Arena The Major League Baseball Thread

Crossed an item off the bucket list tonight and went to Cubs-Indians at Goodyear Park.



Need to make sure this isn't the only time I ever go to Spring Training. just a fun experience overall.

 

Wait, you're in town? I hope you've had a good time here .

 

Incredibly short work trip. Flew in Sunday night, fly home tonight.

 

I'm not going to lie, I was fully expecting commercials to be the easy culprit when I clicked on this article from SB Nation looking at why ballgames are so much longer today, compared to similar games from years ago. Shockingly, not necessarily the case.

 

Huh, that's fascinating... we've known for a while that MLB has some of the best "big data" guys in the game, but I'd sort of assumed the "speed up the game via pitch clocks / batters stepping out of the box" thing was just slap-dash... now we know they have have crunched the numbers and come to a proper conclusion...

 

2017 Uni Watch preview




1) Why are the Mets getting rid Mr. Met on the alternate uni? It added a bit of a character to it.


2) Those mesh seats in Atlanta would be something I'd like to see implemented elsewhere, specifically Dodger Stadium.


3) The New Era logo on the hats are annoying enough, but can get used to it... those planned Under Armor logos coming in 2020? **** no.



4) It's shameful how plain the Padres aesthetic continues to be.




5)


Love that look... I wish the Dodgers would go back to the glossy look for their helmets (not that the matte look is bad, but glossy is better)





6) Of course the Cubs ring & banner ceremonies will occur in their 1st series at Wrigley this season... against the Dodgers.

 

I'd like to know why the defending World Series Champions don't automatically open the regular season at home. The NFL has been doing it since around 2000-ish (the only exception since then was 2013, when Baltimore was forced to open on the road due to a scheduling conflict with the Orioles), and I can't even remember the last time the NBA champs opened their season on the road. With championship rings and banners to be presented, don't you think the Cubs should open at home? And especially since this is the first season since 1909 that the title of "Defending Champions" gets attached to the Cubs name?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I547 using Tapatalk

 

It's an irrelevant "issue"; the Cubs will be in the proper spotlight all season long.

 

It bothers me much less in baseball to have the home team start at home. It isn't the NFL where it's one of 8 events. It isn't the NBA where you can control the climate (or the NHL). You don't want to schedule a marquee game for Chicago and have it be a freak April snow storm.

 

Mostly because they try and open the early April games in the South and domes, where possible, since the weather is either unpredictable or terrible most of the time in the mid-Atlantic / NE / MW / North regions.

I promise you no one in NYC cared the Yankees almost never opened at home.

 

Also, the MLB schedule is set sometime around August. Given how often concerts and other events are scheduled for road trips, changing things around in November probably presents more than a few logistical nightmares.

Amazing.

 

The opening to this years MLB The Show is awesome:



Amazing.

 

The umpires owe us a safe call on replay anyway, especially after how the Top of the First ended.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I547 using Tapatalk

 

Happy Opening Day cubman.

Wow, Tanaka trouble already.

 

Dude we get to watch our season opener on ESPN! I don't even. Is this what it's like to support a winning team?

 

uh, madbum might be having the best opening day ever. ways to go, but he's retired the first 15 batters he's faced, 7 by strikeout, and has walked and homered in 2 plate appearances.

edit: jinxed it of course

 

Came to post the jinx!

 

that second home run tho

 

There's still other baseball to watch tomorrow, radio for the Dodger game (shoddy, often unreliable online streams just aren't the same) & most of inherent Opening Day excitement, but still...






.

 

BOB FELLER will never be matched