MLB power rankings: Red Sox get pummeled as Rafael Devers powers up
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Pete Rose now eligible for Hall of Fame after years of ineligibility
USA TODAY Sports' Bob Nightengale discusses Pete Rose now being eligible for the Hall of Fame and what it means for the steroid era players.
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In reality, Rafael Devers is among the least of the Boston Red Sox's worries.
Devers' reticence – or flat-out refusal – to move to first base after he agreed to a shift to designated hitter created plenty of headlines and prompted owner John Henry to fly to Kansas City and talk it out with his $313.5 million slugger.
Unfortunately for the Red Sox, Henry didn't pack any pitching reinforcements on the plane.
Since that summit, Devers has been nearly unstoppable – with 15 hits in 34 at-bats, three homers and 13 RBIs in nine games. But the Red Sox are slowly slipping from shouting distance of the first-place New York Yankees, with 11 losses in their past 17 games to fall six spots in USA TODAY Sports' power rankings.
ORIOLES FIRE MANAGER: Brandon Hyde survived epic tanking – then Baltimore failed him
It might have been 12 losses in 17 games if not for Devers, who saved them with his first career walk-off homer against Atlanta on Saturday.
A few hours later in the series finale, he erased an early deficit 3-0 with a grand slam. But the Red Sox gave up that lead and more, as they've done often lately. In losing five of its last six, Boston has twice given up 10 runs in a game and 14 in another. Their rotation ERA now languishes at 4.28, 22nd in the majors.
And nowadays, that means it doesn't much matter how many runs the Red Sox score.
A look at our updated rankings:
1. Los Angeles Dodgers (-)
Feeling the change of the guard: Stalwarts Chris Taylor, Austin Barnes cut as Dalton Rushing steps on the scene.
2. Detroit Tigers (+2)
Tigers win Jackson Jobe's first eight starts, setting franchise record.
Edwin Diaz, now 10-for-10 in save chances, ramps his fastball back up to 99 mph.
At least Jose Alvarado's PED suspension came well before the trade deadline.
Almost mathematically eliminated in the Vedder Cup.
Wilmer Flores, RBI machine, wins epic battle against Mason Miller for walk-off walk.
PCA vs. the White Sox was no match: 8-for-14, nine RBIs, four extra-base hits.
8. New York Yankees (-1)
Jonathan Loaisiga's return a nice boost for bullpen.
There's a new ace in town and his name is Bryan Woo.
10. Cleveland Guardians (-)
Shane Bieber getting closer to a rehab assignment.
You win 13 in a row, you jump 14 spots in the standings. Them's the rules.
12. St. Louis Cardinals (-)
Started the year 1-10 on the road; just finished 7-2 road trip.
Those heavy footsteps you hear? Jac Caglianone is one step from the big leagues.
Will be more than halfway done with Dodgers after three-game road set this week.
15. Houston Astros (-1)
Thirteen come-from-behind wins.
16. Texas Rangers (+3)
Evan Carter's injury woes continue with quad strain.
17. Cincinnati Reds (+3)
Is Will Benson happening? He slams five homers in four games.
18. Atlanta Braves (+3)
They climb over .500, just in time to welcome back Spencer Strider and Ronald Acuña Jr.
19. Boston Red Sox (-6)
Kristian Campbell sliding to first to create room for Marcelo Mayer would be a helluva fix.
Tigers show how far they have to go to be playoff team
Jackson Chourio dropped to sixth in order, promptly strikes out four times.
22. Tampa Bay Rays (-)
Chandler Simpson survives unsettling slide at home plate.
23. Athletics (-)
Yolo County vs. San Francisco doesn't quite have the same ring.
24. Washington Nationals (-)
Michael Soroka wins first game since July 2023.
25. Los Angeles Angels (+1)
First three-game sweep over Dodgers since 2010.
15-30 record matches 2019 start, when they lost 108 games.
27. Miami Marlins (-)
Sandy Alcantara drops his sixth straight decision, a career high.
Shut out in eight of their 32 losses.
29. Chicago White Sox (-)
.University of Tampa product Jordan Leasure racking up 12.9 strikeouts per nine.
30. Colorado Rockies (-)
8-38, a pace that would knock the White Sox out of the record books.
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New York Times
34 minutes ago
- New York Times
Twins' newest team Hall of Famer: Corey Koskie, the volleyball-playing ‘no shot' from Canada
Editor's note: This article was originally published on Feb. 11, 2002, as part of a series about the most underrated players in Minnesota Twins history. It's being republished now, in honor of Corey Koskie's induction into the Twins' team Hall of Fame on Sunday at Target Field. Corey Koskie grew up on a farm in Canada, in a community called Anola with a population of 200 or so. He barely played baseball but starred in hockey and volleyball. Koskie was recruited to play goalie for the University of Minnesota-Duluth but opted for a volleyball scholarship from the University of Manitoba. And that was almost the end of his baseball career. Advertisement After redshirting as a freshman, he was playing baseball for a summer townball team when John Smith, the head coach for Des Moines Area Community College, persuaded Koskie to switch sports and come to Boone, Iowa. 'For some reason I decided to go there and play baseball,' Koskie said years later. 'I wasn't a long shot. I view it as being a no shot.' After one successful season there, Koskie moved back home to Canada to play for Kwantlen University and the National Baseball Institute in British Columbia, where a Twins scout spotted him. Picked by the Twins in the 26th round of the 1994 draft, Koskie moved methodically up the minor-league ladder, spending a full season at each of four levels despite promotion-worthy performances. He finally reached Triple A in 1998, at age 25, and hit .301/.368/.539 with 26 homers in 135 games to earn his first career in-season promotion in the form of a September call-up to Minnesota. Despite batting just .138 with 10 strikeouts in his 11-game MLB debut, Koskie broke camp with the Twins the next spring and hit .333/.395/.564 in April to solidify his status as a big leaguer. However, manager Tom Kelly played Koskie sparingly, opting for veterans Ron Coomer, Brent Gates and Denny Hocking at third base. Koskie's fielding was a problem. He started just five of the Twins' first 54 games at third base, his only position throughout five seasons in the minor leagues, with his sporadic playing time coming mostly at designated hitter and even right field. 'I knew there was a reason I wasn't playing,' Koskie said at the time. 'I didn't want to sit and pout about it.' With the message received, Koskie worked tirelessly with third-base coach Ron Gardenhire to improve his hands and reaction time. It paid off, as Kelly noticed the strides Koskie was making and gradually gave him more starts at third base. He started 54 of the final 81 games, all of them at third base, and his left-handed bat was in the lineup nearly every day versus right-handed pitchers. Advertisement 'He has worked his butt off,' Gardenhire said in 2002. 'You can't wish anything but the best for a guy who works like he does. … I had no choice. I was the guy (Kelly) would yell at every time Corey didn't make a play.' Hard work leading to improvement isn't uncommon, but the remarkable aspect of Koskie's story was how rapidly he progressed and how much room he had to grow from a non-baseball background. He was an average-ish third baseman by his second season, and by 2001 — Kelly's last year before Gardenhire took over as manager — Koskie was one of the league's better-fielding third basemen. Corey Koskie going all out in Game 1 of the 2002 ALCS…a 2-1 Twins win. #MNTwins — Jeff (@MNTwinsZealot) October 16, 2019 Koskie required no such improvement at the plate, hitting .310/.387/.468 as a rookie and topping an .800 OPS in each of his six seasons with the Twins. His offensive profile changed, as Koskie traded some batting average for power, but his production was consistent. In those six seasons, only Chipper Jones, Scott Rolen, Troy Glaus and Eric Chávez had a higher OPS among third basemen. Koskie led Twins position players in Wins Above Replacement in three of his six seasons and was never worse than third on the team. At his best in 2001 as the Twins returned to relevance, he batted .276/.362/.488 with 26 homers, 65 total extra-base hits, 103 RBIs and Gold Glove-caliber defense. He even stole 27 bases despite a gait that could be charitably described as slow-moving. He was similarly productive in 2002, 2003 and 2004, playing for Gardenhire as one of the veterans on a squad that broke through with three straight division titles, but Koskie missed time with injuries in each of those seasons. And really, health was the main thing separating a good Koskie season from a great Koskie season, because he always had an .800-something OPS with good defense. Advertisement Even when he was young and healthy, Koskie moved at his own leisurely pace, shuffling out to his position in the field each inning and regularly causing false injury alarms for anyone watching what was the baseball-playing equivalent of a grandpa gently getting up from a couch. He'd snap into action, swiping a base or snagging a line drive, then resume his sedate way around the diamond. Because of his long journey through the minors, Koskie was already 30 in 2003, his fifth full season, and he dealt with nagging back and hamstring injuries that further gave him the look of someone for whom everything was a chore. But he kept producing. Koskie led the division-winning 2003 and 2004 teams in OPS while playing 131 and 118 games. Koskie slugged .607 with 11 homers and 11 doubles across 37 games in August and September 2004 as the Twins ran away from Chicago and Cleveland for their third straight AL Central title. He kept rolling in the ALDS, hitting .308 with a .474 on-base percentage versus the Yankees, and if not for a bad bounce Koskie would have one of the biggest clutch hits in Twins history. After winning Game 1 in New York behind seven shutout innings from Johan Santana, the Twins trailed 5-3 in the eighth inning of Game 2. They rallied off Hall of Fame closer Mariano Rivera, cutting the lead to 5-4 as Koskie stepped to the plate with runners on the corners and one out. Luis Rivas pinch-ran for Justin Morneau at first base, putting good speed on as the go-ahead run. Koskie slashed a Rivera cutter into the left-field corner as Torii Hunter jogged home with the tying run. Rivas was set to claim a lead that could have put the Twins up 2-0 in the series heading back to Minnesota and maybe even forever alter the now-lopsided postseason history between the two teams. Except the ball hopped over the wall for a ground-rule double, halting Rivas. 'They would have scored two (runs), no doubt about it,' Yankees catcher Jorge Posada said afterward. Instead, Jason Kubel and Cristian Guzmán stranded Rivas at third base and two hours later, in the bottom of the 12th inning, the Yankees evened the series with a walk-off victory. It took Minnesota two decades to win another playing game, including going 0-13 against the Yankees. Perhaps one bounce could have changed everything, for Koskie and for the Twins. Advertisement Koskie's double off Rivera proved to be the final big hit of his Twins career. He became a free agent after the season and the Twins made little effort to re-sign the 32-year-old, who went home to Canada on a three-year, $16.5 million deal with Toronto. Koskie bought a full-page ad in both local newspapers to thank Twins fans, calling it 'the hardest decision our family has ever had to make.' He had a down season for Toronto in 2005, missing two months with a broken thumb, and that winter the Blue Jays traded Koskie to the Brewers. He got off to a nice start with Milwaukee in 2006, hitting .261/.343/.490 with 12 homers in 76 games, but Koskie fell hard while chasing a pop-up on July 5 and suffered a concussion that ultimately ended his career at age 33. He never played again. 'It was 2 1/2 years of just dealing with this hell,' Koskie said in 2018 of the post-concussion symptoms and numerous setbacks. 'It sucked. Everything I (once) could do, I couldn't do anymore and you didn't know if you were OK. Everyone would say 'you look OK,' but you don't feel OK. It was a personal hell, and I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy.' Twins gift David Ortiz peanut butter in homage to epic prank. — theScore (@theScore) June 11, 2016 In addition to his strong defense at third base and consistently good production at the plate, Koskie was also known as a clubhouse prankster who pulled off his most famous trick on David Ortiz during spring training in 2002. As the story goes, Koskie was upset over some minor offense, so he went into the clubhouse during a game and filled Ortiz's underwear with peanut butter. Chunky, too. Later, a freshly showered Ortiz somehow got fully dressed — underwear, jeans, shirt, jacket, shoes — before noticing, at which point it was way too late. Years later, the Twins honored a retiring Ortiz during his farewell stop in Minnesota by having Koskie, Hunter, Gardenhire, LaTroy Hawkins and Eddie Guardado present him with a new jar of chunky peanut butter. It wasn't just pranks that made Koskie a popular teammate. Morneau, who later became a Twins leader himself, credits Koskie for taking him under his wing as a wide-eyed kid drafted out of Canada in 1999. They quickly bonded and years later, when Morneau was a top prospect invited to his first major-league spring training, Koskie was there to mentor him. They still play hockey together. 'He looked out for me and checked up on me in the minor leagues,' Morneau told The Athletic last year. 'My first big-league camp, I made plenty of mistakes. And he was there just saying, hey, you can't do this, you can't do that. There are certain ways you've got to conduct yourself. That's the way the game works. Everyone who's been there understands. They remember what it's like to be a rookie.' Advertisement Koskie probably remembered that rookie feeling more than most, since his path to the majors was anything but standard and his first manager wasn't shy about letting him know his fielding wasn't good enough. In response, he improved his defense as much as anyone in Twins history and emerged as one of the biggest driving forces for the team's return to prominence in the early 2000s. Gary Gaetti is almost universally regarded as the greatest Twins third baseman of all time. And for good reason. He spent 10 seasons in Minnesota, starred on the 1987 championship team, won four Gold Glove awards and has the eighth-most homers in Twins history. Gaetti is unquestionably an all-time Twins great and deservedly was inducted into the team Hall of Fame in 2007. Koskie is, at worst, the No. 2 third baseman in Twins history and has more of a case for the No. 1 spot than most fans would be willing to even consider. Gaetti played four more years and 67 percent more games in Minnesota, yet the career WAR in a Twins uniform is relatively close (27.1 to 22.1) because Koskie was far more consistently an all-around asset. Gaetti's production varied wildly from year to year, and he was a notorious free-swinger prone to terrible on-base percentages. He's most remembered for being a middle-of-the-order slugger on a World Series-winning team, but Gaetti was an above-average hitter relative to the league average in just three of 10 seasons with the Twins, whereas Koskie cleared that bar easily in all six seasons. Gaetti had a .744 OPS for the Twins at a time when the league as a whole had a .728 OPS. He was great from 1986 to 1988 but almost exactly average overall. By comparison, Koskie posted an .836 OPS for the Twins at a time when the league OPS was .771, and he topped the league-wide OPS by at least 40 points in every season. Koskie was a better hitter than Gaetti, often by quite a bit. In fact, Koskie was a better hitter than most everyone in Twins history. Among all players with at least 1,500 plate appearances for the Twins, he ranks seventh in OPS (.836), sandwiched between Kirby Puckett (.837) and Morneau (.832). Koskie's raw numbers are inflated by playing in a high-scoring era, but even his OPS+ — which accounts for that context — ranks 15th in Twins history. Gaetti is one of the elite defensive third basemen of all time in reputation and numbers, so he has a considerable advantage there even though Koskie was a quality fielder himself. And yet WAR, which factors in batting, fielding and baserunning, gives Koskie a sizable all-around edge over Gaetti per 150 games with the Twins — 4.1 to 3.0. Koskie was worth roughly an extra win per year. Advertisement Gaetti's far lengthier Twins career and superior durability shouldn't be brushed aside, and it's absolutely justified to consider 'The Rat' as the Twins' best third baseman. But there's also a reasonable argument to be made for Koskie, and the fact that would come as a shock to so many fans is evidence for his being vastly underrated. And now Koskie is deservedly joining Gaetti in the Twins Hall of Fame this weekend. Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Play today's puzzle
Boston Globe
2 hours ago
- Boston Globe
MLB has improved its product in recent years, so why is the World Series starting on a Friday?
Advertisement Maybe, MLB needs a metaphorical mound visit and a pep talk because before anyone can believe in your product, you have to believe in it yourself. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up The message delivered by the television wasteland start day for the 121st World Series is unmistakable. You're telegraphing a loss of relevance and a lack of confidence by relegating your premier event to a Friday night, desperately dodging NFL football on Thursday night, a more coveted viewing window. Game 1 of the World Series deserves a better and bigger stage. Related : If you think I'm exaggerating about MLB being cowed by Roger Goodell and the iron-fisted popularity of the NFL, just look at the scheduled off days for the Fall Classic. They're Sunday and Thursday. Coincidence? Advertisement The World Series appears content to be baseball background noise to football's Coachella. Yes, the sepia-toned heyday of people huddling around radios or TVs to watch the World Series like their life depended upon it is over. It's a Rockwellian tableau from a simpler time. While there are myriad attempts at retrograde cultural attitudes in this country, there's nothing that will restore the World Series to the zenith of the zeitgeist. Still, baseball can grow the game. The product is compelling and time-friendly since the advent of the pitch clock, which all but abolished the interminable slogs the Red Sox and Yankees engaged in during the early aughts. The exploits of Cal Raleigh, Shohei Ohtani, Aaron Judge, Paul Skenes, and the great story of the unbeatable Brewers provide ample material to market. Baseball isn't Broadway anymore relative to the NFL and college football, but it shouldn't settle for community theater status. Related : Some of this scheduling is self-made by MLB and doesn't involve deferring to football, although the league canned flexible scheduling that would've allowed the Fall Classic to begin earlier than a Friday if the matchup was set. Sometimes more is less. The introduction of the third wild card has watered down the postseason and the World Series. It might be the savior of the Red Sox this season, but it's a false idol in this corner. Advertisement The last time the Red Sox made the playoffs (2021) was the last time MLB's postseason didn't include three wild-card berths in each league. Before 2022, the first season of baseball's bloated 12-team postseason, the World Series hadn't commenced on a Friday since the Woodrow Wilson administration. You had to go back to 1915, when the Red Sox defeated the Phillies in five games. Every year of the third wild card has featured the World Series starting on a Friday. This year, if there's a Game 7, the hero can call himself Mr. November since it will take place on Saturday, Nov. 1. It's not ideal to start your marquee event on a Friday and end it on a Saturday. Related : (The iconic 1975 World Series between the Red Sox and the Cincinnati Reds went seven games, thanks to Carlton Fisk. It finished on Oct. 22, despite having three consecutive rainouts before the indelible Game 6.) The argument is that the third wild card keeps more teams and their fans engaged in the playoff chase longer. It creates more meaningful games during the regular season. But at what expense to the World Series? Paucity of postseason teams and games used to be MLB's brand separator. No more. Having three wild cards increases the quantity of postseason games with two best-of-three series involving the wild-card clubs instead of the old one-game playoff between two wild cards. But it's debatable whether it improves the quality of the postseason, especially with the top two division winners in each league put on ice until the wild card round concludes. Advertisement No third wild card has cracked the 90-win mark. The average win total of a third wild card is 86.8 wins. Two third wild-card teams have reached the World Series — the 87-win Phillies in 2022 and the 84-win Diamondbacks in 2023. Both lost. Admittedly, World Series ratings have diminished. Pre-pandemic, the World Series had never generated a rating lower than 8.0. Since 2020, the World Series has failed to crack a 7.0, although it came very close last year with two marquee franchises, the Yankees and the Dodgers. That Fall Classic earned a 6.9 rating, the highest since 2019. My bet is that if Game 1 of that series hadn't started at 8:08 p.m. on a Friday, the Series would've reached 7.0. Starting the World Series on a Friday night is beneath the event's lofty historical status. It's sports competition capitulation that signals that it matters less than it should. That it doesn't merit front and center consideration. It also forces baseball to make its best pitch with one hand of time tied behind its back. Christopher L. Gasper is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at
USA Today
3 hours ago
- USA Today
BMW Championship: Second round tee times, how to watch, leaderboard Friday
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