mlb

Seven Available (And Awesome) Entrance Songs For MLB Closers

Taylor Adkins
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Mets reliever warms up at Nats Park. Photo: Taylor Adkins/FakeSportsBar.com

Being a Major League closer comes with many perks. The pay is awesome.  You appearances in actual games equates to about 4% of the season, so there’s plenty of down time to relax and watch baseball. When you do your job correctly, you are in essence the grand finale of the show and therefore get one of the loudest ovations of any given game.

Sure, there’s the paper thin job security and all the pressure of getting the three toughest outs of the game, but still, as far as major professional sports go being an MLB closer is pretty choice.  Read more...

The Nationals and Orioles; Rivals Everywhere Except On The Schedule

Taylor Adkins
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Photo: Taylor Adkins/FakeSportsBar.com

Rivalries in sports are usually cut and dry. They consist of two franchises, from their fan bases all the way to the front offices, that flat out don’t like each other. When the two teams get together, it’s always a different feel from a game versus any other opponent, even if both teams are having down years.

The recipe for a good rivalry should include most of the following:  Read more...

  • Consistently on the schedule, particularly in the final 1/4 of a season. Obviously helps if teams are in the same division
  • Geographic proximity

The First Sports Bar, Or: How I Learned To Stop Caring And Love Baseball Cards

Taylor Adkins

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I’m 33 years old and I should be retired by now. As an impressionable and extremely lazy 11 year old, The Guy Behind The Case (official title) at the baseball card shop assured me this would be the case.

If everything had gone according to plan, I would have paid this months cable bill with a handful of Donruss ’89’s from that one factory set I still had laying around.

Instead? I’m pecking at keys, with boxes of Bobby Bonilla rookie cards in the darkest corner of my most unfrequented closet.  Read more...

Postcards From Viera: Washington Nationals Spring Training

Taylor Adkins & Rick Beale

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VIERA, FL —

Spring Training is in full swing, with MLB teams taking the field against one another for the first time today. In Clearwater, the Phillies evidently have some serious rust to shake off.  In Viera meanwhile, the defending NL East Champion Nats are gearing up for a season with incredible expectations. 

Rick Beale, an FSB regular and father of my dear friend Justin is down in Viera to take in the Nationals Spring Training this week. As I look out my window into the dark and icy hellscape of Metro DC, I have to admit I’m extremely jealous.   Read more...

Looking Back: The Orioles Playoff Run To The ALCS

Taylor Adkins

 

The Baltimore Orioles fantastic 2014 campaign catapulted them into the playoffs with the look of a team that could not be beat. Two sweeps later and the O’s are heading home, four wins short of their first AL Pennant since 1983. The loaded Tigers proved no match for The Birds, as Baltimore swept Detroit out of the ALDS by besting the past three AL Cy Young winners: Max Scherzer, Justin Verlander and David Price. However, the script would get flipped in the ALCS, as they were swept tonight by the unlikeliest of teams, the Kansas City Royals. This is the same Royals team that trailed 7-3 in the 8th inning of a win or go home Wild Card game versus the Oakland A’s (and playoff goliath Jon Lester).   Read more...

Looking Back: The Washington Nationals And The 2014 NLDS

Taylor Adkins

96 wins and a 2nd NL East title in three seasons became a major after thought for Nats fans early Wednesday morning on the east coast, as a routine Wilson Ramos grounder resulted in the final out of the 2014 season. It was a grinding series that saw all four games won by the underdog (including the Nats stealing a momentum shifting win against San Francisco Giants ace Madison Bumgarner), the longest game in MLB playoff history clocking in at 6 hours and 23 minutes and a grand total of 18 runs scored over the equivalent of five games.  Read more...

FSB In The Stands: Derek Jeter’s Last Game

Mark Harter
USP MLB: ALL STAR GAME S BBO USA MN
Photo Credit: Jeff Curry/USA Today Sports

 

THE BRONX, NY —

I’ve never been a camera guy. I feel that a lot of people miss big moments (sports plays, kids milestones, etc) because they’re too busy taking pictures or video taping. I had decided last night was going to be different for me, I was going to make sure to get some good shots of the Captain as he’s walking off the field for the last time. Most likely from shortstop with 2 outs in the top of the 9th as he jogs off with his cap in the air. Or even better, a double in the bottom of the 7th & they take him out for a pinch runner with the long walk across the infield.  Read more...

Just How Likely Is The Beltways World Series Between The Nationals And Orioles?

Taylor Adkins

 

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38 miles separate Nationals Park and Camden Yards; this past Tuesday 21 minutes separated the final outs that would clinch the NL East and the AL East for the Nationals and Orioles respectively. Not since 2004 when the Dodgers and Angels clinched on the same night, had two teams in the same metro area locked up their divisions within a couple commercial breaks of each other. It made for great television, as MASN and MASN2 featured extended post game shows that covered both celebrations.

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The Washington Nationals Went Streaking, Now What?

Taylor Adkins

Last night, the Washington Nationals had an impressive 10 game win streak finally halted by the San Francisco Giants. What looked like another game destined for a dramatic finish became a lifeless rout, as the Giants lineup chased Doug Fister and feasted on lefty relievers Jerry Blevins and Ross Detwiler. San Francisco landed at Dulles Airport at 4am after a long and bizarre day at Wrigley Field, in which they finished a suspended game after winning a protest with MLB, and then played their regularly scheduled game with the Cubs later that night. On very little sleep, they coasted to a 10-3 win in Southeast DC.  Read more...

MLB Trade Deadline: A Flurry of Activity

Taylor Adkins

As the transactions mounted today, with the MLB trade deadline looming at 4pm, it was tough to tell if this was fantasy or reality. With a transaction page that reads like your average week in your work rotisserie league, big names were traded for major league ballplayers. This is a departure, for the typical swap of big names on losing teams for prospects out of a contenders farm system.  Read more...