Why not? Only 75 Days until baseball, my dudes. And phase two of Skydome’s renovations to check out this year. I like what they’ve done so far. They were smart to do this rather than build a new stadium— It will stand for 300 years with how much concrete is in it. Hopefully the Yankees can do well, still shaken over the death of their beloved Henry Kissinger. I mean, Jesus fucking Christ.
I’ve been a Yankees fan since the 70s and never heard jack shit about any connection to Kissinger until he died. Nobody cares. Their biggest problem is the death of Cashman’s balls and brain cells. He couldn’t put together a starting staff if he was spotted Satchel Paige and Cy Young.
Dansby Swanson's wife, Mallory, just signed the biggest contract in women's professional soccer! It was reported as "record-breaking" by ESPN. Huge, huge deal. Spoiler $2 million, with a possible 5th year option. Dansby's contract he signed with the Cubs last year was for Spoiler $177 million for 7 years, and included a $7 million signing bonus. You think Dansby congratulated her signing by saying, "Aww, that's so cute!"
You guys ever look at older stats to compare to today's game? I was born in 1968. This is bananas. In 1968, Gibson had a 22-9 record, and 1.12 ERA. He threw 13 shutouts, with 268 strikeouts, in 304 innings. He the NL Cy Young winner and the MVP. So, those 304* IP? He had 28 complete games. 28! He allowed 11 home runs and gave up 62 walks. He was 32. *The next year, he had 314 innings pitch. I can't even. Logan Webb lead the majors last year with 216. Blake Snell won the NL Cy Young last year and thew 180 innings. Sandy Alcantara and Jordan Lyles tied to lead the majors in complete games last year. With 3.
Pitching was dominant in the late 60s, which led to MLB lowering the mound to aid offense. The entire landscape of pitching is different from when I started watching baseball in the 70s. Rotations had 4 starters (with 3 of them handling the lions share of the pitching) and one guy who was a quasi starter/reliever. The bullpen had maybe 4 or 5 guys, again three of them carried most of the load. I remember mocking Pedro Martinez in the 90s because he couldn’t pitch past the 6th inning, now that’s the norm, if not above.
What was the average pitch count per inning in the 60s & 70s compared to today? Also, average pitch speed back then compared to today?
If I had to guess, it was 120-150 pitches per game. Back then, a 90 mph fastball was a considered fast, unless you were like Bob Gibson or Satchel Paige. There weren’t speed guns back then, or at least not accurate ones, but from what I’ve read those guys probably threw 95-100 mph. Back then pitchers didn’t throw as hard, and didn’t throw pitches like sliders or splitters that are notoriously hard on the arm. And the pitchers definitely pitched to contact more, nothing like the emphasis on strikeouts there is today.
In 1972, 1973 and 1974. Catfish Hunter, Vida Blue and Ken Holtzman together averaged over 900 innings pitched. The Athletics coincidently won the World Series each of those years. The pitchers of that era were capable of throwing every bit as fast as today. The difference I think is they all changed speed better even with throwing the same pitch. Vida Blue in particular would throw his fastball about 92 mph, but if he really needed to get it by you, it was very closer to 100. So his fastball could be Nolan Ryan fast, or almost changeup slow with the same pitch.
First Spring game today, woo! First pitch of the game, Michael Harris homered for the Braves. Good sign! Spencer Strider is testing out a curveball, too. It's just meaningless games, but a fun start!
This is . . . wow. Kind of amazing. I look forward to the 30 For 30 on it. https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/39768770/dodgers-shohei-ohtani-interpreter-fired-theft
I think everybody understands the story pretty well on Reddit. Nice guy Ohtani pays off a friend’s gambling debt, lawyers run in and shut the guy up but the damage is kinda already done. Doubt there’s gonna be any real trouble for Ohtani though, nobody wants to cut the legs out from under the biggest star when he’s actually on a decent team for once.
We will see what happens. The narrative right now is that Ohtani is looking out for his friend. The other narrative is that the gambling debt is actually Ohtani's. MLB is looking into it and I bet the results will be released the day after Ohtani retires.
Everybody's already putting Ohtani in the Hall Of Fame, so I'm sure Pete Rose would be interested in that.
Haha, now Pete Rose even suspects some bullshit going on. In Ohtani's press conference, he said (through an interpreter) that following his meeting with the Dodgers, and his interpreter, they went back to discuss in a meeting with just Ippei So, even though it was Ohtani's money, from Ohtani's account, it wasn't Ohtani doing the betting - it was money being stolen from him. Naturally, Charlie Hustle says if he'd have had an interpreter, he'd have gotten off scot free. lol Attention, famous people and other rich people: if you want to do anything illegal with your money, get an interpreter. Then, when you get caught, just say you didn't know anything about it (make sure you gasp and look shocked), and that it was money being stolen from you. Ignore the people in the back of the room that you hear cough *bullshit* cough.
Happy opening day, baseball fans! Brewers-Mets and Braves-Phillies are postponed due to rain, so I think the first game will be Angels at Orioles at 3pm.
Looking forward to seeing the second phase of Skydome’s insane renovations this season. They’ve made the stadium a much more fun place so far.