Latest Stories
Most recently published stories in Unbalanced.
Believe It or Not, This Series Won Russell Westbrook the MVP
After this NBA season, the majority of NBA writers and fans have the same basic idea on who is in the running for the MVP of the league. You may get a hipster or two that will throw a number of advanced statistics they casually have at the ready as they argue for Kawhi Leonard. You have some of the LeBron lovers voicing about why they believe King James is the most valuable player in the league two seasons before he even started. Then, you have the rest of the league who believes this is a two man race between James Harden and Russell Westbrook.
By Dan O'Shea8 years ago in Unbalanced
Wilmer Flores, DLM (Designated Lefty Masher)
We’re all familiar with the LOOGY, the “Lefty One Out Guy”. He’s a left handed relief pitcher whose entire job is to come into a game in a high leverage situation and get a single left-handed batter out. It’s a very niche role, but some players, like Jesse Orosco and Randy Choate, made entire careers out of it.
By John Edwards8 years ago in Unbalanced
The Rivalry No One Saw Coming: Wizards and Celtics
It’s not a secret that the NBA has gotten softer. We marvel about the talent that we’re lucky enough to see every single day but realistically, the league itself is not the same. Yes, this is a “get off my lawn” take, which goes hand in hand with starting every sentence with the cliche’ “back in my day” but the day and age of rivalries in the NBA certainly seems dead.
By Dan O'Shea8 years ago in Unbalanced
Matt Harvey: Version 3.0
How appropriate that, during this week of Easter, we talk about a ballplayer seemingly twice resurrected —SP Matt Harvey, who has had to bounce back from not just one, but two of the biggest surgeries a pitcher can undergo — both Tommy John and Thoracic Outlet Syndrome surgery.
By John Edwards8 years ago in Unbalanced
This Celtics Comeback Is the Best Performance Yet
Through the first two games of the series, the accusations looked true. Everyone who claimed this Celtics team was the worst No. 1 seed of all-time were all set to gloat. Playoff Rondo was rearing his destructive head, Dwyane Wade was pretending like it was 2006, and the Celtics bigs were letting Robin Lopez look like a young Shaq.
By Dan O'Shea8 years ago in Unbalanced
Breaking Down the Longest Dingers of 2017 (So Far)
In baseball, the scorer doesn’t give a damn how far you hit that sucker. As long as it clears the fence on the fly, you receive credit for a home run, an RBI, and RBIs for however many players were on base. Real baseball isn’t that video game The Bigs where the further you hit a home run, the more score multipliers you’d rack-up — a home run only counts for as many runners that were on base, plus one, in the eyes of the scorer.
By John Edwards8 years ago in Unbalanced
Breaking Down the Beauty That Is the Eastern Conference Playoff Matchups
April is officially upon us, arguably starting one of the best runs of the sports calendar year. Between the Masters, the college basketball finale, baseball returning, and the NFL Draft being just around the corner, it’s the most underrated tease in life. The entire sports world picks up just in time for Mother Nature to dish out some weather that actually makes you want to leave your couch. Yet somehow, nothing listed even comes close to being the best part of the month.
By Dan O'Shea8 years ago in Unbalanced
It’s Time to Shake up the Yankees’ Front Office
The biggest story from the arbitration hearings this offseason was undoubtedly the newly-emerged feud between RP Dellin Betances and the Yankees’ front office. For those unfamiliar with the events of the past few days, the gist of the story is this: Betances and the Yankees had gone to salary arbitration, with Betances asking for $5 million and the Yankees countering with $3 million. The Yankees won the case, largely because of how dated the arbitration system is.
By John Edwards8 years ago in Unbalanced
Leave OBP Alone
Concession number 1: The term “On Base Percentage” is a misnomer. OBP doesn’t truly measure all the times a player is awarded a base. It doesn’t include the times a player reaches base due to fielders choices/errors, dropped third strikes, obstruction, or catcher’s interference.
By John Edwards8 years ago in Unbalanced
Chris Paul Is Done With Your Hate
Once the playoffs begin, a switch flips for almost everyone. Some players kick it into high gear, while others consistently fall short of their regular season heroics. For his entire career, Chris Paul has been grouped in with the latter.
By Dan O'Shea8 years ago in Unbalanced
Yonder Alonso Figured It Out
Yonder Alonso, up until 2017, had looked like James Loney — a 1B without any power. Alonso could reach base at a decent clip, hit for a decent average, but never slugged above .400 in a full season. In 2,343 PA from 2010 to 2016, Alsonso slugged 39 HRs total. On a rebuilding Athletics team with their sights set on the number one draft pick, Alonso fit in — but on any team hoping to compete this season, he would have likely been relegated to backup.
By John Edwards8 years ago in Unbalanced
Why it’s Time to Consider the Celtics Amongst the League’s Elite
The last two seasons, nobody’s respected the Boston Celtics. That’s okay. Even though they’ve had a remarkable turnaround from when they traded away Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett and planned to be amongst the league’s bottom feeders for the long haul till their playoff bout against Cleveland two years ago, it was okay not to take them seriously.
By Dan O'Shea8 years ago in Unbalanced
