NL CENTRAL PREDICTATRON 2019

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

from what i've heard,

that was very ambiguous, but by that i mean what i have literally seen and heard

firsthand. while watching their games. fuck

i don't even know, because if i'm watching a game at home, i rarely have the sound on or up. i am very fond of the radio broadcast team of pat hughes and ron coomer though.

i keep getting reminded that starting next season there are basically going to be no cubs games broadcast on over-the-air local TV, and it feels like a gut-punch each time. it's such bullshit

yeah i like the cubs guys a lot. except when kasper does 'cubs win! . . . cubs win' i mean

i keep getting reminded that starting next season there are basically going to be no cubs games broadcast on over-the-air local TV, and it feels like a gut-punch each time. it's such bullshit

i keep forgetting about that. "i don't even have a tv", and i watch everything through mlb.tv (+ a VPN making it seem like I'm browsing from a different time zone when I want to watch a local game)

even when i hear non-Mets broadcasters on mlb.tv, so few of them register, except Kirk Gibson sounds semi-comatose on Tiger games

i can now watch everything on my tv *except* mets games, which is unfortunate

need to figure out how to make roku work with a vpn

Yeah, it sucks not having all games on local TV, but the MLB Streams subreddit is a savior, in case anyone is interested.

pirates are out here defying pythagoras

my prediction of jon lester's decline appears to have been premature

Bryant has been absurd lately, i was out for dinner and the cubs game was on and i pointed out to my kid that Kris Bryant was up and mentioned, "he's been on fire lately" and he immediately hit a home run.

keston hiura comin up (to milwaukee)

drink every time someone calls him 'a professional hitter'