~2024 MLB Thread~

[FearlessF]

https://youtu.be/aKvO2tKQVaw

[ELA]

https://twitter.com/Alden_Gonzalez/status/1858680082187120860?t=ecxkb8TZGzDGsJW5klYDNA&s=19

[FearlessF]

A Wall Street Journal article Friday added speculation to Omaha's Charles Schwab Field being a home to the Tampa Bay Rays.

[ELA]

Seeing where pitching contracts are this offseason, they need a cash influx from somewhere.  Luis Severino is a middle rotation pitcher, and just signed with the cheapest team for $23 million a year

[OrangeAfroMan]

Baseball has done a great job of tweaking the game to keep the game watchable.  Changing it to maintain it.  $$$

[ELA]

Baseball has done a great job of tweaking the game to keep the game watchable.  Changing it to maintain it.  $$$

The rule changes are great.  I love the double hook rule to make starters more valuable, but I do wonder how much it will matter if the rationale is viewership.  Local ratings are fine, national ratings suck, but I cant imagine people being dialed into a premier pitching matchup.  There are a billion viewing options, and either you love baseball, or you dont.  I would rather watch two aces battle, but if they dont Ill still watch, and the people who dont watch, still wont

[OrangeAfroMan]

Well baseball has volume and uses it well.  More games than any other sport means your per-game butts-in-seats and clicks/eyeballs don't have to measure up, but merely exist above a minimum.  The rules changes helped keep fans and probably helped bring in more young fans than it would have gained with .215 hitters walking 90 times and striking out 250 times.

Baseball is an institution....it doesn't have to go big to try to get a big, new swath of fans.  It merely needs to be entertaining enough to appeal to the children of existing fans. 

[ELA]

Well baseball has volume and uses it well.  More games than any other sport means your per-game butts-in-seats and clicks/eyeballs don't have to measure up, but merely exist above a minimum.  The rules changes helped keep fans and probably helped bring in more young fans than it would have gained with .215 hitters walking 90 times and striking out 250 times.

Baseball is an institution....it doesn't have to go big to try to get a big, new swath of fans.  It merely needs to be entertaining enough to appeal to the children of existing fans. 

Yes, baseball is fine.  Preaching to the choir.   Im just talking about the next potential round of rule changes, which seem focused on prioritizing starting pitchers.  I love it.  I think the faster pace keeps kids engaged.  But I dont think they care of Gerrit Cole is going deeper 

[Cincydawg]

[SuperMario]

[img width=415.999 height=500]https://i.imgur.com/Yaxr3xV.png[/img]

I saw this about a year ago and still think about this stat all the time.. It's one of the most absurd stats in baseball history.  We were very spoiled watching him. 

[OrangeAfroMan]

I loved watching Maddux pitch.  His 2-seamer would cut so hard and clip within a couple of inches of the plate (never reaching the black) and get the call every time.  Throwing 90-92, he'd want the batters to hit the never-straight ball and get out as quickly as possible.  And so many come-backers!!!  

A magician.  

[ELA]

Baseball is the king of putting like 8 parameters on a stat.  Hes the first guy to reach base in his first three lefty on lefty PAs, in AL games, with men on base, with both teams over .500, with at least 2 of the PA being walks since Jesimiah McGonigole of the 1896 Brooklyn Gentlemen. 

But a Maddux is the one stat that Ill allow, because it so encapsulates what he was, that it doesnt feel like you kept adding qualifiers to the spreadsheet until you got down to one. 

[FearlessF]

biggest strike zone in the league

maybe he earned it

maybe Michael Jordan earned what he got in the NBA?

[OrangeAfroMan]

biggest strike zone in the league

maybe he earned it

maybe Michael Jordan earned what he got in the NBA?

Umps in the 90s were hot garbage.  I always referred to it as the Tom Glavine strike zone.  He'd start every game making pitch after pitch a couple inches off the plate, until some of those called balls became called strikes, and then inch out further, hitting the catcher's target throughout the rest of the game.
This is why his 1st-inning ERA was crap, but it was good for the rest of the game.  He was willing to walk guys and give up a couple of runs early, just to get that gradually-expanded zone and benefit from it the rest of the game.
For Maddux, I think some of his 2-seamers and his curveball were so cartoony at times, they flummoxed the umps.