OFFICIAL 2023 MLB THREAD!!!!

[SkiBall]

Six including Evoaldi! Although he’s cool.

Yeah, a lot of RedSox in the starting lineup.
Damn.

[BmillsSkier]

Why do we (analysts and announcers really) feel the need to say after every time we see Ohtani play, “yeah, but how long can he do it?”

Who the fuck cares how long he can do it; why can’t we just fucking appreciate what’s happening right in front of our faces right now?

[SkiBall]

Why do we (analysts and announcers really) feel the need to say after every time we see Ohtani play, “yeah, but how long can he do it?”

Who the fuck cares how long he can do it; why can’t we just fucking appreciate what’s happening right in front of our faces right now?

How long til we see wannabes? Will US bb create more space for pitchers to work on their hitting game?

[Woodsy]

How long til we see wannabes? Will US bb create more space for pitchers to work on their hitting game?

No
#1 pick quit hitting to focus on pitching and got rewarded

[Supermoon]

I hope so! Two way players are fun, and they open up an extra roster spot for a team which is cool.

[Woodsy]

Fuck mlb and fuck fox

[Supermoon]

I’m so glad we get to watch A Rod eat popcorn. This is why I turned the game on

[BmillsSkier]

I’m so glad we get to watch A Rod eat popcorn. This is why I turned the game on

Somewhere Joe Buck is telling the stranger at the bar next to him that this was his gig.

[BmillsSkier]

More XBH than any other player in the AL since he came up to the Bigs.

THATS WHAT JOSE RAMÍREZ DOES.

[Supermoon]

More XBH than any other player in the AL since he came up to the Bigs.

THATS WHAT JOSE RAMÍREZ DOES.

He looked so short next to Vladdy last night during the HR contest. I thought he was bigger.

[BmillsSkier]

Oh yeah, his nicknames are Enriquito as in a mini version of his Dad, “Mini Me” given to him by Uribe, and “George” given to him by Tito for his George Jeffersonian strut lol

[Supermoon]

Hahahaha. Tito is such a dick.

[BmillsSkier]

Hahahaha. Tito is such a dick.

I still to this day occasionally stream the AM station out of Cincy that carries the Reds games solely for the morning segment between former Red’s announcer and Hall of Famer Marty Brennaman and Tracey Jones’ baseball chat - mostly because Marty and Tito are great friends and he will share notoriously inappropriate and hilarious stories about him and Tito.

Dude is savage but so beloved. Every Opening Day he leaves Marty a raunchy and not repeatable voicemail about the upcoming season.

Legend.

[Supermoon]

Yeah. Tito is a gem for sure. Every time the Sox go to Cleveland he just bullies the Sox announcer. Poor guy has PTSD.

[SkiBall]

No
#1 pick quit hitting to focus on pitching and got rewarded

What about the 101st?
Pitchers that know how to hit are ballers. But now universal dh is just gonna dumb it down a little further.
And don’t get me started on launch angles.

[Supermoon]

Kimbrell is unrecognizable with normal facial hair.

[Woodsy]

I hope so! Two way players are fun, and they open up an extra roster spot for a team which is cool.

Agreed but now that the bullshit DH is part of both leagues why would any pitcher hit post college ( if they go)
Fuck the DH. Clayton Kershaw rakes

[BmillsSkier]

Ahhhhrrrggghhh

Oh well .500 on the game for Josey and the Jr Circuit let the old boys win one for once.

Would have been cool to see Rodriguez nail it in his home park like Sandy Alomar did in 97.

[Supermoon]

Ahhhhrrrggghhh

Oh well .500 on the game for Josey and the Jr Circuit let the old boys win one for once.

Nothing good can ever happen to Cleveland sports

[BmillsSkier]

Nothing good can ever happen to Cleveland sports

You’re not wrong, but this one is on the hometown kid J. Rodriguez, who went 0-1 with a SO and a BB with a chance to win it all.

Josey went 1-2 with a double.

[Supermoon]

It was set up for the perfect ending but he never really got much of a pitch to hit unfortunately

[BmillsSkier]

I’m rationalizing it any way I can and wanted nothing more than for Josey to go and grab that MVP with one swing of course; Kimbrel looked like Bravos-era Kimbrel though tonight.

At least the Fox buffer music sound team continued the recent tradition of playing good jams.

[cinnepa]

Kimbrell is unrecognizable with normal facial hair.

Go phils!

[BmillsSkier]

So Manfred says the A's are settled and hints that MLB can turn its focus to expansion.

https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/m...s-rob-manfred/

That said, a couple questions for the TRG denizens:

1. What 2 cities should get a MLB franchise?

2. Upon expansion there will inevitably be realignment of the teams and their divisions. With realignment what makes sense? Does the AL/NL mean anything anymore and would you care if your team went from one to the other? There's universal DH and everyone plays everyone so does it really matter outside of tradition? What's realignment look like in your ideal world?


My thoughts:

1. Out of the most commonly mentioned expansion cities (Nashville, Charlotte, New Orleans, San Antonio, Portland, Salt Lake and Montreal) I think one of either Nashville and Charlotte are no-brainers given the large population growth, popularity of baseball in the region and no competition between Cincinnati and Atlanta. The other I like would be Salt Lake. There's a big gap between Denver and the West Coast teams that needs to be filled.

2. I dislike the idea of moving teams from AL/NL and vice versa, but I think there's some geographic advantages to putting teams that are close to each other in the same divisions - make it easier for fans to road trip to more games against division rivals, fill more seats, make more money; especially for the small market teams (think CLE, PIT, CIN, DET). 8 4-team divisions then? Someone is going to get screwed I'm sure, but the NFL seems to make it work.

[Supermoon]

I’d love to see PDX get a team, and it’s always been a bummer the Expos left Montreal. Nashville probably makes sense, though. No more sports teams in Texas.

I think a realignment would be cool. Moving the Nats, Mets and Phillies into the AL East would make a very spicy division. Would be nice for all of the west coast teams to play each other as well. Then a super mid division and a south division. Just my $.02