Newsletter Excerpt, May 23, 2026 -- "Thinking Inside the Box"

 

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Guardians 1, Phillies 0

                     IP  H  R ER BB  K

Williams (W, 7-3)   8.0  4  0  0  0 11

Gavin Williams stole the show from Cristopher Sanchez last night, matching the Phillies’ ace zero for zero long enough for Kyle Manzardo to pull a smash-and-grab in the ninth inning for the win. Williams pounded the zone, throwing 18 first-pitch strikes to 27 hitters, not only not walking anyone but going to just three three-ball counts all night.

His sweeper generated ten whiffs on 16 swings, and after the first few innings he pocketed his four-seamer in favor of that sweeper, his two-seamer and curve. Overall, he used the four-seam fastball less and the sweeper and sinker more than he had all year. Williams’s fastball has been his least-effective pitch this year, so we’ll see if he continues to pocket it next time out.

The Guardians, who looked like a .500 team at the start of the year, are suddenly 31-22 with a four-game lead in the AL Central, and a 10 1/2-game lead against the division’s other viable contender in Detroit. 

Sanchez, in the loss, extended his scoreless innings streak to 37 2/3 innings. He’s ten outs from tying the Phillies’ record, though at least three starts from Orel Hershiser’s mark of 59 in a row, set in 1988.

 

 

 

Newsletter Excerpt, May 21, 2026 -- "Mailbag"

 

This is a preview of the Joe Sheehan Baseball Newsletter, an e-mail newsletter about all things baseball, featuring analysis and opinion about the game on and off the field from the perspective of the informed outsider.

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My idea for a stadium is to have virtually unlimited outfield dimensions. Say 750 feet to the warning track.  We could probably tighten that number up a bit, but you get the idea. The ONLY HRs would now be inside-the-park. This would put a premium on defensive positioning (bring back the shift!) and batters' (and baserunners') foot speed.

Tighten up the foul area (I used to watch many games at the Oakland Coliseum), and you have a recipe for many more batted balls in play, including more extra base hits.

-- Ace H.

There are two main problems with max-dimension parks. One, it can’t physically be done in a significant number of ballparks. Yankee Stadium, Fenway Park, Wrigley Field, Target Field are just the first four that come to mind. Oracle makes five, actually. The footprints aren’t large enough and can’t be expanded. 

Second, for parks where that is not the case, you’d be taking thousands of seats effectively out of play. No one is paying to sit two football fields away from the pitcher’s mound.

I understand the kind of ball you’re looking for; it’s just not remotely practical. If you even look at teams that have built large outfields in recent years, every one of them has eventually moved the fences in -- Petco. Comerica, Citi. The Orioles moved their left-field fence back and had to bring it in. The Royals spent years saying they didn’t need to hit for power at the K and then moved the fences in. Hitters never stop whining about deep fences and that pressure builds. 

--J.

 

 

Newsletter Excerpt, May 19, 2026 -- "Potpourri"

 

This is a preview of the Joe Sheehan Baseball Newsletter, an e-mail newsletter about all things baseball, featuring analysis and opinion about the game on and off the field from the perspective of the informed outsider.

You can subscribe to the newsletter for one year for $79.95 using your PayPal account or major credit card. (Zelle users, please email me for details.)

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It’s still so early. A year ago the Tigers were winning two of every three games. They squeaked into the last AL playoff berth on the season’s final day. The Twins were 26-21, and they ended up trading everyone but Minnie and Paul at the deadline. The Jays were 22-24; things worked out for them. The Mets were 29-18; things didn’t work out for them. The Giants were 28-19, the Cards 26-21. The Brewers were 22-25.

Baseball runs for six months. We play 162 games. Let the season breathe. 

 

 

Newsletter Excerpt, May 16, 2026 -- "The Cardinals"

 

This is a preview of the Joe Sheehan Baseball Newsletter, an e-mail newsletter about all things baseball, featuring analysis and opinion about the game on and off the field from the perspective of the informed outsider.

The Newsletter celebrates its 16th birthday this coming Sunday. To celebrate, new subscribers can get 16 months of the Newsletter for 16% off the price, just $66.95. It's a better deal than the Bo Bichette contract!

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The Cards are a simple story, a middling team that has had the horseshoe in close games for seven weeks. They’re 10-3 in one-run games and 11-3 in 1/x games, which is how a team that’s outscored its opponents by three runs climbs to 26-18. They’re just 22-22 by third-order record and Pythag record. They don’t have Cardinal Devil Magic or clutchitude or special one-run game skill; this is just something that happens over a few months of ball.

The better question is, “How are the Cardinals a .500 team by those other measures?” This was supposed to be a rebuilding year in St. Louis, the team’s first in decades, with Chaim Bloom fully in charge and most of the good players from 2025 shipped off around the league. Instead, they’re hanging in so far, top ten in runs scored, 12th in wOBA, 17th in ERA, seventh in Outs Above Average. They’re not a .600 team, but they are a .500 one.  

 

 

Newsletter Excerpt, May 15, 2026 -- "Fun With Numbers: Baseball Mystery May"

 

This is a preview of the Joe Sheehan Baseball Newsletter, an e-mail newsletter about all things baseball, featuring analysis and opinion about the game on and off the field from the perspective of the informed outsider.

The Newsletter celebrates its 16th birthday this coming Sunday. To celebrate, new subscribers can get 16 months of the Newsletter for 16% off the price, just $66.95. It's a better deal than the Bo Bichette contract!

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So here’s your mystery: Over the last six days, the ball is flying better than it has all year and on par with how well it flew in 2024. At the same time, we’ve had a week of offense that makes 1968 look like 1998. It’s certainly possible that it’s a six-day, small-sample fluke, but the way in which drag went one way and offense the other at the exact same time, at a point in the calendar when production should be rising, is peculiar.

 

 

 

Newsletter Excerpt, May 14, 2026 -- "The Rays"

This is a preview of the Joe Sheehan Baseball Newsletter, an e-mail newsletter about all things baseball, featuring analysis and opinion about the game on and off the field from the perspective of the informed outsider.

The Newsletter celebrates its 16th birthday this coming Sunday. To celebrate, new subscribers can get 16 months of the Newsletter for 16% off the price, just $66.95. It's a better deal than the Bo Bichette contract!

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The SP/RP performance gap is paralleled behind the mound as well. Rays outfielders have been the third-best at turning balls into outs this year, per Statcast, behind the Cubs and Red Sox. By Defensive Runs Saved, as Sports Info Solutions’ Mark Simon wrote today, they’re second behind the Sox. Chandler Simpson has become an excellent left fielder after washing out, despite his speed, in center. Cedric Mullins, while being one of the worst hitters in baseball, has arrested his defensive decline for six weeks in center. The team’s right-field platoon of Jake Fraley and Jonny DeLuca has been effective. Hit the ball to the Rays’ outfield and they’re a vacuum.

Hit it to the infield, though, and they just suck.