MLB 2016 Season

Pages

Can we get a little excitement in here?

IMAGE(http://www.sportsgrid.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/baseball-old.jpg)

Lol I expected you to put a KC dude in that pic.

How do you think our midwest teams will fare? Speaking mostly about KC, Chicago and the Cards?

Hey now! My wife demanded tickets to the game on the May 20th.

IMAGE(http://mlb.mlb.com/stl/images/promotions/y2016/molina_gnome_200x484.png)

Yadier Molina Garden Gnome Night! We are moving into a new home next month, and she is already plotting where it will go.

As for the Cards and Cubs, I expect them to be close. A lot of it depends on how the young player for both teams do. The Cubs could be awesome. They might quite the sophomore slump. The Cardinals will win their 90 games and we'll see where that puts them.

KC is KC I think they will be good. They retained more players than I though they would, but did lose some key pieces.

I live in Toronto now.

Josh Donaldson bobble head game is 24th Sunday vs the A's. Already going to the Friday game might have to head back for another.

I've been out of town until this evening. I did catch the end of the Rays game. Sucky loss but 7 hits and 14 Ks I can deal with.

Even numbered season. Just sayin'.

Really excited to see what the Jays can do with a full season* of a competent pitching staff, relieving corps, left fielder, and Troy Tulowitzki.

*subject to change at any moment due to the way injuries are crazy common in baseball

Hey, save some of those runs for the rest of the season!

Spoiler:

He said it on purpose tonight.

So...Bartolo Colon hit a home run...

Rat Boy wrote:

So...Bartolo Colon hit a home run...

His team's response was amusing.

Vector wrote:

Really excited to see what the Jays can do with a full season* of a competent pitching staff, relieving corps, left fielder, and Troy Tulowitzki.

*subject to change at any moment due to the way injuries are crazy common in baseball

Somehow managed to have a great pitching staff and left fielder but a horrendous relieving corps and Troy Tulowitzki is playing about as bad as a player can. Didn't expect Russell Martin to become below replacement level nor the entire team's inability to hit the f*cking baseball to happen.

Rat Boy wrote:

So...Bartolo Colon hit a home run...

This makes me so happy.

Dear Jose Bautista.. breaking up double plays like that is now against the f*cking rules... You earned that... The End..

Yeah...getting clocked in the face...earned it...I'm going to take the contrary opinion.

Vector wrote:

Yeah...getting clocked in the face...earned it...I'm going to take the contrary opinion.

That's your right.

IMAGE(https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--WJSbfgug--/c_scale,fl_progressive,q_80,w_800/lpah74cvcu88l6elyrty.gif)

You can almost hear a cartoon punch sound every time.

GioClark wrote:

Dear Jose Bautista.. breaking up double plays like that is now against the f*cking rules... You earned that... The End..

What rule did Bautista break to get plunked in the first place? The no-flip-your-bat-rule?

Carlbear95 wrote:
GioClark wrote:

Dear Jose Bautista.. breaking up double plays like that is now against the f*cking rules... You earned that... The End..

What rule did Bautista break to get plunked in the first place? The no-flip-your-bat-rule?

Ha.. no the slide rule, so-called "Chase Utley" rule.

I agree he broke the rule, but don't agree with the retaliation.

The slide wasn't so much about breaking up the double play, as retaliation for having been plunked in the first place.

steinkrug wrote:

I agree he broke the rule, but don't agree with the retaliation.

If the retaliation had come from anyone but the 2B, I'd be inclined to agree with you. The rule change means there's no longer any leeway or presumed gamesmanship to the behavior any more. Bautista was already out and launched his spikes at an infielder's knees. That's on him. If he was pissed about getting plunked, he should've charged the mound.

If people want to close ranks behind their boy, I get that. That's why benches clear. If people want to make it about last year's bat flip, that seems to be what smarter people than me who get paid to write and the rest of the damned intertubes want it to be about.

I already dealt with this sh*t last year. Quite honestly, I'm tired of it.

Couldn't have been about last years bat flip.. why would you wait till the final game of a series against a team you won't see again in the regular season to plunk the guy? That would be kinda embarassing.

Carlbear95 wrote:

Couldn't have been about last years bat flip.. why would you wait till the final game of a series against a team you won't see again in the regular season to plunk the guy? That would be kinda embarassing.

No one said it was smart, you know.

He likely got plunked because of the bat flip. He got punched because of the slide. Odor knows when someone is sliding with intent to injure; he does it all the time.

So, when does football season start again?

Yikes!

Allstar viewership median age: 54.6 years old

294k viewers age 12-17
5.2m viewers age 50+

Cooperstown, we have a problem.

That would be more interesting with other figures to compare it to. I mean, we already know baseball is starting to struggle on TV. But without context, what does it mean?

But I'm not sure how much All-Star game viewership is indicative of overall interest. Do kids watch any All-Star games. While baseball has the only one that is an actual competitive game, they mostly suck.

Jayhawker wrote:

That would be more interesting with other figures to compare it to. I mean, we already know baseball is starting to struggle on TV. But without context, what does it mean?

But I'm not sure how much All-Star game viewership is indicative of overall interest. Do kids watch any All-Star games. While baseball has the only one that is an actual competitive game, they mostly suck.

The main Washington Post article has more information, but I agree it's not enough to draw strong conclusions.

The part that jumped out at me was the viewer median age. If that's anywhere close to the same as the interest in the sport as a whole, wow, that's bleak for baseball.

EDIT: Heh, here is a link to an article claiming baseball does have an age problem, with the median age of a fan at 55 years old, compared to 47 for the NFL and 37 for the NBA.

True. Baseball has been dying for longer than PC gaming.

Pages