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Pregame Pepper
Did you know ...
From 1993-98, Greg Maddux led the NL in ERA four times and was second twice . . .
Maddux once pitched 72 1/3 consecutive innings without giving up a walk . . .
The Braves won the NL East title every year Maddux was on the team . . .
Maddux is the only pitcher in baseball history with double-digit wins for 20 straight seasons.
Leading Off
Can the Rays Reach the World Series Again?
By Brian Koss
The Tampa Bay Rays won the American League pennant in 2020 for the second time in franchise history. They won the AL Pennant in 2008, before losing to the Philadelphia Phillies in a seven-game World Series.
The Rays have steadily risen as one of the best teams in the American League over the last few seasons, making the post-season in 2019 and winning the AL pennant in 2020.
Some key losses and interesting additions over the off-season will continue to make the Rays an interesting team to watch in 2021.
If there's any question left about who won the 2018 Rays-Pirates trade, look no further than the 2021 Rays roster.
Tyler Glasnow and Austin Meadows, whom Tampa Bay received from Pittsburgh, continue to play a critical role in the team's success. The roster also includes Chris Archer, the main piece of the deal the Rays sent to Pittsburgh.
Unfortunately for the Pirates, they missed the post-season in 2018. But the Rays reached the post-season in 2019 and all the way to the World Series in 2020.
Changes on the Mound
The Rays lost their ace Blake Snell (traded to Padres) and fellow veteran starter Charlie Morton (signed with Braves) during the off-season. That put an obvious strain on their starting rotation.
They are going to rely more heavily on Tyler Glasnow, who's looked incredibly strong in Grapefruit League play. Ryan Yarbrough also returns to the rotation and is expected to fill the No. 2 spot in the rotation.
The Rays signed three veteran starters to fill the voids left by Snell and Morton. This includes the return of Archer and the acquisitions of Rich Hill and Michael Wacha. Archer struggled in 2019 and missed the 2020 season due to injury but signed a one-year deal with the Rays worth $6.5 million.
Hill, now 40, signed a one-year deal for $2.5 million and Michael Wacha signed a one-year deal for $3 million.
Both Hill and Wacha bring post-season experience to a team defending the AL pennant. If two of these three acquisitions produce a quality season for the Rays, it will help stabilize their losses.
The bullpen largely remains intact, with the Diego Castillo, Pete Fairbanks and Nick Anderson trio that was so effective last season. Ryan Thompson also remains with the Rays.
The Rays also landed veteran starter-reliever Collin McHugh, coming off a strong six years with the Astros.
The Rays added Luis Patino, the fifth-ranked RHP and 19th overall prospect (according to MLB Pipeline), in the Snell deal with the Padres. He's looked promising thus far in Grapefruit League play.
So has hard-throwing LHP Shane McClanahan, the Rays’ first-round pick in 2018 out of USF. He and LHP Brendan McKay both find their way on the top prospects lists. How these pitchers impact the 2021 season remains to be seen.
Stability on the Field and at the Plate
The good news for the Rays is their everyday lineup will look nearly identical to the World Series team. They re-signed veteran catcher Mike Zunino to a one-year deal. The outfield includes Kiermaier, Margot and the emerging superstar, Randy Arozarena. He’s the guy who tore through the postseason with 10 HR, 14 RBI and hit .377/.442/.831.
A healthy Austin Meadows will likely DH and mix into the outfield. The infield remains stable as well with Choi at first, Lowe at second, Adams at short and Wendle at third. They can continue to grow as a unit, with Wander Franco getting ready in Triple-A.
That bodes well for the defending AL Champs, as they look to reclaim the AL East title.
Can the Rays Repeat?
Tampa Bay became the "Region of Champions" in 2020-2021. The Lightning won the Stanley Cup, the Buccaneers won the Super Bowl and the Rays found their way to the World Series.
In many ways, the Rays are well-positioned to compete once again. The stability of the everyday lineup and the bullpen should be the cornerstones. Not to mention AL Manager of the Year Kevin Cash.
The path to the World Series may go right through the AL East. The Yankees have arguably underperformed the last couple of seasons and are probably on the cusp of another dominant era. The Blue Jays are loaded with young, second-generation talent like Guerrero, Biggio and Bichette. They've added a major bat by signing George Springer and a potential All-Star in Marcus Semien.
Those two teams will be major obstacles to Tampa Bay’s chances of retaining the division crown.
The Rays will have to perform at a 2020 level to find their way back to the postseason. Most predictions have the Rays returning to post-season play as a Wild Card team. But if they find their way into the mix again this October, don't count them out.
Brain Koss of Horizon West, FL is a Senior Editor at LegendsOnDeck.com. You can reach him at brianmkoss@gmail.com or on Twitter @kosscountry.
Cleaning Up
Colors Of All Kinds Dress Up The Game
By Dan Schlossberg
It seems like eons have passed since the advent of color television, especially when Walt Disney changed the name of his weekly show from “Disneyland” to “The Wonderful World of Color.”
Baseball has followed suit, though in its unusual slow and deliberate path toward change.
Gone, for the most part, are the drab, colorless stadiums, inhabited by players wearing home whites or road grays.
Thanks to color TV and the forward-thinking marketing people seeking to sell tickets and trinkets to a younger demographic, drab has gone into the dustbin of history.
Baseball is all about color.
Charlie Finley had a lot to do with it, dressing his old Kansas City A’s in colors he called Fort Knox gold and kelly green while parading around in green blazers and yellow slacks – outfits that even Bill Veeck would have avoided.
When Finley’s charges, then in Oakland, won five straight division titles, including three consecutive World Championships from 1972-74, the color scheme was firmly stamped on the game.
Other owners were quick to notice.
The Houston Astros showed up in garish, multi-colored uniforms that looked like pajamas. The San Diego Padres became the first team to favor brown, often looking like the UPS softball team.
The Cleveland Indians wore various combinations of red, sometimes with scarlet shirts and pants at the same time. Even the Philadelphia Phillies jumped in, with light blue and maroon suits that served as a mix-and-match depending upon the date, time of game, and opponent.
Then came the Colorado Rockies, with a purple-and-silver motif; the Seattle Mariners, wearing lots of green to reflect the Pacific Northwest; and the Atlanta Braves, decked out in red for Friday night and Sunday afternoon home games.
Only tradition-minded teams – namely the Yankees and Dodgers – avoided the panoramic bandwagon in baseball. The Yankees didn’t even bother putting player names on jerseys, a gesture to the days when uniform backs didn’t have numbers either.
Just three days ago, teams marked St. Patrick’s Day by wearing some combination of green hats, green jerseys, green sweatshirts, and green armbands, while running between green bases and playing Irish music between innings.
The sight of the Cincinnati Reds, St. Louis Cardinals, and Baltimore Orioles in green is a once-a-year spectacle for fans equipped with cameras or cell phones.
Speaking of the Reds, plenty of teams have color in their nicknames. Witness the Toronto Blue Jays, Boston Red Sox, and Chicago White Sox in addition to the Reds (who used Redlegs at a time when it was politically incorrect to proclaim a person or team was Red).
And let’s not forget the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim actually play in Orange County.
Color in baseball is hardly confined to the field. The “color” commentator in the broadcast booth is charged with adding sidelights to the play-by-play, saying such things as “Jacob deGrom isn’t a bad pitcher for a guy who played shortstop in college.”
And let’s not forget how many names – both surnames and nicknames – conjure up an image of color.
Almost the entire spectrum is represented.
There’s Bud Black, manager of the Colorado Rockies; Dallas Green, former pitcher, manager, and general manager; Shane Greene, a former All-Star closer; Vida Blue, once the star left-handed starter of the Oakland Athletics; and Frank White, who used to be a solid second baseman for the Kansas City Royals.
Baseball history is filled with nicknames like Blue Moon Odom, a Finley nickname for a pitcher with the ordinary name of John; Red Schoendienst, a Hall of Fame second baseman whose given name was Albert; and Le Grand Orange, the nickname that French-speaking fans of the Montreal Expos pinned on local favorite Daniel (Rusty) Staub.
There were plenty of Whiteys – including Cooperstown denizens Whitey Ford, Whitey Ashburn, and Whitey Herzog – and almost as many Reds, including legendary broadcaster Red Barber, as there are in Cincinnati. There were even a few Pinkys, notably Pinky Higgins of the Red Sox.
Three-Finger Brown is long gone but his memory lingers at the Baseball Hall of Fame gallery. Dick Green never got to Cooperstown but he certainly had a colorful surname.
So did Joe Black, Kevin Brown, and Bill White, to name a few.
Since the 1947 integration of the game by Jackie Robinson, baseball has become more and more color-blind and more of a melting pot.
But there are exceptions.
In 1967, Dominican outfielder Rico Carty and American-born Hank Aaron got into an altercation on the Braves team airplane. The argument between the black sluggers degenerated to the point where Carty called Aaron “you black SOB.” Trying to calm things down, the veteran slugger retorted, “You’re not exactly pink yourself.”
Not surprisingly, the racist remark resulted in a Carty trade – to the Texas Rangers for forgettable pitcher Jim Panther.
Here’s The Pitch weekend editor Dan Schlossberg of Fair Lawn, NJ is a former AP sportswriter who now writes baseball for forbes.com, Latino Sports, Sports Collectors Digest, and USA TODAY Sports Weekly. The author of 38 books, Dan can be reached at ballauthor@gmail.com.
Timeless Trivia
Congratulations to Beth Mowins, who makes her debut today as a play-by-play person for the Chicago Cubs. The voice of the Women’s Softball College World Series for 20+ years, she called an NFL game in 2017 and has called college sports for ESPN since 1994. She joins Jon (Boog) Sciammbi, another new hire, in the broadcast booth for the North Siders . . .
Unsuccessful at signing a shortstop, the Reds are thinking about moving Eugenio Suarez from third to shirt, shifting Mike Moustakas from second to third, and letting rookie Jonathan India start the season at second base . . .
All six experts polled by USA TODAY Sports Weekly for its special 2021 MLB Preview issue picked the Atlanta Braves to win the fiercely-competitive NL East for the fourth straight season . . .
Recognition of the Negro Leagues as major leagues means that Josh Gibson’s 238 “official” home runs and .365 lifetime average will be made part of baseball’s official records . . .
Nolan Arenado brings eight Gold Gloves and five All-Star selections to St. Louis from the Mile-High City.
Know Your Editors
HERE’S THE PITCH is published daily except Sundays and holidays. Brian Harl [bchrom831@gmail.com] handles Monday and Tuesday editions, Elizabeth Muratore [nymfan97@gmail.com] does Wednesday and Thursday, and Dan Schlossberg [ballauthor@gmail.com] edits the weekend editions on Friday and Saturday. Readers are encouraged to contribute comments, articles, and letters to the editor. HTP reserves the right to edit for brevity, clarity, and good taste.