Blog

For those who are unfamiliar with my thought process, I aim to add as many home run hitters as possible to my daily fantasy baseball lineups. One way of doing that is to look at a player’s isolated power numbers (ISO). The ISO statistic removes singles and provides a larger weight for each extra-base hit. I also use the weighted on-base average (wOBA) metric. This stat takes every positive outcome into consideration. Last year,…

Two players who began their careers at opposite ends of the spectrum nearly three decades ago ended up in the same place on Sunday — with their names etched on plaques at the Baseball Hall of Fame. For Ken Griffey Jr. and Mike Piazza, the culmination of their long journeys was tinged with tears all around. “I stand up here humbled and overwhelmed,” Griffey said, staring out at…

Few things in baseball make me more uncomfortable as a television viewer than when a pitcher is making his Major League debut and the camera is trained on his parents. It’s not as big a deal when a hitter plays in his first big league game, because if he strikes out, hey, strikeouts happen all the time — get back out there, rook. But when a pitcher takes the mound,…

The IOC’s ruling against a blanket Olympic ban for Russia was met with disappointment by many.(Photo: James Lang, USA TODAY Sports) Thomas Bach asserted, reiterated and repeated that, yes, indeed, the International Olympic Committee’s decision not to ban Russia from the Rio Olympics was in the interest of clean sport. In delegating the decisions about the eligibility of athletes in a state-sponsored doping program, the IOC was respecting the rights…

Yulia Efimova won gold in the women’s 100m breaststroke at the World Championships in August Seven Russian swimmers have been banned from competing at the Rio Olympic Games by swimming’s governing body Fina. Those deemed ineligible for Rio include Yulia Efimova, a 200m bronze medallist in London, who had a provisional ban lifted by Fina last week. It said the McLaren Report has showed anti-doping rules were “not properly applied”…

Another year and another lackluster Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, particularly when it comes to action on the track and fans in the grandstands. With NASCAR’s new five-year sanctioning agreements in place, there is little use pondering the thought of the race leaving anytime soon – if ever. So, that basically leaves us with one question. Pardoning the election year pun, but can anything be done to…

The IOC’s ruling against a blanket Olympic ban for Russia was met with disappointment by many.(Photo: James Lang, USA TODAY Sports) Thomas Bach asserted, reiterated and repeated that, yes, indeed, the International Olympic Committee’s decision not to ban Russia from the Rio Olympics was in the interest of clean sport. In delegating the decisions about the eligibility of athletes in a state-sponsored doping program, the IOC was respecting the rights…

India, a country with second largest population, has struggled to win medals at Olympics. India dominated the hockey field in which it has won eight gold medals so far. But after 1980 Moscow Olympics, the hockey team failed to snatch a single medal. India first participated at the Olympic Games in 1900, with a lone athlete Norman Pritchard. The nation first sent a team to the Summer Olympic Games in…

RIO DE JANEIRO—Olympics organizers on Monday rushed to fix bad wiring, broken plumbing and other problems in the athletes’ village after several foreign teams complained that accommodations were dirty and in disrepair less than two weeks before the start of the Games. The complaints started on Sunday when dozens of foreign athletes and staff began moving into the new residential complex near the Olympic Park, which is in the western…

The IOC’s ruling against a blanket Olympic ban for Russia was met with disappointment by many.(Photo: James Lang, USA TODAY Sports) Thomas Bach asserted, reiterated and repeated that, yes, indeed, the International Olympic Committee’s decision not to ban Russia from the Rio Olympics was in the interest of clean sport. In delegating the decisions about the eligibility of athletes in a state-sponsored doping program, the IOC was respecting the rights…

Twitter Inc. is fast turning into a digital hangout for sports fans, striking deals with Major League Baseball and the National Hockey League to host live video of games. The social media company on Monday said the package will include live streams of one out-of-market MLB and NHL game once a week. Twitter and MLB Advanced Media, which owns the digital and TV rights to baseball and most hockey games,…

The IOC’s ruling against a blanket Olympic ban for Russia was met with disappointment by many.(Photo: James Lang, USA TODAY Sports) Thomas Bach asserted, reiterated and repeated that, yes, indeed, the International Olympic Committee’s decision not to ban Russia from the Rio Olympics was in the interest of clean sport. In delegating the decisions about the eligibility of athletes in a state-sponsored doping program, the IOC was respecting the rights…

The IOC’s ruling against a blanket Olympic ban for Russia was met with disappointment by many.(Photo: James Lang, USA TODAY Sports) Thomas Bach asserted, reiterated and repeated that, yes, indeed, the International Olympic Committee’s decision not to ban Russia from the Rio Olympics was in the interest of clean sport. In delegating the decisions about the eligibility of athletes in a state-sponsored doping program, the IOC was respecting the rights…

The IOC’s ruling against a blanket Olympic ban for Russia was met with disappointment by many.(Photo: James Lang, USA TODAY Sports) Thomas Bach asserted, reiterated and repeated that, yes, indeed, the International Olympic Committee’s decision not to ban Russia from the Rio Olympics was in the interest of clean sport. In delegating the decisions about the eligibility of athletes in a state-sponsored doping program, the IOC was respecting the rights…

SPEEDWAY, Ind — Jeff Gordon joked all weekend about not being in the same shape now that he was in before retiring at the end of the 2015 season. But Sunday afternoon at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, NASCAR’s “retired” superstar proved himself in good enough form to sustain not only extreme high temperatures but ample pressure.   Gordon, 44, was definitely hot Sunday. In more ways than one.   He passed…

Mallory Pugh, an 18-year-old forward, accelerates past Costa Rica’s Lixy Rodrigues in Friday’s friendly in Kansas City, Kan. (Gary Rohman/USA TODAY Sports) Officially, the Games of the XXXI Olympiad will not begin until the evening of Aug. 5 when Maracana Stadium’s cauldron is lit. For the U.S. women’s national soccer team, the quest for a fourth consecutive gold medal will begin a full 48 hours earlier, not amid the festival…

To save articles or get newsletters, alerts or recommendations – all free. Don’t have an account yet?Create an account » Subscribed through iTunes and need an NYTimes.com account?Learn more » Need to connect your Home Delivery subscription to NYTimes.com?Link your subscription »

SPEEDWAY, Ind. — Tony Stewart ‘s final NASCAR Sprint Cup Series start at Indianapolis Motor Speedway got off to an emotional start here Sunday as NASCAR and IMS officials, along with fans of the three-time premier series champion, paid tribute to Stewart during pre-race activities.   Stewart, twice a winner at the legendary 2.5-mile facility, is retiring from Sprint Cup competition at season’s end. Sunday’s Crown Royal Presents the Combat…

As we surge toward the Major League Baseball non-waiver trade deadline (Aug. 1 this year), we’ll continue to hear all about which players might be traded. For fun, because that’s what we’re all about here, let’s go in the opposite direction and check out some of the most untradeable players in baseball. Caveats? We have caveats. Bad players with low contracts won’t make the cut Those type of players aren’t…

Staring out at their families and tens of thousands of fans who hung on every word, Ken Griffey Jr. and Mike Piazza were inducted Sunday into the Baseball Hall of Fame in a ceremony tinged with tears all around. “I stand up here humbled and overwhelmed,” Griffey said. “I can’t describe how it feels.” The two became a piece of history on their special day. Griffey, the first pick of…