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Posted
5 minutes ago, Sports_Freak said:

I never knew there was such a rule. You can see in that clip, the 3rd base ump was calling it as the runner was tagging up. Somebody said the 3rd base coach tells the runner when to go. I never knew that either.

yup, it's faster for the player to face home and let the coach tell him to go And of course that is what makes it doubly dumb. The 3b can't be blocking both the 3b coach and the player can he? And the coach is free to move to anywhere he likes to get out of the line of sight of the 3b.

Posted
8 minutes ago, gehringer_2 said:

yup, it's faster for the player to face home and let the coach tell him to go And of course that is what makes it doubly dumb. The 3b can't be blocking both the 3b coach and the player can he? And the coach is free to move to anywhere he likes to get out of the line of sight of the 3b.

Umpires end up deciding (or costing a team) the game. Here's another example of a seldom seen call, that the umps screw up;

 

Posted

50+ games in and it appears that yet again, MLB has secretly changed the baseball.   Hard hit balls, barrels, and exit velocity percentages are all up from last year yet HR’s are down over 25%.    

Maybe it’s an attempt to keep soaring batter contracts down,  maybe it’s their gambling partners making more money on HR props than pitching ones, maybe it’s a quality issue at the Rawlings facility in Costa Rica.  Maybe these are all just tinfoil and MLB is still tweaking things to find their ideal new baseball.  

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Posted
1 minute ago, Hongbit said:

50+ games in and it appears that yet again, MLB has secretly changed the baseball.   Hard hit balls, barrels, and exit velocity percentages are all up from last year yet HR’s are down over 25%.    

Maybe it’s an attempt to keep soaring batter contracts down,  maybe it’s their gambling partners making more money on HR props than pitching ones, maybe it’s a quality issue at the Rawlings facility in Costa Rica.  Maybe these are all just tinfoil and MLB is still tweaking things to find their ideal new baseball.  

At least that's a good change.

Posted
33 minutes ago, Hongbit said:

50+ games in and it appears that yet again, MLB has secretly changed the baseball.   Hard hit balls, barrels, and exit velocity percentages are all up from last year yet HR’s are down over 25%.    

Maybe it’s an attempt to keep soaring batter contracts down,  maybe it’s their gambling partners making more money on HR props than pitching ones, maybe it’s a quality issue at the Rawlings facility in Costa Rica.  Maybe these are all just tinfoil and MLB is still tweaking things to find their ideal new baseball.  

They cannot have not heard the critiques of 3 true outcome baseball, and they cannot not know that the baseball is the heart of all three issues (along with how hard pitchers are throwing), so logic would say your supposition is correct. But of course not much about Baseball management is logical, so who knows.

Now if they would just try moving the mound back a foot or so in one of the minor leagues, then I'll believe they are starting to figure it out.

Posted
1 hour ago, Hongbit said:

50+ games in and it appears that yet again, MLB has secretly changed the baseball.   Hard hit balls, barrels, and exit velocity percentages are all up from last year yet HR’s are down over 25%.    

Maybe it’s an attempt to keep soaring batter contracts down,  maybe it’s their gambling partners making more money on HR props than pitching ones, maybe it’s a quality issue at the Rawlings facility in Costa Rica.  Maybe these are all just tinfoil and MLB is still tweaking things to find their ideal new baseball.  

Is this compared to the first third of last year or all of last year?  Home runs usually increase in the summer.  If it's a real change, then it's a good one.  

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Posted
5 hours ago, Hongbit said:

50+ games in and it appears that yet again, MLB has secretly changed the baseball.   Hard hit balls, barrels, and exit velocity percentages are all up from last year yet HR’s are down over 25%.    

Maybe it’s an attempt to keep soaring batter contracts down,  maybe it’s their gambling partners making more money on HR props than pitching ones, maybe it’s a quality issue at the Rawlings facility in Costa Rica.  Maybe these are all just tinfoil and MLB is still tweaking things to find their ideal new baseball.  

I wonder if that change is due in part to the change in the buffer zone that effectively shrunk the strike zone. Walks are up and strikeouts are down, and hitters are taking more pitches labeled as being outside the zone and making more contact when they do swing. Launch angle is also down a tick which might explain part of the drop in HR/FB percentage.

If they are making the ball deader, that’s not the worst thing even from the offense’s point of view, since stolen bases and bases taken are up and it’s easier to score runs stringing together hits now than it was before the bases ballooned in size.

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Posted

The Colorado Rockies have played exactly 1/3 of their games and have 9 wins.  That means they are on pace for 9 * 3 = 27 wins.  

The Tigers are pace to win 103 games.  

Posted

I know there are other explanations for this most notably wind but I have noticed this all season and that is that the statcast numbers for distance always seem higher than what the actual distance appears which would indicate that the ball may have more drag to it this year. 

 

Posted
1 hour ago, gehringer_2 said:

Angels DFA Tim Anderson. All-star at 29, washed up at 30, washed out at 32. Baseball is a cruel game.

It was pretty predictable given his low walk rate and relatively high k rate.  Those guys never seem to age well.  

Posted
2 hours ago, gehringer_2 said:

Angels DFA Tim Anderson. All-star at 29, washed up at 30, washed out at 32. Baseball is a cruel game.

About 4-5 years ago I thought the White Sox were poised for a long run - Anderson, Jimenez, Moncado, Robert, Rondon, Giolito......indeed, baseball can be cruel 

Posted

In an amazing coincidence, the two teams anointed most by God are on Apple TV tonight as the Yankees play the Dodgers in Los Angeles.

Three hours earlier, two lesser sub-.500 teams, one based in Massachusetts and the other in Georgia, play each other, wasting their’s and everybody else’s time. 

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Posted

https://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/majors/2025-playoff-odds.shtml
 

I don’t know how baseball reference calculates their odds for a club winning the World Series, but the Tigers presently have the highest percentage possibility of being World Series champions. 

Tigers ——— 20.5%
Yankees —— 16.5%
Dodgers —— 9.4%
Cubs ————12.5%

Obviously, subjective criteria such as fame, media coverage, optics, excitement level, the allure of great stars, street cred, etc., don’t enter into it. 

Posted

Is James Wood the next MLB superstar?  

22 years old with a big frame and a great swing.    This kid has a future as bright as anyone in the game and I’m not sure many fans even know what he’s doing right now.   
 

We also need to start talking about adding the Juan Soto Padres trade to the worst in history list.  

Padres got a little over a season of Juan Soto and 2 months of Josh Bell.

Nats got:

James Wood - currently top 10 in HR/RBI/OPS

CJ Abrams - Starting SS and all star last year

Mackenzie Gore - Solid LHP starter currently leading MLB in K’s

Robert Hassell - mid prospect CF but he’s up in the bigs currently.    

Jarlin Susana is big armed pitching prospect they see as possibly a future elite MLB closer. 

Making the trade even better, Josh Bell signed back with the Nats and is at least ar the moment their starting 1B.

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Posted
28 minutes ago, Hongbit said:

Is James Wood the next MLB superstar?  

22 years old with a big frame and a great swing.    This kid has a future as bright as anyone in the game and I’m not sure many fans even know what he’s doing right now.   
 

We also need to start talking about adding the Juan Soto Padres trade to the worst in history list.  

Padres got a little over a season of Juan Soto and 2 months of Josh Bell.

Nats got:

James Wood - currently top 10 in HR/RBI/OPS

CJ Abrams - Starting SS and all star last year

Mackenzie Gore - Solid LHP starter currently leading MLB in K’s

Robert Hassell - mid prospect CF but he’s up in the bigs currently.    

Jarlin Susana is big armed pitching prospect they see as possibly a future elite MLB closer. 

Making the trade even better, Josh Bell signed back with the Nats and is at least ar the moment their starting 1B.

Pete Crow-Armstrong is definitely another star. in the making

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Posted
32 minutes ago, Hongbit said:

Is James Wood the next MLB superstar?  

22 years old with a big frame and a great swing.    This kid has a future as bright as anyone in the game and I’m not sure many fans even know what he’s doing right now.    &nbs
 

We also need to start talking about adding the Juan Soto Padres trade to the worst in history list.  

Padres got a little over a season of Juan Soto and 2 months of Josh Bell.

Nats got:

James Wood - currently top 10 in HR/RBI/OPS

CJ Abrams - Starting SS and all star last year

Mackenzie Gore - Solid LHP starter currently leading MLB in K’s

Robert Hassell - mid prospect CF but he’s up in the bigs currently.    

Jarlin Susana is big armed pitching prospect they see as possibly a future elite MLB closer. 

Making the trade even better, Josh Bell signed back with the Nats and is at least ar the moment their starting 1B.

The question is will the Nats do anything while they’re still affordable 

  • Like 1
Posted
2 hours ago, Hongbit said:

Is James Wood the next MLB superstar?  

22 years old with a big frame and a great swing.    This kid has a future as bright as anyone in the game and I’m not sure many fans even know what he’s doing right now.   
 

We also need to start talking about adding the Juan Soto Padres trade to the worst in history list.  

Padres got a little over a season of Juan Soto and 2 months of Josh Bell.

Nats got:

James Wood - currently top 10 in HR/RBI/OPS

CJ Abrams - Starting SS and all star last year

Mackenzie Gore - Solid LHP starter currently leading MLB in K’s

Robert Hassell - mid prospect CF but he’s up in the bigs currently.    

Jarlin Susana is big armed pitching prospect they see as possibly a future elite MLB closer. 

Making the trade even better, Josh Bell signed back with the Nats and is at least ar the moment their starting 1B.

Padres also got Michael King out of it when they traded Soto to the Yankees.

  • Thanks 1
Posted
On 5/31/2025 at 10:08 AM, CMRivdogs said:

The question is will the Nats do anything while they’re still affordable 

The owner is worth $7 billion. I think they're affordable for a while

Posted (edited)

So it's been pointed out from time to time how the Tigers a) have a good record against teams >.500 and b) have played a lot of games against teams >.500. For a) 23 wins ties with Houston for 1st in MLB and 23-18 is 3rd behind Mets' 18-10 and Yankees' 21-15 for best record. For b) 41 games is 2nd in MLB behind Houston's 44. 

But then I noticed how LA Dodgers' record against teams with records >.500 is only 12-9. Only 21 games, how could that be? Because I know they swept the Tigers to open the season, beat Cleveland 2 of 3 this week and beat the Yankees twice so far this weekend. So I looked it up, figuring it had to be a misprint. But get this. Between April 14 and May 21, the Dodgers played 30 of 32 games against teams under .500

By the way, 13 of the Tigers' next 16 games are against teams under .500, the only exception being 3 at home to the Cubs next weekend.

Edited by lordstanley

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