Electric Factory

In partnership with

There’s been a problem in sports for years now with all star “festivities”. As a kid i looked forward to seeing all the stars together in one place, seeing what players were elected to represent their leagues as the elite, and getting to see them compete weather it was an actual game or a skills night event. Unfortunately the age we’re living in has made these yearly gatherings a lot less special. Gone are the days of cable tv where you didn’t have the ability to watch a star player in a small market unless they were in your city that night. Gone are the days of watching highlights on ESPN to see the teams or players that played out of your area. You can go to social media to see all the highlights, behind the scenes drama, full games you name it. Where I’m going with this is that a collection of stars isn’t enough to get people to turn the tv on anymore. How many all stars are on the dodgers? How many NBA all stars have already played together on a team or two? We need a good product to sink our teeth into or people are gonna turn their attention to something else. All these leagues have had their all star products recede to such a dilapidated state that the current form they’re in is not salvageable. The NFL’s “pro bowl” has regressed so much it’s turned into dodgeball and flag football and it’s on tv at like 6 pm. The NBA is stuck hanging their hat on all star Saturday night which i used to look forward to every year as a kid. The three point contest is always going to be a draw but a lot of regular season games turn into three point contests anyway and we all know Steph would wash everybody on their best day. The dunk contest is a victim of being around too long. It’s hard to show us something we haven’t seen at this point. Don’t even get me started on the game itself you’ll see better basketball at your local gym. The home run derby continues to be watered down every season and the MLB all star game is becoming more like the nba in terms of effort. I’ll get to the NHL soon because they’re our shining star and an example for the other leagues after the success of the 4 nations tournament. 

People want to blame the players specifically in the nba for not putting forth the proper effort that we would expect from somebody deemed an all star. Let’s be honest why would they? This is supposed to be a mid season vacation for them, they’re being paid very handsomely by a team to win a championship and risking injury going hard in a meaningless game is going to put you in hot water. These guys want to prove they’re the best by dominating over the course of a full season not two halves. They want to win championships not all star games. The in season tournament was a success because the players are incentivized and they put in the effort. That’s a good first step in trying to keep your league relevant while the NFL continues to widen their net over America, but you’re going to need to do a lot more than that if you want these ratings to start moving in your direction. I think the MLB has just called it a day in terms of their all star format. They water down the HR derby every year (GIVE ME OUTS NOT A TIMER) there’s less and less effort displayed by the year in the game itself. While they struck gold with the pitch clock the MLB is spinning their tires in this department.

I’m not even gonna talk about the pro bowl more than i already have. The one bit of slack I’ll give them is that with a larger lens on concussions and player safety than ever before it’s hard to ask them to go risk their bodies for an extra game just because they’re the best at their positions. However this looks like a commercial for the Michelle Obama 60 minutes of play campaign from back when i was a kid and America was in their infancy of obesity. I don’t want to see Justin Jefferson play dodgeball i want to see him cook corners and catch touchdowns.

The Daily Newsletter for Intellectually Curious Readers

If you're frustrated by one-sided reporting, our 5-minute newsletter is the missing piece. We sift through 100+ sources to bring you comprehensive, unbiased news—free from political agendas. Stay informed with factual coverage on the topics that matter.

Join for free today!

The NHL’s 4 nations tournament was successful because the product was good. They marketed it like shit because it’s the NHL but it was so good it got people to pay attention and this is being written before the Thursday finale in Boston. They found a way to “incentivize” the players by putting the countries colors on the jersey. This felt more like an Olympic game for the players not an all star weekend. Look at the effort of guys in last years all star game compared to their effort in the USA Canada game. This whole tournament has gone exactly how the league wanted it to. Hell, the first goal of the tournament was MacKinnon assisted by Crosby and McDavid you couldn’t write it better if you tried. There were 3 fights in the first 9 seconds of the USA Canada game and i haven’t heard as many people talk about any game this season. 

For an opening act, this tournament has knocked every expectation out of the water. The tournament even went head up with the nba all star festivities and have dominated headlines between the two. NBA ratings as a whole are down 5% and the all star game drew the second worst numbers in its history down 13% from the year prior. If you’re the NHL i don’t know how you go back to the normal all star format in 2026. You need to strike while the iron is out and really get out there marketing wise while you have the audience. The players are making this a spectacle, it feels bigger than a regular season game not less than. Did you hear the Bell Centre when McDavid kicked off the scoring on Saturday? These are playoff vibes out there and i just hope they keep the momentum going because the NHL just got a step ahead of an inter-sport epidemic. 

What did you think of the 4 nations tournament? 

What was your favorite moment?

Any ideas on how the other leagues should adjust their formats or should they be scrapped entirely? Let us know on our social media and make sure to tune into the show every Wednesday at 8:00 PM EST.

One of my favorite terms in fantasy baseball is “hype fatigue.” Hype fatigue is applicable to nearly anything in media or pop culture in 2025, everyone wanting the “NEW” (as of 5 minutes ago) as opposed to the thing we thought was good for even potentially a longer period of time. Mackenzie Gore may be fatigued but is absolutely motivated. His own managers and coaches have remarked in the past with Mike Rizzo the GM of the Nationals remarking that he puts too much pressure on himself and Gore even admitting as much. Dave Martinez, his manager, was quoted in the Washington Post on how hard Gore is: “Oh, my gosh,” Manager Dave Martinez said on whether Gore is too tough on Gore. “Honestly, we got to get him to stop. We really do. . . . We got to get him back into just competing, not being so critical about every pitch he throws. We have to get him to relax a little bit. He’s really good, and he’s going to get better.”  I think Mackenzie Gore is going to get better. I think he’s just getting started at the age of 25 and I think 2025 we are going to see an ace emerge from the Nationals rotation and finally take that step forward he’s been inching towards for 8 long years.

It’s 2019, the San Diego Padres have just promoted one of the most heralded prospects in the franchise’s history in Fernando Tatis Jr. Tatis is electric. One of the top 3 prospects in all of baseball, Tatis sets the majors on fire in only seeing 84 games due to injuries and a season cut short, he still hits .317 with 22 dingers 61 runs and 16 stolen bases finishing with a 4.2 WAR by baseball-reference standards. The Pads also added Manny Machado in the offseason by signing him to the richest contract in North American sports history at the time at 10 years for 300 million dollars. Spring Training saw electricity through the arm of a 22 year-old Chris Paddack, who dominated hitters allowing 3 walks over 15+ innings with 24 strikeouts and allowing only 3 earned runs. To say there is excitement for the long forgotten Californian team is an understatement. The hype is immense.
 Somewhere trickled down in this hype, but not at all forgotten, is the 15th best prospect by MLB Pipeline. A lefty who was drafted third overall in 2017 by the Padres, who was fresh out of high school after going 12-1 with a 0.08 ERA and 174 strikeouts over 83.1 innings as a junior and then following that season by going 11-0 with a 0.19 ERA and 154 strikeouts with 5 walks over 74.1 innings as a senior. That left-handed pitcher’s name? Mackenzie Gore. 

Although not having the same fanfare as Tatis, Gore also had an insane 2019 in High-A ball, starting the year with a 1.02 ERA, 110 strikeouts over 79.1 innings pitched over 15 starts and although he struggled when he was moved up to AA in Amarillo (4.15 ERA, 8 walks, 3 Homers, and 25 strikeouts over 21.2 innings) scouts and prospect analysts were not deterred and before the 2020 season, Baseball America, Baseball Prospectus and MLB Pipeline boosted him all the way to the highest ranked Starting Pitcher prospect in baseball. It seemed like nothing could stop him from tinkering in the offseason and becoming the pitcher everyone expected him to be except… enter COVID.
 It goes without saying that COVID, apart from affecting the lives of everyone on earth, also affected prospects. Five years after the lockdown there are a number of players who were very highly ranked prospects who are still struggling to regain the skills that most teams, scouts and analysts believed them to have. Jo Adell, Gavin Lux, Luis Robert Jr., Casey Mize, Jarred Kelenic and Nate Pearson are just a few of the names that were in or just outside the Top 10 ranked prospects of that year, which also included Gore. 

I may have forgotten to mention that Mackenzie had three separate injured list stints from recurring blister injuries in his first season in 2018, only to have an outstanding 2019 before being shut down after pitching a career high 99+ innings. This is all to simply say that losing a season of development after the previous two, may lead to a not so great 2021… and it did.
 2021 was nothing short of a disaster for Gore. Going from the 5th overall prospect in baseball and unanimous top pitching prospect to finishing the 2021 season in AAA with a 5.85 ERA over 20 innings in 6 games. Gore went from a 2019 that saw him have 2.5 BB/9, 5.0 H/9, 0.6 HR/9 and 12.0 K/9 to finishing AAA in 2021 two years older and almost two-times as worse stats with 5.4 BB/9, 10.8 H/9, 1.4 HR/9 and his strikeouts per nine drop to 8.1 (we won’t even talk about the Arizona Fall League stats that year which were even worse). The shine was gone, and those who had previously heralded him as a “can’t miss” pitching prospect, were now giving him the “bust” tag. Gore’s pre-2022 prospect ranking was… well beyond the Top 100 for both Baseball America and Baseball Prospectus while MLB Pipeline ranked him a modest 86th.
 2022 came and for the first two months of the season, across 8 starts, we finally saw the pitcher who was promised. Gore had a 10.69 K/9, 0.19 HR/9, and a 1.50 ERA with a 2.20 FIP. The walks were slightly high at over 3 per nine innings but his fastball was dominant with all but one of his pitches having over 100 Stuff+ ratings. Coming fresh off a 6 inning outing against the Brewers where he struck out 10 batters to go with 3 walks and 3 hits allowed, Mackenzie faced the Rockies and like many seasons before, things took a turn. Gore had his worst outing of the year and gave up 6 runs in 2.1 innings. Again it looked like something sapped him of his otherworldly pitching. The rest of the season saw Gore’s numbers plummet through 22 innings spread over 7 starts. Over this time, Gore had a 6.14 K/9, 8.18 BB/9, 2.45 HR/9, and ERA of 11.05. He exited his final game for the Padres he gave up 2 runs 2 walks and a home run over 1.1 innings to the Tigers. He left with elbow inflammation and 8 days later he was shipped off for Juan Soto. He was maybe the 3rd most intriguing prospect in the package  for Washington, right behind CJ Abrams and Robert Hassell III. A new team, new coaches and seemingly once again finding success, only to slip through his fingers, Gore pitched 4 rehab games in Washington before his 2022 season was over. 

2023. Screw it. Mackenzie Gore started the season in the Nationals rotation and for the first two months, yet again, we saw promise. Gore upped his strikeouts and despite less than ideal command and a higher HR/9 than before, Mackenzie had a 3.66 ERA with an 11.25 K/9 and a great Ground Ball % of 43.8, but this is Mackenzie Gore so we know the story. His k-rate decreased by 3, his ERA went up to 5.10, his HR/9 doubled and his Ground Ball % decreased to a pedestrian 34.8% (would’ve been 54th in baseball last year among qualified pitchers). What was happening? His pitch mix hadn’t changed, he was throwing his fastball at about 60% and his slider and cutter for about 20% each, so what had changed? He started throwing his change-up more despite it being not very good. Was he tinkering? Probably.
 2024 saw Gore change his mix again. Now throwing his changeup almost 10% of the time instead of 2.9%, and throwing more cutters with less sliders and fastballs. We see an  almost identical result again to the strong starts he has been known for his whole career and then the fall off after two months, BUT this time he came BACK. After an atrocious July into mid-August, he finished strong. Over his final 7 starts Gore had a 2.43 BB/9, almost a 10 K/9 (9.96), 0.89 HR/9 and a 47% GB rate with an 11.4 HR/FB%. He leaned into his cutter more, throwing it almost 22% of the time, with fewer sliders and fastballs and his changeup started to shove. Mackenzie’s changeup over that final time frame had the 9th most vertical movement out of all changeups in baseball AND the 14th most horizontal movement of all changeups in baseball. My final note on this time period? According to fangraphs his Fastball runs above average was 11th, his cutter was 3rd and his changeup was 17th ranked. Dude was throwing something new and it was finally working very, very well. 

So what should we expect in 2025? A hot start, a cooling in early June? Potentially. But 

this time he is entering with three outstanding pitches, a clean bill of health, and that same determination that led to his perseverance over the previous 8 years since being drafted. This year Gore enters Spring Training once again not quite at the level expected from his prospect pedigree. What’s different? The second half slump that has plagued his career, he had finally overcome, and finished on a very strong note, even himself saying, “And once we did clean it up, I was a very good player the last six weeks.” He’s not entering spring trying to correct mistakes, he’s entering spring having overcome them and looking to build and is in the right mental headspace to do so.The same level of insanity over perfection that we see from the likes of Chris Sale and Max Scherzer we see and hear from people who work with Mackenzie Gore except now he may have the arsenal to dominate major league hitters like the aforementioned Cy Youngs.