Hard to describe how awful the Yankees are right now.
We could try, tho, right? We can at least revel in it. :)
I think you need to be more positive. They're the highest percentage last place team!
Ok, these get pretty esoteric - and lengthy. Very interesting, but perhaps mostly to those with an interest in baseball history and lore:
There was a message from JackStraw on a more general thread, commenting on the futility of the San Diego Padre's current season.
Someone may have this info at their immediate disposal (and I will loop back and try to find it if no one responds): What is the current spending in $/win for the Yankees, Mets, and Padres compare to the rest of MLB? Those three big spenders are within a game or so of each other and well back of the final wild card spot.
While it warms my heart to see those NY teams do poorly.............I had no idea the Padres were big spenders. All this time I thought they were considered one of those "small market" teams that was just trying to get by. Have they *always* been a well-to-do team?
That said.............who's the all-time assists leader for the SDSU hoops team? Why none other than Tony Gwynn.
The current Padre manager, Bob Melvin is benefitting from the failures of his predecessors .
Padres have had five managers in past seven years.
Dumping Bob would be six in eight- so Padre like.
In the doubleheader loss Soto got picked off ahead of a Machado homer
and later didn't know how many outs there were on a flyball and got doubled up.
Using total team salaries (players only) from sportrac.com, this is what I get as of today:
Most expensive ($million/win):
NYM $5.9
NYY $4.7
SDP $4.3
Least expensive ($million/win):
BAL $0.9
TAM $1.1
PIT $1.2
League average: $2.6 million/win
Even if the Mets led the league in wins, they would still be the third most expensive at $4.3 million/win. Curiously, Oakland has the lowest salary but they are so horrible that they are only the eighth least expensive ($1.7 million/win).
P.S. For those interested, the Trolley Dodgers are the 10th most expensive at $3.1million/win
Ohtani tore his UCL......
https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/24/sport/shohei-ohtani-ucl-tear-home-run-spt-intl/index.html
As we've been saying............
Opinion: The scrambling of college conferences sends a bunch of bad messages | CNN
Ohtani still batting, but the tragedy of this injury is heavy.
As for the conferences, this is not going to turn out well for any of the sports in D1. Football is on its own trajectory, and the minor sports (all the rest except basketball) will suffer. We will lose a lot of women's sports, and soon. I wouldn't be surprised if the US Olympic teams started crashing quite soon. Does anyone recall the summer games in which the US women swimmers won just one medal? It was a bronze in a relay.
Sports that are able will be moving toward a club level, very similar to European soccer or Canadian hockey.
Yes, Ohtani is still doing DH - and this is one narrow situation where the DH makes sense.
As to the mess that is DI football...........actually men's sports may be hurt the most because of Title IX. The "big boys" will be able to fund everything.......but "equity" may be even harder to manage or even define. 'Course if football just fully breaks away, then *that* problem disappears.
And I do remember that Olympiad, but don't remember which one it was.....🏊♀️🛑🥇🥈🥉
I would have bet TN's house Chinese Taipei would have beat Curacao.
Likewise.
“And that’s why they play the game.”
Curaçao and El Segundo were tied 5-5 in the bottom of the 6th; El Segundo coming to bat.
Quite literally seconds before the pitcher from Curaçao delivered the decisive pitch, the announcer stated, “Curaçao has not given up a home run during the entire Little League World Series.” That pitch was crushed by the batter and sailed over the wall for a walkoff HR.
It was a good game.
They should limit mound visits by managers.
Let the kids play.
I was curious about your comment. I really didn't see an abnormal number of mound visits, but maybe I'm immune.
As to the rules, there absolutely is a limit. The rule states that for a given pitcher: a) the manager can visit the mound once per inning. On the second trip, the pitcher must be removed; b) the manager can visit the mound twice per game. On the third visit, the pitcher must be removed.
https://www.littleleague.org/university/articles/hey-blue-two-trips-and-youre-out/
I thought there were a lot. Most of the time it was Settle down you're doing great .
If you're not going to yank the kid don't go out.
As an aside, my dentist was the coach of the Seattle team that ended up as the 3rd best US team in the LLWS. My appointment to get a crown got delayed once they won the PNW region. Then got moved up once they got eliminated in the US bracket.
As a baseball fan, and also a fan of the unpredictability of life, I’m empathetic with the delay in my appointment. But, I’m wondering how many other patients would view it as an imposition? Just a reminder that the LLWS is an amateur competition when most sports are getting way too monetized.
As of today, there are 4 teams in the NL vying for final two wildcard playoff spots; there are 6 teams within three games of each other.
The AL has four teams in contention for the three spots.
Ten or eleven games left in the season. Should be interesting.
It’s not exactly four for the three. It’s four for the two with three of them also for the one.
As of this moment, the NL may be getting sorted out. The Cubs are hanging on by their fingertips to the last spot, 1.5 games ahead of the Marlins.
The AL remains a traffic jam. Four teams are within a game of the final spot (Toronto, Houston, Seattle, Texas). Seattle, Houston, and Texas are within a game of each other for the lead in the AL West, and only two of them are guaranteed any spot in the playoffs.
Of the 4, 3 of them will get to the playoffs. But any 3. Even though the Rangers currently have 1.5 game lead for the division and a first round playoff bye, they still could finish out of the playoffs.
Mmph yeah. We said the same thing.😬
Two games left for most teams. Four teams with a pulse in the NL, but the Reds and Cubs are all but toast. As TN predicted above, the Cubs keep losing and losing. In the AL, three teams remain for the final two spots. The Jays lock in with a win; Houston’s magic number is 2.
In San Diego it's the same old question - who goes
the manager, the GM or both
It's over. Seattle and Chicago lost today as the Jays, Astros, DBacks, and Marlins won.
On to the playoffs.
Sunday had one final twist. Astros hammered the Diamondback 8-1. Meanwhile, the Rangers performed a reverse Heimlich and ended their season with a 1-0 loss to Seattle AND became a wildcard entry rather than division champion. As a result, Texas will play the Rays in the wildcard opener on Tuesday while the Astros rest.
Coming from someone who heretofore hasn't paid much attention.......................are the Jays and Rays offenses really that bad?
The Jays have been inconsistent the entire year: hot bats today, stone cold tomorrow. The Rays started out on fire (mentioned early in the season on tibia board). They had injuries and slumps, and struggled in the latter half of the season.
Texans take a 1-0 series lead over the Os. Bit of a surprise.
Kershaw is down 5-0 to MrFixit's team in the top of the first - with NO OUTS.
I have a close friend who is a rabid fan of both Notre Dame and the LA Dodgers. Not a good day. I better wait until tomorrow to rub it in.
The Bravos had not been shut out since mid May, and not at home all year (that's a pretty amazing stat right there) - until tonight.
Kershaw's career excess ERA in the post-season relative to the regular season jumped to just over 2 after that epically brutal outing, which I *think* makes him the worst (in that regard) all-time for pitchers who've thrown at least 75 innings post-season.
Altuve's first-pitch-of-the-game tater puts him second all-time for post-season HRs behind only Big Papi.
Edit: Normally such items would go into the "Interesting sports tid-bits" thread, but I thought in this case, go with the (playoffs) flow.....
Philly thrashed the Dbacks 10-0 tonight to go up 2-0. Arizona is in a very bad place right now.
I absolutely care not which team wins that. I guess if'n I had to pick, I'd go with D-backs, mostly 'cause the Philly fans are so obnoxious. They're smart, of course, but obnoxious.
That aside....................the poor calls on balls and strikes this post-season have been pretty appalling. These high-stakes games shouldn't have to be subject to such vagaries.
If they were smart, they would realize that it is just a game.
As to balls and strikes, remember that the catcher's mitt does not have to be in the strike zone when he catches the ball for the pitch to actually be a strike, and vice-versa. He is six feet behind the plate. Curves and sliders do move.
As I've noted (much) earlier..........I am a former umpire, so.......of course I know those things. But the side-camera views and the overhead-camera views remove all doubts on several of them. John Smoltz has been rather outspoken on a few of them, while yet trying to be tactful in how he points out the errors. *Every* time he comments in that manner he 'balances' that with a statement saying how good the umpires have been overall. It's very clear that's a requirement of his freedom to say the things he has. It literally seems like he's reading (or has memorized) a specific disclaimer.
Hey - it's a very difficult job. And while we now have the technology to solve that issue, I'm saying that, compared to my life-long, very, very extensive experience...........the ball/strike calls are worse than usual.
And yeah, I hesitated greatly in calling the Phanatics "smart". "Knowledgeable" would have been more appropriate. And since they wear their obnoxiousness like a badge of entitlement, that ain't gonna change.
Although the Astros were similarly behind 0-2 in the series and had lost both games at home, their situation didn't seem as dire. (They were not blown out in either loss and they are the defending champs). They won convincingly last night in Arlington, giving the Rangers their first loss of the playoffs. We'll see what happens next. Rangers still have the upper hand.
The D-Backs really need to win today. First pitch is in about 4 hours....
AZ 2, PHL 1. Back in it!
HOU 10, TEX 3. Astros being Astros.
Astros and Phil both take 3-2 leads back to their home fields. Philly has been lights out at home, whereas the Astros have not been great.
Astros lost at home again the to Rangers, series now 3-3 going into the deciding game tonight.
Phillies leading D-Backs 3-2 and at home tonight.
Who you got?
(Me: Astros, Phillies)
As to the "Texas League" series..............hard to go against the cheaters, but so far all home games have been lost, right? It's like the gambler's fallacy of betting on black because it's been red 6 times in a row - except that it's not like that at all; just a curiosity. Don't like either of those teams, but just like to see local boy Evan Carter continue to do well.
This is NOT political - just a quirky 'stat':
https://www.yahoo.com/news/cursed-ted-cruz-shows-astros-081701495.html
Thanks, Ted. I went 0-2 yesterday. Still hanging with the Phillies at home tonight.
(btw -- Philly has a beautiful skyline)