Jump to content

2023 MLB thread


shadow_operative2.0

Recommended Posts

3 minutes ago, Helobious said:

Did you pop champagne afterwards too? Meaningless regular season wins seem to be pretty huge deals to you guys 

Coming from a yankees fan this is priceless. Meaningless? Split with a damn good team on the road to stay in the hunt? Sure, it is a long shot, but still have faith.

Must suck to be in the cellar. 

homer simpson GIF

 

  • Hook 'Em 1
  • Rage+1 1
  • Drool 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

NSIAP, @Helobious


https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-survival-guide-for-sad-new-york-yankee-fans-509d61cd
 

Spoiler

A Survival Guide for Sad New York Yankee Fans
The Bronx Bombers face their first losing season in 30 years. Their noisy fans face an empty September.

The New York Yan­kees are not a good base­ball team this year. They have yet to be math­e­mat­i­cally elim­i­nated from the play­offs, but they cur­rently rest on the ocean floor of the Amer­i­can League East, like a wreck, full of eels. Wednes-day’s win over Wash­ing­ton snapped a streak of nine straight de­feats, their worst los­ing streak since Rea­gan’s first term. They went right back to los­ing on Thurs­day. De­pend-ing on how you feel about the Yan­kees, this news is ei­ther ter­ri­bly sad or quite funny.
 

As the most suc­cess­ful fran­chise in base­ball, and reg­u­larly lav­ish spenders, the Yan­kees pro­voke di­vided emo­tions. They have won 27 World Se­ries ti­tles, which is 27 more ti­tles than a team like the Seat­tle Ma­riners, or the Mil­wau­kee Brew­ers. Yan­kee fans are ro­bustly proud of this suc­cess—even if they are 19 years old, they will talk about the 1927 Yan­kees as if they were ac­tu­ally there, sit­ting in the bleach­ers, in a crisp hat, grip­ping a rolled copy of the Her­ald-Tri­bune as George Ruth wob­bled around the bases once more.

The Yan­kees have been frus­trat­ing, dis­ap­point­ing (they have not won a World Se­ries since 2009), but they are not used to stink­ing. The fran­chise hasn’t fin­ished with a los­ing record in 30 sea­sons. This 2023 team doesn’t even re­ally stink—they’re nowhere near as hor­rid as, say, the Oak­land A’s, a des­o­late team that would have its hands full at the Lit­tle League World Se­ries. But these Yan­kees look like they’ve al­ready given up, and so have their high-ex­pec­ta­tion fans, who now con­front a new phe­nomenon: An empty Sep­tember cal­en­dar.
 

Here are a few ideas, ad­dressed to Yan­kee fans, on how to pass away the re­main­ing weeks of a lost sea­son:
 

Talk to Your Fam­i­lies.

Not sure if you know this, but you have an en­tire fam­ily, who don’t care as much about the Yan­kees as you do, and are ea­ger to spend time with you, in­stead of lis­ten­ing to you groan about Gi­an­carlo Stan­ton’s in­vis­i­ble bat. For the first time in three decades, you can de­vote laser-like fo­cus to your loved ones. Take them on a long week­end ad­ven­ture! Re-learn their first names! Or, if you can’t break away, pile the clan into the car, in­stall a loud-speaker on the roof, and drive slowly around Yan­kee Sta­dium, read­ing a 70,000-word cri­tique of the team’s gen­eral man­ager, Brian Cash­man. Fam­ily bond­ing they’ll never for­get.

Lean into the Beauty of the Nat­ural World.
There’s a whole wide planet of oceans, rivers, pas­tures and even trees that do other things be­sides make the lum­ber Yan­kees hit­ters use to whiff with run­ners in scor­ing po­si­tion. Go for a hike and feel the sun on your face. Find a per­fect au­tumn evening and count the stars. Visit a moun­tain, canyon or wa­ter­fall, and take in its gor­geous majesty, as you qui­etly won­der what the Yan­kees were think­ing, trad­ing for Josh Don­ald­son.

Dis­cover North Amer­i­can Foot­ball.
I’m go­ing to let you in on a lit­tle se­cret, but there’s a ri­val sport that be­gins its sea­son in early Sep­tember. New York has two clubs, nei­ther of which plays in New York, but don’t let that de­rail you. If you like blue, and hav­ing a chance to win, I’d go with the Gi­ants. If you like green, and scream­ing to the neigh­bor­hood pets that you’re never watch­ing foot­ball again, I’d go with the Jets. The Jets have a new quar­ter­back, Aaron Rodgers. He’s usu­ally ex­cel­lent but pos­si­bly ob­tained past his prime – in a way, he’s just like a Yan­kee.

Stare at a Blank Wall Un­til Spring Train­ing.
This is probably the easiest option. There is always next season, a fresh opportunity for the Yankees to reset to greatness. It’s probably best to pull up a chair, grab some snacks, find a barren wall, and stare at it, ceaselessly, until pitchers and catchers report in February 2024. Your family won’t mind. They’re off hiking in the natural world. They’re watching North American Football. Or it turns out they really love you, so they’ve agreed to drive around Yankee Stadium with a loudspeaker on the roof, reading your 70,000 word critique.  

 

 

  • Haha 1
  • Rage+1 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

-1.7 bWAR is impressive 

More fun: 

Quote

Profar’s tenure in the Mile High City ends after 111 games, 472 plate appearances, and a disappointing .236/.316/.364 slash line.  Only three qualified hitters have a lower wRC+ in 2023 than Profar’s 72 wRC+, and his -1.9 fWAR is the lowest of any qualified hitter in baseball. 

Edited by shadow_operative2.0
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Freddie hit his 49th and 50th doubles today.  10 more in his last 33 games would be the 7th ever 60 double season and the first since 1936.  Probably won't happen but possible.  The six 60 double seasons all happened between 1926 and 1936.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, TonyTexas said:

Altuve hitting for the cycle last night got me wondering why the feat is not nearly as celebrated as a no-hitter. It almost as rare. Has happened 344 times vs 322 no-hitters. 

Because it’s one of the most overrated accomplishments in baseball and means nothing. Hitting 2 homers and 2 doubles in one game is better, or even 2 homers and a triple, or 2 triples a double and two singles, etc. 

  • Drool 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

15 minutes ago, Helobious said:

Hitting 2 homers and 2 doubles in one game is better, or even 2 homers and a triple, or 2 triples a double and two singles, etc.

 

14 minutes ago, Helobious said:

Actually even just 2 homers and a double would get you the same total bases. Cycles are pointless

I bet you could get a job at the Change Bank

 

  • Like 1
  • Rage+1 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think it’s because cycles are more of a novelty than skill compared to no-hitters.

Sure, there are plenty of no-hitters where a guy has a ton of luck and no business getting a no-hitter but I still feel like that’s an accomplishment that based less on randomness than a cycle.  Or maybe it’s because a guy has to perform every half inning / ~27-30 times in a No-hitter vs once every 2-3 innings / 4-5 times.

Sure there is usually at least one freak play to keep a No-hitter alive, but when you have to get 27 outs, I’m more likely to let that slide compared to a cycle when 1 lucky bounce helps you get 25% of the way towards the accomplishment. (Like Altuve’s triple. If the Boston center fielder doesn’t look like a complete rookie/first time ever playing out there and realizes he can’t catch the ball hit to left center and gets ready for the carom, he holds him to a double instead of chasing the ball back towards right field looking like a kid trying to grab a dollar tied to a string 

 

  • Hook 'Em 1
  • Drool 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 minutes ago, UTexasFight said:

I think it’s because cycles are more of a novelty than skill compared to no-hitters.

Sure, there are plenty of no-hitters where a guy has a ton of luck and no business getting a no-hitter but I still feel like that’s an accomplishment that based less on randomness than a cycle.  Or maybe it’s because a guy has to perform every half inning / ~27-30 times in a No-hitter vs once every 2-3 innings / 4-5 times.

Sure there is usually at least one freak play to keep a No-hitter alive, but when you have to get 27 outs, I’m more likely to let that slide compared to a cycle when 1 lucky bounce helps you get 25% of the way towards the accomplishment. (Like Altuve’s triple. If the Boston center fielder doesn’t look like a complete rookie/first time ever playing out there and realizes he can’t catch the ball hit to left center and gets ready for the carom, he holds him to a double instead of chasing the ball back towards right field looking like a kid trying to grab a dollar tied to a string 

 

Altuve also wasnt running hard out of the box and it was still an easy triple.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.



×
×
  • Create New...