Corbin Burnes now accomplishing things that haven’t been accomplished since 1893, Billy McKinney is about to become a cult hero.

First of all, the next half inning where Statcast claimed that there was a 30% catch probability on that ball is poppycock and balderdash and I won’t hear it. I have no clue how Statcast quantifies catch probability but my eyes tell me there was a 2% chance that anyone makes that catch given where the ball was headed, and where Billy McKinney was when the camera cut to him. Statcast claiming 30% catch probability sounds a little jealous if you ask me. Like Statcast would tell you, ‘I could have made that catch if I wouldn’t have hurt my knee senior year.’ Get lost.

Second: This blog is now a Billy McKinney Stan Blog. I love this guy. I loved him from the first time I heard his name. It’s the PERFECT baseball name. Billy McKinney! And his middle name? Logan. Billy Logan McKinney. That’s the kind of guy who not only plays baseball, he talks about baseball, dreams about baseball, baseball-baseball-baseball.

For those who don’t know much about a man whose Brewer Wall of Fame plaque is being crafted as we speak: Billy McKinney was a 2013 first round pick by the Oakland A’s. So he has some pedigree. Somebody working for Billy Beane saw enough talent in this guy to spend a 1st round pick on him. From there, he’s been a ‘piece’ in some high profile trades. He had a cup of coffee with the Yankees, before spending the past three seasons in Toronto. The Brewers claimed him on waivers at the end of the 2020 season.

Cut to Spring Training 2021: Only a few roster spots on the bench are up for grabs, McKinney hits/plays so well he forces himself onto the roster. He gets a few pinch hit appearances early, never an easy way to make a name for yourself, but he cashes those in. Quality at bats. Now with the FLOOD of injuries the Brewers are dealing with, he’s getting a chance at real playing time. Back to back days he hits home runs in a pitcher’s ballpark in San Diego, and then last night he not only hits a dinger, he makes that absurd catch.

I texted a few of my friends during a game where McKinney got a hit in the first week of the season and I said, ‘Billy McKinney is 1,000% going to come up with some clutch hit in the playoffs at some point.’ Years from now we’ll be drinking a pop at the bar and say, ‘remember when McKinney ripped that double down the line in Game 7??’

So from this moment going forward, we’ll be chronicling everything Billy McKinney does. It took us 10 years, but this blog finally has a direction.

Related: Corbin Burnes continues to do unbelievable things on the mound. He got into a bit of trouble last night, but he ends up with 6 innings, no runs, no walks, 10 strikeouts. In four starts, he now has 40 strikeouts, NO walks, and a 0.37 ERA. All of that is extraordinary, but the 0 walks blows me mind. In an the era that we’re in, for a starting pitcher to not issue a walk in FOUR starts is straight up wacky.

And remember last week when we blogged about him doing things that hadn’t been done since 1901? Well now he’s doing things that haven’t been done since 1893. Here’s a picture from the year 1893:

That was the last time the sport of baseball saw something that Burnes is accomplishing in 2021. Crazy.

PS: I’ll admit, working a morning show in radio, and ‘pushing 40’ as my listeners like to tell me, the odds of me staying awake for an entire baseball game that starts at 9:10pm on a weeknight are 0.0%. But I went to bed PETRIFIED that I might sleep through a no hitter. Burnes had gotten through 3 no-hit innings when I hit the hay, and I had nightmares that I’d sleep through the first no-hitter since 1987, and the first of my lifetime. I have never been so happy to wake up, check the box score, and see the Padres got a hit in the 4th innings.