Yes, please. More hits, more runs, more SBs, more web gems (due to less shifts), and less time. Sign me the hell up.
Thank the wbc for that stupidity. Players getting hyped up about a meaningless exhibition and celebrating…we’ve seen Diaz, altuve and wainwright all starting the year on the dl with injuries from the exhibition, with Diaz obviously being the most severe. The good news is with Cohen as owner, the payroll doesn’t matter so the ability to go get another player if needed always exists.
If you're a T-Mobile customer, you can use the Tuesdays App to claim a free year of MLBtv today. There don't seem to be any restrictions, and as a former MLBtv subscriber, all I had to do was log in once it took me there and I was good to go. As a cord cutter with no cable, I'm hoping that they have some sort of highlight show included, as I won't have access to the shows I always watched on MLB Network or ESPN for the first time.
MLB has agreed on signifigant pay increases for minor leaguers. They're now being paid like typical low wage workers if they aren't on the 40 man, which is a lot more fair. I personally think it would also be in baseball's own best interest to at least offer them the chance to live in a dorm-type of situation, especially at the lower levels, and feed them with a high quality cafeteria, like they'd get if they were going to a big college and playing ball there.
Happy Opening Day, to all who celebrate! I predict that my Cubs will be the most mediocre team in the NL. No where close to playoff contention, but better than most of the lower half of the NL by a good margin. Playing in the same division as the two worst teams in the NL helps.
Some nice games, enjoying the changes. Killing the shift and bringing in the clock were things I was a big fan of and glad to see it in action (for real).
I was absolutely happy to see both of those, but the one I forgot about was the fact that the pitcher can only throw over twice to first in an at bat. I think this is going to help get stolen bases back on the menu in a big way, and in turn make the game more fun again.
Just sitting down and watching a game for the first time. Gotta say I LOVE the pitch clock! Brilliant. And the shift is gone. Stolen bases absolutely going to be huge but I think eventually small ball in general will be coming back. Bunts, sacrifice hits, hit and runs all that will become more important. More pressure on the Defense too so better defensive players will shine. I like it, I like all of it. LETS GO MARINERS!!!!! Edit: Mariners fans counting down the pitch clock on Karinchak is already a win for new rules. Fans get it to!
Not a huge fan of commish Manfred, but loved him saying that Sabermetrics are a "race to nowhere " when evey team is doing it. The only thing it accomplished is making the game a lot less fun to watch.
Agreed with those who like the new rule changes. Baseball is a slower game then hockey or basketball just by nature but there was no reason for it to be as slow as it was. On a different note, can the Mets call up Brett Baty already….Eduardo Escobar is a black hole to nowhere and no one is pitching to Pete with the likes of Mark Canha and Escobar hitting behind him when they scare absolute no one. This was a problem going back to last year when Pete saw fewer pitches in the strike zone then just about anyone. The more pitches Pete sees in the zone, the more runs the Mets will score. I won’t argue if they want to bring Francisco Alvarez back up too. Our 6-9 hitters are doing nothing and the half wit stop gap measures taken by Billy Eppler just aren’t doing anything better then James McCant and Darin Ruf did last year. Every met fan I know would rather see the kids.
See that's just it, there are folks crying about how it changes the way the game is played, but the game used to be played much faster. The 80s and 90s pitchers just went to work and batters just stood in and hit. It wasn't until like 2005 or so that players all just started slowing way down and game times exploded ... but even more important was pace of play just dying. Then this was coupled with the shift and hitting evolving to the three true outcomes and suddenly action was just gone except for the occasional home run. What we are seeing is less "new baseball" and more a return to "pre-2k baseball".
The Cubs had a pitcher named Steve Traschel in the 90s who was nicknamed "The Sloth" because of how slow he would operate. But he'd be faster than a lot of the guys out there today.
It's funny because I used to call him that when he was with the Mets. I purposely avoided going to games he was starting those years (I was going to 15-25 games a year those years) because he was just brutal to watch.
Oh no doubt. Back then, he was the aberration. Most of the 90s, the Cubs starting pitchers weren't very good, but most of them operated very quickly. There were games pretty often that only lasted about two hours. And so when Traschel was out there, it was so painful, especially as a teenager watching.
Well, they're all but officially leaving for Vegas now. I imagine the place us going to be even emptier than usual this year.
That fanbase deserves better. They've got a handful of championships and WS appearances in Oakland, plenty of playoff appearances. The politicians, as usual, have their head up their behinds, and the owner Fisher is a cheap scrouge. Really quite ridiculous.
When I first became a baseball fan in the late 80s, they were one of the most dominant teams in the sport. They've still made the playoffs eleven times since 2000, which is pretty impressive. They just haven't been to the ALCS since 1992. Something we as Dolphins fans can relate to!
What a weird MLB season. The Cubs are absolutely not a good team, and they outright sucked well into July. But they're on a 15-4 run and are now just 2.5 games out of first and 1.0 games out of the WC. Hopefully they don't crater from here, because they passed up some good trades of guys they're going to let walk as free agents after the year. Its beautiful that the Cardinals, who were most people's expectation as Central champs, are 15 games under .500.
As much as I like Morel as a utility guy, I'm honestly surprised at the way he's being mentioned as a centerpiece for trades. The big issue I think is his team control and the ability of the Cubs to eat money on contracts coming their way.
He has no position, strikes out over 30% of the time. His defense was flat out bad based on what I’ve seen. Might be a nice utility guy but some people are living in a dream world. In what alternate universe is Steve Cohen not spending the money to resign Pete? I think some people are confused and think the coupons are still owners of the team? But the Mets also already have Chris Morel…his name is just Mark Vientos.