Yeah, the whole time I was watching that I was thinking, “please don’t walk Trout”, there needed to be resolution there. Either Trout needed to strike out, or he needed to hit a bomb to tie the game. I’m glad we got 1 of those 2 endings even if it wasn’t the one I wanted.
This was basically all-star nationalized baseball playoffs. MLB has their version in October. Games mean more when every game counts.
I don’t watch the NBA because almost every team makes the playoffs, pro football is going that way.
This is true. I had a friend over and we watched the USA vs Venezuela game and he commented “I don’t like how they are celebrating that much!”
…
Nevertheless he is acting how all old school baseball fans are. You should never show any emotion! Don’t have fun playing a G A M E .
Anyway, I thought it was great.
Yeah I’m not at all plugged into the broader Baseball Sphere apart from watching this thread to keep up with RSN news cuz the NBA thread here on Qt3 is a graveyard, so I have been very surprised to hear today from a few different folks that there’s apparently a lot of Stern Looks and Furrowed Brows from some folks in the Baseball Establishment over the WBC. WTF? That tournament was fucking awesome!
Sucks about Diaz from PR, though :(
Honestly, not sure there’s much to take.
Baseball is more fun when there are immediate, high stakes to the results. So maybe, go back to single-game wildcards?
But also, playing for your country is super important for guys. Which is cool. But MLB can’t replicate that, really.
There’s also a flipside to that question.
Watching the WBC games – as fun as they were at times – I also noticed some issues. Games took FOREVER to finish. There was much less running than we’re seeing in MLB spring training games. And honestly, even last night it was a home run derby – the 5 runs that scored all came as a result of home runs. In spring ball, we’re seeing a lot more dynamic offense going on, with faster games. And that’s what the next WBC can take from MLB.
You should try watching more Mariners games. #chaosball
I mean, it’s mostly watched by white guys over 50, so there are limits here.
Still, it’s the second most profitable sports league on the planet. So, it’s doing fine…in the near-term, anyway.
Baseball is awesome and I’m excited to see how the game changes work out over this upcoming season.
I am particularly happy with the end of the shift.
I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a better pitch.
The craziest thing (and adding to the un-hittability) about that strike 3 pitch from Ohtani was the pitch sequence it was in. In the same at-bat, Mike Trout had swung and missed at two 101-mph fastballs. Ohtani also missed the strike zone with a 102-mph fastball too.
And then, 87 mph frisbee slider skidding onto the edge of the zone for strike three…
Say one thing about Lars Nootbaar: he comes by his personality honestly.
This is his mom being interviewed on Japanese TV. Watch her reaction when she realizes she’s standing next to former Mariners relief ace Kaz Sasaki.
This sucks. “Non-contact” and “cart” are words you never want to see on the same injury.
Phillies just announced that it’s a torn ACL. That will end his 2023 season before it begins. He’s also a free agent at the end of the year.
Philadelphia was due for one of these. There’s been too much health between the Sixers, Phillies and Eagles that one of them was going to get bit by the injury bug. Phils have a lot of pitchers with arm problems atm too. Frustrating, but somewhat expected. We’ve been too lucky too often recently.
Because of this, the WBC, and spring training scheduling, the Phillies pricey new infield of Bohm-Trea Turner-Stott-Hoskins lasted exactly one spring training inning. The four had not been on the field together at the same time before today’s game.
Hoskins and his wife won a lot of people over during the Phillies World Series run. His wife would go to a beer concession and buy for everyone in line.
That sucks. I’d say Diaz is still worse, but I may be biased.
Two of the Reds’ top three salaries will not be on the field to start the season: Joey Votto and Ken Griffey, Jr.
This is complete nonsense. Umpires need actual oversight. This guy wanted to be a Star today.
The umpires need some training. Some need a lot of training.
It’s worse than that. They paid Mike Moustakas 22 million to not play baseball for them this year. So that means 3 of the top 4 salaries will not be on the field to start the season.
This is a little misleading because Votto’s $25M is in the injured list and that looks short term, but still amazing:
Just in the National TV Revenue and MLB Revenue Sharing the Reds will get over $170M this year. Totally embarrassing.
Owners going to put more money in their pockets than they spend on players this year.