It's a brand new ball game: Baseball 2020

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  • RuthRuth Shipmate
    The Pennsylvania Department of Health has nixed this. One possibility being floated is that they will travel throughout the entire season, batting as the home team when they were supposed to have been home. The team says they're looking at other options.
  • HedgehogHedgehog Shipmate
    The Blue Jays can't catch a break. The recited reason is:
    “In recent weeks, we have seen a significant increase in the number of COVID-19 cases in southwestern Pennsylvania,” Dr. Rachel Levine, the state’s secretary of health, said in a statement. “To add travelers to this region for any reason, including for professional sports events, risks residents, visitors and members of both teams. We know that this virus does not discriminate, and can even make professional athletes very sick. We are committed to protecting the health and well-being of all Pennsylvanians.”
    This raises the obvious question: so what about the Pittsburgh Pirates? Are you going to let them play? They will be travelling to other states and teams from other states will be coming in to play them. Why is it dangerous to allow the Blue Jays to do this, but okay for the Pirates?

    (Although it is the State of Pennsylvania that is denying permission, I am leaving the Phillies out of the discussion because the excuse focuses on southwestern Pennsylvania's COVID cases. Philadelphia is in the southeast of the state.)
  • RuthRuth Shipmate
    Big covid outbreak among the Marlins - at least 12 players, 2 coaches. I have a bet with my boyfriend about whether the Dodgers or the Yankees will have the better record this year, but I think we should have bet on when the season will be cancelled.
  • CaissaCaissa Shipmate
    It may be soon rather than later. My Jays played yesterday as if the season was already over.
  • CrœsosCrœsos Shipmate
    edited July 2020
    Ruth wrote: »
    Big covid outbreak among the Marlins - at least 12 players, 2 coaches.

    A bit of even more disturbing information about the Marlins outbreak:
    The Marlins have not left Philadelphia yet after Miami took two out of three games in the season-opening series against the Phillies. The team decided to play its game Sunday afternoon game after holding out three players, including scheduled starting pitcher Jose Urena, due to positive test results. First baseman Garrett Cooper and outfielder Harold Ramirez were out of the lineup Sunday, and catcher Jorge Alfaro was placed on the injured list shortly before Friday’s season opener. Th team did not disclose an official reason for any of the absences.

    So they had three positive tests and decided to play anyway, despite the staggeringly high probability (which would turn out to be true) that other teammates would also be infected at that point? This more or less sums up America's approach to COVID-19 in one brief incident.

    My big question is when the article states "Th[e] team did not disclose an official reason for any of the absences", does that mean that they didn't disclose the reason to the public, or that they didn't disclose the reason to the team they'd be playing against?
  • CaissaCaissa Shipmate
    Do they have a moral compass?
  • RuthRuth Shipmate
    Caissa wrote: »
    Do they have a moral compass?

    Depends. How much does one cost?
  • CrœsosCrœsos Shipmate
    There's more on the Marlins' decision to play at The Athletic. Unfortunately it's paywalled, so here's blogger Scott Lemieux discussing the article, with an excerpt and a link to a related (non-paywalled) article at NBC Sports.

    At least this season has broken one record, albeit in the area of baseball cards.
  • RossweisseRossweisse Hell Host, 8th Day Host
    Today's St. Louis Cardinals game against the Milwaukee Brewers has been postponed after the Cards had two (unnamed) pitchers test positive. Does anyone seriously think that this season will run even 60 games?
  • Ironically, the Miami Marlins currently lead the NL East. Having only played 3 games, their win percentage of .667 is better than the teams who have played twice as many games. Their strategy is working!!!!
  • RuthRuth Shipmate
    Rossweisse wrote: »
    Today's St. Louis Cardinals game against the Milwaukee Brewers has been postponed after the Cards had two (unnamed) pitchers test positive. Does anyone seriously think that this season will run even 60 games?

    MLB has warned the TV folks to think about what their alternate programming would be starting Monday.
  • I listened to the OH-rioles game last night. Fake fans played on the sound system....seems so wrong. And what is "paywalled"? And are there some new rules about 3 left hand batters in a row, or pitchers in a row... It's Vatican II in Baseball World !
  • HedgehogHedgehog Shipmate
    edited August 2020
    There are new rules, and I don't pretend to know them all. I don't think there is any rule against three left handed batters, but there is a rule that a pitcher must pitch to three batters before being replaced. Unless you get to the end of an inning, in which case never mind.
  • CaissaCaissa Shipmate
    I love the news which includes DH in both leagues, 7 inning double headers, Starting extra innings with a runner on second and the above mentioned rule re. minimum number of batters a pitcher must face. I hope these are retained after this season.
  • RuthRuth Shipmate
    I have very mixed feelings, but I want to be persuaded that these are good things. Why do you like them, @Caissa?
  • CaissaCaissa Shipmate
    Re. DH- pitchers have terrible batting averages. Doubleheaders- 18 innings minimum in one day can be brutal for every day players. Comparably, it took me awhile to get used to 8 end curling but when everyone know where the goalposts are the game is as good as 10 end. Starting a runner on second speeds the ending of extra inning games. And a three batter minimum for pitchers speeds up the game.
  • I am having trouble treating this season as being anything more than Exhibition Games, but I will note that my Phillies currently have the 5th best record in the National League (behind La Dodgers, Atlanta, Chicago Cubs and San Diego). It has been a long time since we were that competitive.

    Having said that, we are only 2 games over .500. One bad weekend and we could sink rapidly!
  • Sorry for the double post, but this has been bugging me:
    Caissa wrote: »
    Re. DH- pitchers have terrible batting averages.
    Proponents of the Designated Hitter keep saying things like this. But look at the stats.

    In 2018, the AL batting average (with the DH) was .249. The NL batting average (with pitchers batting) was .247. In 2019, the AL average (with DH) was .253, NL average (without DH) was .251. That (.002) is not a huge difference considering that DH/pitcher is one-ninth of the batting order!

    But the real eye-opener is the stats so far this year when both leagues are using the DH: AL average .242, NL average .246. Or, in other words, this year the league wide batting averages with both leagues using the DH is LOWER than the past two years...
  • A bizarre day in baseball yesterday. The Giants beat the Mariners 10-1; the Brewers beat the Tiger 19-0....and neither of those qualifies as the Blowout of the Day because the Braves beat the Marlins 29-9!

    The 29 runs set a NL "modern" record (i.e., since 1900) for runs scored. The MLB "modern" record is 30 (when the AL Rangers beat the Orioles 30-3 in 2007). The all-time record was set on June 29, 1897, when the Chicago Colts beat the Louisville Colonels, 36-7.

    And, for stat fans, there had never before been a 29-9 score in MLB history (dating back to 1871). The last time MLB saw a "new" score like that was in May of 1999, when the Reds beat the Rockies 24-12 (which means that that 30-3 score from 2007 was not a unique score! :astonished:).
  • The real BA comparison is DH avg vs. pitcher avg. Not even close.
  • I still have trouble treating this season as anything other than a series of exhibition games, but I suppose we should at least acknowledge that this weekend constitutes the end of a most irregular "regular season."

    So 8 teams from each league will make the playoffs. In the American League, the following have clinched a playoff spot:
    • Tampa Bay Rays
    • Oakland Athletics
    • Minnesota Twins
    • Chicago White Sox
    • New York Yankees
    • Cleveland Indians
    The last two spots will be decided between the Houston Astros, Toronto Blue Jays, Los Angeles Angels & Seattle Mariners.

    Everybody else in the AL (namely Kansas City, Baltimore, Detroit, Boston and Texas) have been eliminated.

    In the National League, the following have clinched a playoff spot:
    • Los Angeles Dodgers
    • Atlanta Braves
    • Chicago Cubs
    • San Diego Padres
    The other four spots will be decided between the St. Louis Cardinals, Miami Marlins, San Francisco Giants, Cincinnati Reds, Philadelphia Phillies, Milwaukee Brewers, New York Mets & Colorado Rockies.

    In the NL, (at least as of the time I type this...games are being played right now) only Washington, Arizona and Pittsburgh have been eliminated.

    So Washington, the defending World Series Champs are not even making the playoffs this year. That is not all that unusual: In 2019, Boston did not make the playoffs, despite winning the World Series in 2018. Kansas City won the World Series in 2015, but did not make the playoffs in 2016. SF won it all in 2014 but failed to show in the 2015 playoffs. And so on and so on.

    On the other hand, BOTH Chicago teams will be in the playoffs this year. That is unusual:
    the last time that that happened was 2008 (and that was the first time it ever happened)!

  • Sorry for the double-post, but here is an article about how difficult it is for any team to repeat as World Series champ. It has not happened for 20 years (when the Yankees won three straight, 1998-2000).
    Not only that, but the majority of teams in that time haven’t even returned to the playoffs. Including this year’s Nats, 11 of the past 20 defending champs have missed the postseason, and only two have made it back to the Fall Classic.
  • RuthRuth Shipmate
    Hedgehog wrote: »
    Sorry for the double post, but this has been bugging me:
    Caissa wrote: »
    Re. DH- pitchers have terrible batting averages.
    Proponents of the Designated Hitter keep saying things like this. But look at the stats.

    In 2018, the AL batting average (with the DH) was .249. The NL batting average (with pitchers batting) was .247. In 2019, the AL average (with DH) was .253, NL average (without DH) was .251. That (.002) is not a huge difference considering that DH/pitcher is one-ninth of the batting order!

    But the real eye-opener is the stats so far this year when both leagues are using the DH: AL average .242, NL average .246. Or, in other words, this year the league wide batting averages with both leagues using the DH is LOWER than the past two years...
    Caissa wrote: »
    The real BA comparison is DH avg vs. pitcher avg. Not even close.

    Gotta agree with Caissa here. The overall league BA is not the thing to look at, because it's affected by too many things -- is the ball less juiced this year? Are the hitters overall slightly worse because of the covid-caused stop and re-start of spring training?

    I'm still torn about the DH in the NL. I simultaneously miss the strategic things managers do because of it and appreciate not having the pitcher come up with two outs and the bases loaded and the game on the line.

    I like the three-batter or end-of-inning rule for pitchers. I think 7 innings for double-header games is fine, especially when so many teams are playing so many double-headers this year. The runner starting on second in extra-inning is still weird, but I might get used to it.

    What do folks think about the expanded play-offs? I think they're a good idea for this shortened season, as 60 games is not enough to separate the good from the best. But Manfred is talking about continuing them past this year, and I'm very much against that. After 162 games, we should not be seeing so many teams in the play-offs.
  • Ruth wrote: »
    Hedgehog wrote: »
    Sorry for the double post, but this has been bugging me:
    Caissa wrote: »
    Re. DH- pitchers have terrible batting averages.
    Proponents of the Designated Hitter keep saying things like this. But look at the stats.

    In 2018, the AL batting average (with the DH) was .249. The NL batting average (with pitchers batting) was .247. In 2019, the AL average (with DH) was .253, NL average (without DH) was .251. That (.002) is not a huge difference considering that DH/pitcher is one-ninth of the batting order!

    But the real eye-opener is the stats so far this year when both leagues are using the DH: AL average .242, NL average .246. Or, in other words, this year the league wide batting averages with both leagues using the DH is LOWER than the past two years...
    Caissa wrote: »
    The real BA comparison is DH avg vs. pitcher avg. Not even close.

    Gotta agree with Caissa here. The overall league BA is not the thing to look at, because it's affected by too many things -- is the ball less juiced this year? Are the hitters overall slightly worse because of the covid-caused stop and re-start of spring training?
    Okay, I was going to let this drop, but....

    I will agree that comparing this seasons BA to any prior season is meaningless. Let's drop that. But my earlier point stands. In 2018, the difference in BA between the leagues was just .002. Same year, same ball---if pitchers are truly such a drag on batting, why is that difference so minimal? In 2019, same thing: .002 difference. Yes, the DH (as a single person) has a better BA than a pitcher (as a single person), but baseball is a team sport and it is far more complex in the interactions of the team. Replace one poor batter (pitcher) with a better batter (DH) and other factors change such that the difference, as a team, is .002.

    There is another factor at work here, which is the bootstrap argument: Pointing to current pitchers and saying "they can't bat" is not a justification for the DH--because the reason they are bad at batting is because of the DH. The DH is all throughout the minors. No pitcher for the past decade has been permitted to bat in the minors. Why then be surprised that they can't bat now? It is because of the DH! Let them bat in the minors and they will be much better batters when they come to the majors. Before the DH was put into effect and pitchers batted, they were much better at batting. And they were much better at the important small-ball concept of baseball: pitchers were often the best bunters on the team. They got the runner over. Current day baseball cares little for small ball: if you can't hit a homer you are useless. But baseball wasn't designed that way.

    The DH has done great harm to the game of baseball and it should be abolished. Its alleged benefits (a big whopping .002 on team BA) does not come near to countering the damage it has done to the game.

    It won't be abolished, of course. There is too much money involved. Players who should retire get to keep making millions because they can swing a bat. But DH was a bad decision.

    Some of the most dramatic baseball I ever watched involved a pitcher batting: if you ever get a chance, watch Game 2 of the 2008 NL Division Series: Philadelphia Phillies v. Milwaukee Brewers: Brett Myers v. C.C. Sabathia. In inning 2, 2 outs, man on second. Sabathia pitching to the opposing pitcher, Myers. Sabathia gets up 0-2 in the count....and can't put him away. A 9 pitch at-bat and Myers finally works a walk. It was intense stuff. Watch the inning, if you can't watch the game. Amazing stuff. To say that it rattled Sabathia is an understatement: he walked the next batter on 4 straight pitches. The batter after that hit a grand slam. And it was all set up by Brett Myers, the pitcher, refusing to go down.

    But we don't get great stuff like that these days. We get boring swing-from-the-heels batters all trying to sock a homer.

  • You're comparing the wrong stats, Hedgehog. Compare bitchers BA in the NL in 2019 to DH BA in AL in 2019. I will be kind and say there is probably at least a 150 point difference. Batters at the plate are almost a guaranteed out. The DH rule allows batters to concentrate on a skill that has become even more specialized, pitching. In an era when pitchers get injured at the drop of a hat, we don't need more pitcher injuries through attempting to bat and if they do by some miracle get a hit, baserunning. Maybe the NL BA is so closed to that of the AL is because batting has a negative effect on the pitcher's pitching. Baseball is a much better sport with the DH rule.
  • Tomorrow the new playoff format begins. Any predictions for upsets in the first round, pre-bubble?
  • I'm just glad the Blue Jays are back in. I think it will be tough for them to win 2 out of 3 in Tampa Bay.
  • RuthRuth Shipmate
    It will be tough but it could happen. If I were going to put money on one upset, though, I'd pick the Reds over Atlanta.
  • I would like to see the Blue Jays pull an upset but all of the stars will have to align. I think they will have to ride strong starting pitching (if they get it) since there will be no tomorrow.
  • RuthRuth Shipmate
    My unalloyed joy in the Dodgers' win last night lasted for maybe 20 minutes -- when Justin Turner, positive for Covid-19, was celebrating on the field. Yes, it's the World Series, and yes, it's the crowning achievement of a career -- but the virus doesn't know this or care.
  • Considering what a downer 2020 has been, this is pretty cool news:
    Marlins' appoint first female GM

    In other baseball news, the ballot for the Hall of Fame has been released. To get into the Baseball Hall of Fame, a candidate needs to get 75% of the votes. Last year, 397 ballots were submitted and 298 votes were needed for election.

    The following 14 players return to the 2021 ballot:

    NAME, YEAR ON BALLOT (2020 vote total, percentage)

    Curt Schilling, 9th (278, 70.0%)
    Roger Clemens, 9th (242, 61.0%)
    Barry Bonds, 9th (241, 60.7%)
    Omar Vizquel, 4th (209, 52.6%)
    Scott Rolen, 4th (140, 35.3%)
    Billy Wagner, 6th (126, 31.7%)
    Gary Sheffield, 7th (121, 30.5%)
    Todd Helton, 3rd (116, 29.2%)
    Manny Ramirez, 5th (112, 28.2%)
    Jeff Kent, 8th (109, 27.5%)
    Andruw Jones, 4th (77, 19.4%)
    Sammy Sosa, 9th (55, 13.9%)
    Andy Pettitte, 3rd (45, 11.3%)
    Bobby Abreu, 2nd (22, 5.5%)

    The following list is of eleven "first-timers" newly added to the ballot this year:

    Mark Buehrle
    A.J. Burnett
    Michael Cuddyer
    Dan Haren
    LaTroy Hawkins
    Tim Hudson
    Torii Hunter
    Aramis Ramirez
    Nick Swisher
    Shane Victorino
    Barry Zito.

    While there are some nice names there, I don't see anybody who is likely to get in on the first try.

    Players much receive at least 5% support in order to stay on the ballot the next year.

    The results of the vote will be released in late January.

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