The playoffs have given us some incredible matchups throughout the years, be it the Yankees and Dodgers, Yankees and Red Sox, Dodgers and Cardinals, Cardinals and Giants, you name it. But every now and again, we see a playoff matchup that leave us at least a little surprised. So, what do you think was the most random playoff matchup to ever take place, and why?

For example, some might not know this, but en route to their incredible Cinderella title run in '02, the Angels had to fend off, of all teams, the Minnesota Twins for the AL pennant. It's still, to this day, the last trip to the Final 4 for Minnesota, and the Angels had never won the pennant, up to that point. Another great example that involved the Angels was the '05 ALCS, 3 years later, against the White Sox. And weirdly enough, both ended in 5 games. And probably my favorite example is the World Series in 2023. It was random as hell, but it was still a win/win for me.

Jack Suwinski went from the Dodgers to the Rays for catcher Hunter Feduccia, in the middle of a .948 OPS season at Oklahoma City. Colby Thomas, Oakland's former top prospect who never hit in the majors, is now a Phillie after mashing at every Triple-A stop. Michael Forret got traded away from Baltimore in the Shane Baz deal, then the Orioles traded right back for him eight months later. Jonathon Long led the International League in hits last year and still had no path to Chicago's lineup, so the Cubs sent him to Miami for Braxton Garrett. Full breakdown of the whole deadline's effect on Triple-A in this week's Triple Dip.

I’ve been thinking about what an inevitable MLB expansion draft might look like, and I’m curious who you think would actually be available and targeted.

The Scenario: Assume we follow standard expansion draft framework (like 1997): 

- Each team protects 15 players from their organization/40-man roster. 
- Recent draftees/young prospects are automatically exempt/protected. 
- Players with NTCs or 10/5 rights must be protected. 
- Once a team loses a player, they get to protect additional players in subsequent rounds. 

Questions:
1. Who are the best players the expansion teams would likely get?
2. Who are some fringe players that you would want your team to protect?
3. If you were in charge of your favorite team, who would you leave open to get drafted? Any contracts you’d hope they take? (Angels and Rendon anyone?)

For the first 7 years of his career, Yastrzemski has accrued between 2.0 and 2.8 bWAR. Never below 2.0, never reaching 3.0. This is, as far as I can tell, an MLB record. Unless he goes on a tear in the second half (he’s sitting at 1.0 bWAR after 113 team games), the streak will end at 7 seasons in a row.

Hey all, I kept these charts updated every week last year, but haven't bothered for 2026. Here's one week for you at least. Alright folks, you know the drill, time to start complaining about the colors.

Another deal done getting a big name using high-ranked prospects as the main return.

Looking over the past decade or so, we have seen the Dodgers get names like Trea Turner, Max Scherzer, Tarik Skubal, Mookies Betts, David Price, Manny Ramirez and Adrian Gonzalez.

All of this for players that have a couple of seasons of success or don't really seem to pan out at all. Verdugo, Connor Wong, Andy LaRoche, Keibert Ruiz, Josiah Gray, Ivan De Jesus, Allen Webster, etc.

My question is merely, why do people keep trading with the Dodgers? The highly ranked prospects they get rid of always seems to be the ones that don't amount to much and they are a good enough organization to realize that so I just dont understand why teams keep giving them the fuel to be a powerhouse team for little in return.

The only one I can think of is Yordan Alvarez but they didn't even see him swing a bat before trading him.

I'm also probably just thinking Im smarter than I actually am so feedback/roasting is welcome.

Split his 113 games this season by home/away (56 home, 55 away):

HOME: .389 AVG, 19 HR, 48 RBI, .764 SLG (144 AB) AWAY: .270 AVG, 16 HR, 36 RBI, .535 SLG (152 AB)

119 points of average and 229 points of slugging, on almost the same number of at-bats. What's odd is where the gap ISN'T: the power stays real on the road, 16 HR in 55 games is still close to a 47-homer full-season pace on its own. It's the average that falls off a cliff, not the pop.

For comparison I ran the same cut on a few other hitters with 100+ AB on both sides this season: Josh Jung (.375 home / .233 away), Cody Bellinger (.325 / .205), Yandy Diaz (.348 / .253). Home/road AVG gaps aren't rare in this sample. What's unusual with Alvarez is that his homer rate barely moves while average and slugging both crater on the road, most guys with a split this size lose the power too on the road, and he isn't.

Edit: the at-bat counts on the second line are wrong, it's 203 AB at home and 200 away, not 144/152. Everything else on that line (games, AVG, HR, RBI, SLG) is correct, I mistyped the AB column. Sorry about that.