2019 MLB Regular Season running thread

Most players don't care that an ump's "zone" is a little higher or wider - as long as they are consistent and predictible.

 

Hitting streaks do count across seasons, and that is how it would be reported. Most recent was Jimmy Rollins, who finished 2005 on 36 and was the subject of pre-season hype for a DiMaggio chase.

 

I love it when White Sox fans say they’re the only true baseball fans in Chicago.

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Interesting facts about dimaggio’s Hitting streak. He played 7 doubleheaders during the 56 game streak. And 19 doubleheaders in the season. The All Star game was during the streak, he got a hit. A 15 game road trip also was during the streak. He lost the streak during a 13 game road trip. And as everyone know, hit in 16 straight after breaking the streak. He played in every scheduled game, and played every inning of every scheduled game.

That’s THE record, getting a hit in every scheduled game for 56 straight games. The other streak records are records, but not The Record

 

Sorry, but I'm not taking seriously any hitting "streak" that involves six months between ABs and anyone who does should have their head examined.

 

They were debating on MLB Network this morning how much credence should be given to Whit Merrifield's 29-game hitting streak dating back to the final 20 games on last season. The panel was pretty split on how much it should count.

Then there's this

Ex-Mariners star Harold Reynolds has a problem with Whit Merrifield’s hitting streak

“I’m not a fan of it,” Reynolds said on the video streaming service DAZN. “You can’t carry over. I look at it this way: the beauty of baseball is it’s an endurance sport. It’s, can you weather 162 games? So once you get to July, we call it the dog days of summer in August, because you’re getting tired. I remember too many times having to adjust your at-bat. Do you swing a 33-ounce bat instead of a 34-ounce bat? ... What do you do to get that bat through the zone?

“I (didn’t) feel like eating. You guys have been in the hot summer in New York, you don’t feel like eating food. How do you keep your energy up? I think it’s wrong when you can go home for four months, rebuild your body, work out, lift, get stronger, all that, come back and say, ‘Hey, I’ve got a streak.’ No, it doesn’t work like that.”

 

Yost doesn't make it to June 1.

 

If you're on the side of Harold Reynolds, it's time to reexamine your position.

 

Sigh.
What if someone goes on the DL/IL mid-streak? OK, because it's the same year or no because he probably ate in between?

 

Then it doesn't count, no. This isn't hard, people. It's 56 consecutive games. It's not 56 consecutive games in which the player takes part. It's not 56 consecutive games with a 6-month layoff halfway through. It's go out and get a hit in 56 straight games. Period. Full stop.

If a guy goes out and gets a hit in 56 games in which he plays in a single season, and takes off five games for regular rest in that stretch, I'll be impressed. I won't put him in the same category as DiMaggio. Durability and endurance is as much a part of the equation as anything.