Author
Cal Rourke
Baseball writer
Former MLB All-Star and Hall of Famer. Covers pitching, hitting, and the modern game.
he/him · St. Louis · MLB
- Hitting adjustments
- Pitcher sequencing
- Platoon matchups
- Postseason baseball
Cal Rourke played eighteen seasons in the major leagues as a corner infielder and designated hitter, made six All-Star teams, and was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2019. After retiring, he worked as a special assistant in player development and began writing about the game from the perspective of someone who had lived the adjustments, slumps, and postseason pressure he now describes.
His columns at Upon Review focus on hitter and pitcher process, pitch sequencing, platoon matchups, and the difference between what a box score rewards and what actually happened in the at-bat. He is a regular contributor during the MLB season and at the trade deadline.
Rourke lives in St. Louis with his family.
Articles
- Chicago White Sox at Cleveland Guardians
An 18-pitch walk opened the White Sox's 7-3 win in Cleveland
Gavin Williams carried a 0-0 game through five innings, but Tristan Peters pushed him to 113 pitches in the sixth and Chicago turned that opening into six runs before Hagen Smith shut down Cleveland's seventh-inning chance.
ByCal Rourke
- Colorado Rockies at Detroit Tigers
Detroit's Seven-Run Eighth Finished a Game That Never Settled
Both starters allowed four earned runs, Brennan Bernardino gave Colorado two scoreless bridge innings, and Detroit still erased a 7-4 deficit to win 11-7.
ByCal Rourke
- Detroit Tigers at Cleveland Guardians
Guardians erase 3-0 deficit, walk off Tigers in 10 after Rocchio's two steals
Detroit built a three-run lead against Foster Griffin, but Hunter Gaddis gave Cleveland two perfect innings and Brayan Rocchio stole second and third before Travis Bazzana's winning single.
ByCal Rourke
- Chicago Cubs at Miami Marlins
Imanaga's splitter, Crow-Armstrong's speed shaped Cubs' 6-1 win
Shota Imanaga threw 42 splitters and got 17 whiffs, Pete Crow-Armstrong created scoring pressure in consecutive innings, and Michael Busch added a 427-foot homer.
ByCal Rourke
- Chicago White Sox at Houston Astros
Astros built a 6-2 win out of two sharp innings
Luis Castillo's line was defined by two Houston bursts: Jose Altuve followed Isaac Paredes' 10-pitch walk with a first-inning homer, and a four-run third turned a 2-2 game into a 6-2 Astros win.
ByCal Rourke
- Atlanta Braves at Washington Nationals
Five quiet innings, then a flood: Braves blank Nationals 9-0
Brad Lord gave Washington 3.1 scoreless innings and six strikeouts, but Atlanta did all of its damage from the sixth on and finished a two-hit combined shutout.
ByCal Rourke
- Chicago Cubs at Arizona Diamondbacks
Waldschmidt's walk-off finished the comeback Arizona kept alive
Dennis Santana stranded a bases-loaded jam in the seventh, the Diamondbacks scored three two-out runs in the eighth, and Ryan Waldschmidt's 408-foot homer beat Chicago 5-4 in the ninth.
ByCal Rourke
- Cleveland Guardians at Los Angeles Angels
Kwan kept arriving, and Ramírez kept cashing the chances
Cleveland's 8-6 win in 10 innings felt dramatic at the finish, but the game's real shape was built earlier: a 5-0 hole erased in the middle innings, Steven Kwan reaching base six times, and José Ramírez turning those openings into five RBIs.
ByCal Rourke
