Happy New Year!
I hope to make this year's journey even more fun and interesting for you.
Happy New Year! I hope 2024 has been a great year for you, dear reader, and I hope that 2025 is even better.
Once again, I thank you for being a fundamental part of this project. I hope you continue to enjoy what I am doing here. I would also love for you to interact whenever you want. You know, I usually write a lot about Cuban baseball. But I also covered the MLB throughout the year, including the emotions that the postseason brought us.
Writing, more than a job, has been my passion. A passion that my beloved wife Ruth and I share in our home. Ruth has been, let's say, 50% of everything you have been able to enjoy here.* I am very lucky to have my wife as my editor and main critic. However, more than that, as the person with whom I can share my great, boundless passion for baseball,
*By the way, my wife Ruth reminded me that I wrote 147 posts. Almost all of them were robust opinion columns, including stories, analysis, and plenty of instant coverage of the emotions baseball brought us. In terms of statistics, say, like a batting average, those 147 pieces in 365 days in 2024 mean I wrote on 40% of the days of the year. Yes, that gets us up to a batting average of .402. I think that looks good! However, this has been, in terms of writing, my lowest annual percentage:
2023: 176-for-365, .482!
2022: 207-for-365, .567!
Yeah, well, in 2022, that was crazy! Of course, it's not the quantity of stories that matters, but the value of them. So, I'm happy if much of the work we've done here has been to your liking and satisfaction.
As many of us have seen over the past four years, Substack has been making relentless changes to encourage new writers and those with a bit of experience. At least for me, it's been a very interesting journey so far.
A key part of the changes has been geared towards getting readers to use the app more.
But either way, you, dear readers, are the ones who will make the difference here. I think each of us is working to make you have fun, trying to brighten up your days by writing each piece.
By the way, if you haven't subscribed yet, here's where you can do it via this nifty button:
I hope to make this year's journey even more fun and interesting for you. There are so many things I want to do. I'll be writing about some ideas I have very soon. So I hope to surprise you!
PS: This is a guide that will take you to every piece I wrote in 2024. It's a look back where you can re-read some of your favorite pieces. Start with the most recent ones, which were published in late December. Thanks for taking the time to read!
4. Rickey
6. One generation, two stories
7. Two weeks of an unbeatable swing
8. The legendary career of Santiago “Changa” Mederos
10. The Undisputed Value of Juan Soto
11. New beginning
12. A shooting star
13. Anatomy of another irremediable defeat
16. Déjà vu
17. Cuba's game
18. “It's Time for Dodger Baseball!”
19. One more night
21. Seigyo funō
22. The journey has just begun
23. Top 20 Players to Watch in the 2024 World Series
29. Epic Duel
33. OMG Express!
34. Unexpected hero
35. The postseason stage is here
38. Bad breakup
39. When anything can be possible
41. Power & speed
45. Descending arc
46. Return Trip?
47. The least talked about home run seasons
48. Cuban National Series: An ideal team
49. Bold readers: Untamed pitches
53. Solo-Home Run
54. A finishing blow
55. Greatness in a small milestone
56. OMG!
57. What you expect from a slugger
58. Be reborn
59. Game 5: Dynasty
61. Game 3: Power and determination
62. Why acquiring Randy Arozarena could be a key move for the Seattle Mariners?
63. Game 2: Second episode, same as the first
64. Game 1: Unbeatable Warriors
65. Postseason: The champions are going to retain the crown
66. Postseason: First crown claim
67. Postseason: A stroke of power
69. Postseason: A return in time
70. Postseason: Guillermo Avilés and the power of three
71. Postseason: An unexpected end
72. Postseason: The history of dominance continues
73. Postseason: You can't predict baseball
74. Postseason: There will be Games 7!
75. Postseason: It's time for the punchline
76. Postseason: When the unthinkable can be possible
77. Postseason: On the edge of the abyss — again
79. Postseason: The Classic of these times
80. Postseason: A Matter of Time
81. Talking baseball on a rainy Saturday
82. Playoffs scenarios: The Gallos de Sancti Spíritus gave the final blow
83. Playoffs Races, Junio 17 — Clinching scenarios
88. Slash Line: When teams won't just pay for WAR
91. Back home
92. Out of action
93. Seven contenders: Analyzing the case of each team
95. Slash Line: The beginning of the end
98. Best hitting of the 21st century: Top-50 (2003-2008)
99. 20-20
100. The Leadoff: The Matanzas Crocodiles are back — can they stay in the elite?
101. Best hitting of the 21st century: Introduction
102. The walks are not the only problem
103. From a dream to reality: The historic night of Pavel Hernández
105. Slash Line: Checking Andy Pagés's swing
106. What's left to see?
107. Today's baseball: Unpleasant news is magnified
108. Triple kill
109. Slash Line: A next trick to survive
110. The Leadoff: How much concern should the Crocodiles' downward spiral be concerned?
111. Breaking the routine
112. I invite you to walk
113. How my passion for the Yankees led me to become a John Sterling fan
114. Slash Line: Yariel Rodríguez and the beginning of what could be a promising future in MLB
115. Lineups that I have in my heart
116. After a historic start: The Tigers face their main deficiencies of the past
118. Today's baseball
119. Adolis vs. Devenski: Slider, changeup… and the untold story behind the 100th home run
120. Slash Line: Lourdes Gurriel Jr's swing signs
121. Free Friday: Baseball is back!
122. The never seen — new edition
124. Is it just the beginning?
125. The mysterious ball bounce Teammate-190
126. 63 Serie Nacional: Cinco historias que definieron el Día de Apertura
127. The old baseball
128. Warrior of time
129. Wild Horse
130. Game 6: Championship victory
131. Three stories that could define Game 6
132. Game 5: Lethal blow
133. Game 4: Throwing with the heart
135. Game 2: Simply, nobody hit
136. Game 1: The little things
137. Artemisa vs Matanzas: Three key questions for Game 1 of the Final Series
138. Unstoppable
139. It was only a matter of time
140. One step away
141. Unexpected end
142. Reaction on time?
144. It's getting late to react
146. It's playoff time!: Matanzas vs Las Tunas
147. Feliz Año Nuevo
