The MLB Draft Combine starts Tuesday in Phoenix but you can put together your top picks for the mid-July draft without dissecting the festivities.The top of the draft is filled with elite college batters and two superb college hurlers. There's also a probable high school position player in the top 10.Of course, no matter how impressive the prospect, there's no guarantee the player will pan out.After all, it was easy to tell Stephen Strasburg should be the No. 1 overall pick in 2009 but Mike Trout wasn't selected until No. 25. Guys named Donavan Tate, Tony Sanchez and Matt Hobgood went 3, 4 and 5 overall.Here's a half-dozen players to know and another on the rise:Oregon State 2B Travis BazzanaThe left-handed hitter is viewed as the favorite to go No. 1 overall to the Cl…

We had a lot of fun with the Pete Rose "I'm sorry" autographed baseball story from Tuesday, thanks, as usual, to our commenters. You folks took our eight-yard slant pass over the middle and turned it into an 80-yard TD run, if you'll excuse a football analogy in the midst of a baseball post. For those one or two of you just checking in on this tale, Pete Rose at one time signed about 300 baseballs with the words "I'm sorry I bet on baseball — Pete Rose", and was subsequently shocked — shocked — to learn that some unscrupulous dealer was set to auction them without his knowledge. Rose told ESPN's Stephen A. Smith on Monday that those balls were never meant to be sold. Rose is much too classy to profit from his misdeeds in baseball. Um, righ…

The last time we checked in on freshman Vanderbilt pitcher Kumar Rocker, he had just vanquished the vile Duke Blue Devils with a 19-strikeout no-hitter that also featured some well-earned shit-talking. That start saved Vanderbilt from postseason elimination, and now they are facing off against Michigan in a three-game series for the title. Vandy lost Game 1, and so in last night’s Game 2 they once again turned to Rocker and asked him to save the day. Rocker did not let his team down. Through 6.1 innings he held Michigan to three hits and one run while striking out 11 and walking two. The most thrilling part of Kumar’s outing was how he started it, striking out five of the first six batters he faced: After the game, which Vanderbilt won 4-1, Michigan head coach Erik Bakich couldn’…

Tonight at 9 p.m., a former Secretary of State will take on a bloviating game-show racist for the chance to be our president. And we’ll be liveblogging every goddamn minute of it. How long will it take before Lester Holt breaks down in tears? Is Hillary Clinton properly hydrated? And will Donald Trump finally pull his penis out on stage? Unfortunately, we’ll find out soon. So please, join us. No one should have to go through this alone. …

Some people are fans of the Miami Dolphins. But many, many more people are NOT fans of the Miami Dolphins. This 2013 Deadspin NFL team preview is for those in the latter group. Read all the 2013 NFL previews so far right here. Your team: Miami Dolphins Your 2012 record: 7-9. Wow, they won seven games? That's actually kind of impressive. Your coach: Joe Philbin, who looks like a lobbyist for the corn industry. Your offensive coordinator is Mike Sherman. If your passing game is clicking, Mike Sherman will run. If your running game is clicking, Mike Sherman will pass. And if both are clicking, Mike Sherman will elect to punt. Keeps the defense on their toes. I can't imagine how much collective sleep Dolphins players get in meetings whenever Sherman and Philbin take the …

The Westminster Dog Show at Madison Square Garden finished up yesterday. We dispatched intrepid reporter Barry Petchesky to cover the show, give us the lay of the land and clock some bitches. Barry Petchesky is a freelance writer in New York City, and he plans to use this as a clip, which is rather pathetic. We now hand the mic to him. Monday was the 40th anniversary of Madison Square Garden, which opened with a USO show. My friend Zach and I were discussing how to work that into a joke, and he suggested using the phrase "let slip the dogs of war." A Shakespeare reference? I reminded him that this is Deadspin, where dick jokes are the pinnacle of humor. "Oh," he said, thinking for a moment. "How about saying that Bob Hope probably pulled a ton of bitches that n…

data-mm-id=”_91k7i67bs”>Last year in Nashville, the NFL Draft became almost as big of a party as the Super Bowl. From live bands to celebrity appearances to cutaway videos of bachelorette parties to players leaping and chest-bumping NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, the vibe around the opening night was that of a five-hour long bash you wished you'd been invited to attend. Times have obviously changed since then and, with the COVID-19 global pandemic omnipresent in all of our minds, so will the coverage of the 2020 NFL Draft next Thursday through Saturday. During a conference call with reporters, ESPN VP of Production Seth Markman and NFL Network SVP of Programming and Production Mark Quenzel laid out the plans for their networks' joint coverage of the draft. The prevailin…

data-mm-id=”_zoc3q0ox8″>The New York Yankees have existed as a baseball franchise since 1901. But they have only been the Yankees as we know them for just over a century. First, they were the original iteration of the Baltimore Orioles when the franchise was founded. Then, they were the New York Highlanders, dubbed such because of their home park, built at the highest elevation point in Manhattan. Finally, on April 10, 1913, New York played their first game as the New York Yankees, kicking off a century of success for perhaps the most prestigious franchise in MLB. The main reason the name was changed was because the team's location also changed. They moved from Hilltop Park to the Polo Grounds. The move occurred because of a swap of favors between the Yankees and the New York Gian…

data-mm-id=”_o7fhf8bwu”>Rob Manfred issued a stark warning to Major League Baseball Players Association executive director Tony Clark, telling him the 2020 season could be shut down if the sport doesn't do a better job of managing the coronavirus. ESPN's Jeff Passan landed the scoop. MLB has seen a number of positive COVID-19 tests pop up since the season started last Thursday. The Miami Marlins have seen 18 players and two coaches test positive, while the St. Louis Cardinals reported two positive tests on Friday. On top of that, the Philadelphia Phillies are potentially facing an outbreak of their own after playing the Marlins over the weekend. So far the players have tested negative, but it can take several days for the virus to appear. Those issues have caused a number of …

data-mm-id=”_k7fe7jft6″>The Detroit Lions parted ways with head coach Matt Patricia over the weekend. Many people were happy that Patricia was finally fired. One person who was not was Twitter user @EddyPLionsFan. Eddy P is a staunch supporter of Coach Patricia. In fact, Patricia is really all he seems to care about. It is actually kind of curious, as another user pointed out. UPDATE: It's a fake. I’m 100% convinced this is Matt Patricia’s burner.The account didn’t tweet between September 4th and today. And look at the tweets and replies. All they follow are former/current Lions, former/current Pats, and Barstool. Oh, and Matt Patricia’s middle name is Edward lmao https://t.co/YduKDzYLWK— Ben C (@TheExtraPointFF) December 1, 2020Looking at Eddy P's account, the pers…