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Arozarena And His Rays

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If you somehow missed out on watching Game 4 of the 2020 World Series, I must tell you that you missed an all-time classic. There were a plethora of lead changes, momentum swings, and no shortage of heroes. Even though the hometown boy Brett Phillips delivered the game-winning hit in the bottom of the 9th, Randy Arozarena continues to be the backbone of this incredible Tampa Bay Rays baseball club. So who is this phenom of a baseball player? I need to be upfront about how I haven't followed this baseball season as closely as normal because my Boston Red Sox's management decided to punt on the season by trotting out a rotation of minor league pitchers. This means that Randy Arozarena was unfamiliar to me until this postseason. Now I can decisively state that Arozarena   is one remarkable hitter of the baseball! Arozarena began his career with the St. Louis Cardinals in 2019. He only appeared in 19 games and so he's still considered a rookie in 2020. Even though the sample s...

The Yips

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Growing up I was absolutely enamored with the game of baseball. In my humble opinion, baseball stands alone atop the Mount Rushmore of North American sports in its ability to be romanticized. If you remember the  leitmotif of the movie, "Moneyball", was "It's hard to not be romantic about baseball." It's tough to find a line in a film that resonates so much with reality, at least as I see it. What other game can you watch someone try and be perfect for 27 outs and roughly 130 excruciating pitches? What other game can you watch someone lose their mind over an incident involving the length of pine tar applied to a bat? What other game can you get 'beaned', watch the pitcher 'balk', take your base, avoid being picked off by a sly pickoff move, and jump out of the way of your teammate's line drive all in a matter of a minute? Or, to think of even what happened this week in baseball, Mookie Betts took a homerun away by a matter of inches wi...

Bursting Their Bubbles

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Let me start by saying that I don't know exactly what I would do with millions of dollars in my bank account. I also am not certain how having a lot of money would affect my character and my decision making. I'm privileged to work on the "front-lines" during a global pandemic, and I say this to not pat myself on the back but instead to acknowledge the perspective from which I'm writing. I'm getting quite annoyed with the reports by multiple high-profile athletes about how difficult life in the playoff bubbles has been for them. I can appreciate that the day-to-day would have been isolating at times. However, by many reports it seems as though athletes were invited to return to freshman year of college, outside of attending classes, and the parties that were anything but physically distanced. Also, some players have maintained that they chose to treat their playoff experience "like a business trip" and therefore not bring their families along. I'v...