Baseball 2023

[Golden Fox]

Its the Giants home opener today, so time for this years' baseball thread! 

 

Some big changes this year including:

- a pitch clock to speed up the game

- slightly bigger bases, which should increase stolen bases

- a revamped schedule so every team plays every other team and less of the same division again and again

- ads on unis

 

Giants struck out in the off-season just failing to land a homecoming for Judge, and then signing Correa to a megadeal - only for him to fail a medical, so ended up with scraps again, so the natives are restless. (Judge's homer against them in the first inning of the year didn't help the mood!)

 

But should be stronger than last year, so I think they will compete for a wild card - even if the division title is out of reach from the big spending Dodgers and Padres.

 

Should be a fun year, and the changes are mainly for the better! 

Edited 7 April 2023 by Golden Fox

[Jordan]

@Golden FoxI saw that aforementioned Judge dinger at Yankee Stadium for Opening Day this year… Cole had everything working that day too, but your boys’ bats woke up in Chicago this week.

 

So far, I’m liking the new rules.
 

I used to dislike complaints about the shift because batters *can* just swing or bunt to put the ball in play, but last year I dug into the numbers more and it lefties and righties have had very similar rates of pulling/going up the middle/going opposite field, Ks, ground balls/liners/fly balls, but AVG/SLG/OPS got to a point where lefties were performing noticeably worse than righties. So, if the shift is making the game biased against lefty batters, it’s time to get rid.

 

I love the pace of play and the action on the base paths this season—it reminds me a little more how the game used to be. Although stolen base success rates are maybe *too* high, some pitch clock violations seem ticky-tacky, and the game is still very “three true outcomes,” the positives outweigh the negatives. It was just so annoying seeing batters step out and adjust their equipment between every pitch, and seeing someone like Aroldis Chapman take a year to get set and shake off two calls only to throw a wild pitch.

 

[spacemunky]

Go Jays!

[Golden Fox]

1 hour ago, Jordan said:

@Golden FoxI saw that aforementioned Judge dinger at Yankee Stadium for Opening Day this year… Cole had everything working that day too, but your boys’ bats woke up in Chicago this week.

 

So far, I’m liking the new rules.
 

I used to dislike complaints about the shift because batters *can* just swing or bunt to put the ball in play, but last year I dug into the numbers more and it lefties and righties have had very similar rates of pulling/going up the middle/going opposite field, Ks, ground balls/liners/fly balls, but AVG/SLG/OPS got to a point where lefties were performing noticeably worse than righties. So, if the shift is making the game biased against lefty batters, it’s time to get rid.

 

I love the pace of play and the action on the base paths this season—it reminds me a little more how the game used to be. Although stolen base success rates are maybe *too* high, some pitch clock violations seem ticky-tacky, and the game is still very “three true outcomes,” the positives outweigh the negatives. It was just so annoying seeing batters step out and adjust their equipment between every pitch, and seeing someone like Aroldis Chapman take a year to get set and shake off two calls only to throw a wild pitch.

 

13 dingers in a 3 game set in Chicago tied the franchise record! Feast or famine after 2 shutouts at the Yankees... But it does make it a bit of that "three true outcomes". 

 

Must be some experience: Opening Day at Yankee Stadium - expensive tickets? Bedlam after that homer? 

 

I've not seen a game yet this year - its not worth paying given the time of most games: will catch the odd Sunday game or East Coast game on MLB's free game of the day, but general consensus does seem to be more of rewinding the clock to what the game used to be like, rather than changing it. (love this article on why games last longer than they used to https://www.sbnation.com/a/mlb-2017-season-preview/game-length/amp) 

[KingsX]

I also love the game-pace changes, but wasn't prepared for the impact on us spectators.

 

Getting up from your seat at the third out for a beer or bathroom break used to cost you one at-bat in the top of the next inning.  Now you'll likely miss half the inning.

 

And at home, forget getting up to fix a cup of coffee without missing anything.  But that's OK since you no longer need the coffee to stay awake!

[Guesty]

4 hours ago, Golden Fox said:

Its the Giants home opener today, so time for this years' baseball thread! 

 

Some big changes this year including:

- a pitch clock to speed up the game

- slightly bigger bases, which should increase stolen bases

- a revamped schedule so every team plays every other team and less of the same division again and again

- ads on unis

 

Giants struck out in the off-season just failing to land a homecoming for Judge, and then signing Correa to a megadeal - only for him to fail a medical, so ended up with scraps again, so the natives are restless. (Judge's homer against them in the first inning of the year didn't help the mood!)

 

But should be stronger than last year, so I think they will compete for a wild card - even if the division title is out of reach from the big spending Dodgers and Padres.

 

Should be a fun year, and the changes are mainly for the better! 

Be interesting to see how Mitch Haniger does for you lot. We were sad to see him go, but the guy is always injured.

 

Got a bit of a soft sport for the Giants as I went there to watch Barry Bonds in his prime.

[Jattdogg]

8 hours ago, spacemunky said:

Go Jays!

Okay, okay, blue jays, blue jays , lets, lets play, play ball! 

[CheeseHead]

8 hours ago, Jattdogg said:

Okay, okay, blue jays, blue jays , lets, lets play, play ball! 

Lived in Toronto for 15 months in 1999/2000, went to see the Jays play on quite a few occasions, absolutely loved it! Carlos Delgado was phenomenal. Never forget him smashing the Redsox star pitcher Pedro Martinez out of the park!

[Golden Fox]

A bit gutted the Giant's first game free on MLB TV at a watchable time coincided with a Leicester game on Sky.

But after that 3rd goal on 25 minutes, I'd seen enough... Not usually a pessimist, but I've accepted we'll get no points, so its 6-1 now to the Giants and I'm unexpectedly enjoying my Saturday evening sport!

 

(Big fan of this pitch clock!)

 

Edited 15 April 2023 by Golden Fox
This aged well!!! After Nacho's goal, it was back to the football for the last 15 minutes after all!!!

[KingsX]

Nearing the halfway point, I am loving two things about this baseball season.

 

- The much increased pace of play.

- The way the expensive San Diego and NYC super teams buying “inevitable” success are mostly outside the playoff spots.  Especially the Mets who have crashed in Todd Boehly-like fashion.  “Idiot billionaire buys a billion dollars worth of crap.”

 

One thing I haven’t enjoyed is the Commissioner charged with upholding the integrity of baseball, doing everything in his power to influence the Nevada legislature’s and owners’ votes needed to move the A’s to a micro-TV market which will still require the other clubs to continue padding the owners’ pocket with subsidies, after he deliberately tanked this season by fielding a joke minor-league squad as a big F.U. to the whole sport.  And even going out of his way to insult the city of Oakland and their fans in his press conference after the former.  Manfred needs the boot, soonest.

 

It’s America’s only unlimited-spending major sport, and so as with football, as much of the news takes place off the field as on.  At least it’s not as corrupt as football...

[Jordan]

While I’d like the Yankees to play a style of baseball that better befits the Yankees, I agree so much with this stuff @KingsX

 

The Oakland situation is disgusting, and it’s pathetic that Manfred and the MLB owners actively support John Fisher running his team into the ground. The worst owner in baseball is going to get rewarded for being the worst owner in baseball. The whole thing kinda makes me want MLB’s antitrust exemption to be blown up.

[Golden Fox]

On 24/06/2023 at 13:30, KingsX said:

Nearing the halfway point, I am loving two things about this baseball season.

 

- The much increased pace of play.

- The way the expensive San Diego and NYC super teams buying “inevitable” success are mostly outside the playoff spots.  Especially the Mets who have crashed in Todd Boehly-like fashion.  “Idiot billionaire buys a billion dollars worth of crap.”

 

One thing I haven’t enjoyed is the Commissioner charged with upholding the integrity of baseball, doing everything in his power to influence the Nevada legislature’s and owners’ votes needed to move the A’s to a micro-TV market which will still require the other clubs to continue padding the owners’ pocket with subsidies, after he deliberately tanked this season by fielding a joke minor-league squad as a big F.U. to the whole sport.  And even going out of his way to insult the city of Oakland and their fans in his press conference after the former.  Manfred needs the boot, soonest.

 

It’s America’s only unlimited-spending major sport, and so as with football, as much of the news takes place off the field as on.  At least it’s not as corrupt as football...

Agree with all this. You did miss out on the Giants being the hottest team over the last month & a half...

 

With most my time in the US being spent in the Bay area, is tough to see what is happening to the A's. Its was an odd dynamic, as the Giants had bigger support, but the A's were more competitive (this was before their 3 World Series, so people talked of the A's crushing the Giants in the '89 World series, and the last game I was at, Barry Zito pitched, who seemed to be the definition of over-performance with the A's, but a disaster on a big money contract with the Giants). The A's were always there: there were always A's fans around and plenty of caps around, so it was like 2 sides of a coin.

 

The whole situation with Fisher is ridiculous: deliberately alienating A's fans (there were a lot of promotions that were working that they just stopped), not really trying for a new stadium in Oakland (there is a great site for a ballpark with good transport links and will be ready for a stadium... once the crumbling Coliseum is demolised), spending as little money on the team as possible, moving from the 6th largest TV market to the 40th. Building a 30,000 ballpark (Tampa currently is currently the other ballpark under 35,000 & they are working on a stadium solution), $380m of state funding from Nevada tax payers & on land they won't own and be able to leverage - and that's without mentioning the press conference!!! Basically going from tarnishing baseball and being propped up by other owners - to getting someone else to pay for a new ballpark and then still being a revenue sharing recipient. Manfred wants expansion fees to get to 32 teams, but only after Vegas get a team cut price without having to pay it, while cities waiting for the chance and doing things the right way (e.g. Nashville) have to wait for all this to play out before they get to pay their extortionate fees.

 

I'm sure its all linked to gambling and MLB will probably be getting paid by the big gambling firms to set up in Vegas now the NHL and NFL are there, which makes them brazen enough to not care about the optics. But US sports have a long history of bad owners and franchises moving, so it does sort of comes with the territory, so sometimes you just have to be grateful its not your team (even if there is the odd name change...) and make a decision to follow it regardless of some of the s**t that happens...    

[Lillehamring]

Depsite being a niners fan since way too long ago, i only started watching baseball in 2010, when we suddenly (briefly) started getting ESPN America, decided i had to stay loyal to the bay and support the giants (timing impecable )   It's been a bit up and down of late, but this season has felt the most exciting in a few years - but i fear, under Kapler, we'll just never be consistent enough to go all the way

[KingsX]

Got my tickets for his last home game tomorrow night

 

 

Truly grateful for the decade the best manager of his generation spent here, getting the very best out of my small-market club.

[spacemunky]

RiP Tim Wakefield 

[Golden Fox]

Giants sack Kapler after an awful end to the year and missing out on the Playoffs 2 years in a row - despite an incredible 107 win season in '21 and stretches of looking very good this year - without really trying to build a roster to compete with the Dodgers.

 

I'm trying to comprehend that this is the first manager the Giants have sacked since 1985... They sacked Jim Davenport when I knew nothing about baseball & Gordon Milne was still managing Leicester City - so I reckon Leicester have sacked 14 managers in that time. They have played well over 6,000 games in that time, which is close to how many games Leicester have played in their entire history. 

 

Probably Bob Melvin in when he gets sacked by the Padres & another year when my whole support in the Playoffs will be every team other than the Dodgers.

[Golden Fox]

On 02/10/2023 at 22:32, Golden Fox said:

my whole support in the Playoffs will be every team other than the Dodgers

[NJFox]

Decades of generally miserable Philadelphia fandom has been handsomely rewarded the last few years. For the casual fan who wants a good laugh, you should read more about their outfielder Nick Castellanos, and his continued misfortune of hitting home runs during awkward moments on the broadcast. It happened again this week!

[SouthStandUpperTier]

Congratulations to the Washington Senators for winning their first ever World Series  

[NJFox]

Presale for the 2024 MLB London Series tickets starts on Wednesday. Have any FT members attended this previously? We're considering making the trip over in June.

[Golden Fox]

Ohtani goes to the Dodgers for $700m. As much as I held out hope of him signing for the Giants, it does seem bloody ridiculous to spend more on 1 player than some teams (Oakland & Baltimore) spend on their entire rosters!

 

He can't pitch at the moment, and who knows what he'll be like after surgery. 

 

Hopefully this goes down as one of the worst contracts of all time. 

[spacemunky]

7 minutes ago, Golden Fox said:

Ohtani goes to the Dodgers for $700m. As much as I held out hope of him signing for the Giants, it does seem bloody ridiculous to spend more on 1 player than some teams (Oakland & Baltimore) spend on their entire rosters!

 

He can't pitch at the moment, and who knows what he'll be like after surgery. 

 

Hopefully this goes down as one of the worst contracts of all time. 

The news here made it sound like he was going to the Jays 

[Golden Fox]

10 hours ago, spacemunky said:

The news here made it sound like he was going to the Jays 

There seemed to be a lot of talk of the Jays over the past week and the Dodgers being less likely. But I thought all along it would be the Dodgers, as he was already in LA and they had been clearing space for him, but ultimately were probably going to pay him most and he wanted to play for a team that won their division year in, year out. 

 

So I think all that talk was all misdirection to drive up the price. 

[Stuntman_Mike]

11 hours ago, Golden Fox said:

Ohtani goes to the Dodgers for $700m. As much as I held out hope of him signing for the Giants, it does seem bloody ridiculous to spend more on 1 player than some teams (Oakland & Baltimore) spend on their entire rosters!

 

He can't pitch at the moment, and who knows what he'll be like after surgery. 

 

Hopefully this goes down as one of the worst contracts of all time. 

I've got very little knowledge of baseball but does this deal have a lot to do with the marketing benefits of signing a Japanese player? I know baseball is pretty big over there too.

[Golden Fox]

1 hour ago, Stuntman_Mike said:

I've got very little knowledge of baseball but does this deal have a lot to do with the marketing benefits of signing a Japanese player? I know baseball is pretty big over there too.

To some degree, but the previous biggest deal was $426.5m, so the scale of this is extreme. Most the Dodgers games are already streamed in Japan anyway, so I doubt they will get anything close to half that. 

 

Dodgers are owned by Boehly, so its being driven by a Galacticos mentality of spending the most money to get the biggest names because they can. Its basically small dick syndrome - and can't be justified at all on commercial grounds. 

 

Did I mention I hate the Dodgers?