seen was good enough to lead the Nationals to the franchise’s first World Series back in 2019. That’s terrifying.
Trent Grisham is a fine piece in the outfield. Losing pitching always sucks. But, folks. It’s Juan Soto. I mean, have y’all seen the Yankees’ projected lineup? This thing is bananas.
Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Standon, Gleyber Tores and Juan Soto? Come on, man.
The Evil Empire vibes are so back, man. Can’t you just feel it? This lineup has the vibe of all the old George Steinbrenner teams. The ones that had irrationally large payrolls with gobs of talent — not the more analytical ones we’re used to these days.
The scary part is the Yankees don’t seem to be done. The Yankees are currently in the middle of a bidding war with the Mets for Yoshinobu Yamamoto. If they land him? Whew, boy. It’s going to be a rough year for the rest of the American League.
Let’s find the Pistons next win
(AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)
Welp, folks. The Pistons losing streak continues. After a 116-102 loss to the Grizzlies with Desmond Bane dropping a career-high 49 points, it’s starting to look bleak. The Pistons have lost 18 straight and that felt like Detroit’s best chance to win for…a while.
The upcoming schedule is TOUGH. Let’s do a quick exercise. I’ll keep rattling off games until we get to one where it feels like there’s a solid chance for a win.
Let’s start:
— @ Orlando Magic on Dec. 8
— vs. Indiana Pacers on Dec. 11
— vs. Philadelphia 76ers on Dec. 13
— @ Philadelphia 76ers on Dec. 15
— @ Milwaukee Bucks on Dec. 16
— @ Atlanta Hawks on Dec. 18
— vs. Utah Jazz on Dec. 21
THERE IT IS. The Utah Jazz on the 21st. If the Pistons haven’t caught someone slipping by then, that’ll be the game it happens. Detroit will get a win for Christmas.
Book it. Also, sorry, Jazz fans.
JJ Watt gets it
It’s nice to see someone come to the defense of Shohei Ohtani and his quiet free agency period so far.
“Just in the past 24 hours, we’ve seen Buster Olney, Stephen A. Smith and Chris “Mad Dog” Russo criticize Ohtani on ESPN. The Athletic’s Braves beat writer David O’Brien also called Ohtani’s approach pretentious.
But as Watt pointed out, there isn’t really anything Ohtani could do here to keep reporters satisfied. If he let the entire free agency play out in the public eye, he’d get criticized in a similar way LeBron did when he signed with the Heat. It would be a circus, and sure, someone would probably scoop the decision. Yet, by taking this private approach, Ohtani gets to focus on the decision on his own terms and see which teams he can actually trust.”
Let Shohei Ohtani cook. Quietly.
Quick hits: The NBA In-Season Tournament might be as good as it gets for LA … Adam Silver’s weird comparison … and more
