Could Ichiro Suzuki change into the second player ever to be unanimously elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum? Will Billy Wagner get back the five votes he missed last yr to be eligible in his final election yr? Will CC Sabathia make it to Cooperstown on his first try?

Ahead of the Hall of Fame voting results being announced on January twenty first, all three scenarios are on the table.

Voting is conducted by the nearly 400 voting members of the Baseball Writers Association of America; All 151 ballots were recorded by Ryan Thibodaux Baseball Hall of Fame Tracker Starting Tuesday afternoon, get the box next to Suzuki's name checked.

So far, only famed Yankee closer Mariano Rivera has been unanimously elected to the Hall of Fame – not Babe Ruth, not Hank Aaron, not Ken Griffey Jr. or Derek Jeter, just Rivera. Could Suzuki be second?

Thibodaux said he doesn't expect a solution until the outcomes are official.

“We haven’t seen him take part in a vote yet, and I suspect we won’t see a single one until the results are announced,” Thibodaux said in a direct message on Bluesky earlier this week. “If someone let him down, we probably won’t find out until later, if ever.”

Jeter was excluded from one ballot in 2020 and Griffey was excluded from three in 2016.

Voters aren’t required to post their ballots, however the Hall of Fame allows voters to ascertain a box on the ballot after the vote is announced to release their selection. Last yr, a complete of 385 ballots were returned, with 306 voters selecting to make their ballot public. Neither the voter who passed Jeter in 2020 nor the three who left Griffey off their ballots in 2016 have been announced.

Suzuki isn't the one candidate leaning toward adoption. Sabathia is at 140, or 92.7 percent, which bodes well for the first-year prospect.

“I admit I'm a little surprised by the strength of CC's support so far. “I had my eye on him as a candidate in the 75 percent bubble, but he has been doing well so far, sitting comfortably in the low 90s for most of the election season,” Thibodaux wrote. “As long as late public and private voters don’t view Sabathia’s qualifications completely differently, it looks like he will be inducted into the Hall of Fame on the first ballot.”

FanGraphs' Jay Jaffe, creator of “The Cooperstown Casebook,” said he was surprised by Sabathia's performance in his first yr on the ballot.

“I thought he was going to be someone who would get involved like (Joe) Mauer did last year,” said Jaffe, who developed the Jaffe War Score System (JAWS) that Hall of Fame voters often seek advice from, to help candidates in placing historical perspective. “I don’t expect it to stay at 92 percent or even 90 percent, but I think something over 80 percent is very likely.”

Wagner is on the ballot for the tenth and final time. After narrowly missing the 75 percent mark a yr ago, he’s steadily trending towards induction. As of Tuesday afternoon, he was at 84.1 percent on public ballots.

It's not only the numbers that talk for Wagner; The trends are also behind him. After narrowly missing out, he was added to eight ballots last yr where he was not represented, and of the 141 public votes solid, nobody who checked his name last yr voted for him this yr. Another eight first-time voters also voted for Wagner.

“There are more first-time voters out there and he must maintain solid support from that group,” Thibodaux wrote. “There are also probably several dozen voters who dropped out of the electorate this year. If he has extremely strong support among them, then there may still be a lot of work to do to get him over the finish line.”

Carlos Beltrán had 79.5 percent of the vote as of Tuesday afternoon and Andruw Jones was just under the brink with 74.2 percent. Thibodaux said those that posted their ballots before the announcement received a median of seven.55 votes per ballot last yr. Voters who waited until after the announcement received a median of 6.77 votes per ballot, and personal ballots averaged 5.8 names. Thibodaux, who began tracking voting in 2012, said these trends have remained consistent over time.

The current voting results aren’t encouraging for Beltrán or Jones by way of their 2025 hopes, but they’re positive for eventual inclusion. Next yr's first-year eligible class doesn’t feature any players with a profession bWAR of 60 or more, akin to Suzuki (60) and Sabathia (62.3). The top first-year players in next yr's voting are Cole Hamels (59 bWAR) and Ryan Braun (47.1 bWAR).

Jaffe said Sabathia's strong support bodes well for the long run of not only Sabathia, but additionally Andy Pettitte, Félix Hernández, Mark Buehrle and Hamels.

“Andy Pettitte and Félix Hernández are almost complete opposites in terms of how they got to this point. Pettitte has a very workmanlike career and a tremendous amount of postseason work that was very important in helping teams reach and win the World Series. said Jaffe. “Félix had a very high peak and lack of longevity, early burnout and no postseason experience.”

Pettitte, who was collaborating within the election for the seventh time, had 31.8 percent as of Tuesday afternoon. Last yr Pettitte received 52 (13.5 percent) votes and this yr he’s already on 48 ballots, a major increase. Hernández, who took part within the election for the primary time, received 25.2 percent of the votes solid on Tuesday afternoon.

While the main focus when voting is all the time on the 75 percent threshold required to enter the electorate, one other marker to think about is the 5 percent required to stay on the ballot.

Of the 14 names that appeared on the ballot for the primary time, seven had not yet received a public vote as of Tuesday morning. Of the remaining seven eligible first-year players, only Suzuki, Sabathia, Hernández and Dustin Pedroia (12.6 percent) received the essential five percent to stay on the ballot.

That means 10 players are vulnerable to falling off the draft list, including two catchers in Russell Martin (4.6 percent) and Brian McCann (4 percent), who can be off the draft list after just their first yr. Torii Hunter (1.3 percent), who’s on the ballot for the fifth time, and Francisco Rodríguez (7.9 percent), who’s on the ballot for the third time, also face the opportunity of not receiving 5 percent. Mark Buehrle has 19 votes on his fifth ballot Tuesday morning, which will likely be enough to maintain him on the ballot for one more yr so long as not more than 380 ballots are returned. One more vote for Buehrle between Tuesday afternoon and next week's announcement would guarantee the longtime Chicago White Sox starter a spot on next yr's ballot.

Australian breakdancer Rachael “Raygun” Gunn defended her polarizing performance on the Paris Olympics last month and denied that she had someway manipulated her qualification for the Games.

The 37-year-old breakdance professor spoke to the Backlash and worldwide ridicule in an interview that aired on Australia's The Project on Wednesday, by which she acknowledged her competition efforts, which many described as “embarrassing.”

“It was really sad how much hate it generated,” said Gunn, who was named Australia's “top ranked” breaker last yr, in addition to in 2020 and 2022. She added that while she was “very sorry the community has experienced backlash,” she “can't control how people react.”

Gunn, whose Viral performance included imitation of kangaroo hopsattributed “many of the reactions to the fact that people are not very familiar with breakdancing and the different approaches to it.”

“The energy and nastiness of people was quite disturbing,” she said. “I wanted to bring out some Australian moves and themes. … That's the wonderful thing about breakdancing. You can get inspiration from any source.”

Despite scoring zero points in her three Paris events, Gunn said her “record will show whether she really is Australia's best breaker”. She also denied conspiracy theories that she manipulated the choice process to qualify for the Games.

Gunn noted that she has largely avoided social media since then and that she immediately sought psychological help given the “ups and downs” following the Games, and expressed gratitude for the “amazing” positive response she has received.

Originally published: September 5, 2024 at 12:09 p.m.

There is numerous talk concerning the election of the Vice President and the Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris' election by Minnesota Governor Tim Walz is not any different.

Known for Attack on Donald Trump and JD Vance as “strange”, Walz, 60, defeated a powerful field of Democratic candidates, including Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, U.S. Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.

A moderate democratWalz served as a U.S. Representative from 2007 to 2019 and is taken into account a sexy option for potential independent voters.

Harris' decision comes at an important time within the 2024 US presidential election. Less than three months before the election National polls suggest the race could be very close – and Harris believes her selection of vp will translate into votes within the crucial swing states on Election Day.

The Conversation US has published quite a few articles about vice presidents and whether their election helped or hurt presidential campaigns. Here are a few of them.

1. What do vice presidents actually do?

As a political scientist Joshua Holzer However, there are few references to the office of Vice President within the U.S. Constitution.

These references state that “the Vice President becomes President” when the President becomes incapable of motionand certainly one of its foremost duties is that of President of the US Senate, who may only vote along within the event of a tie.

But as Holzer points out, tied votes within the Senate are rare. Since 1789 only 301 votes for the tie were forged, and 12 vice presidents, including then-Vice President Joe Biden, didn’t forged a single vote. Harris holds the record with 33 decisive votes.

“Aside from staying out of trouble to avoid impeachment and waiting to become or replace the president, vice presidents are really only required to cast an occasional tie-breaking vote in the Senate,” Holzer wrote. “This means that most of the time, vice presidents have no real job.”

John Adams, the first US Vice Presidentwas of an identical opinion. He once complained to his wife that the office of Vice President is “the most insignificant office that man has ever conceived or imagined.”

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Read more: Kamala Harris sets record for many tie-breaking votes in Senate history – a fast have a look at vp duties

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2. Do no harm

As a scholar who studies American politics, Philip Klinkner has examined how political considerations within the collection of a vp have modified over time.

Although there may be little evidence that vice presidential candidates help their electoral results, a foul selection can hurt the election. “Whether Harris played it safe or was bold with her choice, the most important consideration was to do no harm,” Klinkner wrote.

In the case of a foul election, Klinkner explained, the issue shouldn’t be whether the list of candidates is sufficiently balanced or diverse, but moderately whether the candidate has been sufficiently vetted.

“The worst decisions – Tom Eagleton in 1972, Quayle in 1988 and Palin in 2008 – were the result of hasty and ill-conceived selection processes,” Klinkner wrote.

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Read more: The vice presidential election is not any longer nearly where you reside, but in addition about who you’re. What path will Harris take to balance the vote?

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3. Trump’s election

Karin Amira is a political scientist whose research focuses on the connection between Donald Trump, the Republican Party, and conservatism.

Since Trump chosen U.S. Senator JD Vance of Ohio as his running mate, it has been widely reported that Vance once referred to Trump as “morally reprehensible” And “Cultural heroine,” and he
privately compared him to Hitler.

But the day after Vance won his own Senate election in 2022, he reportedly announced that he would support Trump for president in 2024 and now says that he not readily certified would have won the 2020 election if he had been in Vice President Mike Pence’s shoes.

As Amira identified, Vance doesn’t represent a swing state, nor does he have much appeal to MAGA-skeptical independent voters.

But people near Trump call the 39-year-old Vance the brand new heir to Trump's MAGA movement.

What conclusions could be drawn from Trump’s decision to decide on Vance?

Since 2015, Amira explained, Trump has tightened his grip on the Republican Party, pushing it further away from its stated conservative ideology. “The selection of Vance as Trump's vice presidential running mate – and the contest that preceded it – are the latest steps in that process,” Amira wrote.

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Read more: The collection of JD Vance as Trump's vice presidential candidate marks the top of Republican conservatism

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Editor's note: This story is a summary of articles from The Conversation archives.

Local news

The 2024 MLB Draft will proceed through the All-Star break in Texas.

We'll be tracking the Red Sox picks as soon as they're announced. Follow us below. Click here to refresh.

The draft will proceed on Tuesday with the ultimate selection.

Red Sox draft picks for 2024

No. 12: Braden Montgomery, OF, Texas A&M

Despite lacking elite pitchers of their system, the Red Sox have chosen top-of-the-line college players within the draft. The 21-year-old is a switch-hitter and an entire athlete with great potential who needs to enhance his contact skills and approach from the appropriate side. Montgomery, a highschool product from Mississippi who spent his first two college seasons at Stanford, brings 80-degree power and a powerful arm to the outfield, where he is predicted to land in considered one of the corner positions. His last college season ended early attributable to an ankle injury, but he still led the SEC with 85 RBIs. By Alex Speier: Montgomery is the primary outfielder the Sox have taken in the primary round for the reason that club drafted Andrew Benintendi from Arkansas in 2015. However, he’s the seventh consecutive outfielder the club has chosen with its first pick and the fourth consecutive left-handed hitter.

No. 50: Payton Tolle, LHP, TCU

An enormous left-hander who began as a two-way player at Wichita State but struggled at bat after transferring to TCU and focused on pitching this spring, earning him Big 12 Pitcher of the Year honors and 105 strikeouts in 69 innings. With a protracted wingspan, his four-seam vertical fastball averaged 22 inches of vertical break at slightly below 90 mph. He also has a median slider and a changeup slightly below 80 mph, but throws his fastball nearly 75 percent of the time, which could indicate a reliever. By Alex Speier: This was the Red Sox's earliest collection of a pitcher since they drafted Tanner Houck in the primary round of the 2017 draft.

No. 86: Brandon Neely, RHP, Florida

With their second pick, the Sox look to bolster their pitching with right-handed Neely, who’s primarily used as a reliever but made a number of starts for the Gators last season. Despite the shortage of consistency, area scouts consider Neely could turn into a solid rotation player. Neely has 4 solid pitches, not counting his rarely used curveball: a fastball that may reach 97 mph and averages about 93 mph, his secondary slider, a breaker that may hit 80 mph and a changeup that may hit over 80 mph.

No. 115: Zach Ehrhard, OF, Oklahoma State

Ehrhard was originally chosen by the Red Sox within the thirteenth round of the 2021 draft before opting to play NCAA basketball at Oklahoma State, however the Sox still want him. The outfielder had a less-than-ideal begin to his junior season with the Cowboys attributable to a hamstring injury but got here back stronger than ever. He had a .627 slugging average this spring in comparison with .385 in his first two seasons, and he continued that performance this summer within the Cape Cod League. The right-hander is consistent within the box, has an eye fixed for drawing walks, good feel for the bat and consistent contact, and scouts have been impressed together with his speed and baserunning ability but said he could still be more aggressive.

No. 148: Brandon Clarke, LHP, State College of Florida

The Sox chosen their third pitcher of the draft, left-hander Brandon Clarke, who was briefly on MLB's radar in 2021, though his lack of strong starts knocked him out of the running. Clarke spent his freshman yr of faculty at Alabama, but went the junior college route, transferring to State College of Florida after failing to get on the mound in Tuscaloosa. He still has some development to do — he has two solid pitches in a 94-mph fastball that may reach 97 and a curve of over 70 mph, but scouts say his 80-plus mph changeup still needs improvement, and his control is inconsistent, walking 4.2 of nine batters within the 2024 season.

No. 177: Blake Aita, RHP, Kennesaw State

Aita, a right-handed pitcher and rising college junior, is the primary unranked prospect chosen by the Sox on this draft. Aita began as a reliever his freshman yr at Kennesaw State, pitching 36 innings and 38 strikeouts. But he attracted attention as a sophomore, making 16 starts for a 7-4 record and leading his team in wins, strikeouts and innings pitched, including a career-high eight full innings against Central Arkansas. He lowered his ERA from 4.50 as a freshman to three.90 as a sophomore, and posted 122 strikeouts during his two years with the Owls.

No. 207: Will Turner, OF, University of South Alabama

Turner has began all 108 games in his two years at South Alabama and has been consistent on the Jaguars' offense and defense. As a freshman, he put up solid numbers, was the Sun Belt Conference's fifth-best triple player (4), hit for a .279 average, and recorded five home runs, 36 RBIs, 44 runs scored and 13 stolen bases, with 20 multiple-hit games and 11 multiple-RBI games. The left-handed hitter slowly improved in his sophomore season, posting a .349 average, 17 doubles, 4 triples, nine home runs and 52 RBIs, together with a .460 on-base percentage and a .978 fielding percentage.

No. 237: Conrad Cason, RHP, Greater Atlanta Christian School (Ga.)

The first highschool player chosen by the Red Sox this yr, Cason is a right-handed hitter whose athleticism is a serious strength on the mound. Cason, the Georgia Gatorade High School Player of the Year, is considered one of the youngest players available on this draft. He will each hit and throw in the autumn if he fulfills his commitment to Mississippi State, and even played a little bit of shortstop on the draft mix. He works primarily with two pitches, a 93-95 mph fastball with versatility and a low-80 mph split-grip changeup, and has a slider that would turn into much more reliable with practice.

No. 267: Hudson White, C, Arkansas

White is the primary catcher the Red Sox have chosen since drafting Kyle Teel in the primary round last yr. He spent two years at Texas Tech before transferring to Arkansas and has been invited to MLB college workouts the past three seasons. White began 102 times in 110 games during his profession with the Red Raiders. He began 44 of 49 games for the Razorbacks, including five times as a delegated hitter and two times each at second and third base. In one season with Arkansas, he posted a .297 batting average, .397 on-base percentage and .550 slugging percentage with 49 RBIs and 11 home runs.

No. 297: Devin Futrell, LHP, Vanderbilt

Boston finished the second day of the draft by signing its sixth pitcher, and the left-hander is a solid pick. After his third season at Vanderbilt, Futrell posted a profession ERA of three.92 in 38 starts in 42 games and recorded 180 total strikeouts. Futrell's strongest pitch is his 89-90 mph fastball, which may reach as much as 94 mph, and he has strong zone control, walking just 10 batters this season.

Red Sox draft picks for 2024

The assigned slot values ​​for rounds 1-20 are from www.soxprospects.com.