2019 MLB Regular Season running thread

That last one is crazy, but fun. The risk/reward of trying to reach first on a wild pitch would probably make the analytics departments heads explode.

 

He might of got off easy.

 

That also means catchers are now going to have to treat any ball in the dirt like there's a runner on third (instead of the half-hearted back hand pick they're used to with no one on), which will be interesting how that adjustment will go. Also if you have a runner in scoring position and an empty first, do you try to take off knowing they may be more worried about guys on second or third.

 

Marketing 101 fail.

The A's ran a "Rooted In Oakland" ad in an Australian newspaper

 

Great story by Joe Lapointe

40 years ago, Disco Demolition Night stirred culture war still being fought

 

Is the Atlantic League completely starved for offence? If not I don’t get the impetus for any of them really.

The pickoff one...lefties lose their only advantage holding runners on. And does the rule mean a pitcher can’t spin to second anymore? That’s pretty big too.

I really don’t like the stealing first one. Catchers have the toughest job on the field. Let them breathe a bit with nobody on.

 

MLB bought the Atlantic League specifically to experiment with rule changes.

 

I've seen too many Atlantic League games. It gave Tracy MacGrady a contract. I saw Carl Everett bat with his feet half on the plate, the pitchers still couldn't get him out.

 

The stealing first base one just sounds weird. Suppose a pitch is at a right-handed batter’s feet. Batter skips rope and goes a couple of steps towards first. Catcher gets the ball and tags the batter. Is that considered a steal attempt or just an avoidance of a HBP?

 

I'd have to think once both feet are out of the batters' boxes and headed toward first, you're free game.

But then, is the batter safe if he dives back to home plate? By logic, he'd have to be.

 

I feel like baseball is slowly, irreversible decline into irrelevance. NBA finals go to late june. Then the free agent market is one of the biggest sporting 'events' of the year. Two out of every four years, there is a World Cup to sap eyeballs.

Part of the problem: Bryce Harper and Manny Machado made pretty big headlines during their FA runs. Not Kawhi-type headlines, but still pretty big.

Now that the season has started, Harper and Machado are close to invisible.

 

If you want to disappear from American society, becoming a Padre is a good start.