Outside The Confines: Cancer strikes out

I’m trying to find some good news. Everton beat Bournemouth 1-0 to clinch 17th place on the final day of the Premier League season is good news, I guess. Maybe that’s what the Cubs are missing: An incentive to finish with the fourth-worst record in the league instead of the third-worst. Then we could celebrate and say “We may stink, but at least we get to stay in the league.”

• Let’s start out with the good news that White Sox right-hander Liam Hendriks will be activated off the injured list today after successfully beating non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
• It wasn’t because of cancer, but the Braves’ Michael Soroka is scheduled to make his first start since early 2020 tonight. Soroka has missed almost three years with two Achilles tears.
• In case you don’t know, Triple-A is experimenting with the Automated Ball-Strike system (“Robot umps”) this year. From Tuesday to Thursday, the balls and strikes are called by the ABS system. From Friday to Sunday, the umpires call the balls and strikes but there is a “challenge” system where players can appeal to the ABS system on close calls. J.J. Cooper is enthusiastic about the “challenge” system and argues that it is the best of both worlds.
• Jeff Passan has more on the ABS system in the minors and the “challenge system.” (ESPN+ sub. req.) But if you really want to know more, watch an Iowa Cubs game on the weekend. They’re included with MLB.tv this year. Or watch one on Marquee, although Marquee won’t be broadcasting another Iowa weekend game until June 23.
• The Athletics have released artists drawings of their proposed new stadium in Las Vegas.
• The taxpayers of Nevada and Clark County will be on the hook for $380 million for the A’s stadium under the terms of a new legislative proposal. It should also be noted that the Nevada state legislature announced on Friday evening of Memorial Day weekend that the time for public comment on the stadium bill would be at 4 p.m. today — on Memorial Day. Yes, I know the team and the supporters of the relocation argue that there will be cost to the taxpayers.
• If you want to know why I don’t believe that, read this piece in Athletics Nation about how the A’s are trying to con Las Vegas. No, they aren’t the most unbiased source around, but the stadium financing relies on things such as the A’s selling out every single game—and even then they’d be 70,000 fans short of their 2.5 million fans a year estimates.
• Ken Rosenthal isn’t happy with MLB and the A’s either, which should scare MLB at least a little. Rosenthal argues that MLB is rushing to Las Vegas without doing the proper due diligence and that the A’s ownership shouldn’t be rewarded with a new city and new stadium for their incompetence running the team. (The Athletic sub. req.)
• Marc Normandin writes that MLB keeps putting off expansion because it needs those cities available to threaten the current cities with relocation to get their new or remodeled stadiums.
• Matt Snyder talks to Casey Brett, MLB’s senior vice-president of business operations, about the needle that MLB is trying to thread between attracting gamblers and gambling dollars without alienating fans who don’t care for it. Or risking the integrity of the game.
• In that last article, it states MLB players and employees are forbidden to bet on all “diamond games,” which includes college softball. So players, don’t go betting on the Oklahoma Sooners softball team and their record 48-game winning streak.
• Will Leitch looks at which MLB teams are most likely to end their playoff droughts in 2023.
• Bob Nightengale looks at the state of the season at Memorial Day.
• Zach Crizer compares the 2023 Padres to the 1998 Yankees and notes where the Padres are falling short. And how San Diego has failed (so far) to build a powerhouse.
• Jay Jaffe examines what’s been wrong with Trea Turner in Philadelphia this year. This goes a little more in depth than Turner’s own explanation of “I’ve sucked.”
• Alden Gonzalez examines Ronald Acuña Jr.’s return to superstar form after the past two years of injury and disappointment.
• Esteban Rivera looks at Yankee outfielder Harrison Bader’s “generationally good” defense.
• R.J. Anderson notes that Mets slugger Pete Alonso is on-pace to hit 60 home runs this year.
• Shanthi Sepe-Chepuru points out that A’s speedster Esteury Ruiz has a solid chance to be the first player in the 21st Century to steal 80 or more bases in a season. She calls Ruiz a “throwback” to the 1980s.
• This story definitely doesn’t apply to the Cubs, but Kyle Kishimoto notes that teams are just calling up players from the minors who immediately become elite relievers.
• The Brewers placed shortstop Willy Adames on the concussion IL after he was hit with a line drive in the dugout.
• Buster Olney reports on what MLB executives are saying about where Shohei Ohtani plays next season. (ESPN+ sub. req.)
• Jayson Stark looks at which players are heading to Cooperstown, which are almost there and which still have work to do. (The Athletic sub. req.) Also which ones just aren’t going to make it.
• The Royals’ Edward Olivares hit a 452-foot home run against the Nationals so hard that it broke the scoreboard.
• Cardinals prospect Luken Baker hit a home run for the Triple-A Memphis Redbirds on a pitch that sawed his bat in half.
• Then there’s this in “umpires behaving badly.”

• More on crew chief Jeff Nelson’s hot mic faux pas. Despite him insulting the Marlins for challenging the call, the call was overturned on replay.
• It’s hard to tell exactly what’s going on here in this high school game because both teams are wearing red, but 1) it’s the worst (and wildest) way to lose a championship and 2) it’s fodder for those of you who hate the dropped-third-strike rule:

• And finally, José Abreu finally hit his first home run as an Astro. And boy, did he sprint around the bases in record time.

And we remember all who have died in service to America on this Memorial Day.