2020 Official Baseball Season Thread

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Re: 2020 Official Baseball Season Thread

Post by GannonFan »

93henfan wrote: Thu Mar 26, 2020 9:01 am Listening to WIP in Philly, Al Morganti had a pretty good idea.

With the season potentially running into November or December, playoff and World Series games would have to move to neutral sites with playable conditions (southern or domed venues).

Why not hold the World Series in Japan?
Why would you want it in Japan? You'd still have to have it played at a time when you could broadcast it here on TV in front of viewers, so you would need to play it at 8AM in Japan to have it be 7PM in the East Coast.

Heck, I'd put it in Puerto Rico before I'd ever put it in Japan. They'd really appreciate it down there too.
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Re: 2020 Official Baseball Season Thread

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GannonFan wrote: Thu Mar 26, 2020 12:43 pm
93henfan wrote: Thu Mar 26, 2020 9:01 am Listening to WIP in Philly, Al Morganti had a pretty good idea.

With the season potentially running into November or December, playoff and World Series games would have to move to neutral sites with playable conditions (southern or domed venues).

Why not hold the World Series in Japan?
Why would you want it in Japan? You'd still have to have it played at a time when you could broadcast it here on TV in front of viewers, so you would need to play it at 8AM in Japan to have it be 7PM in the East Coast.

Heck, I'd put it in Puerto Rico before I'd ever put it in Japan. They'd really appreciate it down there too.
Japan is more baseball crazy and America crazy than anywhere else on the planet. It would be an incredible spectacle. :nod:

This is going to be a throwaway baseball season anyway, so this would just be a one shot deal and it would be awesome.
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Re: 2020 Official Baseball Season Thread

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93henfan wrote: Thu Mar 26, 2020 12:48 pm
GannonFan wrote: Thu Mar 26, 2020 12:43 pm

Why would you want it in Japan? You'd still have to have it played at a time when you could broadcast it here on TV in front of viewers, so you would need to play it at 8AM in Japan to have it be 7PM in the East Coast.

Heck, I'd put it in Puerto Rico before I'd ever put it in Japan. They'd really appreciate it down there too.
Japan is more baseball crazy and America crazy than anywhere else on the planet. It would be an incredible spectacle. :nod:

This is going to be a throwaway baseball season anyway, so this would just be a one shot deal and it would be awesome.
I've been underwhelmed by the games they've played over there at the start of the year, and those are games played at a good local time for Japanese audiences. Granted, Opening Day of a 162 game season is not as exciting as a World Series, but it just hasn't been as exciting. Maybe if they had a better stadium - they've played over there in domes before and the atmosphere has been dead. It would be a nice "here you go" for Japan considering they're losing money with the Olympics having to be moved back a year.
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Re: 2020 Official Baseball Season Thread

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GannonFan wrote: Thu Mar 26, 2020 1:19 pm
93henfan wrote: Thu Mar 26, 2020 12:48 pm

Japan is more baseball crazy and America crazy than anywhere else on the planet. It would be an incredible spectacle. :nod:

This is going to be a throwaway baseball season anyway, so this would just be a one shot deal and it would be awesome.
I've been underwhelmed by the games they've played over there at the start of the year, and those are games played at a good local time for Japanese audiences. Granted, Opening Day of a 162 game season is not as exciting as a World Series, but it just hasn't been as exciting. Maybe if they had a better stadium - they've played over there in domes before and the atmosphere has been dead. It would be a nice "here you go" for Japan considering they're losing money with the Olympics having to be moved back a year.
I mean, it couldn't be any more boring than a neutral site World Series in Miami, Tampa, Phoenix, San Diego, LA, etc. They certainly can't play December games in Boston or New York, so something has to be done.
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Re: 2020 Official Baseball Season Thread

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93henfan wrote: Thu Mar 26, 2020 1:30 pm
GannonFan wrote: Thu Mar 26, 2020 1:19 pm

I've been underwhelmed by the games they've played over there at the start of the year, and those are games played at a good local time for Japanese audiences. Granted, Opening Day of a 162 game season is not as exciting as a World Series, but it just hasn't been as exciting. Maybe if they had a better stadium - they've played over there in domes before and the atmosphere has been dead. It would be a nice "here you go" for Japan considering they're losing money with the Olympics having to be moved back a year.
I mean, it couldn't be any more boring than a neutral site World Series in Miami, Tampa, Phoenix, San Diego, LA, etc. They certainly can't play December games in Boston or New York, so something has to be done.
With the exception that you could have fans of the teams involved get themselves to a Miami or a Phoenix or somewhere. Very few are making the trip to Japan to watch. I still stand by putting it in Puerto Rico - they need that kind of boost.
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Re: 2020 Official Baseball Season Thread

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Play it in the Dominican Republic.
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Re: 2020 Official Baseball Season Thread

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AshevilleApp wrote: Fri Mar 27, 2020 12:00 pm Play it in the Dominican Republic.
Nah, not part of America. PR baby!
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Re: 2020 Official Baseball Season Thread

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First time since 1883, no April baseball.
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Re: 2020 Official Baseball Season Thread

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A plan is being bandied about to open the season with no crowds in either just Arizona, or Arizona and Florida using Spring Training Parks.

Arizona logistically would be best, since there are 10 Spring Training complexes (several share teams), plus Phoenix Muni (where A's used to train, now ASU baseball) and Chase Field.

11 games a day at the spring training parks, plus two or three "National" games at Chase Field - that could involve 26/28 teams a day for the first month or so.

Even closer than many of the Florida Parks are too each other, there are two more stadiums in Tucson that have recently been used for Spring Training
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Re: 2020 Official Baseball Season Thread

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Chase Field is about where the "e" in Phoenix is. Phoenix Muni is in the green area just above Tempe
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Re: 2020 Official Baseball Season Thread

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dbackjon wrote: Thu Apr 02, 2020 2:54 pm A plan is being bandied about to open the season with no crowds in either just Arizona, or Arizona and Florida using Spring Training Parks.

Arizona logistically would be best, since there are 10 Spring Training complexes (several share teams), plus Phoenix Muni (where A's used to train, now ASU baseball) and Chase Field.

11 games a day at the spring training parks, plus two or three "National" games at Chase Field - that could involve 26/28 teams a day for the first month or so.

Even closer than many of the Florida Parks are too each other, there are two more stadiums in Tucson that have recently been used for Spring Training
Can't imagine sitting at a day game in Arizona or Florida in mid summer. Maybe they should do AL in Florida and NL in Arizona, no inter league play.
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Re: 2020 Official Baseball Season Thread

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Gil Dobie wrote: Thu Apr 02, 2020 3:50 pm
dbackjon wrote: Thu Apr 02, 2020 2:54 pm A plan is being bandied about to open the season with no crowds in either just Arizona, or Arizona and Florida using Spring Training Parks.

Arizona logistically would be best, since there are 10 Spring Training complexes (several share teams), plus Phoenix Muni (where A's used to train, now ASU baseball) and Chase Field.

11 games a day at the spring training parks, plus two or three "National" games at Chase Field - that could involve 26/28 teams a day for the first month or so.

Even closer than many of the Florida Parks are too each other, there are two more stadiums in Tucson that have recently been used for Spring Training
Can't imagine sitting at a day game in Arizona or Florida in mid summer. Maybe they should do AL in Florida and NL in Arizona, no inter league play.
All the parks have lights. They would be night games. Once the sun goes down, it is comfortable to play (more so than muggy Florida).

Rookie league plays at night, heck , we play softball at night in the summer.
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Re: 2020 Official Baseball Season Thread

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dbackjon wrote: Thu Apr 02, 2020 3:57 pm
Gil Dobie wrote: Thu Apr 02, 2020 3:50 pm

Can't imagine sitting at a day game in Arizona or Florida in mid summer. Maybe they should do AL in Florida and NL in Arizona, no inter league play.
All the parks have lights. They would be night games. Once the sun goes down, it is comfortable to play (more so than muggy Florida).

Rookie league plays at night, heck , we play softball at night in the summer.
If they are not going to have crowds, there should be a lot of baseball parks available.
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Re: 2020 Official Baseball Season Thread

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Gil Dobie wrote: Thu Apr 02, 2020 4:07 pm
dbackjon wrote: Thu Apr 02, 2020 3:57 pm

All the parks have lights. They would be night games. Once the sun goes down, it is comfortable to play (more so than muggy Florida).

Rookie league plays at night, heck , we play softball at night in the summer.
If they are not going to have crowds, there should be a lot of baseball parks available.
10 Spring Training facilities that are MLB standard, good, new facilities, Phoenix Muni is at that standard as well. Chase Field, with the roof, could do double-headers.

They could use GCU's baseball stadium as well, but it is not nearly to MLB standards as the Spring Training sites.
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Re: 2020 Official Baseball Season Thread

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I agree, Arizona would be the best place for this - things are too spread out in Florida, harder to manage.

I'm all in favor of this - like I said in the other thread, let's get some normalcy going so at least there's something else to watch or take our minds off of things. If done right this could be a good thing.
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Re: 2020 Official Baseball Season Thread

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The latest proposal would utilize both AZ and FL, but would realign into Cactus NE, NW, and W and Grapefruit N, S, and E, completely ignoring rivalries and traditional league status. Completely bogus, IMO, and a potential $$ loser as well, as traditional fans won't be able to come....

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Re: 2020 Official Baseball Season Thread

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SuperHornet wrote: Sun Apr 12, 2020 10:55 am The latest proposal would utilize both AZ and FL, but would realign into Cactus NE, NW, and W and Grapefruit N, S, and E, completely ignoring rivalries and traditional league status. Completely bogus, IMO, and a potential $$ loser as well, as traditional fans won't be able to come....

https://sports.yahoo.com/mlb-rumors-lea ... 30092.html
I'd be in favor of them playing like that - I'd watch the games on tv. I'm sure a lot would as well. Heck, I watched a whole game of NBA2K last night, real baseball would be great, even in weird surroundings, a one-time different league setup, and no fans in the house.
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Re: 2020 Official Baseball Season Thread

Post by AshevilleApp »

Looks like we might have the DH in both leagues for at least the 2020 season.
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Re: 2020 Official Baseball Season Thread

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AshevilleApp wrote: Wed May 13, 2020 10:41 am
Looks like we might have the DH in both leagues for at least the 2020 season.
I just saw the link to an article panning that. I agree with it. The rationale for doing that for THIS year is that MLB is planning to pod the equivalent divisions (i.e. NL West/AL West, etc.) to conserve travel costs under COVID restrictions. The main problem with that idea is that once the precedent has been set, MLB will be likely to retain the universal DH as the status quo.

I have three main problems with the DH, one of which has mainly to do with the fact that one league has it and one league doesn't. The DH mainly exists due to the bogus assumption that there exists NO pitcher who can hit. Nothing could be further from the truth. There have ALWAYS been pitchers who could hit for average and pitchers who could hit for power. The blatant profiling of all pitchers as no-hit stooges leads to the assumption that if you're in a league that provides for the DH, you HAVE to use the DH. That is certainly NOT true, as the rules do allow for the AL manager's "move of last resort," the moving of the DH into the field lineup, which forces the pitcher to bat in the spot vacated by the departing field player. The problem with this is that by the time it happens, it's generally the 9th inning or beyond, which pretty much guarantees that a relief pitcher is in the game, and relief pitchers generally get much less batting practice than starting pitchers, so understandably they will get on base less. There was also the 2009 case when Joe Maddon, then managing Tampa Bay, made a lineup mistake that lost him the DH from the get-go; even in THAT case, pitcher Andy Sonnenstine (batting third because Maddon had listed both Ben Zobrist and Evan Longoria, the intended DH, at third base) doubled in a run in the fourth inning, leading to a 7-5 win over Cleveland. There is absolutely no reason why a .300 hitting pitcher should have to sit so that a .150-hitting shortstop can strike out simply because he just got traded to the AL (or, God forbid, the universal DH has been foisted off on us). We could address this by modifying the DH rule, which currently mandates its use associated with the pitcher to match the softball Designated Player rule, which affords managers the opportunity to use the DP in place of ANY weak-hitting field player so that a pitcher with a good stick can hit.

The other problem I have is that the DH typically eliminates the late-game managerial chess match. AL teams usually use the double-switch much less than NL teams. These are the sorts of things that make baseball interesting, and the DH ruins that.

There are exceptions, of course, but typically, the DH is a muscle-bound power-hitter who can't run, playing into the bogus paradigm I label "Bochy Ball" for former Padres and Giants manager Bruce Bochy, who exemplified this to a T; it's the idea that baseball is best played by getting a base hit and then sitting and waiting for the jack that never comes. Ever since the AL enacted the DH, outside of the mid-'80s Oakland Athletics under Billy Martin (enabled by dynamic LF Rickey Henderson), very few AL teams steal, hit-and-run, or bunt on a regular basis, because they're playing boring Bochy Ball. And it stems from the idea that pitchers can't hit. I've already covered hitting for average, but there have ALWAYS been pitchers who have hit for power, from George Ruth and Red Ruffing in the "Deep Dark Past" to today's Madison Bumgarner, who was unjustifiably excluded from a recent Home Run Derby simply because he's a "non-hitting pitcher."

Another issue I have with the DH is the fact that many pitchers are skilled in bunting, which adds quite a bit to a team's offensive repertoire, from advancing the runner to the ever-exciting suicide squeeze play. As muscle-bound home run hitters only, very few DH's can bunt. AL teams, having the DH, don't typically bother training other field players to do this, so a very important aspect of the game is lost.

I move that instead of moving to the universal DH, we outlaw it altogether....

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Re: 2020 Official Baseball Season Thread

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Okay with me, just standardize it for both leagues.
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Re: 2020 Official Baseball Season Thread

Post by AshevilleApp »

2020 draft is in the books. I'm cautiously very pleased with the Tigers haul. All position players and several potentially big bats. Time will tell.
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Re: 2020 Official Baseball Season Thread

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I predict that the upcoming “60-game season” will be another victim of Covid.
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Re: 2020 Official Baseball Season Thread

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Talk of taking kenesaw Mountain Landis name off the MVP trophy because baseball did not integrate during his time. He has been viewed as the reason, along with the owners. I have no problem replacing his name with a player. His claim to fame was being the first commissioner and banning several players for gambling on the 1919 World Series.
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Re: 2020 Official Baseball Season Thread

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Happy Bobby Bonillia Day
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Re: 2020 Official Baseball Season Thread

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Gil Dobie wrote: Wed Jul 01, 2020 5:37 am Talk of taking kenesaw Mountain Landis name off the MVP trophy because baseball did not integrate during his time. He has been viewed as the reason, along with the owners. I have no problem replacing his name with a player. His claim to fame was being the first commissioner and banning several players for gambling on the 1919 World Series.
It bothers me not at all, but what evidence is there that Landis was a racist? He's actually on record saying there was no rule, and there had never been a rule, that Black players couldn't play in the Major Leagues. And he suspended a player who said in the offseason he worked as a cop and liked to beat the crap out of people based on their race. He probably could've used his commissioner pulpit to bully the owners into signing Black players, but that's about the extent of it for him.
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