The MLB Thread

[RedKnight]

Baseball games don't end in no decisions.

[lifetime fan]

Baseball games don't end in no decisions.

 

 

I didn't hang around long enough to find out then.

 

It would have been a Yankees home game in 2001.

 

Incredible rain.

[RedKnight]

If the game had gone deep enough they might have called the result on the day. If not then they would have played the rest of the game the next day.

[AngryOfTuebrook]

I'm not into baseball, but I've just read some of the best sports writing I've ever come across. (Certainly, the best sports writing by an evolutionary biologist.)

 

The Streak of Streaks by Stephen Jay Gould | The New York Review of Books

 

This is well worth a read, for many reasons.

[RedKnight]

This was funny last night. Big Papi losing his shit after a terrible strike call by the Ump. He got ejected for it and had to be restrained by the manager and two other coaches. Big Papi!

 

[Lee909]

I going to try and give baseball a go and see if i can get into it after watching the ESPN documentary Four Days In October.Thought it was fantastic.

Anywhere good to look at for rules etc?

[RedKnight]

I'd say the best way is by watching the games and picking it up as you go along, supplemented by using Wikipedia when you don't understand a phrase or rule. Cheapest and easiest way to do things.

[Salou]

One thing that I can never get my head around with in Baseball is the amount of games in a season! From day one to the final (I'm guessing that's the World Series game?) How many games can one team potentially play?

[chrisbonnie]

One thing that I can never get my head around with in Baseball is the amount of games in a season! From day one to the final (I'm guessing that's the World Series game?) How many games can one team potentially play?

 

Over a hundred I think

 

But it's not like they have to do much. They swing a bat, then run a little then go back to the dugout for some fried chicken.

 

Weren't the redsox players supposedly eating fried chicken and drinking beer during game.

 

If that's not a sport for Irish people, I don't know what is :-)

[Trumo]

There are two main divisions, the American League and the National League, each with 15 teams split into 3 sections - East, Central and West - for the regular season, where each team plays 162 games overall. The 3 winners of each section go into the Divisional Series for their respective league, and are joined by the winner of a Wild Card game between the 2 best runners-up in each league. The Divisional Series consists of two best-of-5s, and the 2 winners go on to contest the Championship Series in a best-of-7. The winners of each division's Championship Series go on to contest the World Series, again in a best-of-7.

 

The thing is, MLB is so competitive that last year's World Series champions - the San Francisco Giants - are currently propping up their division with around two thirds of the regular season gone. There have been some strong and consistent teams over the few years I've been following the sport, but nobody that is absolutely a class apart from the rest.

[RedKnight]

Over a hundred I think

 

But it's not like they have to do much. They swing a bat, then run a little then go back to the dugout for some fried chicken.

 

Weren't the redsox players supposedly eating fried chicken and drinking beer during game.

 

If that's not a sport for Irish people, I don't know what is :-)

 

Well no, an average player is a physical specimen with great hand/eye coordination. Baseball is one of the most macho sports going if you ask me. The unwritten rules that dictate etiquette couldn't be more surly.

[Mustangt125]

I agree with RedKnight, just start watching and learning a few names and rules. Every week there's a Sunday Night Baseball broadcast on ESPN in America and they have good announcers. Part of the problem is some announcers just chat shit, though it's certainly the hardest game to commentate for due to the downtime between pitches.

 

Once you get into the game, you will realize how many games within the game there are. Signs, stealing, fake signs, bunts, sacrifices, etc.

 

And there are many unwritten rules in baseball. If your pitcher hits our star hitter with a pitch, then your whole team knows my pitcher is going to throw at your star hitter at some point in the game.

 

Things that would get called "small time" or "sunday league" on here are called bush league in baseball.

 

it's also the only sport in which the players openly and actively use tobacco during the game which is pretty badass.

[Lee909]

Recorded the second half of the Yankee's and all the other game on ESPN last night so ill look tomorrow.

 

Thanks

[Mustangt125]

If that includes the Braves vs Cardinals then go for that one. Had a little bit of everything in it.

[Lee909]

Its the Padres and Diamond Backs

[Chris]

 

Chad Qualls. Way to go, Chad!

[RedKnight]

He punched the air and the air punched back.

[Lee909]

Quite enjoying the bits i have watched so far.

Not sure id sit and watch a whole game at the moment unless i was doing stuff on the PC and had it going in the background or at work.With the loss of ESPN America tomorrow just had a look at the price of MLB TV online,damn site better value than the NFL Gamepass

[Chris]

This was funny last night. Big Papi losing his shit after a terrible strike call by the Ump. He got ejected for it and had to be restrained by the manager and two other coaches. Big Papi!

 

 

Best part of that is Pedroia in the background. Especially his "what the fuck?" face in the last couple of frames.

[RedKnight]

Quite enjoying the bits i have watched so far.

Not sure id sit and watch a whole game at the moment unless i was doing stuff on the PC and had it going in the background or at work.With the loss of ESPN America tomorrow just had a look at the price of MLB TV online,damn site better value than the NFL Gamepass

 

Best value out there, mate. You can have the entire season including playoffs for about £90 at the start of April. It's such good value that I refused to buy the NBA's equivalent as a result.

[RedKnight]

Best part of that is Pedroia in the background. Especially his "what the fuck?" face in the last couple of frames.

 

There's also a little bit of anger in there too. When the smallest guy on the team gets up and tells the biggest to go to the club house it's site to behold. Only Yankees fans don't like Pedey.

[Lee909]

I was really enjoying watching the MLB and now i cant see anything till 20th when Sky install and BT sport.

 

Anyway

Baseball's highest paid star, Alex Rodriguez, has been suspended for 211 games, along with 12 other athletes, in the wake of a doping investigation.

 

The 38-year-old New York Yankees slugger has been banned until the end of the 2014 season.

 

Rodriguez is the most famous player linked to a Florida clinic, Biogenesis, which has been accused of supplying banned performing-enhancing drugs.

 

In July, player Ryan Braun was banned for 2013 for breaking drug rules.

 

Other players suspended on Monday included the Texas Rangers' Nelson Cruz, Jhonny Peralta of the Detroit Tigers, and Everth Cabrera who plays with the San Diego Padres. They each received a 50-game ban.

 

'Cover up'

Major League Baseball, the organisation governing the sport, said Rodriguez had been suspended for "his use and possession of numerous forms of prohibited performance-enhancing substances, including testosterone and human growth hormone, over the course of multiple years".

 

The statement also accused the player of "attempting to cover up his violations" by obstructing the investigation.

 

Rodriguez was accused of interfering with the Major League Baseball investigation into Biogenesis, resulting in a harsher penalty, correspondents say.

 

He has until Thursday to appeal the ban.

 

Rodriguez previously admitted to using performance-enhancing drugs while playing for a Texas team between 2001-03. He has denied using steroids since.

[Lee909]

Cant be many bigger pricks in sport than Rodriguez

[Mustangt125]

He's not so much a prick as he is just unlikable.

 

Several top MLB players getting 50 game suspensions today for PEDs.

 

Meanwhile, my Braves have 12 players on the active roster under the age of 25, a 12.5 game lead in the NL East, and are 21 (ish) games over 500. Quality.

[RedKnight]

No one, not even Yankees fans, care about A-Rod.