then coronavirus happened, 2020 baseball

i used to love playing baseball. when i was a kid, i used to sprint from the on-deck circle to the plate because i was so eager to hit (this is not something that anyone who knows me now would ever believe). i might have been able to play low-level college ball(?) but tbh i lost the love playing american legion ball -- fuckin driving all over to play in 90° heat just wasn't fun at all

i can't even *imagine* loving what it takes to play 140 minor league games in five months with what they have to go through. in the majors they get paid, but christ 162 games is an absolute grind even when staying at good hotels and having people carry your bags for you. it's a hard job that most are constantly on the edge of losing

yeah. in some ways it's like any performer or artist, where the overwhelming majority of people who get into acting/dancing/singing/piano/sculpture never make big bucks, work their asses off, are likely to be dropped on a whim, and most of the time are only doing it through an inexorable combination of being freakishly good at it and not having found anything else they can remotely do. people say 'you have to love it' and i know what they mean - you won't have what it takes to put up with the insecurity and low pay and exhaustion and hustle of it all if you don't - but i think you could also just be slightly bananas and that would also fulfil that function of keeping you at something like that

feel like most players made it because they're hyper-competitive, which isn't the same thing as love at all

yeah!

No names, but heard on the radio that "multiple" Blue Jay players/personnel have tested positive.

http://toronto.ctvnews.ca/multiple-toronto-blue-jays-players-and-staff-test-positive-for-covid-19-1.4998325

I'm just so baffled by this charade. It's like Trump is the commissioner.

Ya. We gotta get them the fuck outta that panhandle shithole.

hearing that if toronto doesn't allow the jays to play there, they'll go to dunedin (rather than, say, buffalo)

let's hope its subject to change

just as an aside, ESPN has a morning show called GET UP in which the first 53 of 60 minutes today excluded MLB. Imagine what the marketing behind that is.

I...huh.

Here are just a few of the ways we’ll keep our players and personnel safe, and limit the spread of COVID-19. https://t.co/y0pyGMNBGx pic.twitter.com/M0ee984sgN

— MLB (@MLB) June 26, 2020

haha, i guess it makes sense that there's no bench, but it's gonna be pretty funny to see players in the stands sitting by themselves

Good times

keep an eye out for Bobby Valentine

ya - i'm more concerned about what social distancing they will be expected to practice outside of the game. are they allowed to go to bars or large gatherings? will people be delivering groceries etc for them?

excited to see dozens and dozens of pithy foul ball catch celebrations in the stands

i can't imagine jocks going to bars or motels on the road...

they should sell shirts with that covidganda on them tho

They have a red, white, and blue graphic that doubles as an eyechart. What could go wrong?

would have been better if every single line used a different font. needs more italics and underlined things as well

but really, this is what people "like" these days. the standard graphic design is just a bunch of squares inside of a larger rectangle. it's supposed to remind you of the happy feelings of browsing endless websites that also look like this. you will feel better if you see a grid of stories that never ends, some of which look better than others

https://sports.yahoo.com/report-mlb-season-could-continue-even-if-covid-outbreak-forces-teams-to-drop-out-175518718.html

good luck

where she stops, nobody knows

Ya. World Series will be decided by last man standing methinks.

WS Champion bartolo colon

the Jays are apparently heading north for training - and hopefully the season.
so fucking glad they got out of that covid dumpster of a state.

No spitting or chewing of tobacco and/or sunflower seeds

good luck usa

yikes there are some bad players at the back end of these 60-player pools

i mean the mets alone just signed gordon beckham, ryan cordell and erasmo ramirez

they just need, uh, bodies

Hearing that #Dbacks RHP Mike Leake will opt out of participating during the 2020 MLB season.

— Steve Gilbert (@SteveGilbertMLB) June 29, 2020

Flame-throwing reliever Anthony Gose is in Cleveland's pool.

https://mlb.nbcsports.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2020/06/Camping-World-.jpg

joe ross and ryan zimmerman also opting out; could be it for the latter

i am ken rosenthal

Statement from Ryan Zimmerman. Not retiring. https://t.co/mVgzJCm5OT

— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) June 29, 2020

Leake's service time: 10.000, the exact amount to receive a full pension. So, Walt Jocketty and Dusty Baker doing right by him in April 2010 and naming him to Opening Day roster let him make a clear-eyed decision today. https://t.co/dZCeCq4GoH

— Gabe Lacques (@GabeLacques) June 29, 2020

congrats to the tigers and spencer torkelson's armada

No. 1 overall pick Spencer Torkelson signs with @Tigers for $8,416,300 (slot value = 8,415,300). New @MLBDraft bonus record, also first No. 1 overall pick to get or top slot value in bonus-pool era. Perhaps the best all-around offensive talent to come out of Draft in 20 years.

— Jim Callis (@jimcallisMLB) June 30, 2020

Spencer Torkelson one of those old-time baseball names

that's the first time i've heard anyone speak that highly of him

also lol at the tigers giving him exactly one thousand dollars over slot

god is there a more depressing team for the "best all-around offensive talent to come out of Draft in 20 years" to go to

usually the #1 draft pick goes to a team that is pretty depressed

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2020/06/30/ian-desmond-powerful-instagram-post-race-inclusion-opts-out-2020-season/

fuck yeah, ian desmond. wish he wouldn't have suppressed all that for years, but he does a very good job of making his points, now that he's talking

oic

MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred on The Dan Patrick Show: “"The reality is, we weren’t going to play more than sixty games, no matter how the negotiation with the players went or any other factor”
So we dragged baseball thru the mud publicly for.. no reason? Stay baseball baseball.

— trey wingo (@wingoz) July 2, 2020

does he think that will help in next year's labor talks or something? wtf, what a dumbass

Isn't that..... an explicit admission of bad-faith negotiation?? Which would result in a successful grievance being filed?

"just to let you all know, i do NOT negotiate in good faith"

"there's actually no point in negotiating with me, is what i'm saying"

it's fine because 60 games is the healthy number but 61 games is a risk that will kill ballplayers

If it's 61, they can attach an asterisk.

i whine about the cardinals broadcasters every year. this year is going to be living hell. i don't want to hear their opinions about ANY of this stuff, like absolutely anything.

i think this is the year i finally give in and cut them off, using only the "in the ballpark" audio option. there's no crowd, there's no vendors. i don't want to hear the announcers. this year it's only the sound of the crack of the bat and whooshing noises of covid19 sweat flying around