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Who’s That Guy? The playoffs mint new stars and new … guys, players whose legacy will cut much deeper than the numbers for their scene-stealing roles. This is The Bandwagon’s annual search for them. bandwagon.ghost.io/whos-that-gu...

Who’s That Guy? 2026 MLB postseason edition

Names everybody might get to know this month

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I’m also debuting a very silly new segment. Please enjoy as you take a day to breathe and prepare for the Division Series. bandwagon.ghost.io/whos-that-gu...

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I tagged one candidate for every team … except the Dodgers, who instead have Kiké Hernández, the exemplar of That Guy at this point. bandwagon.ghost.io/whos-that-gu...

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Who’s That Guy? 2026 MLB postseason edition

Names everybody might get to know this month

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Reposted by Zach Crizer

"Le Chonk" @cdgoldstein.baseballprospectus.com · 30/09/2026

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!

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...

The Three-Fastball Solution

Is this Pitch Design 3.0? Plus, Coaches4Hire.

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Reposted by Zach Crizer

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...

Six things I want to see in October

Points of postseason intrigue for 2026

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Bandwagon postseason thing I wanna see No. 6: Great pitchers nobly rising to the occasion outside their comfort zone, a la Yamamoto last year. bandwagon.ghost.io/six-things-i...

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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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Bandwagon postseason thing I wanna see No. 5: ABS challenge system + urgency = ???. bandwagon.ghost.io/six-things-i...

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Bandwagon postseason thing I wanna see No. 4: An underdog playoff run that makes us ponder the universe.

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Bandwagon postseason thing I wanna see No. 3: The mere idea of Yordan Alvarez tormenting opposing managers. bandwagon.ghost.io/six-things-i...

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Bandwagon postseason thing I wanna see No. 2: Infield improv! Probably from Nico Hoerner but all are welcome. bandwagon.ghost.io/six-things-i...

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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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I've got much more coming this month. I hope you'll consider subscribing or even supporting The Bandwagon if you enjoy the coverage. I do this because I love it. If you do, too, I'd love your help to spread the word and keep building. Go here to jump on board ➡️: bandwagon.ghost.io#/portal/signup

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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...

Six things I want to see in October

Points of postseason intrigue for 2026

111

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.

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

The Bandwagon

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Zach Crizer @zcrizer.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Thanks! Appreciate the support and certainly I aspire for the newsletter to appeal to anyone who likes following your posts.

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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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Reposted by Zach Crizer

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...

The 2026 Rebuild Rankings

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

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And some situations where optimism is maybe absent. ✅ Full rankings free to read with an email. bandwagon.ghost.io/the-2026-reb...

Adrift
Giants
Royals
These teams don’t seem like they go together, and they sort of don’t, but hear me out. They have weirdly similar positives — Herculean young sluggers figuring it out in Bryce Eldridge and Jac Caglianone, solid enough starting pitching — and polar opposite approaches to everything else that are nonetheless failing.
The Giants are a mess under Buster Posey and manager Tony Vitello (whose rate of absurd self-inflicted news cycles has at least slowed this summer), a case of Doing Too Much. While Rafael Devers is slugging until further notice, virtually everything else they did to become a proven veteran team proved disastrous. You have to squint really hard to see another long-term building block in this lineup beyond Devers and Eldridge, and they’re probably not going to find anymore if they attempt to move on from Willy Adames and/or Matt Chapman. Posey did as well as you could hope in flipping Luis Arraez and Heliot Ramos, but the path from here to winning is obscure at best.
The Royals are a case of not doing enough. They have Bobby Witt Jr. in his prime, and that should be impetus to go for broke. Under J.J. Picollo, they are adapt at squeezing good years out of pitchers, but completely incapable of fielding more than four decent hitters at a time. Holding useful starters Seth Lugo (age 36) and Michael Wacha (age 35) for two straight trade deadlines instead of dealing them for a collection 20-somethings who can maybe hit in the majors is malpractice and might turn Witt Jr. into the new Mike Trout

Also ... some silver linings in bleak seasons.

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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...

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

I feel like Tommy Pham might be more like pre-revelation Truman Burbank.

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...

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-...

Chris Sale and the shape of the unbelievable

Legend of a thin man

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Zach Crizer @zcrizer.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

He does also go very rubber man at the end, a strong entry!

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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-...

Chris Sale and the shape of the unbelievable

Legend of a thin man

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Reposted by Zach Crizer

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...

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

Skeletons and fastballs

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Plus, we ran through an old school bits and bobs segment — Get Z stars! Ketel Marte's hat! — live on video. bandwagon.ghost.io/skeleton-vel...

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

Skeletons and fastballs

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A TV network Marquee does seem to be big enough, can confirm