Did you see this?
Our weekly look at some of the best and most interesting things I've seen over the last 7 days
A WAY TOO EARLY LOOK AT 2024
I’m not a big fan of early power rankings for next season when not a single free agent signing has been made, but ESPN.com’s “Way too early” look at 2024 by David Schoenfield at least gives fans a glimpse into what the national perspective of their club may be heading into the winter. And it’s hard to argue with Schoenfield’s assessment of the Marlins.
STILL WAITING
With the Rangers bringing a championship to Dallas, The Athletic looked at the longest championship droughts among the 13 U.S. metropolitan areas that have at least one team in each of the 4 major professional sports leagues.
BASEBALL’S FORREST GUMP
With Dusty Baker retiring after the Astros fell to the Rangers in the ALCS, Bradford Doolittle of ESPN.com looks back at the front-row seat Baker had for so much major league history during his 56 seasons in the game.
THE RETIRING TYPE
Cardinals great Adam Wainwright filed paperwork, making his retirement official so he can take care of his family’s new puppy, a retirement gift from the Cardinals, on a full-time basis.
AN IMMACULATE COSTUME
If you love to play the Immaculate Grid, you’ll appreciate this father and son’s Halloween costume.
WHO’S NEXT?
With the Rangers winning their first World Series title, there are only 5 current franchises that have never won a championship. Fangraph’s Chris Gilligan takes a look at what club might be next to remove its name from the list.
SAVE THE DATE
Fangraphs breaks down the important dates on MLB’s 2023-24 off-season calendar.
The Hot Stove season gets going with the general Manager meetings, which are coming up this week, Tuesday-Thursday in Scottsdale. While the Marlins head to the dessert without a full-time GM, 6 teams are in the market for new managers: the Angles, Astros, Brewers, Guardians, Mets and Padres.
“I WANT TO SAY I’M DONE”
Joey Votto thinks he may still have more to give after the Reds declined his 2024 option, sending the 17-year veteran to free agency for the first time. USA Today talked to the 2010 NL MCP and 6-time All-Star about his plans for the future.
ICYMI
In case you didn’t check out VFTB this week, you missed our World Series recap.
While you’re here…
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A few comments - first, harkening back to the underlying measure of "success." Now that Dave Roberts is the new Mr. Regular Season titleholder (dismissing the ridiculous 2020 "championship" as worthy of equality with the others), we may ask the value of a managerial career with lots of regular season wins and longevity. Does one need a WS title? Baker is HOF, but not Tom Kelly? Why? Not a desperately perceived dropoff in interest from black Americans, is it? These are legitimate questions, especially for our current crop of craven team owners. Or is success merely participating in lots of increasingly devalued regular season games? The regurgitation of personnel in pro sports might be all about hard-to-get experience. Yet, I think the answer is obvious. Baker (and Roberts, when his time comes) is a HOFer because baseball must acclaim and prop up the value of the regular season, especially within its tightly closed (incestuous?) ranks. So, yes, MLB collectively genuflected in thanks when Baker won with the Astros. This is exactly the same requisite legitimacy stamp they needed for Fishbowl 2020, the Dodgers, and anointed prince Roberts. As I have noted before, it takes very little imagination to hear the shrill howling of illegitimacy (and demands for the dreaded asterisk) had the Marlins won the 2020 "championship." As we continue to see, modern MLB owners will literally create any rationale and twist any rules necessary to achieve both self-validation of their marketing-based decisions and profitability. No problem with profit, per se. We're soon to see NASCAR-esque uniforms, ABS, howls for female field managers, lowering of historical HOF criteria (after all, we can't have a year without an electee, can we?), expansion (there's plenty of major league talent, of course), and more. I'm sure it's all for the best because they love the game. Yeah.
Isn’t the chart in the Athletic wrong? The marlins won the World Series in 2003 and not 2013. Am I reading this story wrong?