{"id":583452,"date":"2026-04-03T19:26:30","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T19:26:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/583452\/"},"modified":"2026-04-03T19:26:30","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T19:26:30","slug":"mlbs-robot-umps-are-messing-with-the-math-all-hail-ohtani-an-epic-rookie-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/583452\/","title":{"rendered":"MLB\u2019s robot umps are messing with the math, all hail Ohtani, an epic rookie race?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here at the old Weird and Wild column, we\u2019re hanging onto those roller-coaster handle bars for dear life, because one week into a new baseball season, this sport is taking us on a ride unlike any seen before.<\/p>\n

And if you\u2019re guessing those wacky robots are to blame, good guess! So let\u2019s get this column started, with this unprecedented refrain:<\/p>\n

1-2-3 strikes you\u2019re \u2026 what?\"\"<\/p>\n

\n It\u2019s a challenging new era for baseball \u2014 and the math isn\u2019t mathing. (Rick Scuteri \/ Imagn Images)<\/p>\n

Once upon a time, baseball was a simple game. It was 1-2-3 strikes you\u2019re out at the old ball game \u2014 and hey, how are those peanuts and Cracker Jack going down? But then \u2026<\/p>\n

Those pesky robot umps came to town.<\/p>\n

And you know what we\u2019ve learned after a wild week of robotized baseball<\/a>? Those robots never did promise there would be no math!<\/p>\n

So in the last week, we\u2019ve seen an at-bat (Monday) where the Yankees\u2019 Jos\u00e9 Caballero rolled up three swinging strikes and a called strike \u2026 yet there he was, standing on first base (courtesy of two astute ABS challenges).<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve seen another at-bat (Saturday) where the Reds\u2019 Eugenio Su\u00e1rez took three called strikes, fouled off another strike, swung and missed at another strike \u2026 and wasn\u2019t even out, let alone struck out. (As beleaguered home-plate ump CB Bucknor probably recalls, Su\u00e1rez got two straight third strikes overturned<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

Then came Tuesday night in Houston, when it was the human umpires\u2019 turn \u2014 to lose track of the swings, the strikes and the count<\/a>. So why was the Astros\u2019 Cam Smith, a man who swung and missed at three straight pitches, still digging into the batter\u2019s box? That\u2019s why.<\/p>\n

Technically, that one wasn\u2019t an ABS situation. Then again, you know what those robots did while all that chaos ensued? They just sat back and let a bunch of well-meaning humans wear it.<\/p>\n

Are we good with that?<\/p>\n

We ask because math has always been one of the fun parts of baseball. But friends, here\u2019s an important announcement:<\/p>\n

Those days are over.<\/p>\n

The robots are messing with that math. And that can be hard to process. So here to help is the son of a high school math teacher, Doug Glanville \u2014 also my co-host on the ever-popular Starkville podcast, which will return April 18 as part of The Athletic\u2019s Rates and Barrels feed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a new math, apparently,\u201d Glanville told Weird and Wild, \u201cwhere we seem to be able to jump from three to infinity. So Eugenio Su\u00e1rez may still be hitting. He\u2019s still going. He\u2019s still challenging pitches. I think that is something that\u2019s possible now in the new ABS world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hmmm, it doesn\u2019t seem like it is, but who are we to say? It\u2019s a crazy new time \u2014 so crazy that it isn\u2019t even safe to count to three anymore.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love the idea that today, we\u2019re challenging old traditions,\u201d Glanville said. \u201cSometimes it came in the form of changing the running lane. But it also can come in the form of how we count. The strike zone is now a construct we\u2019re trying to figure out. There could be five strikes. Maybe there could be invisible strikes. We don\u2019t know. So there\u2019s all kinds of new territory I\u2019m excited to explore.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maybe you\u2019re a little afraid of that new territory. Maybe you liked it when a guy who swung and missed three times was actually out. But there\u2019s nothing to be afraid of,\u201d Glanville said. \u201cThe world, as always, is changing.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to think outside the box here,\u201d he said. \u201cThe beauty of today\u2019s game is, you can strike out more ways than ever, right? It used to be just three strikes. Now it\u2019s the pitch-clock violation. It\u2019s a challenge overturn. I\u2019m excited by the next frontier of how someone can strike out. There might be one day when there\u2019s one strike and you\u2019re out.<\/p>\n

\u201cOr you\u2019ve actually given examples that, in some cases, it\u2019s the other way around. It\u2019s three strikes and you walk. So that\u2019s very exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n

WEIRD & WILD: \u201cMaybe we\u2019re heading for a time where you CAN\u2019T strike out. Maybe that\u2019s even what baseball is aiming for. That\u2019s one way to cut the strikeout rate, right?\u201d<\/p>\n

GLANVILLE: \u201cLook, it\u2019s the era of the pitcher. They\u2019re so dominant. It\u2019s the hardest it\u2019s ever been to hit, and we never thought about this. We kept thinking about: Let\u2019s move the mound back. Let\u2019s make the plate bigger or smaller. We were trying all kinds of physical things to change the game, and it was right in front of us the whole time. You\u2019ve just got to give hitters infinite strikes. Then it\u2019s easy. Just stop counting.\u201d<\/p>\n

But wait. Do we want to stop counting? Do we want to stop adding and subtracting? Do we want to live in a world where the math of baseball is upside-down and somewhere, in their invisible robotized clubhouse, those robot umps are just laughing at what they\u2019ve done to us?<\/p>\n

\u201cThey can do logarithms, and they could solve how to land on the moon,\u201d Glanville said of those robots. \u201cSo this is too easy for them. I think that\u2019s what the problem is.\u201d<\/p>\n

W&W: \u201cSo with all these math issues, I can\u2019t decide. Should the next commissioner of baseball be somebody like Cal Ripken Jr.? Or do we need a descendant of Sir Isaac Newton?\u201d<\/p>\n

GLANVILLE: \u201cI think I\u2019m voting for my mom.\u201d<\/p>\n

For more of this allegedly entertaining banter, be sure to listen to us on Starkville, when it returns April 18, wherever you get your podcasts.<\/p>\n

Hanging with Mr. Robot\"\"<\/p>\n

\n Sandy Alcantara pitched such a gem on Wednesday, ABS decided to take the night off. (Carmen Mandato \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

As long as our favorite robot umps keep working their magic, is it possible these columns will just about write themselves? It is.<\/p>\n

So do we need a special recurring place in Weird and Wild World to keep you updated on all the fun-filled robot developments of this season? Of course we do. That means it\u2019s time to hang with Mr. Robot, because there\u2019s so much going on here besides balls and strikes.<\/p>\n

WE JUST WENT OLD SCHOOL IN MIAMI!\u00a0Thanks to friend of the column Len Kasper, the great radio voice of the White Sox, for making sure we didn\u2019t miss the old-school event of the year, Wednesday in Miami.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a prediction: We won\u2019t see another game like this for the rest of the season. That\u2019s because it contained all of this:<\/p>\n

An actual complete game \u2014 by Marlins ace Sandy Alcantara.<\/p>\n

A shutout \u2014 yes, not \u201conly\u201d a complete game, but also a shutout in which the starting pitcher discovered it was legal to go all nine innings.<\/p>\n

A Maddux \u2014 right, not \u201cjust\u201d any old shutout. It was an official \u201cMaddux,\u201d because Alcantara ripped through those nine run-free innings in a mere 93 pitches. And to qualify for Maddux-hood, it takes fewer than 100.<\/p>\n

But wait. You\u2019re no doubt thinking: Didn\u2019t we have three \u201cMadduxes\u201d just last season? We did indeed, courtesy of Tarik Skubal, Sonny Gray and Nathan Eovaldi. But here comes the grand finale. You know what we didn\u2019t\u00a0have in that game Wednesday?<\/p>\n

We didn\u2019t see even one frigging challenge!<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the first time that\u2019s happened in any game in the ABS era, because plate ump Mike Muchlinski was that good, apparently. So here\u2019s a round of applause for the man in blue. And now here\u2019s a question we need your help with:<\/p>\n

What should we call this?<\/p>\n

Is it safe to assume we\u2019ll see very few games this year with zero challenges? Let\u2019s go with yes. So don\u2019t we need a fun name for a game like that? Ab-so-freaking-lutely. All right, then. It\u2019s time for the first reader poll in Weird and Wild history.<\/p>\n

Can\u2019t wait to see how you vote. And if you have other inspired names, add them in the comments section below. You know the drill.<\/p>\n

TAP HERE AND DRIVE HOME SAFELY \u2014 Meanwhile\u00a0in Baltimore on Wednesday, we had another first. A major-league baseball game ended on a strikeout \u2026\u00a0on a pitch the umpire called a ball<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But Orioles catcher Samuel Basallo thought otherwise. And one tap of the helmet later, we had a reversal, a 27th out, a high-five line \u2026 and a phenomenon I named weeks ago, after the first game I saw all spring almost ended on a challenge.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a \u201ctap-off.\u201d No polls needed. This one is locked in the lexicon. Run with it.<\/p>\n

NEWS AT 11 \u2014 What\u2019s the over\/under on the eventual record for Most Challenges in One Game? I\u2019ll go 12 by one team, 18 by both teams. We\u2019ll monitor that as we go along, but we have a leader on the challenge board now that we\u2019re one week into life in the Land of the Robots.<\/p>\n

Wednesday in Kansas City, the Twins and Royals cooked up\u00a011 challenges in one game<\/a>\u00a0on plate ump Andy Fletcher. And that\u2019s not even the Weird and Wild part. The Weird and Wild part is, the Twins burned through their first challenge in the top of the first inning. Then \u2026<\/p>\n

They got eight in a row right.<\/p>\n

That broke down as two in the bottom of the first, one in the third, one in the fifth, one in the sixth, one in the seventh, one in the eighth and one more in the ninth. Twins catcher Ryan Jeffers went 1-for-3 at the plate (as a hitter), but 4-for-4 in the challenger column, nailing three in a row as a catcher and a fourth as a batter.<\/p>\n

Nobody in MLB has gotten more challenges right than Jeffers (7-for-10). Can we propose an MVC (Most Valuable Challenger) award? He might win it.<\/p>\n

DON\u2019T LET THIS MAN CHALLENGE \u2014 Ah, but who\u2019s the anti-Jeffers? Cardinals catcher Pedro Pag\u00e9s is the leader in this clubhouse. He just strung together the first four-game lost-challenge streak in robotized history. Missed one Opening Day, went 0-for-1 in Game 2, went 0-for-1 in Game 3, went 0-for-1 in Game 4, then finally broke the streak Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Not far behind: Guardians catcher Bo Naylor, Red Sox catcher Carlos Narv\u00e1ez and Marlins catcher Liam Hicks were all 1-for-4 through Wednesday. Should we overreact? Why not? It\u2019s what we do best in the first week of April.<\/p>\n

Check out the cool kids\"\"<\/p>\n

\n JJ Wetherholt is among the intriguing rookies in this year\u2019s class. (Dilip Vishwanat \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Does it feel like we\u2019re headed for the most epic Rookie of the Year race of all time? Heck, yeah, it does. So let\u2019s have some fun with this.<\/p>\n

THE WETHERHOLT REPORT \u2014 He homered in his first game in the big leagues. He got a walk-off hit in his second game in the big leagues. So I don\u2019t know if smooth Cardinals second baseman JJ Wetherholt is going to win that Rookie of the Year award \u2014 but I\u2019ve been thinking about it.<\/p>\n

Fun fact alert! Did you know that no player who goes by his initials, not his given name, has ever won a Rookie of the Year award? True. Even wilder (and weirder), only two players who go by his initials have ever won an MVP or Cy Young Award.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll give you four seconds to name them. Time\u2019s up! It\u2019s R.A. Dickey, your 2012 National League Cy Young winner. And Hall of Famer CC Sabathia, who won the American League Cy Young Award in 2007. Would it seem almost fitting if some initialed legend joins him since it\u2019s the year of ABS?<\/p>\n

NOW STARRING IN THE PITT \u2014 Konnor Griffin is 19 years old. More importantly, he\u2019s also now a Pirate<\/a>. I\u2019ve heard enough Bobby Witt Jr.\/Mike Trout comps to be stoked about that. But not just because there\u2019s nothing cooler than when the stars of tomorrow arrive.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s because this guy is a Weird and Wild notes machine waiting to happen.<\/p>\n

The only other teenager to play for the Pirates in the last 50 years \u2013\u00a0Aramis Ramirez, in 1998.<\/p>\n

Most hits by a teenage shortstop in the last 50 years \u2014 Robin Yount 223, Edgar Renteria 70, Jos\u00e9 Oquendo 41, Alex Rodriguez 36.<\/p>\n

Teenagers who got at least one hit at any position in the 2000s \u2014 Juan Soto, Bryce Harper, Jurickson Profar, Mike Trout, Justin Upton, BJ Upton, Jos\u00e9 Reyes.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re about to add to all of those lists!<\/p>\n

JOSE CAN YOU SEE \u2014 You think Diamondbacks third baseman Jose Fernandez will remember Tuesday night, his first game in the big leagues? Let\u2019s go with yes. Three hits \u2026 two homers \u2026 and here\u2019s the Weird and Wild part:<\/p>\n

When Fernandez launched a go-ahead home run in the eighth inning off Tigers closer Kenley Jansen, I don\u2019t know what the rest of the planet was thinking. But here\u2019s what I was thinking:<\/p>\n

Has a guy playing\u00a0his first game in the big leagues\u00a0ever hit a go-ahead homer that late in a game against a fellow who was pitching\u00a0in his 935th game in the majors?<\/p>\n

So I asked my friends from Baseball Reference, Kenny Jackelen and Katie Sharp, to see if we\u2019d just witnessed a record in that important category that I just made up.<\/p>\n

And that answer was \u2026 of course! Here\u2019s the leaderboard.<\/p>\n

DATEHITTERPITCHER\u00a0\u00a0GAMES*<\/p>\n

3\/31\/2026<\/p>\n

Jose Fernandez\u00a0<\/p>\n

Kenley Jansen\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0935<\/p>\n

8\/5\/2014\u00a0<\/p>\n

Javier B\u00e1ez<\/p>\n

Boone Logan<\/p>\n

448<\/p>\n

6\/20\/2003<\/p>\n

Miguel Cabrera\u00a0<\/p>\n

Al Levine\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

311<\/p>\n

4\/24\/1949\u00a0<\/p>\n

Lloyd Merriman\u00a0<\/p>\n

Hugh Casey\u00a0<\/p>\n

308<\/p>\n

8\/23\/2002\u00a0<\/p>\n

Josh Bard\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

James Baldwin<\/p>\n

221<\/p>\n

THE FANTASTIC FOUR \u2014 Finally,\u00a0let\u2019s not forget Tigers phenom Kevin McGonigle \u2014 if only because he got four hits in the first game he ever played in the big leagues, and \u2026 loyal reader Robert Yahrmatter had a fun question about it:<\/p>\n

How many players skipped Triple A and went 4-for-4 on Opening Day?<\/p>\n

Excellent. So I ran that question past Kenny and Katie. And the answer was \u2026 just one (sort of). It\u2019s that same Kevin McGonigle \u2014 but it\u2019s complicated.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s because they did come up with a list of cool names who technically did this. It includes Wee Willie Keeler (1898), Casey Stengel (1912), Frankie Frisch (1921), Mel Ott (1933) and Joe Medwick (1934). Only one asterisk: They all did it before Triple A, as we know it today, even existed.<\/p>\n

But among the players of the last 75 years? Nope. Never happened \u2026 until McGonigle found his way into the batter\u2019s box on Opening Day.<\/p>\n

This Week in Useless Info\"\"<\/p>\n

\n Shohei the hitter and Shohei the pitcher are setting the standard with their streaks. (Luke Hales \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

THE SHOH MUST GO ON \u2014 It\u2019s a whole new year, so it\u2019s time once again to remind you that Shohei Ohtani is a real person. Or is it possible he\u2019s really two people inside one body? Here\u2019s what we mean.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s Shohei the hitter \u2014 He has now reached base in his last 37 games in a row (regular season). That\u2019s the longest current on-base streak in baseball.<\/p>\n

And there\u2019s\u00a0Shohei the pitcher \u2014 He has now spun off 22 2\/3 shutout innings in a row (regular season). That\u2019s the longest active scoreless-inning streak by any starting pitcher in baseball.<\/p>\n

First off, it\u2019s absurd that one *regular old human has the longest streak in both of those categories. (*Not actually either regular or old.) Second, it made me curious about Babe Ruth, because I love to be curious about the difference between Ruthian feats and Ohtanian feats. So \u2026<\/p>\n

Babe\u2019s longest scoreless inning streak:\u00a025 innings, May 27 to June 9, 1916.<\/p>\n

Babe\u2019s longest on-base streak:\u00a050 games, May 17 to July 12, 1923.<\/p>\n

So think about this: In a week, Ohtani could have a longer scoreless streak as a pitcher than the Babe ever had \u2014 and remember, the Bambino was arguably the most dominating left-handed pitcher in baseball for a couple of years there.<\/p>\n

And in two weeks, Ohtani could have a longer on-base streak as a hitter than the Babe, even though the pitchers he faced were so terrified of Ruth, he had an on-base percentage over .500 in five different seasons.<\/p>\n

Shohei Ohtani. He\u2019s still the gift that never stops giving to the Weird and Wild column.<\/p>\n

DANCE OF THE POLAR BEAR \u2014 There was going to come a time, sometime in 2026, when Pete Alonso hit a home run for a team not named the Mets. When he finally hit one of those on Tuesday, as an Oriole, how loudly were the baseball gods laughing?<\/p>\n

The pitcher who served up this blast, just to provide a little entertainment value for anyone who ever set foot in Queens? That would be ex-Mets legend Jacob deGrom<\/a>, because of course it was.<\/p>\n

Back in another lifetime for both of them, according to Kenny and Katie, the Polar Bear once got 260 at-bats \u2014 and bopped 21 home runs \u2014 for the Mets in games started by \u2026 his old friend, deGrom. We just have one question: Who should send whom the thank-you card?<\/p>\n

DOES ANYBODY HEAR A TRUMPET \u2014 As long as we\u2019re doing this roll call of ex-Mets, Edwin D\u00edaz also barged into this column. It\u2019s always great to see him.<\/p>\n

He\u2019ll be the Dodgers\u2019 first full-time closer since Kenley Jansen. And that got me thinking, which is always dangerous.<\/p>\n

Did you know that Jansen\u2019s last regular-season save for the Dodgers was on Oct. 1, 2021? And D\u00edaz\u2019s first save for the Dodgers was last Friday. Now here comes the Weird and Wild part.<\/p>\n

In between those two saves, would you believe that 35 Dodgers pitchers saved a regular-season game? And that\u2019s not even counting their emergency postseason closers \u2014 Roki Sasaki, Tyler Glasnow and Walker Buehler \u2014 who bump that crazy total up to 38. Is that the most of any team in baseball? Obviously.<\/p>\n

One more request: If you remember the exhilarating saves by beloved Dodgers Matt Sauer, JP Feyereisen, Andre Jackson, Yohan Ramirez, Justin Bruihl or Jake Reed, raise your hand!<\/p>\n

HEY, HAPPY NEW YEAR \u2014 Is there anything that feels more irrelevant in the first week of any season than that thing we like to call \u201clast year\u201d?<\/p>\n

Cal Raleigh \u2014 hit 60 home runs last year. That was a lot. But it\u2019s now this year. And the list of sluggers who hit a home run this year before a certain 60-homer man includes Jacob Young, Cole Young, Oswald Peraza, TJ Rumfield and Rafael March\u00e1n. Naturally.<\/p>\n

Juan Soto \u2014 led the National League in stolen bases last year. We didn\u2019t see that coming, but it was cool. Except now it\u2019s this year. And the list of men who stole a base this year before the stolen-base champ includes Yordan Alvarez, Nick Kurtz and Cal (60-Homer) Raleigh.<\/p>\n

Trea Turner \u2014 was the National League batting champ last year. But this year, Turner went into the weekend with half as many hits (five) as Joey Wiemer, a man who hit .182 for the Omaha Storm Chasers last year.<\/p>\n

Seriously, even the Loch Ness Monster isn\u2019t as mysterious as March\/April in \u2026<\/p>\n

Baseball!<\/p>\n

This Week in Strange But Trueness\"\"<\/p>\n

\n The White Sox have a new slugger in Munetaka Murakami, but like old Sox teams, they\u2019re still finding creative ways to lose games. (Patrick McDermott \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

DO THESE SOX MATCH \u2014 Like the other 29 teams, the White Sox were still undefeated as they lined up along the base lines in Milwaukee on Opening Day. Good times!<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, then the season started.<\/p>\n

Here at Weird and Wild World HQ, we admire innovation. So full credit to the White Sox. Over the past three seasons, nobody else has found more innovative ways to lose baseball games.<\/p>\n

So while they were busy getting swept by the Brewers in their first series of the year, they managed to \u2026<\/p>\n

\u2022 Lose a game where they led off the top of the first inning (i.e., the season) with a homer, by Chase Meidroth.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Lose another game, two games later, in which they had a first-inning grand slam (by Munetaka Murakami).<\/p>\n

Does that seem as hard to you as it does to me? Once again, Kenny Jackelen and Katie Sharp took a look at just how hard that was to do. And the answer? Tell \u2019em, Wash. It\u2019s incredibly hard.<\/p>\n

In fact, they found only one other instance in the entire Baseball Reference database in which a team lost two games like that in the same series.<\/p>\n

That other team was more recognizable than this team, because it was the 1988 Yankees. First, they lost a game on July 21 even though Rickey Henderson hit a leadoff bomb against Mark Gubicza. Two games later, they lost a July 23 tilt even though Dave Winfield cranked a first-inning slam off Floyd Bannister.<\/p>\n

Little did Rickey and Winfield know when they did that that they weren\u2019t merely heading for the Hall of Fame. They were headed for a mention in this Weird and Wild column almost 40 years later.<\/p>\n

WAIT, IT ISN\u2019T LAST YEAR ANYMORE \u2014 Let\u2019s refresh your memory. The Blue Jays played in the World Series last year. The Rockies, um, didn\u2019t. But they did lose 119 games, which doesn\u2019t happen much.<\/p>\n

So what happened the first time those teams played each other in 2026, on Monday in Toronto?<\/p>\n

Rockies 14, Blue Jays 5 happened. And it doesn\u2019t get much weirder (or wilder) than that. So once again, my friends from Baseball Reference were back on the case. Their assignment: to find the worst teams ever to win a game by nine runs or more against a team that had been the champions of their league the year before.<\/p>\n

Just for fun, we decided to include the 19th century, even though there was no such thing as a World Series back then. By doing that, the Rockies turned out to be only the ninth-worst team, by winning percentage, to win a game by that many runs against an opponent that had won a \u201cpennant\u201d the previous year. Also, by doing that, we got to drop these fun names.<\/p>\n

The worst team ever to do that: Favel Wordsworth\u2019s 1873 Elizabeth Resolutes, of the late, great National Association, somehow beat George and Harry Wright\u2019s Boston Red Stockings, 11-2, on the Fourth of July that year. But you should know that was only Game 1 of a doubleheader. And those Stockings then turned the table in Game 2, winning a 32-3 nailbiter.<\/p>\n

The worst team in the World Series era: Moving along to the 20th century, Beany Jacobson\u2019s 1905 Washington Nationals enter the conversation. They sprung a 14-0 shocker against Myron Grimshaw\u2019s fearsome Boston Americans on Sept. 11. But \u2026<\/p>\n

Even though Boston had won the first World Series, in 1903, there was no World Series in 1904. Here\u2019s what that means: In the 12 decades since the World Series became an annual event, no team coming off as messy a season as the Rockies had ever won a blowout that large against a team coming off a World Series visit until \u2026 (yep) this week!<\/p>\n

LESS IS MOORE \u2014 You know who isn\u2019t a pitcher for a living? Phillies utility dude Dylan Moore. But you know who pitched for the Phillies in an unsightly 13-2 loss to the Nationals on Monday? That very same Dylan Moore.<\/p>\n

So why would we be writing about that in a column like this? Haha. Pretty amusing question. We\u2019re writing about it because that means Moore made his first pitching appearance for the Phillies before he made his first plate appearance for the Phillies.<\/p>\n

And how many true position players have ever done that in the 141-year history of the Phillies franchise? According to the Jackelen\/Sharp research titans, that would be precisely one \u2026 a fellow named Dylan Moore.<\/p>\n

A BRAND NEW START OF IT \u2014 You know what keeps this column in business? It\u2019s just the fascinating parade of stuff that doesn\u2019t look anything like the stuff that happened before it. We live for that stuff.<\/p>\n

So on that note, let\u2019s take a look at these two sets of fascinating digits.<\/p>\n

4-4-0-2-3-6-1-1<\/p>\n

And \u2026<\/p>\n

0-0-1-2-0<\/p>\n

All right, who out there knows the connection between those sets of numbers? Here\u2019s a clue: They were both produced by the same pitching staff. Here\u2019s another clue: That staff wears pinstripes.<\/p>\n

Ding-ding-ding. Time\u2019s up. What\u2019s that first set of digits? It\u2019s the inning-by-inning run totals allowed by the Yankees to the Blue Jays, starting late in Game 1 of their ALDS last October and running through the first six innings of Game 2.<\/p>\n

And what\u2019s that second set? That\u2019s the game-by-game run totals allowed by this year\u2019s Yankees through their first five games of this season.<\/p>\n

It adds up to 21 runs in eight innings last October \u2026 and three runs in 45 innings this March\/April.<\/p>\n

Many of the same men threw those pitches. But any other resemblance is purely coincidental \u2014 because after all, it\u2019s \u2026<\/p>\n

Baseball!<\/p>\n

YOU KNOW WHAT ELSE IS MELTING AWAY \u2013 Finally, speaking of those Yankees, baseball is amazing. And thank goodness it is, because it never stops rolling weird\/wild tidbits like this off its assembly line.<\/p>\n

The Yankees: Just gave up\u00a0three runs\u00a0in their first five games of the season (while getting 135 outs).<\/p>\n

Paul (Cy Young) Skenes: Just gave up\u00a0five runs\u00a0in his first inning of the season (while getting two outs).<\/p>\n

I would not have predicted that. You would not have predicted that. Skenes definitely would not have predicted that. I don\u2019t know, in fact, how we can even explain these things, until you remember what the heck we\u2019re even talking about here. Oh, that\u2019s right. It\u2019s \u2026<\/p>\n

Baseball!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Here at the old Weird and Wild column, we\u2019re hanging onto those roller-coaster handle bars for dear life,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":583453,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[592,64,63,5256,5259,1187,1188,591,5160,85,2366],"class_list":{"0":"post-583452","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-arizona-diamondbacks","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-chicago-white-sox","12":"tag-colorado-rockies","13":"tag-los-angeles-dodgers","14":"tag-miami-marlins","15":"tag-mlb","16":"tag-pittsburgh-pirates","17":"tag-sports","18":"tag-st-louis-cardinals"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/583452","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=583452"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/583452\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/583453"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=583452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=583452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=583452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}