By Jim Coffman

First of all, let’s offer up (very) belated congratulations to the White Sox for not over-reacting a week ago after Minnesota Twins reliever Trevor May hit Jose Abreu with a fastball. I suppose by some standard it is inappropriate to just flat out say May did it on purpose, but anyone who saw that pitch knows May just flat out did it on purpose.

Then again, given the big brouhaha in baseball Sunday, we may be jumping the gun a bit in handing out kudos. The gutless Toronto Blue Jays waited until the second-to-last inning of their last game of this regular season against the Texas Rangers to intentionally hit slugger Jose Bautista. The most rational explanation for that move was that the Blue Jays were still pissed about a Bautista bat flip – from last year’s playoffs!

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Posted on May 16, 2016

By Roger Wallenstein

If winning the close ones and having a great bullpen are required for a ballclub with post-season aspirations, then should we be concerned about the White Sox’ prospects?
Four losses last week – two against the Rangers and a pair at Yankee Stadium – were decided by a total of six runs.

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Posted on May 15, 2016

By Marty Gangler

Before we get into this week let’s take a quick look back at the last week. If you are a loyal reader you know that I ripped good ol’ Dusty one more time.
As if like clockwork, as myself and others pointed out, why in the world would you not put Daniel Murphy, who is batting .407 right now, behind Bryce Harper. If you also remember, the Cubs walked Harper a billion times in that four-game series two weeks ago. So yeah, Baker finally sees what other people see. You know, like reality, and bats Murphy fourth.
But you know, he’d been thinking about it for a while . . . sure, Dusty. And it seems to have worked. Way to be on top of it, dude.

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Posted on May 15, 2016

By Jim Coffman and Steve Rhodes

Can this be real? Plus: Arrieta Already On Way Out; The Trials of George Sun; Gonzo Hawk Harrelson, Doctor of Journalism; and Biggs Time.

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Posted on May 13, 2016

By Phillip Novoa/Finn Partners

The Conrad Chicago – set to open this summer – will offer a block of rooms designed for professional and collegiate sports teams visiting Chicago, including 96-inch extra-large king beds and 65-inch flat-screen TVs (among the largest of any hotel in the city, perfect for reviewing game tapes).

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Posted on May 13, 2016

By Graham Kendall/The Conversation

If there’s one thing everybody knows about gambling it’s that the house always wins.
And while it is true that casinos always make a profit, there are a number of ways to cheat the system – some of which are actually perfectly legal.

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Posted on May 11, 2016

By Dan O’Shea

When Dee Gordon was recently suspended for 80 games, fantasy owners who drafted him with the prospect that he could win them the stolen bases category every week were suddenly left trying to rebuild their strategy with waiver wire spare parts.
Gordon led all of MLB last year with 58 SBs, so finding a replacement that productive is unlikely, but there are a handful of widely available players off to unexpectedly strong starts in the SB category:

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Posted on May 10, 2016

By Sarah White with photos by Sergio Perez/Reuters

MADRID – Mementos from the soccer world that brought Syrian refugee Osama Abdul Mohsen to Spain are strewn around the flat he shares with two of his sons, including a ball signed by Real Madrid’s star players and a banner for the local team, Getafe.
But reminders of the makeshift nature of his new life are also everywhere, seven months after a Spanish sports academy offered Mohsen a home and help in finding a job when they heard he used to coach a first division team in Syria.
The apartment that well-wishers have housed him in is adorned with someone else’s trinkets, including rows of encyclopedias in Spanish, a language Mohsen still struggles to speak. And half his family is missing.
Mohsen’s story went viral after he was filmed being tripped up by a camera woman as he fled police near the Hungarian border with Serbia last September. He was carrying his youngest son Zaid, then 7, in his arms at the time, and the two fell sprawling on the ground.

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Posted on May 10, 2016

By Jim Coffman

Joe Maddon is on such a roll it’s starting to get creepy.
Heading into the bottom of the seventh in Sunday’s 4-3, 13-inning victory that gave the Cubs a four-game sweep of the Nationals, the manager looked ahead and knew he wanted pitcher Trevor Cahill to pitch at least a third inning in relief (he had already tossed two shutout innings after Jake Arrieta went five) in the eighth.

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Posted on May 9, 2016

By Marty Gangler

One of the more interesting – or maybe more correctly – infuriating things that happened last week was that former Cubs manager Dusty Baker came to town. And of course Dusty can’t not open his yap and spew complete and utter BS.
I mean, he should ride in this thing because he’s so full of bologna.
Granted, it’s grasping at straws these days to find anything to make you angry about the Cubs, but hand it to Dusty to light that old fire.

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Posted on May 9, 2016