MLB 2023 Season

[Cobra Mgr]

Originally Posted by Westheim

If they keep going like that, a fan is gonna pitch in the eighth.

Analytics can kiss my gluteus maximus.

[Westheim]

If you can't have four starters that can at least pitch five innings, what are you even doing? Not just in the playoffs, in the *league*.

(simultaneously covers the screen so that nobody can see the liquid mess that is the Raccoons' rotation)

On the bright side, maybe we can get some enlightenment from Jim and Joe into whether a mercy rule makes sense in the playoffs.

[Westheim]

Tommy Pham thought, hey, we should get Jace Peterson into the game, back in Game 2.

Little did anybody know that the bullpen thought the same for Game 4.

They're already down to The Other Nelson, Saalfrank, Ginkel, Thompson, and No Wins Sewald, and it's the *fourth* inning.

[Westheim]

The Rangers went from a 10-0 lead to having their closer try and sort out a stinker in the ninth inning. Moral victories are worthless when you have to win three in a row or go home, but at least the Snakes managed to make both teams look ridiculous.

[CONN CHRIS]

Originally Posted by Westheim

The Rangers went from a 10-0 lead to having their closer try and sort out a stinker in the ninth inning. Moral victories are worthless when you have to win three in a row or go home, but at least the Snakes managed to make both teams look ridiculous.

I thought it was exciting in its own weird ode-to-the-folley-of-the-strict-pitch-count-era sort of way. I guess that I really do just love baseball unconditionally to have enjoyed that one so much.

...Or I am truly a simpleton that doesn't understand how the playoffs should be constructed as some of the I'm-smarter-than-you squad believe.

[CONN CHRIS]

Originally Posted by kq76

Yeah, and in the WS. This is ridiculous.

I was against it when I heard Manfred wants to lower the pitcher limit from 13 to 12 (half pitchers and half batters I kind of like), but if it can motivate teams to train more pitchers to pitch longer, bring it on.

Originally Posted by Westheim

If you can't have four starters that can at least pitch five innings, what are you even doing? Not just in the playoffs, in the *league*.

No kidding. When the norm has become that teams don't have at least four guys who can consistently give you five innings, it's time to re-think the whole development system in place.

[pilight]

Teams don't want pitchers to throw five, six, seven good innings. It's cheaper to have a bunch of two inning pitchers.

[monkeyman576]

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/...lassic-history

Not sure why people are surprised with low ratings with all the cable cutting going on. Fox needs to air the games live on HULU or something.

[Cap]

Actually, we got rid of cable last year and whatever it's called now seems way more unstable. Internet TV seems to drop connections all the time. I tried watching the game last night (10-0 why?) and the signal dropped five or six times so I just gave up. We're stuck with two TV providers and service is the same for both.

As for pitchers, wasn't there a time in the last fifty years where starters would go seven innings?

Cap

[Cap]

Originally Posted by pilight

Teams don't want pitchers to throw five, six, seven good innings. It's cheaper to have a bunch of two inning pitchers.

Gotta watch that profit margin. After all, pro 'sports' is a business meant to make profit for its shareholders while sedating the great unwashed masses.

Cap

[pilight]

Originally Posted by Cap

As for pitchers, wasn't there a time in the last fifty years where starters would go seven innings?

On average? No. In 1973, 50 years ago, the average innings per start was 6.6. The last time IP/S reached seven was in 1945, largely due the shortage of quality arms during the war. It hasn't reached seven in a peacetime year since 1933, some 90 years ago.

[thehef]

In the postseasons of yore I'd say the hope & expectation was that your postseason starter would easily be capable of at least 7+ innings since he was usually one of your top 3 or 4 starters - and I'll bet their avg innings per start in the regular season was at least 7, since that calculation would, by definition, throw out the shorter starts of the rotation-back-enders and spot starters.

And even that 6.6 avg innings from 1973 is not really an apples-to-apples comparison to today, since that 6.6 was pulled down mostly by guys getting knocked around early, whereas today's pitchers not only get knocked around early, but also get yanked for purely strategic reasons (3rd time through the order, openers - which didn't exist in 1973 - significantly affecting the calculation, and the fact that the manager has roughly 10 bullpen arms capable of throwing 98 mph).

[Cobra Mgr]

Originally Posted by monkeyman576

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/...lassic-history

Not sure why people are surprised with low ratings with all the cable cutting going on. Fox needs to air the games live on HULU or something.

Media tickles me when they point to ratings to say no one is interested in these teams or baseball. Well whose fault is that?

When I turn on sports radio last summer, when the only major league that is playing of course is baseball, what were the topics?
Aaron Rodgers? Does he leave Green Bay? Then, when does he go to the Jets?
Damian Lillard & his relationship w/the Blazers. What can Portland get for him from Miami?
Lionel Messi signing w/Miami.
College realignment rumors.
PGA merging w/LIV golf.
NCAA transfer portal

Those were the headlines. Sprinkle in various NFL (Daniel Snyder, Saquon Barkley's contract, LaMar Jackson's contract, Tua's concussions) & NBA (Giannis rumors, James Harden vs the Sixers, Phoenix landing Beal, various signings) offseason news, when did the media ever headline baseball?

The only thing I remember from the summer on baseball is speculation on Ohtani getting traded. The public doesn't ignore baseball when the Yanks, Red Sox, Dodgers, Cards, Braves etc aren't involved. It is the press that never brings the rest of the league to our attention. If you are a sports fan like me, you have to search out for baseball news. You can't just click on the front page of these sports news websites or turn on the radio and listen to it. That is the problem. They have turned summer sports news into the Hollywood gossip page. Instead of tuning us into the sports in operation.

So what do they expect? The media is always hyping their importance when an organization tries to deny them access. Then they need to recognize their part of the problem. If a sport's popularity is due to their making news out of it, then realize its lack of popularity is due to their not making news out of it.

[kq76]

CobraMgr, you might want to subscribe to more baseball-centric youtube channels if you feel like you're not getting enough baseball. I only very rarely visit the biggest sites for sports news anymore. Baseball is pretty much the only sport I'm interested in now (basketball a little bit) and it took me awhile, but I finally realized I wasn't interested in listening to all the inane chatter on so many channels about other sports. I'm so much better off for switching them off.

I understand you weren't so much saying you don't get enough baseball talk as you were saying the big networks talk too much about other sports, but still, maybe you should turn on other channels.

[Le Grande Orange]

Originally Posted by pilight

On average? No. In 1973, 50 years ago, the average innings per start was 6.6. The last time IP/S reached seven was in 1945, largely due the shortage of quality arms during the war. It hasn't reached seven in a peacetime year since 1933, some 90 years ago.

And yet in 1973 the percentage of complete games thrown was 27.3%; in 1945, it was 46.3%; in 1933, it was 45.4%. In 2022 the percentage of complete games thrown was 0.7%.

[Cobra Mgr]

Originally Posted by kq76

CobraMgr, you might want to subscribe to more baseball-centric youtube channels if you feel like you're not getting enough baseball. I only very rarely visit the biggest sites for sports news anymore. Baseball is pretty much the only sport I'm interested in now (basketball a little bit) and it took me awhile, but I finally realized I wasn't interested in listening to all the inane chatter on so many channels about other sports. I'm so much better off for switching them off.

I understand you weren't so much saying you don't get enough baseball talk as you were saying the big networks talk too much about other sports, but still, maybe you should turn on other channels.

The prob I find w/baseball centric broadcasts is the over reliance of analytics when talking the sport. They aren't for the baseball fan. They are for the baseball superfan. And I don't believe sports discussion should be all that difficult & complicated. If you're not getting paid, baseball should be a past time, not an expertise.

This is another reason why the media is to blame for baseball's regression in the mind of the sports fan. They've taken the fun out of talking the game. Analytics has taken their place among football & basketball as well. But it hasn't overwhelmed the sport. The casual observer can jump into any discussion in those sports and not feel like a 3rd grader talking to physics professors.

[pilight]

Originally Posted by Cobra Mgr

Those were the headlines. Sprinkle in various NFL (Daniel Snyder, Saquon Barkley's contract, LaMar Jackson's contract, Tua's concussions) & NBA (Giannis rumors, James Harden vs the Sixers, Phoenix landing Beal, various signings) offseason news, when did the media ever headline baseball?

The World Series, in prime time while networks are struggling to find decent content, is pulling fewer viewers than the women's NCAA basketball final, played on a Sunday afternoon. Women's college basketball is never, ever headlined by the media.

[pilight]

Originally Posted by Le Grande Orange

And yet in 1973 the percentage of complete games thrown was 27.3%; in 1945, it was 46.3%; in 1933, it was 45.4%. In 2022 the percentage of complete games thrown was 0.7%.

But it's ancient history. We're closer in time to the 22nd century than we are to 1945.

[Cobra Mgr]

Originally Posted by pilight

The World Series, in prime time while networks are struggling to find decent content, is pulling fewer viewers than the women's NCAA basketball final, played on a Sunday afternoon. Women's college basketball is never, ever headlined by the media.

The Final 4 had an unbeaten South Carolina looking to repeat vs Caitlin Clark, who was more hyped by the media than any baseball player this year this side of Ohtani. The attention fostered on Corey Seager even after his great WS is no match for what the media has heaped on Clark.

[Westheim]

This is shaping up to be a 1-0 Rangers win on a stray Travis Jankowski homer while the Snakes have 12 hits and a whole lotta whiffs with guys on third base.