Latest Stories
Most recently published stories in Unbalanced.
Breaking Down the Longest Dingers of 2017 (So Far)
In baseball, the scorer doesn’t give a damn how far you hit that sucker. As long as it clears the fence on the fly, you receive credit for a home run, an RBI, and RBIs for however many players were on base. Real baseball isn’t that video game The Bigs where the further you hit a home run, the more score multipliers you’d rack-up — a home run only counts for as many runners that were on base, plus one, in the eyes of the scorer.
John EdwardsPublished 7 years ago in UnbalancedBreaking Down the Beauty That Is the Eastern Conference Playoff Matchups
April is officially upon us, arguably starting one of the best runs of the sports calendar year. Between the Masters, the college basketball finale, baseball returning, and the NFL Draft being just around the corner, it’s the most underrated tease in life. The entire sports world picks up just in time for Mother Nature to dish out some weather that actually makes you want to leave your couch. Yet somehow, nothing listed even comes close to being the best part of the month.
Dan O'SheaPublished 7 years ago in UnbalancedIt’s Time to Shake up the Yankees’ Front Office
The biggest story from the arbitration hearings this offseason was undoubtedly the newly-emerged feud between RP Dellin Betances and the Yankees’ front office. For those unfamiliar with the events of the past few days, the gist of the story is this: Betances and the Yankees had gone to salary arbitration, with Betances asking for $5 million and the Yankees countering with $3 million. The Yankees won the case, largely because of how dated the arbitration system is.
John EdwardsPublished 7 years ago in UnbalancedLeave OBP Alone
Concession number 1: The term “On Base Percentage” is a misnomer. OBP doesn’t truly measure all the times a player is awarded a base. It doesn’t include the times a player reaches base due to fielders choices/errors, dropped third strikes, obstruction, or catcher’s interference.
John EdwardsPublished 7 years ago in UnbalancedChris Paul Is Done With Your Hate
Once the playoffs begin, a switch flips for almost everyone. Some players kick it into high gear, while others consistently fall short of their regular season heroics. For his entire career, Chris Paul has been grouped in with the latter.
Dan O'SheaPublished 7 years ago in UnbalancedYonder Alonso Figured It Out
Yonder Alonso, up until 2017, had looked like James Loney — a 1B without any power. Alonso could reach base at a decent clip, hit for a decent average, but never slugged above .400 in a full season. In 2,343 PA from 2010 to 2016, Alsonso slugged 39 HRs total. On a rebuilding Athletics team with their sights set on the number one draft pick, Alonso fit in — but on any team hoping to compete this season, he would have likely been relegated to backup.
John EdwardsPublished 7 years ago in UnbalancedWhy it’s Time to Consider the Celtics Amongst the League’s Elite
The last two seasons, nobody’s respected the Boston Celtics. That’s okay. Even though they’ve had a remarkable turnaround from when they traded away Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett and planned to be amongst the league’s bottom feeders for the long haul till their playoff bout against Cleveland two years ago, it was okay not to take them seriously.
Dan O'SheaPublished 7 years ago in UnbalancedThe “Legend” Lost as Indiana Struggles to Keep Pace
Once upon a time, professional basketball in the “Hoosier” state flourished, and it seemed to be headed back to prominence. In fact, it was not that long ago, and as recent as the year 2014, when the Indiana Pacers were not only among the league's elite, but a step away from competing for a title. Those days seem like such a long time ago, as many of those pieces have since moved on, and the aura that once surrounded them has now dimmed to something akin to a flickering spark, if that.
Kenneth WilsonPublished 7 years ago in UnbalancedBreaking Down the WBC: Pool B
The “World Series” is a misnomer — the final round of the MLB playoffs only determines the best team in America/Canada. The true “World Series” is the World Baseball Classic, where the top baseball teams from all across the globe compete.The WBC isn’t like Olympic Baseball, where only the best amateurs compete — instead, countries draw on the best professional talent tied to the nation and assemble powerhouses of teams to compete with one another.The first round of the WBC consists of four pools of four teams who compete in a round robin tournament. The top two teams from each pool move onto the next round. For the next week, I’ll be ranking each WBC team, pool by pool, to see who might be best poised to make it to the next round. Teams are sorted from 1st to 4th by their ability to contend in the WBC. I reviewed Pool A last week, and now I’ll look at one of the strongest pools in the WBC: Pool B.
John EdwardsPublished 7 years ago in UnbalancedBreaking Down the WBC: Pool C
The “World Series” is a misnomer — the final round of the MLB playoffs only determines the best team in America/Canada. The true “World Series” is the World Baseball Classic, where the top baseball teams from all across the globe compete.The WBC isn’t like Olympic Baseball, where only the best amateurs compete — instead, countries draw on the best professional talent tied to the nation and assemble powerhouses of teams to compete with one another.The first round of the WBC consists of four pools of four teams who compete in a round robin tournament. The top two teams from each pool move onto the next round. For the next week, I’ll be ranking each WBC team, pool by pool, to see who might be best poised to make it to the next round. Teams are sorted from 1st to 4th by their ability to contend in the WBC. I reviewed Pool A and Pool B already, so today I’ll look at Pool C.
John EdwardsPublished 7 years ago in UnbalancedEnd of the Line for Iginla and Doan?
The longer a veteran player goes unsigned during an offseason, the more the retirement talk ramps up. And unless your name is Jaromir Jagr, this offseason has been no different. For seasoned veterans Jarome Iginla and Shane Doan, the questions about their possible retirement have flown around in recent days. So what will happen to these great players? Have we seen the last of them?
Kyle VandenbergPublished 7 years ago in UnbalancedCreating the Boston Celtics’ Super Team
Now that the “Trust The Process” celebratory riots have died down and Boston fans have crawled out from under their desks to take a break from weeping, it’s time to digest what just happened. The Celtics have officially passed on the chance of picking Markelle Fultz — who is widely considered to be a potential superstar — for more draft picks.
Dan O'SheaPublished 7 years ago in Unbalanced