{"id":11280,"date":"2026-07-11T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-11T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/?p=11280"},"modified":"2026-07-10T21:55:00","modified_gmt":"2026-07-11T01:55:00","slug":"stick-to-baseball-7-11-26","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/2026\/07\/11\/stick-to-baseball-7-11-26\/","title":{"rendered":"Stick to baseball, 7\/11\/26."},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Happy Draft Day! I posted <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/7435150\/2026\/07\/10\/mlb-draft-final-mock-draft-grady-emerson-vahn-lackey-roch-cholowsky\/\">my final mock draft<\/a> on Friday and held <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/7435747\/2026\/07\/10\/mlb-draft-live-chat-keith-law-july-10\/\">a Q&amp;A<\/a> to answer your questions about it, after <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/7424299\/2026\/07\/06\/mlb-draft-mock-2026-grady-emerson-vahn-lackey\/\">posting one on Monday<\/a> and holding <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/7425738\/2026\/07\/06\/mlb-draft-live-chat-keith-law-july-6\/\">a Q&amp;A<\/a> that afternoon. I posted <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/7406740\/2026\/07\/01\/mlb-draft-2026-top-100-ranking-roch-cholowsky-vahn-lackey-grady-emerson\/\">my final Big Board<\/a> of the top 100 prospects in the draft class, ss well as some scouting reports on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/7427001\/2026\/07\/08\/mlb-draft-prospects-beyond-top-100-beau-peterson-peyton-bonds\/\">prospects beyond the top 100<\/a> who will probably still be drafted. I also previewed <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/7411607\/2026\/07\/01\/mlb-futures-game-roster-preview-jesus-made-eli-willits\/\">the Futures Game rosters<\/a>, and posted a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/7427009\/2026\/07\/07\/mlb-prospect-scouting-cam-caminiti-tate-southisene\/\">scouting notebook on Atlanta, Baltimore, Washington, and Mets prospects<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I appeared on KIRO-Seattle to <a href=\"https:\/\/shows.audiocdn.com\/s\/bonneville\/bump-and-stacy\/hour-3-the-athletic-s-ke-743b9b\/embed\/standard-horizontal\/v2\">talk Mariners prospects and the trade deadline<\/a>, and on The Score Chicago to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.audacy.com\/thescorechicago\/podcasts\/score_afternoons\/episodes\/keith_law_weighs_in_on_the_roc-8498363\">talk about the draft and some big-picture baseball questions<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I\u2019ll send another issue of <a href=\"https:\/\/keithlaw.kit.com\/\">my free email newsletter<\/a> once I clear the draft stuff. You can also find me on <a href=\"https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/keithlaw.bsky.social\">Bluesky<\/a> \u2013 I\u2019m only posting links on X at this point, not replying to anything and not allowing new followers \u2013 and I continue to be more active on <a href=\"https:\/\/instagram.com\/mrkeithlaw\">Instagram<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/tiktok.com\/@keith_law\">TikTok<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And now, the links\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Longreads first: This Vulture story by Irin Carmon on <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.vulture.com\/article\/nancy-guthrie-disappearance-inside-today-show-savannah-guthrie.html\">Today\u2019s <\/a><\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.vulture.com\/article\/nancy-guthrie-disappearance-inside-today-show-savannah-guthrie.html\">handling of the Nancy Guthrie story<\/a>, including the environment behind the scenes and the difficult questions the show has had to face, is absolutely fantastic. I can\u2019t even do it justice in a sentence or two here.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/magazine\/2026\/08\/reading-crisis-postliterate-age\/687618\/\">America is entering a postliterate age<\/a>, as succeeding generations read less and comprehend less of what they read, writes Rose Horowitch in <em>The Atlantic<\/em>. Those of us who do still read account for an increasing share of books purchased in what Horowitch refers to as a \u201cniche hobby.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/commentisfree\/2026\/jul\/04\/us-history-destruction?CMP=fb_gu&amp;utm_medium=Social&amp;utm_source=Facebook&amp;fbclid=IwZnRzaAS5_VRwZG9mAWZkaWQWUKH5mxbZWXkKhmlDIJGa8BqT0uMKd2V4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkCjY2Mjg1NjgzNzkAAR5qbHmH2kG7K8ZhwqIprB5gK1fyrWhxdJz8rAkE_b51-LSHa3UIdQkOsfgCNw_aem_7Jg_QpEB6Tjf7SQiboEGVA#Echobox=1783165867\">America is self-destructing<\/a>, writes Stephen Marche in <em>The Guardian<\/em>, arguing that this was written in our founding. I loved the line \u201cDonald Trump is the ultimate nostalgia act.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>RFK Jr.\u2019s vaccine-denial organization Children\u2019s Health Defense helped Andrea Shaw file a lawsuit claiming that her twins died from being vaccinated, but <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/07\/07\/us\/idaho-twins-death-shaw-vaccines-murder.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share\">she\u2019s now been arrested on charges that she murdered them<\/a>. That\u2019s right: Children\u2019s Health Defense is supporting a child murderer. Here\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ktvb.com\/article\/news\/crime\/former-payette-woman-indicted-first-degree-murder-charges-in-deaths-of-her-twin-toddlers\/277-6f79fccf-7811-408e-9cfe-0764a0841cec\">a local story on the case<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.knoxnews.com\/story\/news\/education\/2026\/06\/29\/university-of-tennessee-to-pay-1-9m-to-professor-tamar-shirinian-fired-over-charlie-kirk-comment\/90746518007\/\">The University of Tennessee will pay $1.9 million to a professor the school fired over her comments in the wake of Charlie Kirk\u2019s death<\/a>. Good for her. I hope the taxpayers of Tennessee think this was worth it!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>In Springfield, Ohio, the subject of Republican lies about Haitian immigrants eating pets, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.springfieldnewssun.com\/local\/crime\/911-calls-haitian-father-shot-in-head-while-driving-children-to-church-in-springfield\/article_63678730-f15d-5108-ac2a-8c1c4c0d86a1.html\">a Haitian man was shot in the head while taking his children to church<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Florida is the new Texas: Gov. Ron DeSantis <a href=\"https:\/\/www.propublica.org\/article\/florida-death-penalty-executions-ron-desantis\">is killing prisoners at an unprecedented rate<\/a>, signing death warrants and leading to the state\u2019s highest execution levels ever. Two of every five U.S. prisoners put to death were killed by Florida.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>A professor at Brown University made his midterm exams take-home, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.insidehighered.com\/news\/faculty\/learning-assessment\/2026\/07\/08\/brown-professor-suspects-most-his-class-used-ai-cheat\">and believed that nearly all of his students cheated by using AI<\/a>, so he switched the final exam to in-class and everyone\u2019s grades plummeted.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>A day before Trump announced his first tariff \u2018pause\u2019, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/business\/markets\/trump-stock-trades-before-tariff-pause-rcna352723?link_source=ta_bluesky_link&amp;taid=6a46e41a08f61500012f9538&amp;utm_campaign=trueanthem&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_source=bluesky\">he made 327 stock trades that he didn\u2019t disclose until this past week<\/a>, almost 15 months later. Prior to 2016, this would have been immediate grounds for impeachment.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Rep. Mike Collins (R-GA), who is running for the Senate seat held by Jon Ossoff, <a href=\"https:\/\/popular.info\/p\/gop-senate-candidate-spent-400000\">spent $400,000 in taxpayer money to make campaign ads<\/a>, which is illegal. That\u2019s in Judd Legum\u2019s Popular.info newsletter; I see zero mainstream coverage of what sure seems like misuse of taxpayer funds.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>A New York resident sent an email to the head of ICE. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2026\/07\/06\/nx-s1-5883784\/dhs-ice-critic-lawsuit-free-speech\">DHS agents tracked him down and threatened him<\/a>. He\u2019s suing with the help of FIRE, arguing that his First Amendment rights have been violated.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>And Florida International University is also ignoring the First Amendment, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tampabay.com\/viewpoints\/2026\/07\/06\/fiu-free-speech-protest-ron-desantis-florida\/\">threatening to withhold the diplomas of students who silently protested ICE\u2019s presence on campus<\/a> unless those students <em>apologize on video<\/em>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Sticking with Florida, a cop there became obsessed with a woman he met on a TV shoot and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.404media.co\/footage-shows-cop-stalking-woman-he-met-on-a-tv-set-after-surveilling-her-with-a-license-plate-reader\/\">used license-plate readers to stalk her around the state<\/a>, nearly causing a head-on collision as he raced to accost her.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>In <em>The American Prospect<\/em>, David Dayen writes <a href=\"https:\/\/prospect.org\/2026\/07\/06\/maine-needs-lighthouse-primary-graham-platner-senate-susan-collins\/\">that Maine Democrats should hold a \u201clighthouse primary\u201d \u2013 essentially a caucus \u2013 to pick a new candidate<\/a> whenever Graham Platner gives up the ghost.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Elie Mystal writes in <em>The Nation<\/em> how SCOTUS\u2019 anti-trans ruling isn\u2019t just about sports, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/article\/society\/supreme-court-trans-athlete-ruling\/\">but denying that trans people are entitled to equal rights<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The U.S. District Court judges of the Western Washington District wrote an editorial about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.seattletimes.com\/opinion\/judges-tyranny-threatening-judicial-independence-comes-in-many-forms\/?utm_source=marketingcloud&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=TSA_070426184936+Perilous+times+for+the+judiciary+Opinion_7_4_2026&amp;utm_term=Former%20Subscriber\">how tyranny threatens an independent judiciary<\/a>, whether it\u2019s threats of violence against jurists on the bench or claims that someone is above the law entirely.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>How the love affair between the Algerian national team and the people of Lawrence, Kansas, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.spokesman.com\/stories\/2026\/jun\/15\/how-a-love-affair-between-algeria-and-lawrence-bec\/\">became one of the best stories of this year\u2019s World Cup<\/a> \u2013 that is, before the refs and the President ruined everything.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>I\u2019ve seen very little news coverage of the civil war in Sudan \u2013 maybe because we\u2019re busy starting wars or prolonging those of other countries \u2013 but <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/06\/23\/world\/africa\/sudan-war-rsf-atrocities.html\">there\u2019s a massive humanitarian crisis about to happen in the Sudanese city of El Obeid<\/a>, with the potential for another massacre by the RSF militia.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>There\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.statnews.com\/2026\/06\/30\/marburg-virus-cases-ugandan-ebola-outbreak-zone\/\">an outbreak of the Marburg virus<\/a>, a filovirus that causes hemorrhagic fevers like the Ebola virus does, in Uganda.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>This NPR piece on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2026\/06\/27\/nx-s1-5786564\/4-ways-get-creative-with-your-leftovers-save-money-on-food\">creative ways to use up leftovers<\/a> (and stop wasting food) was both validating \u2013 fried rice is a go-to for us \u2013 and inspiring.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Also in <em>The Atlantic<\/em>, Spencer Kornhaber examines <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/culture\/2026\/07\/music-flop-era\/687785\/\">Lizzo\u2019s latest album flopping<\/a> and how easy it\u2019s become to fall into the \u201cKhia Asylum.\u201d I liked Lizzo\u2019s 2022 album <em>Special<\/em>, and didn\u2019t even realize she\u2019d released a new one, <em>Bitch<\/em>, until I saw this story.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Scientists have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/mysterious-compound-detected-on-pluto-and-titan\/\">found evidence of a new chemical compound on Pluto and Titan<\/a>. I propose they call it \u201cunobtainium.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Another week, another story of AI hallucinations: A ProPublica reporter found an AI-generated website for a shell company that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.propublica.org\/article\/google-ai-reporting?utm_source=bluesky&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_campaign=propublica-bsky\">fooled Google\u2019s AI overviews into thinking the company was real<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/world\/2slgbtq-cruise-denied-entry-turkey-egypt-9.7264048\">Egypt and Turkey turned away a cruise ship for LGBTQ+ folks<\/a> on \u2018morality\u2019 grounds. Which makes them just like Texas!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>So many Kickstarters for interesting board games: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kickstarter.com\/projects\/paversongames\/ringyo?ref=7d60ax\">Ringyo<\/a>, the latest game from the publishers of Distilled and Luthier. It\u2019s a simultaneous worker-placement game and is in beta on Board Game Arena.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>A three-in-one from Allplay that includes <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kickstarter.com\/projects\/boardgametables\/kabuto-sumo-dice-imps-wildberries\">Kabuto Sumo Dice, IMPS, and Wild Berries<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.kickstarter.com\/projects\/tcokgame\/the-isle-of-penguins?ref=178ouc\">The Isle of Penguins<\/a>, the latest game from the designer\/publisher of The Isle of Cats and its various spinoffs.<br><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.kickstarter.com\/projects\/tcokgame\/the-isle-of-penguins?ref=178ouc\">Galileo\u2019s Truth<\/a>, from two of the designers of Egizia (one of the best complex games ever), Lorenzo il Magnifico, and Coimbra.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Happy Draft Day! I posted my final mock draft on Friday and held a Q&amp;A to answer your questions about it, after posting one on Monday and holding a Q&amp;A that afternoon. I posted my final Big Board of the top 100 prospects in the draft class, ss well as some scouting reports on prospects [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[899,1429,965,1083,898,959,128,146,160,1456,190,961,852,1211,1306,910,870,1044,940,1239,807],"class_list":["post-11280","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-africa","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-astronomy","tag-board-game-news","tag-death-penalty","tag-first-amendment","tag-florida","tag-georgia","tag-health","tag-immigration","tag-links","tag-longreads","tag-music","tag-ohio","tag-scotus","tag-soccer","tag-stick-to-baseball","tag-tennessee","tag-the-swamp","tag-trans-rights","tag-vaccines","entry"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11280","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11280"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11280\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11281,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11280\/revisions\/11281"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}