Outside The Confines: Being a kid again

This weekend we had the annual Little League Classic game in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, which is always a lot of fun—especially for the players, who get to (kind of) be little kids again. The Nationals beat the Phillies, 4-3.

• Nationals manager Dave Martinez raved about the experience in Williamsport.
• One of the ways the Nats got to be kids again was participating in the ritual of sliding down the hill with the Little Leaguers. (See the photo above.)
• Next season, the Yankees and Tigers will get the opportunity to play in Williamsport.
• Twins lefty Dallas Keuchel took a perfect game into the seventh inning yesterday as Minnesota beat Pittsburgh 2-0. And this is the point where I say “Dallas Keuchel plays for the Twins? Since when?” The answer is “since June in the minors and earlier this month in the majors.” And now you can use “Dallas Keuchel” as an answer for the Twins in Immaculate Grid along with the Astros, Braves, White Sox, Diamondbacks and Rangers.
• Jim Souhan says this Twins team has something that previous teams that fell short didn’t have: depth.
• Yankees manager Aaron Boone had a closed door meeting with owner Hal Steinbrenner and general manager Brian Cashman after the Bombers losing streak hit eight games.
• Tyler Kepner looks at the state of the Yankees as they are in big danger of posting their first losing season since 1992. (should be unlocked)
• Tom Verducci has eight reasons why the Yankees are in danger of a losing season.
• Dan Szymborski writes that the future does not look bright for the Padres.
• Cole Jacobsen ranks every defending World Series Champion on how they did the next year since the Yankees repeated in 2000.
• The Astros looked like they had a good chance to repeat and maybe they still do. But they just called a team meeting after getting swept by the surging Mariners this weekend.
• A big reason for that surge is outfielder Julio Rodríguez, who broke a record set in 1925 by getting 17 hits in just four games.
• Orioles third baseman Gunnar Henderson just needed a single to hit for the cycle yesterday, but instead he doubled. His teammate Jorge Mateo said he would have stopped at first. (It was 11-1 Orioles in the eighth inning.)
• Mets first baseman Pete Alonso apologized after he threw Cardinals rookie Masyn Winn’s first major-league hit into the stands. They did eventually get the ball back from the fan who caught it.
• Katie Woo has more details on l’affaire Alonso. (The Athletic sub. req.)
• Dayn Perry has three key factors that have made the Dodgers nearly unstoppable this month. And maybe going forward.
• Mike Petriello examines Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s disappointing season.
• Anthony Castrovince has the ten biggest surprises of the 2023 season.
• Mike Axisa has several players having very good seasons that you may not have noticed.
• Zach Crizer had the same idea for a piece: MLB stars having sneaky-great seasons.
• R.J. Anderson has the most disappointing player from each division.
• Brent Maguire has five series to watch this week.
• Emma Baccellieri classifies Giants ace Logan Webb as an old-fashioned “workhorse.”
• Chris Gilligan notes that the Guardians pitcher development system has churned out another one with Gavin Williams.
• Will Braves first baseman Matt Olson hit 60 home runs this year?
• Will Leitch has the biggest free agent from each team this winter. I guess he’s thinking that Cody Bellinger is going to exercise his player option because he’s got Jeimer Candelario for the Cubs.
• Chandler Rome notes that recently, injured major leaguers have been opting out of a minor league rehab appearance before returning to the field. (The Athletic sub. req.) That’s not that good for the affiliates, because big-name minor leaguers on rehab assignments are big box office draws.
• And finally, Andrea Adelson has a story of tragedy and forgiveness as Phillies pitcher Andrew Bellatti is forgiven by the widow of the man he killed in a traffic accident. Thirteen years later, Bellatti met with the family for the first time and apologized while the woman forgave him.

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