MLB 2022: The Long and Winding Thread

Minor leagues started their season today, so most of the extra arms that would finish the final exhibition are with their teams.

 

If they wanted a PR win, they should've found two local high school teams and let them play an MLB spring training game.

 

When he was manager of the Red Sox, Ralph Houk said the ideal spring training was to be somewhere around .500, which kept players and fans from being either too confident or too depressed on Opening Day. With the exception of the Nationals, Grapefruit League teams seem to have come close to that standard.

 

While the Tigers and O’s didn’t want to play a single game, the Guardians played two games against the Diamondbacks and Rockies yesterday.

Why on earth are they scheduling high school softball-style doubleheaders in MLB spring training?

 

Red Sox at Yankees opener for tomorrow postponed until Friday.

 

Don't they share the same complex?

 

I had a book on the '61 Yankees that Houk "co-wrote", and I remember he said the same thing about being .500 for spring training. That Yankees team started something like 1-8 or 1-9 in spring that year because Houk was basically on cruise mode because he knew mostly what team he had and wasn't stressing. However, the media started getting on Houk, so he started getting a little nervous and once played Mantle and Maris for an entire spring game hoping to get a win to cool off the heat.

I still think about Houk's line about being .500 for spring training whenever I think of spring records.

 

Years ago saw the Yankees play the Pirates at the Superdome on their way north from ST. NY started 19-year old Gene Nelson on the mound. Later found out that the AAA Tulas Oilers moved to the Dome for one season in 1977, drew 217,000 fans, with a roster that included Tony LaRussa and Jim Riggleman.

 

Killing itself one decision at a time

 

Gosh, if I lived in California, I'd be sure to pay up to get Peacock so I could watch baseball at 8:30 on freakin' Sunday morning! The saddest part of this is that Comcast clearly told MLB "Listen, this is the only time slot we've got for you losers. Take it or leave it."