the pitch clock is counting down to the MLB 2023 REGULAR SEASON THREAD

that seems a bit excessive, maybe just tell him to get off the field before tackling him

Could just give him a good old fashioned manhandling, no need to concuss the fella

it's my favorite day on the MLB calendar: a bunch of teams are not playing, for some reason, and there's no day games even though it's a Friday and everyone's excited, and what *is* on isn't on national TV, so good luck watching baseball you good-for-nothing shitbonnets

— Andrew Gaerig (@agaerig) March 31, 2023

so otm. i have never understood why the second day of the season is always so desolate in terms of baseball action

it’s a backup plan in case of rain, so all the people who bought opening day tix could still attend it (unless it rained again, of course). all of today’s games are in domes or places where it rarely rains.

there should absolutely be a day game tho

that is not a good reason imo

marlins rocking the teal tonight

if tonight and last year’s playoffs are any indication, if you let maldonado get on base, the astros are gonna score multiple runs

one little known thing about the "pepper grind" celebration that lars nootbaar popularized in japan is that it was actually invented by back-up catcher andrew knizner (pronounced kiz-ner), last year, before it was picked up by nootbaar shortly thereafter. i watched or listened to just about every cards game last year, and did not realize that knizner started it. knizner is probably the worst cardinal since pete kozma, which is why he didn't get to do the pepper grind very often and it had to be passed on to someone else.

my last pepper grind update is that the team has decided not to do it this year, as some other dumb celebration must be invented instead

interesting outing from jack flaherty today: 5 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 7 BB, 4 K

it's a one true outcome kind of game

http://cdn3.sbnation.com/imported_assets/762164/animated-siren-gif-animated-siren-gif-animated-siren-gif-drudge-report.gif rutschmann made an out http://cdn3.sbnation.com/imported_assets/762164/animated-siren-gif-animated-siren-gif-animated-siren-gif-drudge-report.gif

That Angels-Oakland game! Fujinami has an ERA of 30.86!

Dodgers Joe Davis is doing a good job. Instead of this game being all about the Yankees,he is talking about the Giants a far bit.

What an ending to the Orioles-Red Sox game! Yoshida reached first with two outs on a fielding error, Duvall scored a two-run homer, meaning the Red Sox led for the first time all game. Good enough to forget that Chris Sale gave up seven runs through three innings!

Lol absolutely ludicrous finish

5 RBIs for *checks notes* Adam Duvall

McKenna's dropped fly ball the stuff of anxiety dreams

It wound up not mattering but Yoshida should have been standing on second after that imo

The quotes on this

could be worse, we could be starting Adam Duvall

— Ryan Garcia (In the Lab🧪) (@RyanGarciaESM) March 28, 2023

Also he only walked today but hello Casas 1B

WHAT A PLAY BY RAFAEL DEVERS YO SAVE A RUN! AND HELL OF A PICK BY TRISTON CASAS! pic.twitter.com/VOLHqhRj8C

— Tyler Milliken ⚾️ (@tylermilliken_) April 1, 2023

Bumgarner vs Kershaw tonight.

Baltimore 10/10 SB attempts over 2 games

phillies run differential after two games: -17

One of the points the radio commentators made at Fenway last night is that Baltimore runners appeared to be waiting until the pitch clock got to like 1 or 2 seconds and then just taking off. Once it gets down to that little time it's tough for the pitcher to change his mind about what he's doing

MLB announced that a total of 269 players representing 19 different countries and territories outside of the 50 United States were on Opening Day rosters and inactive lists. The Dominican Republic had the most, with 104, followed by Venezuela (62), Cuba (21), Puerto Rico (19), Mexico (15), Canada (10), Japan (8), Colombia (7), Curaçao (4), Panama (4), South Korea (4), the Bahamas (2), Nicaragua (2), Aruba (1), Australia (1), Brazil (1), Germany (1), Honduras (1), and Taiwan (1).

i didn't realize how many Venezuelan players there are in MLB!

When I was a kid they'd have exhibition games early in the season during those rain safety off days, I miss those.

Can’t even enjoy Astros losing cos Clevinger was the winning pitcher. 😒

At least Rodriguez, France and Raleigh are all hitting today.

You can tell how much faster the game is cos we’re at the top of the 7th in the Mariners-Guardians game and the commentators have only chatted about the stadium roof being stuck for about five minutes not 25.

I forgot about the ghost runner rule until now

I didn’t, too bad mariners forgot how to hit in the back innings

maybe deluding myself based on very sss but heartened that the white sox split their series against the astros in houston, with the losses being fairly close. i would love to see them rebound and meet the expectations they had last season

if anything, just to humiliate LaRussa and the circumstances that put him at the helm last year

Incredible!

Joey Wiemer's first outfield assist in the big leagues cuts down Big Dan Vogelbach. pic.twitter.com/7l4xbu0rSY

— Adam McCalvy (@AdamMcCalvy) April 3, 2023

Turang’s first homer is a grand slam! Cut to his parents sobbing in the crowd. Brewers beating the Mets 10-0 in the 5th.

Brice Turang hits a grand slam for his first MLB homer! @FarmToFame_ pic.twitter.com/9LtJG7hhnu

— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) April 3, 2023

Giants have like six home runs if I'm counting correctly.

It ended up being seven home runs in all.

The Wiemer throw... did you see the stank he put on that follow-through?

xp I’m happy to see Bryce Johnson get called up, I heard Bart has a “tight back” hence not being played which I guess is good cos otherwise it’s not like Perez is all that impressive at the plate either (ik ik minuscule sample size…)

Yes, Bart is hurt and happy for Bryce. My biggest worry going into the year is Bart, Wade and Yaz. Yaz might have something left after all but yeah only a few games in.

Reinsdorf is like "fuck no I'm not paying for a VPN..." https://t.co/dr0TV7Qa90

— Beverly #Vote4BrandonJohnson Tweetmaker (@BvrlyTweetmaker) April 4, 2023

Looks like the D-backs were tipping pitches last night against the Dodgers. Some pictures: Kevin Ginkel slider (wrist curl, grass between arms), Kevin Ginkel fastball (no wrist curls, no grass) and Madison Bumgarner letting runner on second see right into his glove. pic.twitter.com/rd2H8C1TAL

— Eno Sarris (@enosarris) April 2, 2023

Sorry guys, I posted this completely unmemorable post in the fantasy thread by mistake:

limb tins & cum (gyac)
Posted: 5 April 2023 at 21:36:52
Ohtani got dinged for a pitch clock violation but went aside with the umpire at the end of the inning with his interpreter to try to explain that he hasn’t finished his windup when it was called.

Mariners have Flexen who I think is usually a reliever starting in place of Robbie Ray, and he’s doing pretty well (2 runs through 5, just one two run homer). Ohtani is having a difficult outing by his standards, running up pitch count and throwing a bit wild. He’s got out of a couple of jams cos of a double play and Mariners leaving guys on base. Oh guys!

I’m wondering how many pitchers are legit going to be not as good with the new rules and how many are just going to be lumped in with those after bad seasons.
Kikuchi on the jays has looked great and everyone is saying it’s because the clock is making him pitch quicker - but I’m not sold that that’s the case

watching the game it just seemed to suit him. manoah in his first start looked totally the opposite. but he improved drastically tonight, and this time he had kirk calling it. seems to me that we may see more catchers taking over as it cuts down on that race against the clock. i think i would just turn it over if it was me on the bump.

I was thinking that the pitch clock probably means not nearly as many shake-offs, right?

ya, has to. which might leave a lot of pitchers better off possibly?!

pretty good padres-braves game

It was, I caught the end of it.

Watching Cubs-Rangers on Apple TV & Dontrelle Willis is commentating. Said that Stroman, who’s kept out the Rangers for five innings so far, is one of only five (!) black starting pitchers in the league. Talked about the need to nurture talent in the cities because as an American game it should be accessible to all children, but pointedly said the expense of the game is a problem.

So much more interesting to listen to than the Tigers commentary with Kirk Gibson yesterday, no colour in his commentary at all 😴

I don't know exactly where baseball falls on the cost continuum of kid sports. More expensive than basketball, much less expensive than golf. Equipment, I mean--playing/league costs are another matter. Playing kid-hockey in a league in Canada is extremely expensive.