2025 MLB Season

[GB Warrior]

Depends on the free agent market for relief pitchers. The Dodgers will pay to clean that up, so if there are good relievers that are free agents the Dodgers will be better next year.

The dodgers know that a bullpen full of high-end relievers means jack sh!t when you can roll out over $1.5B of starters. They could be better developing them ala the Brewers but that's pretty much the only weakness in their farm system.

[tower912]

It didn't work for the Tigers when they had Verlander, Scherzer, Price, Porcello, and Sanchez.  That team was doomed by a lack of team speed and defense.   You have to have it all.  And get hot.

[SoCalEagle]

Indeed.  How many runners left on base?

14

[wadesworld]

It didn't work for the Tigers when they had Verlander, Scherzer, Price, Porcello, and Sanchez.  That team was doomed by a lack of team speed and defense.   You have to have it all.  And get hot.

They should've signed 3 MVPs from different teams. Keep all your prospects, add 3 of the best players in the game. Any franchise can do it.

[18thandWells]

A lot of Gold Gloves on the Cubs last year.

[wadesworld]

A lot of Gold Gloves on the Cubs last year.

https://www.tiktok.com/@espnatbat/video/7558498824646364447

[18thandWells]

https://www.tiktok.com/@espnatbat/video/7558498824646364447

Man, the Brewers World Series feels like forever ago.

[wadesworld]

Man, the Brewers World Series feels like forever ago.

List of Dodgers players that are home grown and how you can't buy championships like that.

[18thandWells]

I don't feel like signing for Instagram. Maybe you can just describe it?

[18thandWells]

I do know (at least one) Patrick Foley, but I don't think that's him.

[MU82]

The Athletic with a little more on Kiner-Falefa's too-short lead off third base that cost the Blue Jays the championship:

Kiner-Falefa needed just a few more inches to slide safely home. He might have been closer to that walk-off slide if he had taken a larger lead off third base. According to Statcast, his primary lead off the base, 7.8 feet, ranked 357 of 381 primary leads in the World Series. It was 3.8 feet shorter than Mookie Betts' lead off third base in the following inning, when the Dodgers faced a similar bases-loaded opportunity.

After receiving hateful messages following the game, Kiner-Falefa told reporters that his short lead was due to being instructed by coaches to stay close to the base in that situation. Other Blue Jays leads at third base throughout the World Series are consistent with that explanation. In the sixth inning of Game 1, Varsho's primary lead at third base was 8.5 feet. Ernie Clement's lead off third, in that same Game 1 inning, was just 5.7 feet.

The Jays, seemingly, tried to combat back-picks and line-drive double plays with those short leads, hoping to score on any ball that found a way out of the infield rather than beating grounders to the plate. For a team that led baseball in hits with runners in scoring position, it's a trade-off that worked all year.

"They told us to stay close to the base," Kiner-Falefa told Sportsnet. "They don't want us to get doubled off in that situation with a hard line drive."

Baseball hasn't changed. Even with bigger bases and limits on throwing over, it remains a game of inches. That inch, between Kiner-Falefa's foot and the plate, will live in the minds of Blue Jays fans.

[Its DJOver]

I think the Jays will find a way.  But if Ohtani pitches 4 or 5 good innings; and they win, I don't see any argument that he's not the greatest player in history. 

Don't even know why they bothered playing the game.  Toronto was done the second this was posted.

[tower912]

Has any team humiliated themselves in a season opening series as badly as the Brewers just did?

Bump.

One series.   One game.

[MU82]

Bump.

One series.   One game.

Nope. No way to recover.

[lostpassword]

Nope. No way to recover.

Just like pre-conference 2012/2013 when MU lost by 33 at Florida* (82-49) and then lost to UWGB** just a few weeks later.

*Worst loss I've ever been in person for; I think we were down 40+ for a stretch
**A Green Bay team that finished 3rd in the Horizon.  Of course that was a Wardle team so no wonder Buzz couldn't get the W.

[Billy Hoyle]

As a non-gambler, am I misinterpreting things with the Classe stuff, or can people actually bet on individual pitches during an MLB game?

[cheebs09]

As a non-gambler, am I misinterpreting things with the Classe stuff, or can people actually bet on individual pitches during an MLB game?

My guess is prop bets and it is "first pitch ball" is what they went with. I thought I saw some videos of him throwing first pitches in an inning that were nowhere close and bouncing so no one would swing.

[JWags85]

My guess is prop bets and it is "first pitch ball" is what they went with. I thought I saw some videos of him throwing first pitches in an inning that were nowhere close and bouncing so no one would swing.

Between this and the college stuff, prop bet regulation needs to be evaluated.  Cause its absolutely RIFE with opportunity for corruption and scandal.

[MU82]

Does anybody have the authority to simply make prop bets on athletes illegal?

[JWags85]

Does anybody have the authority to simply make prop bets on athletes illegal?

I would think it would have to be state by state gaming boards, same as legalization of sports betting in general.

[Pakuni]

Does anybody have the authority to simply make prop bets on athletes illegal?

Several states ban individual prop bets in college sports, but not the pros.

[MU82]

Thanks.

[tower912]

Congratulations to Pat Murphy. NL manager of the year for the second straight season.

[MU82]

Cardinals planning to trade Arenado. He'll be 35 in April and he hasn't had an OPS of .800 since 2022. But he's only owed $31M over the next two seasons.

Depending on what St. Louis wants for him, worth a flier for contending teams that need a 3B?

[Shaka Shart]

I'd only care if they were offering Yadi