MLB

There have been plenty of perfect games in professional baseball. But there has likely never been a more perfect, perfect game than what Roki Sasaki pitched on Sunday. Facing the Orix Buffaloes in the Nippon Professional Baseball League in Japan, the 20-year-old hurler for the Chiba Lotte Marines retired all 27 batters he faced, including a record-tying 19 via strikeout.

Generally when a player transfers to MLB from Japan’s NPB, growing pains are expected. When the Chicago Cubs landed Hiroshima Carp star Seiya Suzuki this offseason, his game was recognized as one that could translate – but it’s hard to imagine anyone thought it would translate as quickly as it has.

One of the more interesting changes for the 2022 season isn’t going to be immediately evident to those first turning the game on. Amid all of the talk about the universal DH and the extra-innings runner, MLB and the MLBPA also agreed to larger bases for the upcoming season.

How deeply does baseball pulse through the veins of The Sporting News? It was the reason TSN was established in 1886 (more to come on that soon). Before there was an American League, which, by the way, TSN played a outsized role in founding, The Sporting News covered the National League and the American Association.

George Steinbrenner, the fiery, volatile Yankees owner who prioritized winning over pretty much everything else, died of a heart attack at 80 years old in July 2010, about nine months after his club won the 2009 World Series in six games over the Phillies.