MLB 2014 season thread

That's because, as a rule, 99.9% of the population is blitheringly stupid about baseball.

 

Steak, you cannot compare eras that way. It's a mockery of history. There's no such thing as time travel. Factors such as nutrition, average size and strength of human beings, social mores like integration, etc., must be applied only to the competition within their relevant era. If Jeter played in 1900 they wouldn't have let him in the big leagues. If Wagner played in the 2000s, he'd have been considerably bigger and stronger and full of nutrients.
Jeter excelled in his era and Wagner dominated his. That cannot be altered. Generations from now, players will be bigger and stronger still, and that won't affect, or shouldn't affect, Jeter's very high standing in the sport's history.

 

I think you can change baseball to sports.

 

Whether you agree with the premise or not, Goldman's piece is worth the read, if only for the parts about Dead Ball Era player nutrition and physical size.

 

Haven't read it yet, but generally, I'm a big fan of Goldman. I used to read him at the Pinstriped Bible & BP, lost track now at his new site, and I have less internet reading time than I used to. He is very good - smart about baseball and a good writer. I used to think he hung out here but who knows. He has his typical BP blind spots (see PEDs), but he's always worth the read, (except when he drifts into politics - not sure if he still does). Since I haven't kept up, I hope he's doing well medically/optically. For a while he was updating his difficult situation.

 

Now wait just a damn minute. There's no such thing as time travel? Shit ...

 

Baseball is especially bad because is is driven by probability and small differences over large samples, two things that the human brain is *very* bad at handling on its own.

 

Think I saw a stat on television this morning indicating Kansas City is 51-1 when leading after seven innings.

 

They've had one of the best two or three bullpens in the majors for the last two years, if not longer.

 

Jeter might have been able to pass as a "Cuban" or an "Indian" in 1900.

 

Detroit is looking like a very unbalanced team. I think the Tigers should be worried.
And Verlander has led MLB in pitches thrown for I think all but one of the last five years.
So that is just heavy usage finally manifesting itself in possibly an injury rather than just diminished velocity.

 

I've looked but can't find it, but 3-4 years ago Posnanski wrote something about " ... just wait till 2014!" or something. Basically saying that the Royals Spring would take bloom right about now. Could be coincidence but I'd love to read that again to see the players he mentioned then and what they're doing now.