Major League Baseball

[Plissken]

I don't disagree in principle but most of them have moved on to other clubs.

 

I read (on The Ringer I think) that part of the punishment was aimed at changing the Astros management culture. One of their assistant GMs was caught yelling directly at female journalists in support of a player who had been suspended for domestic violence. The culture was "win at all costs" and organised sign stealing and signing domestic abusers was part of that mentality.

[ryodi]

I hadn't read that reasoning but it is a fair way to do it. The draft doesn't seem as important in MLB compared to other US sports when draft picks are usually send down to AA or AAA for a few years before even getting a chance at the major league and with MLB being a closed shop there's only so much they can do. Cora must be fearing the worst at this point if he's been labelled as the ringleader.

[McFly]

Red Sox have traded David Price and Mookie Betts to the LA Dodgers  

 

 

[ryodi]

Inevitable really but will be awful for all of them food stands etc that are part of and surround the stadiums,

[glb]

This is a cool little video about hitting a fastball.

 

 

[ryodi]

The 60 game season has started. The Red Sox have already lost a series to the Orioles but at least JBJ has started hot with the bat, he wouldn't get away with one of his cold streaks in a season this short. As a casual TV viewer the lack of crowds isn't having that much impact to me and honestly the removal of the US military fetishism at the stadiums is a plus point for me. Only three games in and the Marlins have already had an outbreak of COVID-19 with one player and two coaches testing positve resulting in two games being postponed today. Hopefully they can keep it contained otherwise it's unlikely they'll even manage to complete a 60 game regular season. 
 

EDIT Turns out it was a lot more than three

 

 

[McFly]

Yikes. At least its not an NFL team who have huge numbers of players and support staff in close proximity. Though saying that MLB teams must have a good amount of staff too.

[Plissken]

MLB is still traveling around the country.  To the extent that the Toronto Blue Jays have to play across the border in Buffalo because the Canadian government won't let them and their opponents travel.

[ryodi]

Last team standing wins the World Series.

 

the

[OneDvBmbr]

What a mess. Can’t see the season finishing. 

[ryodi]

 

The knock on effects on athletes are only now being seen and has to make the MLB more cautious after the outbreak in Florida. This is a healthy athlete who now has a heart problem caused by the virus.

[McFly]

Thats proper grim. Has there been more of these heart issues with covid-victims? I havent heard of it but i hadnt been looking

[ilpostino]

I'd recommend anyone who didn't see the game tonight to fire it up and watch the chaos. An instant classic.

[the_debaser]

That was absolutely crazy. 
 

Hope the rays win it, them vs the Yankees was the first game I saw at a baseball stadium in America. 

[ilpostino]

1 hour ago, Pockets said:

Is it just because it’s pre-season that they’re ignoring the game and talking to the players and doing personality fluff pieces throughout or is the coverage always like this?

You don't get that during the season. I'm not watching preseason for that reason, plus the play is a little too loose for my liking.

[ilpostino]

1 hour ago, Pockets said:

Yeah I don’t think it’s worth me putting the time in right now. Might just put me off. Will wait for the proper start. 
 

I used to love NFL but found it all a bit bullshitty after a decade of it. It didn’t seem to matter what team was what, it was all just a big corporate identity and the teams were like different branches of the same store (with staff being endlessly swapped around and having loyalty only to the parent company the NFL, not really to any team within it, or completely meaningless empty sloganeering at best - Revis jumping between Jets and Pats and claiming the other were his hated rivals each time.)
 

Is baseball the same?

 

Baseball isn't as bad for that, even though it's not as popular as the NFL in the US I feel like the teams are more closely tied to the cities they're in and the fans identify with them a lot more, probably a part of it being a much, much older sport.

 

You might see some bullshit at the end of next season, with the upcoming negotiations with MLB and the Player's Union looking to everyone that they'll end in a strike. Hopefully not. Toronto is electric when the Jays are in the playoffs. (You can multiply that by about a thousand when the Leafs are there in the NHL too!)

 

 

[McFly]

It's been on BT last few years if that helps. Baseball is way more traditional and less flashy than nfl so hopefully won't be too annoying for you.

[ryodi]

 

[ryodi]

There seems to be one free game a week this season on YouTube, today's game is the Red Sox against Tampa Bay. It's only available through YT it's not even streaming through the MLB.tv app. 

 

 

[ilpostino]

We're already in mid-season umpiring form, with some truly horrible officiating already. Ah, it's good to have baseball back.

 

The links above are from a fun baseball channel, Jomboy - who rose to prominence after being the one to show the dustbin hitting the Astros were doing. He does some fun baseball breakdowns.

 

Another channel I can recommend is Foolish Baseball.

[McFly]

I liked that Jomboy channel, good video thanks.

[TehStu]

You need to find a team you'll irrationally support. Although what really did it for my family when visiting from the UK was taking them to Busch Stadium to watch the Cards host the Cubs.

 

Meanwhile,

 

 

[FalconGR]

Opening day has been cancelled due to the lockout - which is rather disappointing. I am hoping to pop back to Boston over the summer (I used to live there) to watch some Red Sox games, so hopefully they get it sorted.

[McFly]

Wow, I'm out of touch didn't know about this at all. 

[FalconGR]

Season now starting on April 7th. Red Sox are opening up at the Yankees!

[McFly]

Good news all round

[Stoppy2000]

Anyone playing The Show 22? Seems pretty good so far. Still looks very PS4 though. Also no way to play a simple game Vs a friend online. 

[McFly]

I played it a bit, enjoyed it well enough. I just found it was just either too easy or too hard regarding batting, pitching was great and I loved it but I could never find a balance with batting.

[pinholestar]

On 13/04/2022 at 11:12, Stoppy2000 said:

Anyone playing The Show 22? Seems pretty good so far. Still looks very PS4 though. Also no way to play a simple game Vs a friend online. 

I got hooked with ‘21 as it was on Game Pass and now I’m all in on ‘22 and am playing it a scary amount. I’m a huge baseball fan though, so not sure how appealing it would be to someone who isn’t familiar with the sport.

 

It’s by a country mile the best sports game franchise, in my opinion. MLB are blessed to have a Sony first-party studio exclusively dedicated to putting it out every year. The Diamond Dynasty FUT equivalent absolutely shits all over EA’s gouging offering. They’ve fiddled with it a little this year but the amount of regular content they provide is insane and it’s entirely possible to have a competitive online team and obtain the very best cards without spending a penny.

 

The learning curve for batting is pretty steep but once you figure it out it’s awesome. Will easily be my most played game this year, as it was last year.

[Stoppy2000]

3 hours ago, pinholestar said:

I got hooked with ‘21 as it was on Game Pass and now I’m all in on ‘22 and am playing it a scary amount. I’m a huge baseball fan though, so not sure how appealing it would be to someone who isn’t familiar with the sport.

 

It’s by a country mile the best sports game franchise, in my opinion. MLB are blessed to have a Sony first-party studio exclusively dedicated to putting it out every year. The Diamond Dynasty FUT equivalent absolutely shits all over EA’s gouging offering. They’ve fiddled with it a little this year but the amount of regular content they provide is insane and it’s entirely possible to have a competitive online team and obtain the very best cards without spending a penny.

 

The learning curve for batting is pretty steep but once you figure it out it’s awesome. Will easily be my most played game this year, as it was last year.

Which method of batting do you use? I've got it on direction based I think. I do like the way it tracks actual real life games in the game. How quickly should I be called up to the major league in Road to The Show mode? Feel like I'm destined to play out a career in the minor league..