Chris Bassitt Picks Up First Win Of 2021

Oakland Athletics starting pitcher Chris Bassitt allowed two runs in five innings to earn his first win of the season Monday in Arizona. Bassitt was lucky to escape with only two runs as he had traffic on the base paths all night allowing two hits and five walks. Bassitt has had walk issues in the […]

Gerald McCoy Doesn't Plan To Retire

Free-agent defensive lineman Gerald McCoy (quadriceps), a six-time Pro Bowler, doesn't plan to retire after missing all of the 2020 season due to an injury. "I just know I have so much more to give this game, even if for a short period of time," McCoy said. The pass-rusher had 54.5 sacks in his nine […]

Michael Conforto Hitless Over Last Three Games

New York Mets outfielder Michael Conforto has had a rough start to the 2021 season. Through five games, he's gone 3-for-21 with a double, a walk, three RBI and eight strikeouts. He's failed to record a hit in each of his last three games. Conforto had his best all-around season in the Majors last year. […]

Buccaneers Not Against Drafting Tom Brady's Successor

Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Bruce Arians said he's not against taking a developmental quarterback at the end of the first round (pick No. 32) of this year's draft. The Buccaneers are returning 22 starters from their championship season a year ago, so they could take the best player available when their turn is up […]

Matt Chapman Has Big Night Versus Diamondbacks

Oakland Athletics outfielder Matt Chapman went 3-for-5 with a home run, two RBI, and two runs scored in a win at Arizona on Monday. Chapman has gotten off to a slow start this season batting just .179 after this performance. He's faced some brutal matchups so far with series against the Astros and Dodgers pitching […]

Statcast Hitter Leaderboard: Maximum Exit Velocity

Although we technically got Statcast data as soon as the first pitch of the 2021 season was thrown, any good sabermetrician knows that sample size matters. It's still quite early in the season but we can't wait to start digging into the stats, so let's start this year's iteration of the Statcast Hitter Leaderboard by […]

Tanner Houck Could Make A Start This Weekend

Boston Red Sox starting pitcher Tanner Houck was optioned to the team's alternate site in Worcester on Wednesday after Eduardo Rodriguez returned to the team. Now, however, there's a chance that the Red Sox will need to call Houck back up for a start in this weekend's series against the Chicago White Sox. Houck will […]

Cardinals Agree To Terms With James Conner

The Arizona Cardinals agreed to terms on an undisclosed one-year deal with free-agent running back James Conner on Tuesday. Conner visited with the team on Monday and took a physical after he had offseason surgery to fix a turf-toe injury that he sustained recreationally this offseason. The 25-year-old is expected to make a full recovery […]

Cavan Biggio Hitting Just .125 Through Nine Games

Toronto Blue Jays second baseman Cavan Biggio has been cold out of the gate this year. Through nine games, he's slashing .125/.263/.313 with two home runs, two RBI and five runs. He has a 28.2% strikeout rate, up from 23% last year. His .124 xBA ranks amongst the bottom 1% of the league. Biggio has […]

Alexander Volkov Pots Pair Of Goals Monday Night

Anaheim Ducks right wing Alexander Volkov took care of two goals in Monday's 4-0 win over San Jose, joining Maxime Comtois and Rickard Rakell on the scoreboard. The Russian winger was plus-two for the contest and had three shots and five hits. Volkov, who was picked up from Tampa via a trade last month, now […]

Falcons Could Stack Quarterbacks

With the No. 4 overall pick in this year's NFL draft, the Atlanta Falcons are in a prime position "to stack good quarterbacks" alongside Matt Ryan, according to general manager Terry Fontenot. "It's a prime time to do it when you have a player like Matt Ryan because when you can get in the right […]

Anthony Stolarz Makes Ducks History With 46-Save Shutout

Anaheim Ducks goaltender Anthony Stolarz set a franchise record with a 46-save shutout in Monday's 4-0 win over San Jose. Jonas Hiller and Dominic Roussel previously shared the record for most saves in a regular-season shutout with 45. Stolarz made only his third start of the season and improved to 2-1-0. He has recorded a […]

De'Aaron Fox Goes Off For 43 Points

Sacramento Kings guard De'Aaron Fox was unstoppable on Monday night in a loss to the Pelicans. Fox dropped 43 points with six rebounds, six assists, five triples, and a steal in 39 minutes. The 23-year-old shot well from the field and beyond the arc, though he probably could have had an even better day with […]

Whit Merrifield With A 1.124 OPS Through Nine Games

Kansas City Royals second baseman Whit Merrifield has been dominant at the top of the team's lineup so far this year. Through nine games, he's slashing .375/.405/.719 with three home runs, 10 RBI, six runs and a stolen base. His hard-hit rate (35.7%) is up significantly from last year (27.3%) and he ranks amongst the […]

Nikolaj Ehlers Takes Goal Streak To Three Games

Winnipeg Jets winger Nikolaj Ehlers recorded his 18th goal of the season in Monday's 4-2 loss to Ottawa, extending his goal streak to three games. Kyle Connor opened the scoring on a power play as the Jets ended up blowing a 2-0 lead. Connor became the third Jets player with 40 points this season. Ehlers […]

Mitch Moreland Takes Batting Practice

Oakland Athletics first baseman Mitch Moreland (hamstring) has missed the last three games due to a sore right hamstring, but he was able to take batting practice before the game on Monday and is a candidate to fill in at first base with Matt Olson (thumb) listed as day-to-day after suffering a thumb contusion when […]

Brady Tkachuk Scores Twice In Monday's Win

Ottawa Senators left wing Brady Tkachuk scored two goals in Monday's 4-2 victory over Winnipeg, firing off five total shots and delivering six hits. Connor Brown extended his goal streak to eight games and Evgenii Dadonov bagged one as well for the Senators. Tkachuk posted his second multi-goal game of the season by netting on […]

Tyler Glasnow Strikes Out 14 Rangers On Monday

Tampa Bay Rays starting pitcher Tyler Glasnow has been electric so far this year, and on Monday against the Texas Rangers he turned in his best start yet. He pitched 7 2/3 scoreless innings and allowed two hits and one walk while striking out 14. He now has a 0.46 ERA, 0.51 WHIP and 42.6% […]

Jake Diekman Earns High-Leverage Hold

Oakland Athletics relief pitcher Jake Diekman pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings with a strikeout to earn a hold versus the Diamondbacks on Monday. Diekman was used as the team's most trusted reliever in this game, as he was called on to end the seventh inning after J.B. Wendelken allowed two runs to score and had […]

Matt Olson Day-To-Day After Being Hit On Hand

Oakland Athletics first baseman Matt Olson (thumb) is being listed as day-to-day after he was removed in the eighth inning after getting hit by a pitch on his left hand on Monday night. Manager Bob Melvin said that X-rays on Olson's hand showed no broken bones after the game. Olson suffered a thumb contusion. "It […]

Brad Hand Earns First Save On Monday

Washington Nationals closer Brad Hand earned his first save of the 2021 season on Monday. He pitched a scoreless ninth inning, allowing one hit and one walk while striking out two. It was his second appearance of the season and first save opportunity. The Nationals have only played seven games so far this year and […]

Jack Campbell Finally Takes A Loss

Toronto Maple Leafs goaltender Jack Campbell saw his winning streak come to an end on Monday night when Montreal delivered him his first loss of the season with a 4-2 scoreline. Auston Matthews bagged another goal and John Tavares notched his 12th marker of the year. Campbell posted a league record with 11 consecutive wins […]

Ramon Laureano Picks Up Two More Steals Versus Arizona

Oakland Athletics outfielder Ramon Laureano went 2-for-4 with a walk, two runs scored and two stolen bases in a win over the Diamondbacks on Monday. Laureano clearly has the green light to run as he's been a terror on the basepaths leading the Majors with seven thefts less than two weeks into the season. He's […]

Twins-Red Sox Set To Return On Tuesday

The Minnesota Twins and Boston Red Sox had their game on Monday postponed as a result of the unrest following the shooting of Daunte Wright by police in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The teams are set to return to action on Tuesday with a 1:00 PM CST start time. Martin Perez will take the mound for the […]

Tomas Tatar Strikes Twice Against Toronto

Montreal Canadiens winger Tomas Tatar potted two goals in Monday's 4-2 victory over Toronto, opening and finishing the scoring. A power-play tally by Nick Suzuki and Josh Anderson's 15th goal of the season fit in between. Tatar, who skates on a line with Phillip Danault and Paul Byron, has quietly been very good in recent […]

Fantasy Baseball Closers to Target

Diving head-first into relievers who have converted saves early in the season is typically fine but whatever is going on this season is very, very odd. If my math is correct, there are now 35 different relievers who have at least 1 save so far this year. After one week of games. Crazy. — Greg […]

Champ or Chump: Jonathan India

The NL Central was among the most wide-open divisions in all of baseball coming into the season. The Milwaukee Brewers were the favorites if you believe the projected standings at FanGraphs and Baseball Prospectus, but oddsmakers tended to favor the St. Louis Cardinals after their splashy addition of Nolan Arenado. The Cubs still had their […]

Hot Fantasy Prospects To Watch For Week 3

There is no shortage of prospects getting off to good starts this year. This is the third column of the year and yet again we have four completely different rookies who are putting up big numbers. These are all new guys to appear in this column this year, but one of them has gotten the […]

Are You For Real? Surprising SP Starts from Week 2

Welcome to the 2021 edition of "Are You For Real?" This is a weekly column where we dissect surprisingly good starts from under-rostered and unheralded hurlers to try and determine whether they can maintain their performance, or if it was just a flash in the pan. Week 2 brought even more surprising starts, and with […]

Patrik Laine Has Two Goals In Monday's Loss

Columbus Blue Jackets winger Patrik Laine tallied two goals in Monday's 4-3 overtime loss to Chicago, finishing with three shots and a plus-one rating. Stefan Matteau also scored for the Jackets. Laine has 12 goals and 20 points for the year in 35 games. It's been a bizarre season for the Finnish winger, as his […]