This Latin phrase, translated to In English, means "after, therefore because of it." This fallacy in logic is all too often applied to the outcome of sporting events . It's been never more prevalent than in the circumstances of the ninth inning of Game 7 of the 2025 World Series where Isiah Kiner-Falefa was forced out at home by a literal inch, denying the Blue Jays what would have been the winning run and a World Series championship.



This podcast reminds us that asking "what if" (Kiner-Falefa had taken a bigger lead) introduces an entirely new chain of events that no one can predict. Yet these same people blame his decision to stay close to third base -- as directed by his coaches -- as the cause of the Blue Jays losing Game 7.



Naturally, this episode also mentions how I met my wife of 42 years and why the Titanic sank.



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Music: "Field Grass," by Sergei Pavkin



Titanic: Ship of Dreams Podcast

Not always. In this podcast, I identify two different 2025 "all-star" lineups by position -- one is stocked with underpaid players and the other with overpaid players. The point: demonstrate that owners are compensating many players based on past achievements and future promise instead of present performance, which is all that really matters. That owners, as explained by the Peter Brand character in the movie "Moneyball" are still "misjudging their players." Using the advance metric of Weighted Run Created Plus, (wRC+), I compare players making multi-millions with players making less than a million. One of the lineups features no players with a wRC+ higher than league average of 100.



Can you guess which one?



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Music: "Field Grass," by Sergei Pavkin



Moneyball clip: Peter Brand explains how owners still get it wrong to Billy Beane

After 20-plus years of umpiring youth baseball, I'm calling it quits as suddenly as I entered the "profession" when I volunteered to umpire my son's ball game because the assigned umpire didn't show. This brief podcast explains my reasons why I made an on-the-field decision to walk away.



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Music: "Field Grass," by Sergei Parkin

On October 10, 2025, the Seattle Mariners defeated the Detroit Tigers in Game 5 of the American League Divisional Series (ALDS), in part because the Tigers committed two critical "little-league" mistakes that should never happen at the Major-League level. Both occurred on the base paths, with due credit given to Mariners' first-baseman Josh Naylor's fearlessness and with substantial scorn directed at Tigers' third-baseman Zach McKinstry's foolishness.



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Music: "Field Grass" by Sergei Parkin

In Game 7 of the 1940 World Series, in the seventh inning with the Detroit Tigers clinging onto a tenuous 1-0 lead, Tiger shortstop Dick Bartell inexplicably held the baseball in his right hand as Reds' first baseman Frank McCormick sauntered home with the tying run. The Reds went on to win the game, 2-1. This podcast recounts that moment and chalks it up to human fallibility, which is what makes us human in the first place.



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Link to Bartell's Critical Mental Error



Link to the rock that I "mispainted" (sic) front



Link to the rock that I "mispainted" (sic) back

Winning 97 games in an MLB season "only" requires any team to win three of every five games. This podcast, influenced by a similar observation that I saw online, asked the question "is it really that easy?" The answer: No. It's actually rather difficult, as it should be at the MLB level. In fact, the fewer teams that win 90-plus games in a given season indicates a more competitively balanced league.



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Music: "Field Grass," by Sergei Pavkin

Occasionally, I will replay posts that I think bear a second listen (or a first if it was missed).



“Jack T. Jamison” (not his real name) is one of 4,486 Major League Baseball players who never got to make a 10th plate appearance. The story as to why is the the subject of this podcast, the details of which were related to me by two of my cousins.



“Jack T. Jamison” is their great uncle, who played for a National League team somewhere between the years of 1910-1930.



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Music: “Field Grass,” by Sergei Pavkin

The deluge of data that is delivered to viewers and spectators during a given MLB game, whether in person, on television, or even in a radio broadcast, renders the actual events on the field as specimens to examine rather than feats to admire. In regards to baseball, less data is "more appreciation" for the game itself. This podcast ruminates on the true nature of baseball. And real-time data has no place, in my opinion, in the booth or on any Jumbotron.



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Music: "Field Grass," by Sergei Pavkin



"Vida is throwing extremely hard."

What a difference a week makes. On September 8, the Tigers were 9.5 games ahead of Kansas City. Now, the 2025 Detroit Tigers, as of this day, are in the EXACT same position as the 1964 Philadelphia Phillies -- 5.5 games in first place with 11 games to play, and they lost the National League pennant to the Cardinals. The present second-place team is the red-hot Cleveland Guardians. This podcast measures the Tigers' chances of maintaining its precarious hold on first place and also presents a case as to why the Guardians have a legitimate shot at catching Detroit. I also claim that a baseball season is not a marathon, but a series of sprints, and the Tigers, after jumping out in front by a wide margin, are fading in the home stretch.



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Music: "Field Grass" by Sergei Pavkin

The New York Yankees offered a moment of silence on September 10, 2025, prior to its game against the Detroit Tigers, to recognize the assassination of Charlie Kirk, which had occurred earlier that day. This podcast supports that decision as a gesture to a person who was only attempting to exercise his right -- and that of those with whom he disagreed -- of free speech and discourse.



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Link to article on Heavy.com

Prior to the game of Friday, September 5, 2025, the Detroit Tigers held a 9.5 game lead over the second-place Kansas City Royals in the American League Central. Only a total collapse that would have to even be more catastrophic than the Tigers' losing 12 of 13 game from July 9 to July 26 could allow the Royals to catch the Tigers. So, this podcast is a preventative measure that reviews the collapse of the Philadelphia Phillies in 1964, when the bottom dropped out of the tub in the final ten games of the season.



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Music: "Field Grass," by Sergei Pavkin

Rob Manfred is at it again. He wants to expand MLB to 32 teams and organize them in divisions based solely on geographic proximity and dissolve the American and National leagues. His rationale is thin in substance and thick in deception. I think that this is merely about making the TV package negotiations in progress more lucrative for the prospective provider of MLB streaming and TV coverage. Also, I offer a somewhat novel wrinkle to the post season that rewards the all best teams who deserve a shot at a World Series title shot.



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"Field Grass," by Sergei Pavkin

A listener-request inspired me to dig into the mystery of the so-called "catcher's balk," a term commonly used, but found nowhere in the rule book. Naturally, my investigation lead me into a discussion about the time-space continuum, which, unlike the "catcher's balk," definitely does exist.



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Music: "Field Grass," by Sergei Pavkin

Now that this podcast is approaching 100 episodes, with no intention of slowing down, I'm going to start working in past episodes from time to time. This one is one of my favorites to date, and bears a second listen -- or a first if you have never heard it.



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Music: "Field Grass," by Sergei Pavkin

This rather clumsy podcast title was born out of the emergence of Jen Powol, the first woman to ever umpire a Major League baseball game in the regular season. The historical significance of this event would be better served if everyone dismissed her gender and acknowledged that measuring her performance at the same standards of her male peers, without bias in either direction, is what really matters. The best umpires are rarely, if ever, noticed, and the best compliment to Jen Powol would be to allow her that same opportunity.



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Music: "Field Grass," Sergei Pavkin

The current size of the Little League World Series Baseball field, which features a 46-foot pitching distance from home plate, 60-foot bases, and 225-foot fences, is limiting the development of the 12-year-olds who compete every summer for the LLWS Championship as well as many plays that baseball at the Little League level would offer on a larger field. This podcast identifies specific plays and situations that this small field adversely affects or eliminates altogether, to the detriment of the game.



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Music: "Field Grass," by Sergei Pavkin

Are the scandals involving Cleveland Guardians' pitchers Luis Ortiz and Emmanuel Clase, who suspiciously threw several pitches well out of the strike zone with the identical count of 0-0 on the leadoff hitter in the inning the result of satisfying bets for their own benefit? This podcast does not answer that question. Instead, it offers a simple solution for rendering these incidents as moot: ban legal gambling from the landscape of Major League Baseball, after "scraping to the bottom of the kettle" to eradicate such possibilities -- for the integrity of the game and potential well-being of MLB players, who could be at the mercy of similar nefarious forces who fixed the 1919 World Series. Will MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred follow these recommendations? I wouldn't bet on it.



Special guest appearance by Vern, our Briard puppy, who we adopted from our late son, Stuart. May he rest in peace.



In Memoriam: Stuart Mitchell Copley, January 4, 1989 - June 27, 2025.



Gus Sands vs. Roy Hobbs in The Natural



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Music: "Field Grass," by Sergei Pavkin

Baseball testimonials and endorsements are as old as the game itself. What used to make the good ones valuable and relevant to me was that the ballplayers featured didn't have to act: they could just be themselves. In this podcast, I offer several examples of what I consider as authentic commercials that featured Detroit Tigers Jim Northrup, Al Kaline and Willie Horton, Los Angeles Dodger Don Drysdale, and San Francisco Giant Willie Mays.



However, Pete Rose comes off to me as insincere and one-dimensional in the several ads that featured him.



Below are links to the commercials I mentioned that I could source online.



Willie Mays Blasting Caps PSA



Don Drysdale Vitalis Commercial



Pete Rose Aqua Velva Commercial



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Music: "Field Grass," by Sergei Pavkin

Our precious son, Stuart, died on June 27, 2025. I thought it fitting to share this tragic event with this audience to offer tribute to Stuart and relate a few memorable experiences he had as a ballplayer during his youth, and to also share a few lessons learned because of this tragedy.



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Music: "Field Grass," by Sergei Pavkin



https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/charlotte-nc/stuart-copley-12439611

Ball Four, a diary-book by Jim Bouton, a major-league pitcher from 1962 to 1970, (and five pitching appearances in 1978) revealed the "secrets and scandals" of major-league baseball during the 1969 season. The book was heralded as "funny," honest," and "groundbreaking." I think, now, 55 years after I first read the book, that Ball Four did more harm than good for the game, and especially for the people Bouton exposes as drug users, sexual miscreants, and alcoholics -- all from the inner sanctum of the major-league locker room, with neither knowledge nor consent from the parties involved. In my opinion, this book is a betrayal of the game, Bouton's teammates, and even of their descendants. Bouton, in my opinion, abused the privilege of being a major-league player for his own personal gain. This podcast explains why.



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Music: "Field Grass," by Sergei Pavkin