general 2021 MLB discussion thread

bye bitch

I’m enjoying watching these idiots self-fire themselves.

not enjoying covid taking down half the red sox starting lineup. and i’m kind of baffled that the globe’s so called “reporters” haven’t managed to glean which positive cases are covidiots. isn’t this what reporters are for?? (red sox famously one of the least vaccinated teams in baseball)

Yankees Spanish radio announcer Rickie Ricardo rescued Yankees radio voice John Sterling from the flooding after last night’s game.

What a story. #SquadUp https://t.co/tb55P3OlDC

— Ryan Field (@RyanFieldABC) September 2, 2021

you can't predict baseball

the dodgers pythagorean record is 90-45, on pace for a 107-game winning season. irl they're 85-50, on pace for a 103 game-winning season, and in second place to the giants, who are also irl on pace to win 103 games. plus it's an odd year. giants for the WS, i guess.

also, adam wainwright continues to bizarrely be one of the most effective pitchers. he was pitcher of the month for september, and last night tossed a gem over 7 innings that was only slightly spoiled by the relief pitcher allowing a couple of wainwright's inherited runners to score. if that wouldn't have happened, i think he was about to break his PR of 26 consecutive scoreless innings, back in 2010. not bad for an old guy

also, the top 2 contenders for AL ROY are adolis garcia and randy arozarena, both of whom were talented cardinals outfielders a few years ago. garcia was traded to the rangers for cash considerations. arozarena was traded (along with jose martinez, one of the most entertaining baseball players of this century) for matthew liberatore, who will hopefully be like jack flaherty someday, but probably will not.

What is up with Salvador Perez’s season?! He’s hurt for a full year and comes back hitting like Johnny Bench! It’s crazy.

Maybe being a DH here and there helps? He is putting up Piazza-like numbers.

The down-three-runs walk-off grand slam will never get old

Brewers are having a remarkably blessed season

It's gonna be a weirdly inverted sports season in Wisconsin if the Brewers and Bucks win championships and Aaron Rodgers limps to a 9-7 closeout season

oh wow, i headed outside after the 8th inning to hang out with my neighbors, secure in another cardinals victory

honestly, i would hate for this cardinals team to make the wild card. their record against good teams (teams above .500) is 26-39. that's bad.

I hate having my team in the AL east.

yeah it's rough

sox and yankees both lose again... man it would be swell if the blue jays and mariners(!!) could overtake them

I don't get Tampa Bay at all. Personnel-wise, they may end up being the least impressive 100-win team ever. (Sounds like sour grapes from Blue Jay land, I know.)

They are maybe the most more-than-the-sum-of-it’s-parts team in history. Which is kind of their thing, traditionally.

this rays team will be remembered for being the one that had a rookie wander franco

they did win the short-season equivalent of 108 games last year (and the pennant)

i'm a little more confused by how all the giants' 35-year-olds are having great seasons. plus getting career years out of the previously suspect, like gausman and desclafani and (hot) d. leone

yeah, i was just looking at Leone's stats! honestly i thought maybe he was out of baseball.

and even this year, somehow he's walking 4.4/9 but his FIP is 3.49, xFIP of 4.63. and of course, an ERA of 1.55.

I do not understand at all how the Giants are having the season they are. Mariners too. But mainly the Giants.

the mariners are just lucky, i think -- they're 11 games up on their pythagorean!

I can at least relate some of the Giants' individual performances (fluke or otherwise) to their record. They've got two guys who should be top 5 or 10 in Cy (Gausman) and MVP (Crawford) voting, and also an HOF-bound player (Posey) having a very good year. The Rays have a catcher with 30 HR, great, but barely hitting over .200; a second baseman with 33 and not much else; an all-time defender in CF who doesn't hit much at all; and no one all that notable on their pitching staff that I can see. Cruz has been pretty good since coming over, but there's been some decline.

Franco looks great, and he broke a record belonging to Mickey Mantle. But even there, he's great for a 20-year-old; I'm not sure you'd take much notice of his season if he were 27.

plus getting career years out of the previously suspect, like gausman and desclafani and (hot) d. leone

Not to mention Mike Yastrzemski, a guy who wasn't considered good enough to get playing time for the Baltimore Orioles

I don't get Tampa Bay at all. Personnel-wise, they may end up being the least impressive 100-win team ever.

Speaking of which: basically, the way the Rays are so good this year is by absolutely mercilessly dominating the Orioles. The difference in head-to-head record against Baltimore is the entirety of the difference between the Rays and the Yankees in the standings (or was a week or so ago, at any rate.)

xp

oh man, i have a pretty good feeling that wander franco is going to be torturing the blue jays (and the rest of the AL east) for the next several years, although it's almost guaranteed that the rays will trade him away at the top of his value and get an absolute fortune for him.

he's more can't miss than vlad jr was, and vlad jr was can't miss.

hitting for a 5.0 WAR pace during your rookie season and surprising absolutely no one by doing it is very unusual and a very good indicator

(xposts)

That's it, you're right--I knew about that, slipped my mind. 18-1, +79 run differential vs. the Orioles; 70-51, +100 vs. the rest of the league.

Wander Franco: he can't miss, will be MVP by 2025 easy

my predictions have been made.

i will see all of YOU -- in the future

What’s this Mantle record?

Bleacher BJs

(xpost) I think it was consecutive games reaching base under the age of 21...Speaking of which, Mantle was 24 when he won his Triple Crown, and so was Williams when he won his first; Vlad would be younger than both.

just curious - who was the youngest hitter to lead the league in wOBA (or wRC+ or OPS)?

without looking it up, probably trout?

I tried to look it up last night and totally failed

Nobody keeps records for that kind of esoterica (maybe OPS); you have to do the legwork yourself.

haha, no i think i just need a baseball reference sub

Ask meg n ben

I've got a b-ref sub. Looks like Mantle 1952 and Cobb 1907 are the only 20-year-olds to lead their league in OPS. Don't know which one was older at season's start.

oh nice! thanks for looking it up. i'm willing to just give them a tie on that, since they're different baseball eras anyway (deadball/pre-integration for cobb)

Can I just say, since this seems appropriate for the general MLB thread, that b-ref is a national treasure and I absolutely get more than $36/yr's worth of entertainment and enlightenment from my Play Index subscription; highly recommended!

i had it for a year! then i lost it. totally lost it

I've got a b-ref sub. Looks like Mantle 1952 and Cobb 1907 are the only 20-year-olds to lead their league in OPS. Don't know which one was older at season's start.

― Guayaquil (eephus!), Friday, September 10, 2021 3:55 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

trout led the AL in OPS+ (but not OPS) as a 20 year old

bauer is now on "administrative leave" for the season, and ozuna has also been put on administrative leave. first for 7 days, then revisiting afterward.

"The league has the authority to unilaterally place players on administrative leave for up to seven days, per the MLB – MLBPA Joint Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault and Child Abuse Policy. The leave can be extended thereafter by mutual agreement between MLB and the Players Association. Placement on administrative leave is not a disciplinary action and does not reflect any sort of finding in the league’s investigation. Players placed on administrative leave continue to be paid and to accumulate Major League service time."

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2021/09/mlb-reportedly-places-marcell-ozuna-on-administrative-leave.html

He still will be suspended, I think. Roberto Osuna got 75 games, so that would be my guess.

It's becoming clear the Orioles don't know how to play baseball pic.twitter.com/QfL7MZgprw

— Dustin Saracini (@DustinSaracini) September 11, 2021

Ya. I have no idea what that pitcher was thinking. I don’t see why he would do it, but it looked intentional the way he went right at him.

Yeah that’s a 15 yard penalty

It's becoming clear the Orioles don't know how to play baseball

And yet they ended up winning that game!