Drew

A team can play a night game on the East Coast, then show up for a day game on the West Coast the very next afternoon. Over a 162-game season spread across the entire country, that kind of schedule only works with serious travel logistics. But the way a team gets from city to city … Read more

ERA is one of the first numbers you see next to a pitcher’s name, and one of the most important stats in baseball. But what actually counts as a “good” ERA? A 3.50 might be excellent for one pitcher and merely average for another, because the answer depends on the era, the level of play, … Read more

If you watch enough baseball, you have probably noticed it: a bright yellow line or strip of padding running along the top of the outfield wall. It shows up in big league parks and on plenty of little league and high school fields too, and it plays a real role when a long fly ball … Read more

Major League Baseball has 30 teams, but they are far from evenly spread across the country. A handful of states pack in multiple clubs, while most states have none at all, and some of America’s biggest cities are still waiting for a team. So which states actually have MLB teams, which ones do not, and … Read more

Nine innings, nine players. It is one of baseball’s most familiar numbers, so woven into the game that most fans never stop to ask where it came from. But baseball was not always played this way. In its earliest days there were no innings at all, just a race to a target score. So why … Read more

Making it to Major League Baseball is one of the hardest things to do in all of sports, and only a tiny fraction of players ever get there. For those chasing the dream, a tryout is one way to get in front of scouts and prove they belong. But there is more than one type … Read more

From Little League dugouts to the Major Leagues, the baseball cap is one of the most recognizable pieces of equipment in all of sports. Every player wears one, every game, and the design has barely changed in over a century. But have you ever stopped to ask why? Why do baseball players wear hats, are … Read more

When a big league hitter squares up a fastball, the ball can leave the bat faster than cars travel on the highway. That speed has a name: exit velocity. It is one of the most important modern measurements in baseball, telling us how hard a ball was hit, how far it will travel, and how … Read more

Get to a ballpark early and you will see the warmup ritual every team runs through: position players stretching their arms out to 90 feet and back, pitchers airing it out in long toss until the ball is carrying 300 feet across the grass. It is one of the few moments when you see just … Read more

In the late innings of a close game, with the season on the line, a manager will sometimes send a fresh face to the plate in place of a struggling hitter. That substitute is a pinch hitter, and the move is one of baseball’s most dramatic and strategic weapons. Some of the most famous moments … Read more