Baseball 2023

[DCPatriot]

Altuve hit 3 homers before the Ranger's number 7, 8, and 9 batters even got a turn at the plate.

Yikes! 

Imagine that starter's ERA when he hit the showers.   

[catfish1957]

Wow, what an epic meltdown by the Rangers.  But....  who didn't expect it?

[dfwgator]

Wow, what an epic meltdown by the Rangers.  But....  who didn't expect it?

It's the Rangers, what did you expect.  Nobody cares here anyway, since now NFL season is here.

[DCPatriot]

@catfish1957   @Polly Ticks   @Bigun  @AllThatJazzZ   @Elderberry

It should be noted that if the Baltimore Orioles play .500 ball to run out the schedule (22 games), they will win 100 games.

They are playing .636 ball for the season.

THEY LOST 110 GAMES IN 2021!!   

Beat the Red Sox to continue this unbelievable road trip 11-2!

And ESPN writers give them no shot.  Not even honorable mention...the dirty SOBs.   

Sadly the same with MLB.  Nobody has predicted the Orioles in the WS.

This despite probably getting a BYE in the 1st round having the league best W/L record.   

[Polly Ticks]

@catfish1957   @Polly Ticks   @Bigun  @AllThatJazzZ   @Elderberry

It should be noted that if the Baltimore Orioles play .500 ball to run out the schedule (22 games), they will win 100 games.

They are playing .636 ball for the season.

THEY LOST 110 GAMES IN 2021!!   

I hope they hit that 100-win season. Very exciting team, for sure!  Brings to mind that 1991 "Worst to First" season for my favorite team.

[Bigun]

@catfish1957   @Polly Ticks   @Bigun  @AllThatJazzZ   @Elderberry

It should be noted that if the Baltimore Orioles play .500 ball to run out the schedule (22 games), they will win 100 games.

They are playing .636 ball for the season.

THEY LOST 110 GAMES IN 2021!!   

Beat the Red Sox to continue this unbelievable road trip 11-2!

And ESPN writers give them no shot.  Not even honorable mention...the dirty SOBs.   

Sadly the same with MLB.  Nobody has predicted the Orioles in the WS.

This despite probably getting a BYE in the 1st round having the league best W/L record.   

I'll stipulate that I have not seen even so much as one pitch of an Orioles baseball game in at least two years so any comment I make is in that context.

The fact that franchise has turned things around to the degree that they obviously have in two years is remarkable.

[catfish1957]

I'll stipulate that I have not seen even so much as one pitch of an Orioles baseball game in at least two years so any comment I make is in that context.

The fact that franchise has turned things around to the degree that they obviously have in two years is remarkable.

I relish the fact we might see the Bosox and Stanks finishing second division for maybe half a decade or so.  Toronto hasn't
been no push over either, and looks like a 50/50 chance of nabbing one of the WC spots this year.  Decent chance their divison might net 3 playoff teams this year.

[Hoodat]

To show my respects:

[Polly Ticks]

 

[DCPatriot]

@Polly Ticks

 

[Polly Ticks]

@Polly Ticks

 

It's going to be a real race with the Orioles to see who ends up with the best record in baseball!
 

[catfish1957]

 

Congrats....

The Bravos might have the best overall lineup to win it all this year.  Glad we won't have to meet them....  (at least though the LCS)

[DCPatriot]

It's going to be a real race with the Orioles to see who ends up with the best record in baseball!
 

The O's have played TWO less games than the RAYS since well before the AS Break.

The RAYS have lost BOTH of those games...thus the differential in the Games Lost column.

This 4 game series in Camden Yards is the most important series since the park was built.  The FRIDAY game is already SOLD OUT...but pissed me off to see so many empty seats last night in their 1-0 loss vs, the CARDS.

@Polly Ticks   I'm ambivalent about them getting a bye AND gaining homefield advantage.

I'm superstitious... they have a better record playing on the road...and I don't want them sitting on their ass for a week.   Gotta keep that rhythm!   

And no...I'm not "O'splaining their exit before the ALDS.   

[DCPatriot]

Congrats....

The Bravos might have the best overall lineup to win it all this year.  Glad we won't have to meet them....  (at least though the LCS)

@catfish1957   Okay...maybe the AL Pennant goes thru Houston, BUT...

Didn't the RAYS recently win a series vs your ASTROS?   And didn't SEATTLE just 'sweep' your ass?

Be careful for what you wish.   /s

My O's are going to host the ASTROS right after we spank the RAYS!   

[catfish1957]

@catfish1957   Okay...maybe the AL Pennant goes thru Houston, BUT...

Didn't the RAYS recently win a series vs your ASTROS?   And didn't SEATTLE just 'sweep' your ass?

Be careful for what you wish.   /s

My O's are going to host the ASTROS right after we spank the RAYS!   

More of a wish.  This year I seriously doubt that Astros make it to the LCS.  It's been a hell of an off-year, even though they are in 1st (barely)

[DCPatriot]

 

But not really...

What would each of us do if we saw this guy walking toward you and your family?

Is that a "Uni-pod" he's got strapped around his neck...to use as a seat when he's tired?
Are you going to wait to find out?       

[catfish1957]

@DCPatriot

Not to minimize this achievement, but this was the first year of a full expansive interleague play schedule

1. Interleague play started in 1997
2. 214-252 inteleague games 1997-2012.
3. 300 games 2013- 2022
4. This year there will be well over 700 games played.  In fact, I beleive this is the first year that every team played each other.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interleague_play

[Bigun]

@DCPatriot

Not to minimize this achievement, but this was the first year of a full expansive interleague play schedule

1. Interleague play started in 1997
2. 214-252 inteleague games 1997-2012.
3. 300 games 2013- 2022
4. This year there will be well over 700 games played.  In fact, I beleive this is the first year that every team played each other.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interleague_play

And THAT is THE biggest turd in my bucket! They have flat out ruined a game I once loved!

[DCPatriot]

@DCPatriot

Not to minimize this achievement, but this was the first year of a full expansive interleague play schedule

1. Interleague play started in 1997
2. 214-252 inteleague games 1997-2012.
3. 300 games 2013- 2022
4. This year there will be well over 700 games played.  In fact, I beleive this is the first year that every team played each other.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interleague_play

Thanks for elaborating on this, @catfish1957

Realize it had to be an aberration, because in the past, you only played teams in one specific division when crossing into "interleague" play.

Still...it arises out of the fact the Orioles have not been swept in a series all season.

[catfish1957]

Still...it arises out of the fact the Orioles have not been swept in a series all season.

Now that is an accomplishment that I bet hasn't been  done very often.  If  I was forced to predict the '23 WS this early on, I'd wager it will be Baltimore v. Atlanta.  My 'Stros just don't have the pitching depth this year to go deep.

If this does pan out  I'll enjoy watching the heads explode at the MLB Commish Office  TV execs too.

[DCPatriot]

Now that is an accomplishment that I bet hasn't been  done very often.  If  I was forced to predict the '23 WS this early on, I'd wager it will be Baltimore v. Atlanta.  My 'Stros just don't have the pitching depth this year to go deep.

If this does pan out  I'll enjoy watching the heads explode at the MLB Commish Office  TV execs.

So will I!   

Damned O's/Rays Game tonight is only on Apple TV+ or MLB (which I have but is being blacked out...can I say "Blacked"?)

[catfish1957]

And THAT is THE biggest turd in my bucket! They have flat out ruined a game I once loved!

Just one of many reasons, here's 10 additional

10.  I hate how they've turned MLB stadiums into what looks like commerical pin ball machines.
9.  DH
8.  Pitch Clock
7.  Juiced Balls (and players?) who've turned the game into a cheap version of HR Derby.
6.  NBA-ization of playoffs where 40% of all teams makes the post season
5.   Teams including mine in the early 2010's who tank for draft pick sequence
4.  Recent killing of the September Call-ups, which allow non-playoff team's fans a chance to see prospects.
3.  MLB's habit of pigeon holeing smaller market playoff teams into sucky scheduling
2.  Periodic Woke Shit, that MLB subjects us too.

And No. 1 and a personal one-  I hope Bud Selig burns in hell.  Almost lost in baseball history was his extortion of the Astros to switch leagues in return for the owner at the time Drayton McLane to sell the team.  This shit was criminal, and I wish it could have gotten the investigative oversite it deserved.  Many forget he and his family owned the Brewers, and they benefited greatly by their move to the National League Central.  Gone for us were those sterling rivalries with the Cardinals and Cubs.

[Bigun]

Just one of many reasons, here's 10 additional

10.  I hate how they've turned MLB stadiums into what looks like commerical pin ball machines.
9.  DH
8.  Pitch Clock
7.  Juiced Balls (and players?) who've turned the game into a cheap version of HR Derby.
6.  NBA-ization of playoffs where 40% of all teams makes the post season
5.   Teams including mine in the early 2010's who tank for draft pick sequence
4.  Recent killing of the September Call-ups, which allow non-playoff team's fans a chance to see prospects.
3.  MLB's habit of pigeon holeing smaller market playoff teams into sucky scheduling
2.  Periodic Woke Shit, that MLB subjects us too.

And No. 1 and a personal one-  I hope Bud Selig burns in hell.  Almost lost in baseball history was his extortion of the Astros to switch leagues in return for the owner at the time Drayton McLane to sell the team.  This shit was criminal, and I wish it could have gotten the investigative oversite it deserved.  Many forget he and his family owned the Brewers, and they benefited greatly by their move to the National League Central.  Gone for us were those sterling rivalries with the Cardinals and Cubs.

  to all of that and more!

Professional baseball was once composed of two leagues, the teams of which competed against each other for 154 games and the teams in each league with the best record won their league pennant. Those pennant winners went on to play a 7 game series (The World Series). The team that won 4 of those games was the world champion for that year.

Now we have three divisions in each league, a mishmash teams playing a mishmash of a schedule, and a host of players being paid millions of $$$ who should be playing in the bush leagues at best, and we have the audacity to compare the result of that with the way the game was played in the past! I hate ALL of it!

[catfish1957]

  to all of that and more!

Professional baseball was once composed of two leagues, the teams of which competed against each other for 154 games and the teams in each league with the best record won their league pennant. Those pennant winners went on to play a 7 game series (The World Series). The team that won 4 of those games was the world champion for that year.

Now we have three divisions in each league, a mishmash teams playing a mishmash of a schedule, and a host of players being paid millions of $$$ who should be playing in the bush leagues at best, and we have the audacity to compare the result of that with the way the game was played in the past! I hate ALL of it!

Spot on...  Powers that have run baseball the past 50 or so yearshave sold out for $.  To hell with 'em.

[DCPatriot]

Just one of many reasons, here's 10 additional

10.  I hate how they've turned MLB stadiums into what looks like commerical pin ball machines.
9.  DH
8.  Pitch Clock
7.  Juiced Balls (and players?) who've turned the game into a cheap version of HR Derby.
6.  NBA-ization of playoffs where 40% of all teams makes the post season
5.   Teams including mine in the early 2010's who tank for draft pick sequence
4.  Recent killing of the September Call-ups, which allow non-playoff team's fans a chance to see prospects.
3.  MLB's habit of pigeon holeing smaller market playoff teams into sucky scheduling
2.  Periodic Woke Shit, that MLB subjects us too.

And No. 1 and a personal one-  I hope Bud Selig burns in hell.  Almost lost in baseball history was his extortion of the Astros to switch leagues in return for the owner at the time Drayton McLane to sell the team.  This shit was criminal, and I wish it could have gotten the investigative oversite it deserved.  Many forget he and his family owned the Brewers, and they benefited greatly by their move to the National League Central.  Gone for us were those sterling rivalries with the Cardinals and Cubs.

@Bigun  @catfish1957  @Polly Ticks  @AllThatJazzZ

Society has changed.  My daddy's generation wore ties and fedoras to ballgames.  No player would dream of hotdogging or taunting an opponent back then.

The strikezone was top of the letters to the knees.  The pitcher's mound was higher, which made the breaking ball much more effective, IMHO.

Today's youth are raised on action video games.  Their situational awareness is much more heightened than simple me who was raised on Sky King, and Bugs Bunny cartoons.   

I like the pitch clock.

What I don't find appealing is the 190lb ballplayer hitting it on the end of this bat (out of the sweet spot) 425 feet to the OPPOSITE FIELD.

What I don't find appealing is that we don't utilize mechanical balls and strikes.

Last night the last batter in the O's/Rays game was robbed with no only "strike 1", but also the next pitch "strick 2".

...changed the batter's entire approach.  Of course, the SOB was throwing it 102mph. 

The biggest hint that the ball is juiced is when you see Freddie Freeman...at his age, getting 60 doubles.
What kind of bullsh*t is this??  LOL!   

Luv talkin' baseball with you guys!