April 13, 2017
SPORTS
Blueprint 11
Trades made in the offseason bring uncertainty to MLB By Jacob Bullard Head Video Announcements Writer On April 2, the Chicago Cubs opened up their title defense of their first World Series Championship in 108 years against their largest rival, the St. Louis Cardinals. Going into the game it was thought the Cubs would not be bullied around by the men in red; however, the Cardinals came out with a win. However, the Chicago Cubs have started to find their footing since. While this past free agency season being quieter than last winter for the Cubs, other teams used the time to retool, and many of them did it in a big way. The Cardinals managed to get a little Jason Heyward/ John Lackey revenge on the Cubs when they signed Dexter Fowler to a five-year, $82.5 million contract. However, the most notable moves all centered around the Cubs next door neighbors, the White Sox. The Sox traded away star lefthander Chris Sale as well as scrappy center fielder Adam Eaton in two separate trades that saw the Sox receive numerous top prospects, such as Michael Kopech, Lucas Giolito and Yoan Moncada. Other notable moves include Edwin Encarnacion to the Indians, replacing Mike Napoli who returned to Texas. Ian Desmond landed a five-year deal in Colorado, Aroldis Chapman was
lured back to the Bronx by their deep pocketbooks, and San Francisco looked to avoid the disappointment of the 2016 season from closer Santiago Casilla by signing closer Mark Melancon to anchor their bullpen. Aside from that, most of the big names like Yoenis Cespedes, Kenley Jansen and Jose Bautista decided to stay put. The Cubs start their next series against the Pirates on April 14 at This past winter, MLB did Wrigley Field. Photo by Kim Nothdurft not go into hibernation as they decided to change Cleveland Indians, Los Angeles Dodgup the rules in order to speed up the ers and San Francisco Giants to chalgame that can sometimes take more lenge the defending champions. than four hours. The most notable of Boston now has three aces on their these changes include the strike zone staff that complement their stacked being raised slightly, and intentional lineup featuring future potential walks will now be given via a sigMVP Mookie Betts. While the retirenal from the dugout, as opposed to ment of David Ortiz will sting, the the pitcher delivering four straight youth of the Red Sox will make the pitches intentionally out of the strike loss of a future Hall of Famer less zone. painful. Upcoming this season, look for Cleveland remains mostly the teams such as the Boston Red Sox, same aside from upgrading at the
1B/DH position with Edwin Encarnacion, who pairs nicely with Carlos Santana. They are also hoping for a healthy season from former MVP candidate Michael Brantley who has endured multiple setbacks in his return from a shoulder injury. It should also be noted that Brantley did not contribute to the 2016 Cleveland Indians, so he is essentially like a free agent that has been added into the mix. The Dodgers will be looking for young stud and rookie of the year winner Corey Seager to carry them as they now have a star bat to pair with future Hall of Famer Clayton Kershaw. The X-factor for them seems to be whether or not Yasiel Puig can contribute consistently at the plate to compliment his cannon of an arm that he has in right field. Last but not least, the Giants are hoping that even though 2017 is an odd year, they can still recreate some of their even year magic with perennial MVP candidate Buster Posey behind the plate, who compliments ace Madison Bumgarner. Of course, with the season being 162 games long and the World Series happening in early Nov., anyone who thinks they can accurately predict who is going all the way is delirious. There are so many factors that influence the outcome, so it is best to just sit back, relax and enjoy the uncertainty that baseball has to offer.
Fresh talent prepares for success in outdoor track season By Blake Freko, Online Sports Editor The DGS girls distance team is carried by senior leadership; however, their potential lies in the underclassmen they have on the team. They have three freshmen and five sophomores running on the varsity level. Considering the varsity team for girls track and field consists of about 12 girls, the girls track and field team is a much younger team in comparison to other DGS sports. Many of the younger girls on the distance team were also on the cross country team. In last fall’s state
Competitors prior to racing in the 800m at the DGS Invite. Photo by Eileen Tyrrell
cross country meet, six of the seven runners were either freshmen or sophomores and the team finished in fourth place. After experiencing so much success
last cross country season, Coach Douglas Plunkett has high expectations as the team heads into their outdoor season. “I expect a lot out of this group. We were fourth in the state in cross country this year, and I expect us to move up in these next couple of years as they continue to improve,” Plunkett said. The transition to varsity can be tough for some underclassmen, but for these distance girls the transition has been relatively smooth thanks to leadership from the upperclassmen. Freshman Brenna Cohoon went more in-depth on this leadership. “[The upperclassmen] have all been very supportive. They give me a heads up if there’s a big meet or if there’s a lot of competition. They know a lot of the competition, so they are able to help me out with race strategies,” Cohoon said. One of the exceptional traits of this group of underclassmen is the extreme effort that they put in. Distance running has a grueling training regimen, and it requires constant devotion to training. Freshman Erin Reidy detailed part of the training that she goes through. ¨I’ve been getting very in shape. I’m doing core almost every day. We already run every day. Seven miles is the average. Drinking water is also super important to my training,” Reidy said. While hard work is integral to the success of this group of girls, Plunkett suggested that their youth might even help work to their advantage in some ways.
“Sometimes they come in a little naive to how hard this is, and that can help them out because they don’t realize how amazing some of the things they are doing truly are. It doesn’t scare them as much… They don’t have that added pressure that the upperclassmen may feel,” Plunkett said. While their early success is something to be proud of, these underclassmen know that they can’t be complacent with their accomplishments. They know Distance runners pose after finishing their varsity and open races. that setting high goals is important Photo by Eileen Tyrrell to continue to improve and drop their times. Cohoon “When you go into it not knowing shared some of her goals for the rest anything, it’s easier to run workouts of her high school running career. “I’m definitely looking at improving and races as you’re told, but when you get older, you have more pressure my times, obviously. I would like to and stress from outside of sports,” start winning some more races and also step into a leadership role on the Stapleton said. The future appears very bright team,” Cohoon said. for the distance team with all of the Senior Katie Stapleton was once in underclassmen that are enjoying these young girls’ shoes. During her success at the varsity level. The next sophomore year, Stapleton qualified girls track and field meet is the DGS for outdoor state in the 1600m. She triangular meet which is on Apr. 18 recognizes that being young helps at the DGS stadium. individually and the team.