general 2021 MLB discussion thread

at least the orioles have the day off tomorrow. i imagine their bullpen is completely spent

will still somehow allow 22 runs

well – whatever was going on with Lindor for most the season seems to have run it's course. (3 hr today vs the Jankees!)

Pretty intense series/atmosphere, really enjoyed it.

Was going to post over the weekend about how spectacularly ugly mlb.com's new look was, but I held off, because I think that about every site re-design. I guess I wasn't alone, though--they're back to normal today.

oh nice - it was actually still the one from yesterday up until a couple hours ago, at least. i felt like i was wearing extremely powerful eyeglasses. the largest fonts of all time!

The Twins hate the Yankees so much because of all that postseason humiliation, so they've decided they're going to play New York really tough, and then they're going to lay down when the Blue Jays play them six times later this month.

Yankees making it hard right now.

I posted a comparison somewhere a couple of years ago of how close Goldschmidt and Freeman were statistically. Freeman seemed to overtake him for good, and I kind of forget about them. But I noticed Goldschmidt hit his 25th tonight, and also that he played well enough last year to get some MVP support.

They're still amazingly close (and each other's #1 Similarity Score, 953.6--very high):

PG: 273 HR, 910 RBI, .292/.388/.518, 141 OPS+, 49.4 WAR
FF: 270 HR, 935 RBI, .295/.383/.509, 138 OPS+, 42.5 WAR

The WAR difference is mostly explained by Freeman being two years younger (31/33). At the end of his age-31 season, Goldschmidt was at...42.5 WAR!

I think you'd be hard-pressed to find two contemporary stars so in lockstep.

Actually, Freeman broke in a year earlier, so that doesn't explain the WAR difference--it's all defense.

like them both, but extra support goldie as an eighth-round pick

lol this guy

“I like nostalgia, and I felt like all the Mets fans in a bases loaded situation wanted to see me throw two curveballs and a changeup (to McNeil) and get him out. Just gave the people what they wanted.” — Adam Wainwright

— Jeff Jones (@jmjones) September 14, 2021

Hey guys, it's Mike Piazza.

Ryan Braun retires

I was surprised to find out he wasn’t already.

is he still injured? i figure the thought is that he's not going to be on the postseason rosters, so better say bye now

Cano will be the next shamed could've-should've to retire.

yeah I had no idea Braun was still "active", I thought the Covid season was pretty much it for him

if i remember right he hit some sort of game-winning hit against the cardinals this year! i was like wtf man, wtf

ok unless I am missing something I am pretty sure he didn't play this year

oh you're right, of course! i was looking at his 2020 stats as his 2021, for some reason. i really do remember him beating the cardinals this year though. may have been a bad dream

yeah he played a bit in 2020 but he was perpetually injured just like he was pretty much every year since his MVP season

last time i saw him in person, he was very nice to a security guard by the parking lot

good game in queens. also a very long game

yep. i was going to give myself a haircut after the game. now...this haircut is going to suck

the NL doesn't deserve a second wild card

Cutting your own hair is some risky business!

did not realize sal perez had anywhere close to 44 homers

mlb.com might be back to normal for now (i'm guessing they're gonna push it back to the crappy new version soon) but the gameday interface is now updated and shitty for me. all the text is now too big or too small. what is the point of this

https://i.postimg.cc/j5NdPQFL/image.png

sorry for huge and gross, postimage blew that up for some reason

Man, what the hell happened with the Padres last night?!
Probably a really bad sign when your two megastars are at each other’s throats.

Probably a really bad sign when your two megastars are at each other’s throats.

they are? tatis and machado i guess? i've been watching the padres broadcasts, and didn't notice too much of that, but maybe they just weren't showing it.

the story of last night's game, up until the O'Neill HR, was the home plate umpire. that was one of the worst called games i've ever seen. the strike zone extended about 4 feet outside, for both teams

the hysterical twitter narrative was that they were feuding but that doesn't really sound like what it was

Manny Machado and Fernando Tatis Jr. had to be separated while yelling at one another in the dugout pic.twitter.com/y1x58iKeVB

— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) September 19, 2021

I know people will take the angle of “Machado is a bad teammate”…but you couldn’t be more wrong here. This was a leadership move. Let’s not forget FTJ is still 22. A phenomenal player, but still a lot to learn. Tatis can’t get tossed in the 5th inning of a game they need to win.

— Will Middlebrooks (@middlebrooks) September 19, 2021

obviously not the type of thing that would happen on a first place team......and now they're probably toast after today's arrieta start

Mookie Betts secures TJ Friedl's first hit & homer ball for him by trading his own bat for it. pic.twitter.com/o3Saahf1gr

— Chad Moriyama (@ChadMoriyama) September 19, 2021

oh wow, yeah i missed that completely last night. they are definitely struggling right now, makes sense.

tatis dropped an easy pop-fly in CF today in the first inning with the bases loaded. now i wish they would have shown machado right after that happened!

I understand what that tweet about manny is getting it - but I disagree. Getting in someone’s face and screaming isn’t leadership.

Veteran leadership from the guy who brought us the Padres Swagg Chain

Getting in someone’s face and screaming isn’t leadership.

why not, it's sports

And how well did that go?

leadership is when coach yells at people in the locker room at half-time and everyone is so afraid of coach that they play better

tatis has said in interviews that manny is the team leader and the guy he goes to when he needs to hear things he doesn't want to hear..... it's ok, these things happen

“It’s sports” just comes across a lot like “boys will be boys” to me.
Maybe they both settle down and Tatis gets whatever message he needs to get.
Maybe they don’t. Maybe you don’t want it to become a pattern of confrontations in the dug out. If machado wants to set him straight, fine - but if he can’t do it in a way that doesn’t lead to shouting and shoving, I’m not sure that’s the best quality leadership.
I’ll have to watch the clip again maybe and see if it’s Tatis over reacting to machado approaching him, or if Manny was the one going over and escalating things.

it's sports means it's probably a little more intense than a quarterly 1 on 1 with the regional manager

You haven’t met some of my past managers!

And for the record, I’m not saying manny is a shitty team leader bases off this one incident. Just that this not a great example of leadership in action.

yeah no need to defend what was clearly an outburst

Two people with three-hundred million dollars contracts got into a fight, and that’s okay

Great story: LHP Anthony Gose is being called up to @MLB by Cleveland, source confirms @indiansPro report. Gose, 31, last appeared in the majors as a @Tigers outfielder on May 15, 2016. Congratulations to Anthony. What a journey. @MLBNetwork

— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) September 20, 2021

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E_voSigX0AMSnZC?format=png&name=small

rofl