iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

From yesterday: The stars aligned in Montreal on Sunday to make a perpetual supporting player a world champion. My thoughts on a once-in-a-generation race day

Michael Baumann @baumann.bsky.social · 4h

1112

In case you missed my recap of Phillies-Braves Game 1, or in case you already forgot what happened

110

Michael Baumann @baumann.bsky.social · 14h

Every big sports TV week gets me thinking about how our entire economy is graft, scams, middlemen and the commodification of the essentials of life. In a just world all of those industries would be destroyed or nationalized but there'd be no one left to make TV commercials

1559

Michael Baumann @baumann.bsky.social · 14h

Ryan Rolison not making much progress on my quest to stop mixing him up with turn-of-the-century Temple Owls center Ron Rollerson

040

Michael Baumann @baumann.bsky.social · 15h

Lol this not exactly a compliment but no other ballpark has crowd shots like Yankee Stadium

3330

Reposted by Michael Baumann

Chad Finn @chadfinn.bsky.social · 16h

It’s a very high-degree-of-difficulty booth, too. Three other voices, not used to working together. His play-by-play is excellent. Hell of a juggling act.

3674

Michael Baumann @baumann.bsky.social · 17h

Does anyone who covered the Yankees ca. 10 years ago remember if Joe Girardi said "to your point" a lot? That phrase was everywhere in sports broadcasting for a while and I think it came from a specific episode of the Lowe Post featuring Brett Brown, but I need to eliminate alternative origins

240

Michael Baumann @baumann.bsky.social · 17h

My NLWC recap is live! Austin Riley was cheeks this year but he can still punish mistakes. The starters threw a million breaking balls, some of which didn't hit the hitter. Derek Hill lost his glove. All that and more as the Braves keep the Phillies from stealing Game 1.

blogs.fangraphs.com

A Game of Inches: Austin Riley Powers Braves to Game 1 Victory

To heck with the splinker and the curveball, Duran must’ve thought. Let’s get a fastball over to get ahead in the count. Unfortunately for Duran, Riley is still strong enough to hit a middle-middle fa...

1111

Michael Baumann @baumann.bsky.social · 17h

Guys I'm rooting for the White Sox this postseason but let's not act like this team is, like, appreciably better than the Marlins. I did not just fall off a turnip truck.

1230

Michael Baumann @baumann.bsky.social · 18h

Game 1: Phillies-Braves Game 2: Two .500 teams make everyone do Opener Discourse Game 3: Yankees-Red Sox I keep telling you guys baseball is about suffering and boy is this postseason delivering

5684

Reposted by Michael Baumann

Matt Winkelman @mattwinkelman.bsky.social · 21h

It was the correct move, Don Mattingly made a correct bullpen move. He put his closer in for the 7th and 8th because it was the best chance to see the 9th. Duran piped a 99.9 mph fastball that got hit. There is a litany of managers who lost with their closer standing in the bullpen.

2121930

18 baserunners in this game, five by HBP

0151

Aria Gerson @aria-gerson.bsky.social · 21h

Enjoyed Duran visibly processing a near-death experience

2272

Reposted by Michael Baumann

Here it is, folks: every SEC player on the MLB Wild Card rosters. Vanderbilt leads with 5 players, LSU has 4. Nine SEC schools are represented. (Only players on actual WC rosters are included. Texas/Oklahoma players from pre-SEC eras are included with an asterisk)

061

Mr. Groundball pops up on 3-1 with the tying run on third and one out. That is bruuuuuuuuutal

260

Michael Baumann @baumann.bsky.social · 22h

4 HBP so far and at least that many near-misses and late ducks. There was the Riley fielder's choice off the knob and a Harper dodge that had me yelling "WE GOT ICE" at the TV

040

I was kinda mean to a guy who wrote to the mailbag last week to ask if you should be able to throw your glove at the ball to rob a home run, and it appears I judged too harshly

0170

Michael Baumann @baumann.bsky.social · 22h

Why is Edmundo Sosa running like he has to poop

2211

Michael Baumann @baumann.bsky.social · 23h

Chris Sale's old ass hitting 100 in the playoffs in 2026! Who'd'a thunk it just a couple years ago!

1181

Michael Baumann @baumann.bsky.social · 23h

I'm chatting during Game 1 of Phillies-Braves alongside @benclemens.bsky.social and @dszymborski.fangraphs.com, come join us! www.fangraphs.com/chat/fangrap...

Michael Baumann

2:07 PM
They say baseball is the American pastime, but ball games have been played in the Americas for more than 3,500 years. Today, like the mythical Maya heroes Hunahpu and Xbalanque, we stand on the precipice of Xibalba, the Underworld, the Place of Fright, and present ourselves for divine judgment.
The victors will receive immortality. The defeated will envy the dead.
Hi, I’m Matt Vasgersian for NBC Sports, alongside C.J. Nitkowski, John Kruk and Joey Votto, and it is our pleasure to welcome you to the concrete Xibalba of unincorporated Cobb County, Georgia, for the National League Wild Card Series.

2257

Michael Baumann @baumann.bsky.social · 23h

Time for my favorite playoff baseball stat: The Phillies have played 31 postseason series in franchise history. They're 22-9 in Game 1s. They're 15-7 all-time in series in which they win Game 1. They've never gone on to win a postseason series after losing Game 1.

2161

Got my flu shot this morning, chatting and writing about the Phillies this afternoon. A big day for being pumped full of substances that were a massive threat to public health for most of human history

0453

Phillies left Raley off the playoff roster for the same reason you childproof the knife drawer

2544

Just let this poor man die already

290

From yesterday: The stars aligned in Montreal on Sunday to make a perpetual supporting player a world champion. My thoughts on a once-in-a-generation race day

1112

Throwing short of the goal line with no timeouts was an *insane* decision

3252

Rodger Sherman @rodger.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

I honestly don't know how to tell the difference between Andy Dalton playing his best and Andy Dalton shaving points

0171

Reposted by Michael Baumann

tired: throwing a deep shot because the opponent went offsides and you know you have a free play wired: targeting the QB because the offense committed holding and you know it offsets

630537

Timothy Burke @bubbaprog.xyz · 29/09/2026

The arm on the It's So Over/We're So Back meter just snapped back and broke my nose

0240

Reposted by Michael Baumann

if the mariachi band can perform the Star-Spangled Banner in 3/4 time, so can you.

11295

This guy's career is nuts (played in the Australian league with Delmon Young!) but this bio is even more nuts. There is a zero percent chance he has the staying power to be worth writing about

1110

Carter Lowe @whitesoxx.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

I'd love to say that the Emparogi is the physical manifestation of the American Dream but it could only be invented in Chicago. Perhaps somewhere in New Jersey an enterprising chef is inventing Indian-Italian fusion cuisine. Saag Parmneer. Samocchi. Raviogan Josh.

1101

Reposted by Michael Baumann

Here is the menu

1833728

Reposted by Michael Baumann

Carter Lowe @whitesoxx.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

They are cooking up food in the #WhiteSox stadium that you cannot possibly comprehend

3063083

Reposted by Michael Baumann

I thought I'd have a lot to say about the Women's World Road Race Championship and the Demi Vollering-Kasia Niewiadoma rivalry, and little to say about the men's race. Then Brandon McNulty and Team USA delivered a perfect, gutsy victory on Sunday. I haven't felt this alive watching sports in years.

1223

Went to look at the particulars of the Matthew Knies trade and am once again disappointed by the massive name downgrade from Capfriendly to Puckpedia

391

1223

Reposted by Michael Baumann

Kyle Neubeck @kyleneubeck.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Friends, we have arrived at the promised land

5468

Reposted by Michael Baumann

LeBron "I didn't leave my family to lose in the second round, I know that"

711719

Jayson Stark @jaysonst.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Atlanta is our country's leading exporter of people who say they're from the city when they're actually from 50 miles into the exurbs, so at least this branding is a good bit

0190

Reposted by Michael Baumann

The Phillies avoided this list. But that doesn't mean we had to avoid it. So here it is ... The 10 Worst Late Collapses in Baseball History Unlocked and free to read www.nytimes.com/athletic/763...

nytimes.com

The 10 worst late collapses in MLB history: 2026 Phillies — just barely — are off the hook (Gift Article)

By winning Sunday and staggering into the postseason, the 2026 Philadelphia Phillies avoided joining a brutal list of "collapsers."

4195