Baseball Season Is Almost Here, As Is Our New Lineup
Here's what to expect from the site as it pertains to our baseball coverage throughout the 2024 season
It is Super Bowl week, which means that we’re inching closer to the return of baseball. Finally.
This offseason has really, really, really dragged and a big part of that is the fact Hot Stove season wasn’t exactly electric.
Aside from the Dodgers trying to build the next evil empire by signing Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and others, and Juan Soto being traded to the Yankees, this offseason has been a bit of a dud.
We’re less than a week away from the first spring training camps opening, yet legit stars such as Blake Snell, Cody Bellinger and Matt Chapman are still without homes.
At this point, it will just be nice to get down to actual business and hear the first majestic crack of the bat while breathing in the sweet smell of freshly cut grass in both Florida and Arizona.
The return of America’s Favorite Pastime and this beautiful, breathtaking, wonderful sport is so nearly here.
And, with it comes the reveal of our new lineup of baseball coverage for the 2024 MLB season.
Baseball is in my heart and it is the sport I absolutely adore and obsess over, so I’ve been busy behind the scenes trying to think of ways to vastly improve our coverage this year.
I want The Steele Sports Bar to morph into the one-stop shop for all things baseball, and I’m determined to also create a fun online community where we can all grab a cold one and talk our favorite sport together.
To that end, here’s what you can expect from the site on the baseball front throughout the 2024 season:
In-Depth Weekly Column - This is by far the most ambitious idea I’ve thought up for the new season. My plan is to produce a massive and wide-ranging column every single week, covering a plethora of baseball topics from that week. Plus, I want to lead off with one main topic and take you into the heart of that subject matter as far as I can, be it a certain trade or a hot-button talking point in a game. Furthermore, it is my intention to take this column on the road and incorporate as much live reporting in it from different ballparks as possible. Ideally, I want to travel from Citi Field to Dodger Stadium to Camden Yards to PNC Park to Great American Ball Park to Rogers Centre, and to all the other ballparks in-between. It is my wish to take you into the heart of the clubhouse, and bring you nuggets of info you won’t get anywhere else. We’ll have some fun, too. I’ll take you with me as I travel across the country, and I’ll share every single aspect of the experience with you, from food, drink, the stupid amount of coffee I consume on the daily, and all the other weird stuff I may encounter on my travels. I’ve put a lot of thought into this, and I want to make this weekly column the destination for all baseball fans.
Players I Love To Watch: This was a feature I planned to launch in 2023, but it never happened for whatever reason. Instead, I'll be bringing you a current player I love to watch in MLB throughout the 2024 season. I’ll look to do one a week as I’ll be doing a deep dive into each player. And don’t worry, they won’t all be obvious selections, either. My baseball tastes can be very obscure and strange, and I have an affinity for the grizzled old veteran as much as I do for the superstars of the game like Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge. Although they will feature too.
Prospects I’m Excited For In 2024 (and beyond): I’m going to make it my mission to watch as much Minor League Baseball as possible in order to make you smarter about the hot prospects you need to be aware of. Be it the young studs on the cusp of earning a call up to the big leagues this year, or the future stars of tomorrow that are a bit further away in their development, I’m going to check in weekly with a prospect that I’m really excited to see strut their stuff in the major leagues. I’m really pumped about this feature, especially considering that there are a slew of elite prospects on the way to the bigs in the very near future. I’m looking at you, Jackson Holliday and Paul Skenes.
Fire up the Time Machine: I’m constantly looking at the excellent BaseballReference.com, and I’m going to use that endless resource of baseball greatness to pick out an iconic baseball player from yesteryear I’d love to go back in time to watch. This will run throughout the course of the 2024 season, and I already have a stupidly long list of players spanning all eras I want to cover. I think this will be a fun one for every hardcore baseball fan out there.
Team of the Week: Every week, I’ll simply pick out a red hot team that’s impressive me that given week, and I’l really drill down into what made them successful. I’ll also look to get some inside info too. I’m looking to do a AL / NL Player of the Week, also.
Boxscore Watch: Part of the beauty and romance of baseball is the boxscore. We have all, at some point or another, wasted hours going through boxscores and marveling over the sheer breathtaking beauty of it. I still get misty eyed over a baseball boxscore, and I can’t even begin to tell you the simple joy I get from filling one out. So, I thought it would be a lot of fun to pick a random boxscore every single week and pick it apart on the site, breaking down all the wonderful weirdness and seeing if we can spot any intriguing trends.
Preview Content: As we get ready for spring training, I’m going to really start ramping up our baseball preview coverage. I’m going to look to do a feature on each team with a particular angle, while I’ll be speaking to beat writers to get their insight on the teams they cover too. I’ll have some normal and not-so-normal predictions too, as well as division-by-division breakdowns. Overall, I’m going to be all over things as we get ready for the return of baseball.
The Andrew Steele Pod: The podcast is back and better than ever, and we’ll have a slew of baseball guests on throughout the year. It starts this week with Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com coming on to discuss all things Boston Red Sox. I’m also looking to get scouts, coaches and players spanning both the majors and the minor leagues on the pod this season.
Interviews: I really want to bring you more longform content this year, and that will start with a series of in-depth interviews with a variety of baseball personalties from all areas of the game. I hope to launch this series of interviews just before Opening Day.
I’ll post a more structured weekly schedule once we get closer to Opening Day 2024.
I’m sure there will be more ideas / features as we go too, and if there is anything you would like to cover then please let me know!
You can email me at andrewsteeledavis22@gmail.com, leave a comment below or hit me up on any of my social channels:
Twitter / X - @andrewsteeled
Instagram / Threads - @stee.led2194
Blue Sky - @andrew21.bsky.social
I am on Blue Sky now, and I have some invite codes to share if you would rather follow me and talk on there given how big a cesspool Twitter has become:
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Now, I need your help.
I don’t usually like doing this so I’m only going to do it once.
As you know, The Steele Sports Bar is a million percent independent. That means no ads, no price hikes (ever!) and no company lurking in the shadows dictating what kind of content we put out.
However, we can only remain fully independent thanks to your continued and loyal support.
And, given my plans for the 2024 MLB season, your support will be more crucial than ever.
In order to cover travel costs and expenses to get to different ballparks to bring you unique coverage you won’t find anywhere else, paid subscriptions will be needed.
Times are tough, I know, but you can gain full access to everything we do here for less than it costs to buy a cup of coffee now. There’s other options too. We run a referral program where you can win prizes for introducing new subscribers to the site, while we also do gift subscriptions and group subscriptions.
Plus, I’m happy to be flexible if you can’t afford what we’re currently offering. Get in touch with me using the contact details above and we’ll work something out.
The Steele Sports Bar can only grow and be successful thanks to your support. There are no corporate overlords here.
This newsletter is 100000000% reader-supported. If you’re willing and able, please consider becoming a paid subscriber.
By becoming a paid subscriber, you will play a direct role in helping this site grow and become bigger and better. We remain independent because of you.
All funds will go towards keeping this website totally independent, as well as covering expenses and other related costs involved in taking the newsletter to the next level. This will include hitting the road to as many different ballparks as we can in 2024!
As always, thank you for so much for your time and investment!
If you can’t upgrade to a paid subscription yet, or wish to wait a little longer before committing, that’s fine too. Our free subscribers are just as important and just as valued, and you will always be looked after here. There will always be a ton of free content available on the site every week, while all episodes of The Andrew Steele Podcast will remain absolutely free too.
Sharing and spreading the word is just as important, and if you could share The Steele Sports Bar with your friends, family and the random guy on the street, I’d be forever grateful.
With that, bring on baseball season! Opening Day can’t come soon enough.