then coronavirus happened, 2020 baseball

?

Less than a week after ESPN’s negotiations to acquire broadcast rights to Korea Baseball Organization games were reported to be all but dead, Jee-ho Yoo and Chang-yong Shin of South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency now report that a deal is nearing completion. Yoo reported last week that ESPN had sought to acquire broadcast rights from Korean counterpart Eclat without any up-front payment — ultimately offering only a percentage of revenue if broadcasts proved profitable — despite the increased production costs for Eclat.

Additional details remain sparse at this time, though the Yonhap duo adds that the deal being discussed would allow ESPN to broadcast multiple KBO contests per week. South Korea’s 10-team league is slated to begin its regular season on May 5 — a bit more than five weeks after the initially scheduled season opener on March 28. The KBO season will begin without fans, although MBC’s Daniel Kim tweets that the league is discussing a plan to gradually allow fans back into stadiums, beginning with a 20-25 percent capacity and incrementally increasing from there.

[Related — Poll: would you watch KBO broadcasts?]

Several health regulations will be in place for players and gameday personnel as well (multiple tests per player prior to games, no spitting allowed, players and personnel in masks throughout the stadium except on the field/in the dugout, gloves and masks for umpires, strong discouragement of handshakes and high-fives). A player showing symptoms of COVID-19 will be immediately be tested and quarantined, while his stadium would be subject to a 48-hour closure for cleaning. A positive test from a player wouldn’t necessarily shut down the league but would prompt an immediate meeting between owners, league officials and health experts about the potential stoppage of play.

There’s still no concrete plan for when Major League Baseball can attempt to resume play (or whether it definitively will). The lack of baseball and other professional sports has been an obvious enormous strain not only on ESPN but all sports media outlets throughout the world. ESPN’s interest in airing some KBO play, then, isn’t surprising — but it’s also not without risk. Some sports-starved fans will surely flock to any competitive play, but there’s no guarantee on the extent of fan interest, and advertisers could be wary paying a hefty rate for an untested product in the United States.

For baseball fans, though, it’s an easy win — creating a readily accessible means of viewing one of the world’s top professional leagues and even offering a chance to see a handful of former big leaguers suiting up overseas. MLBTR ran through more than 30 former Major Leaguers who are set to play out the 2020 season in the KBO last week.

who is ready to watch some kbo

who do we like

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2020/04/which-former-mlb-players-are-getting-ready-to-play-in-the-kbo.html

Doosan Bears (2019 record: 88-55-1)

Jose Miguel Fernandez, 1B/DH: The 32-year-old Fernandez was a notable signing out of Cuba by the Dodgers but never got a look with his original club. He latched on with the 2018 Angels and appeared in 36 games before heading to the KBO, where he posted a massive .344/.409/.483 slash even in a year that saw a leaguewide decrease in offense.
Raul Alcantara, RHP: Alcantara, 27, pitched with the Athletics in 2016-17. He notched a 4.01 ERA in 172 2/3 with the KT Wiz in Korea last season before inking a deal with the Bears this past winter.
Chris Flexen, RHP: Flexen struggled with the Mets from 2017-19 before signing up for his first overseas stint this past season. He had some success with the Mets’ Triple-A club and averaged a strikeout per inning at that level.

SK Wyverns (88-55-1)

Nick Kingham, RHP: The longtime Pirates top prospect never put it together in 131 2/3 big league innings, but he’s still just 28 years old. He’ll be an interesting name to monitor with regard to a future return.
Ricardo Pinto, RHP: The 26-year-old spent time with the Phillies, Rays and Giants organizations but struggled in limited MLB time.
Jamie Romak, 1B: The 33-year-old Romak only has 39 MLB plate appearances on his track record, but he’s become a consistent offensive force in the KBO, hitting .283/.376/.544 in three seasons with the Wyverns.

Kiwoom Heroes (86-57-1)

ByungHo Park, 1B: Park’s big free-agent deal with the Minnesota Twins didn’t pan out, but he’s posted an OPS north of 1.000 since returning to the Heroes two seasons ago.
Taylor Motter, INF/OF: The versatile 30-year-old didn’t hit much in 141 MLB games between the Rays, Mariners and Twins. He’ll hope for an overseas breakout in 2020.
Jake Brigham, RHP: Brigham, 32, only got a brief look with the 2015 Braves, but he’s entering his fourth KBO season — his second with the Heroes. In a total of 501 1/3 KBO innings, he’s posted a 3.72 ERA with 7.2 K/9 against 2.2 BB/9.
Eric Jokisch, LHP: An encouraging 2014 stint with the Cubs (three runs in 14 1/3 innings) never led to another MLB look for Jokisch, who bounced around the Triple-A circuit before turning in an impressive 3.13 ERA and 141-to-39 K/BB ratio in 181 1/3 frames in last year’s KBO debut.

LG Twins (79-64-1)

Hyun-Soo Kim, OF: The former Oriole and Phillie returned to the KBO after a two-year MLB stint in 2016-17, signing a four-year, $10.7MM deal with LG. The “Hitting Machine,” as he was nicknamed in the KBO, posted an OPS north of 1.000 in his return and has largely picked up where he left off.
Casey Kelly, RHP: The one-time star Red Sox prospect is now 30 years old and fresh off a 2.55 ERA, 6.3 K/9 and 2.0 BB/9 through 180 1/3 innings in his first KBO season.
Tyler Wilson, RHP: Wilson, also 30, floundered through 145 innings with the Orioles before finding himself with the LG Twins, for whom he’s tossed 355 innings with a 2.99 ERA, 7.3 K/9 and 2.0 BB/9.
Roberto Ramos, 1B: One of the few players on this list who never appeared in the Majors, the 25-year-old Ramos is a former Rockies prospect who signed on for his first season of Asian ball after hitting .309/.400/.580 in Triple-A last year.

NC Dinos (73-69-2)

Aaron Altherr, OF: One of the more recognizable names on the list, Altherr at times looked like a budding star with the Phillies. He fizzled out after some notable injuries, though, and is will make his KBO debut at 29 this year.
Mike Wright, RHP: Another former O’s hurler, Wright appeared in parts of five seasons with Baltimore. He had his share of success in Triple-A (3.76 ERA) but regularly struggled in the big leagues (6.00 ERA in 258 frames). He’s making his KBO debut this season as well.
Drew Rucinski, RHP: The 31-year-old saw time with the Angels, Twins and most recently the Marlins (2018). He returns to the Dinos after pitching 177 2/3 frames of 3.05 ERA ball in 2019 (6.0 K/9, 2.3 BB/9).

KT Wiz (71-71-2)

Odrisamer Despaigne, RHP: The 2020 season will be the first in the KBO for the 33-year-old Despaigne — a six-year MLB veteran who has tallied 363 innings in the big leagues.
Jae-Gyun Hwang, 3B: The (San Francisco) Giants signed Hwang back in 2017 but never gave him a long look despite a memorable home run in his MLB debut. He’s a productive regular in the KBO once again, having signed a four-year, $7.9MM deal with the Wiz prior to the 2018 season.
Mel Rojas Jr., OF: The 29-year-old Rojas never got a chance with the Pirates or Braves, and he’s now one of the KBO’s top hitters. In three seasons with the Wiz, Rojas has mashed at a .310/.377/.561 clip. He’s hit 30 homers in consecutive seasons.
William Cuevas, RHP: Cuevas, 29, got a cup of coffee with both the Red Sox and Tigers before jumping to the KBO and posting a 3.62 ERA with 6.6 K/9 and 3.1 BB/9 in 184 innings last year.

Kia Tigers (62-80-2)

Preston Tucker, OF: The former Astros prospect had a hot start with the ’18 Braves but faded quickly. He’s set for a second season with the Tigers after hitting .311/.381/.479 in last year’s debut effort.
Aaron Brooks, RHP: Brooks, 30 next week, pitched for the A’s, Royals and O’s between 2014-19 but struggled to a 6.49 ERA in 179 2/3 innings. He’s set for his KBO debut.
Drew Gagnon, RHP: A third-round pick of the Brewers in 2011, Gagnon saw MLB action with the Mets in 2018-19 but performed poorly. He had a bit 2019 season in Triple-A (2.33 ERA in 88 2/3 innings), which helped attract interest overseas.

Samsung Lions (60-83-1)

Seunghwan Oh, RHP: Oh enjoyed a quality four-year run with the Cardinals, Blue Jays and Rockies before undergoing elbow surgery last summer and heading back to the Lions, for whom he starred for nine seasons as one of the best relievers in league history (a tenure that earned him his incredible “Final Boss” nickname).
Tyler Saladino, INF: The former White Sox utilityman saw MLB time with the Brewers in 2018-19 and now heads to South Korea for the first time at 30 years of age.
David Buchanan, RHP: Buchanan hasn’t pitched in the big leagues since a 2014-15 run with the Phillies. He’s spent the past three seasons with Japan’s Yakult Swallows, working to a 4.07 ERA in 433 innings — mostly working as a starter.
Ben Lively, RHP: A prospect of some note for a bit with the Phillies, Lively had a solid MLB debut in ’17 but never further established himself. He gave the Lions 57 innings of 3.95 ERA ball after signing midseason in 2019.

Hanwha Eagles (58-86)

Jared Hoying, OF: Hoying barely got a look with the Rangers in 2016-17, but he’s compiled a .296/.355/.519 slash in two seasons with the Eagles so far.
Warwick Saupold, RHP: The Aussie hurler managed a 4.98 ERA in three seasons with the Tigers before taking his 80-grade name to the KBO. In last year’s 192-inning debut, he logged a 3.51 ERA.
Chad Bell, LHP: Bell and Saupold were teammates with the Tigers. Both debuted in the KBO last year, and Bell’s 3.50 ERA is a near-identical match to his longtime teammate.

Lotte Giants (48-93-3)

Dan Straily, RHP: The most accomplished pitcher on this list, Straily racked up 495 1/3 innings of 4.03 ERA ball with the Reds and Marlins from 2016-18 before his production fell off a cliff in 2019. He’ll hope to rebound on a one-year, $1MM deal with the Giants.
Dae-ho Lee, 1B: The 37-year-old slugger came to the Majors for one season with the 2016 Mariners before returning to Korea on a four-year, $12.9MM contract that represented the largest deal in KBO history at the time. Lee’s bat faded in 2019, but he mashed 37 homers with a .987 OPS in 2018.
Adrian Sampson, RHP: The 31-year-old comes to the Giants for his own KBO debut with a solid Triple-A track record but an ugly 5.71 ERA in 153 MLB innings.
Dixon Machado, INF: Yet another former Tiger, Machado spent 2019 with the Cubs’ Triple-A club, where he hit .261/.371/.480 before agreeing to a deal with Lotte this winter.

how do you not root for KT Wiz?

Nobody beats the wiz

Major League Baseball officials have become cautiously optimistic this week that the season will start in late June, and no later than July 2, playing at least 100 regular-season games, according to three executives with knowledge of the talks. They requested anonymity because the plan is still under consideration.

And not only would baseball be played, but it would be played in their own major-league ballparks, albeit with no fans.

MLB is considering a three-division, 10-team plan in which teams play only within their division – a concept gaining support among owners and executives. It would abolish the traditional American and National Leagues, and realign the divisions based on geography.

The plan, pending approval of medical experts and providing that COVID-19 testing is available to the public, would eliminate the need for players to be in isolation and allow them to still play at their home ballparks while severely reducing travel.

The divisions would keep many of the natural rivals together, while playing one another before an expanded playoff format.

Here's a look at the possible realignment structure:

EAST

New York Yankees and Mets, Boston Red Sox, Washington Nationals, Baltimore Orioles, Philadelphia Phillies, Pittsburgh Pirates, Toronto Blue Jays, Tampa Bay Rays, Miami Marlins

WEST

Los Angeles Dodgers and Angels, San Francisco Giants, Oakland Athletics, San Diego Padres, Arizona Diamondbacks, Colorado Rockies, Texas Rangers, Houston Astros, Seattle Mariners

CENTRAL

Chicago Cubs and Chicago White Sox, Milwaukee Brewers, St. Louis Cardinals, Kansas City Royals, Cincinnati Reds, Cleveland Indians, Minnesota Twins, Atlanta Braves, Detroit Tigers

idg why atlanta would be in the central instead of pittsburgh, but whatevs

it's an unwritten rule of baseball that the atlanta braves should be in a division that doesn't line up with their geographic location

it is comforting that some traditions remain itut

just looked up ken oberkfell's stats (he turned 64 today)

16 seasons, 1602 games -- 1046 of them as a 3B and another 43 at 1B

he hit 29 homers total, never more than 5 in a season

Anyone know which KBO team has a solid record of futility and dashed hopes? Want to maintain some consistency in my fandom.

Let’s just say that’s KT Wiz

probably bullshit but who knows

Want some good baseball news??

I just heard from multiple sources that on June 10th, Spring Training 2 will start. July 1st will be Opening Day and all teams will be playing at their home ballparks.

We’ll be discussing it in full on the next @TalkinBaseball_

— Trevor Plouffe (@trevorplouffe) May 4, 2020

for no reason, i'm watching the pine tar game.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jvu_1JMY36k&list=PL9qa1Jiw7oNLoWf4OturkhsqawIbcTzOn&index=2

it's the yankees broadcast, with phil rizzuto and frank messer. i'd never heard either of them before. there are some awkward moments!!

it's interesting to watch, not knowing when the moment is going to happen. almost an hour and fifty minutes in now, in the bottom of the 7th.

a young hotshot named don mattingly just pinch-hit! it's going to be tough to figure out whether or not to send him down, once ken griffey gets back from the DL.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jvu_1JMY36k

also dave winfield crushed a HR early on, it was amazing. he also made some VERY bad plays in the OF.

jose martinez: actually about as good in the OF as dave winfield??

was so hilarious to hear phil rizutto trash wade boggs as "contact only", before pointing to his lack of RBIs

wade boggs was a goddamned hero

HERE COMES THE GOOSE

never knew the bit about gaylord perry snatching the book off the field!

ha! and when they resume the game, ken griffey is back, and mattingly's at second! classicbaseball.com

"it's being played under protest, we just got the sign, there it is, the peace sign, from the plate umpire, in this case that george maloney that billy martin has protested this ballgame."

the crowd is wasted

in multiple dimensions of time

i was born 2 months before this game. i was pooping my pants DURING this game

lol that the umpires from the first game signed an affadavit indicating that brett touched all four bases on his home run trot, foiling martin's plan to destroy the royals with dastardly logic. fuck you martin! seriously

also - *passes out* - mattingly comes to bat in the bottom of the 9th, and in a bizarre circumstance, has a chance to create a 25-game hitting streak out of nowhere. apparently, the pine tar game was the only one out of 25 games where he didn't get a hit. so in the resumption of the game, he has a chance to fill in that gap in the hitting streak by getting a hit. he makes great contact, but it doesn't fall in (same deal with his earlier pinch hit appearance, actually).

https://www.theringer.com/mlb/2020/5/6/21248854/the-joy-and-anxiety-of-watching-kbos-return

baumann on watching the KBO

i'd never heard either of them before.

Rizzuto, besides being comically inattentive, had some of his freeform musings compiled into a 'poetry' book. Yankee haters listened for the lols.

i didn't even know he was an announcer after his playing days. and doing play-by-play, to boot! usually the ex-players are color commentary guys, it seems

Those broadcasts suffered a blow when Scooter left...he started doing fewer and fewer innings, and just leaving sometimes in like the middle of the 5th inning w/o telling anybody incl. Bill White

He was enflesslessly entertaining. One of my favorites was when he said nobody will ever forget where they were the day Joe D's hitting streak began

late in his career they would insert a long shot of the GW bridge would begin Scooter's trek home to New Jersey...around the 6th inning.

Yankee telecast, circa mid 80s, as Rickey Henderson slides into second with a double (Bill White, if you don't know, is black):

PHIL RIZZUTO: Boy, that Rickey is so graceful... He's like Fred Astaire! Or Bill "Bojangles" Robinson.

BILL WHITE: Now, is he more like Fred Astaire, or Bojangles?
(pause)

RIZZUTO: Awww White, you huckleberry! (both laugh heartily)

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, August 17, 2004

he was no ralph kiner

Huckleberry! Everybody was a huckleberry.

https://i2.wp.com/fullinbloom.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/valkilmerbook.jpg?resize=450%2C679

wait what

can the noncabled get a feed for these KBO games?

appears that they are streamed on twitch and on a korean app called naver, but either one likely requires a vpn

https://www.reddit.com/r/baseball/comments/gf31ky/kbo_twitch_broadcast_links/

i don't think the twitch streams require a VPN (but i could be wrong).

they're listed here, at the bottom:

https://www.twitch.tv/search?term=kbo

and here's a direct link to one of the games: https://www.twitch.tv/kbo3/video/614666650

sweet

so, the draft is only going to be 5 rounds this year. things are going to get weird.

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2020/05/mlb-to-hold-5-round-draft.html

MLB has decided upon a five-round draft this summer, according to Jeff Passan and Kiley McDaniel of ESPN.com (links to Twitter). The union had previously agreed to the possibility of a draft as short as five rounds, though more recently had pushed for a lengthier process.

Commissioner Rob Manfred laid down the decision when MLB and the MLBPA could not come to an agreement on the particulars. Interestingly, Passan notes, a ten-round draft was also preferred by baseball operations departments. The version on offer from the league would’ve effectively separated the draft into two five-round sections with greater spending limitations on the latter half, along with a cap on undrafted signings.

Ultimately, it seems, owners were more concerned with avoiding the cost of additional bonuses than they were intrigued by the potential to acquire more high-end talent in the later stages of the draft. Draft-eligible players that are not selected in the five rounds will be eligible to sign for a maximum bonus of $20K.

Teams may struggle to woo players they don’t select. Typically, later-round choices can be paid quite a bit more than $20K. With collegiate play a viable alternative, many will elect to await a (hopefully) more lucrative professional starting point.

Then again, perhaps teams will find some success competing with geography, promises of advancement and opportunity, and other creative inducements. Manfred will no doubt need to be proactive in policing this arena. There’s huge potential upside to be had, which creates some potentially worrying incentives.

Finding value in the draft has long been a chief aim of baseball ops departments. Now they’ll have never-before-seen chances to sign an unlimited number of players for bargain prices. That’ll involve recruitment, of course, but there’s a rare possibility for major imbalance in the talent haul.

Even putting aside worries of rule-breaking behavior, there’ll be potential for havoc. Joel Sherman of the New York Post notes (Twitter link) the possibility of pressure on “late”-round picks to take what they can get or face a $20K cap. There’s also a sense that innumerable soft factors could sway large numbers of players in varying directions, as Chris Cotillo of MassLive.com notes on Twitter. There’ll certainly be downstream effects for players that choose to enter or remain in the collegiate and JuCo ranks.

MLB owners have approved a proposal for the 2020 season to present to the players’ union, source tells The Athletic. Meeting expected between union and league tomorrow.

— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) May 11, 2020

latest proposal, i think, was for teams of each geographic region to only play teams in their region. for example, an AL West team would only play AL West and NL West teams. 7 teams would make the playoffs in each league, with only the top team receiving a bye for the first round.

I don't know why they don't just write this season off. (I do know why: money.) Winning a title won't mean anything. I guess the counting-stats are important to possible outer-circle HOF-ers (I can think of a few players '94 hurt in that regard: Lofton, Cone, etc.), but there are a lot of hoops to jump through to salvage a mess. Doesn't some kind of insurance kick in? It did during the strike years.

union already hates the proposal, views 'revenue-sharing' as a salary cap

considering the way it's being framed (already) in the press, i don't think this is ground the union should want to fight on. it may not even be united on the matter, as long as the provisions cover just this season. they'd be better off focusing on the still-extremely-vague health and testing protocols

otoh, if you're gonna be guaranteed a certain percentage, one would assume that you'd get to look at the books in depth

fuck the press, the union and the owners agreed on payment a month ago and the owners are changing the deal last minute. why wouldn't they fight back on that? the union isn't beholden to public opinion, bob nightengale and his headline writers aren't a factor

mark teixeira says he would play for pennies on the dollar, (democratic) illinois governor slams players for 'holding out'

all v. cool

The billionaire governor, representing the people by supporting the owners

white sox are calling up 2020 first-rounder garrett crochet, a flame-throwing lefty

he'll be the first drafted player since mike leake in 2010 to reach the majors without first playing in the minors. before leake was xavier nady in 2000, although he was sent down after just one game

Tim Anderson took Trevor Bauer deep and then told the broadcast team to tell Bauer to put it on his YouTube channel. Savage. pic.twitter.com/QjYn8heZqj

— Jared Carrabis (@Jared_Carrabis) September 20, 2020

nats have started their season 19-31 for the second straight year

well they'll just have to turn it around again

Here's what the first round of the expanded playoffs would look like, based on the standings entering play Sunday, Sept. 19.

No. 1 Rays* vs. No. 8 Blue Jays
No. 2 White Sox* vs. No. 7 Indians
No. 3 Athletics* vs. No. 6 Astros
No. 4 Yankees vs. No. 5 Twins*
No. 1 Dodgers* vs. No. 8 Reds
No. 2 Cubs vs. No. 7 Phillies
No. 3 Braves vs. No. 6 Cardinals
No. 4 Padres vs. No. 5 Marlins

Jesus Christ, even a global pandemic can't stop first-round Yankees-Twins series

dan szymborski had an idea in his last fangraphs chat for weighing a 16-team postseason that i would probably tolerate:

Dan Szymborski: To win the first round, you have to *sweep* the better teams. Two games for the five seed, three games for the six seed, four games for the seven seed, five games for the eight seed.

"and it would make the LDS would probably have to be bumped" imagine i wrote this better

F the Twins

The sweep model or some variant of it already exists in Taiwan i think? Maybe the KBO.

that's kind of silly. cool your team finally made the postseason, now you just gotta beat the MegaSox five times in a row

yeah it would suck, which is why middle-of-the-pack teams would still be incentivized to improve. would also incentivize the mega teams to keep getting better because there's a jump in value between each of the top seeds. i'm talking myself into liking this!

Alejandro Kirk?!?!

i like him

Some good arguments against playoffs expansion and mostly I agree with them but really it's been fun to watch that young Mariners team scuffle and try to make the post-season for the first time in 18 years.

the NL has five teams with a positive run differential

Something beautiful at how the Phillies are cratering despite the money spent and the prospects traded.

Yeah, nothing like the heat of September baseball, waiting to see which mediocre team can stumble to a 4-3 week and edge out the competition. This is what will bring kids to the national pastime!

— Joe Sheehan (@joe_sheehan) September 22, 2020

Reds team batting average is like .214 and they are going to make the playoffs (maybe). Crazy thing is if Sonny Gray comes back and can pitch like he was earlier this year, they got a pretty decent 1-2 in a short series. As I said in the NL central thread, it will be hilarious and pretty good if the Reds somehow make the playoffs at .500 and knock out the Dodgers. That would be just deserts for the MLB. Have the NL championship series be like Cincy and SD.

I'm sure the public would love a San Diego and Tampa World Series!

I fucking would!

the reds shall humiliate clayton kershaw in the 2020 NLCS, it is known

marlins making the playoffs is the future of baseball: kids too young to be expensive plus quad-a filler and some luck

-39 run differential? complain to old hoss

I think I am in favor of the robo umpire at this point. TV guys point out the differential every chance they get and maybe it makes sense to use technology in this case for the benefit of the players

Red Sox left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez has been cleared to resume light exercise and is expected to be able to follow a normal offseason conditioning program. The 27-year-old developed myocarditis (inflammation of the heart muscle) after testing positive for COVID-19 early this summer.

What games you watching today?

I propose this week's thread be called FIRST-ROUND CLUSTERFUCK.

Mattingly’s Marlins decapitating NY

watching the cardinals clinch (i hope) against the brewers

Must be satisfying on some level for Don to beat his old team, maybe in a passive aggressive kind of way, a subtle F you to the franchise that may have caused him agita in ways we’ll never know

fact check: did "all of the owners lose money" by putting on a season this year? a certain idiotic broadcaster i know believes this to be true, but i have learned over the years that he is wrong about almost everything.

no one knows, but i'm extremely skeptical. despite the uncertainty, someone just agreed to buy the mets for $2.5 billion, which doesn't even include their tv network. and if they can make money *without* fans in the stands, imagine what they earn in a normal year.

in any case, so what? businesses aren't owed an annual profit. they like to claim that their earnings are a reward for taking 'risks' -- well, here's your risk, assholes

Im a diehard Brewers fan but lmao no way is having them in the playoffs good for the game. They were under .500 the entire year!!

Owners make most of their money off the value of the franchise itself no? In that case, I don't see how MLB lost any value over the last 12 months.

Plus the TV deals weren't suddenly canceled.

marlins making the playoffs is the future of baseball: kids too young to be expensive plus quad-a filler and some luck

-39 run differential? complain to old hoss

― mookieproof, Saturday, September 26, 2020 2:57 AM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

Meh I'm here to watch good baseball, I couldn't care less if the owners/GMs could see the seismic shift in player evaluation and players didn't have time to adapt yet (they will in the next CBA). I'm not going to suddenly start watching the Red Sox because they are the 4th biggest payroll in baseball, and yeah, Sixto Sanchez is exciting.

the one thing that's confusing to me is why the players never filed a grievance (apparently). they were constantly threatening to, it was their one bargaining chip and the general assumption was that they would win. manfred and the owners clearly weren't operating in good faith and dragged negotiations as long as they could before forcing the season. so what gives

playoffs thread:

MLB general postseason 2020 thread

what a weird fucking year this has been

Tommy Pham was stabbed outside a strip club

https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sports/padres/story/2020-10-12/padres-tommy-pham-stabbing-hospital-san-diego-club

damn

Oh god

He’s stable, for those I need to know before clicking the link.

sorry should’ve specified he’s described as being in good condition

Much to unpack

i'm honestly blown away people are going to strip clubs during a pandemic.

Yeah as someone who lives on the other side of the same state and our city barely just reopened distanced outdoor dining, that article feels like it could have taken place on a different planet.

Dodger pitchers can't throw strikes anymore

ahhhh... Kershaw was a late scratch, typical.

2020: MLB announces partnership with Lysol, in part to work on how best to disinfect ballparks with fans expected back in 2021.

From the press release: "Lysol products are also included in Postseason hotel welcome kits for players, staff and their families."

— Bill Shaikin (@BillShaikin) October 14, 2020

Got COVID up
all in your cup?
LYSOL DOUCHE!!!!

"i'm honestly blown away people are going to strip clubs during a pandemic"

It occurred to me this spring that having a staff Zoom call preparing for COVID reopening at a NJ "Badaboom" gentleman's club could be a funny setup for a comedy sketch.

https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/health/story/2020-10-14/county-orders-san-diego-strip-club-to-cease-and-desist