Baseball Thread

[Nyte]

⚾ Due to popular demand, it's time for the fora to grace America's Pastime ⚾

⚾ Please join to talk about all things baseball ⚾

Here's a list of fora members and their teams. Let me know who your team is and I'll add you to OP.

If you think baseball is gay, then I'll assume you're a Dodgers fan cause

 

 

@Nyte - Angels
@juice64011 - Twins
@classicboxer- Athletics
@Bwana - Pirates
@crangs - Indians, by way of Redskins
@Megasoup - Dodgers fan, by way of excessively long post to announce his allegiance

Edited August 8 by Nyte

[gadgets19]

NL - Giants

AL - Rangers but citizenship states Blue Jays when they play

WS - Giants rule all

[crangs]

Am I allowed to be an Indians fan?  

[Nyte]

5 hours ago, crangs said:

Am I allowed to be an Indians fan?  

Yes. As long as you also acknowledge you're a Redskins fan too. Gotta make sure your Native loyalties in sports are aligned

[Bwana]

4 hours ago, Nyte said:

Yes. As long as you also acknowledge you're a Redskins fan too. Gotta make sure your Native loyalties in sports are aligned

[crangs]

5 hours ago, Nyte said:

Yes. As long as you also acknowledge you're a Redskins fan too. Gotta make sure your Native loyalties in sports are aligned

Redskins don't have fans, only victims.

[Nyte]

5 hours ago, crangs said:

Redskins don't have fans, only victims.

They needed some Guardians

[Megasoup]

The problem with baseball is that it's boring and it sucks.  It is slow, it's boring, it sucks, every game is exactly the same as all the rest of them and it hasn't changed in a hundred years.  For me, its completely unwatchable.

 

Outside of that, I don't really have any issues with the game.  Honestly, I find it fascinating that people watch it!  Games are 3 hours long, and a team will play one darn near every single day for like 6 months!  And a lot of fans...A LOT OF THEM...will watch every single damn game!  It's absolutely insane, I love this!  

 

I played 2 years of little league, and I'm as familiar with the game as anyone else.  I cannot wrap my mind around people's love for the game.  They love it!  

 

I love that they love it!  I love that I cannot understand why!  I cannot get to the bottom of this mystery and I have tried!

Edited August 7 by Megasoup

[MoZZez]

4 hours ago, Megasoup said:

The problem with baseball is that it's boring and it sucks.  It is slow, it's boring, it sucks, every game is exactly the same as all the rest of them and it hasn't changed in a hundred years.  For me, its completely unwatchable.

 

Outside of that, I don't really have any issues with the game.  Honestly, I find it fascinating that people watch it!  Games are 3 hours long, and a team will play one darn near every single day for like 6 months!  And a lot of fans...A LOT OF THEM...will watch every single damn game!  It's absolutely insane, I love this!  

 

I played 2 years of little league, and I'm as familiar with the game as anyone else.  I cannot wrap my mind around people's love for the game.  They love it!  

 

I love that they love it!  I love that I cannot understand why!  I cannot get to the bottom of this mystery and I have tried!

Just stick to, Baseball sucks.

You dint need anything past that,  because, Baseball sucks.

[MauroPedrosa]

I tried getting into this a few years back, but these disgusting, unsanitary ****s keep spitting at the ground for no reason so I had to turn it off.

The “boring” part doesn’t bother me. I LOVE soccer and snooker and they’re great once you understand the intricacies.

[Nyte]

On 8/7/2022 at 1:52 AM, Megasoup said:

The problem with baseball is that it's boring and it sucks.  It is slow, it's boring, it sucks, every game is exactly the same as all the rest of them and it hasn't changed in a hundred years.  For me, its completely unwatchable.

 

Outside of that, I don't really have any issues with the game.  Honestly, I find it fascinating that people watch it!  Games are 3 hours long, and a team will play one darn near every single day for like 6 months!  And a lot of fans...A LOT OF THEM...will watch every single damn game!  It's absolutely insane, I love this!  

 

I played 2 years of little league, and I'm as familiar with the game as anyone else.  I cannot wrap my mind around people's love for the game.  They love it!  

 

I love that they love it!  I love that I cannot understand why!  I cannot get to the bottom of this mystery and I have tried!

Dodgers fan, got it

[classicboxer]

On 8/7/2022 at 8:03 AM, MauroPedrosa said:

I tried getting into this a few years back, but these disgusting, unsanitary ****s keep spitting at the ground for no reason so I had to turn it off.

The “boring” part doesn’t bother me. I LOVE soccer and snooker and they’re great once you understand the intricacies.

[Nyte]

On 8/7/2022 at 8:03 AM, MauroPedrosa said:

I tried getting into this a few years back, but these disgusting, unsanitary ****s keep spitting at the ground for no reason so I had to turn it off.

The “boring” part doesn’t bother me. I LOVE soccer and snooker and they’re great once you understand the intricacies.

Which team(s) did you watch when you tried getting into baseball? This is imperative 

[Nyte]

On 8/8/2022 at 5:25 PM, classicboxer said:

So I made it out here to Oakland yesterday. Watched Angels both yesterday and this afternoon.

Happy to announce it was better than my 2021 visit , where Angels lost both games

Angels won both games, Ohtani pitched a gem and hit a dinger in the first game. Even got some free baseball, since today's game went to the 12th inning.

I'm also reminded why the Raiders left Oakland and why Oakland management keeps selling all their good baseball players. A's need to get out of that dumpster stadium. The surrounding area is just depressing

[Nyte]

Speaking of A's, they drew nice crowds Saturday and Sunday at the Coliseum.

40k and 31k for those two days. I imagine it was 90% Giants fans

The game Ohtani pitched had 9k people there. Just looking around and going by the reactions, I'd say it was a solid 75/25 split between Angels/A's fans

I thought I was at a home game. Angels fans either travel well to Oakland or Oakland just has some Angels fans up here. Probably both.

[Megasoup]

1 hour ago, Nyte said:

Speaking of A's, they drew nice crowds Saturday and Sunday at the Coliseum.

40k and 31k for those two days. I imagine it was 90% Giants fans

The game Ohtani pitched had 9k people there. Just looking around and going by the reactions, I'd say it was a solid 75/25 split between Angels/A's fans

I thought I was at a home game. Angels fans either travel well to Oakland or Oakland just has some Angels fans up here. Probably both.

My god, the game is so dull!  It's like they just say the same thing over and over, the team names, the stadium names, the players names, and numbers.  Whenever anyone describes baseball, they always evoke all this feeling and emotion and passion, but this game has the least amount of feeling, emotion or passion of any extracurricular activity I've ever known.  Listening to an announcer calling out their boring drivel drives me crazy, I feel like I'm in jail or something.  

 

Still, people love it.

 

When I look at the crowds leaving the ballpark after the game, they all look like the dullest, most unathletic people God hath created.  Bunch of fat families with their fat kids.  In my mind I think "this is what you do for fun?', but at the same time I cannot imagine what else these people could do possibly do which could be better.  (This isn't a hundred percent true, I'm just being dramatic.)

 

*Latin chicks...this is yet another curiosity which cannot be explained.  Working at that Latin club off and on for nearly 10 years, I have a lot of Spanish-speaking folks in my facebook newsfeed.  Some of the absolutely most attractive, amazing, big-breasted, exciting and incredible women from all over Latin America and the Caribbean cannot seem to get enough of this damn game!  It's amazing! 

[VertFTW]

I used to be a A´s fan back when I was a kid and up to the early 00s....but I got absolutely sick of all the chokejobs this team did. I also hate that the franchise stuck with billy beane and the failed moneyball strategy for so long lol

[juice64011]

I find it funny that they credited Moneyball for Boston's wins. 

I'm sure it had nothing to do with basically every star player on the team being juiced and having the second highest team payroll in the league that year. 

[MauroPedrosa]

On 8/9/2022 at 4:49 AM, Nyte said:

Which team(s) did you watch when you tried getting into baseball? This is imperative 

Can’t remember, but I’m sure it was some indistinguishable Light Grey vs White chit

[crangs]

Most of my baseball viewing lately has been jomboy media videos on YT.   

[Nyte]

6 hours ago, crangs said:

Most of my baseball viewing lately has been jomboy media videos on YT.   

Jomboy is great. Been watching his vids since 2019

He's definitely brought a lot of new eyes to baseball. He deserves a lot of credit

[UFCCagerattler]

In 1991 a Mickey Mantle rookie card sold for $50,000 and was breifly the most expensive card in the world

Today a Mickey Mantle rookie card is on the block at $7.62 million  and is expected to hit $10 million by the end of the auction. It will once again become the most expensive in the world, displacing the Honus Wagner.

He was a way better player than Wagner too

[gadgets19]

Fernando Tatis Jr pops for PED - 80 game suspension

[Nyte]

On 8/12/2022 at 1:46 PM, UFCCagerattler said:

In 1991 a Mickey Mantle rookie card sold for $50,000 and was breifly the most expensive card in the world

Today a Mickey Mantle rookie card is on the block at $7.62 million  and is expected to hit $10 million by the end of the auction. It will once again become the most expensive in the world, displacing the Honus Wagner.

He was a way better player than Wagner too

Insane

Mike Trout being referred to as the modern day Mickey Mantle speaks volumes too. Both generational talents

[Nyte]

23 hours ago, gadgets19 said:

Fernando Tatis Jr pops for PED - 80 game suspension

He's an idiot. Nobody in the baseball world, or sports in general, are buying his "ringworm" excuse

He's trying to expedite his return

Even funnier, is that his teammates are all basically saying "**** you, we've gotten to where we're at now without you. Grow up"

He'll miss the first 42 games of the 2023 season. Sucks because I wanted to see a Machado, Tatis, and Soto trio play out for the rest of the season. Guess we'll have to wait til next year.

EDIT - btw, who's your team?

Edited Sunday at 01:38 AM by Nyte

[Nyte]

1 minute ago, Nyte said:

Insane

Mike Trout being referred to as the modern day Mickey Mantle speaks volumes too. Both generational talents

Threef

Also, speaking on Mike Trout, I'm basically a Mike Trout historian. I got back into baseball in 2014 and have really been following Trout's career closely given the talent he is. Just wish the guy would stay ****ing healthy. Last year he was out and now again this year he's missed signficant time, but should be back probably next week

Mike Trout was in a career worse 0-for-25 or so slump this year and still had a .980 OPS. That's insane.

Idk how old you guys are, but I didn't get to watch guys like Ken Griffey Jr in their primes

What is your guys view on Trout, given you've probably seen more of those top guys play

@classicboxer you've probably seen Mantle play right?

[UFCCagerattler]

40 minutes ago, Nyte said:

Threef

Also, speaking on Mike Trout, I'm basically a Mike Trout historian. I got back into baseball in 2014 and have really been following Trout's career closely given the talent he is. Just wish the guy would stay ****ing healthy. Last year he was out and now again this year he's missed signficant time, but should be back probably next week

Mike Trout was in a career worse 0-for-25 or so slump this year and still had a .980 OPS. That's insane.

Idk how old you guys are, but I didn't get to watch guys like Ken Griffey Jr in their primes

What is your guys view on Trout, given you've probably seen more of those top guys play

@classicboxer you've probably seen Mantle play right?

Trout is probaly about as close to Mantle as you are going to get, but I don't think he's a switch hitter, and he does not have the post season games that Mantle did.

People get emotional about Mickey Mantle because he has that Bobby Orr/Joe Namath/Bo Jackson thing where he played most of his career at less than 100% Who even knows what he would have done had he been healthy.

[gadgets19]

52 minutes ago, Nyte said:

EDIT - btw, who's your team?

 

On 8/5/2022 at 5:21 PM, gadgets19 said:

NL - Giants

AL - Rangers but citizenship states Blue Jays when they play

WS - Giants rule all

 

[UFCCagerattler]

Favorite Miclkey Mantle story:

Johhny Bench talks about the all star weekend where Mantle showed up at his room and invited him to go out for a drink at the disco across the street.

They went up to the door where the bouncer said "You can come in Mr Bench. but Mickey we've already kicked you out three times."

[Nyte]

57 minutes ago, UFCCagerattler said:

Trout is probaly about as close to Mantle as you are going to get, but I don't think he's a switch hitter, and he does not have the post season games that Mantle did.

People get emotional about Mickey Mantle because he has that Bobby Orr/Joe Namath/Bo Jackson thing where he played most of his career at less than 100% Who even knows what he would have done had he been healthy.

I don't ding Trout on the playoff accolades. That's more of a testament to his team and ownerships inability to grow a winning team around him

Arte Moreno is one of the richest owners in all of baseball. I wanna say #3, he's definitely top 5, yet he never spends

Then teams like Dodgers go out and spend and get great guys while also building a good farm.

You're right , Mantle was a switch hitter. I'd love to have seen Bo Jackson play

[classicboxer]

22 hours ago, Nyte said:

Threef

Also, speaking on Mike Trout, I'm basically a Mike Trout historian. I got back into baseball in 2014 and have really been following Trout's career closely given the talent he is. Just wish the guy would stay ****ing healthy. Last year he was out and now again this year he's missed signficant time, but should be back probably next week

Mike Trout was in a career worse 0-for-25 or so slump this year and still had a .980 OPS. That's insane.

Idk how old you guys are, but I didn't get to watch guys like Ken Griffey Jr in their primes

What is your guys view on Trout, given you've probably seen more of those top guys play

@classicboxer you've probably seen Mantle play right?

I was too young to remember. I remember seeing Willie Mays when I was 8 years old. It was "bat day" and I was mad that I got a Willie McCovey bat instead of Willie Mays.

[UFCCagerattler]

23 hours ago, Nyte said:

I don't ding Trout on the playoff accolades. That's more of a testament to his team and ownerships inability to grow a winning team around him

Arte Moreno is one of the richest owners in all of baseball. I wanna say #3, he's definitely top 5, yet he never spends

Then teams like Dodgers go out and spend and get great guys while also building a good farm.

You're right , Mantle was a switch hitter. I'd love to have seen Bo Jackson play

Me either but when people compare Marino and Montana or Brady the rings always come up

[Nyte]

3 hours ago, UFCCagerattler said:

Me either but when people compare Marino and Montana or Brady the rings always come up

That's apples-to-oranges

In football, you can have a scoring drive with 10 plays. Meaning the quarterback touched the ball 10 times

It's not the same with baseball. You can't have Mike Trout bat back-to-back-to-back and so on,

Football the QB is always going to have the first touch. Every play. You can't put the same batter up each time to hit the pitcher. That's why baseball is WAY more of a team sport than any other sport out there. Takes a full team to compete in baseball.

That's why the MVP in baseball sparks more debate than any other sport. Guys like Trout, A-Rod, and Stanton have won MVP while being on losing teams, because they were clearly the best in their league, however, their team was mediocre.

[UFCCagerattler]

7 hours ago, Nyte said:

That's apples-to-oranges

In football, you can have a scoring drive with 10 plays. Meaning the quarterback touched the ball 10 times

It's not the same with baseball. You can't have Mike Trout bat back-to-back-to-back and so on,

Football the QB is always going to have the first touch. Every play. You can't put the same batter up each time to hit the pitcher. That's why baseball is WAY more of a team sport than any other sport out there. Takes a full team to compete in baseball.

That's why the MVP in baseball sparks more debate than any other sport. Guys like Trout, A-Rod, and Stanton have won MVP while being on losing teams, because they were clearly the best in their league, however, their team was mediocre.

that may be true but all you can say for certain is that Trout has 1 hit in 12 AB post season.

he has not proven himself in the post season

[Nyte]

5 hours ago, UFCCagerattler said:

that may be true but all you can say for certain is that Trout has 1 hit in 12 AB post season.

he has not proven himself in the post season

Yeah I agree 100%

It's the most embarrassing statistic on his profile

I thought this year was the year. Angels came out swinging to start the season, then have regressed incredibly since late May

[Bwana]

Pirates odds to win the World Series..... +250,000

I'd say we suck big time, fugg baseball this year....bring on the Worlds Badminton Championships.

[juice64011]

July 3rd

"By season’s end, Twins’ Emilio Pagán says he’ll be one of baseball’s best relievers"

 

August 15th

Pagán has been one of MLB’s worst relievers, posting a 5.23 ERA with 10 homers allowed in 41 innings. His struggles have tended to come in the biggest moments, like the week-long stretch in June when Pagán allowed multiple runs in four straight appearances versus Cleveland, helping to turn four late-inning leads into four crushing losses with huge ramifications.

[classicboxer]

2 hours ago, Bwana said:

Pirates odds to win the World Series..... +250,000

I'd say we suck big time, fugg baseball this year....bring on the Worlds Badminton Championships.

Don't feel bad, 8 more teams have the same odds.

[Nyte]

7 hours ago, classicboxer said:

Don't feel bad, 8 more teams have the same odds.

Don't feel bad. Went to the Angels game tonight and this is how things transpired in the top of the 9th. 

Prepare your angus

2-2 ballgame

1. Carlos Santana is issued a walk on 3 pitches. Umps ****ed up the count 

2. Angels catcher throws over second base to the outfield on a wild pitch he kept in front of him...the runner didn't even attempt to take 2nd.

3. Runner then steals 3rd

4. Line drive to 2B, ****ing drops the ball. Clearly has a double play touching 2nd then going one. Throws home instead. Gets runner in pickle. Runner scores cause nobody (pitcher) was covering home 

5. Next batter hits a grounder to SS, SS goes home, has runner out, but then our catcher can't apply the tag. Ball gets to the backstop, runners advance to 2nd and 3rd

6. You think we're done? 4-2 ballgame at this point. 1 out. Grounder to 3rd baseman, has play at plate, but oh no!! He slips, can't make throw home, proceeds to get out at first instead. 2 outs.

7. Mariners next batter hits a single, 6-2 Seattle. 

It was atrocious to watch. I watched probably 70% of fans leave after that.

Edited Tuesday at 07:19 AM by Nyte

[Nyte]

I honestly can't believe Angels imploded that bad

If you guys have a Twitter, look up Jomboy Media, he posted a clip of it

I wouldn't be surprised if Jomboy does a "Angels have nightmare inning, a breakdown" in the works.

Also - our 2nd baseman should have caught the ball too. He ****ing dropped it and could have at least tagged 2nd and had a double play at 1st

Instead he throws home. Pitcher isn't prepared for that throw home,  has no clue what's going on, and doesn't cover home on the pickle. 

The firstbaseman was preparing for a throw to first so he had a late jump covering home as well. Just all around felt like one of my Sunday league softball games

[Nyte]

Threef

On the plus side, Shohei threw a good game, not great by his standards. 8ks , 2 ER , few walks though,  thru 6 IP

He now has 26 HRs as a batter, 2.72 ERA and 165 strikeouts as a pitcher 

He's only player in history to have that many Ks plus HRs. Babe Ruth had some 30ks in 1919, and 25+ dingers

Truly remarkable what he's doing. And he legged out a grounder to the 3rd baseman, has crazy speed

He's going to be the highest paid ballplayer come this off-season. 

Max Scherzer is at $43M per year with Mets. I'd imagine Shohei is valued at $50M per year

[gadgets19]

[Nyte]

There's a lot of debate on the MVP race. From what I've read/watched,  it can be broke down with 3 different opinions:

1. Judge is the MVP. Insert reasons.

2. Shohei is the MVP. Insert reasons. 

3. There's absolutely no debate, what Shohei is doing is unprecedented, no discussions needed, he will probably win it every year and they should change it to "Best Player" award

I think its #3, except for the best player part. Shohei is easily the most valuable player. The fact he's a Cy Young candidate,  leads the majors in Ks/9 (35%), while having 27 HRs , etc is ridiculous 

[Nyte]

Judge is having a great season for sure. 

But too many people are acting like what he's doing is "unprecedented". He has 46 dingers, 100 RBI, and 1.071 OPS. That's elite for sure.

Shohei has the potential to finish with 40 HRs, 100+ RBI, 20 SB, .900+ OPS AND projected to have 200+ Ks on the mound, with a sub-3 ERA. 

Judge can't match that type of value. 

I think the casual fanbase doesn't grasp the fact that hitting in baseball is hard. One of the hardest things to do in all of sports is hit a 95MPH fastball. Takes a lot of work during season

So Shohei is essentially taking on that workload while also being a top 3 pitcher in the league

And if you've read this far, that's the thing I wish more people would account for. Idk how he finds time to fix the swing while also fixing his 6-pitch repertoire 

Edited yesterday at 05:00 AM by Nyte