On an icy night in Fenway, the century-old rivalry between the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees added another ugly chapter to its already checkered history. In the top of the third, the Yankees — ahead 5-1 after Sox starter David Price’s disastrous one-inning start — were threatening with runners on first and second and nobody out. Tyler Wade laid down a bunt, hoping to move the runners over. Sox third baseman Rafael Devers fielded the bunt and fired it to second. His throw was somewhat off the mark, forcing shortstop Brock Holt to stretch to receive it.
Major League Baseball’s season had been under way for less than a week before two teams became mired in familiar debates about the sport’s “unwritten rules.”
The Minnesota Twins carried a 7-0 lead into the bottom of the ninth in their Sunday matchup against the Baltimore Orioles. This essentially meant that the game was over; Baseball Reference, an online trove of historical baseball statistics, calculated the Twins’ win probability to be 100 percent. It was only a matter of how the final three outs would be recorded.
Late last month, Yahoo Sports revealed some of the results of an FBI probe into corruption in NCAA men’s basketball. According to documents the Bureau acquired over a years-long investigation, at least 25 collegiate programs have given impermissible benefits to current players or handed out bribes to high school athletes whom they were attempting to recruit.
The final weeks of the NFL season offered football fans some compelling drama, of both the sports and middle school variety. The Vikings made a near impossible comeback to earn a spot in the NFC championship, thanks to a missed tackle reminiscent of a blindfolded child whiffing at a piñata. And in Foxborough, we have seen glimpses of humiliating palace intrigue.
The National Football League (NFL) announced last month that it would fine Miami Dolphins linebacker Kiko Alonso for hitting Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco in the head as he started to slide. Flacco, on a third-and-10 play on the Dolphins’ 20-yard line, dropped back to throw before scrambling to his right past the line of scrimmage. Alonso, who had dropped back toward his team’s end zone to defend against the pass, charged in to stop Flacco before he reached a first down. Alonso lowered his shoulder right as Flacco started to slide, crashing into Flacco’s head and knocking off his helmet.
Japanese pitcher Shohei Otani announced this weekend that he is making himself available to Major League Baseball as an international free agent, beginning the most intriguing bidding contest in recent memory. Otani currently plays professionally in Japan for the Nippon-Ham Fighters, and before you laugh, remember that two MLB teams are named after sock colors.
Amid a monstrous home run tear in August, Marlins’ left fielder Giancarlo Stanton was asked what a “special number” of home runs would be. He needed little time to decide his answer: 62.
