Baseball Thread

Oh god, that was scary. What an amazing series. Congrats to the Royals for a great season. Try again in an odd year, I'm sure you'll get it.


THE GIANTS ARE WORLD CHAMPS AGAIN!!!!

THE GIANTS HAVE THE MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMENTOUS occasion of winning 3 WS in 5 years.

I want a GIF of whatever Bud Selig is doing in this video, around the 24 second mark.

deadspin.com/madison-bumgarners-world-series-mvp-presentation-got-su-1652626155

Man, how do you compete against a guy like Bumgarner? Apparently somebody developed slightly more advanced cybernetic technology than whatever was used for Herrera-Davis-Holland. To say nothing of Pence and Sandoval, either of whom could easily have been MVP.

But boy, this is painful. If you had told any Royals fan at the start of the season, at the All Star Break, or hell, before the Wildcard game that we would be playing in Game 7 of the World Series, we would have jumped for joy if we could actually believe such a delightfully absurd notion. But to be 90 feet away, one swing of the bat from winning it at home in the bottom of the ninth is just. . . rough.

I can't quite explain it, but it almost feels worse to hear people say "you'll be in the mix next year," because frankly I don't know a single Royals fan who actually believes it. You can talk about returning players and being a young team, but this is a franchise that waited a lifetime - a literal lifetime - for this to happen and things seemed to line up so perfectly that it really, really, REALLY felt like it was now or never. Especially since people talking about a bright Royal future are mostly basing that on their postseason performance, which was not much at all like the frustrating team and management we saw much of the year. Things like this crazy, wonderful postseason categorically do not happen for the Kansas City Royals, and as proud as we all are of this team, to walk away without that final reward feels for many of us like we squandered our last best chance. It's the result of a lifetime of conditioning, but the sentiment here isn't so much "there's always next year," so much as "there's always 2043."

Damn, I was rooting for KC, and I obviously wish that the Cards had made the WS, so that none of their players would have gone home until today, but watching Bumgarner was fucking special.

We still have baseball here in Arizona. We have the Arizona Fall League. This is a great look at most of the hot prospects around the AA level. I've gone to a few games this season. I will probably go to 1-2 more. These games are fantastic. They cost $8 to get in. I've paid $0, since I have a friend with a season pass. You can sit anywhere you want. There are usually 200-600 people in attendance, mostly scouts, baseball executives and other players. And they all just sit in the regular stands. Most of them are very open to chatting with anyone who comes by.

Also, MLB tests out a bunch of potential new rules and regulations during the Fall League. This year, they are testing out procedures to make games faster, including a fairly ridiculous shot clock. Like, an actual countdown clock behind home plate which gives the pitcher 20 seconds from time he receives the ball to throwing the pitch. It is a huge red countdown clock, no joke. And if the pitcher fails to do this, a ball is awarded to the batter. The batter is not allowed to step out of the batter's box. If he does this, or just isn't ready when the shot clock hits zero, a strike is awarded to the pitcher.  Also, IBBs are done without actually throwing the pitches. They just give the batter first base. Also, the break between innings is shortened to 2:30, also with a countdown clock.

It's been quite a strange experience to see baseball players dealing with a shot clock. Never did I think I would see a shot clock violation called on a pitcher.

Anyway, the Fall League and Spring Training make Phoenix a great city for a baseball fan. We have baseball from February through mid-November.

& Wallet Inspector

I know it's cold comfort (and backed by nothing objective), but I really think this won't be a one and done run for the Royals. I suspect they might stumble a bit coming out of the gate in 2015, but they're a young team that jelled and they'll make one or more deep runs in the next few years.

On a similar backed by nothing basis I think the Giants will at least make it to the NLCS next year, which would break the odd-year issue.

Generally it's a fool's errand to make 2015 predictions before any free agency moves, pre-season trades or spring training breakouts/injuries happen, although I do think the Nationals will again run away with the NL East, but flop in the playoffs and my Mets will backslide a bit (to the extent that you can backslide from a 79-83 record), despite Harvey coming back (but 2016 is the year they turn it around).

Holy crap I would've given anything to play in a mini Wrigley Field when I was in Little League. Or Fenway. Or any of those other parks. That's awesome.

Oh, I'm a Yankees fan. I just wish Oscar had been playing baseball that weekend, rather than getting shitfaced and driving home.  He was one of my favorite players.

That would be amazing, because it would almost certainly make the Yankees a very, very good baseball team.

I don't care how they do it. I just want them to win.

I figured Smoltz would get in eventually, but I'm surprised he made it on the first ballot. Should've skipped that last season with the Red Sox / Cardinals so he could have gone in with Maddux and Glavine. All in all, an unprecedented run for starting pitchers in the HOF.

Randy "The Big Unit" Johnson is also inducted into my personal "Baseball Nickname Hall of Fame". 

I grew up in LA in a family full of Dodger fans. When we moved to Arizona there wasn't an MLB team here. In 1998 the DBacks became an MLB team and lost around 100 games, as is often the way with expansion teams. I was kind of interested, just because it was nice to have a pro team in the state. Before the 1999 season, they signed Randy Johnson. I then decided to go all-in on the DBacks, because I was a huge fan of Randy Johnson.

I cannot believe how lucky the Diamondbacks were to get Randy Johnson at his peak. That was amazing to see. The 20K game, the perfect game, and the 2001 World Series.

Ah, yes, 2001 World Series Game 7 is one of the greatest games ever. It is one of my favorite memories, too. It was absolutely thrilling to see Randy Johnson come in to pitch relief. Wow.

I hope I see him this year at Spring Training. I'd love to meet him. And, don't worry, Randy. I'll talk to you about the World Series or 5 Cy Youngs, not the dead bird.

Yes! He said in his big HOF press conference here, TWICE, that most people either ask him about the World Series or the dead bird. (See linked clip above.) That was so amazing. Unforgettable. At the time, he was really upset about it. But, he clearly has mellowed about it. The logo for his photography company is a dead bird.

I like to imagine it's a lot of portraits of people looking up.