Perhaps the most important thing that Major League Baseball has taught us in recent years is that winning is possible for everyone. Today’s losers are tomorrow’s contenders, or even champions. Literally.
It is not just that the Chicago Cubs ended their 109-year-old World Series championship drought last season. It is the proliferation of quick turnaround seasons, especially this year. A handful of dreary 2016 flops are now hunting the playoffs.
The Minnesota Twins endured a 59-103 calamity a year ago, the worst of their 56 years in the Twin Cities. Today they are in wild card position, just behind the league champion Cleveland Indians in the American League Central.
The Arizona Diamondbacks won 69 games in 2016. Now they have the second best record in the National League.
The Milwaukee Brewers won 73 games last year and were fourth in the National League Central, a division they now lead.
The Colorado Rockies are coming off six consecutive losing seasons, but are sitting in control of a wild-card playoff spot halfway through this year.
The Tampa Bay Rays won 68 games last season, but now are one only one game out of a wild-card spot.
Baseball is truly the "hope springs eternal" sport.
Contrast it with the National Basketball Association, which produced its oh-so-predictable, third consecutive finals match-up between the Golden State Warriors and the Cleveland Cavaliers. The only thing as certain as that meeting was that the Sacramento Kings, the Brooklyn Nets and a handful of others had absolutely no chance of reaching the postseason.
When the National Football League begins play later this summer, rest assured that the Cleveland Browns, Chicago Bears, San Francisco 49ers, Los Angeles Rams, Jacksonville Jaguars and Los Angeles Chargers will not be playoffs-bound.
Only the sudden acquisition of a superstar player, or the rare, overnight development of a solid core of players turns NBA and NFL teams from bottom-feeders into instant contenders.
So why is MLB so friendly to the worst-to-first phenomenon? For starters, baseball’s cellar and ceiling are closer together than other sports. MLB’s best teams tend to win about 60 per cent of their games. The worst teams still win four out of 10. That means there is less ground to make up.
The NBA’s and NFL’s elite teams win at least 75 per cent of their games, while their misfits win just two or three out of 10.
In baseball, even the brightest stars can expect serious performance swings from one year to the next. And good players can be excellent for a season, propelling their teams from bottom shelf to top.
In Arizona, third baseman Jake Lamb is having a breakout year with 17 home runs and 62 runs batted in. Former Cy Young Award winner Zack Greinke has followed up his lousy 2016 with an All-Star-like 2017. Most importantly, their perennial superstar Paul Goldschmidt is healthy and heroic again, with a 1.027 on base-plus-slugging (OPS).
Sometimes it doesn’t take much. Milwaukee have two newcomers who have lifted them into contention, ahead of the backsliding champion Cubs. Travis Shaw and Eric Thames have 37 homers and 97 RBI between them.
Analytical tweaks also can help terrible teams improve. Minnesota actively remade themselves into a brilliant defensive team, without sacrificing offence. Tampa Bay have their usual pitching depth, but also gambled successfully on a line-up packed with one-dimensional sluggers that have them No. 3 in homers in MLB.
Baseball has become an optimist’s playground. Yes, the Miami Marlins may be on their way to their eighth consecutive losing season. All that means is, don’t dismiss the Fish in 2018.
UAE squad
Ali Kashief, Salem Rashid, Khalifa Al Hammadi, Khalfan Mubarak, Ali Mabkhout, Omar Abdelrahman, Mohammed Al Attas (Al Jazira), Mohmmed Al Shamsi, Hamdan Al Kamali, Mohammad Barghash, Khalil Al Hammadi (Al Wahda), Khalid Eisa, Mohammed Shakir, Ahmed Barman, Bandar Al Ahbabi (Al Ain), Adel Al Hosani, Al Hassan Saleh, Majid Suroor (Sharjah), Waleed Abbas, Ismail Al Hammadi, Ahmed Khalil (Shabab Al Ahli Dubai) Habib Fardan, Tariq Ahmed, Mohammed Al Akbari (Al Nasr), Ali Saleh, Ali Salmeen (Al Wasl), Hassan Al Mahrami (Baniyas)
PROFILE OF INVYGO
Started: 2018
Founders: Eslam Hussein and Pulkit Ganjoo
Based: Dubai
Sector: Transport
Size: 9 employees
Investment: $1,275,000
Investors: Class 5 Global, Equitrust, Gulf Islamic Investments, Kairos K50 and William Zeqiri
Profile of Hala Insurance
Date Started: September 2018
Founders: Walid and Karim Dib
Based: Abu Dhabi
Employees: Nine
Amount raised: $1.2 million
Funders: Oman Technology Fund, AB Accelerator, 500 Startups, private backers
2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups
Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.
Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.
Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.
Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, (Leon banned).
Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.
Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.
Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.
Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.
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UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
Price: From Dh439,000
Available: Now
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WWE Evolution results
- Trish Stratus and Lita beat Alicia Fox and Mickie James in a tag match
- Nia Jax won a battle royal, eliminating Ember Moon last to win
- Toni Storm beat Io Shirai to win the Mae Young Classic
- Natalya, Sasha Banks and Bayley beat The Riott Squad in a six-woman tag match
- Shayna Baszler won the NXT Women’s title by defeating Kairi Sane
- Becky Lynch retained the SmackDown Women’s Championship against Charlotte Flair in a Last Woman Standing match
- Ronda Rousey retained the Raw Women’s title by beating Nikki Bella
Election pledges on migration
CDU: "Now is the time to control the German borders and enforce strict border rejections"
SPD: "Border closures and blanket rejections at internal borders contradict the spirit of a common area of freedom"
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
The specs: 2018 Maserati Levante S
Price, base / as tested: Dh409,000 / Dh467,000
Engine: 3.0-litre V6
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Power: 430hp @ 5,750rpm
Torque: 580Nm @ 4,500rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 10.9L / 100km
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