MLB Bullets Starts The Countdown

For Cubs fans, 2016 will live forever as a magical year. The night the Cubs won the World Series, I wrote in my recap that even though there will be more titles in the future, this one will always be the most special one, just as 2004 is the most special to Red Sox fans. So whatever bad has happened this year (and I know there are a lot of stories about what a crappy year 2016 was), this year will always be special for you and me.

• Matt Marrone looks at how in 2016, baseball lived up to Bryce Harper’s mantra of “Make Baseball Fun Again.”
• Sports Illustrated picks their ten best baseball stories of 2016.
• Grant Brisbee has the ten most forgettable stories of 2016. The White Sox missed Drake LaRoche’s veteran leadership in the clubhouse all year.
• Will Leitch picks the top highlight of the year for each team in baseball. Really? All you can come up with for the Cubs is a slow grounder to third base? (OK. It was the highlight of the year. But it sounds funny when I put it that way.)
• Kenny Ducey has the ten strangest events of 2016. Somehow Trevor Bauer’s slasher flick re-enactment in the ALCS was only number two on the list.
• Ken Gurnick looks back at Vin Scully’s final year in the booth.
• Add Noah Syndergaard to the list of people who thought 2016 stunk.
• In case you need reminding how bad 2016 was except for the Cubs, Eric Nusbaum remembers Jose Fernandez.
• Back to the not-so-Hot Stove, Steven Goldman looks at the Orioles’ quiet winter. Because Orioles fans apparently prefer that to Jose Bautista.
• Speaking of Bautista, he’s apparently talking with the Blue Jays about a return to Toronto.
• One thing that has the Blue Jays interested in Bautista is that he’s not willing to look at a one-year deal. Grant Brisbee looks at all the teams who should be in on Bautista if he’s willing to take a one-year deal. Except the Athletics, who would take him on a one-year if only to flip him at the trade deadline.
• Kat Morrison wonders how much the Rangers will regret not signing Edwin Encarnacion.
• With Encarnacion in Cleveland, there’s no room on the Indians for Mike Napoli. So Napoli and the Rangers are “getting close” on agreement on a two-year deal.
• Jon Heyman reports that the Nationals and Braves are the two teams kicking the tires on Matt Wieters.
• John Perrotto explains why the Dodgers thought Rich Hill was worth risking a three-year deal on.
• Craig Edwards looks ahead to who will be a free agent next winter. He writes that next year’s class will look familiar.
• Jon Paul Morosi looks at some of the players who have committed to playing for Team USA in the World Baseball Classic. No Cubs on the list yet, but Ben Zobrist is a “maybe.” I know Javier Baez is committed to Team Puerto Rico.
• Tommy Stokke has the story of Brewers bench coach (and former Padres manager) Pat Murphy. Murphy is one of the few who has transitioned from being a successful NCAA coach to a coach in the majors, although it wasn’t entirely his choice to leave college baseball behind.
• I try to ignore Hall of Fame articles, since I think these debates became silly long ago. But I will pass on Mike Lupica shilling for Mike Mussina, if only because I want to remind everyone how great a pitcher Mussina was over the course of his career. Like Bert Blyleven, I think Mussina is someone we didn’t even appreciate during his career how good he was.
• I agree with Craig Calcaterra on this one. There are few things more fun than trolling Pete Rose and his fans by pointing out that Ichiro Suzuki became “The Hit King” in 2016.
• Red Sox pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez is not concerned about a knee injury he suffered in winter ball.
• Alex Kirshner looks at how the fit a football field into four different baseball stadiums.
• Northwestern football star Justin Jackson was excited to play in the Pinstripe Bowl and use the same urinal that Derek Jeter once used. You mean they don’t have a trough?
• Alex Rodriguez’s daughter Ella has the bat-flip part of baseball mastered.
• Two MLB Network stars lost a home run hitting contest to two NHL Network stars. Embarrassing!
• Mike Trout gave a Christmas present of a pair of shoes to every member of the Philadelphia Eagles. (This has got to be more football-related stories in one piece than I’ve done all year. At least, American football-related stories.)
• And finally, an Indians fan got to sit behind Mike Napoli on a flight to Nashville and ended up bonding with the slugger. Hmm. . . Nashville? Could Napoli be signing with the Athletics on a minor league deal?

And tomorrow will be a better day than today, Buster.