2021 MLB Regular Season thread

This is so stupid it makes the man on second in extra innings rule look sensible by comparison. There is a historical precedent, BTW. In 1957, their last year in Brooklyn, Walter O'Malley had the Dodgers play some games in Jersey City. This of course meant he was leaving Brooklyn ASAP. The good people of the Tampa Bay area would be the world's greatest suckers to give the Rays a dime for anything, let alone build them a new park.

 

MonTampa Rays?

There is precedent for something like this, Cleveland and San Jose shared a ballet a few years back - the dancers could do ballet full-time, each city had a ballet season with a better company than they would be able to attract on their own.

And I actually think there are a few cities that would dig a chance to have an MLB team for one homestand a month - I just don't know if they'd be willing to fork over the money to build a new stadium for a part-time team without the promise of the jobs that teams usually dangle to secure a stadium. It does make me laugh how many teams used that Tampa dome as leverage to get a new ballpark. The White Sox, the Giants... and it was a dump the whole time.

 

You guys are assuming only baseball fans go to baseball games. I bet well more than half of the people in attendance at an average game could name fewer than three players on either team.
People go to games for entertainment, food, booze and to hang out with friends. The sporting aspect of it means little to many ticket holders.

 

Dodgers also played some games in Jersey City in ‘56. The big difference was that he was doing it to show his willingness to move the team. O’Malley wanted the Dodgers to stay in Brooklyn, but he wanted his stadium at the Atlantic Yards site where the Barclays Center is now.

I agree with you, that this current plan is just flat-out stupid all around.

 

Here's another little issue MLB hasn't considered. The Rays are a playoff team. They went to the Series last year. You want an open air stadium in Montreal for Halloween baseball? But if you don't have LCS and Series games in both home parks, good luck selling season tickets. "You're good enough for us in August, but..." Hell of a marketing message.

 

The next good idea this commissioner has will be the first one. Worse than Bettman.

 

Stephen A. Smith on Shohei Ohtani: "I don't think it helps that the number one face is a dude that needs an interpreter so you can understand what the hell he's saying in this country."

That scumbag, mental midget, misogynistic racist should have that tweet shoved down his throat like a Serena Williams tennis ball on an umpire when Ohtani gets his MVP. It better be unanimous or you’ll know why smith gets a pass

another terrible person who gets a huge pass by all his friends in journalism

 

I need an interpreter to understand what ESPN's number one face is saying in this country.

 

I know he Said something like this a few weeks ago. Is this diatribe a relatively recent one? And I presume he said it with the normal volume and normally Contentious and contemptuous tone of voice.

 

SD eliminated: 'We did not reach our goal'



No shit Sherlock headline aside, this does a pretty good job breaking down how one of the best teams this year completely fell apart down the stretch.

 

As the fan of a team trying to build a contender through 400-plus losses and high draft picks, the Padres are a scary textbook example of why there are no guarantees. That's a team filled with impressive young hitters -- particularly Tatis Jr. -- but injuries to the rotation, coupled with lousy performances by the others, really wrecked them.

You knew the Dodgers would likely be strong, but the Giants playing out of their minds only contributed to what feels like a missed opportunity in San Diego. Not buying at the deadline, recognizing that your starting pitching was Swiss cheese -- and wasting money on Eric Hosmer -- is a different issue.

As the Cubs have shown -- and as Dave Dombrowski proved by spending zillions of dollars in Detroit without ever finding a reliable closer -- you have to get everything to click just right to fly the flag once. That's what makes San Francisco's run last decade so impressive. Everything has to break your way. Cleveland has been trying since 1948 for another one.

Riley Greene and Spencer Torkelson look like the pieces to solidify the next great Tigers team, but 1984 was all they got from a farm system that produced Trammell, Whitaker, Gibson, Parrish, Morris, Petry and Rozema. And Freehan, McAuliffe, Horton, Wert, Northrup, Stanley, McLain and Lolich (plus Kaline and Cash) netted 1968.

 

He would have loved Fernandomania.