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MLB Regular Season 2021

alkeiper

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A monthly thread would probably be optimistic at this point.

I'll drop predictions.

AL East: Yankees
AL Central: Twins
AL West: Astros
AL Wild Cards: Blue Jays, Rays

NL East: Braves
NL Central: Cardinals
NL West: Dodgers
NL Wild Cards: Padres, Mets

AL MVP: Mike Trout
AL Cy Young: Gerrit Cole
AL Rookie: Randy Arozarena
AL Manager: Charlie Montoyo

NL MVP: Mookie Betts
NL Cy Young: Jacob deGrom
NL Rookie: Ke'Bryan Hayes
NL Manager: Jayce Tingler

Really boring picks. Sue me.

The Mets extended Francisco Lindor for 10 years, $340 million. People will complain about the length but if you want a player of Lindor's caliber in 2022 you have to overpay in 2031.

 

King Kamala

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Red Sox home opener has already been postponed to tomorrow. Hey who knew having opening the season at Fenway Park on April 1st could be dicey weather wise?
 

strummer

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Mets/Nats postponed as well

covid related as a Nats player tested positive

looks like the whole series may be postponed. Well damn I was looking forward to some baseball. Oh well..
 

Dandy

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Today starts the march to the anticipated 162-0 record for the Cincinnati Redlegs. I have them there every year.
 

Hawk 34

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Thankfully it’s 33 degrees and snowing to really set the mood for the 2021 season.
 

Krankor

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My initial reaction mid Cubs/Pirates game of Jon Sciambi doing play-by-play on Marquee Network: Pretty bad.

He always seemed energetic and fun on ESPN. Here he sounds like he is doing play-by-play for golf.

It's the bottom of the 6th and he sounds completely bored of the team, game, life, and Jim Deshaies. He currently is shitting on the MLB rule about the amount of batters a relief pitcher has to face. I guess he would be more interested talking about a new relief pitcher entering the game with every new batter. Deshaies is trying to bring some fun banter and stats but it's like he is talking with a sack of potatoes.

I didn't think it was possible to make this 2021 Cubs team any more boring. I was completely wrong.
 

Brocklock

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My initial reaction mid Cubs/Pirates game of Jon Sciambi doing play-by-play on Marquee Network: Pretty bad.

He always seemed energetic and fun on ESPN. Here he sounds like he is doing play-by-play for golf.

It's the bottom of the 6th and he sounds completely bored of the team, game, life, and Jim Deshaies. He currently is shitting on the MLB rule about the amount of batters a relief pitcher has to face. I guess he would be more interested talking about a new relief pitcher entering the game with every new batter. Deshaies is trying to bring some fun banter and stats but it's like he is talking with a sack of potatoes.

I didn't think it was possible to make this 2021 Cubs team any more boring. I was completely wrong.
Most of the promotion and hype for the 2021 Cubs season was for the debut of a play by play guy which tells you everything you need to know about the 2021 Cubs. Every commercial I saw anywhere for the 2021 Cubs was hyping Boog and not really mentioning anything about the players. Didn't watch this game and probably won't watch much of the season. The way the Ricketts run things is just too gross to care about the Cubs at the moment.
 

snuffbox

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Good win for the Brewers yesterday. They usually struggle vs the Twins. Down 5-2 in the 9th and the returning Travis Shaw tied it up with a double. Orlando Arcia, on an Opening Day bench for the first time in a half decade, won the game with an infield single that scored a headfirst diving Cain. And Freddy Peralta pitched a couple good relief innings but is still scheduled to start game 5.
 

Dandy

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It will be fun to compare their stats at that point of their careers. I know COVID limited the games last year, but I think it would be a fun comparison to look over.
 

Smues

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Atlanta lost this year's all-star game and draft. New location to be determined.


Knew/hoped it was coming, but I am impressed at how quickly the decision was made. Sucks ass as a Braves fan, but it's 100% the right move. Fuck Georgia.
 

King Kamala

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Sox Sux

(Red for getting shut out by the gosh darn Orioles in their home opener and White for their crappy social media team)
 

HarleyQuinn

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First player to go 8 for 8 in his first 8 ABs going back to 1900. Not bad...
 

Baby Shoes

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I’ve known this is going to be a long season with the teams I follow. Red Sox games have been embarrassing this year, getting smacked by Baltimore means they will be last in their division. Diamondbacks have been competitive against a good Padres team.
 

King Kamala

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First two games pitching looked decent and offense & fielding was ass. Today everything was ass. I just hope when Polar Park in Worcester is finished, ownership will start focusing on the big club again. That was a weird sentence to type.

Maybe it's better if Red Sox are a horrible 90-100 loss team instead of the bland, mildly but not really competitive team everyone predicted.
 

Dandy

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Nick Castellanos was suspended for two games after flexing in the pitchers face and saying, “Let’s go!” after sliding under the tag on a wild pitch where the pitcher kneed Castellanos (accidentally) in the back. Castellanos had just been hit by the pitcher, likely for what the whiny ass Cardinals deemed to be an unacceptable reaction to a home run he had hit on Opening Day.

Whiny ass Yadier Molina ran at Castellanos and had his hands on the back of his neck and shoulders; pushed him and others; and other Cardinals were more aggressive in pushing, grabbing, and yelling/gesturing from afar. Castellanos got the suspension and the Cards got no suspensions, only fines. Castellanos was also the only one ejected.
 

Brocklock

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Yady Molina is the worst. He's tried this same shit countless times with the Cubs. Not to the extent of grabbing players, but shit stirring and making drama out of nothing.
 

Dandy

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He’s also overrated as hell even though he is a good player. Like, I am not about to say he is not a great catcher. But quite a bit of people throw out things like him being the greatest catcher of all time and other absurd things.

He is also given way too many passes on things like this by MLB. He whines, Chris Carpenter whined, Adam Wainwright whines, and the entire Cardinals organization whines about everything. They pick apart opposing teams’ stadiums and act like the mounds aren’t regulation; the fans shouldn’t be allowed to move because it is a distraction; and that they they should have the right to hit one player per inning for not coming up and shaking their hands prior to each at-bat. The act is beyond stale.
 

Gert

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As a Cards fan, I'll say that Mo Egger is pretty disingenuous with that picture, you know damn well what he got suspended for.

That said, I don't think he should have been suspended. Let the emotion be what its going to be.

I also think you're letting your emotions of the rivalry shield you from Molina. I would be pretty surprised if he isn't one of the two-three best defensive catchers of all-time. He really became a good hitter after two or three years to make himself a borderline HOFer and not just an all-defense, no bat type of catcher.
 

Dandy

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Okay, I’ll bite.

Mo Egger is not saying Castellanos got suspended for walking away from the other player, and you might be the only person on Earth that is suggesting such. Your catcher bumped an ump while grabbing Castellanos by the back of the neck with both hands and pushed him. Your reliever left the bullpen and pushed a Reds player after the initial scrum had been broken up. Neither of them were suspended.

Your team hit a player on my team because they didn’t like him showing emotion. Nearly everyone on this board and most with a pulse have discussed how stupid that part of the game is and how throwing a hard projectile over 90 mph toward a person near their hands to head is over such perceived slights. I can provide quotes from your own team that have whined and complained when their player gets hit like that. It’s stupid. And then the guy that gets hit is supposed to just take it and walk around with their hat in their hand afterward? Fuck outta here.

And then watch the play at the plate again where Woodford slides in and is kneeing Castellanos (by all means unintentionally). But Castellanos was supposed to get up and not be excited in the least but rather ask for a microphone and with a tear in his eye conduct a one hour verbal discourse on how utterly amazing Yadier Molina is?

I am not letting my dislike of your team cloud my judgment about how good Yadier Molina is, but thank for playing. It’s natural to overvalue players on your team and I am as guilty as every other sports fan who has ever fanned. But his stats are not on the same level as the pedestal that quite a few people have put him on. I am not even saying he is terrible. He is really good. But a lot of Cardinals fans online have basically acted like he is Johnny Bench on steroids in every aspect of the game.
 
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