Mowing patterns in major league baseball run the gamut, from San Francisco’s AT&T Park, where the grass is mowed in one direction so no pattern appears, to Boston’s Fenway Park, where the groundskeeper David Mellor is renowned for his grass-cutting creativity. Here is what fans can expect to see when the playoffs begin.
AMERICAN LEAGUE
BOSTON RED SOX, FENWAY PARK
Mellor planned a relatively sedate backdrop to start the playoffs, with large squares and triangles, and none of his well-known hose-drawn flourishes like a capital “B” or the two-socks Red Sox logo.
But if Boston advances, stay tuned.
TAMPA BAY RAYS, TROPICANA FIELD
Playing indoors on Field Turf prevents mowing, but not patterns. The groundskeeper Dan Moeller said his crew brushes the turf with brooms in a different way every day “to get it to fluff up,” but does not create patterns.
“Not on purpose,” he said.
LOS ANGELES ANGELS, ANGEL STADIUM
Barney Lopas mows the outfield so that each fielder stands among stripes pointed toward home, to help balls roll straight rather than “snake.”
The infield is a popular variation of checkerboards and stripes.
Lopas’ hopes for the playoffs: “Just green grass and no snaking.”
CHICAGO WHITE SOX, US CELLULAR FIELD
The US Cellular groundskeeper Roger Bossard’s grandfather spent decades with the Indians, and he took over from his father with the White Sox in 1983.
Tradition, plus a small crew, is why the White Sox play on plain back-and-forth stripes running through both the infield and the outfield.
Minnesota Twins, Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome
When set up for baseball, the Metrodome’s FieldTurf is presented with a distinctive touch — concentric circles, like a target, around the pitcher’s mound. Such designs can be done with brooms or vacuums, just like on a carpet at home.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
CHICAGO CUBS, WRIGLEY FIELD
The Cubs often have a classic box cut in the outfield — half the stripes mowed parallel to the third-base line, the other half parallel to the first-base line. The infield is another classic: checkerboards near the bases and stripes along the paths.
PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES, CITIZENS BANK PARK
Patterns usually alternate between a box cut and a distinctive diamond cut in both the outfield and the infield. Flourishes, like a scripted “P,” are not the Phillies’ style.
“Some actually push over the grass intentionally,” the groundskeeper Mike Boekholder said. “We take the philosophy of, ‘Let’s get it standing as upright as possible.’”
LA DODGERS, DODGER STADIUM
The Bermuda grass at Dodger Stadium is usually cut to one-half inch (1.3cm), about half the length of the rye and bluegrass fields of most northern stadiums, but enough to create patterns. The Dodgers usually have a check/stripe infield, like the Angels and the Cubs, but the outfield is often lined in simple straightaway stripes.
MILWAUKEE BREWERS, MILLER PARK
A retractable roof and less sunlight curtail some mowing creativity. The groundskeeper Gary Vanden Berg has settled on a big checkerboard pattern — “four mowers wide,” he said — with smaller squares in the infield.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB