MLB 2023

[Starlord]

9 hours ago, unclevlad said:

OHHHHHHHHHHHHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh nooooooooooooo....

 

Yankees-Pirates, bottom 6th.  Journeyman reliever Tony Misiewicz in for the Yankees  He's a lefty, he falls off towards 3rd.  His free foot barely touches back down when the ball comes SCREAMING back...100 mph off the bat.

 

Into the exposed, upper left side of his face.  

 

The SLIGHTLY good news is, the ball continues out about midway into left field;  Judge picks it up on only the 2nd hop.  That helps;  it's a grazing strike.  It still drops Misiewicz, who ultimately gets taken out on a cart.

 

It's always frightening when it happens.  

 

Nasal fracture, released from hospital...going to be monitored for concussion symptoms.

[unclevlad]

Ouch.

 

Sorry, slik.  There's no positive take I can see for this....

 

https://www.si.com/mlb/2023/09/16/shohei-ohtani-los-angeles-angels-clears-out-locker

 

EDIT:  ok, so Bottom Line says he's being shut down for the season, due to the oblique that's kept him out the last couple weeks anyway.  I have no problem with that, whatsoever...I'd argue it should've happened several weeks ago.  But the manner in which it happened?  Still makes me say he's NOT HAPPY, and I can't believe there's a snowball's chance he's returning.

[slikmar]

You may be right, but watching him in the dugout (he cleared everything because there was a chance whatever procedure he is having on his arm might have been done today), he is laughing with players and enjoying watching game. I realize, odds are he won't be back and will go to a team that can almost guarantee a playoff run, but no one really knows. He has not said anything and the Angels have basically allowed him to dictate how much he plays and pitches, not sure any other team would have done that or will do that (its a big reason he signed with Angels, as most other teams planned to have him do one or the other).

For instance, one of those looks bad things, Rendon coming out and saying he was diagnosed with a fractured Tibia, not just a bone bruise. What turns out is was the 5th doctor who diagnosed that after the first 4 - 2 provided by team, 2 chosen by Rendon and his people - hadn't AND the treatment is the same for both, so in the end didnt matter. Problem is, Rendon has proven to be a prima dona when dealing with the press (lucky for him he is in anaheim and not one of the east coast fanatic teams) when questioned about injuries and how things are going. And when asked if he felt like he had let fans down with the number of games/way he has played (160 or so out of 450 or something) he basically said he didn't care.

[Pariah]

Don't look now, but the Rockies have won five in a row against the Cubs and Giants, including sweeping a double header today.

 

No, I don't understand it either.

[unclevlad]

What else the sweep did today?
Helped the Dodgers clinch the division.  Dodgers have 90 wins...D'backs 72 losses.  Dodgers have the tie breaker, so the division is a wrap.

[Pariah]

So even when the Rocks win, it helps the Dodgers.

 

Shucks and other commentary. 

[unclevlad]

In an oddity, both Baltimore and Tampa Bay clinched a playoff berth...playing each other.

 

If you look at the standings...it doesn't look right.  But, the kicker:  the 3rd and 4th teams for the WC are Texas and Seattle...and they play each other *7* more times before the season ends.  They can't both get better records than either Baltimore or Tampa Bay.

 

This also means the Yankees are nearly toast.  Their wild card elimination is shown as 7...but with those games between the teams they have to pass, it's more like 4.  Red Sox, it's more like 2.

[slikmar]

2 hours ago, unclevlad said:

This also means the Yankees are nearly toast.  Their wild card elimination is shown as 7...but with those games between the teams they have to pass, it's more like 4.  Red Sox, it's more like 2.

And I feel their should be much rejoicing on the day both are eliminated. would be karma if happened on the same day.

[unclevlad]

Congratulations to Adam Wainwright for getting #200.  Wasn't sure it would happen.

 

And it's been pointed out...he might be the LAST pitcher to get *200*.  300?  Almost certainly never again.  Even 250...the only active pitcher with 250 is Verlander.  Greinke has 224, but he's 39, his ERA this year is over 5, and his WHIP is over 1.3.  Next would be Scherzer at 214, and 38.  He'd need 3 more pretty good years.  Kershaw has 209, and is a bit younger at 35, but his back is a big concern.

 

As far as 200?  Gerrit Cole has the best shot.  He's got 143, he's only 32, and he's on a team that will spend money to win.  Bumgarner has 134 wins, he's 33...but he was released by the D'backs after a *terrible* start back in April...and no one picked him up.  No one else with 100+ wins is under 35.

 

Looking at this season?  Strider's pitching tonight, he's got 17 wins.  Steele has 16 for the Cubs.  3 pitchers have 15;  4 have 14;  and 4 have 13.  15 wins now, is like 20 was maybe 15 years ago.

[Michael Hopcroft]

On 9/16/2023 at 9:31 AM, unclevlad said:

Ouch.

 

Sorry, slik.  There's no positive take I can see for this....

 

https://www.si.com/mlb/2023/09/16/shohei-ohtani-los-angeles-angels-clears-out-locker

 

EDIT:  ok, so Bottom Line says he's being shut down for the season, due to the oblique that's kept him out the last couple weeks anyway.  I have no problem with that, whatsoever...I'd argue it should've happened several weeks ago.  But the manner in which it happened?  Still makes me say he's NOT HAPPY, and I can't believe there's a snowball's chance he's returning.

He's having a Tommy John done, and the press release expects him to be re4ady to pitch for -- er, whoever4he's pitching for -- in 2025.  But he can probably hit again in 2024.

 

Whoever gives Shohei the contract he deserves will have a challenge. Shohei wants to pitch. He really wants to pitch. He also wants to hit and does that at an MVP level. But it would be surprising if the workload he took on for the Angels was completely irrelevant to his injuries. He did things the human body was not designed to do. Now he's paying the price.

 

When the Boston red Sox in 1918-19 had their ace starter George Herman Ruth prove to be a better hitter than most of his teammates and still be capable of being a world-class pitcher, naturally they traded him to the Yankees. The first thing his new club did was teach him how to play outfield and shut him down as a pitcher. It was better, in their minds,, to have hit bat for 154 games than his arm for fifty. How good an idea this turned out to be was validated when "Babe" became the greatest power hitter ever to play in "the segregation era". If he had played for the Sox, they would probably have tried something like what the Angels did with Shohei, which in this case might have co9nsingned the greatest player of his time to a footnote given the status of orthopedic medicine in 1920.

 

Were I Hank Steinbrenner or some other deep-pocketed billionaire team owner, I would have to rely on my front office to assess the risks and benefits very cautiously. If he tries to pitch, exhaust himself, and blows his elbow out again, even an athlete as remarkable as he is would probably be done as a pitcher -- and you would lose another year of his bat. If you care about your investment (and in thew long run your fanbase) you'll sit down with his agent, look him square in the eye, and say "It's been a great run, but if you want your man to be in baseball ten years from now he is going to have to decide. He can be a pitcher, or he can DH and play an occasional left field. He can't do both. I know it will be a heartbreaking choice, but if he can't make that choice now he'll have to do it in some other colors. The risk is just too great. I love your guy. Seriously, everybody on Earth who plays or watches baseball loves your guy. I want to see him with a plaque at Cooperstown next to Ichiro's. I want to see him play 15-18 more years and break every record known to man. If he were to make the wrong decision it would break the hearts of everyone who's so much as heard the word 'baseball' in their entire lives. So tell him. Tell him how far beyond money this goes, because I refuse to be the man who ruins Shohei Ohtani."

[unclevlad]

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...

 

Best:  D'backs go 5-0 on a short homestand...against the Cubs and Giants, both WC contenders.  This has moved them up to the 2nd WC spot.

 

Worst:  the aforementioned Giants.  0-2 against the D'backs, which also gives the D'backs the season series tiebreaker...AFTER 1-3 against the Rockies.  Their WC window narrowed sharply.  They're not out of it, but they're long shots now.

 

For the D'backs...Corbin Carroll becomes the first rookie ever to reach 25 HRs and 50 steals.  He's only the 9th player to do this.  Hitting .280, slugging .800...a serious rookie feat...yeah, he's got to be a shoo-in for RoY.  

[unclevlad]

On 9/17/2023 at 7:26 PM, slikmar said:

And I feel their should be much rejoicing on the day both are eliminated. would be karma if happened on the same day.

 

Sorry, the double elim didn't happen.  Sox got eliminated last night, even tho it doesn't show in the MLB standings.  Sox have 78 losses.  2 WC teams have 85+ wins, and Texas and Seattle have 84...and they play each other.  So one must win at least one more, ergo...bye bye, Beantown.  Yankees are technically still alive...but must win all 4 games left vs. Toronto.  Lose one, it's over.  Then, each team has 6 other games.  Only 1 can go against the Yanks...a Toronto win or Yankee loss.  In THIS scenario, tho, the loser is very likely the Blue Jays...as both Texas and Seattle would pass them, and lock the Yankees out. 

 

Minnesota is dormie.  9 up in the loss column to both Cleveland and Detroit, who both have the tiebreaker.  Still, they're hanging on by a thread that's unraveling.  So, basically, the AL is over, except for AL East winner, and the Texas-Seattle head-to-head games that become a de facto 7 game playoff series.  

 

NL...Brewers have a pretty firm grip on the division, so this is all about the WCs, which is still wide open.  Padres could conceivably make a run, if they win out, but still need too many teams to play poorly.  Philly...probably in.  But Arizona, Cubs, Miami, Cincy...they're all basically .500 teams.  They get hot, they go stone cold.  ANY of em could go 8-2 or 2-8, largely regardless of matchup.  San Fran still has a faint pulse despite being .500, for that reason.  

 

 

[Pariah]

The Rocks need to win seven of their last ten to avoid the dreaded 100 losses.

 

Those ten games include three at Wrigley and four at home against the Dodgers, with three at home against the Twins to wrap up the season.

 

I'm not optimistic. 

[unclevlad]

Hey, come on.  Cubs are nosediving.  Dodgers won't much care, probably;  good chance they'll be locked into the #2 spot.  And Twins will have the division wrapped, and probably be locked into the #3 spot, so, no bye.

 

Oh, who am I kidding?  The Dodgers OWN the Rockies.  The other 2...well, it's possible.  The Cubs are crashing and burning spectacularly, and the Twins are gonna at least line up their pitching for the playoffs.  

 

Could be worse.  A's probably won't win 50.  They may set the worst run differential in history;  they're -329 right now, and the record is -349 with 10 games left.  They're -2.16 per game...so, it might be close.  They probably won't set the record for worst run differential per game;  -349 over 154 games translates to about -367 over 162 games.

 

Interesting.  In '19, '21, and '22...there were 4 teams with 100 losses.  '22:  Nats, A's, Reds, Pirates.  '21:  D'backs, Orioles, Rangers, Pirates.  '19:  Royals, Marlins, Orioles, Tigers.  We have 2 so far, and the Rockies and White Sox will probably both reach it too.  So...4 teams twice, 8 others once each, if that's the way it breaks out.  

 

There's a lot of Really Bad teams every year.

[slikmar]

Baseball has become, like other sports, extremes due to the emphasis on drafting. As they say, you don’t want to be in the middle. Either you compete for championships or lose as much as possible. See Houston and Baltimore, losers of a hundred games multiple times before becoming good.

[unclevlad]

In other sports, I'd buy that, but not in baseball.  There simply isn't that much difference, in my book, between a top-5 pick and a late-first pick...in part because there's so many options, in part because the failure rate is REALLY high, in part because LOTS of lower-round picks blossom later on.  Overall farm system, that I'd buy more, but that's not related to draft order.  Some consistent losers simply don't spend...Pirates, Royals, Reds.  Some have had serious systemic/institutional problems...A's and Rockies.  Some are, I think, just perfectly happy to be competitive, and sneak into the playoffs every now and again...but will NOT overspend.  Minnesota's the lead here.  Many mis-build, IMO...MLB Now was talking Ohtani, and raised a VERY good point, IMO:  when you blow the budget for 1, maybe 2 players, you frequently leave the rest of the roster badly deficient.  The guest they had one today made the point:  he doesn't want Ohtani *at the price he's going to command.*  Can it work?  Sometimes, but SO often it doesn't.  A 10 WAR player doesn't fix a -5 WAR roster.

[slikmar]

16 hours ago, unclevlad said:

In other sports, I'd buy that, but not in baseball.  There simply isn't that much difference, in my book, between a top-5 pick and a late-first pick...in part because there's so many options, in part because the failure rate is REALLY high, in part because LOTS of lower-round picks blossom later on.  Overall farm system, that I'd buy more, but that's not related to draft order.  Some consistent losers simply don't spend...Pirates, Royals, Reds.  Some have had serious systemic/institutional problems...A's and Rockies.  Some are, I think, just perfectly happy to be competitive, and sneak into the playoffs every now and again...but will NOT overspend.  Minnesota's the lead here.  Many mis-build, IMO...MLB Now was talking Ohtani, and raised a VERY good point, IMO:  when you blow the budget for 1, maybe 2 players, you frequently leave the rest of the roster badly deficient.  The guest they had one today made the point:  he doesn't want Ohtani *at the price he's going to command.*  Can it work?  Sometimes, but SO often it doesn't.  A 10 WAR player doesn't fix a -5 WAR roster.

I agree that it seems like would work less in MLB, but it still seems to be the mentality out there. Total tear downs to rebuild minors, compete until those players pass arbitration, rinse and repeat.

[unclevlad]

Oh my.  No one on the Reds is gonna get any sleep tonight.

 

Up 9-0 after 3.  9-1 after 5.  It's in the bag, right?

 

Pirates score 5 in the 6th.

3 in the 7th.

4 in the 8th.

 

Yep.  13 unanswered runs. Reds get 2 in the 8th, 1 in the 9th...but lose a game they *cannot* lose, to think they can make the playoffs.  They fall to 3 back in the loss column to the Cubs, who only have 7 games left.  Potential good news...Reds last 6 is Pirates again (but they've lost 2 straight), Guardians for 2, Cards for 3.  All sub-.500 teams.

[unclevlad]

Calloo, callay, o frabjous day!!!

 

The Yankees have been eliminated.  MLB doesn't say so, but they don't project.  The series that matters now is Astros-Mariners, who play 3.  Astros win one, OR Mariners win 2...Yankees are out.  One of those must happen.

 

Lovely day indeed.  

[Pariah]

The Yankees are officially out.

 

You're welcome.

[unclevlad]

Unreal.  Cubs do it again.  In Atlanta.  Cubs break out to a 6-0 lead going to the bottom of the 6th.  Well, this is Atlanta, so lots could still happen.

 

Braves get 3 in the bottom of the 6th, 2 more in the 7th.  8th inning...2 on, 2 outs, no runs in.  Sean Murphy lofts an *easy* fly ball to left.  Suzuki calls for it, looks like he's got it all lined up......

 

And whiffs completely.

 

He never really got under it, he was moving, and it just slid right by him.

 

Both runners score.  7-6 Braves. 

 

This is the second egregious loss in 3 days...when the D'backs, Cubs, and Marlins are fighting for the last 2 spots, separated by 1 game.  Brewers clinched the division with the Cub loss, and the Phillies clinched the #1 WC spot.  The D'backs could tie them, but the Phillies have the breaker.

 

[unclevlad]

Oh my lordy, the Cubs Cub out again.

 

They didn't blow a big lead this time.

 

They just blow the lead in 3 consecutive innings against the Braves.  They've fallen into a tie with the Marlins, and now the D'backs have a 2 game cushion over both, with 4 games left.  

 

I'm seriously annoyed.  800 miles away...the Houston TV outlet isn't even listed as an option...but the Astros-Mariners game is blacked out.   ARRGHH!!!!  Blackout regions are ridiculous. 

[Pariah]

...and 2023 is officially the worst season in Colorado Rockies history.

 

Until next season, I suppose.

 

The only consolation I wish that the teacher across the hall from me is an A's fan. 

[Cygnia]

[slikmar]

This was better:

https://www.whiskeyriff.com/2023/09/27/broadcasters-crack-up-when-braves-go-from-johnson-to-hand-for-cubs-batter-mastrobuoni/