Baseball 2023: The World's Game!
Hedgehog
Shipmate
in The Circus
Spring training has started for the teams of Major League Baseball (MLB) as we prepare for the start of the regular season, now with new rules to enhance game play!
In theory.
The new rules include such things as restrictions on the defensive shift; larger bases; and the time clock enforced on both pitchers and batters.
The Houston Astros are the defending World Series champions. For those who like cheering for the underdog, the following teams have never won the World Series: Texas Rangers (in existence for 62 seasons); Milwaukee Brewers (54 seasons); San Diego Padres (54 seasons); Seattle Mariners (46 seasons); Colorado Rockies (30 seasons); and Tampa Bay Rays (25 seasons). Of those teams, the Seattle Mariners is the only team in MLB to have never even played in a World Series.
But now a comment on (and explanation for) this year's thread title: This year also brings with it the return of the World Baseball Classic (WBC). The WBC was first held in 2006 and featured national teams competing for the trophy. The last WBC was played in 2017. It was supposed to be every four years, but the 2021 version fell victim to COVID-19. The 2023 version has expanded to 20 teams (from 16 in prior years). The 20 teams are split in to 4 groups and group play begins on March 8.
Group A: Chinese Taipei; Netherlands; Cuba; Italy; Panama. Played in Taiwan, March 8-12.
Group B: Japan; Korea; Australia; China; Czech Republic. Played in Tokyo, March 9 -13.
Group C: USA; Mexico; Colombia; Canada; Great Britain. Played in Phoenix, Arizona, March 11 - 15.
Group D: Puerto Rico; Venezuela; Dominican Republic; Israel; Nicaragua. Played in Miami, Florida, March 11 -15.
The top 2 teams in each group will advance to the quarterfinals (played in Tokyo for Groups A & B and played in Miami for Groups C & D). The semifinals and final will then be played in Miami.
I have not studied the teams that much, but the scuttlebutt from what I have heard is that the Dominican Republic team is Very Good.
In theory.
The new rules include such things as restrictions on the defensive shift; larger bases; and the time clock enforced on both pitchers and batters.
The Houston Astros are the defending World Series champions. For those who like cheering for the underdog, the following teams have never won the World Series: Texas Rangers (in existence for 62 seasons); Milwaukee Brewers (54 seasons); San Diego Padres (54 seasons); Seattle Mariners (46 seasons); Colorado Rockies (30 seasons); and Tampa Bay Rays (25 seasons). Of those teams, the Seattle Mariners is the only team in MLB to have never even played in a World Series.
But now a comment on (and explanation for) this year's thread title: This year also brings with it the return of the World Baseball Classic (WBC). The WBC was first held in 2006 and featured national teams competing for the trophy. The last WBC was played in 2017. It was supposed to be every four years, but the 2021 version fell victim to COVID-19. The 2023 version has expanded to 20 teams (from 16 in prior years). The 20 teams are split in to 4 groups and group play begins on March 8.
Group A: Chinese Taipei; Netherlands; Cuba; Italy; Panama. Played in Taiwan, March 8-12.
Group B: Japan; Korea; Australia; China; Czech Republic. Played in Tokyo, March 9 -13.
Group C: USA; Mexico; Colombia; Canada; Great Britain. Played in Phoenix, Arizona, March 11 - 15.
Group D: Puerto Rico; Venezuela; Dominican Republic; Israel; Nicaragua. Played in Miami, Florida, March 11 -15.
The top 2 teams in each group will advance to the quarterfinals (played in Tokyo for Groups A & B and played in Miami for Groups C & D). The semifinals and final will then be played in Miami.
I have not studied the teams that much, but the scuttlebutt from what I have heard is that the Dominican Republic team is Very Good.
Comments
We have two stadiums within six miles of each other. The traffic is horrendous. Normally, unless we're going to a game, we tend to go only to places that avoid those roads! Unfortunately, where my Dad lives is right beside one of the stadiums.
Other than that, Go Red Sox! Go Twins!!
It occurs to me that the larger bases may have another effect. Just think how many times we have seen video reviews at first base concerning whether a batter beat out a ground ball. Often, the difference between out and safe is a fraction of an inch---but the base is larger now, so I would expect an increase in infield hits this year. Add to that the shift restrictions and there is going to be a higher value in playing "small ball" this year (rather than everybody trying to slug a homer). Small ball has been devalued by Sabermetrics in years past, but I suspect those stats will need to be adjusted to account for the new changes.
One unexpected consequence of the pitch clock. A player in the Phillies game yesterday hit a double. Normally he likes to wear protective mitts on his hands while running the bases--but because of the pitch clock, there wasn't enough time for the batboy to run out gloves to him and for him to get the gloves on before the pitch was due!
And, while I am here, one more Spring Training oddity yesterday. Baltimore Orioles v. Pittsburgh Pirates. The Pirates were the home team and they led 7-4. The Orioles went down in the top of the 9th without scoring, so game over. But the Orioles manager wanted his pitcher to get some work in, and so he asked the Pirates manager if they could play the bottom of the 9th anyway. The pirates agreed. But the umpires didn't. They walked off the field because the game was over. As a result, the Orioles & Pirates played the bottom of the 9th without any umpires! The Orioles catcher called the balls and strikes (and from what I could tell from the video, he was reasonably fair in his calls). Only in Spring Training!
That last game was a bit of a shock. At least when it comes to the international game, Chinese Taipei is rated highly---in fact, 2nd in the world, behind Japan (USA is 3rd). Panama is rated 12th and never previously won a game in the WBC (This is Panama's 3rd WBC).
Netherlands and Cuba are considered pretty much even, rated 7th & 8th respectively.
Australia 8, S. Korea 7. A bit of an upset. Australia is ranked 10th, S. Korea 4th.
Netherlands 3, Panama 1 Netherlands are now 2-0 in the tournament.
Japan 8, China 1 No surprise.
Italy 6, Cuba 3 This is an upset! Cuba is ranked 8th, Italy 16th. Cuba is now 0-2 for the tournament.
Czech Republic 8, China 5: This is the first time that the Czech Republic has made it to the WBC. While most of these teams have pro players (if not from MLB, at least from various domestic leagues around the world), not the Czechs. Most of them hold down other jobs and play for the love of the game. So good on them to get a victory! I don't expect them to survive the group....but most people didn't expect them to make the WBC in the first place, so I am not placing any bets!
Cuba 13, Panama 4: After two losses, Cuba finally showed up to play.
Japan 13, S. Korea 4: Ouch! This is a major rivalry. Korea would have been upset just by losing...but being blown out like this? On top of Korea losing to Australia the prior game? I've got to believe the heat will really be on the S. Korean manager.
Chinese Taipei 11, Italy 7: This was a good game. Each team led at some point and it was tied in the 6th, before CT pulled away.
The WBC really heats up tomorrow as the USA-based groups start off.
Australia 12, China 2: China has no chance of advancing to the next round.
Panama 2, Italy 0
Japan 10, Czech Republic 2: Japan will advance to the next round.
Chinese Taipei 9, Netherlands 5: The standings in Group A are really tight.
The games based in the US will start in about an hour. 4 more games today!
Puerto Rico 9, Nicaragua 1: well, okay, that wasn't a surprise.
Colombia 5, Mexico 4: Wasn't expecting that. I mean, Colombia has a lot of good players, but Mexico is very good.
Venezuela 5, Dominican Republic 1: Yikes! D.R. is a favorite to win the whole tournament. That's a shocker.
See, this is why I don't bet on baseball.
Currently, US is beating Great Britain, 5-1 in the 4th inning. I'd love to watch the end of the game, but I have to wake up in about 6.5 hours and it occurs to me that I can do that better if I go to sleep.
Japan 7, Australia 1; Japan finishes the group 4-0. Australia can advance if they beat the Czech Republic later today.
Italy 7, Netherlands 1: Ooooookay. Where to start. With this result, all the games for Group A are finished. And all 5 teams ended up with 2 wins and 2 losses! I don't know the specifics of the tie-breaker protocols, but the end result is that the two teams advancing out of Group A are....(drum roll)....Cuba and Italy! Did I mention that I don't bet on baseball?
Italy will play Japan, while Cuba will play whatever team finishes second in Group B (Australia, if Australia wins).
In other games:
Israel 3, Nicaragua 1.
Canada 18, Great Britain 8: This was a fun game to watch in its early stages. GB scored in each of the first 4 innings, while Canada got runs in all 6 innings. I say "all" six because there is a rule that the game ends if a team has a ten-run lead after six innings. (This rule also applied in the S. Korea-China game, but they had to play enough innings to trigger it, so it ended with Korea having a 20-run lead.) I imagine both Canada and GB were thankful for the rule because both of them were using up a LOT of pitchers. Because of the rules about how many pitches they are allowed to throw and how many days rest they need, I suspect both teams are going to be a little short-handed in the pitching department for their next games. But it would have been much worse if they had to trot pitchers out there for all 9 innings.
Venezuela 9, Puerto Rico 6
Mexico 11, US 5
Before we get to the big news, a few boring scores:
Dominican Republic 6, Nicaragua 1: Of interest, a Nicaraguan pitcher got signed to a minor legaue deal by the Detroit Tigers after the game because he struck out three of the D.R.'s big batters--major league players who command huge paychecks.
Puerto Rico 10, Israel 0
United States 12, Canada 1
And now the big news. Great Britain beat Colombia, 7-5! Did not see that coming!
I guess it is the circle of life: Colombia beat Mexico; Mexico beat US; US beat Great Britain; Great Britain beat Colombia.
Venezuela 4, Nicaragua 1
Canada 5, Colombia 0
Dominican Republic 10, Israel 0
And Great Britain finishes its WBC play losing to Mexico, 2-1. Which is very respectable! GB has an interest on tonight's US-Colombia game, because if the US wins, then GB will finish in 4th place in the group and will automatically qualify for the next WBC (currently scheduled for 2026).
And we had our first quarterfinal game, with Cuba beating Australia, 4-3 (despite the best efforts of Australia's Most Adorable Cheerleader). Cuba will advance to the semifinals in Miami.
Venezuela 5, Israel 1: Venezuela wins Group D
Mexico 10, Canada 3: Canada has been eliminated from the tournament and Mexico wins Group C
Puerto Rico 5, Dominican Republic 2: Puerto Rico clinches second spot in Group D. The Dominican Republic is eliminated. As I mentioned earlier, DR was a pre-tournament favorite to win the whole thing--and they did not even survive the first round.
United States 3, Colombia 2: US clinches the second spot in Group C. As mentioned above, this result is also good news for Great Britain.
So we are on to the quarterfinals. Mexico will play Puerto Rico--that should be a fun game to watch! US will play Venezuela. Like Japan, Venezuela went undefeated in group play.
And speaking of Japan, they just beat Italy in the quarterfinals, 9-3. Japan advances to the semifinals, where they will play the winner of Mexico-Puerto Rico. Cuba will play the winner of US-Venezuela.
The larger bases are a gimmick.
I like the restriction on defensive shifts.
Haven't yet seen the effects of no more than 2 throws to first base, yet. So reserving judgement there as well.
Yesterday, the Japan-Mexico game was very exciting. Mexico jumped to a 3-0 lead in the 4th, but Japan tied the score in the 7th. Mexico then went ahead 5-3 in the top of the 8th, but Japan made it 5-4 in the bottom of the 8th. Finally, in the 9th, Japan scored twice in the bottom of the 9th for a walk-off win.
US and Japan will play tonight in the final.
I will list them by division, with team name followed by projected wins/losses. Because PECOTA does numerical calculations, most of these involve fractions of games, which can't happen in real life. So, for example, the Yankees are projected to have 95.9 wins. If they actually end up with 95 to 97 wins, then PECOTA was pretty darn accurate:
AL EAST
NY Yankees 95.9/66.1
Toronto 89.4/72.6
Tampa Bay 87/75
Boston 79.7/82.3
Baltimore 74.6/87.4
AL CENTRAL
Cleveland 88/74
Minnesota 87.6/74.4
Chicago White Sox 79.5/82.5
Detroit 65/97
Kansas City 63.6/98.4
AL WEST
Houston 94.1/67.9
LA Angels 85.9/76.1
Seattle 82.9/79.1
Texas 79.2/82.8
Oakland 65/97
NL EAST
NY Mets 94.2/67.8
Atlanta 90.8/71.2
Philadelphia 88.7/73.3
Miami 79.4/82.6
Washington 61.4/100.6
NL CENTRAL
Milwaukee 87/75
St. Louis 85.2/76.8
Chicago Cubs 76/86
Pittsburgh 72/90
Cincinnati 69.7/92.3
NL WEST
LA Dodgers 94.3/67.7
San Diego 93.4/68.6
San Francisco 80.1/81.9
Arizona 75.1/86.9
Colorado 65.3/96.7
In general, PECOTA predicts that everything will be a bit tighter this year. The Yankees are predicted to have the best record...but not by much: Yankees 95.9 wins; LA Dodgers 94.3; NY Mets 94.2; Houston 94.1. The team predicted to have the worst record? Washington, with 100.6 losses; followed by Kansas City 98.4; Detroit 97; Oakland 97; Colorado 96.7.
Should be a fun season!
(In case you are wondering, the six teams that have played 4 games already all have 2-2 records.)
My Phillies are playing the Yankees next, so we have a bit of a hill to climb before we get into the win column.
Texas lost yesterday, so the two remaining undefeated teams are Tampa Bay and Minnesota.
In other news, the Phillies finally won, beating the Yankees. As such, they avoided making history. The Phils were in the World Series last year. There have been a few other times (like 3) where a team who was in the World Series starts the next year 0-4, but no team had ever gone 0-5. By winning yesterday, the Phils avoided being the first WS team to start off 0-5 the following year.
The Maroons featured such players as: Orator Shafer, Buttercup Dickerson and Sleeper Sullivan. I love 19th century baseball names! Their 1884 season was in the "Union Association," which is an officially recognized "major" league of baseball, although it only lasted for one season. The Maroons then joined the National League for two more seasons.
It should be mentioned that, although noteworthy, starting 13-0 is no particular guaranty of good things to come. It is a long season. Two other "modern" teams have started 13-0:
The 1982 Braves did...and finished 89-73. Doing the math, that means that they were just slightly over .500 for the rest of the year (76-73). That was good enough to win the NL West, but they lost to St. Louis in the NLCS.
The 1987 Milwaukee Brewers also started 13-0. They finished at 91-71...but that was only good enough for 3rd place in the AL East and they did not even make the playoffs! Of note, during the season, they had a 12-game losing streak, which pretty much balanced out the 13-0 start.
Bottom line, what the Rays are doing is historic...and possibly meaningless.
The Jays play their last 12 games of the season against the Rays and the Yankees. Could be rather interesting.