MLB... only four days in

[Charlie Velasquez]

Rats... I was looking towards the distraction.
Games already affected by covid.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/2020/07/27/marlins-cancel-game-vs-orioles-amid-covid-19-outbreak-clubhouse/5517164002/

edit: can they just bring up players from their AAA clubs?

[Stan Calow]

It was bound to happen. KC Royals have a whole second team in town, practicing at a nearby stadium, just in case.

[Jerome Stanek]

I heard that the Yankees won't go into the locker room that the Marlins used.

[William Chain]

Yes, who would have thought a team from Florida would all test positive? The Marlins are stuck in Philly, quarantined and unable to travel. That exposes the Phillies, which must cancel on the Yankees and test and screen, not to mention stadium staff, etc. Meanwhile the Marlins previously played the Braves, so they're delaying/canceling while they test and screen. Anyone on the flights with the Marlins is screwed. Anyone that interacted with the Marlins in Philly is screwed. This was inevitable, and completely avoidable if precious precious baseball wasn't sacrosanct.

[Ron Citerone]

Here on the Philly news a Phillie's player said they thought something was up with the Marlins..........So MLB and the Marlins weren't up front about this? I'm confused.

[Bill Dufour]

The puppets on the stadium seats reminded me of the ones I made for back to school night in 2nd or 3rd grade from brown kraft paper and stapled on the edges.

[Charlie Velasquez]

Here on the Philly news a Phillie's player said they thought something was up with the Marlins..........So MLB and the Marlins weren't up front about this? I'm confused.
An article I read says the team knew they had positive tests before their last game and MLB new protocol was to trace and isolate any one in close contact - the whole team on the flight from Atlanta. But the players did a group text message and decided to play as a team anyway.

[Bruce Wrenn]

Is baseball really worth this?

[Tom Stenzel]

Is baseball really worth this?

Considering the Tigers are losing to the Royals 12-6 in the Detroit home opener (8th inning now) it doesn't look promising.

-Tom

[Stan Calow]

We have to watch baseball now as we've run through all the re-runs, Netflix, and Amazon shows we can stand. But it feels like we're just going through the motions and even the players don't seem to be enjoying it. It would be even worse without the fake crowd noise.

I wonder what's going to happen with football, as that will be a worse situation.

[Bernie Kopfer]

Baseball players, managers, etc are all chronologically adults, able to be informed and make rational thoughtful decisions and act accordingly. I do not wish to imagine what might happen if children return to school.

[Bruce Wrenn]

Baseball players, managers, etc are all chronologically adults, able to be informed and make rational thoughtful decisions and act accordingly.

Are you sure?

[Brian Elfert]

This was inevitable, and completely avoidable if precious precious baseball wasn't sacrosanct.

It is all about money. The teams want to lose less money as they have a lot of expenses besides just players. Players want to be paid. TV networks want to sell advertising.

[Curt Harms]

Baseball players, managers, etc are all chronologically adults, able to be informed and make rational thoughtful decisions and act accordingly............

Watching what's going on in some of our large cities makes me question the rational thoughtful part.

[Jim Koepke]

Considering the Tigers are losing to the Royals 12-6 in the Detroit home opener (8th inning now) it doesn't look promising.

-Tom

Makes me think of something from MAD Magazine from more that 50 years ago. It was something like this:

Tigers! Tigers! Shining bright
In the ballparks of the night
On high and sitting pretty
Then you blow four games in Kansas City

The rest of it eludes me and has so for a little more than 50 years.

Of course at that time the Kansas City team was The Kansas City Athletics.

jtk

[Doug Garson]

Time will tell but I think the NHL model of putting aĺl the players and staff in a pair of bubbles (Edmonton and Toronto) rather than travelling from city to city is more likely to succeed.

[Stan Calow]

Time will tell but I think the NHL model of putting aĺl the players and staff in a pair of bubbles (Edmonton and Toronto) rather than travelling from city to city is more likely to succeed.

The NBA was trying to bubble, but one of their players was let out to go to a funeral, and went to a strip club. Testing positive now.

[Doug Garson]

As I said, time will tell, hopefully the NHL experience will be better. Hope so as I miss hockey and the Canucks, although not necessarily a contender to go all the way, are an exciting young team to watch. As to the NBA experience all I can say is WOW, left the bubble to go to a funeral and went to a strip club, what was he thinking?

[Bill Carey]

As I said, time will tell, hopefully the NHL experience will be better. Hope so as I miss hockey and the Canucks, although not necessarily a contender to go all the way, are an exciting young team to watch. As to the NBA experience all I can say is WOW, left the bubble to go to a funeral and went to a strip club, what was he thinking?

What was he thinking indeed. He's gotta get his priorities straightened out. :D

Finally the Balckhawks are back live and on tv this afternoon. Since the Hawks are the only tv I watch, I hope the NHL does better than the MLB. I'm tired of watching reruns.

[John Goodin]

I know baseball is a religion to some and change is not always welcome but I am all for speeding the game up a bit. The pitchers need a time clock behind the ump. Give that guy "X" seconds to get rid of the ball or give the batter a ball. It is not much fun watching a man chew on his mitt.

[Doug Garson]

I know baseball is a religion to some and change is not always welcome but I am all for speeding the game up a bit. The pitchers need a time clock behind the ump. Give that guy "X" seconds to get rid of the ball or give the batter a ball. It is not much fun watching a man chew on his mitt.
That rule already exists pretty much just as you describe it. Pitcher has 12 seconds if there is no one on base after which the ump calls "ball". How well it is enforced can't say but the rule is there. Sometimes think the batter stepping out of the box is more of a game delayer, don't know if there are any rules to address this.
https://www.sportscasting.com/is-there-a-time-limit-between-pitches-in-the-mlb/#:~:text=The%20current%20rules%20on%20time%20limit s%20between%20pitches%20in%20MLB&text=According%20to%20the%20MLB%20rule,seconds%20t o%20deliver%20a%20pitch.&text=Each%20time%20the%20pitcher%20delays,the%20ru le%20is%20never%20enforced.

[Charlie Velasquez]

That rule already exists pretty much just as you describe it. Pitcher has 12 seconds if there is no one on base after which the ump calls "ball". How well it is enforced can't say but the rule is there. Sometimes think the batter stepping out of the box is more of a game delayer, don't know if there are any rules to address this.

I have been umpiring since the 70’s. It is at the discretion of the umpire.
Once the pitcher addresses the batter, the batter must be granted time to be able stop the action of the pitcher. If the ump chooses to, he can deny the call for time and the pitcher can continue his delivery, with the pitch being called a ball or strike as the case may be, If the batter does not enter the batter’s box when directed to, the umpire can call a strike.

[Bob Turkovich]

Sometimes think the batter stepping out of the box is more of a game delayer, don't know if there are any rules to address this.


Jim Leyland (3x MLB Manager of the Year) agrees with you.

https://www.freep.com/story/sports/mlb/tigers/2020/07/20/detroit-tigers-jim-leyland-where-are-they-now/5387570002/

[Doug Garson]

I also did some umpiring in my youth but that's over 50 years ago and it was young kids, in fact the park I umpired at was the only one playing baseball at that age group, every other park in the city played Tee Ball at that age. As an umpire I also used discretion, if a pitch was hittable it was a strike, some of the kids were so small a MLB pitcher would have trouble hitting the strike zone. Wonder how MLB would look if umpire were allowed to apply the same criteria?

[Charlie Velasquez]

I also did some umpiring in my youth but that's over 50 years ago and it was young kids, in fact the park I umpired at was the only one playing baseball at that age group, every other park in the city played Tee Ball at that age. As an umpire I also used discretion, if a pitch was hittable it was a strike, some of the kids were so small a MLB pitcher would have trouble hitting the strike zone. Wonder how MLB would look if umpire were allowed to apply the same criteria?

A lot of people argue the easiest way to speed up professional baseball games is to call the strike zone the way it is written in the rules. Right now anything above a couple of inches above the belt is a ball. If they called the high strike consistently, you would see batters swinging at the first pitch they could hit.

[Bill Dufour]

Hearing these multimillionaire athletes complain that playing with no fans in the stands is terrible and hard to get motivated makes me think of most high school sports. Except for football and basketball most sporting events have no fans in the stands except relatives and boyfriend/girlfriends. Ever been too a high school track meet? Or a badminton match. Those are real athletes who do it for the sport not the glory from fans. That is pretty much true of ALL girls teams.
Bil lD

[Bruce Wrenn]

With Covid problems, thread title may have to be changed to "Four Days of Major League Baseball." Sure was a short season.