[MLB] 2023 Major League Baseball Season (MLB Thread)
- Thread starter jwhouk
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The Houston News showed the 18 wheeler getting loaded up with the team equipment and sunflower seeds for the trip to spring training.
...soon.
...soon.
Just when I was considering going back to the ballpark this year, the Reds trade off Brandon Phillips. Not paying major league prices to see the Votto & friends show.
Since the trade deadline in 2015 - they have traded off Cueto, Leake, Chapman, Frazier, Bruce & now Phillips.
Since the trade deadline in 2015 - they have traded off Cueto, Leake, Chapman, Frazier, Bruce & now Phillips.
Because we (the Jays) don't have the same DH we had last year really? That's the critical, all-important position?
Ha! They're worried that it's the Moroners' bullpen that's going to let them down. How about the fact that they managed to string together a whopping 3 hits off of Keuchel while getting shut out on opening night? I don't think they're going to get to a point where the bullpen is going to be the issue. Maybe it's the pessimist in me from watching the same shit year after year, but my intuition tells me that their season is going to be over long, long before the bullpen becomes a problem.
Reddit was all "he's got something on his chest protector!", but if you look closely, a chunk of it comes off when he pulls the baseball away. Apparently there's a thing called friction welding that they use to fuse plastics together, and one theory is that's what happened here.
It was a sad, but relieving day yesterday when, after 20+ years of fandom, I officially gave up on the Mariners. We had an interesting ride, but I couldn't even call it a good ride, since they were only half-way decent for 5 of those 20+ years, and not consecutively. Sure, today is only day 6 of the season, but far beyond their 1 - 4 opening record is the fact that last night, at the end of yet another loss, 8 of the 9 players on the line-up were hitting .200 or less - with the 9th batter being hitless. They can't play defense, they can't hit the ball, and half the time it looks like they couldn't care less out there. Since losing to the Angels last night, Seattle is tied with the Giants for last place. This team no longer deserves my loyalty, so I will bid them adieu.
I stepped away from the Astros recently. Actually I did not have a choice, it was more like they pulled away from me. They had their one World Series appearance and then held a fire sale to rid themselves of value, sold the team, and went on deeper cost cutting measures. The icing on the cake, they switched to a TV deal where less than one half of the fan base had any chance of watching them on TV.
But on the up side, they built their team up the right way, by building up their minor league franchises and they have picked up a lot of good talent.
Now they are back on a widely available network, and they are fielding a competitive team. So I am back after 5-10 years in the wilderness.
The Pilots and the Super Sonics are the lucky ones. They've escaped this sports-horrendous city.
Russel Wilson says hi.
Russell Wilson said last year - before the season began - that he was surrounded by the best, most capable players he'd ever played with. He then proceeded to get sacked 16 times in the first 4 games, and was injured on two of them. Sure, they made it to the playoffs - even as NFC West Champions - but since everyone else in the NFC West had losing records, with two of them being the 49ers at 2-14 and the Rams at 4-12, it would have been hard not to make the playoffs. And then, true to last season's Seahawks form, they won their wildcard game and lost in the divisional round to Atlanta, behind a running performance that was so piss-poor that Wilson had the most rushing yards of any player, with 49 (Wilson also had the most rushing yards against the Cards with 36 and the Buccs with 80, to whom we lost 34-31 and 14-5). They got lucky last year, and I don't know how much more luck they have in them.
In fact, the city's only consistently good sports franchise is the one that gets the least love, the least attendance, and the least press: The Seattle Storm - who, in their first three seasons, went to the conference semifinals twice and then brought home the championship in their 3rd season. In fact, you have to go all the way to their 7th season before they failed to make the playoffs. I could post something similar about the Sounders, potentially, but ESPNFC is just crap. The other teams may make the playoffs once in a while. They may make it to, or even win their championship. But, inevitably, it all falls apart without setting up the dominant dynasty that we saw from teams like the Yankees, the Cowboys (from Aikman's era), the Bills, the Patriots, the Celtics, the Bulls, or the Lakers. Ownership around here, and potentially the fan base - it may run deeper than I know - just aren't patient enough with any given group of managers/staff/talent to give them a chance to win, for the most part.
I mean, getting back to baseball, since 2002 the Mariners have had 9 managers. Nine. Some of them lasted a whole season - and there's already a serious call for Servais' head because he's not "demonstrative" enough (by which they mean they want to see the guy throw bases at umpires and get thrown out more often, because poor sportsmanship is to be idolized, I guess). Of those 9, Mike Hargrove abruptly resigned mid-winning season, because his "passion" was fading away (and potentially because of a rift between himself and Ichiro); John McLaren was named as his replacement and then fired less than a year later (mid-season again) because the Mariners had the worst record in baseball and were paying $100M for the privelege; Jim Riggleman finished off the 2008 season, but wasn't kept on; Wakamatsu managed for almost two whole seasons before being fired; Brown finished out that season, and then went back to managing the Tacoma Rainiers; Wedge suffered a stroke mid-season and had to step down at the end of it; McClendon had one successful (meaning winning) season and then was cut the next year following a bad season (though primarily because we had a new FO and they wanted to work with their people, not Jack Z's). But at least with our former managers they've pretty much all gone on to suck at their next jobs too - unlike with our former players, who go on to have league-leading seasons and win dozens of World Series'.
It's like the Cleveland Browns quarterback roster in here.
I mean, getting back to baseball, since 2002 the Mariners have had 9 managers. Nine. Some of them lasted a whole season - and there's already a serious call for Servais' head because he's not "demonstrative" enough (by which they mean they want to see the guy throw bases at umpires and get thrown out more often, because poor sportsmanship is to be idolized, I guess). Of those 9, Mike Hargrove abruptly resigned mid-winning season, because his "passion" was fading away (and potentially because of a rift between himself and Ichiro); John McLaren was named as his replacement and then fired less than a year later (mid-season again) because the Mariners had the worst record in baseball and were paying $100M for the privelege; Jim Riggleman finished off the 2008 season, but wasn't kept on; Wakamatsu managed for almost two whole seasons before being fired; Brown finished out that season, and then went back to managing the Tacoma Rainiers; Wedge suffered a stroke mid-season and had to step down at the end of it; McClendon had one successful (meaning winning) season and then was cut the next year following a bad season (though primarily because we had a new FO and they wanted to work with their people, not Jack Z's). But at least with our former managers they've pretty much all gone on to suck at their next jobs too - unlike with our former players, who go on to have league-leading seasons and win dozens of World Series'.
It's like the Cleveland Browns quarterback roster in here.
Never believe a word any player says during the preseason. Ever. Because if you ask them, every player is in the best shape of their life, their teammates are the best guys ever to walk on the field, and they're going all the way to the championship this year. Players lie before the season starts, without fail.
Of course they do, and then they lie all season long. Sometimes their lies get the entire team penalized in draft picks, practice times, money, etc. - I'm lookin' at you, Sherman! Not reporting an injury for half a damn season, I swear.
You're upset your team isn't more like the Bills.
I'd feel bad for you, but while the Seahawks have made it to one less Superbowl, sure, they actually won one - and came just as close to winning the very next one as the Bills ever did.
Hey - I'm not debating that the Seahawks have been good, all I'm saying is that they - like the Mariners and Sonics - will fall to almost laughable season records, probably for decades, before they play in another Superbowl game, much less win one - as opposed to certain teams that, if unable to win their championships, at least played in them enough times, back to back, to be considered dynasties and to build up diehard, loyal fan bases. And yes, I would like it if the Seahawks were more like the Bills. At least when I hear the name "The Bills" I think of Jim Kelly, his battle with cancer, and the way that the team and its fans have come together to support him. When I hear the name "The Seahawks" I think of Marshawn Lynch grabbing his junk as he showboated his way across the goal line, or Richard Sherman trash talking the entire league or getting in fights with the coaching staff on the sideline during games.
Edit: And if they prove me wrong I'm going to say the exact same thing about each of my favorite teams every year.
Edit: And if they prove me wrong I'm going to say the exact same thing about each of my favorite teams every year.
I'm sure your fans would do the same with Steve Largent.
And for some perspective: I graduated from college three years ago.
The Bills's last playoff appearance was when I was in second grade.
Dude. You had Junior. You had (for a while) A-Rod. You had Gar, and Randy Johnson, and some damn fine players.
Okay, you had a really crappy ballpark, but I understand Safeco is tons better now.
I'm still sitting here, thinking that I'm gonna be long out of state before the Crew even sniffs another winning record.
Okay, you had a really crappy ballpark, but I understand Safeco is tons better now.
I'm still sitting here, thinking that I'm gonna be long out of state before the Crew even sniffs another winning record.
There was that 6-month stretch during the whole "Hoka Hey" debacle where I tossed every bit of Pirates gear in the house, but I more or less stuck with them through the entire 20-year stretch in the wilderness. I even stuck with them during the darkest days of the Pittsburgh Drug Trials and Jogging George Hendrick.
There's simply no team but the Jays for me, and I went to a ton of their games when I lived in Toronto during the time were sucking badly after their World Series repeat
But for the last few years I have rather given up on baseball in general, so I actually felt like a bit of a bandwagon jumper when they finally made it back to the playoffs the past couple years.