2026 MLB (Non-Tigers) Thread

[diaspora04]

2 hours ago, monkeytargets39 said:

 Clearly he just doesn’t want it bad enough

Insufficiently gritty?

[Tiger337]

10 minutes ago, diaspora04 said:

Insufficiently gritty?

He just plays to pad his stats and increase the number of MVP and HoF votes he gets.  

[Tiger337]

16 hours ago, Sports_Freak said:

Feel kinda bad for the guy. He never got to play on a contending team.

He did play in one playoff series in 2014, but they got swept the Royals.  That shows that he is mentally weak and lacks the RBI mentality.  

[monkeytargets39]

7 minutes ago, Tiger337 said:

He just plays to pad his stats and increase the number of MVP and HoF votes he gets.  

We still talking about Trout?  Or did we switch to Deuce?

[Sports_Freak]

37 minutes ago, Tiger337 said:

He did play in one playoff series in 2014, but they got swept the Royals.  That shows that he is mentally weak and lacks the RBI mentality.  

Or his GM never got enough talent around him to make a serious run deep into the playoffs. Waste of a superstar talent. Like him or not, he was a great player.

[Sports_Freak]

6 hours ago, chasfh said:

This tells me more about the America League at the moment than it does about the Minnesota Twins.

Minnesota will finish closer to the bottom in the AL than the top.

[Crazy Cat Gentleman]

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/48487941/orioles-albernaz-cheek-fractures-broken-jaw-liner

yikes

[Motor City Sonics]

Having fun with A.I. image generator  for fictional MLB teams that I will use in OOTP.  

 

I present, the eventual expansion team............The Indianapolis Ignition

[Tiger337]

Another home run by Trout tonight.  His 6th homer.  He now has a 166 wRC+  His career is over.  

[Tenacious D]

2 minutes ago, Tiger337 said:

Another home run by Trout tonight.  His 6th homer.  He now has a 166 wRC+  His career is over.  

So sad to see him limp to the end.

[Hongbit]

I’m not sure it gets enough attention that we are witnessing the greatest baseball player of all-time.  Truly remarkable.  

[chasfh]

15 minutes ago, Hongbit said:

I’m not sure it gets enough attention that we are witnessing the greatest baseball player of all-time.  Truly remarkable.  

Do you mean Trout, or are you pivoting to Ohtani, who pitched last night?

[Hongbit]

I wasn’t trying to be clever by not mentioning him by name.  I thought it was very obvious.    It’s Ohtani.  

Mike Trout could maybe be thought of in some regard 9 or 10 years ago.   Even his prime is nowhere close to the total package that we are seeing from Ohtani.

To pivot back to Trout, what a crazy first 3 weeks to start the year.  

On fire for the first week,  a hitless strikeout machine in week two, then even hotter than he started in week 3.  

I’m excited to find out what happens with him next week.  

Edited yesterday at 01:52 PM by Hongbit

[Tenacious D]

30 minutes ago, chasfh said:

Do you mean Trout, or are you pivoting to Ohtani, who pitched last night?

Think it’s obvious he was talking about McGonigle 

[Sports_Freak]

The Angels blow 9th inning leads the last 2 games in NY. I bet they wish they would have locked Jansen up...

[chasfh]

5 hours ago, Hongbit said:

I wasn’t trying to be clever by not mentioning him by name.  I thought it was very obvious.    It’s Ohtani.  

Just asking because the conversation right up to your post was about Mike Trout, and he did have a potential claim to that at one time. 

[Tiger337]

1 hour ago, chasfh said:

Just asking because the conversation right up to your post was about Mike Trout, and he did have a potential claim to that at one time. 

This thread is taking some strange turns.

First, Trout's career is over.  Then he's the greatest player in the history of the game.  

[Tiger337]

As for Ohtani, if he isn't talked about enough(don't know if that's true), it could be because he is surreal.  There has never been anybody who was a great hitter and pitcher at the same time.  I think Ruth could have done it if they had a DH when he played.  

[Tiger337]

Another home run for Trout today.  That is five home runs in the series, the most ever in one series for a visting player in Yankee Stadium.  

[IdahoBert]

22 hours ago, Motor City Sonics said:

Having fun with A.I. image generator  for fictional MLB teams that I will use in OOTP.  

 

I present, the eventual expansion team............The Indianapolis Ignition

I would rather see a team there than in the cluster blank of Salt Lake City - not that I have anything against the city or it’s inhabitants in general - but the altitude and everything will make it another weird version of Denver and Coors Field and the very idea of that just annoys me. Indianapolis would not be straying too far away from baseball as I generally know it.

[Motor City Sonics]

20 hours ago, IdahoBert said:

I would rather see a team there than in the cluster blank of Salt Lake City - not that I have anything against the city or it’s inhabitants in general - but the altitude and everything will make it another weird version of Denver and Coors Field and the very idea of that just annoys me. Indianapolis would not be straying too far away from baseball as I generally know it.

The problem with Indy getting a team is that the White Sox, Reds and Cardinals would freak out about it.   The Cubs would quiety pout too.    But, a relocation is another story.   I think the Rays are staying in FLA, but could move to Orlando and possibly Charlotte NC, but I am pretty sure MLB wants their footprint to remain in the SE.      But the Brewers and White Sox have been fussing about a relocation - and while I feel like the Brewers are mostly bluffing, I could see the White Sox moving - based on Chicago letting the Bears get away.   A move to Indy would not be too crazy.  There are a fair amount of White Sox fans already in the state and the diehards in Chicago could possibly make that trip to see them in Indy.      The Indianapolis White Sox sounds horrible and yes, my fictional Indianapolis Ignition isn't great either, it does have a ring to it.  

I think the other place that should be, but will NEVER be considred for an expansion team is Northern New Jersey.    Plenty of money, population and political corruption to make it happen, but the blue bloods in NY, Philly and even Boston would lose their f'ing minds

 

To me the best relocation places are..

 

1. Nashville   - Shoo-in for a team by 2032.   There is a bit of a regional hole too.   They're already selling merch !

2. Northern New Jersey  - Checks every box, but it'd be blocked

3. Indianapolis  - I think it's a great spot, despite the whining from the Reds and Cardinals

4. Charlotte (or Raleigh/Durahm) -  Plenty of money and population in Carolina, but are they into baseball?

5. Portland  Regionally it makes sense.  A lot of the type of people that would like baseball, but a political nightmare

6. San Jose  - Stat nerds unite.  Not every baseball fan in the region is a Giants fan and the A's would have been much better off in SJ than in Vegas.  That's going to be a flop within 5 years. 

7. Vancouver - I think it's a better case than MTL. 

8. Montreal  - I do think romantically about the innocent days of Jarry Park and the logo that I thought was an "elb" and not an "M", unless it's both.  The confusing logo and the weird stadiums were part of the charm, but MTL is the Portland of Canada -  a political nigthmare

9. Salt Lake City - I  am with you Idaho Bert.  I don't get it.  But there's a lot of money there, or so I'm told.  But the elevation is an issue, and isn't the air even drier than Denver?   And the Metro population is only slightly bigger than Grand Rapids.   Would you even consider MLB in Grand Rapids?  No.  

Edited 1 hour ago by Motor City Sonics

[Motor City Sonics]

Oh, and while I don't think GR would ever be considered for MLB,  I wonder why it's not a AAA market at it's size.   It's basically a five-hour ferry ride to Milwaukee.  So if Nashville goes MLB, the Brewers would need a new AAA team.  Grand Rapids would be PERFECT !

[IdahoBert]

8 minutes ago, Motor City Sonics said:

. Salt Lake City - I  am with you Idaho Bert.  I don't get it.  But there's a lot of money there, or so I'm told.  But the elevation is an issue, and isn't the air even drier than Denver?   And the Meetro population is only slightly bigger than Grand Rapids.   Would you even consider MLB in Grand Rapids?  No.

It’s really really dry. And the degree of which that has an effect that is a big deal. 

[Motor City Sonics]

1 minute ago, IdahoBert said:

It’s really really dry. And the degree of which that has an effect that is a big deal. 

It's so HIgh & Dry that Duane Kuiper could have hit as many as 2 or 3 home runs per year. 

[NorthWoods]

1 hour ago, Motor City Sonics said:

The problem with Indy getting a team is that the White Sox, Reds and Cardinals would freak out about it.   The Cubs would quiety pout too.    But, a relocation is another story.   I think the Rays are staying in FLA, but could move to Orlando and possibly Charlotte NC, but I am pretty sure MLB wants their footprint to remain in the SE.      But the Brewers and White Sox have been fussing about a relocation - and while I feel like the Brewers are mostly bluffing, I could see the White Sox moving - based on Chicago letting the Bears get away.   A move to Indy would not be too crazy.  There are a fair amount of White Sox fans already in the state and the diehards in Chicago could possibly make that trip to see them in Indy.      The Indianapolis White Sox sounds horrible and yes, my fictional Indianapolis Ignition isn't great either, it does have a ring to it.  

I think the other place that should be, but will NEVER be considred for an expansion team is Northern New Jersey.    Plenty of money, population and political corruption to make it happen, but the blue bloods in NY, Philly and even Boston would lose their f'ing minds

 

To me the best relocation places are..

 

1. Nashville   - Shoo-in for a team by 2032.   There is a bit of a regional hole too.   They're already selling merch !

2. Northern New Jersey  - Checks every box, but it'd be blocked

3. Indianapolis  - I think it's a great spot, despite the whining from the Reds and Cardinals

4. Charlotte (or Raleigh/Durahm) -  Plenty of money and population in Carolina, but are they into baseball?

5. Portland  Regionally it makes sense.  A lot of the type of people that would like baseball, but a political nightmare

6. San Jose  - Stat nerds unite.  Not every baseball fan in the region is a Giants fan and the A's would have been much better off in SJ than in Vegas.  That's going to be a flop within 5 years. 

7. Vancouver - I think it's a better case than MTL. 

8. Montreal  - I do think romantically about the innocent days of Jarry Park and the logo that I thought was an "elb" and not an "M", unless it's both.  The confusing logo and the weird stadiums were part of the charm, but MTL is the Portland of Canada -  a political nigthmare

9. Salt Lake City - I  am with you Idaho Bert.  I don't get it.  But there's a lot of money there, or so I'm told.  But the elevation is an issue, and isn't the air even drier than Denver?   And the Metro population is only slightly bigger than Grand Rapids.   Would you even consider MLB in Grand Rapids?  No.  

I was killing some time with expansion a few months back and had done this...so a similar set of ideas on towns.