Arena The Major League Baseball Thread

Did not have the Yankees sweeping the Royals on my early 2025 season forecast

 

@Glitterstimm Does Bobby Miller end this season as a Dodger? I say no.

 

Let's just see how long before Boone has the inevitable idea bite to shift the lineup around where Rice doesn't have Judge to follow him.

 

The Dodgers are so soft. They didn’t even lose the game and they still optioned Bobby Miller.

And then last week they were getting thrashed by the Cubs, so they send out a position player to imitate all of their pitchers so Dodger fans can still have a great time, and so The Athletic has thinkpiece fodder about how they’re such a savvy organization, so dedicated to putting an entertaining product on the field even when they’re losing. Just accept the L and that you got beat by a truly good team, sheesh.

 

That mother ****er gave up 6 ER in just 3-innings to these Rockies (not exactly the Blake Street Bombers out there) in his first MLB start this year, so clearly something is still very off (don't like his future as a starter anyway; if the Dodgers want to keep him, they should try to utilize him as a reliever, to see if he can be salvaged).


Also, seems like your issue per se with Rojas pitching in the 16-0 loss last week is with how The Athletic covered it; it's not exactly uncommon for position players to "pitch" in such a late blowout situation, and unless MLB institutes some version of a mercy rule, it'll keep happening. Gotta have a little fun in those situations; Rick Monday was being grumpy about that on the Dodger radio broadcast, and he rightfully got made fun of for that assessment on Dodger reddit.

 

Red Sox are very hot and cold to start. It's a long season, so we'll see what happens, but their offense should be more consistent, will be interesting to see when Roman Anthony comes up.

 

Bit of a pitcher's duel in Wrigley this afternoon.

Amazing.

 

FYI, Steven Kwan is now using torpedo bats.

As such, I am revising my stance to be in favor of them.

 

I hope he’s got better luck with them than Max Muncy did for the Dodgers (used for 2 at-bats recently, gave up on it).

 

So I have been reading A Game of Inches by Peter Morris, which is an insanely detailed look at "firsts" in baseball history. It's full of all sorts of great stories and quotes from very early baseball. In a section about the hidden ball trick, he writes about how at various times there were pushes to ban it, but there were also those advocating against banning it. One sportswriter argued that banning the hidden ball trick meant the players didn't have the watch the ball and was "another step in the direction of making players mere automatons moved by managers and by umpires." This was from 1920. Feel like it could have been said in 2020.

Amazing.

 

I saw the 2-1 score in the 5th or 6th inning, got busy with other stuff, then saw the 13-11 final later on. That was definitely a shock to the system! Go Cubs!

 

@cubman987, @Psych_Jedi Baseball!

 

I mean that's cool, but the fact that it was posted by Bob Nightengale makes me question if it's true.

 

Since he’s citing Sarah Slangs, I trust it.

 

Yep it was Cleveland in 1906. They beat a Kansas City team 15-13. I have no idea which Kansas City team that was. Don't think it was the current Athletics team as I think they were still in Philadelphia at that time.

 

I love this game.

 

A thougt occured to me as the Yankees play the Rays at Steinbrenner field. All MLB teams should play 1 series per regular season at one of their Minor league parks. The owners might not like it because they want to fill their own parks. But think of how good that would be for growing the game and the impact it could have on the local communities. MLB is already doing something similar with the international games and historical venues.

 

Why would the teams want to do that? International games/historical venues are more a product of MLB's own influence in designating teams to show up at places that likely don't have their own professional ballclubs to promote the sport, but a Minor League park is a different story. The Yankees would lose some 20k fans per game for a three game series at Steinbrenner Field vs. The Stadium. It would be similar for others like the Dodgers, Mets, Astros, etc. They likely already get decent crowds, maybe even capacity crowds, when their Single A club plays at home at Steinbrenner Field.

 

Ehhh, no; only “acceptable” scenario for me would be if the Dodgers played a regular season series at Vero Beach.

 

I think the only teams who would accept something like this would be those that never expect to get capacity crowds, for any series, at their home MLB parks. The Rays, for instance, would likely appreciate some extra revenue for games at their Minor League facility when the Trop reopens.

 

I trust Devin Williams when he comes in the ninth with a Yankees lead, especially one that isn't a save situation, just about as far as I can throw him.

 

First heart breaker of the season. I don't understand why they just let Devin Williams waltz into the closer spot when Luke Weaver was closing for us just fine in the playoffs. There needs to be a conversation. There has to be a consequence for giving up 4 runs against a team that is not projected to be good. No more Mr. Nice Guy clubhouse pal Aaron Boone.