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Re: MLB-Baseball Megathread

CA Dreamin — Tue, 7 Apr 2026 18:36:53 GMT

Author: CA Dreamin

Posted: 04/07/2026 22:36

A chance to meet the legend in person? Go for it, EKF ❗

Re: MLB-Baseball Megathread

Romanelli — Tue, 7 Apr 2026 11:55:34 GMT

Author: Romanelli

Posted: 04/07/2026 15:55

EyeKanFly wrote:

Romanelli wrote:

Today is the actual opening day.

Thumbnail. Click to enlarge.

Going to my first Rockies game tomorrow! Looking forward to it, and I certainly won't be rooting for the Astros

Hey, cool! You'll love the stadium. It's a fun place.

If you're so inclined, stop by section 129-30 on the main concourse. I work that spot as an usher.

Re: MLB-Baseball Megathread

EyeKanFly — Mon, 6 Apr 2026 18:05:18 GMT

Author: EyeKanFly

Posted: 04/06/2026 22:05

Romanelli wrote:

Today is the actual opening day.

Thumbnail. Click to enlarge.

Going to my first Rockies game tomorrow! Looking forward to it, and I certainly won't be rooting for the Astros

Re: MLB-Baseball Megathread

Romanelli — Fri, 27 Mar 2026 12:01:31 GMT

Author: Romanelli

Posted: 03/27/2026 16:01

Today is the actual opening day.

Thumbnail. Click to enlarge.

Re: MLB-Baseball Megathread

cestuneblague — Fri, 27 Mar 2026 11:40:36 GMT

Author: cestuneblague

Posted: 03/27/2026 15:40

... not the way I wanted to see opening day conclude, but ah well, just one notch down with 161 to go!

Re: MLB-Baseball Megathread

cestuneblague — Thu, 26 Mar 2026 22:55:30 GMT

Author: cestuneblague

Posted: 03/27/2026 02:55

Alright baseball is finally underway, it's bizarre to actually be incredibly optimistic about the season and having worringly high WS appearance or naught expectations, but that's what happens when you have your first 5-winning streak season in a row. Anyways I'll do the usual predictions/breakdown, though with more brevity than years past

AL WEST Pennant: Mariners WC: Angels

Mariners (plenty of drama to start the offseason, but they're still the most complete team that with perhaps another major breakout this year could be unstoppable- if only the injury bug and self-inflicted clubhouse problems don't get them)
Astros (They're still good, but they're starting at a brick wall on the not-too-distant horizon as they lack a lot of impact players down in the farm system and a team at the top that is definitely not getting any younger. It would a surprise if this is the year they have their fall off, but I have a feeling it's coming soon and they should be prepared for the predicted sell off before it does)
Rangers (I just Donno, you can't rely on their health and strange times indeed their offense is one of the weaker lineups in the American League despite some big names. If everybody stays on the field and some young players start hitting their potential, they have a decent shot to compete for the title but I have a feeling they'll more likely be content fighting for one of the last playoff spots)
Athletics (Their offense actually looks pretty scary, and considering it's youth, also has a lot of room to grow... though I also wonder how it will turn out once they move from essentially a Minor league park. But that rotation will surely keep them from being consistent this year. Will be a fun spoiler team, but everything (and possibly an in-season trade) would have to go right for them to make the playoffs this year)
Angels (The saddest story in baseball. They still act like they have room to compete, but just don't, and constantly pass over really talented prospects for safe fast-movers. They're nowhere close to even have a winning season. They really should just eat Mike Trout's contract and finally spearhead the long, LONG delayed youth movement and learn from their innumerable past mistakes)

AL Central Pennat: Tigers WC: Guardians

Tigers (Still definitely the favorites as they have the best lineup and a contract year Skubal, but I'm surprised they didn't make a bold "go for it" move when they have their best shot to win it all, at least in the near future)
Guardians (Will overachieve, I tell ya. Nothing about the roster seems intimidating on paper, but they just know how to compete and endure an entire season better than their competition. As crowded as the playoff picture in the American League, they should easily secure a wild card)
Royals (Absolutely the definitive Third-place pick, as they could swing wildly either way. I just don''t see why they're not being more aggressive moving their fading veterans and finding young talent to build around a genuine franchise superstar like Witt. That said looking at the roster there are plenty of chances to overachieve, but it looks like they may need to find help outside the organization as I don't know why they keep drafting risky, flawed, long-term prospects when you have Witt in his absolute prime. I guess another season bobbing around 500, but with their solid top-down pitching they could squeeze a few wins above the phythagerom (I didn't spell the right I Know).
White Sox (I'm biased but why not? There's a huge dropoff in an already weaker division at number four, and they actually did do a decent job bringing in some new talent and a lot of young players who seem ready to improve. Their pitching, though, will almost surely ensure another 90-loss season, anything else will be greatly exceeding expectation)
Twins (Just have been befuddled by their direction the past few seasons, often doing major player selloffs but never the ones with the most value, and yet perhaps because they're in the central still think they're not far from competing. The pre-season injuries, especially to Pablo Lopez, pretty much though ensured it will be Tank-in-'sota this year, and they should really go all in on getting their almost-major-league ready players some experience in the latter half of the season, and keep hoarding more young talent)

AL East Pennat: Blue Jays WC: Red Sox/Yankees (take your pick)

Blue Jays (Have they gotten better or stayed even than last year? I for the most part like what they did in the offseason and Bichette was never as reliable as you'd think, but they also had a lot of players overachieving last year who could come back to earth. I'll still put them in the front of a crowded but flawed AL East, but they could very easily have a regression from their almost-a-champion season last year)
Red Sox (Lost Bregman but looking at their roster they can make it up, though it does likely require a breakout season from their non-traditionally very young lineup. Their pitching should keep them in it as well, though how much their lineup improves will signal if they can be legit contenders in the American League
Yankees (Yankees SU... no I'm above that for one day here 😜 But I'm also: You have a few remaining prime years with Judge (and who the hell knows when his body finally breaks down for good), so why are the Yankees not making the necessary moves to take advantage of their likely limited window? Again this is definitely not the Yankees I remember growing up with. Anyways they'll still be a likely playoff team, even if there's a slow start there are a lot of stars coming back from injuries during the year, but a 2nd or 3rd wild card feels like such a lowly goal when they should really have a much more fearsome lineup outside of Judge than we see now. Maybe if Volpe finally recaptures that blue-chip glory, though Yankees fans will proll'y not make that easy).
Orioles (Could definitely be a legit contender, or could crumble early like they did last season. Despite some big singings, their success requires a lot of their young hitters who had major regressions last year to have equally major bounce-back seasons. I just don't understand why they have ignored developing young pitching, even after the Baz trade it is an extremely top-heavy staff in both the rotation and bullpen)
Devil Rays (Despite trading most of their remaning "big" names, the Rays always find a way to compete and I expect that to stay the same this year, though more so as a tough spoiler as the AL East is as brutal as always.

NL West Pennant: Dodgers WC: Padres

LA Dodgers (it's not just the potential of a three-peat, the Tucker signing just provided another great excuse to root against them as the hate for yet another round of Payroll maniupalation was clear.... though it's more the sign of a broken system than anything else that of course the wealthy elite can exploit. Still the favorites even as they're not getting any younger, though having that constant target-on-your-back is going to just burn them out sooner or later).
Padres (They're actually still pretty good. They are also not "one-piece-away" from being contenders, and their multiple absolute-albatross contracts have financially handcuffed them. They'll be competitive but they really need to start looking at developing talent and moving into a "massive retool" phase sooner or later.
Giants (Again I'm just not sure about where they're headed, a slightly above .500 team should strive to make major-league roster improvements and aim to compete, but they just haven't done that at all. They're competitive, but good enough for the Wild Card? Maybe if their young hitters overachieve, otherwise I have a feeling this going to be another very whelming winning season)
Diamondbacks (Brought most of the band back together, should like last year stay competitive in the top-heavy NL west but still the glass is half-empty on a wildcard spot. Not trading Marte is either going to noticeably be the smartest or dumbest thing they ever did quite soon.)
Rockies (Them bottoming out as majorly as they did last year could be a blessing in disguise. They have an alright farm system but it needs to improve if they're serious about building a 2030s contender and not just floating by like they've done since they're last playoff appearance, just grab all they young talent they can. It's also nice they've put together a competent baseball team for 2026, even if it is mostly dead-end, low-trade-value veterans. It's going to be a rough few years, but if they make the right course-corrections in terms of player development they could be really, really good... again likely near the next decade.)

NL Central Pennat: Cubs WC: Brewers

Cubs (Their offense is fantastic, their pitching is definitely good enough to see them through a long playoff run. They just need to avoid that post-break Swoon like last season, and probably need another deadline upgrade before they can be true WS favorites)
Brewers (One of the best run teams in Baseball, who despite being contenders the past few years continue to re-load with top-tier young talent. Their lineup is super reliable, how much their pitching staff holds up (and mainly, avoids injuries) will determine if they can compete for the pennat).
Reds (With the Francona influence and their potentially scary lineup, they should keep things interesting until late September, but things already have not gone right at all and the season is just starting. The Greene injury was a major setback, but if he returns pretty much at 100% they have a decent shot to sneak into the playoffs)
Pirates (I like that they're finally showing the willingness to make immediate upgrades and not just waste the controllable years of Skenes, but a lot of poor drafting/development decisions already put them back a few years and even with the quantity of deals I don't think they're a playoff team just yet, unless all their young talent starts showing their max potential. An 80-84 win season is a lot more realistic and would do wonders for their future outlook.)
Cardinals (Finally went all in on the rebuild and from a young talent standpoint looks very enticing. The fact they were able to move Arenado's contract and get something, anything of value was a stroke of absolute genius. This year should be brutal, especially in an unusually stacked NL Central, but they're going to have a lot of opportunities to get their young players consistent playing time and could be rising back up the standings sooner than you think)

NL East Pennat: Phillies WC: NY Mets

Phillies (They're still contenders, but I'm also shocked they didn't make more "go for it" moves considering they have an aging core. You don't want another situation like their last contending bunch who they held on for too long and it set them back a decade. And it feels like you have to deal with a whole lot of 10-0-4 runs scored in any given series given it's extreme inconsistent, all-or-nothing approach. How the back end of their rotation and bullpen hold up will determine if they can make a WS push, I think they are still an in-season upgrade away from being able to do that).
NY Mets (There was nothing more Mets-y than how the 2025 season ultimately unfolded. Dear gawd, you can bring a 400 million cow to water but you can't keep it from losing interest even when you're already at the clearing. That said, they did do an interesting strategy of almost completely revamping their roster with much turnover, whether or not that's the winning medicine or a terribly shortsighted move will only be obvious once we get deeper into the season. I still think they're obvious WC contenders but wouldn't put it past them to spectacturaly underachieve)
Washington (The Juan Soto trade was in 2022, right? Shouldn't the rebuild progressed further than the charmingly mediocre squad their putting forth this year? Again a broken record maybe if a lot of t heir young players have remarkable turnarounds from their hitherto underachieving ways, but this is starting to feel like a journey back to respctability that's been much slower and more erratic than it should've been)
Atlanta (It was just injuries last year. This year it's... just injuries. Another huge hoard of them, during spring training. Is a curse starting to brew?)
Miami (Overachived last year, but are weaker this season even with a predictably star-power-lacking lineup. Not the worse, but not really anywhere close to contention yet... they really need to find some good, young bats soon as that's been a noticable problem down in the farm)

Dang I'm being generous with my WC spread-out. Probably will be wrong somewhere

And for my probably wrong playoff predictions

American League: M's over Tigers/Blue Jays
National League: Cubs over Dodgers

And for World Series!!!!!..... I'm not going to Jinx it 🤐

Re: MLB-Baseball Megathread

CA Dreamin — Thu, 23 Oct 2025 14:24:44 GMT

Author: CA Dreamin

Posted: 10/23/2025 18:24

I feel for Mariners fans out there. Up 2-0 in the series, only to lose 4 of the next 5. That's rough. The Phillies did the same thing in the 2023 NLCS.

So what do we have now? Dodgers vs. Blue Jays, eh? I've heard music and politcal jokes. Drake vs. Kendrick. USA vs. Canada. I've heard some are rooting for Toronto because they think it would piss off the POTUS, but honestly I don't think he cares. In some ways, he probably dislikes LA and CA even more than Canada. I've also heard the rich vs. poor narrative. Dodgers have the highest payroll, but it's not that much higher than the Blue Jays, who rank 5th in payroll. Then again, LA's payroll doesn't include $1 billion in deferred payments to current players, who won't receive those checks until next decade. So from that angle, yeah, the Blue Jays are poor in comparison, and so is the rest of MLB. I think MLB badly needs a salary cap, and a salary floor to try to balance the scales.

Anyway, I hope it's a fun series. As I've said before, I started supporting the Dodgers as a second team after my Phillies when I moved to LA in 2014. Although this year was the first time those two met in the playoffs since I moved here. I felt no joy, nor animosity, for the Dodgers after that series, just pain and frustration with the Phillies. It took over a week for me to start feeling positive towards the Dodgers again, as they were finishing off the sweep of Milwaukee in the following round. Still, the whole time I was thinking "This could be the Phillies if they had played better in the NLDS". Anyway, what's done is done. Time for the World Series. Go Dodgers. I think it would be really cool for Clayton Kershaw to retire a WS champion. Is he even gonna pitch in this series? We'll see.

Re: MLB-Baseball Megathread

cestuneblague — Sat, 18 Oct 2025 01:59:43 GMT

Author: cestuneblague

Posted: 10/18/2025 05:59

And wow, if there was a need for a Pulp Ficition-style adreniline shot right to the heart, that was it. Just one win away (and Damn, no M's fan has ever been able to say that before tonight). And then we're no longer the franchise whose "Special"... in the worst possible way.

Re: MLB-Baseball Megathread

CA Dreamin — Fri, 17 Oct 2025 18:06:19 GMT

Author: CA Dreamin

Posted: 10/17/2025 22:06

cestuneblague wrote:

Welp... that's away to take all the wind out of the sails. I guess history is on M's side, but the momentum is long gone

The momentum is gone, but the series is still tied. It's anyone's game now.

Re: MLB-Baseball Megathread

cestuneblague — Fri, 17 Oct 2025 16:36:04 GMT

Author: cestuneblague

Posted: 10/17/2025 20:36

Welp... that's away to take all the wind out of the sails. I guess history is on M's side, but the momentum is long gone

Re: MLB-Baseball Megathread

CA Dreamin — Sat, 11 Oct 2025 02:05:03 GMT

Author: CA Dreamin

Posted: 10/11/2025 06:05

Rough night for Philly fans. The Eagles lost and are looking very shaky. Of course, the Phillies loss felt much worse. Such a great team. Such a well-played game 4. To be honest, when our ace, Zack Wheeler, was ruled out for the playoffs, I lost some faith. Best pitcher on the team, without a doubt. Easily a top 5 pitcher in the NL. But I was pleasantly surprised the way the Phillies came together and seemed to play even better after he was gone. I also felt MLB lacked a standout team, and this postseason would come down to match-ups. Against the Dodgers explosive offense, I was worried. I felt this was the series we really needed Zack Wheeler, but if we could just get through LA, I would feel good against any other team. And man, if we had won Game 4 last night and brought Game 5 back to Philly, who knows what might have happened. But to end the way it did last night, on a fielding error with the bases loaded. Ugh. Painful.

Anyway, on a lighter note, how about them Mariners? What a win tonight! Going to the ALCS.

Re: MLB-Baseball Megathread

Repo — Wed, 8 Oct 2025 13:59:42 GMT

Author: Repo

Posted: 10/08/2025 17:59

I know we lost, BUT that was an absolutly fantastic series between my Red Sox and Yankees!!! 😈

Gives me hope!!! 😎

Re: MLB-Baseball Megathread

CA Dreamin — Wed, 8 Oct 2025 12:43:20 GMT

Author: CA Dreamin

Posted: 10/08/2025 16:43

Romanelli wrote:

CA Dreamin wrote:

The 2025 Rockies avoided having the worst record of all time. However, their -424 run differential is the worst of all time. The second worst? -349. That's the worst by a huge margin. That makes the 2025 Rockies the most atrocious team of all time in my book.

Interesting narrative in the AL Central. The Detroit Tigers had the largest collapse in MLB history, a 15.5 game lead blown. Yet, they made the playoffs anyway courtesy of the extra wild card introduced three years ago. And they won their wild card series against the very team who stole the division from them. Sometimes momentum matters. Sometimes it doesn't. Tough break for the Guardians. Their championship drought continues.

On to the division series. Looking forward to seeing the Phillies take the field!

Atrocious. That's harsh, but yeah. I was at 78 games this year. It was rough, to say the least.

My personal belief is that there should never be an MLB playoff series of less than best of 5. Best of three is what they play all year long, and it's way too easy for an inferior team to steal that series. Happens every week in baseball. Best of 5 should be the minimum.

Harsh? The Rockies had the third most losses of all-time, seventh worst win % of all-time, and the all-time worst run differential by a huge margin. Atrocious feels like an appropriate descriptor for an MLB-level team.

I agree all playoff series should be best-of-5 minimum. However, 3 is better than 1; it's trending in the right direction. I doubt they'll go to best-of-5 though. That would make the teams with 1st-round byes sit too long, and undoubtedly drag the playoffs til nearly Election Day, which nobody needs. But if MLB shortened the regular season by a week, it could work.

Phillies are playing disappointing right now, like last year. Simply not scoring enough runs 🤬 Blue Jays-Mariners would be a nice ALCS.

Re: MLB-Baseball Megathread

Romanelli — Sun, 5 Oct 2025 09:18:19 GMT

Author: Romanelli

Posted: 10/05/2025 13:18

CA Dreamin wrote:

The 2025 Rockies avoided having the worst record of all time. However, their -424 run differential is the worst of all time. The second worst? -349. That's the worst by a huge margin. That makes the 2025 Rockies the most atrocious team of all time in my book.

Interesting narrative in the AL Central. The Detroit Tigers had the largest collapse in MLB history, a 15.5 game lead blown. Yet, they made the playoffs anyway courtesy of the extra wild card introduced three years ago. And they won their wild card series against the very team who passed stole the division from them. Sometimes momentum matters. Sometimes it doesn't. Tough break for the Guardians. Their championship drought continues.

On to the division series. Looking forward to seeing the Phillies take the field!

Re: MLB-Baseball Megathread

cestuneblague — Sat, 4 Oct 2025 20:53:40 GMT

Author: cestuneblague

Posted: 10/05/2025 00:53

Trying to do deliveries while having the game cast for M's-Tigers on simultaneously, probably going to fly off the road soon enough

Re: MLB-Baseball Megathread

CA Dreamin — Fri, 3 Oct 2025 14:34:29 GMT

Author: CA Dreamin

Posted: 10/03/2025 18:34

The 2025 Rockies avoided having the worst record of all time. However, their -424 run differential is the worst of all time. The second worst? -349. That's the worst by a huge margin. That makes the 2025 Rockies the most atrocious team of all time in my book.

Interesting narrative in the AL Central. The Detroit Tigers had the largest collapse in MLB history, a 15.5 game lead blown. Yet, they made the playoffs anyway courtesy of the extra wild card introduced three years ago. And they won their wild card series against the very team who passed stole the division from them. Sometimes momentum matters. Sometimes it doesn't. Tough break for the Guardians. Their championship drought continues.

On to the division series. Looking forward to seeing the Phillies take the field!

Re: MLB-Baseball Megathread

Romanelli — Sat, 30 Aug 2025 13:53:37 GMT

Author: Romanelli

Posted: 08/30/2025 17:53

CA Dreamin wrote:

Unless the Rockies play worse than they did in April and May (2-26 to finish the season), they will not break the record. They're still pretty bad but they've managed to recover enough to stop being the talk of the sport. But who really is the talk of the sport? The Brewers were, for sure, when they went on that run of 28-4 over 32 games, but they've cooled off. As of right now, no team is standing out of the pack. Milwaukee, thanks to their amazing run, is the only team on pace to win 95+, which is unusual. It will make the playoffs interesting and unpredictable.

A lot of better things are happening with the Rockies. Some of the really young players have established themselves (Beck, Karros, Bernabel, Ritter), and they were handed a gem with Mickey Moniak. Trading Nolan Jones for Tyler Freeman has been a great trade.

The last month will be rookie starting pitchers fighting for jobs. They have some deep talent in the minors on the mound. Question is...can they pitch in Denver?

The interim manager has been great. Hoping they make it a permanent job. We'll see. Next year should be considerably better.

One of the great things about how long the baseball season is is that all teams have ups and downs. It's good that right now, there's really no clear favorite in either league.

Re: MLB-Baseball Megathread

CA Dreamin — Sat, 30 Aug 2025 12:38:41 GMT

Author: CA Dreamin

Posted: 08/30/2025 16:38

Unless the Rockies play worse than they did in April and May (2-26 to finish the season), they will not break the record. They're still pretty bad but they've managed to recover enough to stop being the talk of the sport. But who really is the talk of the sport? The Brewers were, for sure, when they went on that run of 28-4 over 32 games, but they've cooled off. As of right now, no team is standing out of the pack. Milwaukee, thanks to their amazing run, is the only team on pace to win 95+, which is unusual. It will make the playoffs interesting and unpredictable.

Re: MLB-Baseball Megathread

Romanelli — Fri, 4 Jul 2025 10:37:20 GMT

Author: Romanelli

Posted: 07/04/2025 14:37

EyeKanFly wrote:

Anyway, baseball has been good this year aside from my team sucking. But at least they don't suck as much as the Rockies, woof. At least Coors Field is a delight.

I know, but hey!

🫢

(they are better now than they were in April & May. Still gonna battle with that White Sox record for futility from just last year.)

Re: MLB-Baseball Megathread

EyeKanFly — Thu, 3 Jul 2025 23:45:55 GMT

Author: EyeKanFly

Posted: 07/04/2025 03:45

I'm a Nats fan and tbh I don't see a Montreal team happening again. Nashville seems to really want it, and the Orioles owner(s) considered a move at one point. Baltimore residents would hate that more than Oakland I'd imagine though...

Could definitely see Tampa or Miami relocating, I also wouldn't be too surprised if Salt Lake City springs a team somehow.

Anyway, baseball has been good this year aside from my team sucking. But at least they don't suck as much as the Rockies, woof. At least Coors Field is a delight.

Torpedo bats seemed like a cheat code when the Yankees crushed the first couple series of the season, but now it's basically a moot point. They're legal and I think good hitting can make the game more interesting.

Regarding Skenes... Bob Nutting already seems to hate the team he owns and the Pittsburgh fans, but he also loves money, and Skenes puts butts in seats. I don't see him getting traded.

Soto's salary is hilarious, pretty much anyone could've guessed that he'd underperform. But he's still a top player and as much as it pains me to see him on the Mets, I think he's a good fit for Queens.

Not seeing too much of a difference as a result of the rules this season, maybe a couple hiccups with the extended baserunning review early in the season, but it seems smooth now? The bigger changes were last season with the pitch clock, which was a great change for the sport IMO.