MLB 2021 Official Thread

[BmillsSkier]

Last night on sports center after the Braves game Tim Kurchian (sp) said “it’s criminal how many strikeouts are happening this year” and that the league average is the lowest in forever.

What now, move the mound back?

[stealurface831]

the quality of pitching has surpassed the quality of pure hitting. the approach at the plate has become more power oriented but the approach on the mound has changed drastically on multiple fronts: off speed is the new fastball, sliders are the new curveball, spin rate is the new velocity. mlb has gotta do something imo or the game will die. three true outcomes is boring as fuck 99% of the time.

[Woodsy]

the quality of pitching has surpassed the quality of pure hitting. the approach at the plate has become more power oriented but the approach on the mound has changed drastically on multiple fronts: off speed is the new fastball, sliders are the new curveball, spin rate is the new velocity. mlb has gotta do something imo or the game will die. three true outcomes is boring as fuck 99% of the time.

Do something or the game will die?

FFS

The Padres Dodgers series over the weekend featured some of the best pitchers in the game and every game was fascinating and exciting. (and exhausting) If you think every teams starters 1-4 and their full bullpen is ELITE and cannot by touched my the majority of hitters you need to dial down the THC % in your cannabis intake.

Do hitters need to adapt? yeah, and they will or they will move down to AAA and some one else will, or the team will languish in the basement of their division ( looking right square at you NY Yankees)

No special rules. Its baseball

[Danno]

It's probably been mentioned here before, but it's nuts how bad the Yanks are hitting. I looked at the box score last night and one player was hitting .257, 4 others were under .250 and 5 others under .200. Incredible considering their lineup should be one of the top 3 or so in the majors. As a Mets fan I can't say I'm not enjoying it.

Yes, but if you sort MLB stats by runs scored, you'll see that the Yankees have scored 21 more runs than the Mets have this year; the Mets are DFL. Which is equally incredible because the Mets were supposed to be a potent offense this year at the expense of shitty defense. As a Mets fan I am NOT enjoying that.

[stealurface831]

Do something or the game will die?

FFS

The Padres Dodgers series over the weekend featured some of the best pitchers in the game and every game was fascinating and exciting. (and exhausting) If you think every teams starters 1-4 and their full bullpen is ELITE and cannot by touched my the majority of hitters you need to dial down the THC % in your cannabis intake.

Do hitters need to adapt? yeah, and they will or they will move down to AAA and some one else will, or the team will languish in the basement of their division ( looking right square at you NY Yankees)

No special rules. Its baseball

yeah, but that is coming from you, presumably a lifelong baseball fan. as the game has changed so have our ideas and expectations of what exciting baseball is. the game isn't experiencing growth and the majority of games won't hold the interest of the layfan.

[Woodsy]

yeah, but that is coming from you, presumably a lifelong baseball fan. as the game has changed so have our ideas and expectations of what exciting baseball is. the game isn't experiencing growth and the majority of games won't hold the interest of the layfan.

Again, counterpoint the Dodgers Padres series
or just yesterday 2 extra inning HR to win games
let go through scores, I couldnt watch them all

Royals v Tigers 3-2 only 1 HR, looks exciting
Indians 5 v Twins 3 3 HRs out of 8 hits

That Braves Cubs game looked exciting as fuck, 4 HR out of 16 hits

Baltimore beat the Yankees 4- 2 2 HR out of 12 hits...

As beat the rays 2-1 9 hits, 1 HR...

not gonna run through the whole list https://www.mlb.com/scores/2021-04-26 but so far not seeing your 3 true outcomes 99% of the time but I am seeing a lot of exciting games and some blowouts, standard fare.


Dont see how any rule changes are going to improve things.
If you didnt like those games, I dont think baseball is for you.

[hawkgt]

THANK FUCKING GOD JEFF BRIDICH IS FUCKING GONE!!!!!

Christ he is a fucking idiot!!!

that is all

[Woodsy]

AND
MLB said its MLB.TV service saw more than 1.3 billion minutes of streams through its first three weekends of the 2021 season, a 12% increase compared with the first 18 days of the shortened 2020 season and up 43% compared with the same time frame for the 2019 season, the league said in a release.

Also: MLB is also coming off a strong viewership around ESPN’s Sunday Night package. Using Nielsen stats, the Disney-owned property said its Sunday MLB package is up 33% compared with the entire 2020 average.

Through the first two weeks of the telecast, an average of 1.58 million viewers are tuning into the Sunday Night game. That number was roughly 1.19 million throughout the 2020 season.

And its April, basketball & Hockey are still drawing fans away.

your whole the game is dying unless we change it argument has been heard for 20 years. The worst things about this season is people in power buying into that bullshit and adding new rules to combat it, fixing whats not broken

[Danno]

THANK FUCKING GOD JEFF BRIDICH IS FUCKING GONE!!!!!

Christ he is a fucking idiot!!!

that is all

why couldn't he have quit BEFORE trading Arenado away for a bag of chips?

[stealurface831]

that is all fine and dandy but the fact remains that no one in my generation gives a shit about the game. even the kids that are playing don't care about the mlb. seriously, my teammates were casual fans at best. i think part of it has to do with the regionality of the league and the lack of recognizable stars on the national level but perhaps the tides are turning with mookie and tatis jr. they seem to have star potential outside the realm of the mlb.

[Supermoon]

yeah, but that is coming from you, presumably a lifelong baseball fan. as the game has changed so have our ideas and expectations of what exciting baseball is. the game isn't experiencing growth and the majority of games won't hold the interest of the layfan.

I find sitting around waiting for someone to hit a home run boring. Forcing hitters to look for singles and double to put pressure on the pitchers is way more exciting IMO. So if the HR or strikeout approach stops working I’m all for it.

That’s also why I like the new extra innings rules. Lots of action.

[SkiBall]

I find sitting around waiting for someone to hit a home run boring. Forcing hitters to look for singles and double to put pressure on the pitchers is way more exciting IMO. So if the HR or strikeout approach stops working I’m all for it.

That’s also why I like the new extra innings rules. Lots of action.

Home Run Derby League in the winter in domed stadiums, baseball in the summer.
HR’s are great and all, but doubles and triples get me off. So more of that please.
That’s two separate trains of thought...kinda.
And here’s a third: No D stats involved, but last 1k AB’s for Lindor & X.

[BmillsSkier]

I still love Frankie, and support anyone's decision to go make as much money as you can, but man I think he's gonna look back at Cleveland and remember how much easier everything was.

on another note

YO MLB.TV SUBSCRIBERS:

As mentioned before, my 11 year free subscription finally ran out so I got a single team package through amazon prime. Up until Friday I could link it to my mlb.com account (the app and full desksite) so I could listen/watch through there and get all radio feeds. Now it won't link. Amazon says its mlb's problem and vice versa. Anyone else have this issue, I'm really kinda bummed by it as I love the radio call and I'm not going to pay for a radio subscription on top of a MLB.TV subscription. Fuckers.

[SkiBall]

Jeremy Frank
@MLBRandomStats
Mike Trout when making contact vs RHP this year

9 singles
5 doubles
6 home runs
11 outs

.645 BA, 1.387 SLG

Then again, maybe going for the K is the best option,,,

[Supermoon]

Home Run Derby League in the winter in domed stadiums, baseball in the summer.
HR’s are great and all, but doubles and triples get me off. So more of that please.
That’s two separate trains of thought...kinda.
And here’s a third: No D stats involved, but last 1k AB’s for Lindor & X.

X is about to get PAID. Probably not from the sox if recent history has anything to say about it

Should be a couple fun games for Mets/Sox fans tho. Looking forward to it

[stealurface831]

gary sanchez to the bench for higashioka. oof.

[BC.]

gary sanchez to the bench for higashioka. oof.

the saying is: “Not hittin’...u sittin’....”

Higs is 2-2 tonight...with a homer...

[Supermoon]

Who had JD with an outfield assist on their bingo card?

[stealurface831]

holy shit what a bomb by acuña

[half-fast]

Pitching has gotten better than hitting. Used to be you wanted to get the starter out of the game to get to the bullpen. Now every guy in the bullpen throws high 90’s

[JongDoe]

that is all fine and dandy but the fact remains that no one in my generation gives a shit about the game. even the kids that are playing don't care about the mlb. seriously, my teammates were casual fans at best. i think part of it has to do with the regionality of the league and the lack of recognizable stars on the national level but perhaps the tides are turning with mookie and tatis jr. they seem to have star potential outside the realm of the mlb.

Agree with you that this is a huge problem for MLB that younger generations will not watch such a slow game. I don't agree that the quality of pitching is surpassing the hitting. Hitting is so focused on power numbers as others have said that all of the fundamentals of the game are now forgotten.

Watch any game and repeatedly half the opposite side of the infield is wide open and hitters are still trying to pull the ball down several runs. Power numbers generate the ridiculous salaries they are getting paid and that is the clear focus of every batter. Nobody cares about moving runners over or doing the little things that help win games if it doesn't help them at contract time. And so many times watching games a batter has 2 strikes and i say here comes slop in the dirt, then it comes and the batter not only is fooled, but is trying to yank it out of the yard. I'm a longtime baseball lover and it has gotten much less enjoyable the last 10 years or so.


Danno
Quote Originally Posted by JongDoe View Post

Yes, but if you sort MLB stats by runs scored, you'll see that the Yankees have scored 21 more runs than the Mets have this year; the Mets are DFL. Which is equally incredible because the Mets were supposed to be a potent offense this year at the expense of shitty defense. As a Mets fan I am NOT enjoying that.

True Danno, but as a fellow Mets fan you know that we will take solace over any failures of the Yankees to soften the pain of the Mets failures.

[Bunion 2020]

on another note

YO MLB.TV SUBSCRIBERS:

As mentioned before, my 11 year free subscription finally ran out so I got a single team package through amazon prime. Up until Friday I could link it to my mlb.com account (the app and full desksite) so I could listen/watch through there and get all radio feeds. Now it won't link. Amazon says its mlb's problem and vice versa. Anyone else have this issue, I'm really kinda bummed by it as I love the radio call and I'm not going to pay for a radio subscription on top of a MLB.TV subscription. Fuckers.

You are not alone, I stream via ROKU and if I list Atlanta as my favorite team I can only stream the live feed. Can't start at the beginning or jump to an inning.

MLBTV blames ROKU, ROKU says it MLBTV. As an experiment I took to Braves off as my favorite and now I am able to choose which feed I want to watch and can start at the beginning or join live. When I called to complain I was met by bewilderment.

OTOH, Anderson pitched a beauty last night.

[stealurface831]

Agree with you that this is a huge problem for MLB that younger generations will not watch such a slow game. I don't agree that the quality of pitching is surpassing the hitting. Hitting is so focused on power numbers as others have said that all of the fundamentals of the game are now forgotten.

Watch any game and repeatedly half the opposite side of the infield is wide open and hitters are still trying to pull the ball down several runs. Power numbers generate the ridiculous salaries they are getting paid and that is the clear focus of every batter. Nobody cares about moving runners over or doing the little things that help win games if it doesn't help them at contract time. And so many times watching games a batter has 2 strikes and i say here comes slop in the dirt, then it comes and the batter not only is fooled, but is trying to yank it out of the yard. I'm a longtime baseball lover and it has gotten much less enjoyable the last 10 years or so.

you're right about the power approach. i can't speak to other organizations but the rangers' offensive philosophy is "elevate to celebrate". in the batting cages, there is a string hung about 15 feet from the plate, 8 feet or so in the air. they were supposed to keep the ball above the string.

[paj]

Braves off to a casual two 2-run homer bottom of the first.

Hopefully the bats have woken up! Ozuna went deep and he was in a bad slump.

Dansby cleansed the park with a sage burning session before Monday’s game.

[paj]

10 - 0 Braves over Cubs through 6. Lets keep this momentum going!