iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Zach Crizer

It's Craigin' Time @cdgoldstein.baseballprospectus.com · 20h

Patrick is a stone cold freak for dropping writing this good into the intro of what is a useful, but fairly formulaic Game 2 preview format: www.baseballprospectus.com/news/article...

There’s an element to sports that sportswriters never weary of trying to capture, hacking through the kudzu of metrics and quotations to get at. It’s the paradox of a sense of overwhelming immortality, mixed with a sense of how fleeting that omnipotence is. Athletes hypnotize themselves into attaining it, fans slurp at it like a shallow oasis in the desert, writers build entire novels constructing a world to provide it. The Boston Red Sox lost a pair of games to the Washington Nationals by 15 runs around the end of June, and then seized that invincibility and held it for more than five full weeks, enjoying a run almost unparalleled in the history of baseball. It was like snorting cocaine while on a runner’s high after finding out you’d aced a college final and fallen in love, all at the same time.

Unfortunately, that time happened to be July, and by the end of September it was a happy memory. Baseball took that perfect month and chewed away at it with its sharp little teeth, as it always does, pulling at hamstrings and snapping bones. And on Tuesday, the capricious and hateful gods of baseball took it and provided it to one Ben Rice, handed him the thunderbolts to strike the heroes down. For one day it was the Yankees who were invincible, led by the league’s best pitcher and a hitter whose resting face might best be described as vague concern, even as their captain stood with his elbows on the dugout railing. The New York Yankees are now, today and only today, the greatest team in baseball. But maybe not tomorrow. The gods need fresh meat.

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Zach Crizer @zcrizer.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

ICYMI: One day in is not too late to look forward to more things!

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Zach Crizer @zcrizer.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

TABLOID VOICE: Rice pudding the Yankees on his back

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Zach Crizer @zcrizer.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Extremely relevant to Cam Schlittler-Payton Tolle and this Yankees-Red Sox series … bandwagon.ghost.io/the-three-fa...

bandwagon.ghost.io

The Three-Fastball Solution

Is this Pitch Design 3.0? Plus, Coaches4Hire.

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Reposted by Zach Crizer

Zach Crizer @zcrizer.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

The MLB postseason starts today. Not a moment too soon, I have The Bandwagon's October intrigue wish list — including The Miz, The Pope and The Yamamoto Moment. bandwagon.ghost.io/six-things-i...

bandwagon.ghost.io

Six things I want to see in October

Points of postseason intrigue for 2026

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Zach Crizer @zcrizer.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Jaw hit the floor when Craig reminded me of the last time Joe Musgrove pitched in the majors. Starts with a 20- Ends with a -24

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Zach Crizer @zcrizer.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Bandwagon postseason thing I wanna see No. 1: The statue-shaping powers of the postseason whittle away at Jacob Misiorowski. 👀 bandwagon.ghost.io/six-things-i...

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Zach Crizer @zcrizer.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

The MLB postseason starts today. Not a moment too soon, I have The Bandwagon's October intrigue wish list — including The Miz, The Pope and The Yamamoto Moment. bandwagon.ghost.io/six-things-i...

bandwagon.ghost.io

Six things I want to see in October

Points of postseason intrigue for 2026

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Reposted by Zach Crizer

kat, ghost of helenruthsghost @chaoskat.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

This is from @zcrizer.bsky.social newletter bandwagon.ghost.io/which is one I subscribed to this baseball season in my effort to support independent baseball writing instead of corporate sports writing and it's really good. I will be renewing.

bandwagon.ghost.io

The Bandwagon

Baseball, fandom + culture | MLB analysis, news and writing

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Zach Crizer @zcrizer.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Will I catalog the best dodge slides of the year? Yes. Do I know how I will catalog the best dodge slides of the year (other than saving the ones Sam pinged)? No, but we’ll find out!

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Zach Crizer @zcrizer.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Marlins front office def leading baseball in “boss might read your memo and just do it” likelihood.

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Zach Crizer @zcrizer.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

The Bandwagon's annual exercise in optimism for MLB's non-contenders is here. It's the 2026 Rebuild Rankings, led by the Nationals and the Cardinals. bandwagon.ghost.io/the-2026-reb...

bandwagon.ghost.io

The 2026 Rebuild Rankings

Which MLB also-rans should feel best about their seasons?

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Zach Crizer @zcrizer.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

The Bandwagon's annual exercise in optimism for MLB's non-contenders is here. It's the 2026 Rebuild Rankings, led by the Nationals and the Cardinals. bandwagon.ghost.io/the-2026-reb...

bandwagon.ghost.io

The 2026 Rebuild Rankings

Which MLB also-rans should feel best about their seasons?

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Zach Crizer @zcrizer.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Look if nothing else I'm confident we'll get as much information about this at-bat and what led to it as humanly possible. bandwagon.ghost.io/tommy-pham-i...

bandwagon.ghost.io

Tommy Pham is the MVP of baseball access journalism

Plus: Venezuelan baseball impact, head-scratching deals for Japanese stars and Kyle Tucker's market

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Reposted by Zach Crizer

Jesse Dougherty @jessedougherty.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

A little late to this, but @zcrizer.bsky.social wrote this incredible piece on Chris Sale last week. His newsletter, The Bandwagon, is a must-read for any baseball fans, casual, diehard or otherwise. I am here to suggest a subscription. Do it! bandwagon.ghost.io/legend-of-a-...

bandwagon.ghost.io

Legend of a thin man

Chris Sale and the shape of the unbelievable

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Zach Crizer @zcrizer.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Chris Sale starts for the Braves tonight. You could tell me he did just about anything and I’d believe it. bandwagon.ghost.io/legend-of-a-...

bandwagon.ghost.io

Legend of a thin man

Chris Sale and the shape of the unbelievable

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Reposted by Zach Crizer

Zach Crizer @zcrizer.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Hey look, @hannahrkeyser.bsky.social swung by The Bandwagon to talk about her latest work for CNN -- which sent her to Driveline to learn about how pitchers amp up their velocity. 🆓 Watch or listen here: bandwagon.ghost.io/skeleton-vel...

bandwagon.ghost.io

Skeletons and fastballs

Hannah Keyser went to Driveline, and lived to tell us about it

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Zach Crizer @zcrizer.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

bandwagon.ghost.io

Skeletons and fastballs

Hannah Keyser went to Driveline, and lived to tell us about it

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Zach Crizer @zcrizer.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

That's a marquee matchup, as long as you have a really big marquee.

A score bug featuring the very long last names of Jacob Misiorowski and Pete Crow-Armstrong.

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Reposted by Zach Crizer

Zach Crizer @zcrizer.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Follow me through a game of Two Truths and a Lie, Chris Sale edition. 📬 The Bandwagon is free to read with an email. I'd love to have you aboard. bandwagon.ghost.io/legend-of-a-...

He was hospitalized during the 2018 Red Sox postseason run due to an infection from a belly-button ring. He pitched only 151 innings across a four-season span. He could, as a young man, lie on his stomach and scratch his eyebrows with his toes.
Six-foot-six, 180 pounds. His body is stretched thin. That was the worry. Could he really throw that hard, from that angle, for 200 innings or so a year?
For a good long while, the answer was a decisive yes. That 2012 season, when he battled to remain in the rotation, became the first of seven in a row in which he both made the All-Star team and finished in the top six in Cy Young voting.
It was magnetic, watching him sling sliders that emanated from the neighborhood of first base and bounced in the right-handed batter’s box, helpless hitters flailing as they dodged the ball with their back foot.

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Reposted by Zach Crizer

Lindsay Crosby, big baseball guy @crosbybaseball.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Zach crushed this. Great combination of presenting the story (with fun facts) about Sale with a creative structure that makes subscribing to The Bandwagon a no-brainer

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Hannah Keyser @hannahrkeyser.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

I am just such a fan of how Zach writes about baseball

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Will Harris @sandwichpick.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Something that gets lost when looking back at a lot of hall of fame careers decades later is how cooked people at the time thought these players were

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Zach Crizer @zcrizer.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Chris Sale hit 100 mph in his 1-0 shutout of the Dodgers the other night, and I couldn't stop thinking about how kids in 50 years might struggle to comprehend that this scissor-wielding stick-and-bones ace was real. bandwagon.ghost.io/legend-of-a-...

bandwagon.ghost.io

Legend of a thin man

Chris Sale and the shape of the unbelievable

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Zach Crizer @zcrizer.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

You simply cannot watch this without watching it at least twice.

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Reposted by Zach Crizer

Zach Crizer @zcrizer.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

Every year, a few guys pull themselves out of the depths of the depth player label. This year's shining example is Jake Bauers. More, for 🆓: bandwagon.ghost.io/zero-to-hero/

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Reposted by Zach Crizer

Zach Crizer @zcrizer.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

This week in The Bandwagon, a look at my favorite type of guy: The replacement player who levels up to become an impact player. bandwagon.ghost.io/zero-to-hero/

bandwagon.ghost.io

Zero to hero

Jake Bauers and the glory of escaping the depth player label

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Zach Crizer @zcrizer.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

This week in The Bandwagon, a look at my favorite type of guy: The replacement player who levels up to become an impact player. bandwagon.ghost.io/zero-to-hero/

bandwagon.ghost.io

Zero to hero

Jake Bauers and the glory of escaping the depth player label

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Zach Crizer @zcrizer.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

The Phillies are 16-6 since this because of course they are.

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Reposted by Zach Crizer

gwen howerton @kissphoria.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

Manager abruptly missed a game because of a family emergency the day after making a weird fuck up that booted a starting pitcher, team blows 6-0 lead to the A's, next day the team fires the GM, Astros vibes are horrendous rn

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Zach Crizer @zcrizer.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

Alrighty then, Astros. Almost .500 not good enough for a GM to make it to the offseason. Might be good enough for the team to make it to the postseason, though.

The Astros announce they have "mutually agreed to part ways" with general manager Dana Brown. Assistant general managers Charles Cook, Gavin Dickey and Connor Huff, along with senior advisor Jeff Bagwell and owner Jim Crane, will oversee baseball operations.

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Zach Crizer @zcrizer.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

Hopping on Foul Territory at 1:15 ET to talk about this nutty race. You can watch live on YouTube if you're so inclined. www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVWc...

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Reposted by Zach Crizer

Jay Jaffe @jayjaffe.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

The possibility of a sub-.500 team making the playoffs as the 3rd AL Wild Card — which w/b a full-season first — looms large, and it's possible that the AL West, where the Astros (64-63) currently lead by 2 games, could produce a sub-.500 "champ" and thus a 1st-round pairing of sub-.500 teams. Yeesh

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Zach Crizer @zcrizer.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

Bonus Bandwagon: Fan-dicapping the teams in this absurd race for a spot in October. Plus: Noise in ballparks, rookies doing the spectacular, and my ultimate bandwagon move. bandwagon.ghost.io/fan-dicappin...