Pick-Up Sports Talk: Cleveland
Cavaliers, Guardians, their respective leagues and whatever else may suit my sports fancy, all from the perspective of a passionate and informed fan.
The Cavs Missing Offensive Piece Might Not Be Who You Think It Is
The Cavs currently stand at 14-11 and in 8th place in an Eastern Conference where they were expected to be one of the two best teams in the field, at worst. Expectations were high coming off of a 2024-2025 campaign that may have ended in an underwhelming fashion, but that saw them arguably sport one…
Bieber Accepting Option Was Weird; But Possible Sign of Blue Jays’ Road to Redemption
One of the first moves of the baseball off-season was when former Guardian and current Blue Jays pitcher Shane Bieber decided return to Toronto for 2026 by picking up the 1-year, $16 million option on his contract. The right-handed former ace’s decision was surprising for many.
Carl Willis Will Return & The Pitching Factory’s Sustainability
If you have read the news that Carl Willis intends to return as Guardians’ pitching coach in 2026, you likely breathed a small sigh of relief (and if hadn’t read that, you can let it out now!). Part of me wouldn’t blame you. Willis’s reputation as one of the best pitching coaches in the sport…
Predicting the Most Exciting Post-Season in Sports
The regular season is built on sustained successes day after day. Days turn to weeks. Weeks turn to months. Months turned into full bodies of work that get you into the post-season. For the post-season itself though, the key moments are ridiculously granular. Key at bats turn into key innings. Those innings change wins into…
Playing the Schedule Game: Analyzing the Guardians Playoff Chances
The good vibes have me thinking. What is it really going to take to close the deal? After more than five months of play, the Guardians, and all MLB teams, are down to less than 20 games remaining in their seasons. The possibilities that were endless when spring was upon us are now becoming quite…
Evaluating the Guardians at the 3rd Quarter Pole
Well, the Major League Baseball season just hit about mile 20 over the past week. The Guardians have played 123 games, or about 76% of their season. This feels like a great time to take some inventory and see where the Guardians stand as the stretch run appears on the horizon. With just under 40…
Dear Journal: Pickup Sports Talk CLE is Back
I last posted on this little corner of the internet that I own five years ago. I have to be honest, I was shocked when I went to the homepage a moment ago and saw the dateline on my last post was August 7th 2020. I just so happen to be sitting here beginning to…
Who and What Is At the Root of the Indians’ Offensive Horrible Start: A Poorly Timed Analytical Blog Post
Coming into Thursday night, the Cleveland Indians offense has been absolutely lackluster. Having scored 12 runs over their past 8 games, they outscored themselves during that time span on Thursday alone with their 13-0 drubbing of the Cincinnati Reds. Man, that had to feel good. It must have felt like a step in the right…
Cleveland Indians 2020 Roster Preview and Projections
I did something amazing on Saturday. I watched live baseball. This wasn’t the live baseball from half a world a way in South Korea at 5 in the morning. No, this was Major League Baseball. In prime time. On a Saturday evening! My own complaints about potentially not being able to watch my games just…
The Overlooked Step that Possibly Ruined MLB Negotiations and Might Even Kill the Season Once It Starts
I write this late in the day of an ultimatum. An ultimatum that appears it will go unanswered. I am paraphrasing, but Saturday, after weeks of dickering back and forth between the Major League Baseball owners and the Players Association the players came to a conclusion. That conclusion was that any further negotiations between the…
Jerry West as the 1st Modern GM, Reggie Miller as a Knick, and More About How the 1996 NBA Offseason Relates to 2020
Besides the obvious situation the league finds itself in, this NBA season has been without recent precedent in one other way. For the first time in more than a decade, the 2019-2020 NBA league year does not include a “Super-Team” among its two conferences. Sure, there are super-star players coordinated together in different cities in…
The Gasoline Gang: A Cleveland Indians Bullpen Theory- Eric Plunk
By the off-season before the 1992 MLB season, the Cleveland Indians were well on their way to putting the building blocks in place that would one day become “The Dynasty That Almost Was”. Though this era of baseball was as bittersweet as that nickname suggests, there was a lot to cherish from those teams, including…
What Re-Opened Sports Leagues Can Teach the Four Majors About the Importance of a Quick Return
It is a regular opinion that the sport first out of the gate to bring a return to major American athletics to the general public in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic will reap major rewards. That’s the view for today, and its no wonder then why the NBA, NHL and MLB are just as…
Ranking the Dream Teams: The 7 Pro Iterations of US Men’s Olympic Basketball in Order
With the 2020 Summer Olympics postponed one calendar year, the United States Men’s Basketball team will have to wait another twelve months to avenge a lethargic and disappointing 7th place finish at the 2019 FIBA World Cup. While not quite the stage that is the Olympics, that unfortunate tournament outcome was the first of its…
Crunch-Time Break Down: Classic Edition- Game 6, 2015 ALCS Blue Jays vs. Royals
With no professional team sports being played on the North American continent right now, many have turned to classic games as a refuge to help distract them from the very difficult real world problems that we are dealing with as a sports-loving people. I am no different in this and as the time approaches where…
Breaking News: It’s 1996 and the Indians Have Traded Albert Belle
Mookie Betts may never play for the Los Angeles Dodgers. The 27-year old right-fielder was traded from the Boston Red Sox to the Dodgers this past winter along with David Price for a bevy of young talent, despite being the 2018 American League Most Valuable Player, a four-time Gold Glove and three time Silver Slugger…
With Some Teams Allowed to Practice Soon, Here’s An NBA Playoff Plan
Just yesterday NBA Commissioner Adam Silver announced that as states begin to ease restrictions on their “shelter in place” decrees, the league will permit the effected teams to return to their practice facilities if the lifted restrictions allow for it. This means that for instance, there is a chance the Cleveland Cavaliers could return to…
A Baseball Debate: Do Today’s Pitchers Throw Harder Than They Used To?
One continual debate that I enjoy having with people that love baseball is about the idea of how hard pitchers have thrown throughout history. Recently, I’ve seen a lot of posts online about great baseball documentaries, and this conversation re-inspired a debate in my mind because of the Netflix documentary simply titled Fastball. For those…
One Last (Imperfect) Statistical Analysis: 2020 vs 2009 Naismith HOF Class
Here we are. The final foe. I have tested the players of this year’s Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame against three classes of greats originating from similar inductions in 1980, 1987 and 2006, and each time this year’s recipients have held up to the challenge. So far, this does truly look like the greatest class…
Are They the Best Class Ever? An (Imperfect) Statistical Analysis of the 2020 NBA Hall Inductees- Part 2
At the time of my last entry, I spoke to the prowess of the players of the 2020 Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame class and how quite possibly, this is the prominent class in the history of the institution. To test that theory, I have put together the four classes that I think would be…
Are They the Best Class Ever? An (Imperfect) Statistical Analysis of the 2020 NBA Hall Inductees- Part 1
I hope that the nine individuals that will be inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2020 will get the fanfare that they deserve. On Saturday the Hall of Fame announced that three men’s and one woman’s player, (Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett and Tamika Catchings, respectively) along with four coaches (Kim…
Where to Turn as COVID-19 Takes Our Games Away… Its all Digital These Days
It’s a quiet and bleak time in the world of sports. As all non-essential workers have been asked to step away from their work lives, the universe of professional sports has been put on pause. I’m sad to say that my previous prediction of how the athletic part of our society would react to the…
The Three At-Bat Minimum: A Crazy Idea to Up Interest in Baseball (its different than the three batter minimum)
Watch enough well-pitched baseball games and eventually you will hear something similar to: “Mike Clevinger was stellar today, pitching a complete game shut out. He allowed just one hit and one walk over 9 innings, but was the benefactor of two double play balls. He faced the minimum.” “The minimum.” For those that may not…
A Post About NBA’s Schedule Suspension- A Shocked Sports Fan’s Perspective
I am so frustrated right now. Some of what I am about to say might come off as short-sighted or selfish, I understand that. I want to make it fully known that I totally understand and ultimately accept the decision that the NBA has made tonight. NBA games are officially suspended following the conclusion of…
The Roller-Coaster That Is Just Trying to Watch Your Team’s Games in 2020
I breathed a really big sigh of relief Thursday night. After much trepidation caused by the roller-coaster that has become Major League Baseball broadcast rights, I found out yesterday that I will indeed be able to watch my Cleveland Indians play baseball on television this season. Allow me to explain. Like many (especially younger) people,…
Follow This Site
Get new content delivered directly to your inbox.
Pick-Up Sports Talk: Cleveland 