The 2023 Running Baseball Thread

Agreed. I just don’t like the looks of the Rays’ bullpen. Some of them are nasty.

Whoever it is, I hope the O’s torch them.

 

Agreed. I was happy the Jays avoided the Rays, especially at the Trop where they never play well, but the Twins won't be any easier.

 

It still fascinates me a little that Rick Rizzs has achieved "community fixture" status in Seattle. To me (and the state of Michigan), Rizzs was "the guy they brought in to replace Ernie."

In related news, the Tigers fired their TV play by play guy (Matt Shepard) today. By most accounts, a stand-up guy who paid a lot of dues in regional broadcasting, but when given his opportunity it just didn't work for several reasons, many of which had nothing to do with him. Shepard showed up in 2019, which was basically the nadir of the rebuild, and got the job because the relatively popular duo of Mario Impemba and Rod Allen was fired for in-booth fisticuffs. Since then, the Tigers are 291-414 (basically, that's averaging a 96-loss season) and not only was he kind of the face of the incredibly unpopular Chris Illitch ownership, but Bally Sports Detroit has attempted a quixotic strategy of papering over the terrible on-field product by throwing just about any 1984 Tiger (other than Rod) on the air to talk about the good old days. They finally started shifting the nostalgia trip to 2006-era Tigers, but their desperate attempts to make the team relevant were thrown into rather stark relief earlier this year when Michael Lorenzen threw a no-hitter on a Saturday afternoon in June and Shepard wasn't there because Bally was attempting to ape TNT's "Players Only" broadcast format.

Kirk Gibson does not.

The Twins are going to win zero games in this postseason or several. The simple fact that they've lost 18 consecutive postseason games is a psychological hurdle that isn't going to be easily overcome. They're starting Pablo Lopez today, who was traded for Luis Arraez, a sore subject for a while before Arraez started coming back to earth. But they have good pitching and a closer who throws 100+. The hitting comes and goes, and against a guy like Gausman, the possibility that they get shut down today and have to play for their lives tomorrow is definitely there. But they can win games.

 

Three Twins remain from the last team to make the playoffs. Ironically the pitcher who lost their most recent playoff game throws for the opposition tomorrow. He actually lost all three of his playoff starts for the Twins. It should be in his head as much as anyone’s.

 

It's about that time to do my annual October Hierarchy. These are not picks, this is the order of which I want to see them win:
MIL - Who seriously hates the Brewers?
TOR - Mostly for chaos, but Toronto will show up for a winner
MIN - Down a few pegs for AL Central enmity
MIA - first female GM
ARI -
TB - Ugly stadium, no fans, but they probably ought to get at least one
BAL - Fun ballclub with ugly ownership. Still mad about what they did to left field at Camden Yards.
TEX - Not a big fan of the city or state or ballpark, but would probably be a little higher if Scherzer were healthy
PHI - A ring for Harper?
HOU - Verlander only thing pulling them off the bottom
LA - Can someone, anyone, else win the NL West
ATL - Can someone, anyone else win the NL East? Also, the Chop.

 

It still fascinates me a little that Rick Rizzs has achieved "community fixture" status in Seattle. To me (and the state of Michigan), Rizzs was "the guy they brought in to replace Ernie."

Rizzs is very good, I very much enjoy listening to him over the other M's broadcasters. His problem in Detroit was, he wasn't Ernie Harwell, and it sounds as if no one there gave him a chance.

 

First World Series I remember.



https://howtheyplay.com/team-sports/A-Clean-Sweep-The-1963-World-Series

 

Oh, they absolutely didn't, but the way Ernie was run out was an absolute travesty as well.

 

I didn't get actively engaged in a Series until the O's blew away the Dodgers in '66.

 

I was this many days old when I learned Yandy Diaz was capable of winning a league batting title.

(Even if he did sit out the finale and watch Seager go 0-for-3 to lose it.)

 

One of the many pleasures of winning that series was beating that epic dickhead.

Couldn't stand Kirk Gibson when he played (poster boy jock in the worst sense of the term), nor when he managed (old school in the worst sense of the term, I guarantee he wishes he could write down the unwritten rules of baseball), nor on the rare occasions I hear him broadcasting.

 

I'll play.

MIL - Duh.
MIN - Northern Midwest solidarity. (Not applicable in NFL or college sports.)
BAL - Used to hate the Orioles when the Brewers were in the AL, but that was epochs ago, and their fans deserve a good run.
MIA - Sure? Why not? They are woodwork, but not really objectionable in any way.
TEX - Lived there briefly in the Arlington Stadium days, so I would have once had a soft spot, but that was also epochs ago, and they seem character-less with yet another new stadium and seemingly always-there, but indifferent fans.
TOR - I still have some beef with Toronto over the 1992 AL East pennant race and that they gave Paul Molitor a ring (not the Brewers), but that was in 1992-93 when the internet did not exist in any usable form, Trump's most objectionable act was running a bike race, and I was still questioning whether it was a good idea to wait in line at midnight to buy both volumes of "Use Your Illusion" the year before (spoiler alert ... it wasn't), so maybe it's time to get over it?
HOU - I know they've been the big bad wolf in the AL for quite a while now, and they're cheating bastards, but they still don't get on my nerves as much as some of the other postseason participants.
PHI - Philadelphia is weird. For most of their teams, they seem to embrace an underdog side that isn't really deserved (it's a big market), but then have an arrogance that definitely isn't deserved based on any consistent accomplishments by any of the teams there. I don't really find the Phillies themselves objectionable, but I don't celebrate Philadelphia success either. The only good thing about their World Series run last year was knocking the Dodgers and Braves out of the box.
TB - Annoying franchise that seems robotic and soulless, even though their robotic commitment to their plan is proven and it works. No fans. Shit stadium. Go away.
LA - On the sympathy scale, rates between Stan Kroenke and Elon Musk. Who roots for that?
ATL - Great team, but the Braves vibe just isn't for me. Truist Park seems like a party deck-as-baseball stadium, or, Courtyard By Marriott lounge inside a ballpark. They moved into the 'burbs to not-so-subtly get away from the city, one of the least-veiled racially-motivated bit of white flight to come down the pike in our times. The Chop isn't just racist, it's asinine. Almost to a person, Braves fans are some of the most vanilla fuckers I've ever met. My Dad still has huge beef about the move from Milwaukee in the 60s, which was high-end bullshit. Many of the Braves themselves are quite punchable. I still want to beat Brian McCann's ass for the stunt he pulled on Carlos Gomez years ago. I could go on ...
ARI - They're in my team's way, so even if they do advance, I'll have fresh beef by which to wish them ill, even against the Dodgers or Braves. Besides, I've never really liked them (2001 aside) and the ballpark experience in Phoenix isn't all that much better than Tampa Bay. Like Tampa Bay, there are also scads of snowbirds with other allegiances. It's a slightly better aesthetic than the Trop ... with a pool, which is probably gross as hell. D'Backs can get fucked.