Dan Barbarisi
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Deputy Managing Editor at @TheAthletic. Ex-WSJ reporter. Author of Dueling with Kings (2017) and Chasing the Thrill (2021). Order CTT: bit.ly/33sJr7b
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Articles by Dan Barbarisi
Yankees Secure $2.6 Billion Investment From Apollo Global Management
Yankee Global Enterprises has secured a $2.6 billion capital infusion from Apollo Sports Capital, an arm of New York-based Apollo Global Management. The transaction combines debt and equity financing, allowing the New York Yankees to refinance or retire much of their existing debt while pursuing new business ventures. The Steinbrenner family will retain full control of the organization, with Hal Steinbrenner remaining as managing general partner.
Yankees receive $2.6 billion in deal with private equity fund
The New York Yankees have received a massive capital infusion via a deal with an arm of Apollo Global Management, a New York-based asset management firm. Yankee Global Enterprises is receiving $2.6 billion from Apollo Sports Capital. The deal, announced Tuesday, is a mix of debt and equity and will allow the Yankees to refinance or retire much of their existing debt, and then pursue new ventures.
Yankees receive $2.6 billion in deal with private equity fund
The New York Yankees have received a massive capital infusion via a deal with an arm of Apollo Global Management, a New York-based asset management firm. Yankee Global Enterprises is receiving $2.6 billion from Apollo Sports Capital. The deal, announced Tuesday, is a mix of debt and equity and will allow the Yankees to refinance or retire much of their existing debt, and then pursue new ventures.
MLB Opening Day 2024 updates
ARLINGTON, Texas - Around 30 minutes before first pitch of their Opening Day tilt against the Chicago Cubs, the Globe Life Field video board showed highlights of the Texas Rangers' run through the 2023 playoffs. A packed ballpark of fans who showed up in droves well before the start of the game roared as they watched video of Corey Seager hit one of his six postseason homers. Rangers manager Bruce Bochy emerged from the home dugout as the reel wrapped.
Dodgers vs. Padres
SEOUL - Watch the scene that stirred Monday afternoon here, and the homecoming that San Diego Padres shortstop Ha-Seong Kim cemented with a pair of home runs in his return to Gocheok Skydome, and it clicked. Said Padres manager Mike Shildt: "Can't script it much better." The same goes for the club occupying the home dugout this week in Seoul.
Diamondbacks Look for Must-Win Game 3 Victory Against Phillies in NLCS
Key points: Diamondbacks face a must-win Game 3 against the Phillies in the NLCS Pitching matchup: Brandon Pfaadt vs. Ranger Suárez Phillies' road power could be the X-factor in the game The Arizona Diamondbacks are facing a crucial Game 3 against the Philadelphia Phillies in the NLCS. After a demoralizing loss in Game 2, the Diamondbacks are starting rookie pitcher Brandon Pfaadt in a must-win game.
Pitching matchups, odds, x-factor, analysis
Technically, this is as close the Diamondbacks have been to the World Series since their middle of the order was Eric Byrnes, Tony Clark and Mark Reynolds. All they have to do is win four games. There are 26 other teams that would kill for that kind of chance right now. Those teams will have to win 100 games or so just to get to the World Series. The Diamondbacks are still in a good spot, relatively speaking.
Pitching matchups, odds, x-factor, analysis
Here's the thing about interdivisional matchups: They have strong, strong potential for nonsense. The Diamondbacks and Dodgers played only 13 games this season, down from the 19 games they used to play every season, but they know each other. Oh, how they know each other. That knowledge will lead to nonsense. All knowledge leads to nonsense. Hey, put that on a throw pillow, and I'll set up an Etsy account. I don't want to speak for the Dodgers, but they'd rather face the Marlins right now.
Cubs acquire Jeimer Candelario from Nationals
The Cubs have acquired Jeimer Candelario from the Nationals, a major-league source told The Athletic on Monday. Here's what you need to know: Washington will receive shortstop Kevin Made and pitcher DJ Herz in return, per multiple reports. Both currently play in the minors. Candelario, a switch hitter, is slashing .258/.342/.481 with 16 home runs and 53 RBIs through 368 at-bats. The 29-year-old is still due a little less than half of the $5 million he's making this season.
Talking baseball with Eno Sarris on Friday 2/17 at 1 p.m. ET
Eno Sarris is answering questions about all things fantasy baseball (and beer, of course), in a Friday chat, exclusively for subscribers.
Book excerpt: 'Chasing the Thrill: Obsession, Death, and Glory in America's Most Extraordinary Treasure Hunt'
Senior MLB Editor Daniel Barbarisi spent the last four years chronicling, and participating in, Forrest Fenn’s treasure hunt, where a chest worth $1 million was hidden in the Rocky Mountains for the last decade, inspiring thousands to search for it. After the chest was found in June of 2020, Barbarisi identified the anonymous man who found it, 32-year-old Jack Stuef, and revealed his identity to the world.
The Red Sox Rorschach test: What exactly are these guys?
One week into the season, the Red Sox’ first six games have resembled something of a Rorschach test. Any observer of the first two series saw two drastically different products. Are the Red Sox the team that was swept by the Baltimore Orioles and outscored 18-5 in their opening series, or the team that took three straight, scoring 26 runs and allowing nine, against the defending American League champion Tampa Bay Rays? Perhaps somewhere in the middle.
Submit a question for C. Trent Rosecrans' Reds mailbag
The Reds are off to a hot start. Beat writer C. Trent Rosecrans will dive into that and all other things Reds this week, so leave questions in the comments below and he’ll answer them in his upcoming mailbag. (Photo: Kirk Irwin / Getty Images)
As game changes, Red Sox have an older manager with young ideas
If he’d been in the Padres dugout Monday night, Ron Roenicke might have given Fernando Tatis Jr. the take sign. Or maybe he would have let the kid swing away. How’s Roenicke to know what the Padres needed at that moment? They’d just lost five in a row. Maybe they needed a jolt of late-inning dominance. Tatis is 21 years old. Maybe he needed the freedom of manager letting it fly. A seven-run lead isn’t so insurmountable these days.
‘I was tired of hitting ninth’: Christian Vazquez has become a bat to count on
When the Red Sox were reeling through four straight losses in their season-opening homestand, the team’s patchwork rotation did only one thing particularly well: it provided cover for a similarly disappointing lineup. Now a week into the season, Andrew Benintendi is 2-for-21. Rafael Devers and Xander Bogaerts are hitting below .200. Alex Verdugo doesn’t have an extra-base hit or an RBI. Even J.D. Martinez has an OPS lower than the one that got Blake Swihart taken off the roster last year.
Your 2020 (simulated) world champions, the Tampa Bay Rays
I always enjoyed visiting Tropicana Field. Yeah, yeah, I know; look, it gets a bad rap, but in my days as a baseball beat writer, I found it a pretty good place to work. St. Pete is a nice town. The Rays are a good organization to deal with. And DJ Kitty is hilarious. I mean, it's some guy's cat, with a Rays jersey on, mixing and scratching and waving its arms in the air. How can you go wrong?
Why ‘Home Run Derby’ is the godfather of the modern sports reality TV show
In the black-and-white footage, Mickey Mantle steps up to the plate, settling into that wide stance that’s still so recognizable, even 60 years later. That’s practically the only familiar thing, though. This is no normal baseball game. There are no infielders, no fans in the stands. And when Mantle connects on a towering blast, he doesn’t round the bases and return to the dugout.
When not on the pitch, Revolution defender Alex Buttner builds his clothing line
He was home in the Netherlands a few months ago when it really hit New England Revolution defender Alex Buttner just how big his clothing brand, AB Lifestyle, had become. Buttner was walking down the street, when a man in some familiar gear caught his eye. A lot of familiar gear, actually – the man was outfitted from head to toe in clothes and accessories made by Buttner’s company. “I was in the Netherlands, in my city,” Buttner said.
On 2nd anniversary of The Athletic Boston, we’re grateful for our subscribers
Everything’s a little topsy-turvy in Boston sports right now. Tom Brady is in Tampa. Mookie Betts is in L.A. No New England pro team has won a championship in over a calendar year. Oh, and there aren’t any sports going on right now. This is not a reality we ever envisioned when we debuted The Athletic Boston exactly two years ago today. We thought we’d be writing about big games, interesting teams, fascinating players and Brady playing here until he’s 50. That isn’t quite how it’s worked out.
Barbarisi: Thoughts from the Jets side that was tortured by Tom Brady
More than anything else, I remember the hit. I remember watching it at the time, and uttering that visceral “ooh” that happens when one human being is annihilated by another, a sound that represents a feeling lying somewhere between sympathy and rubbernecking.
The 12 worst losses in a painful Red Sox season
Throughout this underwhelming season, Red Sox manager Alex Cora chided his team for its consistently inconsistent play. If the Red Sox were good at one thing as a whole, it was the two-steps-forward, one-step-back approach. In a season full of disappointment, that meant gut-punch, back-breaking, stomach-turning losses became something close to common.
For Revs’ late-blooming ‘baby’ Matt Turner, strong stretch may be only the beginning
Kevin Hitchcock spent more than a decade in the top flight of English football, making 96 appearances in goal for Chelsea in the 1980s and 1990s. He’s spent the next 20 years training goalkeepers, molding good ones into great ones, mostly in the Premier League. Yet the goalkeeping coach hadn’t encountered a student quite like Matt Turner until he joined the New England Revolution this spring.
Scott Caldwell knows best: Meet the Team ‘Dad’ of the Revolution
When a new player joins the New England Revolution, they are typically welcomed in standard fashion. The equipment managers fit them for a uniform. The coaches provide information on how they’ll be used. And midfielder Scott Caldwell gives them a book on how to best manage their finances. That’s merely the first lesson in adjusting to life in New England that they’ll get from Caldwell, who is an accountant.
How Revs, amid club turmoil, made in-season charity match with Chelsea happen
When the call came from ownership last fall that the New England Revolution were going to be hosting English soccer giants Chelsea in the middle of the Revolution’s season, only a few short months away, the first reaction was one of surprise and excitement. MLS teams don’t normally get world soccer powerhouses to fly across the Atlantic to play them for charity, only a few short days after the end of the English Premier League season, bringing their entire first-team roster. The next reaction?
Buckley: For these Sox, the goal is clear — repeating as...
Spring training began with Red Sox manager Alex Cora not in much of a hurry to place his team’s magical, record-breaking, World Series-winning 2018 season in that old steamer trunk up in the attic. But what about turning the page? “You turn the page because something negative happened,” Cora said on a sunny February afternoon at the Red Sox spring training complex in Fort Myers, Fla.
The Secret Behind Ichiro's Circus Catches
Like any good showman, Ichiro Suzuki starts off slow to let the anticipation build. He warms up the crowd of early arrivers to Yankee batting practice with garden-variety no-look trick catches: swiping his glove across his body at the last second, or staring at the ground as he snares one with his glove stretched in the other direction.
For the Revs, a new record signing - and just maybe, a new...
FOXBORO — On the turf field of the indoor practice bubble tucked in behind Gillette Stadium, a diminutive Spaniard runs through soccer drills — heading balls to his new teammates, making quick, precise passes, dancing around nimbly as he zips through warmups a few days ahead of Saturday’s season opener.
Patriots rewind: How New England suffocated the Chargers with a dominant first half
FOXBORO — It was among the most dominant first-half performances in playoff history. From the moment the New England Patriots won the toss and elected to receive, their offense embarked on a series of relentless, soul-crushing, clock-burning drives that kept the Los Angeles Chargers defense on its heels and their dangerous offense rooted firmly on the bench.
Once again, David Backes misses his chance at a Winter Classic
SOUTH BEND, Ind. – When it comes to the Winter Classic, David Backes may be cursed. The last time Backes had a chance to play in the Winter Classic, the Jan. 1, 2017 edition in St. Louis, he missed it — and ultimately only watched one period on television because he had to put one of his dogs down. Instead, he was watching from Boston that day, where he had signed the previous summer after spending his entire career with the St. Louis Blues.
Holy Cross and Boston College, back together on the football field after 32 years. But why?
During his days as the fullback for the Holy Cross football team, back in the 1980s, Chuck Doyle used to roll around the school’s Worcester campus in a beat-up white Ford Fairmont station wagon. If he wasn’t driving it up and down Holy Cross’s hills, one of his football buddies probably was. “I never knew who had the keys to it,” Doyle recalled. But everyone recognized the car around campus, partly because you couldn’t miss its distinctive, personalized license plate. “BEAT BC,” it read.
Westmoreland never forgets the day he was fighting for his life
This story first appeared on Oct. 10, 2010. FORT MYERS, Fla. — Back in June, when his body was still so traumatized from brain surgery that he could not feel his arm, Portsmouth's Ryan Westmoreland decided it was time to get a tattoo. It covers his upper right arm, snaking up to his shoulder. A ballplayer swinging a bat is in the middle, under stadium lights, with the words "St. Christopher protect me" ringing him.
DraftKings and FanDuel bet they’re ready for a second act; can they take over sports gambling?
Last month, a series of billboards started popping up along the roads of New Jersey. Green and black, they announced that a new player was entering the game in a state long the bastion of powerful Atlantic City casinos and racetracks. “Legal sports betting in New Jersey?
A Wacky Wannabe Southpaw
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Watch right-handed Yankee pitcher David Robertson in the outfield shagging fly balls before every game, and there's a nagging feeling that something is not quite right. He runs for balls, tracks them down, then fires them back into the infield, looking perfectly...
By Dan Barbarisi Verified, Geoffrey Fowler Verified, Christopher Mims Verified, Joanna Stern Verified
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The Wall Street Journal
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Teixeira Knows His Limits
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In absolute terms, 33 is not old. But for a baseball player, 33 has long been the beginning of the end. The recently departed Stan Musial once identified a baseball player's peak as lasting from 28 to 32, and he felt himself slowing down after that. His contemporary Mickey Mantle was well on the down slope by 33. For nearly all...
By Dan Barbarisi Verified, Geoffrey Fowler Verified, Christopher Mims Verified, Joanna Stern Verified
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The Wall Street Journal
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Personal Organization for Degenerates
Most books about personal organization are written by highly capable people trying to become more capable. The underlying assumption is that time freed up potentially implies greater accomplishment. Productivity and continuous improvement become ends in themselves. The guiding principle of Personal Organization for Degenerates is that time freed up by personal organization creates more time for unstructured, centrifugal activity. Dissolution is the natural state of life.
DANIEL BARBARISI - DUELING WITH KINGS: High Stakes, Killer Sharks, and the Get-Rich Promise of Daily Fantasy Sports - KSCJ 1360
Book: DUELING WITH KINGS: High Stakes, Killer Sharks, and the Get-Rich Promise of Daily Fantasy Sports As Bringing Down the House did for card counters and Positively Fifth Street did for poker players, Dueling with Kings does for Daily Fantasy Sports fans in this leap down the rabbit hole of America’s latest obsession.
How The Daily Fantasy Wars Almost Destroyed DraftKings And FanDuel
The following is an excerpt from Dueling with Kings: High Stakes, Killer Sharks, and the Get-Rich Promise of Daily Fantasy Sports, Daniel Barbarisi’s book about a year spent attempting to become an elite daily fantasy player. The book is out now. But it’s the work on DFS itself that defines these companies, and as Cal Spears says, that puzzle renews itself every day. In both DraftKings and FanDuel, it comes in the pricing of players and the setting, sizing, and pricing of contests.
An excerpt from ‘Dueling With Kings,’ one reporter’s journey deep inside the realm of daily fantasy.
To write his forthcoming book “Dueling with Kings: High Stakes, Killer Sharks, and the Get-Rich Promise of Daily Fantasy Sports,” author Daniel Barbarisi left his job at the Wall Street Journal and embedded himself inside the fantasy sports industry, training under and living among its top professional players. In this edited excerpt, he documents his search for a mentor to take him deep inside the fantasy realm.
Dueling with Kings
As Bringing Down the House did for card counters and Positively Fifth Street did for poker players, Daniel Barbarisi does for Daily Fantasy Sports fans in this leap down the rabbit hole of America's latest obsession.
High Stakes, Killer Sharks, and the Get-Rich Promise of Daily Fantasy Sports by Daniel Barbarisi (Hardcover): Booksamillion.com: Books
As Bringing Down the House did for card counters and Positively Fifth Street did for poker players, Daniel Barbarisi does for Daily Fantasy Sports fans in this leap down the rabbit hole of America s latest obsession.
The Indians Couldn’t Afford Complete Players. So They Got Half-Good Ones
As the 2016 season loomed, the Cleveland Indians had a problem. They believed they had the pitching and defense to compete for a division title. The issue was offense. The Indians had been near the bottom of the league in scoring runs in 2015. As a small-market team that annually sits in the bottom-five of league payroll rankings, they weren’t...
David Ortiz Calls It a Career After Red Sox Swept by Indians
BOSTON—Boston Red Sox slugger David Ortiz’s 20-year career came to an abrupt and unfulfilling end Monday night, as the star and his club were swept out of the playoffs by the Cleveland Indians. Ortiz, known as “Big Papi,” achieved cult status in Boston for both his stellar hitting and his outsized personality, and announced last winter that this would be his final season. But his Red Sox entered Monday facing elimination in this...
Yankees Pick Up Flame-Throwing Chapman in Trade With Reds
The Yankees have made baseball’s most intimidating late-inning combination even more terrifying, acquiring baseball’s hardest-throwing pitcher, reliever Aroldis Chapman, from the Cincinnati Reds for a reliever and three prospects, the team said Monday. Chapman, 27, a four-time All-Star, will team with strikeout artists Andrew Miller and Dellin Betances to form the core of what should be baseball’s best back-end bullpen.
Giants Long-Running Duo Act May Be a Solo Act Before Long
Ever since they debuted together as New York Giants in 2004, Tom Coughlin and Eli Manning have been linked just as inexorably as the rival coach-quarterback pairing they have famously foiled on the grandest stages, New England’s Bill Belichick and Tom Brady. While no one could imagine splitting up Brady and Belichick before one or the other decided he was ready to depart, it’s entirely possible that the Giants could move forward next season with Manning still in place, but Coughlin out of a job.
The Giants, Coughlin Allow Another Big Lead to Slip Away
In a season marked by erratic play, the New York Giants have become a team that does only one thing consistently: collapse. After blowing a 10-point fourth quarter lead in Sunday’s 23-20 loss to the New York Jets, the Giants became the first team in NFL history to blow four fourth-quarter leads of 10 points or more in a single season. The Giants have earned a reputation as chokers, and they’re well aware of it, admitted offensive lineman Justin Pugh.
Yankees Head to Winter Meetings With Very Un-Yankees Strategy
Baseball’s annual Winter Meetings are set to begin Monday in Nashville, and the Yankees, baseball’s most famously free-spending team, are being eerily quiet. In other years, that might have been a sign that a big move was brewing, that they planned to take some of those Yankee dollars and shovel them in the direction of a marquee free agent. But general manager Brian Cashman insists that’s not so.
Giants Lose Chance to Seize Control of NFC East
LANDOVER, Md.—With dreams of a division title in their heads, the Giants stormed onto the field against the Redskins on Sunday talking and acting like they believed themselves to be better than their .500 record showed. They had reason for that headstrong optimism. With the rest of the NFC East reeling, the Giants had a chance to surge ahead in the division with five games to go if they could only beat Sunday’s opponent, the Washington Redskins.
Giants’ Record Belies Week 12 Swagger
Like most other football fans, New York Giants star receiver Odell Beckham Jr. had football on the television Thursday at his family’s Thanksgiving celebration. But unlike most football fans, Beckham and his Giants teammates were directly impacted by what transpired during those Thanksgiving games. And for Beckham and Co., Thanksgiving was a banner day. “I did,” Beckham grinned, when asked if he watched. “Good day....
Yankees Build Their New Core With Other Teams’ Young Talent
For most of the two decades since the Yankees’ “Core Four” of Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Jorge Posada and Andy Pettitte became fixtures on the roster, the organization has faced criticism that it can no longer grow its own star players. In recent years, the Yankees have developed All-Star relievers Dellin Betances and David Robertson, and bet big on young prospects Greg Bird and Luis Severino.
Yankees Land New Outfielder in Trade With Twins
Rich in catching prospects and seeking another outfielder, the Yankees shipped backup catcher John Ryan Murphy to the Minnesota Twins on Wednesday for switch-hitting center fielder Aaron Hicks. Murphy, 24, hit .277 with three home runs, 14 RBI and a .734 on-base-plus-slugging percentage while backing up Brian McCann in 2015, earning raves for his defense. But with several other catching options available—including competent stopgap Austin Romine and top prospect Gary Sanchez—Murphy was expendable.
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