The Baseball Listicle Lineup for December 16-31, 2024
My favorite baseball articles, many in the form of "listicles", from the past two weeks
Issue #212
The latest edition of a regular feature here at Now Taking the Field—a roundup of my favorite recent baseball articles, many though not all in the form of “listicles”—articles framed around a list of some sort or other. I continue to focus this for now on articles by other Substack baseball authors, and articles directly from MLB.com itself.
Here are my favorite articles for the weeks December 16-31, 2024, starting with articles written by other baseball-focused Substack authors:
Finding Elite Skills: Bat Speed vs. Sprint Speed, by
at 12/31/20245 Baseball Cards to Rev You Up for the New Year, at
12/29/2024Red Sox Post Christmas Wish List, at
12/27/2024Andruw Jones Deserves Election To Hall of Fame, by Dan Schlossberg at
12/27/2024- at 12/24/2024
5 'Surprising Second' Baseball Cards, at
12/22/2024The Next Players Who Could Belong In the Hall of Fame, by Paul Semendinger at
12/21/2024Being Rickey, by
at 12/21/2024Giving Pitchers Long-Term Deals is Risky Business, by Dan Schlossberg at
12/20/2024
Beyond Substack, these were my favorite articles from the writers at MLB.com these past two weeks:
Here are 8 prospect-related predictions for 2025, by Joe Trezza, 12/31/2024
Remembering the baseball greats we lost this past year, by Will Leitch, 12/30/2024
24 reasons baseball was the BEST in 2024, by Sarah Langs, 12/30/2024
18 exciting prospects set for full-season debuts in 2025, by Ben Weinrib, 12/30/2024
Each team's breakout player for 2025, by MLB.com writers, 12/30/2024
One prospect to watch for each team in 2025, by MLB.com writers, 12/29/2024
The 10 rarest, wildest box score lines of 2024, by Andrew Simon, 12/29/2024
Each team's all-time strikeout king, by Shanthi Sepe-Chepuru, Dylan Svoboda and Manny Randhawa, 12/29/2024
15 standout Statcast plays from a memorable 2024 season, by David Adler, 12/28/2024
1 (realistic) free-agent target to fit every team, by MLB.com writers, 12/28/2024
The 10 strangest trades in MLB history, by Anthony Castrovince, 12/28/2024
The exclusive club that Witt cracked in '24, by Manny Randhawa, 12/27/2024
1 stat for every team to marvel at from 2024 season, by Sarah Langs, 12/27/2024
Breaking down Hall candidates by their peak years, by Brian Murphy, 12/26/2024
These 9 clubs improved their farm system most in 2024, by Sam Dykstra, 12/26/2024
1 fun -- or weird -- moment from each first-time 2025 HOF candidate, by Brian Murphy, 12/26/2024
Revisiting our best and worst 2024 predictions, by MLB.com writers, 12/25/2024
Each team's prospect whose stock improved most in '24, by Jim Callis, Sam Dykstra, Jonathan Mayo, 12/25/2024
12 players who reached big-time milestones in 2024, by Sarah Langs, 12/24/2024
12 holiday gifts for MLB stars under the tree, by Andrew Simon, 12/24/2024
The 10 signature players of the 2024 season, by Will Leitch, 12/23/2024
Experts debate 3 hot topics on 2025 Hall of Fame ballot, by Theo DeRosa, 12/23/2024
Top pop culture moments for all 30 teams, by Will Leitch, 12/22/2024
Will anyone ever threaten this Rickey record?, by Manny Randhawa, 12/21/2024
Most career leadoff home runs in MLB history, by Jason Catania, 12/21/2024
Experts predict this year's Hall of Fame voting, by MLB.com writers, 12/20/2024
Needle pointing up for 8 breakout stars of 2024, by Will Leitch, 12/19/2024
Who will sign Sasaki? 2 division rivals appear to have big edge, by Jonathan Mayo, 12/18/2024
We predicted MLB's best in 2024. How'd we do?, Andrew Simon, 12/18/2024
Who is baseball's best baserunner? Statcast's newest metric tells us, by David Adler, 12/16/2024
uDid you know? I wrote a book with the same title as this Substack newsletter / blog: Now Taking the Field: Baseball’s All-Time Dream Teams for All 30 Franchises. It was published in early 2019, by ACTA Sports, the publisher of the annual Bill James Handbook and other popular titles. You can learn more about it at www.NowTakingTheField.com, or buy directly at Amazon and other booksellers.
Thank you!