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Bob Gibson would have done it with a first-pitch fastball.

There are people in charge who would strongly disagree with that idea … OK, that’s enough of that.

Good points all, and it’s even worse than that: if a starting pitcher fails to go at least five full innings—if he pitches 4-2/3 innings of shutout ball, then leaves with the lead that’s never relinquished—then he is, by rule, ineligible for the pitcher win. So the official scorer is forced to assign the win to some other pitcher who didn’t pitch as long or as effectively, which is exactly what happened here. It’s beyond asinine. What really got me to start questioning the value of pitcher wins altogether was the season Nolan Ryan had in 1987. He led the league in ERA (2.76) and strikeouts (270), placed fifth in Cy Young voting—and finished with a “record” of 8-16. By pitcher record, he was terrible. By actual performance, he was arguably the best starting pitcher in the league. What else did I need to know?

Well done. Hadn’t even occurred to me.

That’s some old school **** right there

Jahmai stealing with a six-run lead. Fifty-plus years ago he gets a fastball straight at his head first pitch next time up.

Baseball's antitrust exemption explicitly allows them as an industry to willfully reduce output, even if most of the owners do not want that.

I think there will be a negotiated settlement between Baseball and Players on reduction of regular season games versus increase in playoff games. You make a good point about this realignment's effect on playoffs, though. Baseball would prefer both New York teams and Boston (as well as Los Angeles, San Francisco, and the Cubs) to be in the playoffs every season. These are the teams that reliably generate the most national interest, and thus revenue. Manfred and the owners speak from one position. He works for them, so they work together, and so if Manfred is saying this stuff publicly, that means he and the owners have already agreed on it privately. As a lawyer, he is careful with his proclamations and would never say anything that would catch his constituents unawares. And say what you want about Manfred, but he is nothing if not careful about what he says publicly as it relates to his owners' wishes.

Not my map.

I think it's more a nostalgia for a romanticized past than a nostalgia for lived experience. None of the people agitating for the change to exactly 154 games—not 156, not 152, but 154—lived through the 154-game season, of which the last was the 1961 NL. But players want more in-season days off, and who can blame them? The push-pull between Players and Baseball winter after next might be whether to re-express those additional days as days off for players, versus more days for playoffs.

And here’s that game: https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/DET/DET194808060.shtml Ted Gray was the winner, Walt Masterson the loser. Both pitched a complete game. The Tigers drew over 29,000 to Briggs Stadium on a random Friday night in August to see two sub-.500 teams battle it out. That’s post-war and post-Depression exuberance for you. As with last night’s game, this game featured an outfield assist at the plate, albeit in the sixth inning for this game, and with a bit of a rundown between home and third. Here’s a “replay” of the game if you’re interested in seeing that kind of thing: http://backtobaseball.com/playballregularseason.php?page=0&IDindex=DET194808060

Ugh, Reference is late with the update this morning. So, behold, your actual magic number this morning:

Thanks goodness Morris was never paired with Dan on the radio, but on occasion Monroe would be, and when I tuned in and heard that, my shoulders would visibly slump.

No. Win all the games.

Tigers still with the best record in the league, 8-2 in their last ten, 15-7 since the horrific swoon. i think we’re back on the horse.

Man, those are some sculpted eyebrows on Gleyber Torres!

Holy ****, did Ort really just throw a sweeper a foot off the plate on 3-2 for the game? Did he think every Tigers hitter is Javy Baez? Sorry, pal, only got one of those. But-bye.

Jahmai Jones is decidedly not Javy Baez. Didn’t offer at any of three yakkers and draws the walk.

That was a Javy at bat all right.

I like my chances!

I remember when Julian Tavarez pitched for the Cubs, right around 2000 or so. Game against the Cardinals. Batter hit a wicked fast one-hop shot that Tavarez olé-ed into his glove. The batter wasn’t even out of the box when the ball got to Tavarez, who just turned and rolled a grounder to first for the out. A lot of fans and the media catapulted a ton of **** his way over it. Me, I thought it was a smart move. The batter was out by a mile anyway, and by rolling a grounder to first, Tavarez removed the possibility that he would heave the ball past first Chuck Knoblauch-style and allow the batter to reach. Also, rolling it underhand is less wear and tear n the arm than throwing it overhand, and every little bit counts. I remember I just could not get anyone to see it that way. Maybe that’s what Skubal was trying to accomplish here.

This is game 128, meaning 34 games remaining. They would have to skip a bunch of start days for him not to get six. Plus, this is his 25th start, and he had 31 last year as well. Skubal is not a guy we have to baby.

Skubal now at 200 strikeouts on the button for the season. With six starts remaining, he’s got a decent chance at 250.

At the office!