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Baseball is largely a self-sustaining entity; as players leave the stage, new ones stand ready to take their place. Veterans lose their spots to age or injury, but there’s a seemingly bottomless well of young talent to draw from (just look at the prospect lists that accompany each team preview in this magazine). But that doesn’t mean we don’t feel pangs of nostalgia and grief when our heroes depart for good. The past several months have been marked by the passing of some true legends of the game, and as we look ahead to another season, I’d like to pause and remember. In 2024, we lost arguably the greatest player in baseball history in Willie Mays, the ultimate five-tool talent whose flair and mastery of the game made him the…

MARCH March 28 The Diamondbacks score 14 runs in the third inning against Colorado without hitting a home run, tied for the most by a team in an inning without a home run since 1900 (the Red Sox in the bottom of the seventh inning on July 4, 1948). Arizona wins 16-1, tied for the third-largest Opening Day win in MLB history. March 31 The Yankees become the seventh team to open a season with four or more straight wins after being tied or trailing in the sixth inning or later in each game. They join the 2015 Reds, 1982 White Sox, 1957 White Sox, 1914 White Sox, 1911 Highlanders (now Yankees) and 1901 Tigers. APRIL April 10 On National Siblings Day, Bo and Josh Naylor’s 10th-inning heroics mark the third…

A PITCHER → Recorded as many as 44 outs before his first hit allowed to begin a season, since the mound was moved to its current distance in 1893 (Ronel Blanco). → Struck out at least 14 batters in an outing of fewer than 90 pitches, since pitch counts were first tracked in 1988 (Tyler Glasnow, April 9). → Had a scoreless 15-game span with more than 35 strikeouts and fewer than five walks, since 1901 (Mason Miller). → Went at least six innings and allowed zero or one hit in three straight outings, since 1901 (Dylan Cease). → Struck out at least eight consecutive batters in his team debut (Yusei Kikuchi, Aug. 2, HOU). → Who was Japanese-born started a postseason game opposite another Japanese-born starting pitcher (Yoshinobu Yamamoto…

NEW EPISODE OF SHO-TIME For Shohei Ohtani, every season comes with a new batch of storylines. Last year, it was a huge contract, a new team, a devious translator (surprise twist!), a championship pursuit — and, as he recovered from a serious elbow operation, a new club to create: the 50/50 Club. We know how all that turned out — the Dodgers won the World Series, the translator went to prison and Ohtani, baseball’s (heavily deferred) $700 million man, became the first player ever with 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases in the same season. But when Ohtani attempted a steal in Game 2 of the World Series, he dislocated his left shoulder on the dirt at Dodger Stadium. He played the final three games in obvious pain and underwent arthroscopic…

Shohei Ohtani did not pitch in 2024. You know this, of course. But it’s OK to admit that you occasionally forgot about his elite pitching prowess as he turned in one of the greatest offensive seasons in the history of baseball. Not only did he become the first player ever to hit at least 50 homers and steal at least 50 bases in a season — he was one swipe shy of going 50-60 — but he also helped lead his new team, the Los Angeles Dodgers, to the World Series title and was unanimously voted as the National League’s Most Valuable Player. “Obviously, my goal was to be able to pitch and contribute offensively,” Ohtani said in a conference call after winning the MVP, through interpreter Matt Hidaka. “The…

Paul Skenes was transcendent as a rookie for the Pirates in 2024. The No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 MLB Draft made wily veterans and rising young superstars look equally silly at the plate, contrasting his incendiary fastball with an explosive slider and a pitch that he made famous — the splinker, a combo splitter and sinker. But the big righthander was nowhere to be found in October. The other Pirates, as you probably know, were not very good, and the only impact Skenes made on the playoff race was when he faced one of the teams vying for a spot in October. This wasn’t Skenes’ fault, of course, but it was disappointing for fans of the sport. What wasn’t disappointing was the performance of rookies who forced their…