The Yankees lose a broadcasting legend in John Sterling. Plus: Who's trending up and down

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In an industry that has boasted a number of decades-long tenures, it’s still surprising to realize: John Sterling’s streak of consecutive Yankees games called on the radio is nearly twice the length of Cal Ripken’s iron-man streak of 2,632. From 1989 through 2019, Sterling called 5,060 games without missing a day. Not only did he show up, he made the job his own. Even casual fans would recognize Sterling’s style — a dedicated catch phrase for each player (“Robbie Cano, don’t ya know!” or “An A-bomb! From A-Rod”) tacked on to home run calls after the standard “It is high, it is far, it is gone!” And of course there was the exaggerated first word of “Thaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh Yankees win!” after a victory. His in-booth chemistry with Suzyn Waldman was one-of-a-kind — yes, there were inside jokes that you might not get as a newcomer, but you were always invited to join the hangout. After facing some health issues that began in 2020, Sterling finally retired — twice, actually — in 2024. He passed away early this morning at age 87. Brendan Kuty has Sterling’s obituary here. Today, Ken Rosenthal gives us some notes on the surprising 20-14 St. Louis Cardinals. All yours, Ken! Youthful vibe. Young players sometimes walk on eggshells around veterans, reluctant to express themselves. The Cardinals, by trading veterans Nolan Arenado, Willson Contreras and Sonny Gray, effectively liberated their youngsters, allowing a new culture to form. Matthew Liberatore serves as a leader for the pitching staff, Masyn Winn, Alec Burleson and backup catcher Pedro Pagés for the position players. In recent years, St. Louis was a place where a number of young players failed, only to succeed somewhere else. The Cardinals are trying to reclaim their identity as an organization built on young talent. Flexible direction. It’s difficult to imagine the Cardinals seriously contending with a pitching staff that ranks last in the majors in strikeout rate. But if at the deadline the Cardinals are within range of a playoff spot, they likely will adjust their rebuilding plan without abandoning it. In other words, they could act as modest buyers, fortifying their pitching staff while remaining committed to developing their young talent. It’s a difficult balance to strike, but Chaim Bloom is operating with a clear direction — unlike in Boston, where ownership wanted him to both restock the farm system and compete at the same time. Jordan Walker. For most of spring training, the 2020 first-rounder looked terrible. But in the final few days of March, the adjustments he made to his bat path finally started to click. Walker used to pull his elbow back and raise it high, and would end up circling around the ball. He always hit the ball hard, but too often it was on the ground. Now he uses a slight pull-down move — Cardinals hitting coach Brant Brown calls it a delay — improving the timing of his rotation and putting his body in better position. As Brown said, “You can’t give up on him. If he hits it, it’s 112.” Walker on Walker. “What I’m trying to do, and what I need to keep doing, is turn my brain off during my at-bats. All the work happens in the cage. The mechanics stuff happens in the cage. Then when I go out, I just go out and hit. When I look at the iPad, I look at when I’m starting. But I don’t want to think anything about what my hands are doing. We talk about the pull-down with Brownie in the cage. I work on all that stuff in the cage. Then here I turn all that off and just go hit the ball.” For the last couple seasons, Yankees fans spent a lot of time pointing at Volpe and saying things like “THIS MAN IS NOT PLAYING VERY WELL, IS HE?” Then Aaron Boone (or Brian Cashman, or Hal Steinbrenner) would give the shortstop a vote of confidence. Rinse, repeat. As recently as about three weeks ago, Boone said the plan was for Volpe to return to his shortstop role once his rehab assignment was over. Well, something changed. As Volpe’s rehab assignment lingered, José Caballero became a defensive stalwart. Even Caballero’s offensive numbers — .259 with four home runs, 13 stolen bases and a .711 OPS — have been passable. When Volpe’s rehab assignment expired, the Yankees made a surprising move: They activated the 25-year-old, then optioned him to the minor leagues. As Chris Kirschner writes here, this tracks with the team’s recent moves. At 23-11, New York has the best record in the AL, and has moved with swiftness to keep it that way — benching, demoting or releasing players that aren’t helping them win right now.  Eventually, that will probably include Volpe again. But for now, it’s a big move. As the season swerves into Lap 2, let’s see who’s doing better (and worse) lately. 📈 Braves and Yankees: The Yankees “ran it back,” and have the best record in the AL. Atlanta’s 25-10 record is their best through 35 games since they were the Boston Braves Doves Nationals Beaneaters in 1892. And neither is letting up; they’re each 8-2 in their last 10 games. (Now we’ll see if Atlanta can endure another Ronald Acuña Jr. trip to the IL.) 📈 Rays: Dark magic? Blackmail? Nobody knows. Going into last night’s game, the Rays ranked 25th in the league in offensive fWAR and 17th in pitching fWAR. They’re 16th in runs scored and ninth in runs allowed. But they’re 9-1 in their last 10 games, and one of just four teams in the AL with a positive run differential. (Though it is only +7.) 📈 White Sox (!!!): Before last night’s loss to the Padres, Chicago had a five-game winning streak! Munetaka Murakami leads the sport with 13 home runs, Sam Antonacci and Colson Montgomery each have an OPS over .800 and Davis Martin has a sub-2.00 ERA. The 16-18 White Sox are trending up! 📈 Carlos Cortes (A’s), Byron Buxton (Twins): In the most recent Saturday-to-Saturday two-week period, nobody in the game had a higher OPS than Cortes (1.321), and only Murakami had as many home runs (7) as Buxton. 📉 Angels, Giants: Both are league-worst 2-8 over their last 10 games. Over that same two-week span, the Giants had the player with the worst OPS in the league (Willy Adames, .175) and the highest ERA (Adrian Houser, 9.42). Maybe Bryce Eldridge and Jesús Rodriguez can kick-start the sputtering engine? Here are Grant Brisbee (Giants) and Sam Blum (Angels) to explain. 📉 Reds: “How are they winning without scoring runs,” we all asked, bewildered. It’s not a full collapse yet, but walking seven hitters in a row on Saturday and being swept by the Pirates did feel ominous. They’re now two games behind the Cubs, at 20-14. 📉 Tigers (but only on the road): How does a team that is 12-3 at home, looking like the gleaming crown atop the AL Central, go on the road and put up a 6-14 mark that looks like it belongs in the other kind of throne? 📉 Mets: Two wins in Anaheim won’t get you off this list. If they plan to start 2024’ing it …well, [taps watch]. They’re a league-worst 12-22, just lost their second shortstop to injury (Ronny Mauricio, fractured thumb), and Pete Alonso is thriving in Baltimore (as is Brandon Nimmo in Texas). But they’re not making a change at manager. (Yet.) The internet thought Jazz Chisholm Jr. was wearing an airpod during the game. It turns out, he was playing hurt. A little over a week ago, Chad Tracy (manager) and starting pitcher Jake Bennett were together in Triple-A. On Friday, Tracy managed Bennett’s big-league debut and got a win in his first game managing at Fenway Park. The Astros pitching has been both bad and hurt, but starter Mike Burrows has — by the numbers — been the unluckiest pitcher in the sport. A cool moment in Seattle, where Emerson Hancock channeled Randy Johnson on the day the Big Unit’s number was retired. Keith Law has a scouting report on three potential first-round picks, all playing in the same SEC rivalry matchup. Jon Greenberg’s story on Nico Hoerner is worth the read anyway, but I owe him a big thank you, because I hadn’t seen this play before. Mike Trout is both healthy and good again. Is it time for the Angels to trade him? Guess what day it was yesterday? Most-clicked in our last newsletter: Craig Counsell + Malört. 📫 Love The Windup? Check out The Athletic’s other newsletters. Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms