Most baseball fans fondly recall pitcher Dennis Martinez as a solid, if unspectacular starter long overshadowed by big-name aces in Baltimore (Jim Palmer, MIke Flanagan and Scott McGregor among them). But even though Martinez was never considered a No. 1, any team would have been happy to have a pitcher who finished a 23-year career
Miami Marlins pitcher Sandy Alcantara has a losing career record, plays for a perennial bad team, and few baseball fans outside of Florida can pick him out of a lineup. Yet for the past few seasons, the Dominican Republic-born righty has been considered one of the best pitchers in baseball. Alcantara finally put together the
The World Baseball Classic has finally returned to the international stage after a six-year hiatus rather than the usual four— and the current tournament is the biggest and most inclusive yet. There are now 20 teams from all over the world vying for national bragging rights, up from 16 in 2017 when USA beat Puerto
When pitcher Orlando Hernandez joined the New York Yankees rotation in 1998, Major League Baseball fans soon discovered what fans in his native Cuba had known for more than a decade. The right-handed hurler nicknamed “El Duque” (The Duke) was a very special player. It wasn’t just his unorthodox and unforgettable delivery — a high
After weeks of speculation — and Mets fans dreaming of the team’s first World Series win since 1986 — Carlos Correa didn’t end up going to New York after all. The star shortstop instead returned to the Twins on Jan. 11, 2022, on a six-year deal worth $200 million. It’s a far cry from the
Yordan Alvarez is using the 2021 postseason to prove what the Houston Astros have known all along: The 24-year-old slugger from Las Tunas, Cuba, is one of the best young hitters in the game despite a rocky start to his career. A year after missing all but two games of the pandemic-shortened 2020 season due
