With the recent indictments of Cleveland Guardians' pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Luiz Ortiz, for throwing baseballs in the dirt to win bets for their partners, it appears that MLB is doing all it can to sweep this situation under the rug by taking the tepid measure of limiting the amount of money someone can make on prop bets like this to $200. But, with FanDuel as an important sponsor, MLB would rather make half-measures like this instead of eliminating the very possibility of making these bets at all.



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Music: "Field Grass," by Sergei Pavkin

This Latin phrase, translated to In English, means "after, therefore because of it." This fallacy in logic is all too often applied to the outcome of sporting events . It's been never more prevalent than in the circumstances of the ninth inning of Game 7 of the 2025 World Series where Isiah Kiner-Falefa was forced out at home by a literal inch, denying the Blue Jays what would have been the winning run and a World Series championship.



This podcast reminds us that asking "what if" (Kiner-Falefa had taken a bigger lead) introduces an entirely new chain of events that no one can predict. Yet these same people blame his decision to stay close to third base -- as directed by his coaches -- as the cause of the Blue Jays losing Game 7.



Naturally, this episode also mentions how I met my wife of 42 years and why the Titanic sank.



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Music: "Field Grass," by Sergei Pavkin



Titanic: Ship of Dreams Podcast

Not always. In this podcast, I identify two different 2025 "all-star" lineups by position -- one is stocked with underpaid players and the other with overpaid players. The point: demonstrate that owners are compensating many players based on past achievements and future promise instead of present performance, which is all that really matters. That owners, as explained by the Peter Brand character in the movie "Moneyball" are still "misjudging their players." Using the advance metric of Weighted Run Created Plus, (wRC+), I compare players making multi-millions with players making less than a million. One of the lineups features no players with a wRC+ higher than league average of 100.



Can you guess which one?



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Music: "Field Grass," by Sergei Pavkin



Moneyball clip: Peter Brand explains how owners still get it wrong to Billy Beane

After 20-plus years of umpiring youth baseball, I'm calling it quits as suddenly as I entered the "profession" when I volunteered to umpire my son's ball game because the assigned umpire didn't show. This brief podcast explains my reasons why I made an on-the-field decision to walk away.



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Music: "Field Grass," by Sergei Parkin

On October 10, 2025, the Seattle Mariners defeated the Detroit Tigers in Game 5 of the American League Divisional Series (ALDS), in part because the Tigers committed two critical "little-league" mistakes that should never happen at the Major-League level. Both occurred on the base paths, with due credit given to Mariners' first-baseman Josh Naylor's fearlessness and with substantial scorn directed at Tigers' third-baseman Zach McKinstry's foolishness.



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Music: "Field Grass" by Sergei Parkin

In Game 7 of the 1940 World Series, in the seventh inning with the Detroit Tigers clinging onto a tenuous 1-0 lead, Tiger shortstop Dick Bartell inexplicably held the baseball in his right hand as Reds' first baseman Frank McCormick sauntered home with the tying run. The Reds went on to win the game, 2-1. This podcast recounts that moment and chalks it up to human fallibility, which is what makes us human in the first place.



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Link to Bartell's Critical Mental Error



Link to the rock that I "mispainted" (sic) front



Link to the rock that I "mispainted" (sic) back

Winning 97 games in an MLB season "only" requires any team to win three of every five games. This podcast, influenced by a similar observation that I saw online, asked the question "is it really that easy?" The answer: No. It's actually rather difficult, as it should be at the MLB level. In fact, the fewer teams that win 90-plus games in a given season indicates a more competitively balanced league.



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Music: "Field Grass," by Sergei Pavkin

Occasionally, I will replay posts that I think bear a second listen (or a first if it was missed).



“Jack T. Jamison” (not his real name) is one of 4,486 Major League Baseball players who never got to make a 10th plate appearance. The story as to why is the the subject of this podcast, the details of which were related to me by two of my cousins.



“Jack T. Jamison” is their great uncle, who played for a National League team somewhere between the years of 1910-1930.



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Music: “Field Grass,” by Sergei Pavkin

The deluge of data that is delivered to viewers and spectators during a given MLB game, whether in person, on television, or even in a radio broadcast, renders the actual events on the field as specimens to examine rather than feats to admire. In regards to baseball, less data is "more appreciation" for the game itself. This podcast ruminates on the true nature of baseball. And real-time data has no place, in my opinion, in the booth or on any Jumbotron.



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Music: "Field Grass," by Sergei Pavkin



"Vida is throwing extremely hard."

What a difference a week makes. On September 8, the Tigers were 9.5 games ahead of Kansas City. Now, the 2025 Detroit Tigers, as of this day, are in the EXACT same position as the 1964 Philadelphia Phillies -- 5.5 games in first place with 11 games to play, and they lost the National League pennant to the Cardinals. The present second-place team is the red-hot Cleveland Guardians. This podcast measures the Tigers' chances of maintaining its precarious hold on first place and also presents a case as to why the Guardians have a legitimate shot at catching Detroit. I also claim that a baseball season is not a marathon, but a series of sprints, and the Tigers, after jumping out in front by a wide margin, are fading in the home stretch.



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Music: "Field Grass" by Sergei Pavkin

The New York Yankees offered a moment of silence on September 10, 2025, prior to its game against the Detroit Tigers, to recognize the assassination of Charlie Kirk, which had occurred earlier that day. This podcast supports that decision as a gesture to a person who was only attempting to exercise his right -- and that of those with whom he disagreed -- of free speech and discourse.



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Link to article on Heavy.com

Prior to the game of Friday, September 5, 2025, the Detroit Tigers held a 9.5 game lead over the second-place Kansas City Royals in the American League Central. Only a total collapse that would have to even be more catastrophic than the Tigers' losing 12 of 13 game from July 9 to July 26 could allow the Royals to catch the Tigers. So, this podcast is a preventative measure that reviews the collapse of the Philadelphia Phillies in 1964, when the bottom dropped out of the tub in the final ten games of the season.



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Music: "Field Grass," by Sergei Pavkin

Rob Manfred is at it again. He wants to expand MLB to 32 teams and organize them in divisions based solely on geographic proximity and dissolve the American and National leagues. His rationale is thin in substance and thick in deception. I think that this is merely about making the TV package negotiations in progress more lucrative for the prospective provider of MLB streaming and TV coverage. Also, I offer a somewhat novel wrinkle to the post season that rewards the all best teams who deserve a shot at a World Series title shot.



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"Field Grass," by Sergei Pavkin