Baseball

Everyone comes to this city with dreams of being No. 1. You showed me that being No. 2 was more than enough.

Gift Ngoepe, from Randburg, South Africa, is a major league baseball player, and he got a hit in his very first at bat in the big leagues.

Without any further ado, here are five guys who I’m constantly having to battle. They’re the five toughest pitchers in our division.

Before the 2017 Major League Baseball season kicked off, we got together two history-makers and curse-breakers, David Ortiz and Anthony Rizzo.

Mom and Dad’s plan is not for you to spend the rest of your life scrubbing toilets or cleaning warehouses, Yonder. I promise you, it’s not.

When the baseball smacked into the side of my head, it was traveling 105 miles per hour. Yet somehow I didn’t hear a sound.

Thinking about the past isn’t going to help us bring a world title to Cleveland this season.

I still don’t think the magnitude of the whole thing has really set in. I don’t know that it ever will.

No, we were not the U.S. JV team … because if there really had been an American JV team competing in the WBC, none of us would have made it.

Esa era una de las cosas que más me gustaba del béisbol… me dejaba soñar.

I was becoming part of a community in Cleveland. But there was still something else that I needed to do. I wanted to become a U.S. citizen.

I am going to help this team finish what it started. I am going to make sure my new home achieves the title it deserves.

Voy a ayudar a este equipo a terminar lo que empezamos porque eso es lo que quiero hacer, pero también porque ustedes se lo merecen.

Baseball is our national pastime, and the U.S. has never won this tournament. That’s gotta change

No había ninguna forma en la que pudiera rechazar la oportunidad de representar a la Republica Dominicana en el CMB. Está en mi sangre.

The decision was easy. There was no way I could pass on representing the Dominican Republic in the WBC. It’s in my blood.

We’re like a bunch of little kids in grown-up bodies who simply love this wonderful sport. Now we plan to win it all for the DR.

Your story is reaching millions upon millions of people all over the world.

This city is in our hearts. It’s our one true love. And the place we always come back to.

All the shots you see below were taken by me — except any that you don’t really like. Those were taken by some other guy.

When I learned about the W flag, I couldn’t help but think of Will. It almost seemed like he had intervened to help bring me to Chicago or something.

WHEW! That felt goooood. It’s like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders.

I’m not gonna lie. I Googled my own name more than a few times this offseason to see if there was any news.

From Day One, he started calling me “Pudge.” It caught on, and the rest is history.