2024 MLB Season (1 Viewer)

[Jeffrey D]

There will be analytics people that will crunch the numbers, and make comparisons to this year’s White Sox, and other hideous teams in history, and offer their opinion on which is the worst team to ever play. This White Sox team is easily in the discussion.

 

[Malcolm R]

Red Sox bullpen has so far walked five batters and forced in three runs in the 8th inning at the Mets. Kenley Jansen loaded the bases and walked in the first run, and Rich Hill walked in the next two runs then gave up a long fly out (second out of the inning) which resulted in another tag up run. Sad. There was still hope at the start of the inning when the score was 4-3, but it's now 8-3 Mets.

 

[David Norman]

Cubs with a 3 pitcher combined no hitter vs Pirates -- a laugher 12-0 . 31yo Rookie Shota Imanaga started and struggled with his control through 3ip, but then settled in and dominated through 7ip. 95 pitches -- now 2.99 ERA and 12-3 in his initial Cubs Season.

 

[Malcolm R]

White Sox bombed the Orioles, 8-1

 

[MartinP.]

Guardians and Dodgers playing this afternoon in 100 degree+ heat. Ugh!
I wouldn't even want to go to the game today, much less play in it.

 

[Neil S. Bulk]

We live in southern California and I said to my wife I'm glad we didn't have Dodgers tickets for today.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

Meanwhile, it was a perfect, sunny, high of 72F here in NYC... and I was outside waaaay more than usual... and plan to go back outside in a short bit (for probably lite dinner) w/ a friend... maybe enjoying the nice sunset...

_Man_

 

[MartinP.]

^^^
Sounds nice!

 

[MartinP.]

We live in southern California and I said to my wife I'm glad we didn't have Dodgers tickets for today.

I watched the game. It's apparent that a lot of people did not go. The outfield seats were emptier than I'd ever seen them. It was amusing when the camera panned the stadium, anywhere there was shade from the sun was jam-packed with people. The sunlit seats were barren!

As for the players, pitcher Jack Flaherty seemed to be reveling in the heat, pitching nearly 8 innings.

There was an article in the L.A. Times today:
Why Are the Dodgers at Center of Baseball's Pitching Injury Crisis?

A segment:

“It’s been a self-fulfilling prophecy,” said Dr. Glenn Fleisig, the director of biomechanics research at the American Sports Medicine Institute and an injury research advisor for MLB. “Put all the emphasis on velocity, and you end up with a bunch of hard throwers who are blowing out.” The epicenter of the crisis might be in Los Angeles, where the Dodgers have had the majors’ most injury-prone pitching staff in the last four years.

I would add that the emphasis on velocity these hard throwers have also contributed to injuring players like Mookie Betts' wrist being broken and Teoscar Hernandez' foot injury. Players getting hit didn't ordinarily used to mean they'd be out for weeks.

Here's a couple interesting statistics from the article:

—Since 2021, the Dodgers have had 98 injured-list stints for pitchers — the most in MLB (not including COVID-related IL stints).

—They’ve had seven big-league pitchers undergo some version of Tommy John surgery, according to a database compiled by researcher John Roegele (only the Angels have had more UCL-related procedures, including Shohei Ohtani last season, in the last four years).

—They’ve particularly struggled to keep starters healthy, having had only five pitchers make at least 25 starts over the last four seasons combined (the second-fewest in MLB in that time).

—They’ve lost a litany of top prospects to long-term injuries, with six homegrown players currently on the shelf because of either major elbow or shoulder surgery.

'Self-fulfilling prophecy.' The Dodgers' role in MLB's pitching injury epidemic

Pitching injuries are up across the sport, but no organization has been hit harder than the Dodgers, who believe there are myriad factors potentially at play.

www.latimes.com

 

[MartinP.]

^^^
I didn't know this until a bit ago when I read:

Yesterday's first-pitch temperature at Dodger Stadium was 103° at 1:10pm. It matched the hottest in Dodger Stadium history which was at 5:10pm for the first pitch of the 2017 World Series. It had reached 105° around 2pm. The Dodgers' Chris Taylor homered in the home team's first at bat.

The seats were not empty on that day!

 

[Neil S. Bulk]

Ads are coming to player helmets in the post-season.

MLB team helmets to feature ads during postseason through 2027

All 120 affiliated minor league team helmets will also feature the Strauss logo.

sports.yahoo.com

 

[MartinP.]

"MLB began allowing advertising on uniforms during the 2023 season as part of the latest Collective Bargaining Agreement with the MLB Players' Association. Twenty-three teams currently feature a jersey patch ad."
^^^
What does the Player's Association get out of this?

Rob Manfred: “I think that it’s important to experiment with things like that in order to give the game a little different look." he said.

Experiment with advertising to give the game a different look? More reasons to hate Rob Manfred.

You suppose advertising on the bases will come back as an idea? It got rejected once. How about instead of a walk-up song, each player can choose a product to advertise for 10 seconds?

 

[RolandL]

Hoping Gerrit Cole does an opt-out of his contract next season. He is not worth the yearly 36 million contract.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

Hoping Gerrit Cole does an opt-out of his contract next season. He is not worth the yearly 36 million contract.

Yeah, but you know the Yanks will just turn around, outbid everyone else plus themselves and give him 46M/year instead of he opts out, LOL.

_Man_

 

[Robert Crawford]

Yeah, but you know the Yanks will just turn around, outbid everyone else plus themselves and give him 46M/year instead of he opts out, LOL.

_Man_

That's not going to happen. What is going to happen is that once he opts out, the Yankees will retain him by picking up that tenth year of his contract option for 36M. Once that's done then he stays a Yankee until the end of the contract.

CONTRACT NOTES

• Full No Trade Clause
• Player Opt-out available after 2024
  • If exercised, team can void opt-out decision by adding 10th year (2029) at $36M.

 

[RolandL]

Yankees win 3 out of 4 games against Red Sox. Only loss was Cole giving up 7 runs in 4.1 innings. He only averages 5 innings a game. Don't sign him for next season.

 

[RolandL]

That's not going to happen. What is going to happen is that once he opts out, the Yankees will retain him by picking up that tenth year of his contract option for 36M. Once that's done then he stays a Yankee until the end of the contract.

CONTRACT NOTES

• Full No Trade Clause
• Player Opt-out available after 2024
  • If exercised, team can void opt-out decision by adding 10th year (2029) at $36M.

Great! 39 years old in September 2029. More injuries to come. I would rather see younger players in their minors move up.

 

[Neil S. Bulk]

The White Sox won a series.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Great! 39 years old in September 2029. More injuries to come. I would rather see younger players in their minors move up.

What younger players?

 

[MartinP.]

If the Dodgers didn't have enough problems with pitching, Jack Flaherty had a bad outing this weekend, Anthony Banda, a lefty reliever, decided it was a good idea to be mad and fractured his hand punching something harder, and now it appears Tyler Glasnow, who's been out for a month already is now "likely not returning this year." Kiké Hernandez and Miguel Rojas were pitching this weekend! The Brewers are not far from passing us for the "bye" in the post season, which the pitching staff would definitely need. It seems everytime i've watched a game the last week the opposing team has gotten 3-4-5 runsin the first couple innings. You aren't going to cme back from those in most occasions, despite your lineup.