Tyler Kepner – The New York Times: Tim Anderson is everything that is right with baseball. The game needs more bright, energetic, and emotional stars like Anderson. Those who can’t deal with the emotion he displays are victims of playing the game the wrong way. Baseball is, after all, a game and games carry plenty of emotion with them. As soon as he is able to I hope Anderson gets back to bat flipping the heck out of every home run. Maybe he can even bat flip a few walks for good measure. That would be a lot of fun.
Daniel R. Epstein – FanGraphs: Women play baseball the world over. Right now only one country offers a professional women’s league. However, Australia is working on adding its own to Japan’s and other countries have plenty of potential to give women their proper place in the baseball world. The country with the most resources to help the women’s game succeed is the United States, but we’re many years and a whole lotta vanquished sexism away from that happening.
Russell A. Carleton – Baseball Prospectus ($): Of the many issues present in the relationship between Major League Baseball and Minor League Baseball food is not mentioned enough. We’ve all seen the stories of minor leaguers surviving on Ramen and cheap fast food. There’s no reason that MLB teams should be forfeiting future production for the minuscule short-term profits of not playing their minor leaguers well enough to eat better. The trickle-down effects of bad eating habits are obvious for all to see, including MLB owners. The difference is we care about minor leaguers and they don’t.
Lead photo courtesy of Unknown – Japan Women’s Baseball League
