MLB '24 Regular Season Thread

[Gutter]

Saw him play in Appleton in the Midwest League. I am so goddamned old.

Same. Talented player but never thought he would have the lengthy MLB (and KBO) career that he did. Can't believe he was still playing.

 

[outofplace]

Two quick notes on the Mariners as they once again dust off the clubs for some early October golf:

1. As bad a team as the Angels had this season, they accomplished one thing: By going 8-5 against Seattle, they kept the M's out of the playoffs. Most of those victories were the soul-crushing, come-from-behind variety. The Mariners had winning records against the rest of the AL West teams.

2. A shout out to Seattle Times beat writer Ryan Divish. At the end of his notes package for the season's final game, he pointed out that Houston won the AL West with an 88-73 record, three games ahead of the M's -- who would have won the tiebreaker over the Astros had both teams finished with that record. Wrote Divish: "It should be noted that an 88-73 record is a 54% winning percentage."

It would have been nice if Julio Rodriguez didn't suck for half the season and wait until September to really turn it on. They weren't as bad as I thought in runs scored, 21st, but they often did their pitchers no favors. Logan Gilbert took a big step forward with career-bests in innings pitched, strikeouts, K/9, and WHIP. He led the majors in IP and was fifth in strikeouts. His 3.23 ERA was the second-best of his career. You can make a strong argument for him as third in the AL Cy Young after Skubal and Clase. Despite all that, he ended up with a 9-12 record.

 

[maumann]

Yesterday had to be the first time that two teams celebrated clinching playoff berths on the same day on the same field, right?

It's possible someone lost and backed in somewhere in the past, but that's the same thought I had. The Mets had to wait for the Braves to finish taking their team photo before they could go out and take theirs!

 

[I Should Coco]

It would have been nice if Julio Rodriguez didn't suck for half the season and wait until September to really turn it on. They weren't as bad as I thought in runs scored, 21st, but they often did their pitchers no favors. Logan Gilbert took a big step forward with career-bests in innings pitched, strikeouts, K/9, and WHIP. He led the majors in IP and was fifth in strikeouts. His 3.23 ERA was the second-best of his career. You can make a strong argument for him as third in the AL Cy Young after Skubal and Clase. Despite all that, he ended up with a 9-12 record.

Regarding Julio, he began to heat up around the All-Star break, but then injured his ankle on a play in the outfield and missed about four weeks. Once he got back to full strength, he finished the season strong. But yeah, this is the second straight year he began his season with a whole lotta whiffs.

 

[poindexter]

Definitely not a sellout in Houston today.

The crowd, that is. The members of the organization sold their souls a decade ago.

 

[maumann]

Just going through the 2024 final stats. Here's an interesting one.

In 22 games over 24.2 innings, Houston's Kaleb Ort gave up seven runs, all earned. On seven solo home runs.

 

[outofplace]

Regarding Julio, he began to heat up around the All-Star break, but then injured his ankle on a play in the outfield and missed about four weeks. Once he got back to full strength, he finished the season strong. But yeah, this is the second straight year he began his season with a whole lotta whiffs.

He started very slow as a rookie, too.

 

[swingline]

ship, @maumann, I could do that with my 68 mph heater.

 

[maumann]

ship, @maumann, I could do that with my 68 mph heater.

Well done!

I originally read that as "1968 beater," and thought about my friend who owned a Plymouth Valiant that probably couldn't have gotten up to 68 mph without the hubs falling off.

 

[ChrisLong]

I feel as though I missed something. A few of the stories about the Tropicana in Vegas being imploded said on that site they are going to build a new baseball stadium for the A's. I don't remember ever hearing that it was a done deal. Just Sacramento for a few years, then who knows?

 

[mateen]

The Pohlads have had enough and say the Twins are on the market. The interesting thing to me is that they had been grooming the Pohlad now at the helm, Carl's grandson, to take over for quite a while, and he took over in 2022. Who knows where the truth lies but once could certainly draw the inference that after dealing for a while with the public scorn that comes with doing things like slashing the payroll after the first playoff success in 20 years (it became particularly intense last month when he described that move as a difficult business decision and said he wouldn't change a thing), he decided counting his money at the country club sounded like a lot more fun.

 

[micropolitan guy]

I feel as though I missed something. A few of the stories about the Tropicana in Vegas being imploded said on that site they are going to build a new baseball stadium for the A's. I don't remember ever hearing that it was a done deal. Just Sacramento for a few years, then who knows?

I think they have the concepts of a plan for a stadium on that site.