2019 MLB Season Thread [ARCHIVED] Baseball • Page 1126

In a span of 6 weeks, the 1990 Red Sox lost 18-0 and 16-0 to the Brewers and Twins respectively

 

I missed this whole thing last night.

 

Lol his shirt

 

Glad the Cards found those runs they were missing

 

So, that douche Tigers fan didn't give Pujols the ball... smh

Look at this guy.

 

He looks like he posts here

 

“We play this game for the fans, too, and if they want to keep it, I think they have the right”

Albert is a class act, though.

 

He has a very punchable face.

 

He looks like @Cody ’s doppelgänger

 

Sam Miller might be my fav to read now that we've been deprived of Jeff Sullivan for some time

The state of closers, bullpenning and April's best reliever you'd never heard of

Still, there are a lot of front-office executives who want the traditional closer role to go away -- to be absorbed into the larger trends toward nonhierarchical roster flexibility -- so it's never quite safe to assume this won't be the year. Even though it's never the year.

But maybe this is the year! Two years ago, the Ringer's Ben Lindbergh looked at each team's saves leader through April, and found that those 30 leaders accounted for just 79 percent of all saves. That was the lowest share in at least a decade, but there was also plenty of reason to wonder if it was a fluke. For one thing, it was just a small dip -- the average over the previous decade had been 84 percent -- and it came immediately after a 2016 season in which the reverse was true (saves leaders accounted for a higher percentage than any year in a decade). In 2018, the figure through April was 81 percent, still on the historical low end but a tick back up

This year's 30 team leaders, though, accumulated less than 73 percent of all saves through April, a much lower share than in even the previous lowest year. This year, 83 relievers recorded at least one save by the end of April; the previous high in the 2010s was just 64 (last year), and the average in the decade was 54.

Also, Red Sox are back to .500. That didn't take too long.

 

I also heard it didn’t get authenticated. So it’s kinda worthless.

 

Yeah, apparently the MLB, and the authenticating company, did a poor job and couldn't do it. They botched the job, I guess. Which for me as a fan, would make me more inclined to just let Pujols have it.

This is from The Athletic:

In advance of major milestones, MLB’s authenticators usually ramp up their efforts. The whole program began as a way to stomp out counterfeit merchandise, and that means going to extreme lengths to make sure anything you see marketed as “game-used” is actually game-used.

Even in 1998, MLB officials made sure balls used during the Mark McGwire-Sammy Sosa home run chase were numbered and included holograms, designed to make 100 percent sure the eventual record-breaking ball could be identified. In the lead-up to Derek Jeter’s 3,000th hit — which, like Rodriguez’s, eventually came on a home run ball — authenticators worked with umpires to use marked balls during Jeter’s at-bats, thus eliminating any doubt which ball was used for Jeter’s 3,000th hit. The same system was in place for Jim Thome’s 600th home run and presumably plenty of other MLB milestones.

And yet: Baseballs in advance of Pujols’ 2,000th RBI “were not similarly marked,” per a Tigers PR staffer.

When a milestone ball goes into the stands, stadium personnel generally rushes over and begins the negotiation process, trying to ensure the ball ends up back with the player, or the team, or maybe in the Hall of Fame or some other rightful resting place. That process often includes explaining the authentication process, and why an unauthenticated ball might be worthless.

Because it is so easy to manipulate photos, videos, and because there are “chain of command concerns,” MLB does not authenticate unmarked balls that enter the stands. That’s the policy the Detroit Tigers PR team cited Thursday, after reports started coming out indicating the Pujols ball would not be authenticated.

 

Passan: The inside story of the viral 7-year-old Mike Trout fan and his Troutfits

"I know everything," Gavin said. "Every night before bed, I read a Mike Trout book. And right now, I'm wearing a Trout shirt. My red one. Whenever I go to a fancy dinner, they make me wear a collared shirt. I just want to wear a Mike Trout shirt."

In his room, there are the bobbleheads, the figurines, the mess of baseball cards, all part of the small shrine to Mike Trout. It doesn't matter that Trout plays for the Los Angeles Angels and Gavin lives in suburban Baltimore. Every morning, Jason and Julie Edelson are awoken by their younger son barging in to turn on MLB Network to see how Trout fared the previous night.

 

I’ve never related so much to a 7 year old

 

Stark: Astounding facts about Christian Yelich

Finally, just for the heck of it, here are five more fun Christian Yelich facts I love:

• Over the last two seasons, he has hit .324 (12-for-37) against former Cy Young award-winners, with three homers.
• Just since Aug. 30, he has hit for the cycle twice. In other news, that Marlins team he left has been around for 27 seasons now. And everyone who has played for that franchise combined has hit for no cycles. Ever.
• Have we mentioned that Yelich has hit 26 home runs just since the beginning of September, in 261 plate appearances? The most by any current Marlin in the last two seasons combined is 15, by Starlin Castro — in 801 plate appearances.
• If we go next-level, Yelich’s wRC+ (weighted Runs Created Plus) since the 2018 All-Star break is 218. That means he has been a mere 116 percent more productive than the average player. No other National League hitter is within 50 points of him! The closest? Justin Turner, at 164.
• Finally, there’s my favorite Christian Yelich fun fact ever. According to baseball-reference, he accumulated more Wins Above Replacement just in the last week of the 2018 season (1.5) than Bryce Harper was worth all last season (1.3). Yes, really.

 

Glad the Rays finally play the Yankees so we can get some breathing room in the standings.

 

Congrats on your series win

 

I'm excited for the games, they should be fun.

 

Actually I've seen video of Glasnow's stuff and I am in no way excited for tonight lol

At least German is going tonight though

 

I’ve watched all of his starts and I have concluded that the real Glasnow was abducted after spring training and replaced with his terminator doppelgänger.

 

There was one slider I think his last start that was as tight and sharp as anything I've ever seen. I was just like "fuuuuck that" haha

 

and piece of shit domestic abuser Addison Russell grounds into the game ending double play.

fuck the Cubs go Brewers

 

I woke up this morning to see AJ Minter went 0 IP, allowed three base runners and lost the game in extra innings.

What. A. Fucking. Scrub. Enough of this guy.

 

Can't believe they haven't signed Kimbrel after locking up Acuna for a good price and absolutely robbing Albies