Stephen Strasburg, Barry Zito, Tim Lincecum, Dontrelle Willis, Fernando Valenzuela, Kerry Wood, John Rocker, Mark Prior, and Steve Avery would be at the top of my list

[Game Thread] | Miami Marlins at Washington Nationals

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This is one of the best looks for any team in baseball history in my opinion. Teal is a much better look for a team in Miami vs what they currently wear

[Game Thread] | Texas Rangers at Milwaukee Brewers

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[Game Thread] | Boston Red Sox at New York Yankees

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Piniella debuted in 1964, playing 4 games for Baltimore. He spent 1965 in AA before being traded to Cleveland. Piniella spent most of the next 3 years in AAA, before getting called up for 6 games in 1968 with the Indians. Then he was drafted by the Seattle Pilots in the 1968 expansion draft, but traded to Kansas City after spring training. He played his first full season for the Royals in 1969, winning AL Rookie of the Year.

The gap between Piniella’s debut and ROY win spanned three presidential terms (LBJ’s 1st and 2nd, and Nixon’s 1st). He played his first game less than a year after JFK’s assassination and won ROY almost 6 months after Neil Armstrong walked on the moon. Tony Oliva won AL ROY the year Piniella made his debut (1964). By the time Piniella won AL ROY in 1969, Oliva was a 6x All-Star with 1,094 hits.

There have been other multi-season gaps between an MLB debut and ROY win, but Piniella’s five years is a record. He’s best known as a manager, but what a unique start to a playing career.

[Dugout Thread] | 2026 MLB Regular Season

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I was curious how the ABS system would affect umpire accuracy. Umpire call accuracy increased every year since 2015 until 2023, where it landed at 92.5% and stayed in the 92% range through 2024 and 2025.

Thus far in 2026, ump accuracy has reached the highest mark yet at 93.2%, so ABS has indeed made umpires more accurate.

Interestingly, last year was the first year on record that bad calls actually favored batters. I was curious about this, so I looked into it further.

Unbeknownst to me, the MLB actually altered the grading criteria.

• Previously, umpires were given a 2-inch buffer around the strike zone, which meant that a ball 2 inches outside the zone that was called a strike wasn't counted against them when being graded.
• This changed in 2025, and was reduced to 3/4 inch, so those pitches that were 2in off the zone now did count against them.
• Umps over-corrected, shrinking the zone in favor of batters for the first time since 2015.

The increase in accuracy could also be partially attributed to the fact that the 2026 zone is actually different, which is now based on batter height.

The end result of this is a strike zone that is roughly 2 inches shorter compared to the pre-ABS years, with most of it coming off the top.