MLB 2024 Season

[4everwarriors]

Really? How so, hey?

[The Sultan]

Really? How so, hey?

I don't know if this is a question for me or not, but I personally don't care if a starter goes 3, 4, 5...or 9 innings. It feels like more like nostalgia of a bygone era more than anything.

I think the biggest issue with lack of offense is the HR or bust nature of how hitters approach ABs these days. Part of that is because MLB has built a bunch of tiny ballparks, and because metrics dictate it might be the most efficient way to approach offense.

Dish's concept of a double hook is somewhat intriguing, but I doubt it will have much impact. Teams will bat the DH toward the bottom of the order, try to get a couple ABs out of him, and then it just becomes a bunch of PH and bullpen games like it was in the NL. Which wasn't really all that interesting either.

[StillAWarrior]

The Guardians are entering Milwaukee with the best record in baseball. Here's hoping they leave with it. Go Guardians!

[Not all scoop users are created equal apparently]

https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/brewers-owner-mark-attanasio-accused-of-stealing-sand-from-malibus-broad-beach/

[cheebs09]

https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/brewers-owner-mark-attanasio-accused-of-stealing-sand-from-malibus-broad-beach/

No wonder he won't pay up for a starting pitcher.

[Biggie Clausen]

Is the lack of starting pitching an actual problem?

Honestly, I don't think so.  I attend 30-40 games a year and watch many more on television, and I truly feel like in most of the games I see, the starting pitchers will throw 90-100 pitches before getting pulled.  I wouldn't want to see pitchers being forced to throw more than that or their teams would be penalized; guys would be getting injured even more than they already are.

I guess the argument could be made that it's more exciting to see a pitcher try to get through a batting order for the fourth time instead of those same batters being forced to face a parade of flame throwing terminators out of the pen.  But hey, the game has changed.  I still like it.

[PGsHeroes32]

I thought twins signing the corpse of Carlos Santana was brutal. Due to our youthful depth and guaranteeing him a major role rather than bench role .

He proceeded to start the year as a man who should have been DFA'd if not for being a 5 mil contract on a cheap team.

It's now august. Welp. Hell of a signing. He's likely going to get a gold glove. He's a legit menace as a righty. Serviceable as a lefty(much better since his awful start).

Guys 38 and still got it. Also, hasn't been caught stealing in like 7 years

[The Sultan]

Honestly, I don't think so.  I attend 30-40 games a year and watch many more on television, and I truly feel like in most of the games I see, the starting pitchers will throw 90-100 pitches before getting pulled.  I wouldn't want to see pitchers being forced to throw more than that or their teams would be penalized; guys would be getting injured even more than they already are.

Thank you. This is kinda what I think as well.

[rocket surgeon]

baseball has become a big game of studying strengths and weaknesses-he who adapts and exploits those the best, WINS! 

  a good friend of mine told me the when a player get's really good, the opposition immediately studies how to beat them from both the pitcher and batter pov. 

ok ok yes, this has been done for decades, but with the new technology and probably use of AI, they have taken this to the next level.  those who can adapt, avoid injuries, recover from injuries, change their games etc, survive

  exhibit A-keston hiura
  exhibit B-r.a. dickey

[CreightonWarrior]

The Guardians are entering Milwaukee with the best record in baseball. Here's hoping they leave with it. Go Guardians!

Well that worked out well for you.

[StillAWarrior]

Well that worked out well for you.

I'm a Cleveland fan; it's expected.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

The Brewers next 23 games are against teams that don't currently have a winning record.  The pessimist in me says this is the kind of stretch the Brewers usually choke on.  The optimist in me says ef that,  let's nab a first round bye

[tower912]

Tigers walk off the Yankees in Williamsport.  Now they get to spend a week in Chicago.   It should be quite the experience.

[Jockey]

The Brewers next 23 games are against teams that don't currently have a winning record.  The pessimist in me says this is the kind of stretch the Brewers usually choke on.  The optimist in me says ef that,  let's nab a first round bye

Exactly my thought.

Hard to handle Washington and Miami. No probs with Atlanta, LA, Cleveland.

[MU82]

Do we assume Judge is not on PEDs?

If so, does it "matter" if he becomes the first unjuiced player to have two 60-HR seasons?

[wadesworld]

Do we assume Judge is not on PEDs?

If so, does it "matter" if he becomes the first unjuiced player to have two 60-HR seasons?

I do not.

[jficke13]

Do we assume Judge is not on PEDs?

If so, does it "matter" if he becomes the first unjuiced player to have two 60-HR seasons?

Not to open a can of worms on this, but what even *is* a PED is a little blurry. Google something along the lines of "BPC-157" and you'll find a pharmacopia of "research chemicals" that are used WIDELY by the bodybuilding/MMA/influencer grindset (think Huberman/Attia/Humiston). Some of those are USADA banned. Some aren't.

Is Judge doing it on the whiskey/hotdog/cigar diet of Babe Ruth? No. Is he doing it on the Trenboloney Sandwiches of Bonds? Also no. Is he doing it on... something? Maybe. Is that ... something... a PED? No clue.

[MU82]

Not to open a can of worms on this, but what even *is* a PED is a little blurry. Google something along the lines of "BPC-157" and you'll find a pharmacopia of "research chemicals" that are used WIDELY by the bodybuilding/MMA/influencer grindset (think Huberman/Attia/Humiston). Some of those are USADA banned. Some aren't.

Is Judge doing it on the whiskey/hotdog/cigar diet of Babe Ruth? No. Is he doing it on the Trenboloney Sandwiches of Bonds? Also no. Is he doing it on... something? Maybe. Is that ... something... a PED? No clue.

Good points.

I asked my questions because there was a discussion on the pregame show a couple days ago (either Fox, TBS or MLB, I can't remember which), in which one of the panelists very enthusiastically and confidently proclaimed Judge to be the greatest non-PED-using HR hitter of all time. How can that person could know whether or not Judge is or isn't using anything? He can't.

That's one of the shames about the juicing era; everybody has become a "suspect." And maybe it doesn't even matter.

[jficke13]

Good points.

I asked my questions because there was a discussion on the pregame show a couple days ago (either Fox, TBS or MLB, I can't remember which), in which one of the panelists very enthusiastically and confidently proclaimed Judge to be the greatest non-PED-using HR hitter of all time. How can that person could know whether or not Judge is or isn't using anything? He can't.

That's one of the shames about the juicing era; everybody has become a "suspect." And maybe it doesn't even matter.

I both think think the 1st bolded sentence is true in part and false in part. I'm not sure that even without the obvious juicing of the McGwire/Sosa/Bonds era that people would look at big dudes doing historical numbers with bright-eyed niavete. How many people think that *something* isn't helping out every NFL player as they continue to get bigger, faster, stronger, leaner, more athletic with each passing year? There hasn't really been a "juicing era" in the NFL that is on par with what MLB went through to prompt that suspicion... it's just a mix of common sense, practicality, and human nature's capacity for cynicism I suppose.

As for whether it matters, I'm not sure on that front either. Roger Bannister ran a sub-4 minute mile in 1954. Since then it's become not exactly *common* but not exactly newsworthy either. The majority of that difference is in better understanding of nutrition and training. Even stripping out every piece of supplementary aid (drugs, supplements, peptides, fancy shoes, etc.), the mere understanding of what to eat and how to train that is available to every dedicated kid with an internet connection today moves the needle a LONG way. This is part of why I always find most GOAT arguments to be silly. Comparing athletes across eras that are so different as to be practically different sports is an exercise in futility. How would Jordan fair in an NBA that allows zone defenses and emphasizes the 3-pt shot? How would Steph fair having to get mugged by Bill Lambier? It's impossible to do answer with anything more than pure speculation.

And it's not just that the rules change or the strategic emphasis changes either. Does Hank Aaron hit 1000 HRs with modern diet and training because he gets 10 more a year and plays an extra 3 seasons? What about video aids and scouting reports? You think Tony Gwynn was a tough out before, what would he do with the modern live pitcher modeling cages that mimic opposing pitchers' exact deliveries?

I guess to some extent I reflect on when I was a kid and McGwire/Sosa had the chase to break Roger Maris' record and we all *wanted* to get excited about it. Then Bonds did it and we all kinda knew something was up. And when the BALCO story broke I thought "good, we're cleaning up the game because a clean game matters, Bonds' record shouldn't stand over Aarons'." But as the years went on I started to get less and less precious about it. Put stuff on the list, test for it, because fairness matters and frankly most of this stuff is bad for people who use it, but it's not really about maintaining a *pure* game. The game is always changing and has always been riddled with stuff under the hood that is bad but frankly doesn't matter to kids catching a foul ball or Cubs fans listening to the world series on a transistor radio by their dad's gravestone.

[MU82]

The Guardians beat the Yankees in 12 innings last night in the longest game of the MLB season: 4 hours, 5 minutes.

A couple years ago, before rule changes, it seemed that was about the length of the typical Yankees-Red Sox game that didn't go extra innings.

[The Sultan]

Not to open a can of worms on this, but what even *is* a PED is a little blurry. Google something along the lines of "BPC-157" and you'll find a pharmacopia of "research chemicals" that are used WIDELY by the bodybuilding/MMA/influencer grindset (think Huberman/Attia/Humiston). Some of those are USADA banned. Some aren't.

Is Judge doing it on the whiskey/hotdog/cigar diet of Babe Ruth? No. Is he doing it on the Trenboloney Sandwiches of Bonds? Also no. Is he doing it on... something? Maybe. Is that ... something... a PED? No clue.

I think this is the correct take on this. And this is why the black and white nature of how we approach this just doesn't work.

[Jockey]

Seems like everyone forgets that Bonds, Sosa, McGwire, etc. were having to face pitchers that were juiced.

The hitters seem to get the vast majotof the blame.

[WhiteTrash]

Seems like everyone forgets that Bonds, Sosa, McGwire, etc. were having to face pitchers that were juiced.

The hitters seem to get the vast majotof the blame.

I've got Roger Clemens on line one for you.

I could be way off, but when players got caught they just happened to be mostly hitters. Maybe the pitchers were smarter?

[MU82]

I both think think the 1st bolded sentence is true in part and false in part. I'm not sure that even without the obvious juicing of the McGwire/Sosa/Bonds era that people would look at big dudes doing historical numbers with bright-eyed niavete. How many people think that *something* isn't helping out every NFL player as they continue to get bigger, faster, stronger, leaner, more athletic with each passing year? There hasn't really been a "juicing era" in the NFL that is on par with what MLB went through to prompt that suspicion... it's just a mix of common sense, practicality, and human nature's capacity for cynicism I suppose.

As for whether it matters, I'm not sure on that front either. Roger Bannister ran a sub-4 minute mile in 1954. Since then it's become not exactly *common* but not exactly newsworthy either. The majority of that difference is in better understanding of nutrition and training. Even stripping out every piece of supplementary aid (drugs, supplements, peptides, fancy shoes, etc.), the mere understanding of what to eat and how to train that is available to every dedicated kid with an internet connection today moves the needle a LONG way. This is part of why I always find most GOAT arguments to be silly. Comparing athletes across eras that are so different as to be practically different sports is an exercise in futility. How would Jordan fair in an NBA that allows zone defenses and emphasizes the 3-pt shot? How would Steph fair having to get mugged by Bill Lambier? It's impossible to do answer with anything more than pure speculation.

And it's not just that the rules change or the strategic emphasis changes either. Does Hank Aaron hit 1000 HRs with modern diet and training because he gets 10 more a year and plays an extra 3 seasons? What about video aids and scouting reports? You think Tony Gwynn was a tough out before, what would he do with the modern live pitcher modeling cages that mimic opposing pitchers' exact deliveries?

I guess to some extent I reflect on when I was a kid and McGwire/Sosa had the chase to break Roger Maris' record and we all *wanted* to get excited about it. Then Bonds did it and we all kinda knew something was up. And when the BALCO story broke I thought "good, we're cleaning up the game because a clean game matters, Bonds' record shouldn't stand over Aarons'." But as the years went on I started to get less and less precious about it. Put stuff on the list, test for it, because fairness matters and frankly most of this stuff is bad for people who use it, but it's not really about maintaining a *pure* game. The game is always changing and has always been riddled with stuff under the hood that is bad but frankly doesn't matter to kids catching a foul ball or Cubs fans listening to the world series on a transistor radio by their dad's gravestone.

All of that is reasonable. Thanks for the discussion.

[Not all scoop users are created equal apparently]

If you get caught juicing it is because you are an idiot or careless. The doping/deceiving technology always outstrips testing.

Judge is a giant strong freak, so it wouldn't necessarily surprise me if he was all natural power. But then again it wouldn't surprise me if he was on some stuff too, most guys are in one way or another.