Latest Stories
Most recently published stories in Unbalanced.
J.D. Martinez Would be a Perfect Fit for the Red Sox This Offseason
When the Arizona Diamondbacks acquired J.D. Martinez at the trade deadline, I wrote a short article about how Martinez would thrive playing in the hot, dry weather in Arizona. Coming from Detroit, where he hit 38 home runs in 2015, to a climate where the ball flies. Well, that is exactly what happened: Martinez came to Arizona with 16 homers, and within 62 games with the Diamondbacks, he hit an astounding 29 homers. He was a big reason Arizona even made the postseason in 2017, finishing the season with a .303 average and 45 bombs.
By Quinn Allen8 years ago in Unbalanced
Michigan State is the Best Team in the Nation
Preseason polls are crazy. That’s just a fact of life when it comes to college sports. There are 347 teams in Division 1; it’s unreasonable to expect anyone to be able to rank them with any real accuracy, especially when they haven’t played any games yet. That being said, there is a massive mistake at the top of the table. Duke currently stands at number 1 while Michigan State ranks 2; the truth is exactly the opposite. Let’s get into it.
By Christian LaFontaine8 years ago in Unbalanced
Wake Up Mr. West
Music has changed since the turn of the decade. Projects have replaced albums and mixtapes. CDs have joined their plastic "retro" with the streaming service battle taking almost a year break between projects. Some take the year off to have fans hungry for some more. Others never leave the public eye with multiple project within the same year. When your wife has a multi-million dollar franchise, it's hard for someone like Kanye West to ever leave the spotlight.
By Justin Richards8 years ago in Unbalanced
Is It Time to Rethink Hitter's Counts?
Hitters have always lived by the idea that they will try and work the count in their favor to not only get closer to a walk, but to force the pitcher to be more predictable. Limit the pitcher down to just throwing you a fastball, and give yourself a better chance at guessing correctly. Pitchers do not want to walk people and will throw their fastball much more predictably as they fall down in the count.
By Owen McGrattan8 years ago in Unbalanced
Blake Griffin Dunks on the Kardashian Curse
Click here to listen to the We're Working On It podcast, and subscribe to the podcast for weekly content. Since the start of the 2014-15 season, Los Angeles Clippers forward Blake Griffin has missed 83 regular season games. Despite missing time with various low body injuries, the Clippers blessed the 28-year-old with a five-year, $173 million contact extension. With the financial security in hand, along with the unveiling of "Point Blake," things seem to be on the rise for not only Griffin, but the Clippers organization. So, Clippers fans could not have enjoyed learning of Griffin's new relationship with Kendall Jenner.
By Justin Richards8 years ago in Unbalanced
Qualifying Offer Part One: First Base
The World Series may have been an incredible finish to the 2017 season, but baseball is a year round business. All 30 teams had until the afternoon of November 6 to issue a Qualifying Offer to any of their pending free agents. The Qualifying Offer is a one year deal with a value equal to the average of MLB’s top 125 salaries in the most current season. This year, the value is $17.4 million.
By Matt Mocarsky8 years ago in Unbalanced
How Brad Stevens Is Accomplishing Defensive Genius in Boston
Over the past five years, we’ve seen magic in Boston. This isn’t a reference to the number of street performers you might see while strolling around Faneuil Hall or the halftime show at TD Garden. It has to do with the rabbits that Brad Stevens constantly pulls out of his hat on a yearly basis. We’ve seen him turn rebuilding teams into playoff participants, manufacture after timeout plays that become guaranteed points, and even transform a 5'9" point guard into a perennial All-Star. Yet through the first few games, we already seeing how Brad Stevens saved his best trick for this season by turning these Celtics into the best defensive unit in basketball.
By Dan O'Shea8 years ago in Unbalanced
Has the Qualifying Offer Been Worth It?
The off-season is officially upon us, and the ups and downs of the playoffs have been replaced with hushed whispers of trade rumors and the frantic refreshing of Ken Rosenthal's Twitter feed. Free agents officially filed this Monday, and nine players were tagged with qualifying offers — one-year contracts for a league-set salary from a player's former team that, if declined, entitle the former team to a draft pick between the first and second round of the 2018 MLB Amateur draft. Of all of the players who have received qualifying offers, only five have ever accepted them for various reasons. How has each player who took the QO fared after taking the offer?
By John Edwards8 years ago in Unbalanced
Will Duchene Make The Sens Better?
Well, it finally happened. After months of speculation and prognostication, Matt Duchene has finally been dealt by the Colorado Avalanche. The winners of the Duchene sweepstakes are the Ottawa Senators, who were involved as part of a three-team trade to earn the coveted centerman.
By Kyle Vandenberg8 years ago in Unbalanced
