2025 MLB Thread

[Cobra Mgr]

Originally Posted by Déjà Bru

You would think — wouldn't you? — that players would be squeaky clean. I mean, squeaky clean.

I commiserated with LD84 in his thread but I will dump on Profar in this one. This suspension is for nearly half a regular season. It is one game more than half of the remaining Braves games. Plus, I read that "By rule, he is now ineligible to participate in the 2025 postseason, a significant consequence given that the Braves have very realistic playoff aspirations and also figure to contend for the National League East title."

If I am Profar's teammate, after the start that the team has had and considering they are still waiting for Acuña Jr. to return, I am doing this to Profar:

That includes Acuña Jr. himself who will now be under even more pressure to hurry his return to play. If he comes back too soon . . .

I don't agree w/keeping him out of the postseason. He should serve 80 games. Period. It is like they are punishing him twice. He has to sit more games if his team is good? Just hand them 80 & if they have to sit out the postseason to get 80, so be it.

[Syd Thrift]

Meh. I don't know when exactly that rule was added but it's on the books at this point and has been, I'm pretty sure, for a while (probably as of the last CBA). I'd maybe seek to take it off in CBA although knowing the owners they'd treat it as some sort of major concession and would demand something back in return instead of that being a both-sides-agreeing issue. In any case, not saying I'm a huge fan of the rule but people who use PEDs know about this particular wrinkle going in...

[Cobra Mgr]

[Déjà Bru]

The Red Sox have knitted a relationship with crochet. That is, Crochet.

Garrett Crochet extension: Red Sox agree to record six-year, $170 million deal with new Boston ace

The name is derived from the French term crochet, which means 'hook'. If this guy ends up justifying this contract, the Bosox will have really hooked the Chisox in their trade for Crochet for a bunch of prospects back in December.

TRADE DETAILS
Red Sox get: LHP Garrett Crochet
White Sox get: C Kyle Teel (No. 25 overall prospect), OF Braden Montgomery (No. 54 overall), INF Chase Meidroth (Boston's No. 11 prospect), RHP Wikelman Gonzalez (Boston's No. 14 prospect)

Of course, if only one of those guys ends up a star, the White Sox could end up looking like geniuses.

[reds1]

Originally Posted by Boomcoach

Elly de la Cruz screwed up his chance at a cycle last night by hitting a second home run. Another example of why "hitting for the cycle" is more an amusing side note than an actual achievement. It generally means "had a good day, including a triple".

Ban the torpedo bat!

Oh, wait - Elly de la Cruz used the torpedo bat last night?

Carry on.

[Déjà Bru]

Originally Posted by reds1

Ban the torpedo bat!

Make that "Damn the torpedo bats! Full speed ahead!"



(With all due respect to Admiral David Farragut.)

[Amazin69]

Watching the (edited) replay of Braves-Dodgers (totally not giggling with glee at the Braves being 0-5…I swear I didn't giggle…much) and Joe Davis (who is shockingly nowhere near as annoying on home telecasts with Hershiser as he is on FOX with Smoltz) notes that both the Dodgers and the Braves have ordered torpedo bats for the entire team.

Man, it's going to be awful embarrassing if it turns out that the bats had nothing to do with it and the Brewers staff just sucks, isn't it?

(Milwaukee gave up 11 runs to the [AFAIK] torpedo-free Royals last night. Just sayin' .)

[Amazin69]

As my Metsies will be in Sacramento next Friday, I thought I'd take a sneak peek at the former home of the River Cats and so I checked out NBC-Bay Area's telecast of the first game in that (temporary) home.

Lovely to see the A's in the classic Charlie Finley all-whites, as they all wore #24 to honor Rickey Henderson. I did notice, however, that the telecast relentlessly referred to the home team as "the Athletics" or "the A's"…and nothing but. Not a mention or association of the club with any city, be it past, present or future.

(I guess now that Las Vegas has the franchise rights, they wouldn't like any other city being named, and there's little point in calling the team "Las Vegas" when they still might never get there.)

*****************
The Athletics exhibited similar restraint wrt to their temporary minor-league digs. Even AAA stadiums have corporate sponsor names these days, but the ex-Oaklanders aren't about to do free advertising for a rental, so the park sponsor's name went completely unmentioned. All play-by-play announcer Jenny Cavnar ever said was "we are in West Sacramento" or similar.

I, of course, loved it. I may actually start watching the Athletics' games, just for the purity. (Even if the sponsor name is all over the park.)

***********************
As many of you already know, going without a city name is nothing new for this team. They never had a "P" on the cap or "Philadelphia" on the chest during their entire tenure in the City of Brotherly Love, nor for their first Kansas City ownership. (This may even have been a condition of the sale of the club by Roy and Earle Mack to Arnold Johnson; apparently, Connie Mack had a specific aversion to tying the club to one location, even for advertising purposes.)

It wasn't until Arnold Johnson's wife murdered him* and then sold the club to Charlie Finley that there was a "KC" on the cap where once had only been "A". (Nor did they put anything but "A", "A's" or the symbolic white elephant there in Oakland, but at least ownership did put "Oakland" on the uniforms.)

*-Mrs. Johnson was never publicly accused of foul play in Arnold's death, much less charged, but the circumstances certainly get an eyebrow raise out of me. So I don't mind jumping to conclusions…as a current famous American well knows, you can't slander the dead.

********************

Jenny Cavnar is jenerally reviled as the A's P-b-P, but she seemed fine in the bit I watched. I did raise an eyebrow when she talked of the Athletics' "young double play combination" of J.J. Wilson at short and Max Muncy at 2B, since it's been a while since Max Muncy was young…

…but it turns out that Jenny is quite right! This is a different Max Muncy, and they're not even related. They're both legally "Maxwell", too.

Quite a coincidence, given that neither "Maxwell" nor "Muncy" is a common name. it's one thing for "Will Smith" to have won the World Series five years in a row, as noted here, and I fondly recall when the Mets had a matched set of Bobby Joneses to go along with a brace of Bob Millers in their debut year, but those are far more common names. Huh.

(In both cases on the Mets, the homonymous players were both pitchers, and in both cases, it was one lefty and one righty. The incompetent 1962 Mets managed to have a "Bob L. Miller" who was actually a RHP [the LHP was Bob G. Miller], but the 2000 pennant winners got it right, with Bobby J. Jones throwing standard and Bobby L. Jones being the portsider. Thus proving that details matter.)

[dsvitak]

Originally Posted by Déjà Bru

Make that "Damn the torpedo bats! Full speed ahead!"

Attachment 1056024

(With all due respect to Admiral David Farragut.)

Oddly, torpedoes are what they called mines, back 200 years ago.

[Cobra Mgr]

Originally Posted by Cobra Mgr

Brett Gardner's son dies @ 14.

Unspeakable tragedy & shock. I wonder what got the family sick?

Carbon monoxide poisoning

[Déjà Bru]

Originally Posted by Cobra Mgr

Carbon monoxide poisoning

You know, some people chuckle when I mention this but I have gotten into the habit of taking a CO detector with me when I travel. And I bring an extra one for each family member's room. Chances are 99.9% that we will never hear it go off (except chirping when it needs a new battery) but it's that 0.1% that's in the back of my mind.

The boy's room was adjacent to "a dedicated machine room." One would prefer to think of this tragedy as an accident but one cannot help also thinking that Miller Gardner died due to the negligence or incompetence of the person(s) responsible for that machinery. I am determined never to have that happen to my family if I can help it.

[Amazin69]

Originally Posted by Déjà Bru

You know, some people chuckle when I mention this but I have gotten into the habit of taking a CO detector with me when I travel. And I bring an extra one for each family member's room. Chances are 99.9% that we will never hear it go off (except chirping when it needs a new battery) but it's that 0.1% that's in the back of my mind.

The boy's room was adjacent to "a dedicated machine room." One would prefer to think of this tragedy as an accident but one cannot help also thinking that Miller Gardner died due to the negligence or incompetence of the person(s) responsible for that machinery. I am determined never to have that happen to my family if I can help it.

Brett's lucky he didn't lose two sons. I assume that 14-year-old Miller was bunking with his 16-year-old brother, Hunter. (I don't think 9-year-old Ragan was on the trip.)

I guess it's best to make sure your room isn't next to anything that isn't another guest room, for exactly this reason. But who would have thought of this, before it happened?

One would prefer to think of this tragedy as an accident

Well, I'm sure that's how the resort is hoping the Gardners think of it…but Brett can probably afford an attorney who can make a jury think differently, probably to the tune of eight figures. (Miller was a teenager already in athletics, and given Brett's career earnings…)

Won't bring Miller back, though.

[kq76]

Originally Posted by Déjà Bru

You know, some people chuckle when I mention this but I have gotten into the habit of taking a CO detector with me when I travel. And I bring an extra one for each family member's room. Chances are 99.9% that we will never hear it go off (except chirping when it needs a new battery) but it's that 0.1% that's in the back of my mind.

The boy's room was adjacent to "a dedicated machine room." One would prefer to think of this tragedy as an accident but one cannot help also thinking that Miller Gardner died due to the negligence or incompetence of the person(s) responsible for that machinery. I am determined never to have that happen to my family if I can help it.

Is this really something that happens a lot that you take one when you travel? I like to keep a pretty lengthy checklist for trips and I never even would have thought to get one. We like to go on cruises and often take a room next to a maintenance or engineering room. I wonder if there's any danger in that.

[Déjà Bru]

Originally Posted by kq76

Is this really something that happens a lot that you take one when you travel? I like to keep a pretty lengthy checklist for trips and I never even would have thought to get one. We like to go on cruises and often take a room next to a maintenance or engineering room. I wonder if there's any danger in that.

You see stories like this occasionally in the news, like this one.

Though smoke alarms are normally required in American hotel rooms, no state and few hotel brands require in-room carbon monoxide detectors, which can be purchased for as little as $30.

For $30, why take a chance? It fits in the small pocket on the front of my suitcase. So yes, wherever that suitcase goes, so goes the CO detector. And I have one for each family member room, as I mentioned.

[Déjà Bru]

The current issue of Smithsonian Magazine includes the article Through Good Teams and Bad, Wrigley Field Remains the Coziest Park in Baseball — The Chicago landmark represents the purest form of the American pastime. I enjoyed it but, eh, people know the history of Wrigley Field.

I had decided not to post the article here (but you can read it if you are interested). However, I followed a link at the bottom of it to another Smithsonian story, this one about "Mr. Cub." This, I do want to share.

If Only Ernie Had Seen It. Here’s Why “Mr. Cub” Is Part of the 2016 World Series Win

Indeed. It's bad enough that "He . . . played a record 2,528 games without reaching the postseason." Worse that he died the year before the Cubs won the World Series, "ending a 108-year championship drought, the longest in all U.S. sports."

Oh well. I guess he had to settle for being a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame, a Library of Congress Living Legend, a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, immortalized by a statue outside of "The Friendly Confines," and forever loved by Cubs fans.

[Amazin69]

It happens. Ted Williams passed two years before the Sawx broke The Curse of the Bambino. Lifetime White Sox Hall of Famers Ted Lyons and Luke Appling both lived into their mid-80s, but neither made it to 2005 and "Don't Stop Believing".

Let's just hope the Metsies can get their ass in gear before anything happens to David Wright. #39YearsIsLongEnough

[Westheim]

Originally Posted by Amazin69

Let's just hope the Metsies can get their ass in gear before anything happens to David Wright. #39YearsIsLongEnough

With that pitching staff, the Captain better take his vitamins every day...

[reds1]

Yeesh. The Reds are on the cusp of making history. After defeating the Rangers 14-3 back on Monday, Cincinnati has now lost three straight games by a score of 1-0 (twice to the Rangers and once to the Brewers).

They join Brooklyn (1908), Browns (1909), Washington (1909), Pirates (1917) and Phillies (1960) for that dubious honour. No team has done it in four straight games. C'mon guys, give the pitchers some run support!

[Déjà Bru]

Originally Posted by reds1

Yeesh. The Reds are on the cusp of making history. After defeating the Rangers 14-3 back on Monday, Cincinnati has now lost three straight games by a score of 1-0 (twice to the Rangers and once to the Brewers).

They join Brooklyn (1908), Browns (1909), Washington (1909), Pirates (1917) and Phillies (1960) for that dubious honour. No team has done it in four straight games. C'mon guys, give the pitchers some run support!

Some strange stuff going on early in this season in addition to this and the torpedo bats. Here is what I could piece together on short notice.

• No defending World Series champion has ever had a better start to the season than the 2025 Los Angeles Dodgers (8-0).

• Aaron Judge joined Babe Ruth (1932) as the only players in Major League history to notch five or more homers and 15 or more RBIs in the first six games of a season.

• Luis Arraez started the season 0-for-16 before getting a hit on Monday. It was the third time a reigning batting champ started at least 0-for-13 to begin a season since 1900. The others were Ferris Fain in 1952 (0-for-21) and ... Arraez last season (0-for-13).

• Rafael Devers became the first player to strike out 10 times in a team's first three games of a season -- and that's not all. He became the first player to strike out 12 times in a team's first four games. And, yes, with 15 strikeouts through five games he shattered the old record of 13, shared by Pat Burrell in 2001 and Byron Buxton in 2017.

• Matt Olson has played 627 consecutive games entering Friday, dating to May 2, 2021. There have been only seven other streaks of at least 600 games to begin in the divisional era (1969), per Elias. They belong to 1982-98 Cal Ripken Jr (2,632 consecutive games), 1975-83 Steve Garvey (1,207), 2000-07 Miguel Tejada (1,152), 1978-83 Pete Rose (745), 1981-86 Dale Murphy (740), 1973-78 Rose (678) and 1969-73 Sandy Alomar Sr. (661).

• The New York Yankees became the first team in Major League history to hit three home runs on the first three pitches of the game. This was accomplished on March 29 against the Milwaukee Brewers.

• Tyler O'Neill hit a home run on Opening Day for the sixth consecutive season. No one else has done so more than four times.

• Carson Kelly became the first player in Major League history to hit for the cycle in March (the very last day of the month).

• With his 13 strikeouts against the Philadelphia Phillies on March 27, MacKenzie Gore joined Bob Gibson as the only pitchers in Major League history with at least 13 strikeouts and no walks in a scoreless outing on Opening Day. Gibson accomplished this feat in 1967. The difference? Gibson pitched a complete game shutout. Gore must have been very fatigued after throwing 93 pitches, poor baby, so they took him out after 6 innings and lost the game.

• The Mets introduced 5 NYC-themed mascots for their new between-innings race!

Yes, yes, the last one is not important. I'm just tweaking those guys.

[Déjà Bru]

Originally Posted by reds1

Ban the torpedo bat!

Too late. It's spreading.