MLB 2020/2021 Off-Season Thread

[The Buscher]

Randy Arozarena having one of the best playoff runs of all time.

[gunnar hendershow]

8 hours ago, Meacon Keaton said:

What a wild ass game this was. Dodgers were one strike away from a 3-1 lead a handful of times, and Brett Phillips, in his very first postseason at bat hits a ...I guess two rbi single to win? I'd imagine they have to score the infallible Mookie Betts with an error there though. 

I think it was Taylor who was in CF. Though, Kenley not backing up the catcher was catastrophic. The hit meant it was a tied game but they had so much time to get the ball home and failed at every part of it, but the pitcher not backing up the throw from first is the biggest "wtf" moment of that play.

Now we get Kershaw in Game 5 with so much of his postseason legacy on the line.

[The Buscher]

Blake Snell absolutely cruising in the 6th inning.  Allows a baserunner, gets an early hook at only like 76 pitches and now the Dodgers put a rally together against Nick Anderson to take the lead.

Sometimes the nerds reallllly overthink this shit.

[gunnar hendershow]

I understand not wanting him to see that lineup a 3rd time, I really do, but you absolutely gotta play your bullpen cards right if you go that route.

[The Buscher]

I understand not wanting him to go a third time through the order but man, he’s your ace and he’s cruising.

It’s not even something that crosses your mind as recently as a couple years ago.  You leave your ace in.

I’m not some crotchety old man who thinks all change in the game is bad but I could easily see why super quick hooks and seeing bullpen opener games in the friggin World Series would be off-putting.

[gunnar hendershow]

Bullpen games have to be weird for people who just casually tune in but I love them. Real fun strategic dynamic. The quick hooks when a guy is pitching great is the stuff that gets people bothered because it feels unnatural. And it kinda is. Managers who are notorious overthinkers now have an entire analytics department and front office getting in their heads regarding decision making.

I think analytics are great at roster-building and day-to-day lineup decisions, useful in determining certain matchups, but you can't have them guide the pivotal decisions in a World Series game. You need a sense of the player you have out there, there's a human management component to it.

[The Buscher]

Lol that was the weakest final at bat in a World Series I’ve ever seen.

Congrats Dodgers.  Well deserved.

[gunnar hendershow]

Congrats @DMN who has waited literally WEEKS to celebrate another pro sports championship!!!!

(I kid though, this one has to feel realllly special. 32 year wait.)

[The Buscher]

Holy shit, Justin Turner was removed in the 8th inning because he had a positive COVID-19 test come in MID GAME.

So in the final game of the season, it's possible the entire Dodgers roster got infected.  Jeez.  MLB probably glad the Rays didn't pull a late comeback cause I don't see how they could've played Game 7.

[gunnar hendershow]

Justin Turner got pulled in the 7th inning of the game because he tested positive for Covid. What incredible timing.

As far as I can tell he's missing out on the celebration, which makes sense.

[The Buscher]

Turner was back on the field maskless after the game.  Any player asked about it just said "he's a huge part of this team, we couldn't exclude him from this."

How does anyone let that happen?  Very possibly a superspreader event to end the season.

[gunnar hendershow]

20 minutes ago, B-li Manning said:

Turner was back on the field maskless after the game.  Any player asked about it just said "he's a huge part of this team, we couldn't exclude him from this."

How does anyone let that happen?  Very possibly a superspreader event to end the season.

He came out of his own accord too. Like he originally tweeted "wish I could be out there" and then randomly just showed up out there. 

He had an inconclusive test (with yesterday's sample) in the 2nd inning which led to them testing today's sample and it turning up positive. Nobody alerted anyone about the inconclusive test, which is when he ideally would have been pulled. I think the inconclusive and then the positive kind of hurt any speculation it was a false positive. It was the first positive baseball test in 2 months and came on the final day of the season when the players were inside a bubble though, so speculating about a false positive I think is reasonable at least. Can't come back out on the field because you think it's a false positive though.

I did see it suggested since he had been maskless with his team all night and in the clubhouse at that point it was whatever though, he had exposed the entire team already. But time of exposure is significant (and not wearing a mask just foolish).

[Chris2K]

8 hours ago, B-li Manning said:

Turner was back on the field maskless after the game.  Any player asked about it just said "he's a huge part of this team, we couldn't exclude him from this."

How does anyone let that happen?  Very possibly a superspreader event to end the season.

Maskless, shaking hands, hugging, like nothing was even wrong. Absolutely brainless, and the MLB are investigating.

[Meacon Keaton]

In non "Kevin Cash loves his analytics more than his wife" and "Justin Turner is a moron" talk, how the hell do you sit there and watch strike three of the last inning of an elimination game go without even so much as trying to swing. I'm glad Tampa (Bay!) lost, but geez man, that pitch was right down the pipe and you stood there and starred at it like it was a 3-0 pitch in April. 

Edited October 28, 2020 by Meacon Keaton

[The Buscher]

MLB owners set to vote on approving Steve Cohen purchasing the Mets on Friday.  It was widely expected that he has the necessary 23 votes to get it done.  Jerry Reinsdorf is the only known "no" vote.

But wait!  Because it's the Mets and nothing can ever be easy, there's a clause in Citi Field's lease agreement with NYC that the mayor has to approve any ownership changes.  And Bill de Blasio, at the behest of A-Rod, reportedly called Rob Manfred directly telling him he is strongly opposed to a billionaire hedge fund manager owning a local team, and that he is considering shutting the deal down.  This could end up causing the owners to rethink and vote no on him.

Failing that, letting this news leak out is possibly negotiating through the media to force Cohen to give concessions to the city before he lets the deal pass.  I don't think Bill will outright block it because, well, Cohen would sue him into the stone age and win.

[GhostMachine]

If he blocks it, I hope Cohen does sue the hell out of him. Then wins the rights to buy the Mets anyway...and starts building a new stadium for them.....in New Jersey.

[gunnar hendershow]

I think I saw City Hall denied everything outside of De Blasio having a conversation with Manfred.

[Meacon Keaton]

7 hours ago, GhostMachine said:

If he blocks it, I hope Cohen does sue the hell out of him. Then wins the rights to buy the Mets anyway...and starts building a new stadium for them.....in New Jersey.

So punish the fans because a millionaire and billionaire are having a dick measuring contest. 

[gunnar hendershow]

Yeah I may be wrong but I think the Mets fanbase is predominantly out on Long Island whereas New Jersey and upstate is Yankee country. @B-li Manning might know more than me about this though.

[The Buscher]

22 minutes ago, damsher hatfield said:

Yeah I may be wrong but I think the Mets fanbase is predominantly out on Long Island whereas New Jersey and upstate is Yankee country. @B-li Manning might know more than me about this though.

Yeah, I don't think the Mets have much of a fanbase in New Jersey.  Long Island is loaded with Mets fans.  Outside of Queens, people assume the rest of NYC is firmly Yankee territory but I think there's more of a split than people realize.  Yeah on a given day in the city you're bound to see more Yankee caps than Mets ones but one team is always good while the other is usually a dumpster fire. 

I don't like frontrunning but BIRGing and CORFing is just the way of the world for most fanbases.  Basking in reflective glory, casting off reflective failure.  "We're the best!" when the team wins, "they suck!" when the team loses.