Stephen J. Nesbitt – The Athletic ($): Baseball is a game, a distinction that should carry nary a single negative connotation. Major League Baseball is a business, but at the end of the day, its players are playing a game. That means it’s fun, what they do is fun, and us watching them do their thing is fun. Sometimes, or most of the time, MLB needs to be reminded that baseball is loads of fun, and it’s usually kids who most easily remind them of that fact.
Samuel Evers – FanGraphs: Baseball has a long history of amazing team nicknames. Whether we’re talking MLB, the Carolina League, the Pecos League, or Nippon Professional Baseball. Team nicknames have been a part of baseball since its very early days, though with some delay. While there are amazing names today the names of yesteryear are astonishing both for their ridiculousness and their ability to be so completely on the nose.
Andy McCullough – The Athletic ($): The Oakland Athletics are a team that really shouldn’t win as much as they do. Ownership is unwilling to spend money on the team, they struggle to maintain a fanbase, and they play in a stadium on its last legs. Yet they win more than they lose and continue to do so with players that break the mold in one way or another. Sometimes the A’s are their own worst enemy as their attempts at market efficiency combine with ownerships’ penny pinching to sabotage seasons. They always come back though, that’s just what the A’s do.
Lead photo courtesy of Patrick Smith – Getty Images
