Paul and I want to enhance your viewing of the Home Run Derby, so we're live streaming our discussion and reaction during it. Watch along with us and let us know what you think. You can comment to this post or send us a tweet. And if you're finding this after the Derby is over, you can just watch us look silly.
The Return of the Home Run: How it happened and what it means for the game
MLB.com
Baseball was so much more interesting during the late 90's and early 2000's, when the roids were pumping and baseballs were popping out of parks.
That's a commonly held belief among baseball fans today. Some even want Major League Baseball to allow steroids again. There's no denying that lots of home runs and scoring makes the game exciting. With aggressive drug testing on the rise over the past decade, a natural result has been less home runs and less scoring in general. Less steroids, less home runs. Pretty simple, right?
The first three months of 2016 paint a different picture. As a whole, home runs are up 13.86% from 2015. Run scoring is up 4.7% (9.34% form 2014). In fact, home runs are at their highest point since 2000.
Read moreBringing Trout to Chicago
CBS
Should the Angels trade Mike Trout? With the fighting Mel Clarks floundering under .500, many have asked this question recently. Trout has been without question the best player in baseball since his rookie season in 2012. I think Paul and I both agree that it would be ridiculous for the Angels to not at least consider the possibility that it would be better for the organization to trade him. Of course, it's very unlikely to actually happen. Teams rarely trade 24-year-old superstars, especially when they're signed far below market value for five more seasons. But, if Angels management is realistic, they should see a very bleak future for the team.
If the Angels do consider trading Trout, what would be a fair package to get back? That's where this conversation starts getting fun. Paul and I each know our favorite teams, the White Sox and Cubs respectively, better than the other 29 teams. So, we each took our best shot at bringing Trout to Chicago.
Read moreWe reached 100 followers, so here are the best tweets we've ever tweeted
That's right, friends. We reached 100 Twitter followers! I'd first like to thank the 85 or so real humans that follow us. To the other 15 weird Twitter bot accounts, we could have never done it without you. And lastly, thanks to Bartolo Colon. His home run Saturday night (and our subsequent tweet of that home run, found below) resulted in the final 10 followers that we needed. So without further introduction, here are my 30 favorite tweets (and retweets) of the almost 1,000 from @afootinthebox. And hey, you should follow us. #1000followersbytheworldseries
Read moreProve Your Baseball Intelligence (and win a free book)
Everyone is an expert this time of year. Somehow each of us convinces ourselves that we are better at predicting baseball outcomes than anyone else. Well, we're putting that to the test this year. On our most recent podcast episode, Paul and I took on each other, Vegas, and PECOTA. It was a way for us to talk about each team, with the added benefit of being able to finally declare the title of baseball expert over the other at season's end.
Like I said on the podcast, we want to open that contest up to you as well! Think you know more about baseball than us? You probably do. But go ahead and prove it anyway. Here's the link to our contest. We explain the scoring system over there. At the end of the year, we'll buy the winner of this little contest a free book of his/her choosing. Personally, I am most excited about these two. If I correctly pick all 30 teams, each of you is required to buy and read my first book, World Domination: How I Beat PECOTA and Vegas.
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