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

Ahead of Steele, Justin "the Middle with You"

lmao what

The Marlins ball boy didn’t know the ball was fair and just chucked it into the stands LMAOOOOOO pic.twitter.com/vqzV3ZDJor

— Addison (@YankeeWRLD) September 8, 2023

A definitive freddie dance play

The Rangers collapse is so ugly I almost feel bad for them.

Almost.

Wtf

George Kirby was visibly frustrated postgame.

He gave up the game-tying two-run homer on his 102nd pitch.

"I wish I wasn't out there for the 7th to be honest."

Says there will be a conversation soon | #SeaUsRise pic.twitter.com/17XmheTb1O

— Jake García (@Jake_M_Garcia) September 9, 2023

Dominic Leone not looking so hot in person these days

Schwarber:

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/10088372-kyle-schwarber-and-the-worst-40-homer-seasons-in-mlb-history

41 HR and 112 walks vs. .195 BA, 180 K, and negative defensive value. He's pretty much the definitive 2023 hitter, isn't he?

They've got Jeff Burroughs '77 season on that list. For the sake of comparison, Burroughs was a) even worse defensively according to bWAR, but b) hit .271, drew 86 walks (fewer than Schwarber but still quite good), and struck out 126 times. That seems much better to me.

1986 rob deer but worse!

He really was kind of from the future, wasn't he? His .232 BA was horrifying back then...he's like Rod Carew next to Schwarber. (Dave "Swish" Nicholson in 1963 might be the blueprint for this kind of thing.)

he desperately tried to walk it back today, but that's gonna haunt george kirby for the rest of his career (and rightly so)

there are simply some things pro athletes shouldn't admit in public

Awwww this is cute

https://x.com/brewers/status/1700568066084475141?s=46&t=56pvpJvqL5GRtMdLh4N49g

This Mets hit by pitch statcast graphic is hilarious pic.twitter.com/79atGS7oWx

— CJ Fogler account may or may not be notable (@cjzero) September 9, 2023

Interesting story, but I don't see this lingering for any length of time. I would guess that a few long outings over the next couple of seasons, maybe a high-profile playoff start, and it'll just be chalked up to "he was young." There's also the thing of--and this goes way back--managers complaining that starters are never honest about when they're tired, and that they put their egos ahead of the team. It's a bit of a catch-22.

That’s true but Kirby is the biggest prize on the pitching staff and I don’t believe Servais would risk him unnecessarily no matter how gassed the pen.

Brewers/Yankees 0-0 through 10 innings. Yankees have no hits

Watching the end of this one. Crazy end to it, 3-3, everyone looks cooked, Frelick made a crazy catch to save the no hitter at the time, but crashed into another guy to do so. Stanton hit a porch shot to tie it like the pinstriped Schwarber he is.

Yankee Stadium is cooking with the music though.

The guy he crashed into was Joey Wiemer who took an elbow to the face on the play. But he stayed in and hit an RBI double the next inning

This is terrible news. Was a great guy to watch at the plate.

Jasson Dominguez has a torn UCL, per Yankees manager Aaron Boone pic.twitter.com/7PDYAqPNlj

— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) September 10, 2023

What the hell

https://x.com/fuzzyfromyt/status/1700960430393602241?s=46&t=56pvpJvqL5GRtMdLh4N49g

Foot yips

The Braves might possibly the best team I've ever seen that could potentially lose the first round of the playoffs.

(nb:not best record, more in terms of abundance of sheer talent)

That would be a very Braves thing to do.

The Braves might possibly the best team I've ever seen that could potentially lose the first round of the playoffs.

tbf they're gonna get a bye past the first round

I admit they occasionally seem prone to huffing their own sweat and letting their guard down. Or maybe they all take a mental vacation at the same time (losing two to STL last week, losing two to OAK in the first half). Their biggest weakness, SP5, will be camouflaged in the playoffs.

Yeah I was going to say. The rotation gives up a ton of runs but they can usually be relied on for 5 and 6 innings apiece and that murderers row lineup is usually good for a hit parade. I honestly think the SP aspect is a bit underrated and they have the second best bullpen ERA out there. Most other playoff or playoff bound teams have severe pitching problems.

Side note: has anyone been following the Rangers stuff? I was following one of the games, the starting pitcher (Eovaldi?) got lit up and pulled early, then Bochy put in another starter (!) to replace him.

It turned out Bochy had moved starter Dane Dunning to the pen & used him in long relief. Scherzer got hit brutally hard in his Astros start & they had to patch together five innings from the pen, which was already gassed. Now Bochy has moved Dunning back to the rotation in what I’m guessing is an attempt to give the starters an extra day between starts. Dunning still had an ERA under 4! Might have been desperation - their bullpen has a fifth-worst team ERA of 4.89. Anyway the wheels continue to fall off this thing.

Based on the Boston series and Hyde's liberal use of relievers, the Orioles are likely to struggle in the playoffs if Bautista isn't available. OTOH, I am not sure they need to worry about anyone but the Astros, about whom everyone should be worried.

What about the Rays? The Rays are really good!

Dave Roberts said he just found out Julio Urías’ locker in the #Dodgers clubhouse was given to Kolten Wong.

Roberts called it an “organizational decision” and mentioned “it’s sad on every level.”

— Matthew Moreno (@Matthew__Moreno) September 11, 2023

(xpost) As much as I like and am rooting for the Orioles as my non-Jays winner, Tampa Bay still has a much better run differential; after their summer lull, they're back to being really good.

What makes you say that?

― ydkb (gyac), Monday, September 11, 2023 1:04 PM (four hours ago)

They've given 16 runs in 15 IP so far tonight...

*15

xp The O’s have dominated their series this year, and have managed to stay ahead of them into the stretch. Yes, they are really good, but I think the Astros are the biggest threat.

cool to see matt olson get to 50. dude has been incredible.

1 more to tie Andruw's single season franchise record.

i don't necessarily accept writers' evaluations about whether ballplayers are good dudes or not -- just because a player doesn't give a writer the quotes he wants doesn't make him a bad guy -- but jeff pearlman listing the biggest baseball assholes he's dealt with doesn't seem immediately wrong

In order: Rocker, Bonds, Will Clark, Wells, Kevin Brown https://t.co/MXZ0YwNNxa

— Jeff Pearlman (@jeffpearlman) September 10, 2023

https://www.reddit.com/r/baseball/comments/8gsdw7/pearlman_im_gonna_be_honest_20_years_in_this/

I got a friend into baseball this year and suggested he support the O’s, thinking they’d be a rewarding team for him to follow over the next 5 years with lots of growth potential after probably playing a .500 season this year…. Anyways he put $20 on them winning the World Series at day one. He asked me if he should cash out for $140 now, I said cashing out is not even a question until the ALCS. O’s all the way baby

After awhile it felt like Rocker deliberately tried to be the biggest jerk he could be.

Adam Wainwright somehow managed to get his 199th career win against the Orioles, going 5 with two ER. I can only assume his 70mph curveball (not an exaggeration) threw them in the same way a position player throwing 40mph “fastballs” can be difficult to hit.

He has, what, two or three starts max remaining? He’s clearly been hanging on all season for 200. Can he make it though?

His last 3 starts look like MIL, @SDP & @ home vs. Cincy. I could see him clinch 200 in that final appearance, the first 2 look a bit dodgy.

Milwaukee have been kind of going off recently so you can’t count on it from them. Hope he can empty the tank and get it from one of those starts though.

Milwaukee lost a game in which they no-hit the Yankees for 10 innings, lets just say the offense is pretty hot and cold. question is can the bats score against their pitchers?

I was looking at how high Spencer Strider’s career strikeout numbers were, 452 through two seasons with the second still ongoing. Obvious caveat with staying healthy but I also learned these stats earlier this year:

One of my favorite lines from this new video is that Tim Lincecum's 1127 strikeouts in his first five seasons is the 2nd highest mark since 1900.

The only guy with a total higher (1155) than him, none other than Tom Seaver https://t.co/GuLwoh1t0d pic.twitter.com/H2h1qjh5pd

— jack (@Jolly_Olive) February 27, 2023

Surreal postscript to the Wainwright saga:

https://www.mlb.com/news/adam-wainwright-on-future-as-country-singer-songwriter

The grand ILM/ILBaseball crossover event. Good for him

Holy shit

Red Sox announce that Chaim Bloom has been fired.

— Alex Speier (@alexspeier) September 14, 2023

AL east is becoming intersting

(not you, blue jays)

Pretty damning and fascinating article about the Padres collapse by their beat writer.

The Padres had what some estimated were eight or nine team meetings, some solely among players and others that involved members of the uniformed staff and/or front office.

In all of them, it felt like agreement had been reached and plans had been laid out to get the team on a path of cohesion.

According to multiple sources, Machado was among the primary speakers in virtually all of them. And then over the ensuing days, he was among those who did not follow through on action plans.

“I follow through on everything I say,” he said.

It was relayed to him that the types of things that could have been disregarded included being on time to meetings and buses, pregame work, executing unselfish at-bats or demonstrating a sense of engagement on the basepaths or elsewhere.

Machado, according to multiple players, was by no means the only one who often did not put what was said into practice. The failure to turn words into winning play was endemic, as the results show.

What some did maintain was that because Machado is such a significant voice, his not following through on the little things set a tone that essentially could not be overcome.

To ask a Padres player why no one could confront Machado on these matters is to be looked at as if you have six heads.