Dodgers news...
The Dodgers had an off day on Thursday, but were active on social media, participating in the Crack Cancer challenge.
In honor of Brain Cancer Awareness month, the guys joined in on the #CrackCancer Challenge. pic.twitter.com/SQiLnL35UV
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) May 23, 2019
ESPN’s Alden Gonzalez writes a piece on Alex Verdugo and the energy he brings to the Dodgers clubhouse.
Verdugo can electrify L.A. the way Yasiel Puig did, but unlike Puig, whose enigmatic personality created barriers, Verdugo also can unify a group. He wears that thick gold chain and that blue bandana and that exuberant smile, and his teammates have grown to love him for it. He cheers boisterously from the dugout, claps emphatically from the bases, and has achieved distinct likability in the midst of unrelenting arrogance, which isn’t easy. Not at his age.
The Dodgers are the favorite to win the National League Pennant for the third year in a row. SB Nation’s main site takes a look at the odds.
Around the league...
FiveThirtyEight dissects the movement of curveballs and sliders, which have each become more refined this season.
The New York Yankees absolutely own the Baltimore Orioles. MLB.com take a look at the Yankees’ dominance over the Birds and how Glyber Torres’s homers have helped.
Gleyber Torres is:
— MLB Stats (@MLBStats) May 23, 2019
-The 4th player ever with 4 multi-HR games in a season vs. the same team
-The first since 1955 (Roy Sievers, WSH) pic.twitter.com/81YySNFEgR
Mets outfielder, Rajai Davis was called up on the last minute while he was with the Triple-A team in Pennsylvania. So he called an Uber to take him to Queens. And then he hit a pinch-hit home run.
Two words: robot umpires.
An electronic radar system called TrackMan will soon be calling balls and strikes in the Atlantic League, an independent East Coast league that has emerged as MLB’s testing ground for new rules and equipment initiatives.
And my personal favorite video from Thursday.
Yeli chugged it like a true Brewer
— Cut4 (@Cut4) May 24, 2019
pic.twitter.com/FTCNMxhN4a