Latest news with #GregMaddux
Forbes
4 days ago
- Sport
- Forbes
Matthew Boyd Finally Gets Elusive 10th Win, Capping Feel-Good First Half With The Cubs
Chicago Cubs pitcher Matthew Boyd (16) throws during the first inning of a baseball game against the ... More New York Yankees, Saturday, July 12, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura) Sometime in the future when and if double-digit wins and Chicago Cubs is a category in immaculate grid, Matthew Boyd will qualify. For the Cubs, the best part is not the fact Boyd reached double digit wins for the first time in an 11-year career, but perhaps the fact he reached it before the All-Star break and it was not one of those high scoring games where a pitcher is able to stick around long enough but it was a Greg Maddux type of performance on Saturday. 'It's an honor, it's a product of being on this ball club, being a part of a good ball club, and I'm really, really thankful for that,' Boyd said. 'Those wins are a collective thing. It's because the guys in this room are playing really good baseball, so it's fun to be a part of that.' Boyd reached the milestone by allowing four hits in eight innings on 85 pitches against the Yankees, becoming the first pitcher to throw eight scoreless innings against the Yankees since Corbin Burnes had a no-hit bid going for the Milwaukee Brewers on Sept. 10, 2023 and the first left-hander to do it in Yankee Stadium since Derek Holland tossed a two-hitter for the Texas Rangers on June 27, 2013. 'Oh wow, I didn't even know that,' Cubs catcher Carson Kelly said about Boyd getting 10 wins for the first time. 'That's actually really cool. I think it's special and it goes to show the hard work that he's put in, keeping us in games and close games and giving us a chance to score runs. It's really cool to see him get to that point.' Boyd's outing occurred a night after the Cubs saw Cody Bellinger homer three times off three different pitchers and Kyle Tucker get robbed of a homer by Aaron Judge, who did it three other times before getting two of the Yankees' four hits off Boy. Bellinger and Kyle Tucker were central figures in the Cubs' offseason plans after consecutive 83-win seasons on the heels of a 71-91 finish in 2021 and a 74-88 finish in 2022 following the dissolving of the 2016 championship team. The Cubs acquired Tucker in a trade for at least one season from the Houston Astros on Dec. 13 and four days later the Yankees easily acquired Bellinger and got Chicago to pay five million of his remaining $52.5 million. Those moves occurred after Boyd was signed to a two-year, $29 million contract on Dec. 7 after the left-hander showed enough in his comeback from Tommy John surgery on his left elbow with the Cleveland Guardians, who signed him in June. And now Boyd might be among the more underrated offseason moves in the majors based on the results of the unofficial first half. Boyd is the fifth left-hander age 34 or older to get a double-digit win season for the Cubs, joining Jon Lester, Drew Smyly, Ray Prim and Art Nehf. The differences are three of those names achieved double-digit wins already at some level of professional baseball. Lester won 18 and 13 games in 2018 and 2019 in his ages 34 and 35 season. By that point in his 200-win career, Lester had six 10-win seasons with the Red Sox and double-digit wins in his first three seasons with the Cubs, including 19 in 2016. Smyly notched 11 wins two years ago when he was both a starter and reliever for the Cubs but in the 10th year of his career, it was his second such season since he went 11-4 for the World Champion Atlanta Braves in 2021. Prim won 13 games at age 38 for the NL-pennant winning Cubs in 1945 and he might be a smaller comparison to Boyd. He debuted in 1933 as a 26-year-old with the Washington Senators, made 29 appearances for the Phillies in 1935 and spent the next seven seasons with Los Angeles in the PCL where he won 126 games through 1942 before winning 22 more there in 1944. With World War Two breaking out, Prim was able rejoin the majors in 1943 and won four games for the Cubs. After his big 1944, Prim won 13 times in 34 appearances at age-38 before finishing his career the following season. Nehf won 13 games for the Cubs in 1928 during the penultimate season of a 184-win career. Before joining the Cubs, he posted double-digit seasons for the Boston Braves in 1917 and 1918 and five straight double-digit seasons for the Giants. For Boyd, the only time he reached double digit victories was in 2013 when he went 11-4 for Oregon State on a roster that included Michael Conforto. Those wins resulted in the Blue Jays selecting him in the sixth round of the amateur draft in 2013. In 2015, Boyd reached nine wins but did so by getting one win in the majors and three minor league teams while being part of the blockbuster that sent David Price from Detroit to Toronto. With Detroit he posted consecutive nine-win seasons in 2018 and 2019 on teams who were 68-94 and 47-114 respectively. In 2018, Boyd reached nine wins on Sept. 2 by beating the Yankees but took three straight no-decisions and lost his final start. The first of those no-decisions was a game where he allowed one run in seven innings against the St. Louis Cardinals. In 2019, Boyd missed out on a win at Yankee Stadium by taking a no-decision in his second start when he struck out 13 in six innings. He reached his ninth victory on Sept. 22, 2019 by beating the White Sox and then lost to them in a four-inning start six days later. Those seasons represent the last time Boyd pitched heavy workloads. He threw 170 1/3 innings in 2018 and 185 1/3 the following year but various injuries saw him not get over 78 2/3 innings until this season. 'We've seen Boyd quite a bit,' Judge said. 'He came up with Toronto, saw him with Detroit, saw him with Cleveland last year and in the postseason. He's a great pitcher, a great left-handed pitcher." After a few close calls and some injuries, Boyd getting his first career 10-win season and getting selected for the All-Star team, can qualify him as one of the feel-good stories of this season where the Cubs are vying with the Dodgers, Padres, Phillies and Mets to get the National League's top record, especially in era when wins by starting pitchers become more challenging to attain.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Fans flocking to the MLB All-Star Village for fun and games
Fans flocking to the MLB All-Star Village for fun and games The All-Star Village at the Cobb Galleria Centre is now open. Channel 2's Cory James was there on Saturday morning as thousands stood in line for the kickoff ceremony. Inside the lobby, fans were greeted by performers, MLB speakers and legendary Braves pitcher Greg Maddux. Advertisement [DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] 'I think everybody was waiting for a long time to be here in Atlanta,' said David James, Vice President of Baseball and Softball for Major League Baseball. The 500,000 square-foot venue was transformed into an interactive baseball space complete with games, concessions and MLB apparel. 'It's crazy, it's vibrant, and live,' Tasha Carlson said. RELATED STORIES: Jarrod Brown brought his entire family. They were given an opportunity to meet Maddux. 'My wife was shaking, and as a dad and husband, how much happier can you be if your daughter and wife are that happy about it?' Brown said. Advertisement Brown told Channel 2 Action News that baseball is such a big part of their lives that their children have MLB as their initials. The All-Star Village opens at 10 a.m. and closes at 8 p.m. throughout the weekend. [SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]
New York Times
03-07-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Clayton Kershaw becomes 20th pitcher to reach 3,000 strikeouts
Another sentence of Clayton Kershaw's eventual Hall of Fame plaque is now etched, as the longtime face of the Los Angeles Dodgers became the 20th pitcher, and just the fourth left-hander, to log 3,000 career strikeouts. Kershaw, 37, joins Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer as active members of the exclusive club, accomplishing the feat Wednesday with his third strikeout of the night against the Chicago White Sox. He did so in the sixth, when Kershaw's final pitch of the night caught Vinny Capra looking on an 85 mph slider to etch his name in history. Advertisement 'To finally get to — I guess ultimately the last box he needs to check for his future Hall of Fame career is that 3,000 strikeout threshold,' Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said last week. 'We're all waiting in anticipation.' Now, the Cooperstown-bound Kershaw joins former teammates such as Scherzer and Greg Maddux and contemporaries such as Verlander and CC Sabathia in combining swing-and-miss stuff with longevity. Fewer pitchers have reached 3,000 strikeouts than have won 300 games (24), a testament to the consistency and dominance that Kershaw has charted in winning three Cy Youngs and an MVP over his 18 seasons in a Dodgers uniform. The left-hander has authored some of the more dominant pitching stretches in recent memory, and found a way to last long enough to accumulate a number of strikeouts that may never be reached again. A little more than three years after passing Don Sutton for the most strikeouts in Dodgers franchise history (2,696), Kershaw has now joined him on the 3,000-strikeout list. 'When he was going good, he was so good at pitching on the inside corner and off the plate and he had enough of an angle to where the pitch that ended up being a ball or two inside appeared to be a strike,' said Giants president of baseball operations Buster Posey, whose 120 career plate appearances are the most against Kershaw. 'So for me as much as anything I tried to split the plate in half, but he had a way of making it feel bigger than it was.' Verlander, who reached the milestone in 2019 while with the Houston Astros, called his peer 'obviously one of the best starters of our generation.' 'It's a great accomplishment for a magical career,' said Gerrit Cole, one of the few active starters with a realistic shot of joining Kershaw with 3,000 one day. 'Sure-fire Hall of Famer, right?' Philadelphia Phillies ace Zack Wheeler said. 'That basically solidifies that.' Advertisement Still, this is not the same Kershaw whose fastball once popped in the mid-90s and whose curveball inspired nicknames from Vin Scully before he even made his big league debut. Kershaw now struggles to hit 90 mph, coming off shoulder, knee and toe surgeries over the past two winters as he strived for history. He remains effective all the same, even if it took him longer than he'd like to collect the 32 strikeouts he entered this season needing for 3,000. 'Maybe by September I'll get there, we'll see,' Kershaw joked last month. Still, he entered Thursday with a 3.03 ERA on the season. 'It's a lesson in life, certainly (for) our young pitchers who have considerably better stuff right now in their primes to then see Clayton go out there and do what he does — get outs, pitch with efficiency, not feeling his best and still takes the baseball,' Roberts said. 'You don't always have to feel perfect to be productive. I have a lot of respect for him.' Kershaw joins Walter Johnson and Bob Gibson as the only players to reach the milestone while pitching for just one team. The Athletic's Andrew Baggarly, Matt Gelb and Brendan Kuty contributed to this report.
Fox Sports
06-05-2025
- Sport
- Fox Sports
Last Night in Baseball: Braves' no-hitter drought continues
Major League Baseball Last Night in Baseball: Braves' no-hitter drought continues Updated May. 6, 2025 9:51 a.m. ET share facebook x reddit link There is always baseball happening — almost too much baseball for one person to handle themselves. That's why we're here to help, though, by sifting through the previous days' games, and figuring out what you missed, but shouldn't have. Here are all the best moments from last night in Major League Baseball: The Braves lose a no-hitter in the 8th inning April 8, 1994. That day, more than 31 years ago, was the last time an Atlanta Braves pitcher threw a no-hitter. It wasn't Greg Maddux or any of the other Big Three, either: it was Kent Mercker who blanked the Dodgers in L.A. early in the 1994 season. ADVERTISEMENT AJ Smith-Shawver came close to ending that streak on Monday, when the 22-year-old rookie took a no-hitter into the eighth against the Cincinnati Reds. But then Reds third baseman Santiago Espinal broke it up with a single straight up the middle to lead off the inning. Smith-Shawver, who was a high school teammate of Kansas City Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr., finished off the rest of the inning cleanly to wrap up the longest outing of his young career. In just his 11th major league start, the righty struck out five batters, walked four and allowed only the one hit over eight innings. He threw 99 total pitches, 60 of which were strikes. The Braves closed out their 4-0 win, but their no-hitter drought continues on. It's the fourth-longest in MLB, after the Cleveland Guardians (1981), Toronto Blue Jays (1990) and Royals (1991). Meanwhile, it was a tough overall day for the Reds. Rookie outfielder Tyler Callihan, who made his major league debut only last week, broke his left forearm after trying to make a sliding catch. That turned into an inside-the-park home run instead. Double ouch. Well, that was a spectacle, Padres Sometimes ejections can deflate a team. Other times, they can do the opposite. On Monday, in a rainy Yankee Stadium reminiscent of this past weekend's Kentucky Derby, the San Diego Padres played inspired ball once manager Mike Shildt and star Fernando Tatis Jr. were sent to the clubhouse. In the top of the eighth inning, struggling Yankees reliever Devin Williams was called in to try to preserve a 3-0 lead. He struck out the first batter before surrendering a walk and a single, bringing the slugging Tatis to the plate. After Tatis struck out, he said something to the umpire and was immediately tossed. Shildt soon followed suit when he came out of the dugout, hurled his lineup card and pen, removed his glasses all dramatically and also threw them onto the grass, and then got in the ump's face to share his two cents on the matter. So with two outs and their best hitter and manager both gone, what did the Padres do? Score four straight runs in the inning to take the lead and then hold on for the drizzly 4-3 win. Padres vs. Yankees Highlights | MLB on FOX The Padres plated all their runs in just the one inning, but they showed a lot of moxie all night — and that was the difference in the game. Francisco Lindor has got It You know what's great about Francisco Lindor? Everything. He can field, he can hit, and on Monday night, he did a bit of both. First up was a homer: Lindor put the Mets up 5-1 in the seventh inning with a three-run shot off of Diamondbacks' hurler Ryan Thompson: The D-backs would make it a closer affair after that, however, scoring three runs in the eighth after loading the bases on Dedniel Nunez, who somehow walked three batters in a row to setup that difficult situation. And then, in the ninth, Arizona started to get something going when Alek Thomas reached on a throwing error and then later attempted to steal second. Lindor was having none of that, though – check out this incredible tag, presented in slow motion: As the broadcast notes, you can see the pinky finger of Lindor's glove move as Thomas' foot strikes it midslide, letting us know exactly when the tag was applied by the Mets' shortstop. Wonderful stuff that kept the D-backs from threatening once more, and allowed the Mets to hold onto the 5-4 lead they'd built up thanks to, once again, Lindor. Pretty good night for fans of both the Mets and the Knicks. Decent night for Knicks/Yankees followers. Yankees/Nets? Well, at least the Nets didn't lose, right? An eventful night for the Dodgers The Dodgers had three items of note go down in the same game, a 7-4 win against the Marlins. First up was Freddie Freeman, who hit a two-run home run in the third inning to put the Dodgers up 3-0. That's all well and good, but it just so happened to be the 350th home run of his career, putting Freeman in a tie for 100th all-time alongside Chili Davis. While just 101 players have reached the 350-homer mark in the long history of MLB, Manny Machado (345), Nolan Arenado (344), and Bryce Harper (342) should all join Freeman there this season before long. Later, rookie second baseman Hyeseong Kim logged his first big-league hit with a single in the fifth inning, and then his second career hit and his first RBI when he deposited a single into center field in the top of the sixth. Dodgers vs. Marlins Highlights | MLB on FOX And then there was Shohei Ohtani's home run, which, with an exit velocity of 117.9 mph, is the hardest-hit home run in MLB this year. Amazingly enough, it's only the fifth-hardest-hit homer of his career, as noted, and Ohtani now holds the top 13 spots on the exit velocity leaderboards established back in 2015 when Statcast started to track the category. That took what, three seconds to leave the park? Ridiculous. Oh, and just because, Ohtani also stole his 10th base of the season. The first-ever 50/50 player is now up to 9/10 in this young followup season. Honk Want great stories delivered right to your inbox? Create or log in to your FOX Sports account , and follow leagues, teams and players to receive a personalized newsletter daily! share
Yahoo
04-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Membership Has Its Privileges—MLB Hall Of Famer Greg Maddux Lists San Diego Area Home For $4 Million
Benzinga and Yahoo Finance LLC may earn commission or revenue on some items through the links below. One of the best things about being a Hall-of-Fame pitcher like Greg Maddux is that the view is so much better from the top. After relocating to San Diego a few years ago, Maddux has listed his home in the posh enclave of Sunset Cliffs for $4 million. The house is complete with all the luxury trappings you would expect of a property fit for one of the greatest pitchers of all time. The Robb Report profiled the property, and it is a dream home, albeit somewhat understated, which fits right in with Maddux's famously low-key personality. The house is 1,900 square feet and nestled perfectly in the foothills, offering 180-degree views of the Pacific Ocean. It sits on a quarter-acre parcel and offers the property owner easy access to the beach and Sunset Cliffs Nature Park. Don't Miss: , which provides access to a pool of short-term loans backed by residential real estate with just a $100 minimum. Wondering if your investments can get you to a $5,000,000 nest egg? Speak to a financial advisor today. to decide which one is right for you. The four-bedroom, five-bathroom home was fully renovated shortly before Maddux and his wife, Kathy, purchased it in 2017. Those extensive renovations created this house's top selling point: a 1,000 square foot rooftop deck with views stretching as far as the eye can see across the Pacific. The deck, perfect for outdoor dining and sunset cocktail parties, will give the buyer endless enjoyment and entertainment options. The home's lower-level interior features an open floor plan with an adjoining dining and living area. There is also a spacious family room with wood beams accenting the high ceilings and fireplace. The family room also connects to another covered patio. You'll find white marble countertops and backsplashes, a built-in dining nook, and State-of-the-art appliances in the gourmet kitchen. Trending: BlackRock is calling 2025 the year of alternative assets. Upstairs, a private lounge and the master suite offer access to the property's luxurious deck. Plus Real Estate's Zack Dweck is the property's listing agent, and he will have helped Maddux make a tidy profit if he secures an offer for the $4 million asking price. However, he may face some headwinds in the local real estate market. According to Redfin, Sunset Cliffs' $2.7 million median home price is down 40% from last year. According to the Robb Report, Maddux and his wife originally paid $2 million for the property. The good news is that the couple will survive financially even if the Sunset Cliffs property doesn't sell for their asking price. Maddux hit his peak right as Major League Baseball salaries went through the roof. estimates that Maddux earned over $150 million during his playing days. He won 355 games in a 23-year career, most of which came as a starting pitcher for the Atlanta Braves during the franchise's domination of the National League in the 1990s. Maddux won a World Series with Atlanta in 1995 and is recognized as one of the best pitchers in baseball history. He split 2008 – his last year in the big leagues – between the San Diego Padres and Los Angeles Dodgers. As the old saying goes, "It's good work if you can find it." Read Next: Have $200K saved? . This Jeff Bezos-backed startup will allow you to . This article Membership Has Its Privileges—MLB Hall Of Famer Greg Maddux Lists San Diego Area Home For $4 Million originally appeared on Sign in to access your portfolio
