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Tom Tango, et al wrote a book (called "The Book") and there is a chapter on line-ups. It's not based on simply looking at batting average or OBP. It's based on a complex algorithm which estimates the number of runs that a player will contribute to in each batting order position. He didn't say the best hitter bats second on every team. He was saying that all things being equal, it is better for the average team to bat their best hitter second than to have him hitting third. There is nothing special about the number three spot which makes it advatageous to always put you best hitter there. It doesn't alway work for the best hitter to bat second either. It's just that if you are going to pick a spot for your best hitter without considering anything else, the second spot would have the edge. Torres does not always bat second. Sometimes he bats first or third. Hinch has a different line-up every night based on matchups.

FWIW- McGonigle is leading the AL in WAR for all positional players. So we have that going for us, which is nice.

I concede the point: Being humiliated by a brown skinned person does seem like a flashpoint for him. Meanwhile, Trump is giving them all sorts of ammunition to feed a growing narrative of Trump admin incompetence.

The counterpoint is that having Trump bored and frustrated with the whole thing is more likely to end up with him more or less waking away from it all and Iran getting more of what they want, than giving him more reason to see the conflict in the personal vendetta terms that is more likely to make him more dangerous and instransigent

Yeah, Organize is a unicorn. Not many like him in today's game or even...ever. I take issue with calling a 2 hole hitter the "best" hitter. What criteria is being used? Batting average? On base percentage? Is Hinch bucking the trend or is there some stat that says Torres is our "best" hitter? Torres is taking a lot of walks so far this season, wouldn't that make him an ideal leadoff hitter?

I would also say that this kind of line-up is not a bad idea and more defensible than some of the old line-ups where a low obp speedster might leadoff just because he stole a lot of bases.

I did in 2005 or 2006. I wouldn't say it's chaotic but it can be a wait. You line up out in the OF, on the ramp that goes underground below the centerfield concourse. Then you walk out along the tunnel in RF to home plate. I believe they run from 1st to home, that keeps things organized so you don't have collisions at the plate. THen you walk back up to the concourse from an area by the dugout.

For about as long as I can remember, there has always been a promotion after Sunday games where kids can run the bases. Has anybody here ever brought their kids to take part in that? I'd have to imagine that there are like 10,000 kids, is it a very long lineup/wait? Is it well organized, or a chaotic mess? I'll be bringing my son to a Sunday game in May and I was just wondering if this was worthwhile, or if it would be too frustrating to be worth it. Seems like a cool experience.

One major difference is during the first term of Trump he was above water on the economy. There was backlash in 2018 because people didn’t like him. Now, not only do they not like him, he is way under water on the economy.

Exactly this. Christianity was never a live-and-let-live religion—most religions aren't—but the evangelical flavor is double that. Their idea is to control your life and, by extension, control your body in terms of labor, reproduction, and just plain fun.

The NVA didn't win the battles of the Tet offensive but their ability to prove mettlesome and disprove US narratives actually contributed to the growing anti-war movement in the US. The Ukrainians ability to continue to stick their fingers in the eyes of the Russians and strong online presence is also key morale element to their war. what goober is going to change their mind about supporting Trump to the bitter end? Maybe nobody in that category. But, if the will of American allies is taunted by these sorts of propaganda and they see more of their people laughing at Americans its all to the Iranian's good.

I did suss out the sarcasm in your reply, but I was also feeding back in a serious way on the idea of the "second leadoff hitter" batting ninth. There are circumstances for which that might work, or at least be defensible.

As of this morning, the NL has a 80-55 against the AL in interleague play. That's the equivalent of a team playing to a 96-66 record, which is three games better than the "juggernaut" 2025 World Champs.

no denying they know US culture well enough to be good at this and the opposite in not true. But that said, they aren't doing anyone, including themselves, any good with ti.

What got me thinking about looking him up was, I was looking at the Reference card for the 2019 Tigers, they of the 47-114 record, and Nick was literally the only position player on the team with an OPS+ over 100, and his was only 111. Man, what a slog it was to follow that team. The only thing worth talking about that year was the locked-in #1 overall pick. You can discard this if you want to count pitchers, since Gregory Soto had a 492 OPS+ and Matthew Boyd had a 167 OPS+, in two plate appearances apiece.

The gutting of the VRA on net is bad in my view. But the part that doesn't get talked about is that removing requirements for states like AL, SC or MS also means removing the same requirements for states like CA, NY or IL. All of whom could draw even more aggressive maps favoring Ds without VRA requirements to adhere to. On pure partisanship it nets out worse for the Ds, but it's hard to tell the effects without discussing how blue states might react as well

Playing six years of college ball is unusual. Is that due to a Covid waiver?

this most recent poll that has him down ~33% - if it is to be believed, is a solid increment down from the 38-42 where he he seemed to hold in the past. I don't want to give the idea I'm resistent to evidence - I just want to see it!

April 22 https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/april-22?cmpid=email-hist-tdih-2026-0422-04222026&om_rid=

If the Virginia Supreme Court has standing in Texas perhaps. Since they do not have the ability to change Texas' behavior, screw them.

It will be interesting to see what the Virginia Supreme Court may do. The punted when the referendum first came up and may be reluctant to weigh in now that the cows are completely out of the barn. Since the management of elections is constitutionally assigned to state legislatures they may just back off. Then it will be interesting to see if the SC has the stomach to take the case. Given the timeline of the upcoming midterms, it could be problamatic