The Baseball Rabbi Podcast

The trade deadline has come and gone, and the Baseball Rabbi Podcast checks out the difference in strategy between teams like the Padres, the Yankees, and the Blue Jays - and Pesach explains why some seemingly similar teams may be playing for 2020, while others are more concerned about the future. Scott and Pesach also interview former Brewer Lary Sorensen about substance abuse in baseball back in the 1980s, and whether things have changed between then and now. (Don't miss Pesach's gentle questioning of Lary's hitting ability.) Plus: Scott makes a new case for the late Lou Brock.

We have all heard the very sad news that Tom Seaver, one of the greatest pitchers of all time and by all accounts a gentleman and one of the most beloved players in baseball history, passed away yesterday from complications from covid-19 and Lewy Body Dementia at the age of 75.

About a year and a half ago, on March 19, 2019, we recorded a segment about Tom Seaver's career right after we learned that he was no longer making public appearances. In this eight minute clip, The Baseball Rabbi Podcast talks about Seaver's legacy.

With the baseball season more than halfway finished, it's safe to say that the Pittsburgh Pirates are a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad team - and the tragedy is that this was management's choice. Pesach goes off on a rant about the mismanagement of the Pirates, and how this franchise differs from other currently bad MLB teams. The Baseball Rabbi also looks at the "Extreme Team" American League versus the "Everyone Has a Chance" National League, and more on contextual stolen base value (hello, Bert Campaneris!). Plus: Scott talks about the Mount Rushmore of the NFL and Major League Baseball. What four faces belong?

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Is there too much disparity between the haves and the have-nots in baseball? And how does MLB compare to other sports in this regard? Listen to this segment from August, 2018, where Scott and Pesach argue about the relative parity in baseball compared to the NBA, NFL, and NHL. (Part two of this discussion will be released next week.)

Stolen bases don't accomplish very much... except when they do. How can we square the mathematical fact that they aren't very valuable, with the historical fact that sometimes they represent the difference between winning and losing? Also: Miguel Cabrera is going to the Hall of Fame, and deservedly so. But we're witnessing his decline, and it's happening fast. Yes, he's old, but what adjustments did he make to compensate, and why aren't they really working? And was his Triple Crown season in 2012 - when Mike Trout was clearly a better player - representative of other Triple Crown seasons, or were other Triple Crown winners in history far and away the best players in the league?

Last week, Pesach demonstrated that almost every pitcher gets worse each time through the batting order, and - now that teams have figured this out - starting pitching may never be the same. But does that mean that the great pitchers' duels are a thing of the past? Does that rule hold true even for the greatest pitchers of all time? Who are the exceptions, and what does that teach us about their greatness? Plus: news and notes about the Dodgers, Mets, Indians, A's, Astros, and Rangers. (Scott provides some notes about the Red Sox, too. The theme: the Baseball Reference World Series projection of 0.5% seems almost impossibly high.)

It's a few weeks into the 60 game season, and certain trends seem to be sticking - not the least that hitters can barely hit (as evidenced by an MLB-wide .231 batting average). Are pitchers that much better, or have managers figured out a better way to use them? Join Pesach and Scott for a deep dive into pitching history, and how we may be seeing the beginning of a new pitching template. Or maybe not; perhaps this is unique to 2020 and won't work with a 25 man roster. Whether you're disturbed, excited, curious, or confused, you don't want to miss this discussion. You may never look at pitching the same way again.

The Marlins are suffering from an outbreak of the coronavirus; Pesach points his finger at Don Mattingly, saying that he should be fired as a result. (And yes, this was discussed on the Baseball Rabbi Discussion Group on Facebook - but Pesach has a lot more information now and thinks it's even more egregious that the media have largely been giving Mattingly a pass.) Meanwhile, a listener asks about Mike Trout's surprising RBI numbers, wondering if this is indicative of any sort of problem in his game. (The answer is interesting even for fans who discount RBIs entirely.) Plus 2020 pitching and hitting trends which indicate the direction baseball is headed.

Baseball is back (today, at least), and a fun opening weekend gave Pesach a list of news and notes that just might be storylines for the upcoming season. But Scott is less excited, and thinks that the players should act like Rembrandt (Pesach naturally thinks that this is a bad analogy - whatever it means - and the players are doing just great). Plus: what the Mookie Betts extention means about free agency, why Betts is the greatest outfielder in baseball by far, and thoughts on the expanded playoffs.

Cole Hamels looked like he was finished in July, 2018. Then he was traded to the Cubs, and he suddenly started pitching like a star. What happened? Who could have possibly predicted this turnaround? Pesach Wolicki, that's who - and you can hear it in this nine minute flashback episode from August, 2018.