2023 MLB Season (1 Viewer)

[Jeffrey D]

Yanks #1 Cole broke the franchise record
of strikeouts on opening day- 11.

 

[MartinP.]

^^^
And his opponent, the Giants Logan Webb, struck out 12.

From an article I read:
Prior to 2023, only two pairs of opposing starting pitchers had ever recorded at least 10 strikeouts each in an Opening Day Game: Dave McNally (13 K’s for the Orioles) and Sam McDowell (11 K’s for Cleveland) in 1970, and Jacob deGrom (10 K’s for the Mets) and Max Scherzer (12 K’s for the Nationals) in 2019. The Yankees’ Gerrit Cole and the Giants’ Logan Webb became the third pairing to accomplish the shared feat on Thursday. Cole (11K's) and Webb (12K's) both established new team records for strikeouts on Opening Day.

 

[MartinP.]

Aaron Judge has already hit a home run.

This is interesting:

One year after hitting 62 homers to break Roger Maris’ single-season AL record, new Yankees captain Aaron Judge crushed MLB's first home run of 2023 in his first at-bat against the Giants. Maris also homered on Opening Day the year after his record-breaking 61-homer season in 1961, as did Mark McGwire after hitting 70 homers in 1998 and Barry Bonds after hitting 73 in 2001.

 

[MartinP.]

I was pleased with the new-look Dodgers first game of the season last night. 161 to go!

 

[Jeffrey D]

I’m confused- baseball has admitted to a mistake made about an automatic strike given in a Mets game. The article I read said it had something to do with Pete Alonso not returning to his base in time. Maybe someone can post about why base runners fall under the new clock rules.

 

[Malcolm R]

It seems to be a judgement call, but it was emphasized by the league prior to the season. Probably since pitchers only have a certain amount of time to get ready (20 sec with baserunners), if a baserunner is potentially using up all that time to get back to a base, the umpires will call a strike. Based on the league's clarification, it sounds like warnings should be given before any baserunners are called for penalty.

Shortly before the regular season started, MLB issued a memo to teams saying umpires will have the authority to issue penalties against them if their players do not quickly reposition themselves between plays, exhibiting a “reasonable effort” to do so.

 

[Jeffrey D]

It seems to be a judgement call, but it was emphasized by the league prior to the season. Probably since pitchers only have a certain amount of time to get ready (20 sec with baserunners), if a baserunner is potentially using up all that time to get back to a base, the umpires will call a strike.

So you’re saying a base runner has to go back, and touch his base between pitches, even before the clock was implemented? I didn’t know this rule existed.

 

[Malcolm R]

So you’re saying a base runner has to go back, and touch his base between pitches, even before the clock was implemented? I didn’t know this rule existed.

I believe so. It's always been my understanding that a player has to tag up and re-establish after every pitch.

 

[Jeffrey D]

I believe so. It's always been my understanding that a player has to tag up and re-establish after every pitch.

This seems to make sense that the clock can’t start until the runners go back to their base, and if they horse around too long, a strike can be added to the batter’s count. Thanks, Malcolm.

 

[David Norman]

So you’re saying a base runner has to go back, and touch his base between pitches, even before the clock was implemented? I didn’t know this rule existed.

Don't think that is a rule that a runner must touch the base b/w every pitch. Now, for lots of reasons it's probably a good habit to get into and would avoid the embarrassment of drifting/falling asleep and getting picked off by not paying attention.

As I understand the rules a runner must go back to touch the base after a deadball (or caught flyball), but during a regular pitch not put into play and no time-out is called, the ball is always Live making a delayed steal possible as well as numerous other baserunning plays or screwups. If a catcher is holding the ball and arguing with the ump, if a pitcher is walking around the mound or just on the mound without specifically called time, then the ball from pitch to the next pitch is always considered live.

 

[MartinP.]

We all watch MLB games from various sources. One that I watch has the pitch clock timer along with the other usual info in the side box. Opinions on that? I don't like it.

 

[Malcolm R]

Same here and I like it, though I'm already used to it from watching the play clock on-screen in football and basketball.

I wish the clock was somewhere behind home plate, but most parks seem to have put them off to the sides out of camera range.

 

[Patrick Sun]

It would be funny if the crowd would engage in loud countdown of the pitch clock.

 

[Robert Saccone]

I heard from a friend the other day that since the pitch clock is speeding up games they’ve now gone deeper into the innings at Yankee stadium where it is allowed for beer to be sold. Made me chuckle. I bet other teams are doing it too!

 

[Jeffrey D]

I heard from a friend the other day that since the pitch clock is speeding up games they’ve now gone deeper into the innings at Yankee stadium where it is allowed for beer to be sold. Made me chuckle. I bet other teams are doing it too!

Yes I read that extended beer sales are spreading through the league. I think Philly is doing it too.

 

[RBailey]

It would be funny if the crowd would engage in loud countdown of the pitch clock.

The Seattle fans did just that to Cleveland relief pitcher James Karinchak on his first game a couple weeks ago. It was effective and rattled him.

 

[Malcolm R]

I heard from a friend the other day that since the pitch clock is speeding up games they’ve now gone deeper into the innings at Yankee stadium where it is allowed for beer to be sold. Made me chuckle. I bet other teams are doing it too!

Yes I read that extended beer sales are spreading through the league. I think Philly is doing it too.

Which is completely counter-intuitive to the supposed "safety" reasons for previously ending sales in the 7th inning.

With games moving faster, and intoxicated fans potentially getting into their cars and driving away sooner, if they really cared about "safety" they would need to stop beer sales earlier in the game (5th or 6th inning) instead of extending them.

I guess it shows the money is more important than the safety of fans leaving the ballpark and getting on the roads drunk.

 

[Robert Crawford]

I know one thing, I'm loving the pitch clock and the speed of the game right now.

 

[Mike2001]

Holy cow! We can’t get to the electronic strike zone quickly enough. Dodgers down a run in the bottom of the ninth, got one man on. All three outs were strike outs. All third strikes were actually balls, according to the k-zone on TV. David Peralta on a 2-2 count with a pitch that just missed the outside low corner. Jason Hayward on a full count pitch that was a good 6 inches inside. And Freddy Freeman on a third strike that was a good three inches low. Don’t know what the batters are supposed to do with the ump calling pitches like that strikes.

 

[Jeffrey D]

My cousin’s husband (a huge Red Sox fan) texted me that one of weekend games vs the Angels was only 1:57. He said that was the shortest game in team history since 1989!