MLB Thread

[catlover79]

3 hours ago, Rickster said:

Supposedly slapped his girlfriend in front of a member of the Commissioner’s office.

Now that was smart. What a creep. 😠😠😠😠😠

[doodlebug]

I'm watching the Indians' game on Fox.  It's been a long time since I've done it with the sound turned up.  Wow! The announcing team are probably the worst I've ever heard.  Really awful.  Gave up and turned on the radio for some real baseball announcing.  The Indians now up 7-0, which has undoubtedly led to even more inane patter from them.  

[Silver Raven]

Giants are at Fenway.  Yesterday's game, Carl Yazstremski threw out the first pitch to his grandson, Mike.

[xaxat]

The city of Seattle came to Pittsburgh and completed a four game sweep.

Seahawks over Steelers on Sunday, followed by the Mariners over Pirates in three games.

I went through the Bucs' twenty rear losing streak and I don't think I've ever been as depressed about a season as this one. Their post All Star break stretch has been a total disaster. On multiple levels.

Edited September 20, 2019 by xaxat

[ebk57]

Last home game of the season today.  And not a moment too soon...  

At least it's not raining. 

[mojoween]

I get that Carston Charles has been in the league since the turn of the century, but it’s still jarring to see the chyron “Jim Thome: Former Teammate”.

That said, this video is very well done and I posit that these tributes by the Yankees have no equal.

[xaxat]

34 minutes ago, mojoween said:

I get that Carston Charles has been in the league since the turn of the century, but it’s still jarring to see the chyron “Jim Thome: Former Teammate”.

That said, this video is very well done and I posit that these tributes by the Yankees have no equal.

OK, I might be a little misty eyed. 

That was really well done. After his battles with weight problems and alcoholism, I'm glad he got a happy ending.

ETA, go to 1:28 and watch the pitch he throws. The word "nasty" is used a lot to describe a pitch, but that is nasty.

Edited September 22, 2019 by xaxat

[nittany cougar]

The Astros are looking very bright heading into the post season.  Justin Verlander has his first 20-win season since 2011, and George Springer hit 3 homers last night.

The Yankees had a great tribute to CC Sabathia.  I will miss watching him.

Edited September 23, 2019 by nittanycougar

[Lantern7]

This is okay to post, right? 😜 🍔 🌭 

And the Mets are guaranteed not to have a losing season! #BabySteps

Edited September 23, 2019 by Lantern7

[Lamb18]

@nittanycougar the Twins' magic number is 3, so our teams may meet up in the playoffs. 

[Lantern7]

The date is September 24, 2019. The New York Mets are still alive for the postseason. Granted, the magic number is 1, meaning that they'd have to win the remainder of the games and the Brewers would need to lose all their games in order to force a playoff. Then they'd have to go to Washington to play the Nationals. And if they win that, they'd have the NLDS.

Honestly, though, who would've guessed they'd be in it this far? And that they would have a season over .500? Something to build on for 2020 . . . at least until they have a total of five wins in the first two months, and Orioles fans are mocking them.

Speaking of next year, Jerry Koosman will be getting his number retired. I did not see that coming.

Edited September 25, 2019 by Lantern7

[catlover79]

Jose is back and better than ever!!!

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/27693177/fresh-il-indians-ramirez-2-hr-7-rbi%3fplatform=amp

[theatremouse]

11 hours ago, Lantern7 said:

The date is September 24, 2019. The New York Mets are still alive for the postseason. Granted, the magic number is 1, meaning that they'd have to win the remainder of the games and the Brewers would need to lose all their games in order to force a playoff.

I've always heard the phrase "magic number" to mean "games needed to win to clinch a playoff spot". The Brewers magic number is 1. The Mets' elimination number is 1. The Mets don't have a magic number because the best they can do is force a 153.

[Lantern7]

55 minutes ago, theatremouse said:

I've always heard the phrase "magic number" to mean "games needed to win to clinch a playoff spot". The Brewers magic number is 1. The Mets' elimination number is 1. The Mets don't have a magic number because the best they can do is force a 153.

Black Magic Number? Also, I think that's 163. You did get what I meant, right? 😄

Funny . . . fans of the Cubs and Mets are both wondering "How the hell did THIS happen?" for different reasons.

[mojoween]

How interesting that the Nationals are the ones who knocked the Phillies out of the playoffs.  Of all the teams...

[Jenniferbug]

3 hours ago, Lantern7 said:

Funny . . . fans of the Cubs and Mets are both wondering "How the hell did THIS happen?" for different reasons.

Well, our season started off awful and is ending awful so...symmetry? 

This off season concerns me. I know we're going to lose players and I don't want to! Plus I'm not one who blames Joe Maddon for everything, so I would be sad to see him go. 

[dargosmydaddy]

7 hours ago, Lantern7 said:

Black Magic Number?

Tragic number...

[smittykins]

When Joey Wendle hit the home run, the played a snippet of the 70s song “Run Joey Run,” which is about a father out to kill his daughter’s boyfriend, but ends up accidentally getting her instead.  Yikes.

(I’m embarrassed to admit that it was actually my favorite song for awhile.  In my defense, I was nine.)

Edited September 25, 2019 by smittykins

[xaxat]

I was scrolling through the channels today and discovered that YouTube TV has an MLB game of the week.

I am a YouTube TV subscriber and a baseball fan and I had no idea this was a thing. Google must be paying good money to MLB because there can't be that many viewers.

[jennifer6973]

5 hours ago, mojoween said:

How interesting that the Nationals are the ones who knocked the Phillies out of the playoffs.  Of all the teams...

It was AWESOME.  Poor poor pitiful Bryce having to watch that.

[Bort]

15 minutes ago, xaxat said:

I was scrolling through the channels today and discovered that YouTube TV has an MLB game of the week.

I am a YouTube TV subscriber and a baseball fan and I had no idea this was a thing. Google must be paying good money to MLB because there can't be that many viewers.

You don't even need a subscription for the games of the week. I'm not a YouTubeTV subscriber and I was watching it on my regular TV YouTube app.

[Calvada]

Brewers clinch a playoff spot.  I am stunned.  Just didn't seem to be their year, with injuries and starting pitching imploding.  What they have done in the month of September is amazing.  On Sept. 5 they were 5 games behind the Cubs and 7.5 games behind the Nationals for a WC spot. 

I don't think they have the pitching for a lengthy run in the postseason and they've got several guys dealing with injuries (Cain, Moustakis, Hiura, Woodruff) but a month ago, I gave them about a 5% chance of getting into the postseason, so who knows?

[Bort]

Shhhh! Something may or may not be happening right now...

[Bort]

Awwww. So close.

[MVFrostsMyPie]

10 hours ago, mojoween said:

How interesting that the Nationals are the ones who knocked the Phillies out of the playoffs.  Of all the teams...

Heh. That makes me almost like the Nationals a little bit. 

[Lamb18]

Twins won the division last night, hurray!  The MN Soccer team made it to the playoffs. Now if Green Bay loses tonight and Vikings win Sunday, things will be perfect sportswise.

ETA: can anyone explain how the playoffs work with the wild card teams? Who plays who in the first round?

Edited September 26, 2019 by Lamb18

[Bort]

1 hour ago, Lamb18 said:

ETA: can anyone explain how the playoffs work with the wild card teams? Who plays who in the first round?

Does this picture help? The wild card teams play each other in one game, then the winner of that plays the #1 seed in the division series. The 2 and 3 seeds play each other in a separate division series.

[Lamb18]

Thanks, @kariyaki!  It looks like our teams have to each win their first series in order to meet up in round 2.

A friend from work is having twin girls in a couple of weeks so I was looking at Twins outfits for babies last night.

[Lantern7]

Is there a Twins curse?

[catlover79]

No postseason for the Tribe. 😭😭😭😭😭

[Bort]

Home field advantage in the AL for the Astros! And Will Harris threw an immaculate inning to boot. The franchise hadn't seen one of those in 15 years.

[Crs97]

6 hours ago, catlover79 said:

No postseason for the Tribe. 😭😭😭😭😭

I am sad, too, but this very young team has been nothing short of amazing.  Every star got hurt and was out a good stretch.  One of our aces breaks his arm.  Another ace is out with back problems and then again with an ankle strain.  Our third ace has leukemia.  By June we looked like toast, but this team scraped and clawed and hung on till the very end of the season.  

This might be my favorite Tribe roster yet.  I am so proud of all of them.

Beautiful Essay from Carlos - “I may have cancer, but it doesn’t have me”

[AimingforYoko]

8 hours ago, kariyaki said:

Home field advantage in the AL for the Astros! And Will Harris threw an immaculate inning to boot. The franchise hadn't seen one of those in 15 years.

Stat of the week: If the Astros do not intentionally walk anyone this weekend, they will set the major league mark with fewest intentional walks in a season: 0.

That's when you know you have a pretty good pitching staff.

[Bort]

1 hour ago, AimingforYoko said:

Stat of the week: If the Astros do not intentionally walk anyone this weekend, they will set the major league mark with fewest intentional walks in a season: 0.

That's when you know you have a pretty good pitching staff.

Astros had the fewest intentional walks last year with 4. This year they have zero, the next lowest team has ten.

That is definitely the faith the manager has in a pitching staff. AJ Hinch said he doesn't like potentially giving runs away and would rather take his chances getting the batter at the plate. I tend to agree, the intentional walk has the potential to backfire spectacularly. My favorite intentional walk on the Astros that I saw in recent days was a few years ago when they were playing a National League team. There was a guy on first and the other team walked the batter to get to the pitcher, who hit a 2 RBI double.

[Lamb18]

Thank you for the story, @Lantern7! The Yankees definitely have had the Twins number. My prediction: if Twins beat the Yankees in the postseason, we will win the World Series. It's been a long time since 1991!

[Harry24]

14 hours ago, kariyaki said:

Home field advantage in the AL for the Astros! And Will Harris threw an immaculate inning to boot. The franchise hadn't seen one of those in 15 years.

The Stros are looking mighty scary.

[catlover79]

8 hours ago, Crs97 said:

I am sad, too, but this very young team has been nothing short of amazing.  Every star got hurt and was out a good stretch.  One of our aces breaks his arm.  Another ace is out with back problems and then again with an ankle strain.  Our third ace has leukemia.  By June we looked like toast, but this team scraped and clawed and hung on till the very end of the season.  

This might be my favorite Tribe roster yet.  I am so proud of all of them.

Beautiful Essay from Carlos - “I may have cancer, but it doesn’t have me”

Oh, I agree with everything you say. Plus, I had my doubts that the Tribe had what it took to go deep in the playoffs anyway. The past two years, the "A" players were healthy and still lost in the first round. I'm just sad to see it end.

[Bort]

Whoo, Astros have secured home field advantage for the entire postseason. I can finally plan potential vacation days for game attendance through the World Series, should they get there.

Congrats to Justin Verlander for getting some milestones today! 3000 career Ks and 300 season Ks.

Random weird stat I heard today: if Josh Reddick makes it through tomorrow's game without getting hit by a pitch, he'll have 5 consecutive seasons of NOT getting hit. He must be good at dodging those.

[Crs97]

7 minutes ago, kariyaki said:

Random weird stat I heard today: if Josh Reddick makes it through tomorrow's game without getting hit by a pitch, he'll have 5 consecutive seasons of NOT getting hit. He must be good at dodging those.

Craig Biggio is NOT impressed.

[Bort]

Just now, Crs97 said:

Craig Biggio is NOT impressed.

Actually, the stat is something I was reminded of today. Earlier in the season, the Astros broadcasters had Craig in the booth and told him the Reddick stat. He was rather shocked, it was pretty funny. I think his reaction was something like, "Whaaaa?..."

[Crs97]

My husband and I have this (possibly annoying) habit:  every time a batter makes a dramatic lunge away from a pitch, we scoff and say in stereo to the tv, “Biggio would already be walking to first.”

[xaxat]

9 hours ago, kariyaki said:

Congrats to Justin Verlander for getting some milestones today! 3000 career Ks and 300 season Ks.

Verlander is the 2019 MLB season in a nutshell. 300 Ks, 36 HR allowed.

Edited September 29, 2019 by xaxat

[Bort]

Happy Last Regular Season Game Day everybody! All games start at the same time: 3 eastern, 2 central.

[Jenniferbug]

I don't like this 😞 Joe Maddon out as Cubs manager. 

https://www.bleachernation.com/cubs/2019/09/29/joe-maddons-time-as-chicago-cubs-manager-is-over/

[smittykins]

From top of the world to out the door in three seasons. Damn. 🙁

[Bort]

Not a huge surprise. I figured if the Cubs were interested in re-signing Maddon, they'd have done it by now.

[smittykins]

And now, the Pirates’ Cliff Hurdle.

[Jenniferbug]

1 hour ago, kariyaki said:

Not a huge surprise. I figured if the Cubs were interested in re-signing Maddon, they'd have done it by now.

It's not a huge surprise, but it still hurts (at least for me. I know some fans are celebrating). I've been a Cubs fan most of my life, and I've watched some rough seasons of baseball. I don't think they'll find anyone better than Joe for the team right now. Some other team will be lucky to have him! 

[Bort]

56 minutes ago, smittykins said:

And now, the Pirates’ Cliff Hurdle.

Also not a huge surprise. Hurdle seemingly lost control of the Pirates clubhouse, it was like a high school locker room this season.

[ebk57]

Well... that was a pretty sucky way to end the season.  Unfortunately, typical...  

The game was good overall though.  

Wait till next year!  Okay, maybe the year after that...or probably at least the year after that...