MLB '24 Regular Season Thread

Really weak move to change the scoring call. Meanwhile, Randazzo must feel he has really solid job security. Somewhere just north -- or south -- of screaming "Major League Baseball sucks."

 

We went to Dunedin last night for Lakeland-Dunedin. Nice ballpark located not where you'd normally look for one. It's on a neighborhood street, across from the Dunedin Senior Center (cheap parking). I had to GPS it because until you're right on it, you'd never know it was there.

Senior tickets were $8. Bradenton charged me $17 APIECE for Low A baseball. Food prices also weren't as high as Bradenton's. Lots of olds but lots of young families with kids (Friday night is run the bases night.) Maybe 150 in attendance at most.

The game experience is spartan. The scoreboard has no video capability. The D-Jay mascot scared the crap out of the 3-year-old girl in the section next to ours. No fan relations desk. No ushers, no interns, two concession stands. At most minor league stadiums, you can get rosters and a scorecard for cheap as free, but not there. However, I was brazen enough to walk up the stairs to the press box to get one. Damn it, I'm going to keep score!

Brandon Barriera, the Blue Jays' 2022 first round draft choice, came out of the game in the second inning with an arm injury that looked very serious. Centerfielder Yhoangel Aponte made three outstanding catches. The Flying Tigers walked 11 batters, including five in a four-run fifth. Saw an attempted double steal wind up in a 1-3-2 putout, a ground-rule double with an outfielder error that resulted in a rare "batter at third" decision and another double steal wiped out by batters' interference.

 

Just noticed this...

Game time temperature in Denver for Rays-Rockies on Friday: 75 degrees.

High in St. Pete on Friday: 72.

 

The pitching, particularly in relief, has been outstanding. They still can't get the bats going, and thankfully for some clutch extra-inning scoring, could easily have been 4-4 instead of 6-2. It's an interesting team that should hang right around .500 all season and could wind up sneaking past the Twins and Indians with a few breaks.

The schedule in May will be a tell about where they really fall: Yankees, Guardians, Astros, D-Backs, Blue Jays.

I still think Detroit's window of contention opens for real in 2025, when they get Jackson Jobe and Ty Madden in the rotation, plus Jace Jung and perhaps Justice Bigbee to help the offense. I saw first-round pick Max Clark last night in Low A, and he could be the next great Tigers centerfielder by 2026.

 

We went to a spring training game in Dunedin last year, awesome ballpark and town. We parked outside the Dunedin Smokehouse for free, had lunch and walked to the yard. Wow, $17 for a FSL game seems rather high. (Mind you I haven't been to a FSL game since I saw Razor Shines play for the West Palm Beach Expos against the Fort Lauderdale Yankees.)

What's the area around the Bradenton yard like for pregame options?

 

There's been a lot of talk in the last 72 hours about that. Some people like Tony Clark throw the pitch clock in as a factor.

Well, first of all, the pitch count is NOT a factor. Pitchers worked much faster in previous eras.

The other part -- throwing pitches which tax the elbow -- is never going to change until people begin telling pitchers not to throw their most effective pitches. And THAT'S never going to happen.

"That's right, Shane. We want you to throw at 87 percent capacity going forward. Because we want to ensure you're throwing at 87 percent capacity three years from now."

 

Now do Saturday. Micro Jr. left last night's game at Coors because it was so freaking cold and windy.

 

They need to allow the pitchers to use the goop.

 

The Majors will always find another arm to use up - better if they blow out their win before they hit Free Agency. You get the heat but don't have to pay through the nose for it. I wonder if Greg Maddux would even get a sniff these days because of his lack of velo.

 

There's certainly an element of that ... but I've begun to wonder how much.

If the foot-slow Brooks Robinson was hitting .420 in D-II ball and making plays like he did, he'd get the opportunity to start in rookie ball and earn his way up the ladder, which he would.

And if Greg Maddux was throwing one-hit shutouts every time out for South Alabama and forcing soft contact on every hitter, he'd get the opportunity to do it in the pros.

 

I used to be an official scorer for MLB games (granted, it was more than 40 years ago). The rule of thumb (at least back then) is "normal effort." For me, the first baseman diving to get the ball is not normal effort. Throwing from your knees to a moving target is not normal effort. A pitcher running while trying to catch a low throw is not normal effort. I rule that a hit.

In addition to Wayne Randazzo's rant last night, in two consecutive innings, the Angels had runners try to steal second. Nearly identical plays. Runner slides in head-first, hand reaches the base, fielder tags him on shoulder, umpire calls him out. Angels challenge both. Both are overruled. Runner is safe. The umpire was Tony Randazzo -- Wiki says Wayne and Tony are cousins. Wayne was joking about that, saying he forgot the name of the offending ump, then says he didn't know how to pronounce it anyway. Wayne has a lot of fun with the broadcasts. I like him. He is certainly an upgrade from the previous guys. Also, the second incident kept alive the inning in which the Angels scored two runs on a fielding error by Red Sox third baseman Rafael Devers. The final was 2-1.