MLB '24 Regular Season Thread

Of course nobody is telling them that. But they’re telling them to look for something else and the hitters are foolishly following that advice. And if you’re looking for breaking ball away and a fastball comes 98 miles an hour down the middle, there’s no way you’re getting a swing off.

 

I knew he had been struggling but was shocked when I saw the latest blowup and checked out his ERA.

 

Oh, it's been the saddest end to what should be a Hall of Fame career we've seen in a while.

 

Says every current GM in baseball: “You gonna believe analytics or your lyin’ eyes?”

 

In the episode that introduced Col. Potter, they had his arrival date as Sept. 19, 1952, with Radar, already gone by the time the '51 episode aired, greeting him. And of course Winchester showed up a season or two later.

 

The problem is, you don’t understand analytics. What you described has been happen since the beginning of time.

 

Brewers are the first to clinch. Cubs loss today gave them the Central.

Sorry, Greg.

 

Analytics isn't reinventing the wheel. It's describing the best methods. Babe Ruth and Ted Williams set the model. Take walks and hit for power.

 

And the worst sin: Someone imitating Russ Hodges.

 

There is no problem that you didn't create by keeping this going. All I originally wondered was, because of an inordinate number of called third strikes on pitches right down the middle, if their analytics are bad. They can't hit for shit. Guys who hit before aren't hitting this season. That's all. I do not completely understand hitting analytics ... and I don't have to because I'm not a baseball writer. But I do know that when I was, we used hits/walks/HBP all the time, we just just didn't have a name for it, like WHIP.

 

When the baseball thread becomes preseason camp for hockey.

 

This year, I spent a week in Chicago, traveling solo. Flew in on a Monday. Was going to go to Comiskey on Tuesday but the Sox were rained out the night before so they had a one-admission doubleheader with the Nats (another team going nowhere). Went to the museum of Science and Industry, then went back into downtown to catch the El to the park. Showed up on time for the first pitch. Almost no one there for the first game, since it was a day game makeup on a Tuesday -- all the stuff you're referring to is absolutely part of the treat. I think the biggest thing is seeing the product without having to worry about other people. Almost like an on-demand or private screening. Sometimes it's nice to have other people to react to but sometimes it's just nice to observe.

Saw a no-hitter in Oakland once like that (vs. Reds, game started 90 minutes late because of light problems). This time all I saw was Joey Meneses have a four-hit game. The thing about baseball, especially in comparison to the other sports, is even the meaningless games can tap into history, either profound (no hitters) or bizarre (I would have loved to have been at the Bartolo Colon homer game in San Diego, for example).

Went up to the one place you can get that damned milkshake (which might be the team's MVP this year) between games, came back to my seat and the White Sox actually won game two. Hopped on the El and went home. Good day.

The current Tigers situation is a lot of fun but I think we all need to slow our roll. Right now, Detroit has about 2 1/4 starting pitchers (Skubal should win the Cy Young, but Montero is equally likely to be brilliant or shaky and Casey Mize is good for about 4-5 innings coming off the injury that cost him most of the summer). There is, of course the caveat about short series, but even if Detroit makes it in as the last Wild Card, then they'd just get Houston and really I figure the only thing Tigers fans are going to get out of a series with the Astros is the opportunity to see what most of the rest of the American League has already experienced -- getting skullfucked by Justin Verlander in a high-stakes playoff game.