Last Sunday night in St. Louis, Cardinals reliever Jordan Hicks distilled baseball, in its current iteration, down to one pitch. Well, two pitches, to be exact. Hicks hit 105 mph on the radar gun twice, in a five-pitch at-bat against Odubel Herrera. He threw 11 more pitches clocked at 100 mph or higher in 1 1/3 innings, closing out a 5–1 win. His five pitches to Herrera registered 104, 105, 104, 105 and 103 mph. Herrera, as you might imagine, struck out. It was the modern game personified in one at-bat.
The very next night, the Cardinals sent Hicks’ perfect counterpoint to the mound.