Sports
The top NFL media stories of 2024: Tom Brady debuts, Netflix steps in and more
If you want some long-term relationship advice, I offer you this: Find someone who loves you as much as news outlets love end-of-the-year content.
The New Yorker did a piece 11 years ago on why our brains love lists, and it holds up today. Among other reasons: It spatially organizes information and promises a story that’s finite.
The NFL story will, of course, continue in 2025 and beyond, but in the space below, we offer eight NFL media stories that captured our interest in 2024.
1. Tom Brady begins his NFL broadcasting journey
Fox has the broadcast rights to the Super Bowl this year, which means Brady will call the league’s most important game in his rookie season as a TV analyst. He is 15 games into a 10-year, $375 million deal with Fox, a journey that has prompted plenty of commentary on his performance, including multiple pieces from this author.
Brady’s broadcasting work has improved during the season — not to the point of being an elite TV analyst, but the progress is noticeable. Still, the long-term prediction here is that Brady’s juggling act as Las Vegas Raiders owner and TV analyst, and the restrictions that come with that, feels unsustainable for Fox and Brady.
Tom Brady has improved as a game broadcaster, but February’s Super Bowl looms as the ultimate test of his progress. (Mitchell Leff / Getty Images)
2. Netflix lands an NFL package of games
Netflix and the NFL announced in May a three-season deal for Christmas Day games through 2026. That deal becomes even more magnified given Netflix securing the exclusive broadcast rights in the United States for the 2027 and 2031 editions of the Women’s World Cup. These are significant signals to the marketplace (along with its WWE rights deal, given its live element) that Netflix has shifted from being interested in sports-adjacent properties to being a legitimate sports rights holder.
The streaming giant aired the Kansas City Chiefs–Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens–Houston Texans games on Christmas Day and largely succeeded in avoiding a glitch-filled rerun of its Jake Paul-Mike Tyson fight event.
GO DEEPER
‘Watch what Netflix does’: Unwrapping the NFL’s Christmas Day experiment
3. Peacock airs a regular-season game from São Paulo
The Philadelphia Eagles–Green Bay Packers game on Sept. 6 was the NFL’s first-ever regular-season game in South America and aired exclusively on Peacock, the streaming network’s third exclusive NFL game following the Buffalo Bills–Los Angeles Chargers regular-season game in December 2023 and the Miami Dolphins-Chiefs AFC wild-card playoff game last January.
The result was a significant viewership win for the league and the streamer. Peacock delivered 14.2 million viewers for Eagles-Packers, well above the 7.3 million for Bills-Chargers and Peacock’s second-best NFL streaming audience ever only behind the Chiefs-Dolphins game (23 million viewers). The numbers include figures from the over-the-air markets in which the games ran.
The NFL will play eight international games in 2025, including in Madrid, as Spain will be the sixth country to host an NFL regular-season game. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and Chiefs owner Clark Hunt have talked openly about playing 16 games overseas annually in the near term, per this report from SBJ’s Ben Fischer. It’s clear we will soon see a Sunday morning window with a new international media-rights package.
4. Super Bowl LVIII sets TV ratings record
We live in an apples-to-pomegranates world when it comes to comparing the sports viewership of today versus yesteryear, due to factors including new out-of-home viewership data and cord-cutters and cord-nevers. Using today’s metrics, via Nielsen and Adobe Analytics, the Chiefs’ 25-22 overtime victory over the San Francisco 49ers in February’s Super Bowl averaged 123.7 million viewers across television and streaming platforms. That makes it the most-viewed program in history, shattering the previous mark of 115.1 million for Kansas City’s last-minute win over Philadelphia in the previous Super Bowl.
Fans watch Super Bowl LVIII outside Chase Center in San Francisco. The game was the highest-rated program in television history. (Loren Elliott / Getty Images)
5. The rise of alt-broadcasts
The alternate broadcasts of NFL games launched into a new stratosphere in 2024 with a “Simpsons” animated alt-cast of “Monday Night Football” airing on ESPN+ and Disney+, and NBC Sports making its NFL alternate broadcast debut on Peacock with last week’s Texans-Chiefs game. It follows alt-broadcasts on Nickelodeon and ESPN’s now long-standing Manning Brothers broadcasts and one using “Toy Story.”
6. The ‘New Heights’ podcast blows up
The popular podcast — hosted by brothers Jason Kelce, the Eagles’ center from 2011-2023, and Travis Kelce, the current Chiefs tight end — inked a deal with Amazon’s podcast network, Wondery, in 2024 to be the program’s new home.
The show has found itself on measurement lists of the biggest podcasts in the United States and has nearly 2.5 million subscribers on YouTube. One of the interesting notes in the deal is Wondery’s plans to translate the podcast to different languages to increase its global audience, including in NFL-strong markets such as the United Kingdom and Mexico. That’s a blank space for NFL fans.
GO DEEPER
The Kelce brothers and the ‘Heights’ of podcast popularity
7. New broadcast rules for increased access
It was not an accident that you saw more in-game interviews during NFL games this season. Last May, the NFL broadcasting department outlined access changes for the NFL’s television partners after a review between the league and its media rights holders. The shared goal? To enhance the game content that we see as NFL viewers. The new rules included in-game coach interviews for all games, pregame player interviews for all games, network pregame locker room coverage, preseason player interviews, and coaches’ booth network cameras. Look for it to continue.
8. NFL ordered to pay $4.7 billion in “Sunday Ticket” antitrust trial … only to see it overturned
In August, the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles overturned a $4.7 billion verdict against the NFL for colluding to raise prices for its “NFL Sunday Ticket” television package. The judge disqualified expert testimony used by the jury to determine damages. (The jury’s verdict had threatened to upend the league’s strategy of selling exclusive television packages to broadcasters.) Next up: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Per Sportico’s legal writer and sports law professor, Michael McMann, a decision is likely many months, if not longer, away.
GO DEEPER
Imagining NFL on TV in the year 2030: Tom Brady out, Travis Kelce in?
(Top photo of a Netflix “Christmas Gameday” banner at Wednesday’s Chiefs-Steelers game: Mark Alberti / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Sports
MLB’s most mind-blowing hitting, pitching feats of the year — plus the 5 most ridiculous games
There was a game in El Paso where even a two-touchdown lead wasn’t safe. … There was a game in Houston where a pitcher allowed four base runners on three pitches. … And then there was that game in Los Angeles where Mookie Betts hit for the Strangest But Truest cycle of his career. (Spoiler alert: There were no hits involved.)
So if all that could happen, on a baseball diamond near you, how could we not round it up for Part 2 of our Strange But True Feats of the Year extravaganza? You’re welcome!
My 10 favorite Strange But True Hitting Feats of the Year
Kwan You’re Hot, You’re Hot — You’ll never guess how Guardians hit machine Steven Kwan had his 14-game hitting streak end in June. How ’bout … on a hit!
Well, it should have been a hit. The runner on first, Austin Hedges, held up for so long, to see if the ball got through, he managed to get forced out at second, on a line-drive rocket to center field. There went Kwan’s pursuit of Joe DiMaggio!
He’s a pop star — No Dodgers actually hit for the cycle this year, but Mookie Betts did pop up for the cycle. Here’s how his four at-bats went on Sept. 25: Popup to the second baseman … popup to the third baseman … popup to the first baseman … and (yep) popup to the shortstop.
And how many other Dodgers popped up to any base that day? Right you are. That would be none.
Why Oh Wyatt — But you know who did hit for the cycle in 2024? Rangers rookie Wyatt Langford. And Wyatt would we mention that? Because, in his first season in the big leagues, Langford had … a cycle … and an inside-the-park homer … and a walk-off grand slam.
Just to put that in a little perspective … here’s one guy who has never done any of those things: A fellow named Aaron Judge!
All rise … and head for first base — Then again, Aaron Judge also did some stuff this year that nobody has ever done. And since this is the Strange But True Feats of the Year column, we’re not talking about all those baseballs he whomped into the bleachers. We’re talking about stuff like this.
After hitting his 41st HR of the season in the 1st inning, Aaron Judge gets the intentional walk in the 2nd with two out and nobody on. pic.twitter.com/YvPzQ8MXH6
— MLB (@MLB) August 3, 2024
That was the sight of Judge getting intentionally walked by the Blue Jays on Aug. 3 … with nobody on base … in the second inning.
So does that mean Judge was getting The Barry Bonds Treatment? I’d vote no!
Career plate appearances by Bonds, first or second inning, no one on: 1,690
Career intentional walks in those situations: Zero!
(Source: Baseball Reference / Stathead)
Arraez-a-roni — I count 43 active players who have struck out five times — in one game.
Then there’s Luis Arraez. He also struck out five times this past season — in the entire second half.
Easy as .1223 — It may go down as the Year of the Jackson. But with apologies to Jackson Merrill, Chourio and Holliday, the most historic Jackson of them all might have been sweet-swinging Rays catcher Alex Jackson.
He batted a pitcher-esque .122 this year (or .1223 if you’re into decimal points), with 53 strikeouts and 17 hits. So what’s so historically Strange But True about that?
Oh, only that it’s the worst batting average in the modern era, among position players who got at least 150 plate appearances in a season. And not only that. Just four hitters in the last 50 years have even come within 15 points of that .1223 average. And one of them was a guy named … Alex Jackson! (He hit .137 in 2021.)
Leading man — I know this sounds like a riddle, but stay with me here. Victor Robles led off for the Mariners in their July 26 game against the White Sox. Drew Thorpe was the White Sox’s starting pitcher. And in the first inning, Robles hit a home run off Thorpe. But … it was not a leadoff homer.
So what happened? Baseball happened! Robles led off that game by grounding out. But it was all downhill from there for Drew Thorpe. He then gave up eight runs in that first inning and finished with (yikes) back-to-back-to-back homers. And who hit the third home run in a row? Mariners leadoff man Victor Robles. Who else!
Don’t Walk This Way — Ever heard of a hitter making an out on his own intentional walk? I never had, either — until the Marlins’ Jesús Sánchez did that in an Aug. 25 game against the Cubs.
He was due up with runners on second and third in a one-run game. So when the Cubs put up four fingers, he started ambling toward first base, but then U-turned back to the dugout when Cristian Pache headed for first to pinch run for him.
Oops! Since Sánchez never made it to first base, the Cubs appealed. He was out, but that’s not all. His walk didn’t even count — because according to the proper authorities, he’d “refused” to go to first base. And it wound up being scored as a 2-unassisted “fly ball” to the catcher — to end an at-bat in which a pitch was never thrown, to a hitter the other team was actually trying to walk. I think this sums up why we could only have a Strange But True Feats of the Year column in …
Baseball!
Honorable mention
Jackson Merrill watches a walk-off home run against the Mets in August. (Orlando Ramirez / Imagn Images)
How incredible (but true) was the rookie season of the Padres’ sensational Jackson Merrill? I think this might sum it up.
As you might have heard someplace, he had five games this year in which he hit a game-tying or go-ahead home run in the ninth inning or later — four of them in a span of four weeks in July and August.
Does that seem good? Here’s how good:
We now have two active $700 million players whose names might sound familiar: Juan Soto and Shohei Ohtani. They’ve combined to hit 446 career regular-season home runs. Want to guess how many of those homers they’ve hit that tied games or put their team ahead in the ninth or later?
Yessirree. Five apiece.
• And while we’re on the subject of that Ohtani guy, have I mentioned lately that he got five extra-base hits in one game in Miami? Well, I just mentioned it again, because … well, Tim Anderson.
Those same South Floridians who got to watch The Ohtani Game also spent two months this season watching Tim Anderson — who somehow went two months, and 38 games in a row, without getting any extra-base hits. That seems hard!
• Speaking (one more time) about Ohtani … there’s this crazy note. Ohtani stole 59 bases this season. His teammate, Freddie Freeman, was hurting so much by October, he needed ankle surgery after the season. So what were the odds of this:
SB by Ohtani in the 2024 postseason — 0
SB by Freddie Freeman in the 2024 postseason – 1
• Also, what were the odds of this:
Those Strange But True Phillies hitters had three nine-inning games in 2024 in which they struck out 17 times. Their record in those games was … 3-and-0!
Meanwhile, all the other teams out there had 10 games this year when they struck out 17 times (or more). So how many times did all those teams win a game like that? That would be exactly one!
• You know who did not throw away his shot in 2024? Jose (Cousin of Lin-Manuel) Miranda of the Twins. He made sure the world would know his name by getting a hit in 12 straight at-bats in July. Yes, 12!
Tony Gwynn never got a hit in 12 straight at-bats. Ted Williams never got a hit in 12 straight at-bats. George Brett never got a hit in 12 straight at-bats. But Jose Miranda did. Would you believe that the year before, Miranda got a total of four hits in the big leagues after April? Yep. He went 4-for-35. And then, in 2024, that same guy went 12-for-12. Because of course he did!
• The Brewers alerted the Strange But True authorities by hitting six grand slams in two weeks. The Red Sox, on the other hand, alerted the Strange But True authorities by forgetting to hit any grand slams all season (although they did give up nine of them).
• Hey, did somebody say grand slams? Are you familiar with the Lehigh Valley IronPigs, the Triple-A affiliate of the Phillies?
Here’s how the IronPigs won their first game of the season: On a walk-off grand slam.
Want to guess how they won their last game of the season? On a walk-off grand slam. Because baseball symmetry is awesome.
• And the grand-slam tidbits don’t end there, because there are all those other slams hit across baseball this year. Then there’s Parker Meadows of those remarkable Detroit Tigers.
He came to the plate with two outs in the ninth, Sept. 5 in San Diego. The Tigers were one out from getting shut out. They trailed by three. The count went full. Then this happened.
Parker Meadows hits a go-ahead grand slam with the @Tigers down to their last strike! 🤯 pic.twitter.com/XdGZXdok42
— MLB (@MLB) September 6, 2024
According to our friends from STATS Perform, two players in history have hit that slam — one out away from being shut out, three runs down on the road. One was Parker Meadows. The other? Some guy named Ted Williams.
• And finally, we could devote an entire Strange But True column to Reds freak of nature Elly De La Cruz. But let’s just mention he did all of this (plus lots more):
Stole second on a throw back to the pitcher!
Scored from third on a routine one-hopper back to the pitcher!
Got four extra-base hits in one game on his way to leading the major leagues in stolen bases. (The last MLB stolen-base champ to do that: Willie Mays … in 1958!)
And ran four 3-and-0 counts in one game. You know who never did that? Famous Reds count-worker Joey Votto never did that!
Elly De La Cruz, man. He’s breaking everything we ever thought we knew about …
Baseball!
My 10 favorite Strange But True Pitching Feats of the Year
Rowdy Tellez, the closer. (Charles Rex Arbogast / Associated Press)
What a juxta-position — Who would you rather send to the mound — Luis Guillorme or your friendly neighborhood Cy Young Award winner? Don’t answer too quickly now, if only because …
This really happened in May and June: Sixteen consecutive position players took the mound in real big-league baseball games … and threw 16 shutout innings in a row!
Meanwhile, the American League’s Cy Young and ERA champ, Tarik Skubal, made it to the mound 31 times during his spectacular breakout season … and never threw more than 11 shutout innings in a row!
All our Rowdy friends — Or maybe you should just get Rowdy. By which we can only mean everybody’s favorite emergency closer, Rowdy Tellez.
• Sept. 22, 2023: Against all odds, Rowdy takes the hill and gets the last three outs of a postseason-clincher (for the Brewers).
• Sept. 4, 2024: Rowdy takes the mound again (this time for the Pirates) and gets the last three outs of a no-hitter (OK, not for his team). So what if this was a game in which the Pirates got no-hit — and lost, 17-0 — against the Cubs. Whatever. Because …
Rowdy Tellez (not an actual relief pitcher): Did both of those things!
Mariano Rivera (greatest relief pitcher ever): Never did both of those things!
The Nick of Time — The good news for Boston’s always-innovative Nick Pivetta: He had two games this year (May 30 and July 10) in which he struck out eight hitters in a row.
The bad news for Pivetta: He lost both of those games!
Losses by everyone else in history who has ever struck out that many hitters in a row in a game: Three! Losses by Pivetta just in 2024: Two!
Saved by the Bello — But in Pivetta’s defense, I’m starting to think the Red Sox turned this stuff into practically an epidemic. I draw that conclusion because of what happened on July 9, in the game before Pivetta whiffed eight in a row the second time.
In that game, his rotation mate, Brayan Bello, got 10 straight outs on strikeouts in a game against the A’s. Which sounds pretty awesome, except …
All the guys who didn’t strike out against him that day went 9-for-13 (.692), with two walks!
So was he A) unhittable? Or B) way too hittable? Correct answer: Yes!
They said there’d be no math — You know why this column needs to exist every year? Because of stuff like this: On July 3, Blue Jays reliever Jose Cuas rolled into a tight game in Houston and did the most mathematically impossible thing any reliever could ever do.
He allowed four straight base runners … on three pitches.
Here we go: Intentional walk … single on the next pitch … hit batter on the next pitch … and then another HBP on the pitch after that.
As you know, we don’t bother wasting actual pitches on those intentional walks anymore. So yep, that’s four batters reaching base on three pitches … which seems challenging, if only because … it’s never been done (not in the pitch-counting era, since 1988, anyway).
But wait. There’s more, because the reliever who preceded Cuas to the mound, Zach Pop, allowed two more base runners on his last three pitches (but also got a line-drive out). So that’s six base runners … on six pitches … with an out mixed in there just for fun.
Hat tip to Robert Ford and Steve Sparks, of the entertaining (and mathematically savvy) Astros radio booth, for thinking I might be interested in this.
But while we’re on the subject — Can we also salute Phillies reliever Ricardo Pinto for his exercise in mathematical incorrectness? He strolled into an April 20 game against the White Sox … and issued a four-pitch walk to the first batter he faced … but one of those pitches was a strike.
How’d he do that? Repeat after me: pitch clock! Yep, he got hit with a clock violation (and ball one) before he threw any actual pitches.
When the clock strikes none — Since we’re talking pitch clocks, congratulations (I guess) to Nationals closer Kyle Finnegan. In a June 22 visit to Colorado, he didn’t just make baseball history. He made tick-tocking history — by becoming the first pitcher to let a game end by forgetting to throw a pitch until after the pitch clock ticked to zero.
Want to see what the most innovative blown save in history looked like? Here you go.
Rockies-Nationals ended on a…
Pitch clock violation??
🎥 @TalkinBaseball_ pic.twitter.com/TMsGdMYvtT
— The Athletic MLB (@TheAthleticMLB) June 23, 2024
Finnegan arrived on the mound in the ninth with the Nationals leading, 7-6. If he was looking for a way to make people forget that he started this outing by going single, single, single, single to the first four hitters, this did the trick! He then just hung onto the baseball until it turned into a game-ending “clock-off” and history was made.
Memo to Kyle: If your favorite thing about this sport used to be Baseball — the game without a clock, it’s time to find a new favorite thing!
I remember it all too Criswell — You know what else seems hard to do? That thing that Red Sox reliever Cooper Criswell did in an Aug. 16 game in Baltimore.
So what did he do? He blew a save in a game he entered in the second inning. How even? In another eminently 2024 development, Criswell inherited a 2-0 lead, in a game started by an opener (Brennan Bernardino). He then gave up six runs in the next 3 1/3 innings. And he got an official blown save out of it. Baseball!
It’s all about face time — You can wash your face. You can save face. You can face the music. Or you can do what Ben Heller and Hunter Brown did this year. Just keep facing hitter after hitter after hitter.
• Ben Heller’s day (June 9): Faced 12 hitters in the 10th inning! Ever heard of a relief pitcher facing 12 hitters in an extra inning (and hitting three of them) without getting taken out of the game? Heller pulled that off for the Pirates in this game against Minnesota, never getting yanked despite allowing nine base runners and seven runs! He’s the first reliever to make it through a 12-batter extra inning since Jack Baldschun … in 1966!
• Hunter Brown’s day (April 11): Faced 14 hitters in the first inning! It must be hard to face that many hitters in the first inning (especially without even getting three outs). I’m only guessing that because no starter in the modern era had ever done it before Brown’s mind-blowing 11-hit, nine-run evening for the Astros versus Kansas City. Devin Williams gave up only 10 hits all season (to 88 hitters). Brown gave up 11 in one inning!
Batters Not Included — Sean Newcomb won one game for the A’s this year (June 11 versus the Twins). But that’s not the reason he showed up in this column. It’s his line in the box score that day that got him into this column:
Batters faced — Newcomb 0.
Turns out he was way better off not throwing any pitches than he was when he did his regular job. He won zero times in all those games he actually pitched to somebody. In this game, all he did was head for the mound and pick Austin Martin off first base before facing anybody. That was the last out of the eighth inning. Then he vultured his only win on a Shea Langeliers homer a half-inning later. Now that, friends, is the beauty of …
Baseball!
Honorable mention
Emmanuel Clase, from dominating to dreadful. (David Dermer / Imagn Images)
• How Strange But True a season was this? Neither of the two reigning Cy Young Award winners (Gerrit Cole and Blake Snell) won a game before July 13!
• How Strange But True a season was this? The best closer on Earth, Cleveland’s Emmanuel Clase, allowed only five earned runs and two homers all season. That’s in 74 appearances and 270 batters faced. … Then, naturally, that same guy headed for the mound in the postseason … and allowed eight earned runs and three homers in a span of five appearances and 23 batters. Crazy!
• Astros reliever Kaleb Ort had an interesting day at the office on Sept. 18. He faced three hitters that day in San Diego. They went: homer … homer … homer. How many home runs did he allow to the other 90 hitters he faced this year? Four!
• Orioles reliever Yohan Ramírez’s first three pitches of an outing in April went well: hit batter, wild pitch, wild pitch. But hey, he was unhittable!
• In back-to-back Twins games in June, Bailey Ober retired the last 17 hitters he faced, then Pablo López went out the next day and retired the first 17 hitters he faced.
• Gerrit Cole in a Sept. 20 start in Oakland: nine innings, two hits allowed, one win … but no complete game. Wait. How’d that happen? The Yankees won in the 10th — so Cole became the first Yankee to go nine, win and still not collect a complete game since Ed Figueroa … on Sept. 17, 1976!
• The cool news for Cubs rookie Ben Brown was, he threw a secret no-hitter — by getting 35 outs in a row between hits over two starts. The not-so-cool news was, he didn’t win either start!
• And here’s the name of this game: A Spencer (Schwellenbach) gave up two home runs in the same game to a Spencer (Horwitz). … James McCann (not an actual pitcher) gave up a home run to Kyle McCann. … And in the Strangest But Truest game of 2024 — as determined by how many times my phone buzzed in the middle of the night during a vacation in Europe — Ranger Suárez became the first Ranger ever to beat — yup — the Rangers.
Some people come home from vacation and show all their photos to their friends. Only I come home from vacation and spend an hour looking up how many pitchers have beaten a team with the same name.
I’ll spare you the whole research project. But the most shocking thing I learned was this: Somehow, Socks Seibold went a combined 0-5 in his career against the White Sox and Red Sox! That makes no sense, even in …
Baseball!
My five favorite Strange But True Games of the Year*
(*Regular-season division)
You know how hard it was to keep this list to only five?
I had to leave out a game where the Red Sox stole nine bases against the Yankees. As recently as 2021, the Sox stole nine bases in the entire second half of the season.
I also had to leave out a game where the Tigers pinch hit for their No. 5 hitter three at-bats in a row … and all three of the pinch hitters got a hit. Last time they did that, Sparky Anderson was their manager.
And I even had to leave out a game where the A’s had one player (Lawrence Butler) hit three home runs and another player (JJ Bleday) go 5-for-5 … and they still lost.
There were about a million more, naturally. But these were my five favorites. Feel free to drop yours in the comments section.
First prize
Sept. 30: Mets 8, Braves 7 — Was this the greatest postseason-clinching game since the Bobby Thomson Game? If you tell me yes, I won’t argue, because holy moly.
Technically, this was not a playoff game. It just felt like one because it was a win-and-you’re-in game for both teams. It was also a makeup game in Atlanta the day after what was supposed to be the last day of the season.
So it was a wild one before it ever started. Then all this happened:
• The Mets arrived in the eighth inning with three hits, no runs, a 3-0 canyon to climb out of and a 7 percent win probability. Did that sound promising?
• They also had a 77-game losing streak when they trailed by at least three runs in the eighth or later. So that was not ideal.
• Naturally, they then scored six shocking runs in the top of the eighth to take a 6-3 lead.
• But then, because this game needed to go further off the rails, they gave up four shocking runs in the bottom of the eighth to fall behind again, 7-6.
• And then … aw, just cue up the video player for the epic Francisco Lindor homer that won this thing!
HE DID IT!!!!!!!!!
FRANCISCO LINDOR 2-RUN HOMER!!!!!!!!!!!!!! pic.twitter.com/gzHc1zxNuo
— SNY (@SNYtv) September 30, 2024
So was that Strange But True enough for you — with these teams coughing up late-inning leads three half-innings in a row, with their postseason lives hanging on every pitch? Let’s agree on yes — if only because it made the Mets the first team to clinch a postseason spot with a late-inning game script like that since the 1903 Pirates. And if you don’t recall that Pirates game real vividly, it might be because they did that to clinch the first postseason spot ever.
Second prize
June 20: The Rickwood Game (Cardinals 6, Giants 5) — Who writes these scripts? How can it not be the baseball gods?
How could it be possible that the late, great Willie Mays left this earth in the very same week in June that Major League Baseball returned to the first pro ballpark he ever played in — Rickwood Field? But somehow, that happened. And so did this …
There were two home runs hit in that Rickwood Field game, the first National League or American League game ever played in the state of Alabama, Mays’ home state.
• The first home run was hit by a man from Alabama, Brendan Donovan.
• The second home run was hit by Heliot Ramos … the man playing center field for the Giants in what we’ll always remember as The Willie Mays Game.
Baseball! Always amazing.
Heliot Ramos brings Rickwood to its feet#MLBatRickwood | @MLB pic.twitter.com/Zzhl20vS0C
— SFGiants (@SFGiants) June 21, 2024
Third prize
April 16: Rays 7, Angels 6, in 13 ridiculous innings — I don’t know what your nomination is for the most whacked-out game of 2023. But here’s mine. How the heck did the Rays ever win this game?
With two outs in the ninth, they were two runs behind, had nobody on base and had gotten one hit all night. But a Luis Rengifo error started a miracle two-run, game-tying rally. And that wasn’t even the Strange But True part.
The Rays then went on to win a game that they trailed in the ninth, 10th, 11th and 13th innings. So what’s so Strange But True about that? Ho-ho-ho.
Here’s the complete list of teams since 1912 that have won a game they trailed in the ninth, 10th, 11th and any extra inning from the 13th on:
The 2024 Rays.
And that’ll do it for that complete list!
(Hat tip for that tidbit: the great Katie Sharp of Baseball Reference.)
Fourth prize
April 28-30: Miami Mayhem trifecta! All right, so I’m cheating slightly with this one. It’s not one game. It’s two — and I’m attaching an epilogue that actually makes it three!
Sorry. It’s my Strange But True column, so I get to bend these rules when it’s convenient. Feel free to file suit if you know a lawyer who would take that case. Anyway …
The Marlins in that April 28 game (against the Nationals): Scored six runs in the first inning … and lost!
The Marlins two days later (against the Rockies): Gave up five runs in the first inning … and won!
What’s Up with That? Does that seem hard? It’s so hard, according to my friends at STATS Perform, that the Marlins became the first team to blow a first-inning lead that big and then make up a first-inning hole that huge, in a span of three games, in the modern era. But also …
Special bonus What’s Up with That? If you thought that was hard, think about how the Marlins won that April 30 game. They trailed by five in the bottom of the ninth. They trailed again (6-5) in extra innings. And they still won. How short is the list of teams in the modern era to win a game after doing that? So short that they’re the only team on it. But don’t touch that screen because …
One more bonus What’s Up with That? There were five runs scored in the top of the first inning in that April 30 game. There were five runs scored in the bottom of the ninth. There were no runs scored in any of the 34 half-innings in between. Ever seen a game like that before? No, you haven’t, because, according to STATS, that was the only game in the modern era where that’s happened, too. But wait a second because …
Here comes that epilogue! Now let’s spin the time machine ahead four months to Aug. 27, when the Marlins traveled to Colorado for the rematch. Could this happen again? Why the heck not!
In other words, two times this year, the Marlins trailed the Rockies by at least four runs in the ninth inning … and came back to win both games. Not to suggest it had been a while since any team did that twice in one season against the same team. But …
The last time it happened was 98 years ago … when Babe Ruth’s 1926 Yankees pulled that off versus the Tigers. And that’ll be the last comp ever between any Babe Ruth Yankees team and the 2024 Marlins. I promise.
Fifth prize
Sept. 11: Mets 6, Blue Jays 2 — So was this The Francisco Lindor Game? Or was that game in Atlanta the Francisco Lindor Game?
Does it even matter? It just tells us a lot about Lindor’s season — and the Mets’ finish — that we even have to debate that question.
So what was the Strange But True deal with this game? Take a deep breath. Here goes.
Toronto’s Bowden Francis took a no-hitter into the ninth … for the second time in four starts!
Toronto’s Bowden Francis lost a no-hitter in the ninth … for the second time in four starts! Last pitcher to lose two no-hitters like that in the same season: some guy named Nolan Ryan, in 1989. But let’s keep going.
That Francisco Lindor dude was the reason Francis lost this no-hitter, thanks to yet another OMG-That-Just-Happened home run. Linsanity!
FRANCISCO LINDOR BREAKS UP THE NO-HITTER WITH A HOME RUN pic.twitter.com/QAFKLBNUVY
— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) September 11, 2024
Except after that … there was more wackiness, because the Mets, a team desperately trying to keep their playoff hopes alive, went from being no-hit to putting up a six-run ninth! Friend of the column Eric Orns reports it was the most runs ever scored in the ninth inning by any team that had zero hits in all the other innings … because how could it not be! So …
What. A. Game. Except that, if you’ve read this far, you know it wasn’t even the Mets’ most Strange But True win of the year, the month or even this portion of this column!
Minor-league bonus game
June 9: El Paso Chihuahuas 17, Las Vegas Aviators 16 — Finally, here’s a line score you don’t see every day.
That’s what the scoreboard looks like when a team blows a 15-1 lead. And that’s a thing that happened, in real life, to the Las Vegas Aviators of the Pacific Coast League, back in June. They led, 15-1, in the fourth. They still lost, 17-16, to those pesky El Paso Chihuahuas.
And even though that did not happen in a league known as “the major leagues,” is it Strange (but True) enough to make it into this column? Apparently!
How many big-league teams have ever done that? Ha-ha. That answer would be … zero. Of course! The most runs any big-league team has ever trailed by and won is 12 — done once in the last 99 years, by Jim Thome’s 2001 Indians, in a game the Mariners do not have fond memories of.
The Chihuahuas gave up a 10-run inning … and won! Yep, they served up a 10-spot to Vegas in the fourth inning … and won anyway. So how many teams in AL/NL history have done that? According to STATS, that answer is six — but three of those happened in 1912. And no one since has done it as late as the fourth inning (or beyond). But also …
They had a nine-run inning after giving up a 10-run inning! One more indication that this game was bonkers: Three innings after allowing 10 runs in an inning, El Paso scored nine in the seventh inning. That’s happened once in the big leagues … in the past 90 years! (The Rays and Orioles did it in 2006.)
So it obviously isn’t every year that the Strange But True Feats of the Year column has to head for El Paso to chronicle a game like that. But it’s just our way of reminding you that you need this column to exist — and we need this column to exist — because in case you hadn’t noticed, you never know what the heck might happen in …
Baseball!
The Year in Strange But True
GO DEEPER
MLB’s Strange But True 2024: The team, game, inning and homer of the year — plus The Ohtani Game
GO DEEPER
MLB’s weirdest injuries of 2024: Beware of water bottles, heating pads and walls
(Top photo of Elly De La Cruz: Steph Chambers / Getty Images)
Saturday night was a wild roller-coaster ride for the Cincinnati Bengals.
Joe Burrow and the Bengals kept their playoff hopes alive with a 30-24 victory over the Denver Broncos.
After Bo Nix threw an interception with 2:30 to go in regulation, the Bengals scored a touchdown roughly a minute later. But the decision not to run off some time came back to bite the Bengals.
Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow (9) passes against the Denver Broncos Dec. 28, 2024, at Paycor Stadium in Cincinnati. (Michael Allio/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
The Broncos had 1:29 on the clock after the score, and it was just what they needed. Marvin Mims caught his second touchdown of the day over two defenders on a wild throw from Nix. The play was reviewed to determine whether Mims had possession through the catch, but the ruling on the field of a touchdown stood. With the PAT, the game went into overtime, capping a 28-point fourth quarter.
The teams exchanged punts, and Burrow and the Bengals got into field goal range on their next drive. But Cade York’s 33-yarder bounced off an upright.
Cincy, though, forced a second punt, giving the Bengals life, and they took advantage. Burrow dropped a 31-yard dot in a bucket for Higgins to put the Bengals at the Denver 3-yard line. On the next play, Higgins completed the job with a touchdown, his third of the evening, to end the game.
Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins (5) catches a touchdown pass in front of Denver Broncos cornerback Ja’Quan McMillian (29) at Paycor Stadium Saturday, Dec. 28, 2024. (Jeff Moreland/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
LONGTIME SPORTS ANCHOR, ANNOUNCER GREG GUMBEL DIES AT 78
A loss would have eliminated the Bengals from playoff contention. Now, they’ll need a win and some help in Week 18.
Burrow threw for 412 yards, completing 39 of his 49 pass attempts. All three of his touchdown passes went to Higgins. Burrow also ran in for a score late in the fourth. Higgins caught 11 passes for 131 yards to go with his hat trick.
A win or tie would have put the Broncos in the playoffs, and they’ll have to wait until the season’s final week to determine their playoff fate. Nix was 24-for-31 passing for 219 yards and three touchdowns.
Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins (5) is introduced before a game against the Denver Broncos at Paycor Stadium in downtown Cincinnati Saturday, Dec. 28, 2024. (Sam Greene/The Enquirer/USA Today Network via Imagn Images)
Cincy will make the playoffs if they beat the Pittsburgh Steelers next and the Broncos lose to the Kansas City Chiefs. Denver controls its own destiny.
Follow Fox News Digital’s sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.
The hit was going to come, the Lakers and JJ Redick sure of it.
Sacramento had been thrown into complete chaos, the Lakers taking two straight from the Kings in their building last week — links in the chain of events that led to the team firing coach Mike Brown on his way to board the flight for L.A.
Beating the Kings for the fourth time this season already was going to be hard; a shakeup like a coaching change was sure to have Sacramento flying around the court like the turbo button was stuck.
The Lakers would have to respond, meet force with force and speed with speed — and do it without LeBron James, who was home sick.
But just like they found a way on Christmas with Anthony Davis out because of an ankle injury, the Lakers did it again Saturday in a 132-122 win, spoiling former Laker (and rival) Doug Christie’s first game as interim Kings coach.
“I think it is growth,” Austin Reaves said of the Lakers’ energy. “You can see the growth throughout our group.”
Reaves, who hit the winning shot against the Golden State Warriors on Christmas, orchestrated the offense with James out, scoring 26 and dishing out a career-high 16 assists. Davis, back on the floor after playing only seven minutes Wednesday, dominated his matchup with Domantas Sabonis, scoring 36 (on only 16 shots) to go with 15 rebounds and eight assists. And Rui Hachimura needed only 11 shots to score 21 points while giving the Lakers the kind of physicality and activity on the wing they need on both ends of the court.
Sabonis scored 14 points before fouling out in 26 minutes. De’Aaron Fox had 29 points and 12 assists and DeMar DeRozan finished with 25 points for the Kings (13-19).
“Playing together, having great offense, guys are flying around, cutting hard, screening hard, doing what we’re supposed to be doing,” Davis said. “The ball was poppin’. … The offense was good, cleaned up some things in the first quarter and guys were making shots and that helps with the assists. We were getting to the line. We were just playing for each other.”
The Lakers (18-13) led by as many as 20 after a dominant third quarter in which they outscored the Kings 42-24 — the Lakers’ defense, responding to a scolding from Davis, arriving and turning the game into a blowout. Sacramento closed in the fourth, but the Lakers hit enough big shots and made enough defensive plays to keep things from getting too tight.
The Lakers’ 59.7% shooting from the field and their 53.8% three-point shooting were season highs. Their 33 assists tied a season high.
“Just our guys’ willingness to pass,” Redick said. “It was a big emphasis in our meeting today. It’s been a big emphasis for the last seven to 10 days. It can be a simple game with some complex ideas, but we want to run, we want to pass and we want to screen. That’s really what we try to emphasize.”
In addition to the Lakers having no real concern about James and his illness, more help is coming. Jaxson Hayes, who has missed the last 14 games because of a sprained ankle, is set to return Tuesday against first-place Cleveland.
MLB’s most mind-blowing hitting, pitching feats of the year — plus the 5 most ridiculous games
Chelsea gambled by not agreeing a cheaper shirt sponsor deal – will they reap the reward?
In 'A Complete Unknown,' Timothée Chalamet captures the idea of Bob Dylan : Pop Culture Happy Hour
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25426595/8A0A1236.jpeg "The SwitchBot S10, one of our favorite robovac / mop hybrids, is 0 off")
The SwitchBot S10, one of our favorite robovac / mop hybrids, is $500 off
Plane veers off airport runway in South Korea and crashes, killing at least 176: reports
Colorado Rockies game no. 116 thread: Zac Gallen vs José Ureña
Why Marjorie Taylor Greene was ‘kicked out’ of the Freedom Caucus according to Rep. Buck
See it: Tesla crashes into Columbus convention center at 70 mph
Fox News Politics: Georgia the whole day through
Death of missing Oregon girl found in stream ruled homicide
European officials pitch new idea to shore up defenses with Trump's return
Italy says talks ongoing with Iran to release Cecilia Sala from prison
A Sunday in the Park : Up First from NPR
State attorneys general ask SCOTUS to uphold TikTok divest-or-ban law amid Trump request to pause ban
Plane veers off runway and crashes in S Korea, killing at least 29: Report
-
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24924653/236780_Google_AntiTrust_Trial_Custom_Art_CVirginia__0003_1.png "Google’s counteroffer to the government trying to break it up is unbundling Android apps")
Technology1 week agoGoogle’s counteroffer to the government trying to break it up is unbundling Android apps
-
News1 week agoNovo Nordisk shares tumble as weight-loss drug trial data disappoints
-
Politics1 week agoIllegal immigrant sexually abused child in the U.S. after being removed from the country five times
-
Entertainment1 week ago'It's a little holiday gift': Inside the Weeknd's free Santa Monica show for his biggest fans
-
Lifestyle1 week agoThink you can't dance? Get up and try these tips in our comic. We dare you!
-
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25672934/Metaphor_Key_Art_Horizontal.png "There’s a reason Metaphor: ReFantanzio’s battle music sounds as cool as it does")
Technology4 days agoThere’s a reason Metaphor: ReFantanzio’s battle music sounds as cool as it does
-
News6 days agoFrance’s new premier selects Eric Lombard as finance minister
-
Business4 days agoOn a quest for global domination, Chinese EV makers are upending Thailand's auto industry