MLB 2023 Season

[cephasjames]

Originally Posted by dsvitak

OK..who else found out...today, that the Brewers graphic had an "M" and a "B?"

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid...84451975310478

Um, I knew that back in the 80s when the MB glove was their logo.

EDIT: Why do you think there are only three fingers and a thumb on the glove?

[Déjà Bru]

Originally Posted by dsvitak

OK..who else found out...today, that the Brewers graphic had an "M" and a "B?"

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid...84451975310478

I brought it up when I started my "Remarkable Sports Teams Logos" thread back in 2016. I thought it was brilliant then and I still do now.

[Cobra Mgr]

Originally Posted by dsvitak

OK..who else found out...today, that the Brewers graphic had an "M" and a "B?"

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid...84451975310478

I've known for years. This & the old Hartford Whalers logos are my 2 favorites.

[cephasjames]

That's a good use of negative space for the H.

[dsvitak]

Originally Posted by cephasjames

That's a good use of negative space for the H.

Fed Ex does this as well. Brilliant.

[dsvitak]

Originally Posted by cephasjames

Um, I knew that back in the 80s when the MB glove was their logo.

EDIT: Why do you think there are only three fingers and a thumb on the glove?

Index finger belongs OUTSIDE the glove. Old School.

[Syd Thrift]

Originally Posted by dsvitak

Fed Ex does this as well. Brilliant.

Also as noted in the other thread, the Wazzu Cougars.

[thehef]

Saw an interesting stat tonight: The 2023 Dodgers' two top-of-the order hitters have - so far this season - the highest OBP+ of any other 1-2 hitters in the history of the game. While that in itself is interesting, what also struck me is that the next four top combos were all Big Red Machine teams:

#2: 1976, Pete Rose & Ken Griffey
#3: 1969, Rose & mainly Bobby Tolan
#4: 1972, Rose & Joe Morgan
#5: 1968, Rose, with Alex Johnson not quite half the time & several others combining for the rest of the time

(I'm assuming the stat is based upon whoever was in the #'s 1 and 2 spots, and not simply calculating based upon the two guys who mostly occupied those spots. But I don't know that...)

Looking at the 1968 Reds I'm surprised they are on the list. Rose certainly had an amazing year, but while Johnson's stats were very good, I would not have expected the two combined to be in the top-5 of all time.

Just looking at the stats, the 1970, 1975, 1978, and especially 1973 Reds couldn't have been far behind the top 5.

[cephasjames]

The 2023 MLB season is on pace to have the fewest errors in the history of baseball

Balls that look like clear errors are instead scored hits. It happens game after game, night after night, and has been all season...

Anecdotally... 50/50 balls are being scored base hits more often than [errors] these days... The league error rate has plummeted in recent years...

The popular social media conspiracy theory is MLB directed official scorers to rule more 50/50 balls hits to inflate the league batting average at a time when MLB enacted rules intended to do exactly that... An MLB official told The Athletic there has been no such directive, instead noting the pitch timer puts more pressure on everyone and the league has worked to standardize official scoring across the league. They want official scoring to be as uniform as possible.

Also, it should be noted the league error rate has been trending down since the 1970s...

Clearly though, that decline has accelerated in recent years, and MLB is on pace to post its lowest error rate in history this season.

[Amazin69]

Also, I wonder if the banning of infield shifts has led to a decline in Range Factor.

The fewer balls you reach, the fewer chances you have to make an error. As Larry Bowa, among others, could tell you.

***************
Tonight on FOX, depending on where you live, you can see the Mets…or the Tigers. Scheduling the powerhouses, eh, FOX?

I suppose it's a decent way to preview next season's draft, but still.

[kq76]

That's interesting. I'm a bit surprised they're going that direction.

The other day I was listening to a game and the announcer (I forget who) pointed out that an error is usually not taken as nearly as a big deal to the fielder as hits and earned runs are to a pitcher and that made a lot of sense to me. I would think it might go like this, if it's a secure veteran fielder then he'll probably put up his hand to say, "no, my bad" and pitchers probably really appreciate that, whereas if it's an inexperienced insecure (job-wise I mean, not mentally) fielder then a pitcher might be more fine with them not offering to take the error. A veteran hitter probably isn't having his contract based that much on his fielding anyway while a pitcher's contract I think probably still very much is based on their run prevention. FIPS, who?

And yeah, someone might say it's the scorer's decision not the players', but I'm sure we've all heard the stories of players or their reps arguing for scorer decisions to be changed. So as a scorer, I think you might be taking the above into consideration after awhile.

[Syd Thrift]

“Grade creep” could be a factor but it’s also true that error rates have been declining since the beginning of baseball and this is an even more consistent and steady effect than strikeout rates going up. As we understand how the game is played more and more and do less and less of putting players who don’t belong there at a position, these things do go down.

I do get that scorers can get told off by players for errors but I also remember seeing that in the 80s too and I’m not at all convinced it’s more common now than in the Bobby Knight “if you work the ref he’ll be too scared to make calls against you” era,

[low]

The Brewers can't beat good teams.

Thanks for coming to my TED Talk.

[Cobra Mgr]

What is the deal w/AAA game scheduling? Last night I listened to the tail end of the Bulls game on the radio. After the win, Durham moved into 2nd place in the division behind Lehigh.

WHO THEY WILL NEVER PLAY.

How are they putting teams in the same division who never play each other??????

[Westheim]

They played each other six times in the first half.

Why are there halves?

[Cobra Mgr]

Originally Posted by Westheim

They played each other six times in the first half.

But none in the 2nd half. So a team can be worse, but beat you for the title w/o you getting a chance to affect them. I know they are trying to cut down travel in the minors but I find this kind of set up ludicrous.

Why are there halves?

My understanding is it started cause teams stay fluid thanks to call ups, demotions & the draft. The team that starts in April isn't the one that finishes in September. Often drastically. So they did it so the teams actually better when the season ends gets a 2nd chance if the roster was significantly improved as the season progressed.

[Le Grande Orange]

Originally Posted by Cobra Mgr

What is the deal w/AAA game scheduling? Last night I listened to the tail end of the Bulls game on the radio. After the win, Durham moved into 2nd place in the division behind Lehigh.

WHO THEY WILL NEVER PLAY.

How are they putting teams in the same division who never play each other??????

I've been harping on that for years. Minor league schedules stopped having sensible schedule formats five to ten years ago, depending on the league.

Originally Posted by Westheim

They played each other six times in the first half.

Why are there halves?

Because it's a simple way to generate post-season qualifiers. All the full-season minors are using a split-season format this year.

The weird part in the International and Pacific Coast Leagues is that there while there are two divisions in both leagues, which should mean four playoff qualifiers, only two teams in each league qualify — the team with the better record in each half of the two division winners makes it into the post-season. This means Iowa, which won the first half IL West Division, and Oklahoma City, which won the first half PCL East Division, are not yet in the post-season.

The reason for this seems to be the limited time between the end of the regular season and the Triple-A Championship Game. There aren't enough days to do a four-team playoff in each league without pushing back that Championship Game.

[Cobra Mgr]

Originally Posted by Le Grande Orange

I've been harping on that for years. Minor league schedules stopped having sensible schedule formats five to ten years ago, depending on the league.


Because it's a simple way to generate post-season qualifiers. All the full-season minors are using a split-season format this year.

The weird part in the International and Pacific Coast Leagues is that there while there are two divisions in both leagues, which should mean four playoff qualifiers, only two teams in each league qualify — the team with the better record in each half of the two division winners makes it into the post-season. This means Iowa, which won the first half IL West Division, and Oklahoma City, which won the first half PCL East Division, are not yet in the post-season.

The reason for this seems to be the limited time between the end of the regular season and the Triple-A Championship Game. There aren't enough days to do a four-team playoff in each league without pushing back that Championship Game.

I don't get it. What's the rush?

[Cobra Mgr]

This stuff about Ohtani leaving for a winner must be true. Angels act desperate to make the postseason.

[thehef]

Originally Posted by Le Grande Orange

I've been harping on that for years. Minor league schedules stopped having sensible schedule formats five to ten years ago, depending on the league.

Is that primarily because of travel expense?

Originally Posted by Le Grande Orange

The weird part in the International and Pacific Coast Leagues is that there while there are two divisions in both leagues, which should mean four playoff qualifiers, only two teams in each league qualify — the team with the better record in each half of the two division winners makes it into the post-season. This means Iowa, which won the first half IL West Division, and Oklahoma City, which won the first half PCL East Division, are not yet in the post-season.

So, if I'm understanding, winning a division in either half of the season (or the overall division), means nothing. A team makes the playoffs by having the best record in the league for the half. If true, then it sounds like splitting teams into division is merely an organizational grouping meaning nothing.