OFFICIAL 2023 MLB THREAD!!!!

[alias_rice]

Alright, Vlad Jr was born in Montreal. He's pretty good. Kind of trending down at 24 but he could play first for a lot of teams.

Gagne’s 3 year prime may have been the most dominate 3 year stretch by a reliever. A 1st, 4th and 7th in Cy Young voting and a top 10 in MVP voting. A sub .800 whip and like 14 K’s per 9. In 2003 his era+ was 337. I’m too lazy to look it up but I’d guess that has to rival anything Mariano did in a 3 year stretch of regular season games.

Of course, Gagne was taking more roids than Bonds during that stretch though.

[lowsparkco]

If those were the only stats that mattered, yes.
I wish there was some way to measure how many more wins a team would have with a player over his replacement....

And if there was only some way to negate the bias we feel towards the team and players we prefer.

I think the record speaks for itself. Let’s argue about whether Spencer Strider deserves the Cy Young.

You can keep Freddie’s doubles and his 26 home runs. Not only does that not get him an MVP it would rank him 6th in HR’s on the Braves’ roster in 2023. Mookie is a better candidate, but in all likelihood he’s going to lose to Acuna Jr.

[Supermoon]

Ohtani is still AL MVP right? Even missing the last bit of the season? Has to be.

[Danno]

Ohtani should still be unanimous

[alias_rice]

Ohtani should still be unanimous

I think you’re right, but has there ever been a more disappointing MVP season? Between the Angels being a dumpster fire, the UCL injury, and now the oblique injury ending his season early it’s kind of been a bummer.

[Brock Landers]

Acuna tied in HR and virtually tied in RBI. Decent lead in runs. Decent lead in batting average. Team has a better record. 70 stolen bases isnt high on the list but I don’t need to get to stolen bases before I’d vote Acuna.

[The AD]

Ohtani should still be unanimous

You know he won't be, though. Some voters will say the Angels weren't good enough. Others will say he doesn't deserve it because he missed part of the season.

[Brock Landers]

You know he won't be, though. Some voters will say the Angels weren't good enough. Others will say he doesn't deserve it because he missed part of the season.

I got seager at 15-1 late June. Figured decent chance ohtani got traded to the NL. So I wouldn’t mind voters factoring in record (Texas has shit the bed anyway so maybe moot point)

[lowsparkco]

Acuna tied in HR and virtually tied in RBI. Decent lead in runs. Decent lead in batting average. Team has a better record. 70 stolen bases isnt high on the list but I don’t need to get to stolen bases before I’d vote Acuna.

But he played the same position all year.

[ex-powderbroker]

35 home runs for Judge in 100 games so far. Would have been even cooler if he was playing a quality center like last year. You don't make as big an impact on the games when you aren't up the middle.

[Sluff]

My Twins clinched the weak AL central division last night. Playoffs here we come.

However, we are 0-18 in our last 18 playoff games 🤢 Here’s to at least one win this year.

[Supermoon]

[BmillsSkier]

Wow. Municipal Stadium in 1985 was more crowded than that.

Even with a 20 year playoff draught, nameless players, $200MM less payroll and an iron beam directly in front of every seat.

[Supermoon]

“Best Fans in Baseball” or whatever they say

[ex-powderbroker]

Horrible weather for a makeup game on Yom Kippur when the rainout was over the weekend? Shit like that can happen anywhere I'm sure.

I caught a game like that awhile back and was amazed how empty it was, I could hear the umpire talking to the pitcher from the middle tier.

Maybe 300 people.

[BmillsSkier]

I’ve been to games like that at the old Reds Riverfront Stadium. You could hear Adam Dunn cracking jokes with the other players from 50 rows back.

Sound just carried in that old concrete piece of shit.

[Supermoon]

Good read on all of our favorite asshole. God Speed Tito.

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/...red-sox-retire

[ex-powderbroker]

you know who has shitty fans? baltimore. they’re en route to their first really good season in how long? they could get to 100
wins and here they are towards the bottom even with that gem of a ballpark.

fuck baltimore

https://www.espn.com/mlb/attendance

[half-fast]

you know who has shitty fans? baltimore. they’re en route to their first really good season in how long? they could get to 100
wins and here they are towards the bottom even with that gem of a ballpark.

fuck baltimore

https://www.espn.com/mlb/attendance

butthurt Yankee fan?

[BmillsSkier]

Good read on all of our favorite asshole. God Speed Tito.

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/...red-sox-retire

Man, I'm really gonna miss Tito.

https://www.mlb.com/guardians/news/t...aseball-legacy

It's hard to understate what he's done in Cleveland, in that market, with that payroll, with those young kids, and to come out of it the winningest Manager in Tribe/Guards history.

"Francona is the franchise's all-time winningest manager with 919 victories. The Indians/Guardians are 919-754 since he took over in 2013. The only teams with a better winning percentage over the same 11 years are the Dodgers (1027-647 .614) and Yankees (937-737 .560), and we won't even talk about the hundreds of millions of dollars more in payroll the Dodgers and Yankees spent during that time."

https://sports.yahoo.com/francona-te...034600615.html

[BmillsSkier]

Been listening to the radio guys eulogize Tito's time in Cleveland this afternoon ahead of what could likely be his final home game, and then comes Tito's daily press conference which he ended with, "You know I'm going to go get stitched up for the 80th time next week after the season ends, heal up, and see where that puts me. I know its frustrating, but I'm in no hurry to make any decisions, and it doesn't have to be tomorrow."

[Bunion 2020]

Just back from Atlanta. Caught last nights game against the Cubs. Damn the Battery is a fun place to watch a BB game. Lots of Daisy Dukes on GA Peaches and the Braves managed to hang on long enough for the Cubs to blow a 6-0 lead.

[ex-powderbroker]

butthurt Yankee fan?

So you're impressed with a bottom third attendance in a great season? If I was Mountcastle or Henderson, it wouldn't ingratiate me to the city. YMMV

[half-fast]

Baltimore’s probably bottom third in population?

[BmillsSkier]

Thank you Tito.



Nearly 30,000 fans showed up at the corner of Ontario and Carnegie to say thanks and farewell to the winningest Manager in Cleveland history, and to one hell of a guy.

The Guards showed up, earning an exciting 4-3 win over the playoff pushing Reds behind a rehabbed ace Shane Beiber and saves leader Clase, giving Terry Francona one last win at the Jake after 11 wonderful years.

A touching video tribute, chants of “Thank you Tito”, and it all ended with multiple curtain calls for the Skip. The fans are still in their seats. Lots of tears in the dugout and appreciation in the stands. That’s Cleveland baseball.