baseball
Sabermetric analysis of all things baseball - on-and-off the field. Barry Bonds fan club.
It All Comes Down to This... (Part 4)
That's a wrap to the 2025 Major League Baseball season! Next stop: the Postseason. The final week of the season was wild and in the final part of this series, we're going to find out who clinched playoff berths and the teams who will be in the Postseason. In case you missed the third part of this series, you can click the link down below.
By Mark Wesley Pritchard about a year ago in Unbalanced
MLB Pennant Race 2025: 160, 161, and 162
Three days. We are now down to the final weekend of the 2025 Major League Baseball season. All good things often come to an end, and in sports, the endings are often quite thrilling. Regarding regular season finales, it seems to me that the NFL and MLB seem to excel in this; the former due to the powers that be making changes to the schedule that pretty much guarantees a thrilling final week of the season, while the latter seems to have at least one close race come down to the 160th-162nd (or in some cases, 163rd, until the end of 2021) games of the regular season.
By Clyde E. Dawkinsabout a year ago in Unbalanced
It All Comes Down to This...(Part 3)
It's Monday and it only means one thing: it's the final week of the 2025 Major League Baseball season. The Postseason is within our sights and we're ready for it. In case you've missed the first two parts of this series, links to my previous stories will be found down below, so you can catch up on the happenings of the Wild Card races.
By Mark Wesley Pritchard about a year ago in Unbalanced
MLB Pennant Race 2025: 168 Hours
March 18, 2025. My 4oth birthday. It was also when the 2025 Major League Baseball regular season started with the first of the back-to-back games in Japan. Here it is, just over six months later, and we baseball fans are preparing for the end. We now have just one week, seven short days left in this insane season. A week isn't a lot of time, but in that little time, the rest of the postseason picture will be filled in. And this season, there's still quite a lot to figure out.
By Clyde E. Dawkinsabout a year ago in Unbalanced
It All Comes Down to This...(Part 2)
Greetings, baseball nerds! This past week has been competitive for the teams fighting for Wild Card berths with two weeks left in the 2025 MLB season. If you haven't read my previous story, which was selected as one of the Top Stories for this month, you can click the link down below to get caught up with the happenings of these Wild Card races.
By Mark Wesley Pritchard about a year ago in Unbalanced
Life in the Tilt
M Mehran Ethan’s apartment smelled faintly of coffee and regret. Stacks of unopened bills and half-finished projects littered every surface, and the hum of fluorescent lights overhead felt louder than it should. For years, he had prided himself on control—on order. But lately, the control was gone, slipping through his fingers like sand, leaving behind only chaos and anxiety. It began with small things. A missed meeting. A lost document. A broken coffee machine. Each minor disruption felt catastrophic. And yet, worse than the tangible mess was the internal one: a gnawing sense that his life was tilting, that the careful scales he had built were irreparably broken. Ethan tried to ignore it. He threw himself into work, buried himself under spreadsheets and emails, but nothing restored the calm he craved. Even his reflection in the mirror seemed unrecognizable—pale, tense, eyes darting. He was exhausted, yet sleep eluded him, replaced by restless nights and racing thoughts. One evening, desperate for perspective, he wandered the city streets. The neon signs flickered, casting shadows on puddles of rainwater. Street performers laughed, played, and sang without thought, and Ethan realized how far removed he had become from the world around him. Near the river, he found an old bridge, deserted except for a woman sitting cross-legged on the railing, her notebook open. Her hair was windswept, her expression unreadable, but there was something magnetic about her stillness. “You look lost,” she said without looking up. Ethan laughed bitterly. “Is it that obvious?” “Maybe,” she replied. “Or maybe you just feel it.” He sat beside her. They didn’t speak for a while, listening to the river rush below. Finally, Ethan asked, “How do you stay… balanced? Life keeps tipping me over.” She smiled faintly, flipping her notebook around to show a page filled with jagged lines, chaotic sketches, and words scribbled in every direction. “Balance is a myth,” she said. “We chase it like a shadow. Life isn’t stable—it’s a series of wobbles, and the trick isn’t to stand still. It’s to move with the wobble.” Ethan frowned. “Move with it? Sounds… impossible.” “Not impossible,” she said softly. “Necessary.” She paused. “Watch.” She closed her notebook, picked up a small stone from the railing, and tossed it into the river. It skipped three times, wobbling unpredictably before sinking. “See? Unbalanced, yet beautiful. Every bounce is different, and that’s what makes it worth watching.” Ethan considered her words long after she left. For the first time, he allowed himself to imagine a life where imperfection wasn’t a failure, where mistakes weren’t disasters, and where chaos didn’t feel like an enemy. The next morning, he didn’t follow his usual routine. He left his apartment without planning every detail. Coffee spilled on the counter, emails went unanswered, and for the first time in months, he didn’t panic. Instead, he noticed small things he had missed: the crisp morning air, a stray cat slinking through the alley, the laughter of children echoing from the playground. At work, Ethan embraced unpredictability. Meetings derailed, reports contained errors, and projects took unexpected turns. But rather than succumbing to frustration, he adapted. He discovered creative solutions in chaos, formed unexpected connections with colleagues, and even laughed at his mistakes. The wobble, he realized, was not a threat—it was life’s rhythm, waiting for him to join. By the end of the week, Ethan’s apartment looked no different on the surface—mess still cluttered the counters—but inside him, the balance had shifted. He felt lighter, more alive. He no longer feared disruption; he saw it as opportunity, as a reminder that perfection was not the goal. Life, in its unsteady, unpredictable glory, was enough. One evening, standing on the same bridge where he had met the woman, Ethan skipped a stone across the river. It bounced erratically, one time, twice, three, then sank. And he smiled, finally understanding: some things could never be controlled, yet in their unbalance, there was beauty, movement, and life itself. Ethan realized that true balance wasn’t about stability—it was about acceptance, adaptability, and the courage to keep moving, even when the ground wobbled beneath him. And in that truth, he felt at home again.
By Muhammad Mehranabout a year ago in Unbalanced
MLB Pennant Race 2025: The Switch
You know, for all of the complaints about how long baseball season is, it really goes by in a flash. It seems like yesterday that we were all looking forward to Opening Day, but here it is, the middle of September. We have two weeks--14 measly days--remaining in the 2025 MLB season, and there's still quite a bit to decide. But we do have a few developments from this past week.
By Clyde E. Dawkinsabout a year ago in Unbalanced
Game 163, We Hardly Knew (and Saw) Ye
We're in the month of September, which is the pivotal final month of MLB's regular season. So with that, I think it's time that I finally do what I had planned on doing for a few years now. This story is a long overdue elegy of an underseen, underrated, yet amazing attribute to the sport of baseball: the tiebreaker.
By Clyde E. Dawkinsabout a year ago in Unbalanced
Colorado vs Houston
Introduction The upcoming matchup between the Colorado Buffaloes football team and the Houston Cougars football team is one of the most anticipated showdowns of the season. Both programs are entering this game with renewed energy, young talent, and strong leadership, making this a must-watch event for college football fans. Whether you’re rooting for the Pac-12-born Buffaloes or the Big 12’s Houston Cougars, this clash represents more than just another Saturday game—it’s a statement of identity, strategy, and resilience.
By KAMRAN AHMADabout a year ago in Unbalanced
Green Bay Packers vs. Washington Commanders
Introduction Thursday Night Football always delivers drama, but when the Green Bay Packers and the Washington Commanders meet under the lights, it’s more than just a regular game. Both franchises carry legacies, passionate fan bases, and rising stars who can change the course of the season in a single night. Whether you’re a Packers diehard, a Commanders loyalist, or just an NFL fan hungry for action, this matchup has everything you want: playoff implications, quarterback battles, and the unpredictable magic of primetime football.
By KAMRAN AHMADabout a year ago in Unbalanced
Player Spotlight: Anthony Rizzo
The 2025 MLB season will come to a close at the end of this month. Fans have witnessed exciting and amazing moments. Teams are fighting for division titles and Wild Card berths. In this story, however, I want to show some appreciation to an outstanding player. Anthony Rizzo is one of my favorite players and still is to this day. Now, why am I featuring the first baseman? That is because after 14 wonderful seasons, he has announced that he's retiring from baseball. According to an article on Yahoo! Sports, the Chicago Cubs will honor him on Saturday prior to the team's matchup against the Tampa Bay Rays. Speaking on Rizzo's career with the Cubs, Cubs executive chairman Tom Ricketts said in a statement, "Anthony Rizzo was the face of one of the most successful eras in Chicago Cubs history and we are so excited he will be a part of our organization for many years to come." Rizzo spent nearly 10 years with the Cubs, where they won their first World Series title since 1908, ending a 108-year championship drought. To refresh everyone's memory, the Cubs were down three games to none to the then Cleveland Indians (now Guardians). However, they persevered and came back to win the 2016 World Series in seven games. The final play of Game 7 was one for the ages, when Rizzo caught Kris Bryant's throw to secure the final out. Rizzo's accolades include becoming a three-time All-Star, a Platinum Glove, four Gold Gloves, and the recipient of the 2017 Roberto Clemente Award. His warm personality on and off the field will be missed. He'll always be a Chicago Cub to me and because of his dedication to the team, Rizzo joins other Cubs ambassadors such as Ben Zobrist, who was named World Series MVP in 2016, Kerry Wood, and Ryan Dempster.
By Mark Wesley Pritchard about a year ago in Unbalanced
Who Will Win the World Series?
Before I proceed any further, I want to say thanks to everyone at Vocal for selecting my recent story as one of the Top Stories for this month. It's the first sports-related story that has been recognized for this honor. I really appreciate it. If you would like to read the full story, click the link down below. Thanks to everyone for your continued support.
By Mark Wesley Pritchard about a year ago in Unbalanced
