MLB 2014 season thread

Sounds like you could have written a well-thought-out piece about how the wild card disincentivizes regular-season greatness in favor of just making the playoffs and going from there. That would have been much more compelling than "these teams suck."

Oh, and Rick:

 

Because it's easy to write that something sucks.
This is why half the guys at Deadspin have jobs.

 

A little more to chew on regarding ratings, and popularity, and how little MLB actually cares these days about the national numbers (as if that wasn't evident by their willingness to put the games on FS1):

This series is the first one with a scheduled Friday game since 1990, which of course was the first year of CBS's reign of error. There have been a couple of Friday games because of rainouts since then. But other than that, since the LCS format went to best-of-seven, it has been a Saturday start (and skip Monday and Friday) for most of the last 30 years. Even in the last couple of years they have started on a Wednesday, allowing them to dodge that Friday ratings anchor.

I really think they look at all the cable money and look at the postseason and say "fuck it, people are gonna watch or not watch."

 

What we may do is see if any empty seats are in our row and try and squeeze him in. Otherwise, my dad and my son will probably sit together for a few innings during the game while I watch from the single seat. It's all good.

 

RickStain wrote a guest column out here.

Brian Sabean's formula for the Giants: Tough, gritty, determined

http://www.mercurynews.com/giants/ci_26763311/brian-sabeans-formula-giants-tough-gritty-determined

"Maybe because he was a scout, it comes from his history of seeing and evaluating players and not only seeing their physical tools, but their mental side," said pitcher Tim Hudson. "Those are the things that general managers can't put a stat on -- how tough somebody is, how much guts they have, what kind of chemistry they can bring.

"Too many people nowadays are getting wrapped up in the sabermetrics and the stats," Hudson continued. "I'm willing to bet almost every one of those people never stepped in a locker room, put on a jock and took the field, and understands those intangibles that help you win."

 

Tim Hudson: Go throw baseballs really hard with astonishing accuracy. When I want your opinion, I won't ask for it. Because I wont want it.

 

Tim Hudson has a shot at Cooperstown because of sabermetrics. So he might want to kindly STFU.

 

Ask the Diamondbacks where a grit-centric building model got them.
It got at least two guys fired.

 

Sabermetrics' most vocal critic for years was Joe Morgan, who was the darling of sabermetricians everywhere as a player.

 

SMH ...

https://twitter.com/hankschulman/status/524293979638992897

 

Wow.

Then again, Romo at the 2012 victory parade:

 

For Hudson, getting to a World Series at last, let alone potentially winning one, can only enhance Hudson's case.

Hudson's regular season probably doesn't especially enhance or detract very much. He did have his first losing season, which deprives him of the "never had a losing season" talking point.

However, he manifestly pitched in very hard luck in 2014. Hudson did undeniably bellyflop in September, going 0-4, but through the end of August he had a 2.90 ERA pitching for a very good team.