MLB Thread

[baldryanr]

1 hour ago, mojoween said:

The Yankees finished on the road in 2013 and 2014, when Mariano Rivera and Derek Jeter retired, respectively.  They finished on the road last year (when Aaron Judge went for 62, which obviously that couldn’t have been anticipated when the schedule was made, but still).  They are finishing on the road this year.  What the hell, MLB?  Can we alternate this shit?

They do switch it up, but not every year.  Plus the Yanks often open the season at home.

The snarky answer is make the playoffs and where you end the regular season is irrelevant.  If your team sucks then does it really matter whether you get to see your checked out team play game 162 at home or not? 

Edited September 29, 2023 by baldryanr

[mojoween]

1 hour ago, baldryanr said:

The snarky answer is make the playoffs and where you end the regular season is irrelevant.  If your team sucks then does it really matter whether you get to see your checked out team play game 162 at home or not? 

Ok so this made me laugh and cry at the same time.

For the playoffs I can’t say what I am rooting for but I really really hope it happens. I’ll spill when the World Series is set.

[Lamb18]

Twins are in the play-offs, and now that Yankees aren't in the post-season, we might actually advance past the first round.

[ProudMary]

As info, for anyone who's interested in important games for playoff spots, tonight's Free Game of the Day on MLB.tv is Rangers @ Mariners at 10:10 p.m. Eastern/7:10 p.m. Pacific. 

As someone who's main interest right now is keeping the Astros out of the playoffs, the other game of importance is Astros @ Diamondbacks (9:40 Eastern.) The Astros still have a shot at the Division title, even while currently sitting in the third WC slot, so the best possible scenario is for them to lose the series against AZ. 

LET'S GO DIAMONDBACKS!

[shoregirl]

Gabe Kapler is out as Giants manager.  He won manager of the year 2021 the only time Giants made the playoffs in his tenure. He previously managed the Phillies.

Im curious what other managers are on the hot seat.

[ebk57]

20 hours ago, cleo said:

Did they clinch the division? Congrats. They earned it. Tough team. 

How do you feel about the 5 day bye? I really dislike it. I don't mind the third WC as part of the new format, but I'm really not into that 5 day break. Not that I have to worry about it with the Jays.

Thanks!

I'm okay with the 5 day rest.  Our pitchers are tired, so I'm hoping this will give everyone a refresh.  Also, I'm fine not having to attend a WC game.  I do hope they schedule game one of the ALDS for daytime so as not to put me in Billy Joel/Stevie Nicks traffic. 

[NUguy514]

1 hour ago, shoregirl said:

Gabe Kapler is out as Giants manager.  He won manager of the year 2021 the only time Giants made the playoffs in his tenure. He previously managed the Phillies.

Im curious what other managers are on the hot seat.

Come to my warm embrace, Gabe.  I'll make it all better.

[Jane Tuesday]

2 hours ago, shoregirl said:

Im curious what other managers are on the hot seat.

There's a loud contingent in St Louis that wants Oli Marmol gone, but we'll see. The FO has been strongly supportive in the press, but they ended 2021 planning to extend Mike Shildt, and then fired him instead. 🤷‍♀️

[mojoween]

Has anyone told Kansas City they can’t make the playoffs?  WHAT THE FUCK?!?

[voiceover]

5 hours ago, mojoween said:

 

Has anyone told Kansas City they can’t make the playoffs?  WHAT THE FUCK?!?

 

Yeah I don’t know what to say.  We sweep the Stros and get swept by the Tiggers 🤪 And then, tonight.

Altho: Hooray for “Baseball” Bobby & his 30/30 (steal your 50th tomorrow BWitt!!).  And Royals media & fans are begging: this might be Zack Greinke’s last game.  Get this man an AB.  

[DMK]

14 hours ago, Jane Tuesday said:

There's a loud contingent in St Louis that wants Oli Marmol gone, but we'll see. The FO has been strongly supportive in the press, but they ended 2021 planning to extend Mike Shildt, and then fired him instead. 🤷‍♀️

San Francisco FO office was still endorsing Kapler as little as a month ago, they dumped him anyway. I’d say any manager of a team that expected to make the playoffs and massively underperformed is vulnerable. Cardinals, Yankees, Angels…

[shoregirl]

1 hour ago, DMK said:

San Francisco FO office was still endorsing Kapler as little as a month ago, they dumped him anyway. I’d say any manager of a team that expected to make the playoffs and massively underperformed is vulnerable. Cardinals, Yankees, Angels…

Add the Mets and Padres as well. Buck Showalter is probably ok but Bob Melvin maybe less so. Both teams spent massively and underperformed. 

https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sports/padres/story/2023-09-15/as-padres-season-spirals-questions-emerge-about-culture-cohesion-and-chemistry

Teams already have a lot of money going to long term contracts. It's a lot easier to get rid of a manager.

[BlueSkies]

I didnt know Angel Hernandez was still around.  Even back in the 90s I remember many thought he was a bad umpire.

 

Not a big Bryce Harper but I kind of like displays of emotion like that.  The game has been more and more ruined by analytics IMO vs the sort of human touch if you will 

[DMK]

4 hours ago, shoregirl said:

Add the Mets and Padres as well. Buck Showalter is probably ok but Bob Melvin maybe less so. Both teams spent massively and underperformed. 

Mets already made a GM change, they could very well stop there. On the other hand, the new GM could decide he wants the manager to be his pick. 

To add onto what I posted earlier, I said that the Yankees massively underperformed, but that was more an internal expectation in the organization. The Yankees performed pretty much as I expected them to since they made almost zero effort to address their offensive problems last offseason. 
 

33 minutes ago, BlueSkies said:

I didnt know Angel Hernandez was still around.

Every ballgame I’ve ever been to, when they announce the umpire names before the game and Angel Hernandez is one of them? The crowd boos. I really don’t understand why he doesn’t retire since he’s godawful and everybody from the players to the coaches to the fans hates him. 

[Moose135]

9 hours ago, shoregirl said:

Add the Mets and Padres as well. Buck Showalter is probably ok but Bob Melvin maybe less so. Both teams spent massively and underperformed. 

Mets won 101 games last season and Buck was voted Manager of the Year. This year was a disappointment, but it certainly wasn't all on Buck. I don't see them pushing him out. He has one year left on his contract, so 2024 may be his last season as manager.

5 hours ago, DMK said:

Mets already made a GM change, they could very well stop there. On the other hand, the new GM could decide he wants the manager to be his pick. 

The Mets didn't change their GM. They are hiring David Stern to be their President of Baseball Operations, expected to be announced Monday. Stern and Billy Eppler, current GM, have worked together in the past, and it is expected that Eppler will remain GM working under Stern.

Edited October 1, 2023 by Moose135

[DMK]

1 hour ago, Moose135 said:

The Mets didn't change their GM. They are hiring David Stern to be their President of Baseball Operations, expected to be announced Monday. Stern and Billy Eppler, current GM, have worked together in the past, and it is expected that Eppler will remain GM working under Stern.

Right, but my point still stands. New guy might want to hire his own manager. 

Seattle is out. Hopefully that means they realize the disgustingly unsanitary rally shoe doesn’t work and abandon it from here on out. *shudder*

[shoregirl]

Hmm..I guessing if Buck announced it was his decision.

[DMK]

1 minute ago, shoregirl said:

Hmm..I guessing if Buck announced it was his decision.

From what I understand, it was not Buck’s decision. Rumor is Mets are going to push hard for Craig Counsell. 

[mojoween]

Poor Buck.

Look at all that money sitting on their couches this postseason (Mets, Yankees, Padres…) and here go teams like the Rays and, well I don’t know any other cheap markets in the playoffs so my point kind of fell apart there.  But the Yankees and Mets and Padres did spend billions for NOTHING.

[Salacious Kitty]

Tim Wakefield has passed from brain cancer. 

Schilling should have kept his trap shut.

Edited October 1, 2023 by Salacious Kitty

[mojoween]

Just now, Salacious Kitty said:

Tim Wakefield has passed of brain cancer. 

Schilling should have kept his trap shut.

That was so fast, Tim’s poor family.  Do you think Schilling feels even a smidgen of remorse?

[Carey]

Probably made sense to boot Buck now & get a head start for 2024 as opposed to a slow 2024 start before kicking him out mid-season.

As much as I don't feel bad for the guy, I do.  "Gotta find a way when there's not."  As mentioned, it's not all on him, but it's a shame he couldn't win big.  OTOH, I'm not losing sleep since his 2013 empty pennant pursuit made the Ravens have to open up on the road as Super Bowl champions.  Not something I should care about

[Salacious Kitty]

Just now, mojoween said:

That was so fast, Tim’s poor family.  Do you think Schilling feels even a smidgen of remorse?

Doubtful. He's such a douche.

[shoregirl]

3 minutes ago, mojoween said:

That was so fast, Tim’s poor family.  Do you think Schilling feels even a smidgen of remorse?

Doubtful...because he's a awful human being. Seriously Fuck Curt Schilling 

[Carey]

I wouldn't even acknowledge the guy.  Maybe spend more time focusing on Tim Wakefield and less NO time on Schilling.

[Fukui San]

RIP Tim Wakefield. His knuckleball was a thing of beauty. Love that he was a part of two championship teams, including the cursebreaking 2004 season.

I love that weird year where they had Wakefield act as the closer. Pure heart attack theatre.

[smittykins]

It’s sad how many big leaguers we’ve lost to brain cancer(Dan Quisenberry, Johnny Oates, Gary Carter, Bobby Murcer, and now Wakefield).

ETA:  is there a stated reason why every game on the last day of the season starts around 3 pm?

Edited October 1, 2023 by smittykins

[Lantern7]

With the Mets’ luck, Buck winds up reaching the World Series with the Yankees. Great exclamation point to a crap season. Also, I’m guessing the Mets won’t have to complete Thursday night’s game against the Marlins.

I turned on SNY and saw the 1969 team on The Ed Sullivan Show singing “Heart” from Damn Yankees. I recognized that because it was on the 25th Anniversary videotape. I’ll have to see if that’s online anywhere.

ETA for D-back and BoSox fans: does Schilling’s antics taint your World Series memories?

Edited October 1, 2023 by Lantern7

[ProudMary]

48 minutes ago, smittykins said:

Is there a stated reason why every game on the last day of the season starts around 3 pm?

This was MLB's statement from 2015 when they first started scheduling all the games at the same time:

Quote

"If a game impacts another game, they're all occurring at the same time, so no team would be put into a lame-duck situation because their fate already had been decided by an earlier result," said Tony Petitti, MLB chief operating officer.

"If we do have games coming down to the wire, we want to make sure we maximize that day."

Everything is almost in place for the playoffs this year, but there have been years when it made a difference. 

Edited October 1, 2023 by ProudMary
I don't know why my comment on the quote ends up IN the quote box, when I formatted it outside the brackets!

[Jane Tuesday]

Joey Votto just got ejected from what was probably his last game as a Red. WTF?

[Carey]

That sucks.

As for the 3:00 start time for everybody, I'm okay with that.  People may not be a fan of it, but whenever TPTB does stuff to wipeout a competitive advantage, that is great

[shoregirl]

49 minutes ago, smittykins said:

It’s sad how many big leaguers we’ve lost to brain cancer(Dan Quisenberry, Johnny Oates, Gary Carter, Bobby Murcer, and now Wakefield).

ETA:  is there a stated reason why every game on the last day of the season starts around 3 pm?

Darren Daulton , John Vukovich David West and Tug McGraw as well

 

[ProudMary]

I feel very sad at the news that Tim Wakefield has passed away. As a Yankees' fan, I detested that whole era of Red Sox players: Pedro, Ortiz, Schilling, Papelbon, Millar, Varitek, Beckett and more. While I had some level of respect for Pedroia, he still annoyed the hell out of me. But Wakefield was pure class and having to face him and his knuckleball would not only stymie the Yankees' hitters for the one game he pitched but would mess up some of the hitters for the next few days. Mad respect for his ability and for his class. May he rest in peace.

 

[Jane Tuesday]

Classy statement from Votto, and he's right. It was absolutely nuts considering the circumstances to even argue it. 

That said, some situational awareness from the umpire would have been nice. 

Edited October 1, 2023 by Jane Tuesday

[ProudMary]

On 9/30/2023 at 1:51 AM, voiceover said:

Altho: Hooray for “Baseball” Bobby & his 30/30 (steal your 50th tomorrow BWitt!!).  And Royals media & fans are begging: this might be Zack Greinke’s last game.  Get this man an AB.  

Well, he didn't get an AB, but if that was Greinke's last game, he pitched a good one. 

I was very lucky to have seen a game at Kauffman back in 2008. It was the only day we had available on our schedule to work in a game and we were lucky enough that Greinke was pitching that day. I was pleased because he was on one of my fantasy teams that season. 😉 He's certainly going to receive strong consideration for the HOF. I hope he gets there.

[baldryanr]

I remember when the Red Sox used a police escort to get Doug Mirabelli to Fenway in time to catch Wakefield. 

[mojoween]

This is from today?!? 

 

[DMK]

18 minutes ago, mojoween said:

This is from today?!? 

 

No, it’s from a Rangers ALCS, so it’s either 2010 or 2011.

[kathyk2]

3 hours ago, Salacious Kitty said:

Tim Wakefield has passed from brain cancer. 

Schilling should have kept his trap shut.

The Boston Globe has some lovely tributes to Tim Wakefield if you can access the paper.

[mojoween]

30 minutes ago, DMK said:

No, it’s from a Rangers ALCS, so it’s either 2010 or 2011.

Oh ok.  But still!

[AimingforYoko]

I know I'm tempting the wrath from high atop the thing, but I'm glad the Twins are playing the Jays, rather than Houston. Although if we're fortunate enough to advance, we'll have to play them eventually, but I just want them to end the streak.

[ProudMary]

22 minutes ago, AimingforYoko said:

I know I'm tempting the wrath from high atop the thing, but I'm glad the Twins are playing the Jays, rather than Houston. Although if we're fortunate enough to advance, we'll have to play them eventually, but I just want them to end the streak.

Go outside and spit!

I'm hoping the Twins advance. I have good friends who have been season ticket holders for decades. You all deserve an extended postseason. Good luck to your team!

[ProudMary]

1 hour ago, baldryanr said:

I remember when the Red Sox used a police escort to get Doug Mirabelli to Fenway in time to catch Wakefield. 

I remember that too. They had TV footage of the police escort! 😄

Catcher John Flaherty actually decided to retire when the Red Sox signed him specifically to catch Wakefield and he couldn't adjust to that knuckler.

[mojoween]

Well then.  :( 

 

[Lantern7]

The Ringer does a postmortem on the Yankees. 1. I'm still not pitying the team "merely" winning 82 games, and 2. I know the Mets autopsy will be a hell of a lot snarkier once the smoke clears.

They fired Buck. Not cool. Even with a new GM, that's not cool. And I know he's old, but I can see him replacing Aaron Boone on the Yankees and finally getting to the World Series.

[BlueSkies]

5 hours ago, Lantern7 said:

The Ringer does a postmortem on the Yankees. 1. I'm still not pitying the team "merely" winning 82 games, and 2. I know the Mets autopsy will be a hell of a lot snarkier once the smoke clears.

They fired Buck. Not cool. Even with a new GM, that's not cool. And I know he's old, but I can see him replacing Aaron Boone on the Yankees and finally getting to the World Series.

The Mets looked at times this year pretty painfully unmotivated for a $350 million dollar club.  

 

I know I am more an "old school" type baseball fan that doesn't like how analytics is taking over the game versus managers and what they feel.  But still some of that falls on the manager to me

 

But I like Buck though and was glad he was shown dignity on the way out 

[mojoween]

Very sad that today is not just an off day.  SO JEALOUS that so many of you have more baseball to watch!

[voiceover]

I watched as he left the mound Sunday, and the Kansas City faithful in attendance rose to applaud.  It went on for so long that he did a thing he almost never does: emerged from the dugout and waved.

I wept a little as I watched him high-five his teammates after his day was done.  He couldn’t stop grinning.

Zack Greinke pitched for a lot of teams, but he was ours first.  He sat out much of 2006 while battling a crippling depression.  The Royals said, Come back when you’re ready. And he did.  Three years later, he won the Cy Young.

In 2010 he asked to be traded.  And he was.  In return the Royals got the seeds that grew into their 2014 AL Championship & 2015 World Series teams.  And Zack got to play for great teams and win awards.

He came back home last year, and spent what will probably be his last two seasons with a terrible team.  Sort of how he started with us.  But he’ll always be a Royal. Because we loved him first & always.  

This is one of my favorite Zack stories, told by one of his (former) KC teammates.  It’s so exactly who he is:

“I was on the bench with him and we were facing someone who really liked cats. I was like: ‘You can't trust anyone who likes cats.’  He goes: ‘Yeah, man, you really can't.’  I go: ‘I like dogs. You got any, Zack?’  He goes: ‘Nah, I would never get dogs. I've got a cat, though.’“

[mojoween]

Happy “The Giants Win the Pennant!” day to those who celebrate.

Funny that the National League was won on October 3 and here we are, 72 years later, without having one playoff game yet played.

Also, and this probably only amuses me, but I bet Dave Winfield’s mom wasn’t listening to that game, as she was giving birth to Dave on that day.

Edited October 3, 2023 by mojoween

[Mittengirl]

As a good midwesterner, I am rooting for the Twins and the Brewers.  Sorry.

 

If I were to cancel my cable TV, how would I watch the playoffs and WS?   Cheaply, please.