The Cincinnati Reds didn’t flame out. They didn’t choke. They didn’t collapse under pressure. They simply hit a wall — a big, calm, desert-colored wall with “Arizona Diamondbacks” painted across the front in letters large enough to be seen from orbit. Now the question becomes:What do you fix when your team was good enough to win the World Series… but didn’t? This isn’t surgery.This is a tune-up. But make no mistake —...
There are losses, and then there are the kinds of losses that sit in a city’s chest like a weight, refusing to move no matter how many deep breaths you take. The Cincinnati Reds didn’t simply fall short in the World Series — they crashed headlong into a reality they weren’t prepared for. Not because they weren’t good enough. Not because they didn’t fight. But because, for the first time all postseason, they ran into a team that...
Pick 4 – Los Angeles Dodgers Selection: SP Bartolo Colon If there’s a team in this draft that defies easy categorization, it’s the Los Angeles Dodgers. They are a paradox wrapped in a puzzle wrapped in a .500 record. On paper, they look like a club that should be contending. In reality, they spent 1996 drifting somewhere between “not bad” and “not quite enough,” buoyed by a roster full of recognizable names who didn’t quite...
Two Columnists, One Championship, and Absolutely No Agreement on Anything The Arizona Diamondbacks are the 1996 World Series champions, which means two things: Phoenix gets its parade. Jack Fairchild and Kate Prescott get to argue in print again. We sat both of them down with the box scores, the coffee, and the emotional residue of five games of baseball, and let them discuss what really happened. What followed was… exactly what you’d...
Pick 3 – Colorado Rockies Selection: 1B Todd Helton Every so often in the DBL, fate decides to flex its narrative muscle. It happened when Don Mattingly slipped on the pinstripes, a union so natural it felt preordained. And now, in 1996, we get a sequel: Todd Helton to the Colorado Rockies—the most inevitable pairing since the league first shuffled its draft cards. With the top two arms off the board, the Rockies are staring at the cleanest...
Pick 2 – Oakland Athletics Selection: SP Matt Morris By Graham Wexler The Oakland Athletics aren’t strangers to crossroads, but this year’s draft offers something far more enticing: clarity. Sitting at Pick No. 2, Oakland finds itself in an enviable position—close enough to the top to secure elite talent, but without the burden of choosing between multiple franchise-altering paths. The Yankees will take Carpenter at No. 1. Everyone...
If the Cincinnati Reds entered the World Series convinced they were the unstoppable force, the Arizona Diamondbacks spent five games demonstrating the value of being the immovable object. And in baseball, when those two meet, the object usually wins. Arizona didn’t overpower Cincinnati.They didn’t try to match the Reds’ noise, intensity, or fireworks.Instead, they beat Cincinnati in the most Arizona way possible:with poise, sequencing,...
If the Cincinnati Reds were looking for revenge for last year's heartbreak, the Arizona Diamondbacks never gave them the chance. In a World Series that began with ninth-inning chaos and ended with a desert-powered avalanche, Arizona took the crown in five games — and they did it by beating Cincinnati at their own game: pitching, poise, and the occasional well-timed thunderbolt. And yes, I’ll own this: I expected a street fight. Instead,...
The phones are charged, the executives are restless, and the annual trade-season curtain has officially risen. Every year, one team lights the fuse, making the move that signals the market is open for business. And this year, for the first time, we’re putting odds on which club will be the first to break the seal. Front offices are posturing, scouts are shuttling from park to park, and agents are whispering about “momentum.” Some teams...
Pick 1 – New York Yankees Selection: SP Chris Carpenter Although the Wold Series hasn't ended yet, with the release of extension numbers, let's get this party started.There’s a new tenor in the Bronx these days—less swagger, more strategy. The Yankees’ new ownership group hasn’t wasted a single month of its inaugural season, reshaping the organization with a conviction that was sorely lacking in the late Mattingly era. And yes,...