Welcome to The Pregame Lineup, a weekday newsletter that gets you up to speed on everything you need to know for today's games, while catching you up on fun and interesting stories you might have missed. Thanks for being here. Stevie Wonder sang about them. Michael Scott misunderstood them. "Bull Durham" brought them to the screen. We're talking, of course, about superstitions, and baseball players' proclivity for them in particular. There's perhaps no better example of this than new Phillies left-hander Jesús Luzardo, who has become a surprise ace of the staff all while embracing numerous quirks, detailed here by our own Todd Zolecki. When we say numerous we mean that not only because there are many of them, but also because numbers play an important role. Luzardo says his lucky digits are four and eight, but this goes well beyond something simple like wearing No. 44 on his back. On his start days, he takes his first throw at the exact same time: 6:20 p.m. Six plus two equals eight. |
The numbers don't lie. Luzardo's 1.94 ERA is second best in the NL, and he has already compiled 1.7 fWAR (one plus seven equals eight!), also second best in the Senior Circuit. But this is much more than just a numbers game for the superstitious southpaw. It's a speculative way of life that extends all the way to … his specs. You'll notice that Luzardo wears glasses while he pitches, and if you thought they were to enhance his vision you would be incorrect. They are merely decorative for a pitcher who these days has nearly perfect eyesight, but nevertheless refuses to take them off his face lest it mess with his mojo. "One day I left them at home in '22. … I said, 'I have to go get glasses. I can't pitch without glasses,'" Luzardo said. "So I went to an Oakley store in Atlanta and bought a regular pair. I pitched well and ever since I was like, 'I can't switch them.'" Luzardo is only keeping alive a proud tradition of baseball peculiarities. Wade Boggs had to make a meal of fried chicken before every game. Turk Wendell could pitch with no fewer than four pieces of black licorice in his mouth. Players and managers alike will forgo laundry during winning streaks. On occasion, the superstitious even meets the supernatural. • Quiz: Match these superstitious players to their famous ritual It does make sense that baseball players, who fail far more times than they succeed, would be prone to these eccentricities. The game is played in the margins, and they are always looking for that one subtle thing that can shift their fortunes. Sometimes it just takes a pair of non-prescription glasses to see it clearly. -- Scott Chiusano |
• Rangers @ Red Sox (6:45 p.m. ET, MLB.TV): Rangers starter Tyler Mahle enters tonight's start at Fenway with the AL's second-best ERA (1.19). A big reason why? Mahle is the only qualified AL starter who has yet to allow a home run. • Padres @ Yankees (7:05 p.m. ET, MLB.TV, MLB Network): San Diego's six-game win streak came to a screeching halt in a rout at the hands of the Bronx Bombers last night, and now the Padres have to go through Max Fried as they battle for the series win. It'll be tough: New York has won all seven of Fried's starts as a Yankee. • Tigers @ Rockies (8:40 p.m. ET, MLB.TV): This is a pitching matchup between two recent top-10 Draft picks, with Jackson Jobe (No. 3 pick in 2021) going up against Chase Dollander (No. 9 pick in 2023). Jobe has electric stuff and has proven himself as a key part of the rotation for the team with the best record in the AL. The 23-year-old Dollander has been a bright spot for the Rockies, and he's coming off the best start of his career, when he allowed only two hits and one run over 5 2/3 innings against the Braves. |
KEEPING UP WITH THE JONESES |
For Druw Jones, playing center field runs in the family. The No. 7 prospect in the D-backs' system is the son of 10-time Gold Glover Andruw Jones, who patrolled that same territory for 17 years in the bigs. So when Druw turned around and raced to the wall last night in a game for the Hillsboro Hops (fitting name for what was about to happen), it was hard not to see it as a mirror image of his dad back in the day. The younger Jones ended up making a spectacular robbery with serious hangtime, and we went back to the archives to try to find his dad doing something similar (there are lots of options!). The Andruw Jones catch you see above was from 1999 in Atlanta, and in the full clips you will notice both father and son tracking the ball almost identically. Surely that is no coincidence. So who will end up being the better center fielder? Druw Jones didn't hesitate when Jim Callis posed that question in a recent interview. "Me. Of course," he said. |
Freddie Freeman made history twice over with his solo homer last night in Miami. It was his 351st home run, tied with Dick Allen for No. 99 on the all-time home run list. But it was also his 42nd career blast against the Fish, breaking a three-way tie with Ryan Zimmerman and Ryan Howard for the all-time lead in home runs against the Marlins. This latter feat got MLB.com research whiz Shanthi Sepe-Chepuru cranking on a story about the list of home run leaders against every franchise, both all-time and active. It's a fun list to peruse, featuring all the names you'd expect and a few you might not (Ian Happ loves facing the Cardinals). Some insights from the numbers: Babe Ruth is the all-time leader against the most teams (seven!), and Mike Trout paces active players (five). Trout is also the only other active player besides Freeman to be the all-time leader against a team, thanks to his 54 career blasts against the Mariners. Trout has a shot at duplicating the feat: He's only 10 shy of Reggie Jackson's 54 homers for the all-time lead against Texas. But the active player closest to claiming a career lead is actually Nolan Arenado, who's just seven away from Barry Bonds' 39 homers against the D-backs. The Cardinals have six games left against Arizona this year -- could we see more movement on this list before long? -- Andy Werle |
Can you guess today's mystery player using clues like age, league, division, position and place of birth? You'll have nine tries to get it right. Good luck! Play here >> |
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