Tag / Yankees

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150 Years Of Cubs Baseball – First Basemen

Originally founded in 1869, the Chicago Cubs became a charter member of the National League in 1876.  Over the next 150 seasons, the Cubs have played more than 22,000 games, scored over 103,000 runs and recorded more than 200,000 hits, more than any other team in baseball history.  Nearly 2,300 players have worn a Cubs uniform, earning eight division titles, 17 NL pennants, and three World Series championships.

Fans have witnessed generations of unforgettable players, from historical heroes like Joe Tinker, Gabby Hartnett, Ernie Banks, and Billy Williams to more recent stars like Ryne Sandberg, Derrek Lee, Kerry Wood, and Anthony Rizzo.  The team has called Wrigley Field home for 110 of those 150 seasons.

To celebrate this milestone, the Cubs are holding a fan vote to select the franchise’s anniversary team.  Each week, we will go through the provided options for each position and declare who should, and, if different, who will, win the fan vote.  We continue today with the eight selections for first baseman.

Cap Anson was one of the first superstars of professional baseball.  He joined the Cubs franchise, then known as the White Stockings, in 1876, the first year of the new National League.  In addition to managing the team from 1879-1897, he was the NL batting champion in both 1881 and 1888 and led the league in RBI eight times between 1880 and 1891.  He helped the team to five pennants between 1880 and 1886.  He was posthumously elected to the Hall of Fame in 1939.

Bill Buckner joined the Cubs in 1977, moving to first base due to a staph infection in his ankle the previous year.  He would win the NL batting title in 1980 and be named to his lone All-Star team in 1981.  In 1982, he set the major league record for assists at first base with 159.  Following some late acquisitions in 1984, Buckner found himself the off man out and was traded at the end of May.  He is a member of the Cubs Hall of Fame.

Phil Cavarretta spent 20 seasons with the Cubs, making his debut in September of 1934, just two months past his 18thn birthday.  He was a four-time All Star and, in 1945, he won the NL batting title and the MVP award while leading the Cubs to the pennant, their last one for over 70 years.  In his final season with the Cubs, he set the modern franchise record by playing in his 1938th game.  All told, he would hit .317 in three World Series appearances for the Cubs.

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The First Time

Previously, we’ve looked at the most recent time I’ve seen each of the 30 major league baseball teams play.  Three weeks into the 2026 season, I thought it would be worth going into the wayback machine and see when the first time was that I saw each team live and in person, to the best of my knowledge.  My records only go back to 1984, so anything before that is as yet unidentified.

Breaking it down by decade, we have twelve teams I saw originally during the 80s, eleven in the 90s, and the remaining seven came in the 2000s.  For franchises that have moved, I have lumped them all together.

Earliest Game

Team Name Year
Texas Rangers 8/14/1984
Chicago White Sox 8/14/1984
Toronto Blue Jays 8/30/1984
Boston Red Sox 4/19/1985
San Diego Padres 7/8/1985
Chicago Cubs 7/8/1985
Baltimore Orioles 7/26/1985
New York Mets 8/4/1985
Kansas City Royals 8/20/1985
Cleveland Indians/Guardians 7/16/1987
Seattle Mariners 9/18/1987
California/Anaheim/Los Angeles Angels 7/28/1988
Detroit Tigers 4/20/1991
Milwaukee Brewers 7/18/1993
Pittsburgh Pirates 8/2/1993
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Historic Games Part Two

Last summer, the White Sox fell victim to Clayton Kershaw’s 3000th career strikeout and I decided to take a look back at the historic games I’ve attended over the years.  Here is part two, featuring another six games where an individual hit a career plateau or a team clinched a division title or playoff series.

July 20, 2008 – Royals 8, White Sox 7

Entering the Sunday afternoon skirmish with the Royals, Jim Thome sat two hits away from the 2000-hit plateau.  A first inning RBI single brought him one step closer and, in the seventh inning, he reached the milestone, hitting a double down the left field line.

September 14, 2008 – White Sox 4, Tigers 2

In the first game of a double header, Javier Vazquez took the mound for the White Sox, needing just five strikeouts to reach 2000 for his career.  In the fifth inning, he retired Edgar Renteria swinging to reach the milestone.  He finished the day with eight strikeouts, giving him 2003 for his career total.

October 6, 2008 – Rays 6, White Sox 2

On a seasonably warm Monday afternoon, the White Sox looked to stay alive in the ALDS, trailing the Rays two games to one.  Unfortunately, Gavin Floyd gave up four runs in his three innings of work, giving the Rays more than enough to close out the series, the first postseason series win in franchise history.

May 17, 2009 – Astros 6, Cubs 5

With the score tied at two in the top of the fourth inning at Wrigley Field, Astros catcher Ivan Rodriguez hit a shot off of Rich Harden, barely reaching the basket in left-center field for his 300th career home run.  The blast gave the Astros a two-run lead, which they would not relinquish for the remainder of the afternoon.

August 2, 2009 – Yankees 8, White Sox 5

On a gorgeous Sunday afternoon at US Cellular Field set up to be a pitcher’s duel between aces CC Sabathia and Mark Buehrle, Yankees outfielder Melky Cabrera stole the show, going 4-5 while hitting for the cycle.  In the second inning, Cabrera went deep against Buehrle for a three-run shot, giving the Yankees an early lead.  Leading off the fourth, he doubled to right field.  The following inning, he hit single, driving in two more and ending Buehrle’s afternoon.  Following a groundout in the sixth, Cabrera came up for the final time in the ninth against Scott Linebrink, hitting a triple into the right field corner and cementing his achievement.

July 11, 2010 – White Sox 15, Royals 5

In the final game before the All-Star Break, with the White Sox leading 4-1, Andruw Jones came to the plate with two out to face Anthony Lerew while sitting on 399 home runs.  With a 1-2 count, he deposited the next pitch into the White Sox bullpen for a three-run homer, the 400th of his career.  He was just the 46th player in MLB history to reach this milestone.

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All Time Team Records

After a long winter, the 2026 baseball season got underway yesterday.  To celebrate, it is time once again to look at the all-time team records for games that I have identified as having attended dating back to 1984.  Last year, I posted my thirteenth highest total, an increase of twelve games from the year before, and managed to see 21 out of the 30 teams, so there should be some nice changes.

The White Sox are coming off their third-straight 100 loss season and are hoping to avoid adding a fourth this year.  On the other side of town, the Cubs made it back into playoff contention last year and are hoping to move beyond the NLDS this year.  The 2026 season may look completely different on each side of town.

All-Time Team Records

Team Name Won Loss Winning Pctg
California Angels 2 0 1.000
Arizona Diamondbacks 17 4 0.810
Florida Marlins 15 8 0.652
Cleveland Guardians 7 4 0.636
Toronto Blue Jays 20 12 0.625
New York Yankees 20 13 0.606
Philadelphia Phillies 13 10 0.565
Boston Red Sox 22 17 0.564
Colorado Rockies 11 9 0.550
Los Angeles Angels 20 17 0.541
Washington Nationals 7 6 0.538
Detroit Tigers 35 30 0.538
Cleveland Indians 31 27 0.534
Chicago Cubs 246 217 0.531
Houston Astros 27 25 0.519
Chicago White Sox 387 378 0.506
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2026 Predictions

With the Yankees and Giants on track to open the 2026 season tonight on Netflix and the rest of the league scheduled to follow suit tomorrow, it is time, for the 16th consecutive year, to look into my crystal ball and make my picks for the division, league, and major award winners for the upcoming season.

American League

East: Blue Jays

Central: Tigers

West: Mariners

Wild Cards: Yankees, Red Sox, Astros

AL Champion: Tigers

Cy Young: Tarik Skubal

MVP: Julio Rodriguez

National League

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Selling Your Soul Part II

The White Sox finally made their deal with the devil, CME Group in this case, last Wednesday, agreeing to add an advertising patch to their jerseys as part of a multiyear deal to make the company the team’s “official global exchange.”  The patches are set to make their on-field debut on February 20, when Cactus League action kicks off.

For the home pinstripes, the blue logo will be set against a white background and black border with “CME” in black lettering.  On the road grays, the blue logo will appear on a matching gray background, again with “CME” in black lettering.  The alternate black jerseys and the City Connects will feature the blue logo on a black background with “CME” in white lettering.

The White Sox become one of the last MLB teams to strike a uniform patch deal, worth an average of $7-8 million with the largest deals, believed to be with the Yankees and Blue Jays, worth over $20 million.
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Yankees All Time Leaders – Through 2025

YankeesTo paraphrase from a famous movie, the one constant through all the years has been baseball.  With the winter meetings starting today, we continue our look at the all-time leaders in both offensive and defensive categories for all 30 teams. Today, we take a deeper dive into the New York Yankees.

The Yankees began life in 1901 as the Baltimore Orioles, moving to New York in time for the 1903 season.  I’ve seen 188 players don a Yankees uniform in the 33 games of theirs that I’ve attended live, first in 1997 and most recently this past August.

Home Runs

Name Total
Joey Gallo 4
Jorge Posada 3
Aaron Judge 3
Marcus Thames 3
Nick Swisher 3
Jacoby Ellsbury 3

Hits

Name Total
Derek Jeter 19
Jorge Posada 15
Aaron Judge 14

Runs

Name Total
Brett Gardner 13
Derek Jeter 10
Aaron Judge 10

RBI

Name Total
Jorge Posada 15
Melky Cabrera 9
Brett Gardner 8
Aaron Judge 8

Doubles

Name Total
Jorge Posada 7
Alfonso Soriano 5
Melky Cabrera 4
Aaron Judge 4

Triples Continue reading →

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Braves All Time Leaders – Through 2025

To paraphrase from a famous movie, the one constant through all the years has been baseball.  With the winter meetings starting today, we continue our look at the all-time leaders in both offensive and defensive categories for all 30 teams. Today, we take a deeper dive into the Atlanta Braves.

The Braves began life in Boston, joining the National League in 1876, before moving to Milwaukee in 1953 and, finally, landing in Atlanta in 1966.  I’ve seen 165 players don the Braves uniforms in the 22 games of theirs that I’ve attended live, including Games Three and Four of the 2003 NLDS against the Cubs at Wrigley Field and a 2021 game against the Yankees at Truist Park on my way home from a trip to Florida.

Home Runs

Name Total
Chipper Jones 3
Freddie Freeman 3
Brian McCann 2
Jeff Fancoeur 2

Hits

Name Total
Chipper Jones 10
Vinny Castilla 9
Brian McCann 8
Freddie Freeman 8

Runs

Name Total
Chipper Jones 6
Andruw Jones 6
Freddie Freeman 5
Ozzie Albies 5

RBI

Name Total
Chipper Jones 7
Brian McCann 7
Freddie Freeman 7

Doubles

Name Total
Brooks Conrad 2
Gary Sheffield 2
Freddie Freeman 2
Nick Markakis 2
Dansby Swanson 2

Triples Continue reading →

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A Changing Landscape

The national and streaming television landscape for Major League Baseball will be changing for 2026 as the league prepares to overhaul its approach starting in 2029.  This past February, ESPN opted out of the final three years of its deal with the league that would have paid MLB $550 million per year.  Those rights will be split up three ways for the next three seasons, with chunks going to ESPN, Netflix, and NBC/Peacock.  Between the three, MLB is expected to get $750 million per year in total over the next three seasons.

ESPN will receive a national 30-game package throughout the season available exclusively on ESPN’s television networks and streaming app.  They will also continue to carry the Little League Classic and will stream over 150 out-of-market games, one per day, via the ESPN app.  In addition, they will take over control of the out-of-market streaming capabilities available today through MLB.tv.  Details on how that will work were not made available at this time.

Netflix will get exclusive rights to the standalone Opening Day game in prime time, the Home Run Derby and the Field of Dreams game.  No word yet on if they will produce these events in house and, if so, who the broadcasters may be.

NBC and its streaming app Peacock will become the new home of Sunday Night Baseball and the Wild Card round of the postseason.  The network will also take over the Sunday Leadoff game, a package that premiered on Peacock but has aired on Roku for the past two seasons.

The rest of the national agreements, with FOX, TBS, and Apple TV, will continue as is through 2028.  At that point, all of MLB’s television rights will be coming up together at the same time.  Commissioner Rob Manfred would like the league to control the local rights for all teams by that point, hoping a singular package will generate the most revenue.  Teams that have ownership stakes in their own local RSNs, like the Dodgers, Yankees, Mets, and Cubs, may not be aligned with this approach.

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2025 Final Standings

After fighting back of an 0-2 hole against the Brewers in the NLDS, the Cubs dropped the decisive Game 5 last night, bringing the 2025 Chicago baseball season to a close.  Despite blowing an early season lead in the NL Central, the Cubs held on to take the top Wild Card slot and managed to advance to the second round of the playoffs.  The White Sox managed to improve on their record-setting season from 2024 and managed to not be the worst team in MLB, but still managed to lose 100 games for the third straight year.  Overall, I managed to attend 39 games, tied for my thirteenth highest total.  Along the way, I managed to see 21 of the 30 teams.

2025 Team Records

Team Name Won Loss Winning Pctg
St. Louis Cardinals 2 0 1.000
Toronto Blue Jays 2 0 1.000
Houston Astros 1 0 1.000
Arizona Diamondbacks 1 0 1.000
Chicago Cubs 8 2 0.800
Cleveland Guardians 3 2 0.600
Miami Marlins 1 1 0.500
Baltimore Orioles 1 1 0.500
Boston Red Sox 1 1 0.500
New York Yankees 1 1 0.500
Kansas City Royals 1 1 0.500
Chicago White Sox 15 18 0.455
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