MLB Bullets looks terrible

Good morning. I’ve got nothing pleasant to say after this weekend and neither do you, probably. Maybe I’m wrong.

• The Players Weekend uniforms were terrible.
• Again, the Players Weekend uniforms were terrible. At least they gave people a reason to mention the old Mad Magazine “Spy vs. Spy” feature.
• The Players Weekend uniforms were hideous.
• The Players Weekend uniforms were hated by the players and coaches and they weren’t shy in expressing that. Too bad Chris Sale is injured.
• The Dodgers and Yankees asked to be allowed to wear their traditional uniforms for one game at least. They were denied. Tim Brown laments this horrible turn of events, not just for the Dodgers and Yankees, but for everyone.
• Blake Schuster writes that if “Players Weekend” is really for the players, let the players wear what they want to wear. Otherwise, it’s just another idea from marketing.
• Here’s some of the better nicknames from Players Weekend. Not that you could read them on the back of the jerseys. Also some of the creative shoes, which you could see if you were five feet away from the player.
• Paul Lukas looks at the history of players wearing nicknames on the back of their jersey before Players Weekend.
• Chris Thomas, the sports editor at the Detroit Free Press, gives the entire story behind the Justin Verlander/Anthony Fenech feud. Thomas also decries the Astros’ decision (and their defense of that decision) to lock Fenech and only Fenech out of their clubhouse.
• David Schoenfield believes that the Braves are a team that could sneak up on everyone and go all the way in October. No, the Braves have to move to a new city before they can win the World Series again. Them’s the rules. Unless Cobb County counts as a new city. I’ll need a ruling from the commissioner on that one. They didn’t change their name.
• Mike Axisa writes a similar piece about how dangerous the Athletics would be in the American League playoffs.
• Wallace Matthews believes the Mets won’t be a playoff team unless they can fix their bullpen.
• On the flip side, Neil Paine thinks the 2019 Tigers might be even worse than the 2003 Tigers. That team lost 119 games and while Paine doesn’t think this year’s Tigers will lose that many games, he still thinks they’re probably the worst of the two teams.
• Tony Wolfe profiles Dodgers rookie catcher Will Smith, whom he terms as the best offensive catcher in the game at the moment.
• Alden Gonzalez talks with Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen about how he’s trying to adapt now that his cutter isn’t the unhittable force it used to be.
• Dodgers infielder Max Muncy admitted that he “flopped” on a play at second base that allowed time to be called and kept Yankees infielder Gleyber Torres from scoring from third on the play. The Yankees are not happy. Are we going to have to start issuing yellow cards in baseball?
• Muncy is on this list of stars who got away from their original team.
• Will Leitch has the most “overlooked” player on each team.
• Ben Clemens has an appreciation of the slow curve of Nationals pitcher Patrick Corbin.
• Travis Sawchik looks at the curious phenomenon this season of how starting pitchers have been better than relievers. The last time starters had a lower ERA than relievers was 1973.
• Ben Lindbergh tries to figure out which home runs records that have fallen (or are likely to fall) this season actually mean something as the ball flies farther than it ever has before.
• Now for the butcher’s bill. Giants infielder Pablo Sandoval will undergo Tommy John surgery. Panda is a free agent at the end of this season, so his baseball future is in doubt.
• Mariners reliever Chasen Bradford will also have Tommy John surgery.
• Indians third baseman Jose Ramirez has had a lousy season by his high standards, and now it’s likely over after suffering a broken hamate bone after getting hit by a pitch.
• Likewise Marlins utility player Brian Anderson, who also is out for the year with a broken hand after getting hit by a pitch.
• Reds pitcher Trevor Bauer said “I don’t really miss a whole lot about Cleveland.” That’s one way to make yourself popular in Cincinnati. Also, an obligatory reference to what Ichiro Suzuki said about Cleveland.
• The Athletics will retire former pitcher Dave Stewart’s number 34 next season. If you’re old enough to remember, the Dave Stewart vs. Roger Clemens duels were epic. And Stewart, with the better team behind him, always seemed to win.
• Congratulations to River Ridge, Louisiana, who won the Little League World Series.
• Contrary to the obituaries written about baseball, a recent survey says that youth participation in baseball has increased by 3 million since 2013. This is purely anecdotal, but I regularly see boys carrying baseball equipment around my daughter’s elementary school in the spring. I do live in a bit of a baseball hotbed, however, with the local team having won a national Cal Ripken League World Series last year. Not as impressive or as prestigious as Little League, but still impressive and a lot less pressure on the kids.
• Ben Schulman mounts a defense of the multi-purpose “donut” stadiums of the 1960s and ‘70s. Schulman writes that while there were things to criticize about them, there were many things that they did well and that the type of baseball played in those stadiums was much more creative than the architecture.
• I love this story by Daniel Brown. It’s the story of a 35-year quest by one Giants fan to get the autograph of every single Giant player or coach listed in the 1979 Giants’ media guide. (The Athletic sub. req.)
• And finally, the Padres hosted the Red Sox over the weekend which means that Petco Park was full of Red Sox fans. So the Padres pulled one of the great “Rickrolls” of recent times on the Boston faithful.

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