2021 MLB Season / 21-22 Offseason Thread

[gunnar hendershow]

THE ORIOLES WIN!!!

[MalaCloudy Black]

16 inning game. Holy shit. 

[The Buscher]

I've cared less about what the Yankees do in recent years, don't have the same hatred for them that I used to.  But it is most definitely annoying that as the Mets go 2-11, the Yankees go 12-0 at the same time.  Their spoiled fanbase gave up months ago and kept going on about how the team is done, they're shit, fire Boone etc. and now loads of them are back all like "never a doubt!!!!" while Mets fans go through yet another year of torture.  It's just not right.

[SeanDMan]

Pretty sure that with everything fucked up about the world right now, "Mets fans suffer through another year of torture" is one of the few things that feels comfortably correct.

[gunnar hendershow]

"Nature is healing", etc.

[The Buscher]

Funny thing is my dad and I have been trying to go to a game all year and circumstances just never allowed.  We weren't going until we were both fully vaccinated which took it to mid-May, also around the time they opened more capacity.  But by then the team was depleted and despite finding ways to win, we didn't want to pay to watch the Syracuse Mets.  Then players started coming back and there were at least three instances we were going to go (he only will go to weekday games) but it was either brutally humid with a threat of storms, and in all three cases the games ultimately got rained out so we dodged a bullet driving an hour and a half for no reason.  And a fourth time we were going to go only for the Mets to announced Jerad Eickhoff as their starter, we stayed home and he gave up 10 runs so again, glad to miss that one.

We do have tickets for Wednesday, which we got the day after the Home Run Derby as part of a Pete Alonso ticket promotion.  Tickets were dirt cheap, $10 seats for each of us.  And yet again, forecast calls for a threat of storms Wednesday so it'll be a game day call.  Tickets are cheap enough to just eat the cost if the weather looks dicey.

If the weather holds off we'll go.  Mostly because we want to be able to say we finally went to a game having not been since August 2019.  And we'll enjoy some really good ballpark food.  We have little interest in watching the team itself, though maybe it'll be fun to boo these stiffs.

[GhostMachine]

12 hours ago, SeanDMan said:

Pretty sure that with everything fucked up about the world right now, "Mets fans suffer through another year of torture" is one of the few things that feels comfortably correct.

Pretty sure that Mets fans being happy is a sure sign that the Apocalypse is a'comin'.

 

[Your Mom]

I know I'm a little late to this but Javy was being nice giving you bastards thumbs down. I would have gone with middle fingers!

[The Buscher]

I think a lot of professional athletes at the highest levels don't really understand how much of a commitment fans are making when they decide to come to a game in the first place.  You have to be making at least $86k per year to be making the same amount bi-weekly that a rookie call-up at league minimum is getting for a single day on the roster.  Major league players make a lot of money relative to most people.  Joe Average bringing his two kids to a game at Citi Field will very likely set him back over $300 between tickets, parking, food, drinks, and wanting to get his kids a memento.  To a big league player that's nothing, for Joe Average it's a luxury.

They don't have to spend their money buying your jersey.  They don't have to spend money coming to watch you play.  New York fans have always been passionate, we don't go to games to sit on our hands.  If you play well here, everyone will love you.  If you play poorly, you'll be called out for it.  If you don't like that, you can always go to Miami and play in front of nobody.

Just about every NY baseball player has been booed before, including Jeter.  And every time it's happened he just said "I don't blame them, with the way I'm playing right now I'd boo me too" and he shook it off and went back to playing like Jeter and everyone loved him again.  Such is life with New York baseball.  Lindor and Baez both apologized to the fans pre-game today and hopefully that's the end of it.

Gary Cohen also talked about the whole situation on air today and made some great points.

 

[Your Mom]

Now this is just me but that feels like bullshit. You support your team no matter how they are doing. If they are struggling you want them to do better not to feel like shit about themselves. Like if you are going to boo your team why are you even there? They are your team! Try and lift them up to do better. Different philosophies I guess? I don't know I could write more but it kinda upsets me so I'll leave it there

[gunnar hendershow]

I haven't really booed any Orioles players since our problems have almost always not been player caused. But one mention of the name "Angelos" and the boos come raining down. 

If we had higher expectations we'd totally boo players though. Just see what happens to Ravens players who fuck up once. TJ Houshmanzedah and Billy Cundiff aren't welcome anywhere within 50 miles of downtown Baltimore.

[MalaCloudy Black]

Brad Hand was activated off the bereavement list and designated for assignment. Yikes.

[The Buscher]

3 hours ago, damshow said:

If we had higher expectations we'd totally boo players though. Just see what happens to Ravens players who fuck up once. TJ Houshmanzedah and Billy Cundiff aren't welcome anywhere within 50 miles of downtown Baltimore.

This is pretty much it.  Lord knows I’ve seen some shitty Mets teams in my time, but many of those teams were expected to be bad and those teams never get booed.  This year you have what should be a stacked lineup and instead have no fewer than five players having career worst seasons with no signs of anybody changing their plate approach or making adjustments.  People boo because they know these players are capable of playing better.

Baez and pretty much every 2016 Cub have been and will be treated like heroes at Wrigley for the rest of their careers, no matter how they play.  They’ll never have to buy a beer on the north side ever again and rightly so.  So it isn’t surprising Javy isn’t used to people booing.  Plenty of guys have had to make adjustment periods here and all of the players doing the thumbs down were people who are in their first year with the team (Javy, Lindor, Pillar, May) plus Stroman who wasn’t a Met for long and then opted out last year.

Case in point - Javy got booed in his first AB today.  Proceeds to hit a big RBI single in the 9th and then score the winning run from 1st in a great base running play.  Second game of the double header - standing O for his first AB.  And so it goes.

[gunnar hendershow]

The commitment to the gimmick even after the Wilpons sold the team is really fucking impressive.

 

[livid]

7 minutes ago, damshow said:

The commitment to the gimmick even after the Wilpons sold the team is really fucking impressive.

 

The best part is his reply when Jacob Wohl's father tried to talk some shit...

 

[gunnar hendershow]

Passan occasionally just drops these sick burns on Twitter. I always think he's super boring Mr. Baseball. So I'm always taken by surprise.

[livid]

7 minutes ago, damshow said:

Passan occasionally just drops these sick burns on Twitter. I always think he's super boring Mr. Baseball. So I'm always taken by surprise.

He shows some personality when he hops onto McAfee's show so I'm less surprised now. 

[The Buscher]

Feel like it almost doesn’t matter who they hire for the front office this winter or what players they sign.  It’s just not going to work for the Mets.  Ever.

[MalaCloudy Black]

Quote

John Smoltz and Al Leiter will no longer appear in-studio at MLB Network after refusing the COVID-19 vaccine according to Andrew Marchand of the New York Post. According to Marchand, Smoltz and Leiter will no longer be allowed in the Seacacus studios, but they will appear remotely.

Meanwhile it's been required of all of their co-workers to be vaccinated. 

[gunnar hendershow]

The Orioles just took 2 out of 3 from the Yankees in September.

You absolutely love to see it.