🔗 The MLB Ghost Runner Has to Go
MLB’s extra-innings ghost runner rule has robbed teams of home-field advantage - The Athletic
It’s asymmetrical warfare. A team that’s guaranteed to win with three more outs can use its best reliever to protect the lead if it hasn’t already used him; the home team can use its best reliever only to protect a tie. If the away team is up by two runs or more in extra innings, it can safely ignore the runner at second, whereas the home team will never get that luxury. The home team will always have to pay attention to the runner because if it is in the field, that means it’s a tie game, by definition. A home team can never be up by two runs or more in extra innings unless the game has already been decided by a walk-off homer, so it will always hurt its win probability more if the opposing runner moves to third base in the top half of any extra inning.
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I hated the ghost runner when it was introduced, but over time I have become okay with it as games did seem to end quicker. That said, it never felt real or like baseball. Hockey fans will understand this as when games go to a shootout the outcome becomes just random. Grant Brisbee does a good job here explaining why it’s time to move on from this.
The Big East Championship is Back in NYC
St. John’s followed up the regular season championship with a tournament championship at the Big East Tournament. Now the madness begins!
St. John's are BIG EAST CHAMPIONS!!!!!!!!!! My childhood was Willie Glass to Mark Jackson to Boo Harvey to Malik Sealy! St. John's is NYC basketball. h/t @katiehonan.bsky.social for this video.
— Darren Cohen (@darrencohen.me) 2025-03-16T00:54:35.043Z
Happy Hour at Fifth Hammer Brewing
Fifth Hammer Brewing is a great place in Long Island City that is just one stop on the 7 line from Grand Central. They brew everything on the menu in house plus they always have a food truck outside!
The Polar Bear is Back
Pete Alonso to return to Mets on 2-year, $54 million deal: Sources
Pete Alonso, the first baseman known for his signature power and zest for hitting home runs, has agreed to a two-year, $54 million contract to return to the New York Mets, league sources confirmed to The Athletic on Wednesday. The deal, which will pay Alonso $30 million in 2025, includes a player option for $24 million in the second year.
🔗 Enough With the Substacks
Don’t call it a Substack. - Anil Dash
Email’s been here for years. But the reason Substack wants you to call your creative work by their brand name is because they control your audience and distribution, and they want to own your content and voice, too. You may not think you care about that today, but you will when you see what they want to do with it.
Read the whole thing from Anil. Substack is not some independent place giving you some freedom. It’s another product from the same people you think you are running from trying to lock you in to another platform. You have other options. Find them and use them.
🔗 Chris Hayes in the New York Times Writing About Attention
Our attention is a wildly valuable resource, and some of the world’s most powerful corporations extract it at scale in increasingly sophisticated ways, leaving us feeling like bystanders to our minds. You might say we’ve built a machine for producing boredom and then entertainment to fill it in an endlessly accelerating and desperate cycle.