April 25, 2022
1. Miguel Cabrera joins the 3,000-hit club
Here was the first hit of his MLB career, a walk-off home run in 2003 with the Marlins in his debut game.
And nineteen years later, here’s #3,000:
It couldn’t have been a more perfect day at the ballpark — a home game in Detroit, early afternoon, bright and sunny, one of the warmest days of the year, his first at-bat of the game, and part of a big first inning from which the Tigers never looked back, winning it 13–0 in the end.
2. Chaos erupted last night with Angel Hernandez behind the plate
You’ve likely seen it already, but a little recap — a series of bad calls leading up to this, the single worst strike call of the 2022 season, a good six inches inside.
Then in the ninth, the Phillies down by a run after the Brewers scored on a sac fly in an offense-scarce game—there was this, the best outburst against an umpire in a long time.
Kyle Schwarber, finally letting Angel Hernandez hear it.
Another angle of a most glorious highlight:
And here was the aftermath an hour later, Angel Hernandez grinning in his car as he zooms off into the annals of even more historic infamy.
3. Now to the chaos at Yankee Stadium
This was the weekend that baseball fully kicked off — those first days of summer-like warm air, and normalcy boiled over into hooliganism.
The Guardians had the lead, then the Yankees tied it as Steven Kwan just barely missed a game-winning catch in left, bravely sprinting full-on into the fence — then came the Myles Straw moment. The disgraceful vitriol from the Yankee faithful. Then the walk-off hit from Gleyber Torres. The beer bottles and trash raining down on the outfield.
4. Now back to the normal: The weekend baseball highlights
Headlined by Byron Buxton, with the best series of his career — ending with this for the finale, a 469-foot walkoff bomb:
His second of the day, his third of the weekend, and the Twins sneak their way into first place in the AL Central — and Buxton into the early MVP “conversation”, as the talking heads always say.
The rest of the highlights:
5. The stat of the day: The Cubs are better than the Bears
Scratch that. The stat of the year, right here.
And what do you do after a historic, almost comical win like that? You hang with first baseman Frank Schwindel at the bar just behind the Wrigley bleachers.
6. Elsewhere in historically high-scoring games news
A high school softball game in Washington finished 48–37.
7. A look at the current MLB standings
A very predictable, but still exciting first three weeks of baseball — with maybe the biggest surprise being the Braves and Phillies struggling, and the frisky Pirates still hanging on to a .500 record.
8. Cody Bellinger’s return to form continues
Two home runs yesterday in a comfortable win over the Padres, to keep the Dodgers in first place — and that MVP form is inching back into reality.
9. The Rays had a wild, weird and one-of-a-kind walk-off win
The “o” in “one-of-a-kind” even starts with a w-sound, so the alliteration still works here! Anyway, the game. It was wild. One of those you might not ever see again, quite like this.
In the tenth, after no-hitting the Red Sox in a bullpen game, the Rays finally crack and give up two runs, seemingly on the ropes.
Then, with two outs in the bottom of the inning, the Rays get one back. Then another runner gets on base with an infield error. Kevin Kiermaier comes up, with a 3–1 count — and has a moment of magic.
10. The pitching stories of the weekend
Gerrit Cole is back.
“Nasty” Nestor Cortes is still nasty.
Yu Darvish continues to be dominant.
11. The White Sox had the week from hell
Seven straight losses. A first-place lead evaporated. Tim Anderson developing the yips. Everyone mad at Tony La Russa. Eloy Jimenez onto the injured list.
12. Max Muncy almost pulled off an incredible slide into second
Called out, just barely, but wow.
13. There is an Anchorman race at Petco Park
This might beat the sausage race in Milwaukee and presidents race at Nationals Park. Amazing stuff.
The first one happened in 2019:
14. Miscellaneous news & bits from around the league
15. Lastly, baseball in the snow
Air Force vs. Fresno State
“They have no idea where it is. And there’s a reason for that!”
