All Activity

Wow...you love starting flame wars. I'm done...

Reading Jason Beck's game wrap on MLB.com, I was struck more than ever by how much of baseball descriptions would sound completely foreign to a visitor from 2005, maybe 2010 or 2015. I bolded all the relatively recent additions. Not saying it's good or bad, it just is. https://www.mlb.com/news/spencer-torkelson-hits-first-2026-homer-tigers-beat-brewers?game_pk=824286 DETROIT -- The metrics suggested Spencer Torkelson’s first home run of the year was coming. He was waiting for his pitch and hitting the ball hard; he just wasn’t hitting the ball far … or far enough. Then came Chad Patrick’s sinker, which Torkelson lined over Comerica Park’s left-field fence for a two-run homer that gave Detroit the lead for good in a 5-2 win over the Brewers on Wednesday night. Torkelson’s first home run since Sept. 20 of last year had seemingly been imminent, at least looking at his Baseball Savant page awash in red and pink for above-average data entering Wednesday. His elite chase rate (97th percentile) and walk rate (93rd percentile) entering showed a patient approach, even as his strikeout rate climbed to a career-high 30.2 percent. His bat speed, hard-hit rate and sweet-spot rate are all up or comparable to last year, showing he has been hitting balls capable of damage. One big difference: Torkelson entered Wednesday batting just .225 with a .275 slugging percentage against fastballs, despite a higher average exit velocity of 93.1 miles per hour off the heater. His average launch angle against fastballs, however, had dropped from 22 degrees last year to 16 so far this season. Torkelson seemed headed for the same fate Wednesday. After laying off changeups to draw a 3-1 count in his first at-bat, he got a 93.4 mph sinker from Brewers lefty opener DL Hall and crushed it on a line to left. The 106.2 mph exit velocity was his highest of the season up to that point. But the 18-degree launch angle sent it to Brewers left fielder Brandon Lockridge for the first out of the second inning. It was Torkelson’s 13th ball with a triple-digit exit velocity this season, but just three had gone for hits. Two innings later, Torkelson stepped to the plate against Patrick, who entered his bulk assignment Wednesday with just a 12 percent strikeout rate this season but a mere .152 average (5-for-33) against right-handed hitters. He had succeeded this year by attacking righty hitters with fastballs (84.5 percent of his pitches had been four-seamers, sinkers or cutters) on the outer half of the plate. Again, Torkelson worked into a favorable count by laying off pitches out of the zone. Patrick spotted a 2-0 cutter on the outside corner that Torkelson fouled off. Patrick’s 2-1 sinker wandered over the middle, and Torkelson crushed it. The 106.4 mph exit velocity was even harder than his first at-bat, but his 24-degree launch angle was higher, allowing him to send it over the bullpen and to the front row of the left-field seats. Kevin McGonigle’s RBI double in the fifth inning and Colt Keith’s RBI single two batters later provided add-on runs in support of Casey Mize (2-1), who held Milwaukee’s opportunistic offense to a run on three hits over six-plus innings with three walks and seven strikeouts. 0:14 0:30

Maybe they should hire you as manager. They will never have dumb line-ups anymore.

Is it always this late? 8 days after the season ended.

Can the Oilers win with Connor Ingram in net? 4 goals on 22 shots tonight after 2 periods. Granted, one came on a terrible turnover by McDavid on a powerplay, but still.

Riley had 117 at bats leading off in 2024; https://www.espn.com/mlb/player/splits/_/id/42179/year/2024/category/batting

I was talking about 2024, not last year.

In 2024? Riley led off quite a bit.

Watching my favorite teams win. I get kinda grouchy when they lose. 😄

And if someone tells me Hinch has a secret formula to make out his batting order, I'll tell them they're delusional. There is no stat that defines "the best" hitter. Some guy i never heard of wrote a book that clearly claims his opinion on how to create a lineup. I don't care. Just put all the good hitters in the first 6 spots or so. In a perfect world, all the hitters would have different stats that are the best on the team. It's exactly why I didn't like Riley leading off a couple of years ago. He was one of our better hitters at the time and he was constantly coming up with nobody on base. Many of his hits were wasted.

Lots of blocks

Here is a place to discuss the draft live, as it happens.

The best hitter on a team is the one who contributes the most to team runs scored. It could be wOBA or OPS+ or something similar. If you wanted a cumulative stat for the entire season, maybe wRC. If someone is an average fan who doesn't care about analyzing, that is fine. But if someone tells me that the best hitter should bat third, or primarily uses batting average to judge a hitter, then they will get an argument.

What do you enjoy?

He was almost certainly thinking of Kerry. And the “maximize the ABs” argument was because of the platoon issue and teams starting to bring in lefties to face him, so it would force an early decision onto the other team if they wanted to avoid giving Kerry a third AB against a RH starter. Riley leadoff discourse was never a thing.

Riley batted leadoff twice in 2025. Kerry hit leadoff 41 games-maybe he’s who you were thinking of.

The Pistons 3rd quarters this season are legendary. Its almost to the point that when they don't dominate, it's a surprise. We need a win in Orlando to take back home court advantage.

Great response in the third to put it away early. Ausar showed why you need to play him as many minutes as he can handle. Even the 28 he played tonight wasn't enough and hopefully he gets 30+ next game if he can stay out of foul trouble. He changes the game and was a +24 on the court. Next game you have to cut down the turnovers (22). Cade had 7 alone. Without that this would have been an absolute pummeling. They also shot 58% from the free throw line and 23% from three which is terrible. There's a lot of room for improvement on the offensive end in a game they won by 15 because of their defense which held Orlando to a season low 83.

Roll Tide. that campus is ridiculous.

i wonder if they will come out and aggressively trap the whole game next time? especially when cade is off the floor. still nothing from duren. he's so dependent on cade for any offense. i bet if paul reed played his minutes with cade, he'd put up similar numbers. good to see duncan get going. cadd is the whole team, but ausar is the straw that stirs the drink. makes them go on defense. him and stew. i want apologies from all the daniss jenkins uber fans. he's a nice story, but he cant hang when the other team turns up the heat. getting another ball handler at the deadline would have been nice. there were plenty available.

Trevor Thompson and Mickey York

We call that the Ausar Thompson effect.

Money to burn with that possible new donor from Chicago.

Wow defense just dominated

Still some issues but that was a much better game, obviously.