The five factors that could help Michigan win the national title
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Adam Rittenberg, ESPN Senior Writer
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — The mood inside Michigan’s Crisler Center media room late Saturday afternoon was equally reflective and forward-looking.
Michigan had beaten rival Ohio State and won the Big Ten East. The division title didn’t come as a surprise, given the strong roster the Wolverines returned in 2023, but it continued a historic season. This was the first time Michigan had beaten its rival three straight times since 1997, the program’s last national championship season.
As the Wolverines return to the Big Ten championship game for the third consecutive year, they have national championship aspirations again.
Safety Rod Moore‘s diving interception of an underthrown pass by Ohio State’s Kyle McCord secured Michigan’s 30-24 win Saturday and ensured a return to Indianapolis. But the twists and turns of Michigan’s journey have made this season stand apart from the school’s past two championship runs.
“It’s been a lot,” quarterback J.J. McCarthy said.
Michigan won six of its 12 games without coach Jim Harbaugh on the sideline because of two separate suspensions. The program has been under intense scrutiny since mid-October, when the NCAA began investigating an off-campus scouting/signal-stealing operation led by former staff member Connor Stalions. There have also been standard obstacles, like injuries to key starters — guard Zak Zinter, cornerback Will Johnson — in the Ohio State game. But whether self-created or not, Michigan found ways to navigate whatever obstacles fell in its path, reaching 1,001 all-time wins.
“No one cried, no one whined,” running back Blake Corum said. “It was like, ‘OK, this is what we have to do.’ The job has to get done, no matter what.”
And there’s still work left to do as Michigan faces No. 17 Iowa this coming Saturday. A win would give the Wolverines three straight outright Big Ten championships for the first time in team history.
“It’s been a tremendous season, right in the exact position that we hoped for, that we worked so hard to be in,” Harbaugh said Sunday. “It’s onward now. We’ve accomplished many of our goals, but not all of them yet.”
Here are five factors that helped Michigan complete its journey back to Indianapolis and could help the Wolverines finally win an elusive national title.
1. A veteran-laden roster that doesn’t flinch, starting with QB McCarthy
The experience of this Michigan team has been especially important given Harbaugh’s suspension and the intense media scrutiny on the program. Almost every position group boasts numerous players with significant starts or notable field time. Even after a devastating injury like Zinter’s against Ohio State, Michigan responded by moving fifth-year lineman Karsen Barnhart to right guard and then sliding in Trente Jones, another fifth-year player, to Barnhart’s spot at tackle. The offense continued to move.
“We’re always talking about the six best guys, the five best guys, whoever it is,” said Sherrone Moore, who oversees the line.
McCarthy’s savvy has stood out this season as Michigan has asked different things of him than in 2022, when the team rode running backs Blake Corum and Donovan Edwards. After an excellent start — he had 2,134 pass yards with 18 touchdowns on 75.7% completions through Michigan’s first nine games — he didn’t attempt a pass down the stretch against Penn State, as the Wolverines called 32 consecutive runs. Then, after a shaky performance last week at Maryland, McCarthy executed a precision passing game to near perfection against Ohio State, completing 16 of 20 attempts for 148 yards and a thread-the-needle touchdown to Roman Wilson. He completed 12 of 12 passes of 5 yards or less, and recorded his fifth game with at least 80% completions, tying Oregon’s Bo Nix for most in the FBS. His mobility also stood out against a fast Buckeyes defense.
“I told him before the game: ‘Listen, when the game matters in some critical situations, I’m going to put the ball in your hands, because I know you’re going to make a great decision,'” Moore said. “I know where his mindset is at, especially on those critical downs.”
2. Moore’s growth as a coach
Harbaugh has generally hired good staff members at Michigan. Several of his ex-assistants have moved on to head-coaching positions or to the NFL. His 2023 staff projected well, especially with two up-and-coming coordinators in Jesse Minter, a Broyles Award finalist in 2022, and Moore. Back in late spring, Michigan had no idea how much of the season Harbaugh would miss and how much it would have to rely on the rest of the coaching staff in his absence.
Although the 37-year-old Moore has never been a head coach and only became a coordinator in 2021, he was the clear choice to lead Michigan on game days during the stretch run. Moore took a necessary conservative approach in an emotionally charged game against Penn State, which has an aggressive defense filled with NFL-level talent, but an offense that was not set up to truly challenge Michigan. He got Michigan through a shaky performance against Maryland, in which the Wolverines needed scores in all three phases to overcome the Terrapins.
Before the Ohio State game, Harbaugh had two messages for Moore: Love you and be you. The latter meant: make more aggressive play calls. Moore kept the offense on the field for three fourth-down opportunities and converted each time, including twice on a 14-play, 75-yard touchdown drive that put Michigan up 14-3 in the second quarter. He also opened the fourth quarter with a halfback pass, as Edwards found tight end Colston Loveland for 34 yards, and mixed in Alex Orji as a “change-up” quarterback and got a 20-yard run.
“Coach Moore said from the get-go that he’s going to call the most aggressive game he’s ever called,” McCarthy said. “For the big boys, for Blake, for myself, it’s music to our ears, just knowing that he has confidence in us to go get that extra yard or go get that 2 yards. It means the world because that’s who we are.”
Harbaugh said Ohio State’s defense was the best he had seen, and Michigan’s game plan required creativity.
“Not a thing I would have changed in the way he called that game and the decisions he made in that kind of environment, that kind of pressure,” Harbaugh said.
Moore’s 3-0 Big Ten stretch without Harbaugh showed that he’s ready to lead his own program. Given the uncertainty about Harbaugh’s future — Harbaugh has interviewed for NFL jobs each of the past two winters, and likely will face another NCAA suspension if he returns to Michigan in 2024 — Moore has emerged as a very capable option to take over at Michigan, whenever that day comes.
3. A defensive front with few stars but plenty of depth
When Michigan broke through in 2021, winning its first Big Ten title in 17 years, its frontman was defensive end Aidan Hutchinson. He shined down the stretch, becoming the Heisman Trophy runner-up and cementing himself as a top NFL draft pick. And Michigan has had plenty of other star defensive linemen during Harbaugh’s tenure — David Ojabo, Kwity Paye, Rashan Gary, Chase Winovich, Taco Charlton, Mazi Smith and Mike Morris.
The 2023 line might not be remembered for its big names, but it will be remembered for its depth, skill, experience and performances in big games. No Michigan defensive lineman has more than 5.5 sacks, 6.5 tackles for loss or five quarterback hurries, but eight have at least 1.5 sacks and seven have multiple QB hurries.
1:03
Sam Acho: Michigan’s defense the difference in win vs. Ohio State
Sam Acho breaks down the keys to Michigan’s victory over Ohio State and the Buckeyes’ chances of reaching the College Football Playoff.
There have been expected contributions from veterans such as tackle Kris Jenkins and end Jaylen Harrell, but sophomore Mason Graham has emerged into a surprise star — he’s tied for the team lead with 6.5 tackles for loss and has contributed three sacks, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery. The California native was an ESPN three-star recruit who originally committed to Boise State. And Josaiah Stewart, a Coastal Carolina transfer, has been a valuable addition on the edge.
Kenneth Grant, a 339-pound sophomore, has contributed 2.5 sacks, 5 quarterback hurries and 4 pass breakups, and drew national attention when he raced down Penn State running back Kaytron Allen, saving a possible touchdown and wowing Harbaugh and his teammates.
“We get ourselves just ready for the moment, and when that moment comes, we know what we’re going to do,” Graham said. “That’s a big part of our team in handling adversity.”
4. Those who stayed have positioned Michigan for more championships
The famous Bo Schembechler line that appears everywhere around Michigan’s program — “Those who stay will be champions” — has taken on new and added meaning. Michigan had several players pass up potential NFL opportunities to return for another run at a Big Ten title and the CFP. The “One More Year” fund, started by the Champions Circle NIL collective, helped the program retain standouts such as Corum, Zinter, Jenkins, offensive lineman Trevor Keegan and wide receiver Cornelius Johnson. Michigan also brought back other accomplished players, such as defensive back Mike Sainristil and linebacker Michael Barrett. The Wolverines had only three underclassmen enter the NFL draft — Smith, Morris and cornerback D.J. Turner.
All of Michigan’s returnees have made significant contributions this fall. Sainristil is an All-America candidate, recording five interceptions and five pass breakups, while Barrett leads the team in both forced fumbles (three) and fumble recoveries (two). Johnson recorded his third consecutive season of 32 or more receptions. Zinter and Keegan have anchored a line for a remarkably balanced offense that averages 37.6 points per game.
Although Corum’s overall rushing production (976 yards) doesn’t match what he did last season (1,463), he has gained the most critical yards, setting a Michigan single-season record with 22 rushing touchdowns.
“I just look back and pray that I left a legacy, I stamped my mark here, I made a difference, on and off the field,” Corum said. “Looking back at [the Ohio State game], this is why I came back. I couldn’t go out in the Big House like I did last year, hurt. I’m so appreciative for the University of Michigan.”
5. Special teams remain solid
Michigan didn’t enter the season with many glaring concerns, but special teams carried some question marks after kicker Jake Moody and punter Brad Robbins both were selected in the NFL draft. The Wolverines became only the second team in the past 40 years to have two specialists picked in the same draft. Moody, the 2021 Lou Groza Award winner and Michigan’s career scoring leader, seemed to be a particularly big loss.
But the Wolverines have continued to shine in the kicking game. On Saturday against Ohio State, James Turner went 3-for-3 on field goals, including a 50-yarder early in the third quarter, while Ohio State’s Jayden Fielding missed from 52 yards out to end the first half. Tommy Doman averaged 63.3 yards per punt, placing one at the Ohio State 2-yard line late in the opening half.
“He was money,” Corum said of Turner. “He was calm, cool and collected, hit all of them. Couldn’t ask for a better kicker than my guy, so jolly good fellow to him.”
Turner, a Louisville transfer, is 12-for-14 on field goal attempts this season and 8-for-8 from within 40 yards. Doman averaged 45 yards per punt with 18 fair catches and 14 punts inside the opponent’s 20-yard line. Although Michigan isn’t exceptional on returns, Jake Thaw and Tyler Morris have been a solid tandem on punt runbacks, and the coverage teams haven’t had any busts. The Wolverines’ special teams play shined at Maryland, as they blocked a punt for a safety and downed a Doman punt inside the Terrapins’ 1-yard line, leading to another late safety.
The opening weekend of the 2025 MLB season was taken over by a surprise star — torpedo bats.
The bowling pin-shaped bats became the talk of the sport after the Yankees’ home run onslaught on the first Saturday of the season put it in the spotlight and the buzz hasn’t slowed since.
What exactly is a torpedo bat? How does it help hitters? And how is it legal? Let’s dig in.
Read: An MIT-educated professor, the Yankees and the bat that could be changing baseball
What is a torpedo bat and why is it different from a traditional MLB bat?
The idea of the torpedo bat is to take a size format — say, 34 inches and 32 ounces — and distribute the wood in a different geometric shape than the traditional form to ensure the fattest part of the bat is located where the player makes the most contact. Standard bats taper toward an end cap that is as thick diametrically as the sweet spot of the barrel. The torpedo bat moves some of the mass on the end of the bat about 6 to 7 inches lower, giving it a bowling-pin shape, with a much thinner end.
How does it help hitters?
The benefits for those who like swinging with it — and not everyone who has swung it likes it — are two-fold. Both are rooted in logic and physics. The first is that distributing more mass to the area of most frequent contact aligns with players’ swing patterns and provides greater impact when bat strikes ball. Players are perpetually seeking ways to barrel more balls, and while swings that connect on the end of the bat and toward the handle probably will have worse performance than with a traditional bat, that’s a tradeoff they’re willing to make for the additional slug. And as hitters know, slug is what pays.
The second benefit, in theory, is increased bat speed. Imagine a sledgehammer and a broomstick that both weigh 32 ounces. The sledgehammer’s weight is almost all at the end, whereas the broomstick’s is distributed evenly. Which is easier to swing fast? The broomstick, of course, because shape of the sledgehammer takes more strength and effort to move. By shedding some of the weight off the end of the torpedo bat and moving it toward the middle, hitters have found it swings very similarly to a traditional model but with slightly faster bat velocity.
Why did it become such a big story so early in the 2025 MLB season?
Because the New York Yankees hit nine home runs in a game Saturday and Michael Kay, their play-by-play announcer, pointed out that some of them came from hitters using a new bat shape. The fascination was immediate. While baseball, as an industry, has implemented forward-thinking rules in recent seasons, the modification to something so fundamental and known as the shape of a bat registered as bizarre. The initial response from many who saw it: How is this legal?
OK. How is this legal?
Major League Baseball’s bat regulations are relatively permissive. Currently, the rules allow for a maximum barrel diameter of 2.61 inches, a maximum length of 42 inches and a smooth and round shape. The lack of restrictions allows MLB’s authorized bat manufacturers to toy with bat geometry and for the results to still fall within the regulations.
Who came up with the idea of using them?
The notion of a bowling-pin-style bat has kicked around baseball for years. Some bat manufacturers made smaller versions as training tools. But the version that’s now infiltrating baseball goes back two years when a then-Yankees coach named Aaron Leanhardt started asking hitters how they should counteract the giant leaps in recent years made by pitchers.
When Yankees players responded that bigger barrels would help, Leanhardt — an MIT-educated former Michigan physics professor who left academia to work in the sports industry — recognized that as long as bats stayed within MLB parameters, he could change their geometry to make them a reality. Leanhardt, who left the Yankees to serve as major league field coordinator for the Miami Marlins over the winter, worked with bat manufacturers throughout the 2023 and 2024 seasons to make that a reality.
When did it first appear in MLB games?
It’s unclear specifically when. But Yankees slugger Giancarlo Stanton used a torpedo bat last year and went on a home run-hitting rampage in October that helped send the Yankees to the World Series. New York Mets star Francisco Lindor also used a torpedo-style bat last year and went on to finish second in National League MVP voting.
Who are some of the other notable early users of torpedo bats?
In addition to Stanton and Lindor, Yankees hitters Anthony Volpe, Austin Wells, Jazz Chisholm Jr., Cody Bellinger and Paul Goldschmidt have used torpedoes to great success. Others who have used them in games include Tampa Bay’s Junior Caminero, Minnesota’s Ryan Jeffers and Toronto’s Davis Schneider. And that’s just the beginning. Hundreds more players are expected to test out torpedoes — and perhaps use them in games — in the coming weeks.
How is this different from a corked bat?
Corking bats involves drilling a hole at the end of the bat, filling it in and capping it. The use of altered bats allows players to swing faster because the material with which they replace the wood — whether it’s cork, superballs or another material — is lighter. Any sort of bat adulteration is illegal and, if found, results in suspension.
Could a rule be changed to ban them?
Could it happen? Sure. Leagues and governing bodies have put restrictions on equipment they believe fundamentally altered fairness. Stick curvature is limited in hockey. Full-body swimsuits made of polyurethane and neoprene are banned by World Aquatics. But officials at MLB have acknowledged that the game’s pendulum has swung significantly toward pitching in recent years, and if an offensive revolution comes about because of torpedo bats — and that is far from a guarantee — it could bring about more balance to the game. If that pendulum swings too far, MLB could alter its bat regulations, something it has done multiple times already this century.
So the torpedo bat is here to stay?
Absolutely. Bat manufacturers are cranking them out and shipping them to interested players with great urgency. Just how widely the torpedo bat is adopted is the question that will play out over the rest of the season. But it has piqued the curiosity of nearly every hitter in the big leagues, and just as pitchers toy with new pitches to see if they can marginally improve themselves, hitters will do the same with bats.
Comfort is paramount with a bat, so hitters will test them during batting practice and in cage sessions before unleashing them during the game. As time goes on, players will find specific shapes that are most comfortable to them and best suit their swing during bat-fitting sessions — similar to how golfers seek custom clubs. But make no mistake: This is an almost-overnight alteration of the game, and “traditional or torpedo” is a question every big leaguer going forward will ask himself.
Sports
‘It’s taken on a life of its own’: Inside the 48 hours torpedo bats launched into baseball lore
At 1:54 ET on Saturday afternoon, New York Yankees play-by-play man Michael Kay lit the fuse on what will be remembered as either one of the most metamorphic conversations in baseball history or one of its strangest.
During spring training, someone in the organization had mentioned to Kay that the team’s analytics department had counseled players on where pitches tended to strike their bats, and with subsequent buy-in from some of the players, bats had been designed around that information. In the hours before the Yankees’ home game against the Brewers that day, Kay told the YES Network production staff about this, alerting them so they could look for an opportunity to highlight the equipment.
After the Yankees clubbed four homers in the first inning, a camera zoomed in on Jazz Chisholm Jr.‘s bat in the second inning. “You see the shape of Chisholm’s bat…” Kay said on air. “It’s got a big barrel on it,” Paul O’Neill responded, before Kay went on to describe the analysis behind the bat shaped like a torpedo.
Chisholm singled to left field, and after Anthony Volpe worked the count against former teammate Nestor Cortes to a full count, Volpe belted a home run to right field using the same kind of bat. A reporter watching the game texted Kay: Didn’t he hit the meat part of the bat you were talking about — just inside where the label normally is?
Yep, Kay responded. Within an hour of Kay’s commentary, the video of Chisholm’s bat and Kay’s exchange with O’Neill was posted on multiple platforms of social media, amplified over and over. What happened over the next 48 hours was what you get when you mix the power of social media and the desperation of a generation of beleaguered hitters. Batting averages are at a historic low, strikeout rates at a historic high, and on a sunny spring day in the Bronx, here were the Yankees blasting baseballs into the seats with what seemed to be a strangely shaped magic bat.
An oasis of offense had formed on the horizon, and hitters — from big leaguers to Little Leaguers, including at least one member of Congress — paddled toward it furiously. Acres of trees will be felled and shaped to feed the thirst for this new style of bats. Last weekend, one bat salesman asked his boss, “What the heck have we done?”
Jared Smith, CEO of bat-maker Victus, said, “I’ve been making bats for 15, 16 years. … This is the most talked-about thing in the industry since I started. And I hope we can make better-performing bats that work for players.”
According to Bobby Hillerich, the vice president of production at Hillerich & Bradsby, his company — which is based in Louisville, Kentucky, and makes Louisville Slugger bats — had produced 20 versions of the torpedo bat as of this past Saturday, and in less than a week, that number has tripled as players and teams continually call in their orders.
Even though Saturday marked its launch into the mainstream, this shape of bat has actually been around for a while. Hillerich & Bradsby had its first contact with a team about the style in 2021 and had nondisclosure agreements with four teams as the bat evolved; back then, it was referred to as the “bowling pin” bat. The Cubs’ Nico Hoerner was the first major leaguer to try it — and apparently wasn’t comfortable with it. Cody Bellinger tried it when he was with the Cubs before joining the Yankees during the offseason.
Before Atlanta took the field Sunday night, Braves catcher Drake Baldwin recalled trying one in the Arizona Fall League last year (noting that his first impression was that it “looked weird”). Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor used it in 2024, in a year in which he would finish second in the NL MVP voting; Lindor’s was a little different from Volpe’s version, with a cup hollowed out at the end of the bat. Giancarlo Stanton swung one throughout his playoff surge last fall, but no one in the media noticed, perhaps because of how the pitch-black color of Stanton’s bat camouflaged the shape.
Minnesota manager Rocco Baldelli saw one in the Twins’ dugout during spring training and picked it up, his attention drawn to the unusual shape. “What the hell is this thing?” he asked, wondering aloud whether the design was legal. When he was assured it was, he put it back down.
Baldelli’s experience reflected the way hitters have used and assessed bats since the advent of baseball: They’ll pick up bats and see how they feel, their interest fueled by the specter of success. Tony Gwynn won eight batting titles, and many teammates and opposing hitters — Barry Bonds among them — asked whether they could inspect his bats. The torpedo bat’s arrival was simply the latest version of that long-held search for the optimal tool.
On Opening Day, eight teams had some version of the torpedo bat within their stock, according to one major league source. But with video of the Yankees’ home runs being hit off unusual bats saturating social media Saturday afternoon, the phone of Kevin Uhrhan, pro bat sales rep for Louisville Slugger, blew up with requests for torpedo bats. James Rowson, the hitting coach of the Yankees, began to get text inquiries — about 100, he later estimated. Everyone wanted to know about the bat; everyone wanted to get their own.
In San Diego, Braves players asked about the bats, and by Sunday morning, equipment manager Calvin Minasian called in the team’s order. By the middle of the week, all 30 teams had asked for the bats. “Every team started trying to get orders in,” Hillerich said. “We’re trying to scramble to get wood. And then it was: How fast can we get this to retail?”
Victus produces the bats Chisholm and Volpe are using and has made them available for retail. Three senior players, all in their 70s, stopped by the Victus store to ask about the torpedoes. A member of Congress who plays baseball reached out to Louisville Slugger.
The Cincinnati Reds contacted Hillerich & Bradsby, saying, “We need you in Cincinnati on Monday ASAP,” and soon after, Uhrhan and pro bat production manager Brian Hillerich, Bobby’s brother, made the 90-minute drive from the company’s factory in Louisville with test bats.
Reds star Elly De La Cruz tried a few, decided on a favorite and used it for a career performance that night.
“You can think in New York, maybe there was wind,” Bobby Hillerich said. “Elly hits two home runs and gets seven RBIs. That just took it to a whole new level.”
A few days after the Yankees’ explosion, Aaron Leanhardt, who had led New York’s effort to customize its bats as a minor league hitting coordinator before being hired by the Marlins as their field coordinator, was in the middle of a horseshoe of reporters, explaining the background. “There are a lot more cameras here today than I’m used to,” he said, laughing.
Stanton spoke with reporters about the simple concept behind the bat: build a design for where a hitter is most likely to make contact. “You wonder why no one has thought of it before, for sure,” Stanton said. “I didn’t know if it was, like, a rule-based thing of why they were shaped like that.”
Over and over, MLB officials assured those asking: Yes, the bats are legal and meet the sport’s equipment specifications. Trevor Megill, the Brewers’ closer, complained about the bats, calling them like “something used in slow-pitch softball,” but privately, baseball officials were thrilled by the possibility of seeing offense goosed, something they had been attempting through rule change in recent years.
“It’s all the rage right now, given what transpired over the weekend,” said Jeremy Zoll, assistant general manager of the Twins. “I’m sure more and more guys are going to experiment with it as a result, just to see if it’s something they like.”
That personal preference is a factor for which some front office types believe the mass orders of the bats don’t account: The Yankees’ recommendations to each hitter were based on months of past data of how that player tended to strike the ball. This was not about a one-size-fits all bat; it was about precise bat measurements that reflected an individual player’s swing.
“I had never heard of it. I’ve used the same bat for nine years, so I think I’ll stick with that,” White Sox outfielder Andrew Benintendi said. “It’s pretty interesting. It makes sense. If it works for a guy, good for him. If it doesn’t, stick with what you got.”
As longtime player Eric Hosmer explained on the “Baseball Tonight” podcast, the process is a lot like what players can do in golf: look for clubs customized for a player’s particular swing. And, he added, hitting coaches might begin to think more about which bat might be most effective against particular pitchers. If a pitcher tends to throw inside, a torpedo bat could be more effective; if a pitcher is more effective outside, maybe a larger barrel would be more appropriate.
That’s the key, according to an agent representing a player who ordered a bat: “You need years of hitting data in the big leagues to dial it in and hopefully get a better result. He’s still tinkering with it; he may not even use it in a game. … I think of it like switching your irons in golf to blades: It will feel a little different and take some adjusting, and it may even change your swing subtly.”
Two days after the home run explosion, Boone said, “You’re just trying to just get what you can on the margins, move the needle a little bit. And that’s really all you’re going to do. I don’t think this is some revelation to where we’re going to be — it’s not related to the weekend that we had, for example. I don’t think it’s that. Maybe in some cases, for some players it may help them incrementally. That’s how I view it.”
“I’m kind of starting to smile at it a little more … a lot of things that aren’t real.”
Said the player agent: “It’s not an aluminum bat with plutonium in it like everyone is making it out to be.”
Reliever Adam Ottavino watched this all play out, with his 15 years of experience. “It’s the Yankees and they scored a million runs in the first few games, and it’s cool to hate the Yankees and it’s cool to look for the bogeyman,” Ottavino said, “and that’s what some people are going to do, and [you] can’t really stop that. But there’s also a lot of misinformation and noneducation on it too.”
Major league baseball mostly evolves at a glacial pace. For example, the sport is well into the second century of complaints about the surface of the ball and the debate over financial disparity among teams. From time to time, however, baseball has its eclipses, moments that command full attention and inspire change. On a “Sunday Night Baseball” game on May 18, 2008, an umpire’s botched home run call at Yankee Stadium compelled MLB to implement the first instant replay. Buster Posey’s ankle was shattered in a home plate collision in May 2011, imperiling the career of the young star, and new rules about that type of play were rewritten.
The torpedo bat eruption could turn out to be transformative, a time when the industry became aware how a core piece of equipment has been taken for granted and aware that bats could be more precisely designed to augment the ability of each hitter. Or this could all turn out to be a wild overreaction to an outlier day of home runs against a pitching staff having a really bad day.
On Thursday, Cortes — who had been hammered for five homers over two innings in Yankee Stadium — shut out the Reds for six innings.
In Baltimore, Bregman, who had tried the torpedo bat earlier this week, reverted to his usual stock and had three hits against the Orioles, including a home run. Afterward, Bregman said, “It’s the hitter. Not the bat.”
This story was also reported by Jeff Passan, Jorge Castillo, Jesse Rogers and Kiley McDaniel.
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