The Best NL Central Fans in Baseball 2020

the brewers are a big reason i got back into baseball, so they always have a place in my heart. definitely interested in the reds this year, they look exciting, and votto remains an all-time fave. pirates are loveable hard-luck lozars. the cubs........... are a team as are the cardinals. i suppose i'll cheer for 3/5. cc me the minutes from the cards nation meeting!

yelich, brewers nearing $215m extension

9 years, apparently

Seems rather team friendly

would take him to 37? buys out his last 2 (i think) bargain years he's still under contract for. seems team friendly but at that length there's def some risk.

its significantly less than Trout, Harper, Stanton, and Machado, even though Yelich was MVP last year and would have been this year if not for a fluke injury with 3 weeks to go

obviously buying out the 2 years is a big deal but still, did not think this guy would go for less than 275m

significantly less than Trout, Harper, Stanton, and Machado

and he's far better than the last 3

yeah, brewers just got a decent deal for a franchise player (i think)

he was gonna hit free agency at 31, which is significantly older than those guys were. between that and the risk of injury, getting the guarantee seems wise, even if for less

wow, who knew a 'small market' team could afford such a thing

sometimes i remember when the Cubs turned aside Greg Maddux bc 5 yrs/$28 million was too much, and instead went for (*checks*) Jose Guzman, Dan Plesac, and Candy Maldonado.

yeah we really have the Marlins to thank for this

yairo munoz, mediocre utilityman who was lucky to get the chance to play as much as he did the last 2 seasons, quits cardinals and then gets released

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2020/03/cardinals-release-yairo-munoz.html

The Cardinals announced this morning that they’ve placed infielder Yairo Munoz on unconditional release waivers. The move leaves an opening on the 40-man roster.

In an important detail, Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch adds that Munoz “left the team, flew home” without notifying the Cardinals. Manager Mike Shildt told Goold and other reporters that Munoz frequently complained about playing time last season. That’s certainly an interesting twist to the story, and it seems clear that Munoz wasn’t released for any baseball reason, but rather as a result of his own decision to excuse himself from camp.

my partner made an observation that seems right: imagine being a very good baseball player that's just not quite good enough, taking it out on other people

“He’s got that China virus, honey.” @HarrisonCLee pic.twitter.com/5BIun7lqPn

— Richard M. Nixon (@dick_nixon) March 18, 2020

i'm not sure if anyone but bnw remembers mark hamilton, but this is a cool story:

The Major League career of former first baseman/outfielder Mark Hamilton consisted of 47 games with the Cardinals in 2010-11, a brief stint that netted Hamilton a World Series ring for his role in the Cards’ 2011 championship squad. After being released by the Braves in July 2014, Hamilton stuck to his vow to go to medical school if he wasn’t a big league regular by his 30th birthday, and ESPN.com’s Alden Gonzalez writes that Hamilton is set to officially begin his medical career in June at two New York hospitals “at the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic.” Though Hamilton is trained in interventional radiology, the early days of his six-year residency program will inevitably be focused on helping treat coronavirus patients. While the pandemic has “been very eye-opening,” Hamilton said, “I wanted to go into medicine because I really enjoyed caring for people. I enjoy being able to help others when they’re in their darkest hour, when they need somebody to both support them from a medical side and an emotional side. And I’m definitely going to be able to do that in my first year.”

You know following the box scores of the Reds 2020 Strat-O-Matic season is about 60% as good as having them actually play. They play about the same.

https://redlegnation.com/category/2020-reds-season-strat-o-matic-simulation/

Standings following the April 27 games:
NL Central WON LOST PCT GB
Cubs 19 10 .655 0
Cardinals 15 14 .517 4
Brewers 13 15 .464 5.5
Reds 13 15 .464 5.5
Pirates 11 18 .379 8

I had no idea where else to post this, but this is fantastic:

When my dad became upset at the Cubs’ performance he would write other teams, offering to sign a contract as a free agent fan. Some teams wrote back to him. Here are some of their replies. pic.twitter.com/vNDbbBzMS9

— Don Kostelec (@KostelecPlan) April 30, 2020

ha! that's pretty awesome

https://i.imgur.com/n58kaL3.png

there's a schedule?

yeah, good question, i'm not sure how Dan Zips did it. They know 40 out of the 60 games will involve division rivals, so 10 each against those teams. the other 20 will be against the corresponding league's division - so 4 each against those teams?

Stratomat's standings playing out this season are not too different in the NL Central.

LEAGUE STANDINGS FOR 2020 Strat-O-Matic Season

AL East WON LOST PCT GB MAGIC#
2020 Tampa Bay TBA 50 33 .602 ---- 73
2020 New York (AL) NYA 42 40 .512 7.5
2020 Toronto TOA 38 44 .463 11.5
2020 Boston BOA 38 44 .463 11.5
2020 Baltimore BAA 33 49 .402 16.5

AL Central WON LOST PCT GB MAGIC#
2020 Cleveland CLA 51 31 .622 ---- 73
2020 Kansas City KCA 44 39 .530 7.5
2020 Minnesota MNA 42 41 .506 9.5
2020 Chicago (AL) CHA 38 45 .458 13.5
2020 Detroit DEA 32 50 .390 19.0

AL West WON LOST PCT GB MAGIC#
2020 Houston HOA 54 26 .675 ---- 74
2020 Oakland OAA 47 35 .573 8.0
2020 Los Angeles(AL) LAA 41 40 .506 13.5
2020 Texas TEA 32 51 .386 23.5
2020 Seattle SEA 29 54 .349 26.5

NL East WON LOST PCT GB MAGIC#
2020 Washington WAN 50 32 .610 ---- 75
2020 Atlanta ATN 44 38 .537 6.0
2020 Philadelphia PHN 39 42 .481 10.5
2020 New York (NL) NYN 39 43 .476 11.0
2020 Miami MMN 33 49 .402 17.0

NL Central WON LOST PCT GB MAGIC#
2020 St. Louis SLN 44 38 .537 ---- 81
2020 Milwaukee MLN 42 38 .525 1.0
2020 Chicago (NL) CHN 43 39 .524 1.0
2020 Cincinnati CIN 40 42 .488 4.0
2020 Pittsburgh PIN 34 47 .420 9.5

NL West WON LOST PCT GB MAGIC#
2020 Los Angeles(NL) LAN 53 29 .646 ---- 73
2020 San Diego SDN 45 37 .549 8.0
2020 Arizona ARN 41 41 .500 12.0
2020 Colorado CON 39 42 .481 13.5
2020 San Francisco SFN 32 50 .390 21.0


AL Wild Card Standings WON LOST PCT GB MAGIC#
2020 Oakland OAA 47 35 .573 ---- 76
2020 Kansas City KCA 44 39 .530 ---- 79
2020 New York (AL) NYA 42 40 .512 1.5
2020 Los Angeles(AL) LAA 41 40 .506 2.0
2020 Minnesota MNA 42 41 .506 2.0
2020 Toronto TOA 38 44 .463 5.5
2020 Boston BOA 38 44 .463 5.5

NL Wild Card Standings WON LOST PCT GB MAGIC#
2020 San Diego SDN 45 37 .549 ---- 80
2020 Atlanta ATN 44 38 .537 ---- 81
2020 Milwaukee MLN 42 38 .525 1.0
2020 Chicago (NL) CHN 43 39 .524 1.0
2020 Arizona ARN 41 41 .500 3.0
2020 Cincinnati CIN 40 42 .488 4.0

If I am wrong, I'm wrong but the last two times MLB had some work stoppage, the Reds were just good enough to get screwed out of playoff spot.

Last ride of the Big Red Machine in 81 in the strike year somehow got the best record in baseball and did not make the playoffs because of the weird split season playoff setup.

In the shortened 94 season, the Reds were freakin' crusin' at 66-49 when the season stopped and then got swept by the Braves in NL Championship '95 when they won it all. First two games of the sweep went into extra innings...oh well.

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/2020-positional-power-rankings-starting-rotation-no-1-15/

I can say without hyperbole that this may be the best rotation the Reds have had since the late 50s or early 60s when they had various combinations of Jim Maloney, Bob Purkey, Joe Nuxhall, and Jim O'Toole.

Reds project to have the best starting pitching in the NL Central (at #8 in MLB), with the brewers/cubs/cardinals clumped together in the middle of all of MLB (#15-17) and the pirates a little bit behind (#23)

the yankees playing literally half their games against the BAL/TOR/BOS pitching staffs could get v. ugly

I honestly just don’t see it with the Reds.

pirates finished their 2020 exhibition slate 3-18

Baseball Prospectus staff #2 choice for NL Cy Young (behind deGrom) is John Flaherty

i don't necessarily think it'll be flaherty or degrom (just because of baseball weirdness), but there's a good chance the Cy winner this year will be some sub-1.50 ERA (or lower) fluke thing

Oddly enough, I almost think the Reds are the hip pick to win the central. A whole lot of people are picking them to win a close division.

I have no idea how this will play out. One thing with such a short season, you get off to a bad start, there is no coming back.

Flaherty looking pretty Cy-like til his 88th pitch, gave up a 2-run single

<3 kyle hendricks despite his cubness

miles mikolas out for the season

damn, that sucks, but if the season manages to go on, they have good starting depth (KK might be as effective as mikolas was in 2018)

https://s.yimg.com/it/api/res/1.2/V_bafTbwvm.rcsqM8ef5tw--~A/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7dz0zMDA7aD0yMDA7cT0xMDA-/https://s.yimg.com/xe/i/us/sp/v/mlb_cutout/players_l/04302020/10050.png

"Business in the front, party in the back."

According to Thom Brennaman, Travis Jankowski has already been mistaken a few times in Cincy for Bronson Arroyo.

Christian Yelich worst player in baseball

pirates 2 hitter is batting .045
5 hitter: .080
6 hitter: .077
8 hitter: .105

Tyler Chatwood is good now

Joey Votto self-reported symptoms this morning, according to a source. He was placed on the IL. There is no positive test, source said. Based on what MLB has done, he'd miss at minimum, two days -- 3 games if they play today's DH.

— C. トレント・ローズクランズ (@ctrent) August 2, 2020

so i see the pirates and cardinals are both still at 2 wins. 10 losses for the bucs, though

haven't the Cardinals only played like 2 games

a total of 5 so far

tyler chatwood is bad again

though now he's giving up home runs instead of walking 2/3rds of the other team

pirates and twins played in mpls monday and tuesday, then flew to pittsburgh to play in a different empty stadium wednesday-thursday. brilliant stuff

eh, I think home field advantage in baseball has more to do with the actual field than it does fans in the stands though. Makes me wonder if anyone has thought about recording devestating player-specific heckles for their artificial fans though.

I think the crowds do subconsciously affect the strike zone

yeah there's an advantage, mostly for outfielders, in knowing the field. i don't think it's enough to warrant sending all those people to an extra location for two days during a pandemic, though -- it's a corner that should have been cut

also lol the marlins and phillies are gonna play a seven-game series over five days in miami in september!

fuckin lmao @ Yelich's homer tonight

was it over the sound of canned boos?

real talk if there were fans they probably would've pushed him back into the field and it only would've been a triple

it isn't easy to start 20-8 and be under .500 on memorial day

Cubs 5 run lead over the cards in sunny London is just so gotdamn beautiful on Fox this afternoon, cheers!

wainwright is washed

Has been for a while, was only covered by that hot streak they had where they won a few games iirc