NL CENTRAL PREDICTATRON 2019

Mets have been taking the Reds lunch money for a few years.

surprise!

https://mlb.nbcsports.com/2019/04/28/report-cubs-privately-threatening-writers-who-criticize-addison-russell/

puke

cardinals/cubs series starting tomorrow should be good. cards have won five in a row, cubs have won four in a row

nice to see Eric Thames having a solid start

why is ian happ in triple-a? he doesn't strike me as worse (or less versatile) than almora or bote or zagunis

probs bcz he's currently slashing .235/.336/.398 in the hitter friendly PCL?

he was sent down in march. career MLB wRC+:

happ: 109
almora: 92
bote: 103
zagunis: 54

granted, almora is a better outfield defender

maybe there were some other issues?

Bote's been extremely solid and has had a few folk hero moments.

(also the eastern bits of the PCL -- iowa, nashville, round rock, memphis, new orleans -- are actually pitcher-friendly)

happ had a bad spring training but i'm guessing there also wasn't roster room to platoon happ and almora like last year. i'd rather have happ than zagunis though

or better yet keep all those guys AND GET RID OF ADDISON RUSSELL

it's interesting to me (if probably not you) how i suddenly don't hate the cardinals

part of it is surely that they haven't made the playoffs in a few years, but i think it's mostly the absence of tlr/matheny

also Paul DeJong is rather attractive

Dakota Hudson is a handsome guy

I think there are more likable personalities on the team now, too. It used to be Carlos Martinez + a bunch of boring guys, but now there’s Jose Martinez (the most entertaining player in the NL, esp when he’s failing on defense), Ozuna, Bader, Tyler Bro’Neill, etc.

they are still boringly efficient/good to me but i like ozuna (as a player and for entertainment value) and fowler (as a good dude and for residual cubs world series goodwill)

jose martinez is like hunter pence if hunter pence was weirder

i don’t believe you

I liked the score of the Reds/Giants game much better when I turned off the tv. Cincy is just the gang that cannot shoot straight.

Congrats to Luis Castillo on being NL Pitcher of the month for April. The last Red to win NL Pitcher of the Month...wait for it...Kent Mercker way back in '97.

i predict that this is the last game that dexter fowler will start in CF for the rest of his career (at least in a cardinals uniform)

why you would start fowler in CF ahead of bader AND o'neill is beyond me

in the same inning, one of the most embarrassing misplays of dexter fowlers career + the best defensive play of jose martinez's career

and the longest game in Miller Park history is blown by the Amazins

During that game:

Braun: 6/8
rest of the Brewers: 5/54

Fxxx a Posey, has he not caused enough grief to Reds fans?

Actually stayed up to watch the 18 inning game and was really hoping Braun was gonna get the walkoff

that 81-pitch kyle hendricks complete game shutout was sick

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/kyle-hendricks-threw-the-least-2019-game-of-the-year/

Senzel looks legit.

Reds put it on the Giants pitching in the 4 game set, scoring 37 runs but they still only split 2 games apiece. Both the Reds and Giants are now 15-20.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D5_UTrsW4AULCQW.jpg

josh bell 472 feet into the allegheny

fourth homer in pnc park history to reach the river on the fly

Yelich with #16 today

I wonder how many of those homers have come in the 1st inning. Not enough to look it up, but it feels like the Brewers have started up 1-0 in half their games

Yelich up to .356/.462/.797

what on earth

According to Theo, Russell was moved by actor Terry Crews’ journey.

— Jesse Rogers (@ESPNChiCubs) May 8, 2019

double puke

as part of russell getting called up, ben zobrist is going on leave for "personal reasons"?

hope everything's ok for him

Unreal how an actual NFL team cut their star running back and may get rid of their star wide receiver bc of similar behavior and the cubs are clinging to this dude and curating a rehab journey narrative for him.

https://cdn-s3.si.com/s3fs-public/2019/05/06/derek-dietrich-mustache.jpg

https://img.mlbstatic.com/mlb-images/image/private/t_16x9/t_w1024/mlb/prkxxsk9mlbz7dgzsh2w

DIETRICH TO THE RESCUE! pic.twitter.com/eYSqUGxFcD

— FOX Sports Ohio (@FOXSportsOH) May 6, 2019

another big NL central series this weekend - brewers/cubs. right now the brewers are a half game behind the cubs, but the cubs have a run differential of +54 and the brewers have a run differential of +2.

Pirates color commentator Bob Walk was upset about Ozuna tagging up on Munoz's deep fly ball in a 12-run game 🧂🧂🧂 #timetofly pic.twitter.com/kjBsdh5IS2

— VHS (@VanHicklestein) May 10, 2019

the play-by-play guy on that clip is trying to defuse a bomb on live television

they have kind of a fraught relationship. as if you couldn't tell

sort of impressive to give up 17 runs without allowing a homer tbh

Those Whitey Herzog Cardinal's teams were really good at scoring runs without a homer, but that was as fast a running lineup as you would find ever in baseball and half of them were switch hitters.

Bob Walk would probably tag on his own guy for not tagging up and doing the right baseball move in the 6th inning if the Pirates were up 12 runs. "Three innings to go, anything could happen..." You just know it is true.

the gentlemanly thing to do would be to stand between 2nd and 3rd base and wait to be gingerly tagged out, then tip your cap and jog to the dugout knowing that you helped your fans go to bed 2 minutes earlier

then tip your cap ^in the direction of Bob Walk^ and jog to the dugout knowing that you helped your fans go to bed 2 minutes earlier

just a small edit, otherwise accurate

joe block (frogbs you may remember him, i think he did brewers games for a while) is a dweeby bald dude who has at least a passing understanding of advanced stats.

bob walk is protective of the pirates and otherwise just bitchy about literally everything in the vein of jim kaat or (i'm told) cardinals color guys.

it is legit uncomfortable to listen to them work together, which is why i never do it. (and the other pxp guy, greg brown, is just corny as hell)

i mean at least when keith hernandez is bitchy you can sense gary and ron laughing at him; with block and walk it's just tense

yeah I remember Joe Block - he was kind of a wet blanket personality wise but he was a good announcer who seemed fairly smart

Brewers are lucky to have a good TV broadcasting crew - so good in fact, that Brian Anderson is out a bunch of the season because he gets poached for NBA playoff games. Bill Schroder is sort of your standard "cranky ex-player" type but he's still pretty good. Between his thick Midwestern accent and the name "Bill Schroeder" I don't think you could hire anyone more appropriate for the Milwaukee Brewers. You can practically see the case of Miller Lite under the desk.

from what i've heard, the cubs have a decent broadcast team

otherwise, without hearing all 30 teams' broadcasts, i will nonetheless confidently declare that the NL Central is the worst division for broadcasting