Major League Baseball

[Homer]

I can't be the only one who actually likes baseball, can I? Been following the league for ages, but only got into actually watching it in 2015 or so, when I broke my foot and had nothing better to do than to familiarise myself with the rules. Coincidentally, that was the one season of the last 15 or so where the Mets didn't totally suck, so I ended up with them (seriously though, I rooted for them for as long as I can remember because fuck the Yankees ). Also, I love the Philly Phanatic. Not the Phillies though.

 

Not really sure what will happen this year because our #2 starter (Noah Syndergaard) is out after Tommy John. But the signings were decent and maaaaybe Yoenis Cespedes can contribute, too... We've got nearly all the parts for a good team, now it "just" has to come together. That's the easy bit, right?

 

Also, DH is terrible and I am prepared to die on this hill. Let the pitchers hit.

 

Am I hopeful? Kind of. Am I expecting to get my arse handed to me? Absolutely.

[ben8884]

Go Jays

[AspieAlly613]

I have mixed feelings about the new playoff format, with 16 teams and the first round being a best-of-three, all at the higher-seeded team's home stadium.  Basketball and Hockey can get away with a four-round playoff structure because teams are less evenly matched, overall.  At the same time, it may discourage teams from intentionally losing games to get better draft picks.  (No team would give up a chance at the postseason for that, which means that to use that strategy, a team would have to be so hopelessly behind that they know (going into the season) that they can't even get into the top 8 of their league.

[blunose2772]

Grew up in the St. Louis area. Die hard Cardinals fan. Favorite player of all time is Ozzie Smith.

[Homer]

20 hours ago, blunose2772 said:

Grew up in the St. Louis area. Die hard Cardinals fan. Favorite player of all time is Ozzie Smith.

Are there plans for a statue for Yadi?

[SpaceDustbin]

I do like baseball, but still have to find a way to watch MLB from Europe... 

I do tend to follow World Cups and such whenever it's on (even if it's at 3 am 😂) 

[blunose2772]

21 hours ago, Homer said:

Are there plans for a statue for Yadi?

Statue? Try a shrine.

[Goonie]

I just caught a highlight from the Rockies - Rangers game of one of Story's home runs. I'm not sure what's weirder, the empty stands, the fake cardboard cut outs behind home plate for fans, or the fact that it really reminds me of PS1 and PS2 MLB games that I used to play

[Homer]

Mets are metsing it again.

[Mostly Peaceful Ryan]

I am a huge MLB fan, I am an Orioles fan.

 

On 7/24/2020 at 2:59 PM, Homer said:

seriously though, I rooted for them for as long as I can remember because fuck the Yankees

Agreed.

 

On 7/24/2020 at 2:59 PM, Homer said:

Also, DH is terrible and I am prepared to die on this hill. Let the pitchers hit.

Completely agree, I have never liked DH, the game is better with pitchers needing to hit.

[AspieAlly613]

One new rule I don't like:  Runner starting on 2nd in extra innings.

 

I get it that they want games to not take 12+ innings.  My proposed alternative:  Baserunners remain from inning to inning, starting with bases empty to start the 10th.

[Homer]

3 minutes ago, AspieAlly613 said:

I get it that they want games to not take 12+ innings.  My proposed alternative:  Baserunners remain from inning to inning, starting with bases empty to start the 10th.

You mean the stranded ones get a new chance from where they ended up in the inning before?

[AspieAlly613]

2 minutes ago, Homer said:

You mean the stranded ones get a new chance from where they ended up in the inning before?

Yes.  (They start at the last base they safely attained.)  

 

It would have the desired effect of deciding games more quickly, but teams would have to earn that starting baserunner.

[Homer]

Hmmm. Can't say that this sounds terrible. *thinks*

[Skycaptain]

Prolongs the game = more adverts = happy broadcaster and tough luck fans at the ground 

[Homer]

Mets: Hey let's sign this closer who did a great job at Seattle

Closer: *blows up*

 

Mets: Hey let's sign this reliever who was really good previously. He'll provide quality for our struggling pen

Reliever: *blows up*

 

Mets: Hey let's sign this starter who will give depth to our rotation and who also grew up a Mets fan

Rotation: *loses two starters to long-term injury*

Signed starter: *blows up*

 

I mean come on.

[AspieAlly613]

Can't they ban the takeout slide already?  There's no legitimate reason to slide into a base when there's a force play, and no one wants to see players get injured.

[Homer]

Ugh by now I'm glad that the season is so short.

[iff]

Do St louis cardinals still have a team? 😉😉

 

 

All seriousness, Phillies fan but more a casual observer

[AspieAlly613]

Is anyone else here bothered by MLB.com's noticeably inaccurate "power rankings"?

 

Here's their list, as of this morning:

 

1) Dodgers (16-7, 1 last week)

2) Athletics (16-6, 3)

3) Yankees (15-6, 2)

4) Cubs (13-6, 5)

5) Twins (14-8, 4)

6) Braves (13-10, 6)
7) Indians (13-9, 7)
Rockies (13-8,
9) Rays (14-9, 9)
10) Padres (11-12, 11)
11) Brewers (10-10, 19)
12) Astros (11-10, 10)
13) Cardinals (4-4, 14)
14) Reds (9-11, 12)
15) Orioles (12-9, 22)
16) White Sox (11-11, 13)
17) D-backs (11-11, 21)
18) Marlins (9-6, 15)
19) Phillies (8-9, 16)
20) Nationals (8-11, 17)
21) Mets (9-14, 18)
22) Rangers (10-10, 24)
23) Blue Jays (7-11, 25)
24) Angels (7-15, 20)
25) Tigers (9-10, 26)
26) Giants (8-15, 27)
27) Royals (9-13, 28)
28) Red Sox (6-16, 23)
29) Mariners (7-16, 29)
30) Pirates (4-14, 30)

 

For one team to outrank another, that means that it should be expected to win more future games this season than the other, all other things being equal.

 

According to these rankings, they expect that:

The Orioles would finish more than 6.5 games ahead of the Red Sox

The Marlins would finish more than 3 games ahead of the Nationals

The Athletics would finish more than 4.5 games ahead of the Astros

 

 

It's like they're glancing at the current standings, thinking about who's been hot, and spitting out an answer without any analysis, or factoring in priors about how good the teams were expected to be.  That's the sort of thing a middle schooler would come up with, not a professional baseball writer.

[Marrow]

Im not really deep into baseball (following players, knowledge of stats), but baseball is my favorite sport to watch. Love going to baseball games too when given the oppertunity.

[Homer]

6 hours ago, AspieAlly613 said:

Is anyone else here bothered by MLB.com's noticeably inaccurate "power rankings"?

Stats are the one thing I stay away from most of the time. Okay, looking at the batting average makes sense, HRs, BBs and RBIs probably, too... SLG is where I begin to struggle tbh. But sometimes they'll pull something like batting average against leftie relievers on day games on the road with RISP and two outs against teams from the same division since 1827 when it's raining.

 

So my question is - do the power rankings actually indicate something useful? Haven't looked into those yet.

[AspieAlly613]

10 hours ago, Homer said:

Stats are the one thing I stay away from most of the time. Okay, looking at the batting average makes sense, HRs, BBs and RBIs probably, too... SLG is where I begin to struggle tbh. But sometimes they'll pull something like batting average against leftie relievers on day games on the road with RISP and two outs against teams from the same division since 1827 when it's raining.

 

So my question is - do the power rankings actually indicate something useful? Haven't looked into those yet.

Oh, these "power rankings" are rankings of entire teams, not individual players.

[Homer]

Funnily enough, I recently signed up for The Athletic and they sent me a mail talking about the power ratings. The explanation read

 

Quote

Every other week, we ask all of our baseball writers — both the local scribes and the national team, more than 30 writers in all — to rank the teams from first to worst. Here are the collective results, the TA30.

 

So that's a completely irrelevant metric in my book.

[Homer]

Geez, baseball players are so easy to upset. Fernando Tatis swung at a 3-0 pitch despite a huge lead, hitting a grand slam... in other words, he played baseball. Why wouldn't he? Yes, his team were up by seven, but we've seen games like that turned around and you can't afford that, particularly when the season is this short.

 

You can get thrown out by a mile at 1st, but don't you dare not to run all the way (unless you're Big Sexy), but OTOH swinging at a 3-0 pitch isn't okay?  Pffft.

[AspieAlly613]

3 hours ago, Homer said:

Geez, baseball players are so easy to upset. Fernando Tatis swung at a 3-0 pitch despite a huge lead, hitting a grand slam... in other words, he played baseball. Why wouldn't he? Yes, his team were up by seven, but we've seen games like that turned around and you can't afford that, particularly when the season is this short.

 

You can get thrown out by a mile at 1st, but don't you dare not to run all the way (unless you're Big Sexy), but OTOH swinging at a 3-0 pitch isn't okay?  Pffft.

Agreed.  There's nothing wrong with swinging at a pitch good enough to hit for a home run.

[AspieAlly613]

I watched the replay of the next pitch.  That was a 93 mph fastball thrown behind Machado's back!  If you're going to "send a message", don't do it with your hardest stuff.

[Real Estate RICO]

...and Hosmer makes it four straight grand slams, all against the Rangers

 

git gud, Texas

[Homer]

12 hours ago, AspieAlly613 said:

Agreed.  There's nothing wrong with swinging at a pitch good enough to hit for a home run.

At first I didn't even realise that it was Texas who got their trousers in a knot over this. The same team who miraculously kept playing against the Orioles. Yeah, that checks out.

 

Also, there appear to be a few cases of the rona around the Mets camp. Both last night's game against the Marlins and today's match against some other team from across the city have been postponed. This season is a joke. However, kudos to the Marlins organisation for navigating through this shit show.

[Homer]

And it goes on and on and on... first game of a double header against the Yankees. Six innings done, 7-2 up and leave the bases loaded. Two outs in the bottom of the 7th, still 7-2. Seven innings done, 7-7. Extra inning done, 7-8.