Outside the Confines: South of the border

Good morning. I’m glad Florida is over.

• The Giants and the Padres played the first two regular-season games ever in Mexico City this weekend. Sarah Langs has nine “amazing” facts from the Mexico City Series.
• Padres shortstop Xander Bogaerts became the first player to ever hit a regular-season home run in four different countries—the US, Canada, the UK and Mexico.
• AJ Cassavell noted that the Mexico City Series had a lot of everything—including a National Anthem standoff between Nick Martinez and Sean Manaea. Complete with headwear.
• Padres’ Spanish-language broadcaster and Mexican native Eduardo Ortega explains why this series meant so much to him.
• Andrew Baggarly explains that the Giants won’t soon forget their trip to Mexico City, but the team hopes they won’t regret it. (The Athletic sub. req.)
• Eric Gomez explains why, in spite of the success of the Mexico City series, the chances of an expansion team in Mexico City is a real longshot.
• Back to the mess that is the Oakland (for now) Athletics, MLB edited out the “Sell the team” signs hanging at the Coliseum from A’s highlights. (The Athletic sub. req.) (Non-paywalled link) MLB said that the edit was not “consistent with our policy.”
• If you want to see the edit for yourself.

• Hannah Keyser writes that if you wonder why Oakland fans have been so apathetic, just realize that there was literally nothing the fans could have done to keep the team in Oakland.
• As far as the plans for a new stadium in Las Vegas goes, John Mehaffy explains why the math doesn’t add up for new stadium for the A’s in Vegas. By that he means it doesn’t add up for the people and businesses of Nevada. It adds up just fine for A’s owner John Fisher.
• In other stadium news, Joshua Mellin notes the efforts to stop the destruction of historic Meiji Jingu Stadium in Tokyo and replace it with a modern stadium. Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig once played at Meiji Jingu.
• I don’t think this is going to come as a surprise to our Chicago readers, but there are lots of Cubs fans all over the world who read us. So Jay Jaffe tells us that the White Sox are “utterly terrible.”
• Ken Rosenthal looks ahead to the coming White Sox fire sale and who all could be gone by the trade deadline. (The Athletic sub. req.) Also a lot of other news from around baseball in his notes column.
• White Sox general manager Rick Hahn says that you can blame him for the Pale Hose’s struggles. But as James Fegan notes, the problems with the White Sox go far beyond Hahn (The Athletic sub. req.) and that there isn’t much for the team to build on.
• In surprising news, Phillies slugger Bryce Harper could get the go-ahead to return to the team from Tommy John surgery on Tuesday. That’s two months earlier than projected.
• Sad news as iconic Cardinals broadcaster and former player Mike Shannon died at age 83. Our condolences go out to his friends, family and the Cardinals organization.
• Travis Sawchik explains the elite fastball of Braves ace Spencer Strider.
• Rangers ace Jacob deGrom heads to the injured list with right elbow inflammation. deGrom is getting frustrated with his continuing health issues.
• Andy McCullough writes that the Rangers knew that deGrom’s brilliance comes with a price. (The Athletic sub. req.) He means trips to the IL, although I suppose deGrom’s massive contract would be another price.
• R.J. Anderson examines what the Yankees options are now that Aaron Judge is hurt.
• There was a trade yesterday! The Pirates traded catcher Tyler Heineman to the Blue Jays for infielder Vinny Capra. OK, so that’s not going to make any big headlines, but it still counts as a trade.
• What every team learned over the first month of the season.
• Bradford Doolittle looks at the Rookie of the Year race after one month. (ESPN+ sub. req.)
• Mike Petriello uses Statcast data to explain how long drives are home runs in one park but not others.
• R.J. Anderson has three things to know about the slow start to the season by the Padres’ Juan Soto.
• This year in the Southern League (Double-A), they are using these new pre-tacked balls. Sam Blum notes that at least the Angels prospects on the Rocket City Trash Pandas are not very happy with the new ball. (The Athletic sub. req.)
• Frustrated with calls by the home plate umpire, Blue Jays pitcher Chris Bassitt smashed a tablet in the dugout.
• Pirates infielder Drew Maggi might be heading back to the minors — where he spent 13 seasons before his call-up last week. But he’s not leaving before he got his first major league hit.
• Pro football Hall-of-Famer Troy Aikman recalls how he could have been drafted by the New York Mets. Aikman says he definitely made the right choice sticking with football.
• The Mariners revealed their City Connect uniforms.
• A baseball player for Texas A&M Texarkana was hit by a stray bullet while in the bullpen of a game on Saturday.
• And finally, a dad at Dodger Stadium with a baby on his chest and a beer in one hand, made a perfect barehanded catch of a foul ball.

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