From 6’10” MLB Titans to 1,400 Video Game Bids: The Wildest Height Debates and Digital Feats Sweeping Baseball

Major League Baseball rosters in 2026 are looking more like professional basketball lineups than traditional diamond squads. A recent franchise-by-franchise height audit revealed that modern bullpens and rotations are overwhelmingly populated by physical giants, sparking intense debate among fans over whether extreme stature actually improves pitching performance.

At the top of the height pyramid sit the Los Angeles Dodgers, who boast the tallest active player on any 40-man roster: six-foot-ten relief prospect Paul Gervase. Not far behind are the Minnesota Twins with six-foot-nine starter Bailey Ober, while the Cleveland Guardians have astonishingly assembled six separate players standing precisely six-foot-six, including Gavin Williams, Tim Herrin, and Hunter Gaddis.

Read nextAre Pitching Meltdowns Real, or Are the Dodgers Just Buying the League?

Yet the standout entry on the roster audit belongs to the Kansas City Royals. Their tallest player is a six-foot-eight, 220-pound pitcher whose last name is literally Little. Luke Little has struggled to find consistency on the mound, holding a 5.23 ERA across Double-A and Triple-A outings this season, illustrating that massive frame does not automatically equal major league dominance.

Reactions across the baseball world were swift and divided. One commenter pointed out the hilarious irony of a giant named Little struggling in the minors, while another argued that Cleveland’s six-man tower crew sounded like the beginning of an elite basketball roster. Meanwhile, rival fans sarcastically joked that the Dodgers were not satisfied with collecting elite free agents and had now moved on to hoarding human height.

That same obsessive passion for baseball precision extends far beyond real-world dugouts and into digital gaming lore. In Jackson Township, Ohio, 31-year-old Jay Lucarelli captured the attention of thousands of fans by embarking on an extraordinary gaming challenge: streaming the classic video game 'MVP Baseball 2005' until he threw a perfect game with former Houston Astros star Roy Oswalt.

Operating out of his mother’s kitchen with a MacBook and a steady supply of energy drinks, Lucarelli suffered heartbreak after heartbreak. Bids for perfection fell apart on first pitches, in middle innings, and on the ultimate strike. On attempt number 1,421, a virtual Doug Mirabelli hit a line-drive single to ruin history at the very end—a tragic gaming moment now remembered as the 'Mirabelli meatball'.

Lucarelli refused to abandon the mission. Hundreds of fastballs later, he finally completed the elusive 27-out perfect game, proving that whether on an MLB mound or a laptop keyboard, baseball obsession knows no limits.

Our hosts battle over whether height or pure skill rules the mound on this week's episode of Bench Clearer.