Regular season underway, long way to go.. Astros off to a good start, 4 of the 5 starters turned in excellent outings. Ring ceremony is tonight, management reportedly was very generous with who besides players/coaches gets a ring. Lots of front office staff and others. Last nights unveiling of the banner was a little flawed when they strugged to get it unveiled...oh well they then went out and kicked some Oriole butt! Pirates off to a 4-0 start...but long way. Yankee's snowed out!! Put a dome on that sucker so that doesn't happen!!
Astros handing out their rings tonight. They are going to give one to all the employee's down to the ushers and some special season ticket holders. I don't know what they will be worth, but it's got to be a lot. The Cubs players rings were reportedly worth 70K according to wiki. I do wonder if the rings the players get will be much different from the employees rings. I can't imagine giving an usher a ring worth 70K and expecting him to hold on to it when they have bills to pay. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Series_ring
Looking back at 2017, wow I hadn't realized how good the Astros were and why we won the WS. The link below takes you to baseball reference and all the offensive categories they measure in a table. You can click on any header (HR's, BA, etc) to reorder the list from best to worst. The Astros were #1 all the important categories, the Dodgers weren't, on paper it's amazing we didn't beat the Dodgers in 5 games given our statistical superiority. Of course baseball isn't played on paper and the Dodgers were a great team. https://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/MLB/2017.shtml
The Dodgers were one of the great teams in baseball history, and that covers a lot of yardage, and you guys beat them. You were that good.
:roll: Nonsense. The Dodger shut down everything the final six weeks. It was the worst finish by any pennant winner in history and that was by design. The result was what you saw in the playoffs. I'm still angry about it...
I see that Stanton felt the wrath of Yankee fans yesterday, back in Miami there wouldn't have been enough fans in the stands to get an volume on their boo's. Angels Japanese star Shohei Ohtani did something that hasn't been done since 1919 when Babe Ruth did it. He is the first non-pitcher to start on opening day and then start on the mound in the first 10 days of the season. He hit his first home run last night. It'll be interesting to watch him this season, can he be effective pitching and hitting as a DH.
I know the Dodgers were on a tremendous winning streak during the season and I do remember them tapering off towards the end, but it didn't seem to hurt them in the NL playoffs they dispatched the DBacks 3-0 and then the Cubs 4-1 and were well rested for the WS. The Astros took out the Sox 3-1 and then had an epic battle with the Yankee's that went 7 games and we looked dead in the water after getting swept in Yankee stadium. But we got the 2 wins at home. As an outsider I thought Roberts managing of your pitching staff was suspect. But in the end the Astros made the plays that needed to be made and our pitchers who beyond Verlander were not considered in the same league with the Dodger starters and bullpen, got the job done against a dangerous Dodger lineup.
Stanton wore the Platinum Sombrero last night, going 0-5 with 5 Ks. Meanwhile, Didi Gregorius picked him up with 4-4, 2 HRs and 8 RBIs. Is there a player with less value than Jacoby Ellsbury? Boy, did the Yankees goof with this guy! Yesterday he came off the DL with a strained Oblique and immediately went back on with a sore hip. That's what $21.5 million buys you in 2018. It's clear that Aaron Boone is learning how to manage on the job. His pitching decisions played a big role in both losses so far and the batting order is in constant flux.
You might remember when the Buckeyes used bomb sniffing police dogs to spook the visiting Wolverines. Well, the Minnesota Twins have taken the concept of animal intimidation to a much higher level! https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/look-a-bald-eagle-mauls-mariners-pitcher-james-paxton-in-the-outfield-during-the-national-anthem/
That had to be very scary for Paxton. Edit: Not 5 minutes after I saw Bobda's video, I saw it on Facebook along with this comment: Makes sense.
A followup to Bobda's eagle story. https://www.indystar.com/story/spor...-encounter-twins-players-terrified/492600002/ Paxton is one cool dude.
Don, Just giving the devil his due there. That was crushed. Speaking of crushed, that Japanese kid with the Angels has been hitting a few bombs.
If you get a chance to watch the Yankees you can see what Managerial 101 class looks like for Aaron Boone. He is painful to watch work. He had no experience at all coming in and boy does it show! Question for the O'Connors.... are the baseball players of today the worst conditioned of all athletes or is something else amiss? The infamous strained oblique. The sore quad. Elbow stiffness. The cranky hip. I don't remember anything approaching this level of injury in the "old" days. We have been playing for one week and the Yankees have already placed 8 players on the DL with two more candidates cued up and ready for assignment. Using the 40 man roster as the measure, we should be completely out of players by May 7.
:idea: :arrow: I don't know about a lot of these injuries like oblique strains, but I suspect that they're caused by improper stretching and warmup. There is no question that modern players are in much better condition than players of the past, but my experience was that they don't take warmups as seriously.
I'm sure nobody on this board watched the Padres/Astros game. It was a pitching duel par excellence. The new Astro Gerritt Cole put on a great display and so did the SD pitcher. Was 0-0 in the bottom of the tenth when one of those plays that you can't explain happened. Astros get a ruling from NYC that Derek Fisher was safe on the steal of 2nd and not out as the ump called. Was a bang/bang play and it looked in replay like he was safe by a hair. Then next 2 guys fly out and strike out. Bregman is up and he pops one up right to the right of home plate, with 2 outs Fisher on 2nd is running of course....the Padres let it drop between the pitcher, the catcher, and the 1st baseman...nobody even made a play on it. Astros win, Padres screwed themselves.
I have Gerrit Cole in both my fantasy leagues. I've liked him for a long time.. Saw him in Indy (AAA) doing a rehab stint when he was with the Pirates. I had a hunch that because the AL hadn't seen him yet except for the crossover games, he might have a good season. There's a long way to go, but his first two starts have been good. Hope he can stay healthy.
players today are in better condition overall. I think part of it is the advancement of sports medicine. They are all over things that in the past were just 'rub it and walk it off' type of injuries. Now they are diagnosed better and are over protective of the guys, especially early in the year. Just my opinion. That Yankee lineup, when healthy, is ridiculous.