One of the more obscure MLB records was broken last night in the Braves/Twins game.
Atlanta’s Spencer Schwellenbach started against Minnesota’s Simeon Woods Richardson, which marked the most combined letters in the last names of a starting pitching matchup in major league history, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. The 28 letters surpasses 25, which was done four times.
In other, and possibly more important news, the Royals beat the Guardians last night to move into a tie for the AL Central. It’s the first time since April 14 that Cleveland has not been alone in first place in the division. KC has won the first 3 of a 4-game series which concludes this afternoon.
It wouldn’t be all that surprising, really, especially if you throw a southpaw at them. The Yanks are 17-22 against lefties. Also, they’re 47-30 against teams over .500 and 31-26 facing teams with losing records.
Okay, so I’m watching the Cubs/Nationals game, and I’ve noticed that the umpires appear to be checking the gloves of the pitchers as they’re coming off the mound, on their way into the dugout. I’ve seen this in other games featuring other teams, too, but it just didn’t register as unusual until now.
Is this something that they’ve made more routine in recent years, and I just didn’t recognize it? Or is it something that they’re doing more this year? I’m only used to seeing gloves checked when the pitcher is on the mound, and the umps are specifically checking for foreign substances.
