How my anxiety & copying other pitchers SAVED my final MLB season
The weekly Mayday Catch Up - Aug. 22, 2025
ANNOUNCEMENTS
I am back from vacation and Mayday! will return to our regularly scheduled time on Wednesday, Aug. 27 at 3:00 p.m. ET/12:00 p.m. PT.
We have a second YouTube channel for even more videos focusing more on baseball culture and the side of the internet where baseball lovers spend their time. Go subscribe to More Mayday now!
New merch is live! Want to throw cheese? Well, you only need to LET IT EAT!
NEW STUFF
📺 WATCH 📺
These are the nastiest pitches you submitted in July, rated by your boy on our patented, world class rating system. Let me know in the comments how disgustingly correct all of my takes are and double down with a like. If you don't, I'll be disappointed. (10 mins)
Want to submit your own nastiest pitches for consideration in August? Join the discord!
Rob Manfred thinks realignment is a good decision for Major League Baseball, especially if expansion happens. So what would that look like and is it a good idea? Lets discuss… (13 mins)
My final year in Major League Baseball was a complete disaster after the first 20 games. I couldn't miss a bat, get anyone out or even clear my head out there. The combination of a new team and new rules took me to a dark place that eventually led me to step away for a while, and that turned out to be one of the best baseball decisions I ever made. This is the story of how I turned one of my worst seasons into my best by taking a step back, looking around the league and stealing the things that were working for those pitchers most like me. Let's discuss… (22 mins)
📝READ📝
The Red Sox have a secret weapon in Triple-A
The Boston Red Sox had one of the quieter trade deadlines, with their only significant moves being trades for veteran lefty reliever Steven Matz and the struggling Dustin May. Barring unforeseen circumstances, neither Matz or May look like they will be true difference-makers down the stretch. But, that does not mean that the Red Sox do not have addition…
My producer, David Korn, wrote about Red Sox prospect Payton Tolle and how he could potentially make an impact down the stretch like Garrett Crochet in 2020 and David Price in 2008.
Vitamin SEA: The Most Dangerous Drug
In the United States, drugs are categorized in schedules on a scale of I-V, with Schedule I being the most dangerous. Drugs like heroin or LSD fall under this category (and also weed for some reason). With this in mind, the most dangerous drug would be a Schedule I category drug, right? Wrong.
My writer and resident Mariners superfan Henry Neiman wrote about Seattle’s postseason push for our own Mariners blog, “Vitamin SEA.”
STAT OF THE WEEK - SWORD
A “sword,” as popularized by Rob “the Pitching Ninja” Friedman, is “when a pitcher fools a hitter so badly that he forces a non-competitive swing, one where a batter either regrets his choice or can’t stop himself from taking a hack that looks so ugly it ends up going viral on social media.” (Via MLB)
A sword is, for lack of a better phrase, a feeling, but like any actual metric it requires a definition to capture a swing that was not fully unleashed. For a swing to qualify as a sword, it must fulfill each of the following requirements:
The pitch must be a swinging strike (no fouls)
The bat must cross the front face of home plate
The swing must be an “incomplete swing,” defined as a swing where the head of the bat crosses a line set at 5 inches ahead of the front of the plate but does not return back through it
The swing must have bat speed that is in the 10th percentile or lower, to make clear that the swing ended up being without serious intent
The swing must be no more than 20 mph in the final tracked frames, to avoid “full swings”
MORE SHOWS TO CHECK OUT
Foul Territory: Live on YouTube - Every day at 2:00 p.m. ET/11:00 a.m. PT
Sunday Sliders with Trevor and Dani Wexelman on MLB Network Radio, SiriusXM channel 89 and on the SiriusXM app - Sundays at 1:00 p.m. ET/10:00 a.m. PT
Next live Mayday! - Wednesday, Aug. 27 @ 3:00 p.m. ET/12:00 p.m. PT
Watch on: Twitch | YouTube (Hour One on Foul Territory) | YouTube (Hour Two)