2021 Misc. MLB News

[RightFieldCoder]

Another subsection deals with the cup and allowed dimensions of that part. I'm certain the chip does not follow those.

 

I agree that the spirit of the law was not broken. But I do understand why someone would take a shot at getting the hr called back. The only drawback is an opponent gets mad at you.

[dlk9s]

The whole incident was handled pretty well all around. Nobody got all pissy, the umps, who were kind of confused themselves, discussed it with each other and then checked with HQ. They explained everything to both teams and all was well. I suppose if we swapped the Reds with the Brewers, I'd be a little annoyed, but if it was possibly an illegal bat, then sure, try to get the grand slam overturned.

[BruisedCrew]

There was just a play in the Pirates-Cubs game that, coming on the heels of the call in yesterday’s Brewers game, reinforces what I hate about MLB replay. The out call came on a play at the plate with a throw from the 1B. The throw was in time to beat the runner, but the catcher made the tag very high and it looked live like the runner clearly got his foot to the plate before the tag was applied. Replays seemed to bear that out and the Pirates announcers were very surprised that the call was upheld. The only possible question would be whether the sliding runner’s foot literally touched the plate as opposed to being a fraction of an inch above it.

 

Compared to yesterday’s call, this replay was much closer to being conclusive, but this call was upheld. The inconsistency in how this standard is applied aggravates me all the time.

[MrTPlush]

The crowd in Pit:

 

[Dragonbait]

The crowd in Pit:

 

 

They probably used more baseballs in that game than fans in the stands...

 

You get a baseball, you get a baseball..

[homer]

The crowd in Pit:

 

 

Someone posted something similar from the D-backs game. They had an announced attendance of 6,354.

[BuckyBrewer61]

To be fair - no matter how hard a front office might try, come September there are going to be some teams that are just plain out of it and playing meaningless games. And in the absence of some exciting prospects - even for an avid baseball fan it's hard to get excited about a completely meaningless September game, much less 25-30 of them.

 

Like all of you I am a huge Brewers fan, but I'll admit that I'm not tuning in for 3-4 hours a night at the end of the season if the games mean nothing, and I'm even less likely to go out of my way to pay for/attend a Tuesday night game in September if it means nothing...whether we are 4 games under or 40 games under .500. Maybe that makes me a bad fan...but I think it's just the nature of a 162-game season. It's thrilling when your team is playing meaningful games daily, and hard to get excited about if they aren't.

 

Frankly I'm more impressed by the fans that are in that picture than I am surprised by the seats that are empty.

[ReverendBrewmeister]

The crowd in Pit:

 

 

Someone posted something similar from the D-backs game. They had an announced attendance of 6,354.

 

Baltimore had two consecutive games under 5,000 announced attendance this week (4,965 and 4,891):

 

Picture of empty Camden Yards:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E-zi-HmXsAIi8AN?format=jpg&name=large

[jerichoholicninja]

Maybe I'm totally misremembering but even in the worst of Brewer seasons I never remember Miller Park being that empty.

[owbc]

It's one thing to do a rebuild, it's another to be completely inept for year after year after year. People will eventually stop caring. You also have to keep in mind that attendance is down by 10,000 fans per game this year compared with the pre-COVID baseline. I believe the Brewers' 2021 average attendance is the second-lowest in the Miller Park/AmFamClam era, with only 2003 being lower.

 

That said, Pittsburgh and Baltimore both have a higher average attendance than Tampa Bay and Oakland...so perhaps constantly theatening to relocate a team is bad for attendance as well...

[Jopal78]

Maybe I'm totally misremembering but even in the worst of Brewer seasons I never remember Miller Park being that empty.

 

I'm sure in the 1990s there are plenty of weeknight games in September where the Brewers had under 10,000 fans. However, the team hasn't really stacked up multiple seasons of terrible play since Miller Park opened.

 

In September of 2003 there was an announced attendance of 8,700 (which of course is the number of tickets sold, not how many came through the turnstiles). There were also a couple of 10,000 on weeknights in September of that year.

[Jopal78]

It's one thing to do a rebuild, it's another to be completely inept for year after year after year. People will eventually stop caring. You also have to keep in mind that attendance is down by 10,000 fans per game this year compared with the pre-COVID baseline. I believe the Brewers' 2021 average attendance is the second-lowest in the Miller Park/AmFamClam era, with only 2003 being lower.

 

That said, Pittsburgh and Baltimore both have a higher average attendance than Tampa Bay and Oakland...so perhaps constantly theatening to relocate a team is bad for attendance as well...

 

It also has to be tough in Baltimore when 4 of the top 6 teams in the American League are all in the same division as the Orioles (TB .629, BOS .563, NYY .561 and TOR .551). I'm sure its tough to market a product that is going to be inferior to the competition almost every night of the week.

[GreatNWwi]

To be fair - no matter how hard a front office might try, come September there are going to be some teams that are just plain out of it and playing meaningless games. And in the absence of some exciting prospects - even for an avid baseball fan it's hard to get excited about a completely meaningless September game, much less 25-30 of them.

 

Like all of you I am a huge Brewers fan, but I'll admit that I'm not tuning in for 3-4 hours a night at the end of the season if the games mean nothing, and I'm even less likely to go out of my way to pay for/attend a Tuesday night game in September if it means nothing...whether we are 4 games under or 40 games under .500. Maybe that makes me a bad fan...but I think it's just the nature of a 162-game season. It's thrilling when your team is playing meaningful games daily, and hard to get excited about if they aren't.

 

Frankly I'm more impressed by the fans that are in that picture than I am surprised by the seats that are empty.

 

Interesting. We always went to one or two Brewers games in September no matter how bad the team was. We still saw some fun baseball most every time.

 

I was 16 for the '82 world series. I am currently fossillizing just fine.

[BruisedCrew]

I think you might be surprised if you looked at some of the Brewers September weeknight crowds in 1982.

 

Brewers attendance has always been bolstered by things like groups and out of town visitors and those things largely disappear in September when schools and the activities associated with them start. Miller Park helped because it eliminates the weather factor that can also affect attendance. The Brewers have also made major inroads in marketing the team since then, and the improvement in the quality of the team that began in the mid 2000’s and has been fueled by playoff appearances has added even more. They also have sold a lot of tickets in the form of 10, 20, and 40 game packages that guarantee a minimum number of tickets sold for almost every game. Years ago it was pretty much full season or nothing.

[ThisIsMyCrew]

 

Just make Stearns the number 2 guy for everything Brewers. Call it a day.

[adambr2]

I might get surrounded by torches and pitchforks for this (especially if I was on a Yankee board), but I'm gonna say it:

 

The "flip" was an overrated play. There, I said it. Jeter ran to cut the throw off and flung the ball like 40 feet to the catcher for the out. Great. It was a very nice defensive play, not some iconic moment in baseball history that should be replayed for decades.

 

If Jose Hernandez had done it against the Pirates on a random Tuesday evening, we never would have heard about it again.

[PinaMadness]

I might get surrounded by torches and pitchforks for this (especially if I was on a Yankee board), but I'm gonna say it:

 

The "flip" was an overrated play. There, I said it. Jeter ran to cut the throw off and flung the ball like 40 feet to the catcher for the out. Great. It was a very nice defensive play, not some iconic moment in baseball history that should be replayed for decades.

 

If Jose Hernandez had done it against the Pirates on a random Tuesday evening, we never would have heard about it again.

You won't get grief from me about it. I totally agree. I just don't see what was so special about that.

[adambr2]

I might get surrounded by torches and pitchforks for this (especially if I was on a Yankee board), but I'm gonna say it:

 

The "flip" was an overrated play. There, I said it. Jeter ran to cut the throw off and flung the ball like 40 feet to the catcher for the out. Great. It was a very nice defensive play, not some iconic moment in baseball history that should be replayed for decades.

 

If Jose Hernandez had done it against the Pirates on a random Tuesday evening, we never would have heard about it again.

You won't get grief from me about it. I totally agree. I just don't see what was so special about that.

 

I'm so glad I'm not the only one. I could never understand why the announcers were screaming like it was the greatest thing they had ever seen.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

The flip was extremely overrated. However the second part of your statement doesn't say much as the stage it happened on is relevant. That's how all memorable plays are. Of course "better" plays happen in meaningless games.

 

But the play itself just wasn't all that impressive. It was nice, not some otherworldly act of a God.

 

I've always thought "The Catch" was incredibly lame.

[adambr2]

The flip was extremely overrated. However the second part of your statement doesn't say much as the stage it happened on is relevant. That's how all memorable plays are. Of course "better" plays happen in meaningless games.

 

But the play itself just wasn't all that impressive. It was nice, not some otherworldly act of a God.

 

I've always thought "The Catch" was incredibly lame.

 

Well, I'll put it another way then. If Willy Adames did it on October 13th, 2021 in a playoff game, I don't think anyone would have any idea what play we were talking about 5 years later.

[owbc]

I might get surrounded by torches and pitchforks for this (especially if I was on a Yankee board), but I'm gonna say it:

 

The "flip" was an overrated play. There, I said it. Jeter ran to cut the throw off and flung the ball like 40 feet to the catcher for the out. Great. It was a very nice defensive play, not some iconic moment in baseball history that should be replayed for decades.

 

If Jose Hernandez had done it against the Pirates on a random Tuesday evening, we never would have heard about it again.

 

Jeter didn’t do it on a random Tuesday night, he did it in an elimination game on the road that was decided by one run. It was a +0.35 WPA play. One that had never been seen before and hasn’t happened since. Was there some freakiness involved? Of course. But in terms of postseason defensive plays…it’s up there near the top of the list.

 

Every hall of famer had some sort of iconic play that gets shown a million times. How many times have I seen Robin Yount stretching that one single into a double? Larry Walker throwing a guy out from RF?

 

I’ll agree on “the catch” but it’s a fun one to replay. I’ll watch that highlight of Shaq diving into the stands any day as well.

[BruisedCrew]

The flip was extremely overrated. However the second part of your statement doesn't say much as the stage it happened on is relevant. That's how all memorable plays are. Of course "better" plays happen in meaningless games.

 

But the play itself just wasn't all that impressive. It was nice, not some otherworldly act of a God.

 

I've always thought "The Catch" was incredibly lame.

 

Well, I'll put it another way then. If Willy Adames did it on October 13th, 2021 in a playoff game, I don't think anyone would have any idea what play we were talking about 5 years later.

 

I agree with you. Also, every one of the thousand or so times I’ve seen that play, I wonder if the out call would have been upheld by replay. Was the tag really applied before the runner’s foot hit the plate?

[igor67]

That throw before it got to Jeter was right on the line, it was going to bounce for sure, but my question has always been did he actually make it get to the plate faster, since it was just a flip and a pretty short distance?

[MrTPlush]

No, Jeter most definitely did not help that ball get there any faster. I would say he slowed it down...and by quite a bit. His flip was really no faster than the ball was coming in and there is a huge pause when he has to grab it.

 

The one thing it did do was give the catcher an easy ball to receive instead of digging the ball out of the ground on some weird bounce/roll.

[DuWayne Steurer]

The flip was extremely overrated. However the second part of your statement doesn't say much as the stage it happened on is relevant. That's how all memorable plays are. Of course "better" plays happen in meaningless games.

 

But the play itself just wasn't all that impressive. It was nice, not some otherworldly act of a God.

 

I've always thought "The Catch" was incredibly lame.

 

I mean.... maybe overrated. but lame?