Opening Day 2020 Chat Part II: Even More Chat

4:01	Craig Edwards: Let’s get things rolling.

4:02	Craig Edwards: Who are you rooting for today Braves (12.9% \| 11 votes) Mets (27.0% \| 23 votes) Just Baseball (60.0% \| 51 votes) Total Votes: 85

4:02	RMR: Any idea what park effects are like for the Buffalo stadium vs. Rogers? Think I read the fences are closer which probably = more HR, but they’re also not playing on that horrendous turf which probably helps pitchers / defense right?

4:04	Tony Wolfe: Hi everybody! Love that we get to have Boog for the early game today.

4:04	asnbrv: Took a day off work, have beer and pizza and my favorite team is playing baseball, by 2020 standards its a 80grade day.

4:04	Guest: I think probably once a week about how Bud Selig has a hot dog and a Diet Coke for lunch every day

4:04	Craig Edwards: I’m not positive, but it is roughly average for the International League, probably slightly below for Triple-A when you include all the PCL stadiums. It should play pretty well for homers, but less ground to cover for outfielders. The BABIP is pretty low per BA.

4:04	Them: I’m ready. I think I’m ready.

4:05	guy who insists on lolmets: lolmets! am i first??!1!

4:05	Travis: What should the Braves do with Acuna now that they’ve traded for Schebler?

4:05	Craig Edwards: in this chat, yes.

4:05	Tony Wolfe: probably trade him to the dodgers

4:07	Guest: over/under on ESPN missing 1.5 pitches returning late from commercial this game?

4:07	Craig Edwards: It will be interesting to see how Soroka does this season. His traditional stats outpaced his peripherals, but he’s also very young so he might improve and still have worse numbers than a season ago.

4:07	Sgt. Pepper: Lied to my friends and said I had to work late lets go

4:08	Craig Edwards: this bud light commercial really weirds me out. Just the complete wrong vibe.

4:09	Craig Edwards: As for deGrom, he’s great, but check out his 12-game rolling numbers. https://www.fangraphs.com/players/jacob-degrom/10954/graphs?statArr=6,…

4:10	Craig Edwards: He’s one of the best if not the best pitcher in baseball, and last season for a 12-game stretch, he had an ERA and FIP near four.

4:10	Tony Wolfe: ICYMI, both of the early chatters wrote stuff that went up at the site today. Here’s Craig on expanded playoffs (https://blogs.fangraphs.com/expanded-playoffs-always-made-sense-for-20…) and me, well, being a bummer (https://blogs.fangraphs.com/i-really-hope-this-all-works/)

4:10	Joshua: Annibal Sanchez to the Chicago White Sox for Aaron Bummer and Micker Adolfo…..who says no? Trade gives the White Sox a solid starter at a decent price for this year and next. Gives the Nats a much needed controllable bullpen arm and a possible replacement for Eaton in a year or two.

4:10	Joshua: Angels need starting pitching. Nats need a bat and can trade from excess. So…..who says no…..David Fletcher to Nats for Annibal Sanchez?

4:11	Craig Edwards: I don’t see those teams giving up a lot for Anibal Sanchez.

4:11	Tony Wolfe: anibal sanchez is 36

4:11	Derek: Yeah was thinking the same thing about hte Bud Light commercial… It’s pretty bad

4:11	Not a Bud Light Executive: Craig you’re just weirded out because you don’t have a delicious, clean, crisp bud light in your hand as you’re watching America’s pastime!

4:12	Craig Edwards: I might have to crack a beer later, but that commercial doesn’t make me want it be a Bud Light, though I don’t have any in my house right now anyway.

4:12	Craig Edwards: Baseball is happening.

4:12	Craig Edwards: 100 mph according to the broadcast.

4:13	Also Ben: Any chance the Hawkeye gun is a little hot? Or are we just seeing Opening Day adrenaline from Scherzer and deGrom?

4:13	Tony Wolfe: People have mentioned hawkeye having a few issues last night, but I’m not really shocked by those two running it up there around 100

4:14	Craig Edwards: I think deGrom might just be amped.

4:14	Derek: Holy moly it is good to have baseball back

4:14	Pat: Do the Braves have the best 1-2-3 in baseball? Acuna, Ozzie, and Freeman are arguably top three at their position.

4:15	Craig Edwards: deGrom averaged 97 on his fastball and has hit 100 so this isn’t out of the ordinary.

4:15	Not a Bud Light Executive: It’s a hot one out today, folks so make sure you stay hydrated with America’s number one selling light American-style pilsener, Bud Light! Bud Light, folks.

4:16	Craig Edwards: that is a commercial that would be more likely to reach me.

4:16	Tony Wolfe: I’d probably take the Astros’ top three over the Braves

4:16	Derek: Dodgers 1-2-3 is pretty hard to beat. Betts + Bellinger is just such a huge head start

4:17	Craig Edwards: are we talking first three batters? or just three best hitters?

4:18	Craig Edwards: because Judge/Stanton/Gleyber is up there.

4:18	Craig Edwards: Bregman/Alvarez/Springer.

4:18	Pat: I meant first three batters although I guess three best hitters is probably a better assessment.

4:19	Craig Edwards: Trout/Rendon/Ohtani might have the highest average projection.

4:20	Chuck: Narvaez is sitting for the Brewers. Do you expect that will be a regular thing?

4:20	Craig Edwards: It wouldn’t surprise me if it is close to a 50/50 split

4:20	Craig Edwards: with Narvaez getting more starts, but he’ll sit a bunch.

4:21	Schmoo: Watching DeGrom be very good at Baseball makes me wonder about the rest of their rotation. Let’s assume that a Mets starter goes down at some point…which of their prospect arms should I be looking at? Szapucki? Peterson? Someone else? Who’s the one to bid more on?

4:21	Guest: Narvaez is starting… Milwaukee Brewers @Brewers Here’s your #OpeningDay lineup! Tune in at 6:10 p.m. CT as the Crew opens the 2020 season against the Cubs at Wrigley. : @fswisconsin : @620wtmj #ThisIsMyCrew \| #BrewersAtHome 24 Jul 2020

4:22	Craig Edwards: Why did you lead me astray, Chuck? Why?

4:22	Tony Wolfe: Peterson threw 116 innings at AA last year compared with Thomas Szapucki’s four. I’d lean toward the former

4:22	Jeremy: 94 mph slider is ridiculous

4:22	Derek: Now dogs + baseball makes for a good commercial

4:22	Pat: I tend to think if Acuna reaches the next level everyone expects him to reach, Freeman and Albies are at least a comparable second and third option. I’ll admit I still forget Betts and Rendon are in LA with Bellinger and Trio now

4:24	Craig Edwards: That’s certainly possible. Eloy, Moncada, and Robert could be crazy in a couple years.

4:24	Pat: Like I think I’d take Albies and Freeman over Alvarez and Springer or Stanton and Torres.

4:25	Tony Wolfe: guys don’t sleep on Hays/Santander/Iglesias in Baltimore

4:25	Tony Wolfe: dynamite

4:25	Craig Edwards: I’d definitely put Stanton and Torres above those two though the Astros pair is tough given how Alvarez ended last season.

4:25	Derek: Alvarez might be a top 5 hitter in baseball already!

4:26	Guest: my god I just remembered we get to watch trout and Ohtani tonight

4:26	Craig Edwards: Nice play by Freeman and Soroka now matches deGrom’s scoreless first.

4:27	Steve Nebraska: They need to make the fans less shiny

4:27	Craig Edwards: I haven’t seen shins on any of the fans myself.

4:28	Derek: Can we just mandate a maximum 2-man booths while people are not within earshot of each other? The constant talking over each other is not great.

4:28	Craig Edwards: some three-person booths work better than others. Just depends on the dynamic. It’s always good to have a storyteller type as well as someone who can focus attention on the game. Sometimes it take three people to get that.

4:29	Guest: they need to use that matte photo paper. I used to work in a 1-hr photo booth, ama

4:29	Craig Edwards: How does that hold up in the rain?

4:30	Nolan: What are the park factors in Buffalo like?

4:30	Craig Edwards: answered a little bit above, but here’s a brief thing from milb https://www.milb.com/news/toolshed-assesses-triple-a-park-factors-3114…

4:30	Craig Edwards: and one from BA. https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/minor-league-park-factors-2019…

4:30	Lorenzo: Do you guys see any starting lineup/batting order surprises so far? Twins are so stacked they have Sano hitting 8th.

4:31	Steve Nebraska: Pretty sure I had that right, but shine-y then smart guy… Just too much glare when the ball is in the air

4:31	Tony Wolfe: Reds sitting Akiyama against a lefty right off the bat was mildly surprising, but Ervin was kind of insane against southpaws last year

4:31	Craig Edwards: i think a lot more blue and orange might help , too

4:32	Pete: Anyone else enjoying this one game at a time to start the season? I feel so focused on each game

4:32	Appa Yip Yip: Over/Under the number of Jays players who say the stadium stuff is “just more fuel for the fire” at 2.5

4:32	Tony Wolfe: It’ll be kind of nice to try and stagger watching the last couple innings of different games later, but I was really bummed we didn’t get an earlier afternoon game

4:33	Estevao: It’s never gonna happen but would it be a good idea to capitalize on Alonso by trading him this off-season on fair value. It’s quite possible that he peaked and it’s hard to see him improving

4:33	Craig Edwards: I do imagine that there will be at least some familiarity for a bunch of those players and it could provide more of a home field advantage given the difference for the visitors is likely to be more stark and take more adjustment.

4:33	Tony Wolfe: I mean, just because a guy is done improving doesn’t mean you should get rid of him

4:33	Guest: wait chipper jones names his son after the mets’ stadium?

4:34	Craig Edwards: he sure did. Citi Jones, I believe.

4:34	Craig Edwards: he did though, it is Shea.

4:34	Derek: The dearth of afternoon games in general this year is still mind-boggling to me.

4:34	Tony Wolfe: just in terms of WAR, Trout hasn’t “improved” since 2013

4:34	Brian CashGod: Can’t wait until Gleyber Torres names his son “Oriole Park Torres”

4:35	Craig Edwards: the season is only happening because of tv money and they want prime time games. There were only so many day games before because the players negotiated for them to help ease the travel burden.

4:36	Estevao: Remember when Justin Verlander was an “immovable” contract. World changes pretty quickly

4:36	Pat: What are the chances Austin Riley turns into a serviceable everyday hitter? The talent is there but last year got ugly. Are there any peripherals that give us a good idea?

4:36	Craig Edwards: That never made much sense to me.

4:37	Tony Wolfe: Riley’s barrel rate was good in a small sample last year, and his exit velos were above average. Neither are enough to make up for his discipline issues though.

4:38	Craig Edwards: I think Riley can hit for enough power with a low average, assuming he can walk 10% of the time. He struck out 36% of the time and walked 5% of the time and was still an 86 wRC+. It wouldn’t take much improvement to make him an above-average hitter.

4:38	Derek: “Camden” could be an actual name!

4:39	John: It is so good to have Yoenis back in mlb

4:39	Craig Edwards: https://www.fangraphs.com/players/camden-duzenack/sa873988/stats?posit…

4:40	Kiermaier’s Piercing Green Eyes: I’m sure MLB has the numbers, but I’d guess putting in one afternoon game ensures everyone with MLB.TV will watch it, especially with so little baseball to go around and so many people at home.

4:40	Craig Edwards: They want to keep those RSNs as happy as possible. It’s why doubleheaders “wouldn’t work” for MLB.

4:41	Guest: I’ve always thought the same, that MLB should have one day game on per day. If not for the ratings, at least for the team/player exposure. Seems like it’s easy PR for the league.

4:42	Craig Edwards: That would be nice, and would help those fans who might be working in the evening as well. Might feel kind of weird having day games on Mondays and Tuesdays though. Have to imagine the attendance hit is fairly substantial in normal times.

4:44	Estevao: What’s the potential growth percentage for the payroll of the Tigers and Orioles once competitiveness is within reach. Their markets are pretty good. Under normal circumstances

4:45	Craig Edwards: That just depends on ownership. We’ve seen those franchises spend in the past, but the franchises have been passed down. Can’t know what they will do until it happens.

4:46	Michael: Any guesses on when Kershaw will be back?

4:46	Craig Edwards: probably next week.

4:47	Estevao: DeGrom – Maddux. Acuna- Ticket Henderson. Stretching much

4:47	Tony Wolfe: Acuna to Rickey doesn’t make a lot of sense

4:48	Craig Edwards: I don’t think it is a stretch to say that Rickey Henderson has no modern comparators and there might not ever be.

4:48	Tony Wolfe: ^^^^

4:49	Craig Edwards: deGrom has been a great pitcher the last few seasons, and I’d be interested to see if there were a modern Maddux.

4:50	Craig Edwards: Greinke has been a poor-man’s Maddux, which is no insult to Greinke, but deGrom isn’t quite the pitcher Maddux was.

4:50	Estevao: Rickey Henderson was an unicorn

4:50	Pat: Surprised to see Acuna wearing a mask on base. Did anyone catch if he was wearing one in the field?

4:51	Steve O: After watching Dustin May last night how could you possibly argue he didn’t get sent down for serve time manipulation? Gavin Lux too. Lux was sent down even though he got a month last year in the bigs. He’ll be mysteriously brought up as soon as they pick up an extra year of control.

4:51	Estevao: Andrew Jones former Brave, Chipper’s teammate, much closer comp right. Although Acuna has more upside

4:52	Craig Edwards: Jones has the defense, Acuna Jr. has more early career power and more speed.

4:52	Tony Wolfe: There is no way to justify Lux not being on the roster right now

4:53	Rob: Lux missed most of camp though. He played in the final exhibition games and looked awful. Just not tuned for the season.

4:53	Craig Edwards: maybe Larry Walker for Acuna? McCutchen, more recently.

4:53	Tony Wolfe: oooh Larry’s a good one

4:54	Clark: Not that Tommy Milone makes me think of this or anything, but who is the worst starting pitcher for opening day in the history of your favorite team?

4:55	Estevao: Would you consider batting Albie’s leadoff, Acuna, Freeman and Ozuna in that order. I get the speed threat but this would be my preference

4:55	Tony Wolfe: Scott Feldman started OD for the Reds in 2017. That was pretty bleak

4:55	Lorenzo: How about Eric Davis as an Acuna comp?

4:56	Craig Edwards: maybe, though I would witch Ozuna and Freeman in that scenario. I’d also rather see Acuna first with the DH and a non-pitcher ninth.

4:56	Tony Wolfe: think I’d prefer Acuna to have Walker’s durability to that of Davis

4:56	Dakota mckee: Mark Hendrickson started od for Miami a while.back against Mets

4:56	Craig Edwards: davis is a good one.

4:57	Molina Mo Problems: Though 2020 has been a crazy year, we can still count on DeGrom getting no run support

4:57	Craig Edwards: Ray Lankford is another fun one.

4:58	Craig Edwards: As for worst starters, no Cardinals stick out as particularly bad in recent history.

4:58	Tony Wolfe: what’s that like craig

4:58	Craig Edwards: it’s good. Tony.

4:59	Molina Mo Problems: Mike Piazza doing this with his phone? And blocking the camera with his finger? What is this?

5:00	Pat: Did deGrom get too late a start to be on a HOF track? He’s not quite Maddux but are there enough years left before his fade for him to build a case?

5:00	Guest: also has a cigar, I’m pretty sure ESPN isn’t allowed to show that

5:00	Craig Edwards: Probably, though if he wins one more Cy Young it will be hard to keep him out.

5:01	Guest: Is a healthy eric davis an all time great?

5:01	Craig Edwards: This piece might be of interest to you. https://blogs.fangraphs.com/zips-time-warp-eric-davis/

5:01	Tony Wolfe: Yeah I think another Cy Young might start to get him inching toward Koufax territory where the peak is too good to disregard

5:01	Trent: Total number of runs the Mets score in support of deGrom this year: over or under 15?

5:01	Craig Edwards: not off to a great start.

5:02	Estevao: MLB is out of it’s kind with this new playoff system, putting the first seed aga ok nst the eighth in the first round with just three games when there will be no fans in the ballpark is nuts. What’s the big advantage.

5:02	Craig Edwards: Living at home plus batting last is a decent advantage.

5:03	Pete: Are we done with Facebook games then? Because they were the worst

5:03	Jake: Basically missed the whole inning to watch Mike Piazza say not much on his cell phone, stellar work as always ESPN

5:03	Craig Edwards: I don’t remember hearing about a deal this season. They only did like six games last year after a bunch more in 2019 so it might have just faded away.

5:07	Pat: I definitely worry about him getting Johan Santana’d. Even with an extra Cy Young, if he drops off too quickly I wonder whether or not the voters show up for him.

5:08	Craig Edwards: deGrom definitely needs more really good year to get to the Hall.

5:10	Craig Edwards: oh McNeil.

5:11	J: Is Francisco Lindor overrated? Outside of 2018, he’s only been a bit better than league average offensively and lots of his value come from his defense. Obviously he’s very good, but maybe we should pump the breaks on a Mookie Betts type contract?

5:14

Craig Edwards: through age 24 Betts and Lindor had nearly identical batting lines with Lindor putting up the higher WAR. Lindor’s ability to play shortstop also gives him a bit more leeway if his defensive skills decline a bit. Betts had that unreal 2018 season to separate the two players at age-25, but I don’t see how Lindor is overrated and in another 15 months, a Betts contract could seem pretty reasonable for a franchise-star shortstop.

5:14	J: The new playoffs stink. They should have made the higher seeds able to pick their opponent. Imagine the Nats are an 8th seed and you’ve to face Sherzer/Stras/Corbin in a three game series.

5:14	Tony Wolfe: especially since lindor will be fielding offers from all 30 teams and not just negotiating with one

5:15	Tony Wolfe: hey everyone, excellent news: I’ve ordered chicken wings

5:16	Craig Edwards: That’s a fairly specific situation that isn’t all that likely in terms of the Nationals being the eight-seed, but it probably means their offense was pretty bad for most of the year. Picking an opponent just feels a bit weird to me.

5:17	Carl: Setting aside the steroid cases, are they are any players have who won 3 Cy Youngs or 3 MVPs who are not in the Hall of Fame? Or for that matter, are there any players in any big 4 sport who has won 3 MVPs without being inducted?

5:17

Dave: Regarding current pitcher most like Maddux, I’m amazed nobody mentioned Soroka. Will he be as good? Probably not, but that’s a tough hill for anyone to climb. But he definitely reminds me of him – maximize efficiency in getting outs (not worrying about Ks) while minimizing damage. He is very good… and young.

5:17	Craig Edwards: Scherzer and Kershaw have 3 and they’ll get in.

5:18	Molina Mo Problems: Who 45 years old or older would be in best position to win a baseball game right now? RA Dickey? Colon? Maddux?

5:18	Craig Edwards: there’s a bunch of guys with two who won’t get in.

5:18	Tony Wolfe: Colon pitched most recently, so him

5:20	Estevao: I am not gonna opine if Lindor is overrated but I definitely never understood the rumors that had Seager on a package from LAD for Lindor. That’s just something I wouldn’t do. Sell low on a guy with that much upside

5:20	Craig Edwards: that one never made much sense for either side, I didn’t think.

5:20	Pat: I don’t know, remember that video of Maddux in disguise embarrassing Kris Bryant from a year or two ago? If you put him against Pittsburgh or something I wouldn’t count him out

5:20	Nick: Re: Lindor: But which team will give him that contract? Does Cleveland finally spend big?

5:21	Craig Edwards: San Francisco? Rangers? Mystery Team?

5:21	Craig Edwards: probably not Cleveland

5:21	Tony Wolfe: I always figured the Dodgers would, but then they locked in Mookie

5:21	Tony Wolfe: White Sox maybe?

5:22	Craig Edwards: Dodgers still could. Depends on what is going on with Bellinger.

5:22	Lorenzo: Lindor – NYY?

5:23	Tony Wolfe: Yankees also could, but they’ve got their own choices to make with Judge/Torres

5:23	Craig Edwards: can’t count out the Yankees. Depends on what’s happening with Gleyber and if he’s moved off the position. and Judge’s money

5:23	Logan: What is Rick Ankiel doing these days? Aren’t we about due for an Ankiel comeback attempt?

5:23	Craig Edwards: He was working on it a year ago, but arm couldn’t hold up.

5:24	Tony Wolfe: And obviously Cole is there. I realize the Yankees are the Yankees, but I have a hard time wrapping around any team having three contracts of 325 million or more on the roster

5:25	Craig Edwards: Wow. What a play by Inciarte. Keeps the game scoreless. Sorry JD.

5:25	Joshua: Victor Robles is the Andruw Jones comp.

5:27	Tony Wolfe: Robles needs a whole lot more thump to be Jones

5:27	LenFuego: Heh, that was the absolute deepest part of the ballpark … anywhere but that 3 feet stretch of the outfield and Davis’s ball gets out.

5:29	Pat: Speaking of Andruw Jones, that guy should definitely be getting more HOF love.

5:29	Tony Wolfe: agreed

5:29	J: Giancarlo is only getting like 22M a year from the Yankees to be fair

5:29	Tony Wolfe: please don’t make me think about the details of that trade

5:30	Jon: Can you run a poll for best three hitters? Angels and Yankees make it close

5:31	Craig Edwards: Sure. Sorry for excluding some, mainly the A’s, I think.

5:31

Craig Edwards:

Best trio of hitters in baseball

Judge/Stanton/Torres (9.5% | 9 votes)

Trout/Rendon/Ohtani (45.7% | 43 votes)

Acuna Jr./Freeman/Albies (15.9% | 15 votes)

Bregman/Alvarez/Springer (5.3% | 5 votes)

Donaldson/Cruz/Sano (2.1% | 2 votes)

Bellinger/Betts/Turner (14.8% | 14 votes)

Martinez/Devers/Bogaerts (1.0% | 1 vote)

Ramirez/Lindor/Santana (1.0% | 1 vote)

Alonso/Conforto/McNeil (3.1% | 3 votes)

Rizzo/Bryant/Schwarber (1.0% | 1 vote)

Total Votes: 94

5:32	Logan: If you’re the Dodgers, why not grab Betts, Bellinger, and Lindor. It would be just like running bloated payrolls the way they did in the past, but they’d be spending the money on good players instead of the semi-lifeless shells of Matt Kemp and Carl Crawford.

5:32	Estevao: Are we voting best trio of players or just purely hitting ability

5:33	Craig Edwards: They might want some pitching, too.

5:33	Tony Wolfe: wow, chipper dropping “he’s got the good face” on us

5:33	Craig Edwards: i was going with hitters

5:33	Stephen: DeGrom throwing five shut out innings and getting a no decision really gives a sense of everything getting back to normal.

5:33	Craig Edwards: so hitting, not overall.

5:35	Craig Edwards: hard to ask for much more out of degrom today.

5:35	John: Angels seem obvious

5:35	John: Just averaging the wrc+ of trout tendon and ohtani

5:35	Craig Edwards: So far, that is the leader.

5:36	Fred: Would Seth Lugo really be a #2/3 starter on a lot of teams? While the splits are very limited, In 31 games Lugo started, he allowed OPS 0.748 and ERA of 4.04 In 120 games Lugo relieved, he allowed OPS 0.558 and ERA of 2.52.

5:36	Tony Wolfe: think depends a lot on your definition of “a lot” of teams

5:37	Tony Wolfe: he’d have a shot at No. 3 in the rotation for… seven teams maybe?

5:38	Craig Edwards: His strikeouts have gone way up in the pen. He’d need ot be able to take those back with him and then be able to go six innings to be a 2 or a 3. I think if he were capable of that, the Mets would have made him a starter.

5:39	Trent: How sad is it for the Rockies that they can’t even make the list of options despite have Story and Arendo?

5:39	Craig Edwards: I could have included them, I suppose, with Blackmon, but Coors inflates their non-wRC+ stats which are more in the good than great column.

5:40	NakedMoleGaetti: Lugo would be the Opening Day starter for Baltimore……along with most other MLB pitchers (who’re able to start.)

5:40	Craig Edwards: low bar

5:40	Logan: If we’re going with wRC+, then the Astros probably come out best, given that they had the 2nd, 4th, and 7th highest wRC+ values in all of MLB in 2019.

5:40	Craig Edwards: but what would we expect for this year?

5:41	Pat: Honestly looking at the Dodgers and Angels trios I’m embarrassed to have suggested the Braves at the outset. Although I think I’d feel comfortable arguing the Braves at three or four.

5:41	Craig Edwards: No need to be embarassed. Being a fan is fun.

5:42	Molina Mo Problems: Given recent outcry with Washington football team and Indians, do you think there will ever be pressure to change the name of Texas Rangers? What they are named after doesn’t have the best history…

5:43	Craig Edwards: I don’t think it will happen anytime soon given the name and logos aren’t immediately and obviously offensive.

5:44	Craig Edwards: It’s worth examining, but it just isn’t on the same level.

5:44	Molina Mo Problems: Alvarez over Altuve for the poll?

5:44	Craig Edwards: the projection was better for Alvarez

5:44	Tony Wolfe: We’ve got a ways to go before people take the Rangers’ name issue seriously, but I agree that it’s absolutely worth scrutiny

5:45	Logan: Steamer gives the 2020 projections for wRC+ as 2nd, 8th, and 14th for the Astros; still seems better than the top 3 for any other team.

5:45	Craig Edwards: but when number one is more than 20 points higher than number two, that makes up for a lot.

5:45	Russ: What’s the quick background on the Rangers name? I didn’t know about that one.

5:46	Jon: Infact, the Astros trio of Altuve, Brantley and Correa probably is a top five trio in baseball

5:48	Craig Edwards: you can google it. there have been a bunch of op-eds in prominent papers. Here’s the Rangers’ statement. https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/sports/red-fever/despite-calls-to-change-n….

5:48	Tony Wolfe: Basically, the Texas Rangers were established to protect the interests of white colonists and were instrumental in driving Mexican and indigenous people out of Texas

5:49	Joshua: What type of deal would it take to bring Josh Bell to the Nats? Even with Soto, the Nats lineup is a big bat short.

5:50	Craig Edwards: The Nats basically chose Strasburg over Rendon so they opted for this type of lineup. They need Kieboom to develop quickly. The farm is pretty dry right now so I don’t know that a Bell deal is a real possibility.

5:51	Tony Wolfe: I imagine the price would be more than Washington is willing to pay. I don’t think Pittsburgh is all that motivated to forfeit the next three years of control they have over Bell without getting a significant haul

5:51	Jon: Would you rather have Strasburg or Wheeler?

5:52	Tony Wolfe: Stras for sure

5:52	Logan: When the Angels’ third number is 20 points below Bregman’s, that makes up for a lot.

5:52	Craig Edwards: Just averaging Steamer, the Angels end up five points higher.

5:54	BatBoy: The. Angels are always underestimated

5:54	Tony Wolfe: they’ve made the playoffs once in the last 11 years

5:54	Stanton: A-Rod said Stanton might have a strong year without the fans booing him. Now, not that A-Rod is super sharp…. but he has been through that. I don’t believe in, like, “can’t handle NYC” stuff, but it does have to get to you. (He’s also not the Target anymore with Cole there.)

5:55	Craig Edwards: I suppose it is possible, but I would think if he has a good run of 60 games, it’s probably just because he’s healthy and in good shape.

5:56	Craig Edwards: Seventh inning stretch time.

5:56	Craig Edwards: still no score.

5:57	Craig Edwards: Two really good pitching performances, obviously, and it might take a bit to figure out if the pitchers are ahead of the hitters or if these pitchers are just really good.

5:58	foot: First game with the funky extra inning rules?

5:58	Craig Edwards: i’m on the edge of my seat, which has already been moved to second base.

5:58	Topper Bottoms: I think announcers are going to have to get used to conveying the tension of high-leverage moments a little more without crowd noise to help

5:58	Topper Bottoms: Like, that was a huge two at-bats (go-ahead runner on third, one out) and it seemed like they hardly noticed

5:59	JJ: do we know how ERA is affected by the guy starting on 2nd in extras?

5:59	Craig Edwards: it isn’t, I don’t think.

6:00	JJ: so it is not an ER against the pitcher or the team?

6:00	Craig Edwards: i thought it was treated as reached on error or something like that.

6:00	JJ: yeah, the error is the rule itself.

6:01	Craig Edwards: Whoa. Cespedes.

6:01	John: YO!!!

6:01	Tony Wolfe: oh my goodness

6:01	Molina Mo Problems: “He was looking hard. I think he got hard” lol

6:01	JJ: High Fives….STOP

6:01	Craig Edwards: phrasing

6:01	Topper Bottoms: DONG ALERT

6:01	Them: Cespedes is such an attention hog

6:01	Craig Edwards: definitely not boaring

6:02	Ces: How cool was that swing

6:03	Craig Edwards: The Mets have certainly missed him the last couple of seasons.

6:03	JJ: last night and today’s HR were definitely pitches to hit

6:03	donger: YOOOOOOOO

6:03	John: The universal dh really bails out that cespedes contract

6:05	Craig Edwards: pretty sure the injury grievance settlement bailed out the cespedes contract

6:06	Molina Mo Problems: why are the mascots there? who are they for?

6:06	Craig Edwards: i don’t know. It’s weird that official scorers are at home but the Mets family is out there enjoying the game.

6:06	foot: The cardboard people

6:06	Craig Edwards: well that would be weird.

6:08	Tony Wolfe: good news guys chicken wings showed up

6:08	Tony Wolfe: and the reds are about to start which means it must be beer thirty

6:08	Craig Edwards: thinking about ordering some thai food.

6:08	LenFuego: You might have to rerun that best 3 hitters poll with Cespedes in there for the Mets (and maybe Davis, who had a 410 foot out).

6:10	Craig Edwards: cespedes’ projection was like a 112 wRC+ which seemed pretty generous given he played like a quarter of a season back in 2018 and nothing since, but we’ll see how his body holds up. And McNeil did have a double.

6:10	Lorenzo: hey let Mr. Met stay employed if the Mets are willing to let him/her keep their job.

6:10	Lorenzo: although I have not seen Mr. Met, must be another game

6:10	Craig Edwards: it was on the ESPN broadcast.

6:10	Nick: What should we expect from the back end of the Mets bullpen this year?

6:10	Craig Edwards: Better than last year?

6:11	Craig Edwards: Honestly, with bullpens, who knows this year. They are always volatile and it is really hard to say which guys are going to come out great and who is going to have control struggles. And a couple mistimed homers are going to have an outsized impact on some players and teams.

6:13	Craig Edwards: Reds-Tigers just started with Blue Jays-Rays starting in half an hour before a bunch of 6pm central games.

6:14	JJ: oof that Tigers lineup

6:14	Craig Edwards: it’s not good.

6:14	Greene: Do you like Grey or Castillo to have a better year for the Reds?

6:15	Tony Wolfe: I think they’ll both be good, but I lean toward Castillo

6:15	Jon: Hey that tiger’s lineup is a massive jump forward from last year. That says… Something

6:15	Tony Wolfe: I think both will be better than Bauer

6:16	Craig Edwards: it does say something.

6:16	JJ: Our fantasy league is about 250 hitters deep and only 2 Tigers are rostered

6:16	DK: what do you put the chances at that we see a .400 hitter this season?

6:17	Craig Edwards: Dan, just did a piece on that and had it at 9.5% https://blogs.fangraphs.com/toppling-ted-the-60-game-season-and-the-40…

6:18	Craig Edwards: I had it at a little over half that using a different method. https://blogs.fangraphs.com/will-a-player-hit-400-this-season/

6:18	Tony Wolfe: every time I check Cabrera’s contract I swear he’s got two more years on it than I thought he did

6:18	Craig Edwards: It isn’t likely, but it is certainluy more possible than it used to be.

6:19	Craig Edwards: Cabrera signed a deal two years before it even started, which probably helps with your confusion.

6:21	Craig Edwards: Things looking pretty good for the Mets. https://www.fangraphs.com/livewins.aspx?date=2020-07-24&team=Mets&dh=0…

6:21	JJ: Shoop – Cabrera – Cron there figured out your poll for you

6:21	Lorenzo: I would think the % is much lower closer to 5% if pitchers prove to have the edge early on in a 60 game season. Bellinger flirted with it early on but he showed hard hard it is to even maintain .370 much less .400.

6:23	Craig Edwards: Seems crazy Cabrera hasn’t gotten to 500 homers yet. He was at like 450 three years ago and he’s still 23 away.

6:23	Them: Diaz facing the heart of the order in the 9th is already giving me ulcers…

6:23	Craig Edwards: He’s warming up.

6:23	Craig Edwards: and he’ll probably be fine this year.

6:24	Molina Mo Problems: Thoughts on cardboard fans? I think I like it more than empty seats aesthetically

6:24	Tony Wolfe: I like it a lot better than that weird virtual thing FOX is considering

6:24	Craig Edwards: I think it is kind of neat. Just something a little different.

6:25	Sgt. Pepper: Pretty indifferent towards what they do with the seats but I think the fake crowd noise is working really well.

6:26	Craig Edwards: I think it probably takes a bit of practice, but it definitely works. I liked it a lot watching premier league.

6:26	foot: I would like to see DiMaggio sitting with Marilyn Monroe

6:26	Craig Edwards: might be some legal issues with that one.

6:26	Guest: Crowd noise is also important so we don’t hear just how many times these guys drop F bombs.

6:26	Craig Edwards: joc pederson really let one fly last night.

6:27	nimbo: New York Center fielders are somehow very underrated

6:27	Craig Edwards: not healthy last year on either side, unfortunately. Will be good to see potentially healthy New York center fielders this year.

6:28	Craig Edwards: Good play by Freeman there. Not the only one of the day for him, either.

6:29	Molina Mo Problems: Castellanos, bases loaded no outs vs former club… love baseball!

6:29	Greene: This is a very Detroit way to start the year.

6:30	Craig Edwards: While I was not one of those people, three people picked Castellanos for MVP. https://blogs.fangraphs.com/fangraphs-2020-staff-predictions/

6:30	Tony Wolfe: I was ALSO not one of those people

6:30	Tony Wolfe: man boyd looks rough

6:30	JJ: boyd all over the place

6:34	Nick: That was quite the “throw” from Maybin–worse than Fauchi’s first pitch last night.

6:34	Papi seed muffin: Didn’t see the first out of the ninth. Keep up the great work Worldwide Leader

6:35	SeaBass: It’s gonna be so Mets if they lose this game

6:35	Craig Edwards: It’s Opening Day. Be positive.

6:35	Rick: ah i forgot you can quad box mlbtv

6:36	Craig Edwards: Mets win.

6:37	Them: #rollMets

6:37	JJ: 26 pitches for Boyd to get that first out

6:37	Craig Edwards: He looked pretty good in spring, too, iirc. might just be rust

6:39	Adam: FanGraphs and ESPN both show the Mets with 82-84% chance of winning leading 1-0 going to top of 9th. That implies a closer would blow the save 30-40% of the time here — since Mets will still win a fair share when they blow the save. Can that really be right?

6:39	Craig Edwards: the odds of scoring during an inning is I think 25-30% so it isn’t really that far off.

6:39	Nick: As a Reds fan, let me just say I love this year’s schedule.

6:40	Guest: Edwin looks good

6:40	Craig Edwards: he did look pretty good.

6:40	Tony Wolfe: does not having to play the dodgers, the two best AL teams, or the defending WS champs appeal to you?

6:41	Denny T: Also why is Matt Davidson batting 6 for Cin?!

6:42	Craig Edwards: good question.

6:42	JJ: I find it interesting that Davidson is even on their roster

6:42	Denny T: Don’t they have like 20 corner bats that are better than him?!

6:43	Greg: Premier league audio sounds easier to fake than baseball audio, since you can just loop a 30-second clip of the fans singing the same song in the same tone at the same volume no matter what is happening on the field.

6:43	Tony Wolfe: I would definitely prefer Aquino

6:43	Craig Edwards: that’s not what they do, though. the fan noise rises and falls based on the play.

6:43	Sgt. Pepper: The existence of crowd noise at the Trop is really taking away from the immersion.

6:43	Tony Wolfe: these jokes are gonna be too easy all year, aren’t they?

6:45	YardGoat: Who should fans of the long shot teams root for this year (in addition to the 10% chance of making the playoffs for their own team)? I’m leaning towards the Rays myself. Would like to see them get rewarded for their ingenuity.

6:46	Craig Edwards: I think Brewers, White Sox, Padres would all be options. Teams with good young players who seem like they’ve been trying.

6:46	Denny T: what gonna happen at Toronto “home” games?

6:46	Craig Edwards: They are in Buffalo

6:46	JJ: I feel like Sonny Gray is just going to put himself in situations today to see if he can get out of it. he should ask for them to put a guy on 2nd with no one out.

6:46	Tony Wolfe: aka what he did the entire 2019 season?

6:46	YardGoat: 4 man outfield in Tampa!

6:46	Tony Wolfe: I’m so on board for all the weird stuff the Rays are gonna do this year

6:47	Appa Yip Yip: It would be both funny and extremely petty if the Blue Jays get permission to use the Buffalo Sabres’ training facilities but make visiting team use the ones at Sahlen Field.

6:48	Guest: What % of MLB players watched last night’s games do you think?

6:48	Craig Edwards: That’s a very good question. I wonder, particularly with players not really able to go out.

6:49	Guest: Sogard leading off for the brewers. A Twitter account claims it’s because the analysts at the brewers thinks the wind will be blowing in more without fans at Wrigley. That’s overthinking things, right?

6:51	Craig Edwards: I doubt there’s even that much to it. Maybe just likes Sogard’s style and handedness agaisnt Hendricks, who is a fairly unusual pitcher. I think the individual matchup (not stats against the pitcher!) matters most.

6:51	JJ: Vlad Jr. – dude looks like a DH already at age 21

6:51	Craig Edwards: He’s a big guy.

6:52	Guest: I remember an arod story several years ago where he went to jeters house and asked if he had mlbtv, and Jeter thought it was super weird that he wanted to watch baseball in his spare time

6:53	Craig Edwards: Say what you will about A-Rod. He does love baseball.

6:53	Tony Wolfe: Based on A-Rod’s “sleeper” picks last night, maybe jeter got in his head and he doesn’t watch baseball much anymore

6:53	Joshua: How many prospects would the Padres have to attach to Myers in order to deal him?

6:53	Craig Edwards: One back-end top-100 guy plus something else.

6:53	JJ: already a bicep reference about Yandy..haha

6:54	Denny T: Has to be more than Zack Cozart and that cost a first rounder

6:55	Craig Edwards: That first-rounder wasn’t a back-end top-100 guy. He was more of a 45, which might be a secondary player in a Myers deal.

6:55	Bds: What team do you think will go most games before winning one?

6:56	Craig Edwards: have to take the Orioles, right?

6:57	Tony Wolfe: It’d help to look at the schedule, but I think the more fun question is how many games it takes before every team has won

6:57	Topper Bottoms: ^ I’ve wondered about that before, why wouldn’t a rebuilding team take on the Myers contract + a prospect? Free up some $ for the Padres to shoot for another FA and shore up the (pretty bad) offense… Seems to make almost too much sense

6:57	Denny T: Orioles might win considering how bad Boston rotation is

6:57	Craig Edwards: Guessing the Padres haven’t been compelled to do so.

6:58	Aaron’s Aron: they just showed fans standing outside the gate at the Reds game.. why? You can’t even see the game…

6:58	Craig Edwards: Just walking around downtown by the river and got curious, maybe?

6:58	Eric A Longenhagen: Hey, everyone.

6:58	Tony Wolfe: ERIC

6:59	Craig Edwards: hi eric

6:59	Aaron’s Aron: They seemed like they were there for the game. All wearing Reds gear and whatnot. I dunno. I guess you could be right.

6:59	Tony Wolfe: reds fans are weird

6:59	Craig Edwards: there is a huge tradition with opening day in cincinnati

6:59	Tony Wolfe: and that

7:00

Topper Bottoms: Also does it feel to anyone else that the Padres are giving away wayyyy too many young players and not getting much back? They’ve lost Renfroe, Cordero, Urias, Reyes, Margo, etc. A year or two ago it seemed they were teeming with interesting bats. Now they seem to be thin there without actually adding much impact.

7:00	Craig Edwards: They have gotten back grisham and Trammell in those deals so it isn’t like they are coming up empty long-term, plus they are trying to win so Pham and Pagan could help with that.

7:01	Craig Edwards: they still have tatis jr. and a lot of pitching.

7:02	Molina Mo Problems: Top 3 beautiful ballparks? I think mine are Oracle Park, PNC, and fenway

7:02	Tony Wolfe: I’ve been mocked for this opinion before but I think Comerica is underrated

7:03	Denny T: The thing about SD is that I don’t like their targets. Flipping prospects for stars is all good, but they could have gotten someone like Betts with something like Trammell + Urias

7:03	Mister Puppy: Yeah the pitching is definitely going to be their calling card. Striking out on a big signing (Hosmer) and Mejia’s outlook somewhat souring will hurt their hitting

7:03	Craig Edwards: I’ve got to run. Thanks for hanging out everyone.

7:04	Dan Szymborski: Greetings!

7:04	Tony Wolfe: oh hey dan

7:04	Dan Szymborski: I believe it’s time for Szym and Eric’s Awesome Show, Great Job!

7:04	Guest: Dan’s here, let’s get weird

7:04	Tony Wolfe: wow that’s very good

7:05	Dan Szymborski: I should answer all the unanswered Qs from 3:30 when nobody was here yet so that nobody gets the answers except the people who are probably gone by now and everyone will be mad at me!

7:05	Tony Wolfe: alright, enjoy the rest of the baseballs everybody! thanks for letting me hang out

7:05	Eric A Longenhagen: see you, TW

7:07	Eel Ffilc: Which game(s) are you tuning into?

7:07	Dan Szymborski: I think I’ll poll this!

7:08	Dan Szymborski: Just me, of course, I don’t think Eric will want to chat with me again if I choose which game he watches! lol

7:08	Eric A Longenhagen: I’ve got Philly/Miami and TBR/TOR on right now

7:08	Eric A Longenhagen: and I might stick a third on my phone

7:09	Bds: Eric what prospect starting the year on 30 player rosters are you most interested in seeing?

7:09	Dan Szymborski: What Game Should Dan Watch On His Largest TV? Detroit vs. Cincinnati (15.8% \| 10 votes) Buffalo vs. Tampa Bay (30.1% \| 19 votes) Miami vs. Philadelphia (7.9% \| 5 votes) Milwaukee vs. Chicago (41.2% \| 26 votes) Kansas City vs. Cleveland (4.7% \| 3 votes) Total Votes: 63

7:09	Eric A Longenhagen: Leody Taveras, the Mariners guy, obviously LouBob. Karnichak.

7:10	ARod: Hey guys, my question is, first off, thank you for being here and making it to the chat, it’s just amazing what you’ve been able to do.

7:11	Dan Szymborski: I like the questions that are praise!

7:11	Guest: That Buffalo listing is throwing me off.

7:11	Sgt. Pepper: Fun fact: Legally, Buffalo and upstate New York are now legally part of Canada.

7:12	Dan Szymborski: I’m not ordering Canadian Wings.

7:12

kevinthecomic: A little history, some personal, regarding baseball in Buffalo. I grew up near Buffalo in the 70s and 80s. I remember going to a few games at old War Memorial Stadium (where portions of the Robert Redford movie The Natural were filmed). One of those games I got to see for free because my buddy’s dad stopped to help a few guys stranded on the QEW (Cdn highway between Niagara Falls and Buffalo) who turned out to be players for the Omaha Royals; they left us tickets at Will Call. I saw Darryl Boston play for the Bison’s once; then saw him again at the end of his career playing in the independent Northern League in Thunder Bay, Ont. I believe Buffalo’s “new” baseball park opened in 1987 and was originally called Rich Stadium, just like the Bills facility. When it was built, a lot of hoopla was made about the fact that it was designed in such a way that it could be expanded to accommodate a Major League team. 33 years later, here we are!

7:12	Topper Bottoms: About 25 seconds into Brewers/Cubs and we’ve got a Marlins attendance joke!

7:12	Lance Biggerstaff: Starting to think Dan is just following A-Rod’s schedule

7:12	Molina Mo Problems: #CastellanosforMVP

7:12	Appa Yip Yip: I’m a little bummed the Jays aren’t going to be playing it Pittsburgh because they would have unofficially been the PBJs and we could have spent all season going “it’s sandwich time”

7:12	Guest: My favorite Tim and Eric sketch was when rainn Wilson was a salesman for an encyclopedia of numbers in numerical order

7:13	Aaron’s Aron: Fenway and Wrigley have history and I respect that, but I have been to both and neither are the nicest place to watch a baseball game (they get the job done, but relative to other parks they are not nice).

7:13	Sgt. Pepper: Dan you’ve never had a Buffalo poutine

7:13	Eric A Longenhagen: Very quick first for Hendricks vs Milwaukee

7:13	Dan Szymborski: Is it a poutine with buffalo-style sauce or is it Buffalo’s version of poutine?

7:14	Guest: Is it possible that hitters have a better year with their being fewer distractions in their line of sight?

7:14	Dan Szymborski: Possible. There are so many variables in play

7:14	Dan Szymborski: Though I haven’t found any relationship between attendance and park factor

7:14	Guest: I’ve never had poutine and don’t really know what it is

7:15	Dan Szymborski: Have you ever had gravy fries? Imagine fries smothered in gravy. And then someone comes in and says “that’s not bad enough for your heart!” and pours a bucket of cheese curds over your plate

7:15	Eric A Longenhagen: Same in Philly. Villar had an 8-pitch at-bat, otherwise Nola coasted in first.

7:15	Mr Rocktober: How many games will it take to get a gauge on how homery the baseball is this year?

7:15	Dan Szymborski: It depends how extreme the change is

7:15	Dan Szymborski: The larger the change, the smaller the number of games

7:15	Daniel: Its as salad, but the lettuce is fries, the croutons are cheese and the vierge tte is gravy

7:15	Matt Gwin: Sir, you have not lived yet

7:15	Dan’s mom: Cubs rooftop owners still selling tickets to these games is kinda bullshit right?

7:16	RMR: Baseball, beer, unhealthy food. Is this heaven (Field of Dreams voice)?

7:16	Sgt. Pepper: Poutine+boneless Buffalo wings. Its what NAFTA is for

7:16	Guest: What happened with Kris Bryant?

7:16	Dan Szymborski: Uh oh, what happened?

7:17	Dan Szymborski: Morton just threw Boba Chette into the Sarlacc pit with that pitch.

7:17	Mister Puppy: On vacation in a house that doesn’t have cable. I also don’t have MLB TV. So I’m just watching Cubs/Brewers until the O’s come on ESPN+. Now this feels like a football Sunday with all these other games going on that I can’t watch.

7:18	Dan Szymborski: Watching another game until the O’s game comes on sounds like a symptom of depression.

7:18	Dan Szymborski: “I’m just waiting to see the O’s! And my death.”

7:18	Also Ben: The curve is something to watch on Hendricks. Looks like he’s trying to throw it as a real pitch instead of just get-me-over

7:18	Appa Yip Yip: Poutine with Buffalo wing sauce exists and it is extremely dope.

7:19	Dan Szymborski: Is there still the gravy and the cheese curds?

7:19	Eric A Longenhagen: Shane Bieber sitting 93-95 in in Cleveland

7:19	Eric A Longenhagen: Brandon Woodruff sitting 97-99 in Chi.

7:19	Appa Yip Yip: yeah you just pour wing sauce on top of everything else

7:19	Sgt. Pepper: Watching another game before the Os is like having salad for dessert

7:20	Dan Szymborski: “I’m just drinking this beer until the BROCCOLI JUICE is ready!”

7:20	Dan Szymborski: Grichuk looked like one of the football players in the last scene in Gus

7:20	Guest: You own an expansion team. Would you rather have Casey Mize or Andrew Friedman?

7:20	Dan Szymborski: Friedman

7:20	Sgt. Pepper: Grichuk are you okay

7:21	Guest: 10 pitch AB for Bryant to lead off Cubs’ half.

7:21	Also Ben: Still think Schwarber or Happ would be a better leadoff hitter with Bryant at 2, but Bryant up there is a lot better than someone like Almora

7:21	muffindan: i keep looking at every team and going “oh yeah, that person” as if baseball’s been gone for a decade. just now it was lorenzo cain

7:22	Dan Szymborski: Yeah, it feels weird. The Nats winning the World Series feels like it was 2 years ago

7:22	Derek: What a weird situation for first year GMs and managers

7:22	foot: How many dingers for CJ Cron this year?

7:22	Dan Szymborski: So far, one.

7:22	Derek: When will MLB remove these stupid blackout rules on MLB.tv?

7:23	Dan Szymborski: When **** sticks to the moon.

7:23	Kiermaier’s Piercing Green Eyes: @muffindan I briefly wondered why Verlander got the opening day nod over Cole. And I watched NYY-WAS last night…

7:23	J: Something to look out for: Hendricks’ reworked curveball appears worlds better than his get-me-over of yore

7:23	Denny T: I wish my team FO is as good as Tamba

7:23	Eric A Longenhagen: Sandy Alcantara chucked 98 past Harper to end the first, he K’d 2. Went changeup 0-2 vs Bryce, maybe they’re shifting his secondary usage.

7:23	Dan Szymborski: Tamba, his arms wide

7:23	Dan Szymborski: A-Rod, his speech incoherent

7:24	Dan Szymborski: Cespedes and the boar at his ranch

7:24	Dan Szymborski: Mookie, when the walls fell

7:24	Aaron’s Aron: Two wild catches battling the sun for the Reds and the Tigers already!

7:24	NakedMoleGaetti: Mondesi just ran into an out with the AL HR Champ at the plate. Royals baseball is back!

7:25	Lance Biggerstaff: Dan is going EE Gammings on us

7:25	Guest: As a fan I really don’t want to hear that a player like A-Rod needs the comfort of not needing to look where he is batting in the lineup but hey that’s just me

7:25	Molina Mo Problems: Good thing Raul Ibanez and Nick Swisher were out of the the league before this no spitting rule… not sure theyd be able to quit the chewing tobacco in time for the season

7:25	Rick: A-rod’s emphasis on his annunciation is second to none tho

7:26	Mr Rocktober: Has everyone else been seeing way too many of those Johnny Bench commercials on MLB.TV?

7:27	Dan Szymborski: I remember that year we got the same Home Depot commercial every MLB.TV commercial break for like two months. I see that bird house and hear that upbeat music in my nightmares

7:27	Aspergilius fumigatus: Does anyone know if MLB.tv works on Apple tv?

7:27	Dan Szymborski: I do not know, but someone else may

7:28	Also Ben: I’m admittedly a big Hendricks fan, but the curve looks…good Rob Friedman @PitchingNinja Kyle Hendricks, Beautiful 74mph Curveball. And is absolutely fired up about his first K of the season. 24 Jul 2020

7:28	Mr Rocktober: It’s not supported on some of the early Apple TV models, but should work on newer ones.

7:28	5 Run Homer: Just chiming in from Canada to say that the Blue Jays’ MLB.tv blackout suuuuuuuuuuucks

7:28	Also Ben: It works on Apple TV as well as it works on other platforms for the most part

7:28	Sgt. Pepper: Are actual commercials on MLB.tv an American thing? We just get random highlights between innings.

7:29	Eric A Longenhagen: Nola is thru 2 having thrown just 23 pitches

7:29	Dan Szymborski: You know, I’m not sure. I normally don’t pay attention to commercials in normal vs. vpn

7:30	Appa Yip Yip: I was planning on watching a bunch of Dodgers games because I was excited to finally be able to cheer for Mookie but then the Jays got blacked out in Canada and so now I’m simply going to watch less baseball (?) seems bad.

7:30	Guest: Remember when the Cubs were a dynasty in the making

7:30	Dan Szymborski: But they so POOR!

7:30	Dan Szymborski: Chicago is just a suburb of Rockford!

7:30	Guest: On the making?

7:30	Derek: I’m sure a bunch here are already using it, but I can just do a short PSA about MLB.tv Game Changer? It’s great.

7:30	NakedMoleGaetti: We Americans get a black screen btw innings.

7:31	Dan Szymborski: I’m so used to not paying attention to commercials by now that I never even notice which channels/streams I’m getting commercials on

7:31	Kiermaier’s Piercing Green Eyes: Chicago is actually part of the greater Evanston area.

7:31	Quarantino Martinez: Why is the o’s game starting at 730? They too good for 7:05 like everyone else?

7:31	Dan Szymborski: They want to give the O’s 25 extra minutes to decide if they want to just forfeit or not

7:32	Dan Szymborski: I’m getting a car wash spray commercial and not wendy’s 2 for $5

7:33	Dan Szymborski: Apparently it has all the chicken I crave. How do they know how much chicken I crave? I can crave a LOT of chicken?

7:33	Estevao: Why the Cowboys play in the East division while the Rangers and Astros play in the West

7:33	Eric A Longenhagen: The darn Cardinals used to be in the East, too. Panthers originally started in the West.

7:33	Eel Ffilc: Tommy F’n Milone does not forfeit.

7:33	Sgt. Pepper: Want to give Os fans a chance to watch 25 minutes of real baseball

7:33	Topper Bottoms: “Renowned for his aptitude for the craft” is 1000% an OOTP personality description.

7:33	muffindan: The Onion @TheOnion Excited Vlad Guerrero Jr. Can’t Believe He Gets To Keep Foul Ball bit.ly/3jzkvl8 24 Jul 2020

7:33	Dan Szymborski: This some of my best work, I think.

7:33	Dan Szymborski:

7:34	Dan Szymborski: Morton wasn’t really racing Biggio since he dropped it anyway!

7:35	Derek: Bunt single for Cavan Biggio!

7:35	Dan Szymborski: Oh good, I was looking to grab the Morton K of Bichette, but MLB posted it.

7:35	Dan Szymborski: MLB @MLB That is just nasty, Charlie. 24 Jul 2020

7:36	J: Why don’t you all do this every day? Do you have other things to do?

7:36	Dan Szymborski: Chat would get old if they were non-stop. People would tire of us eventually I think.

7:36	Dan Szymborski: And we do other things! I write stuff! So does Eric!

7:36	The Grand Nagus: Dan was that a darmok reference back there or am I too far gone

7:37	Dan Szymborski: It was. If nobody got it, I just sound more insane than usual.

7:37	Estevao: Evan White and Keibert Ruiz are quite undervalued on OOTP 21. Just a tip

7:37	Dan Szymborski: Yeah, ZiPS is not a fan of White, so he’s not great in OOTP

7:37	Appa Yip Yip: I’m following along on Gameday (surprisingly good!) and i can say with authority that the player stand in for Vlad is nowhere near Thicc Enuff

7:38	Rodrigo: Iglesias as 3 hole my godness

7:38	Dan Szymborski: I’m not sure Chris Davis would be in the fifth spot on a college team

7:38	Bosoxforlife: It is with great joy that I prepare to watch the first game of my 73rd year as a devoted fan of the BOSTON RED SOX!

7:38	Mister Puppy: Turns out the Delaware coast is not far enough to escape Orioles blackout :))))))))

7:38	Dan Szymborski: You’re trying to watch the O’s?

7:38	Bret: Wow, tigers hitters just swinging at everything. Hoping someone gets on base so we can see the hitter swing on a pickoff throw

7:39	Mister Puppy: Dan this might be my only opportunity to watch a .500 Orioles team this year!

7:39	Derek: I mean, in (some, small) fairness, didn’t Jose Iglesias once lead the league in batting average?

7:40	Dan Szymborski: Not quite, though he did have a couple years around .300

7:40	Mr Rocktober: Maybe I need to upgrade my tech for often, but this year, MLB.TV is no longer supported on my old smart TV nor my old AppleTV nor my old Roku.

7:40	muffindan: eovaldi still throwing 99 after like 12 elbow surgeries is just insane to me

7:40	Brian: Shane Bieber is good.

7:40	Appa Yip Yip: It’s for the best the Jays aren’t playing at Camden Yards I wouldn’t have been able to mock the Orioles by being all “more like oriLOLS” (v clever) i would have had to be nice to them.

7:40	Eric A Longenhagen: Brewers have gotten out of both innings with 4-6-3’s

7:41	Dan Szymborski: The Jays should have played at Camden Yards and then first game, find the door is locked with a sign that says “Too bad, Cito should have played Mike Mussina in the 1993 All-Star Game.”

7:41	Dan Szymborski: Vladito is too young to run like me.

7:41	Aaron’s Aron: Joey Votto!!!!

7:41	Cliff B: Votto yard!

7:41	Mr Rocktober: Joey Votto’s power has returned.

7:41	Eric A Longenhagen: Loud, bases loaded flyout for Rowdy Tellez, Vladdy scores on sac fly, 1-0 Jays

7:42	Topper Bottoms: Gonna have to disagree with A-Rod’s opinion that Jason Heyward is “getting better with age”

7:42	Dan Szymborski: Yeah, A-Rod, when I think of a player getting better with age, the first guy I think of is the dude who peaked at age 20.

7:43	Dan Szymborski: When A-Rod made brief appearances at the end of his career, I remember him actually being decent.

7:43	Dan Szymborski: But he seems to be constantly getting worse.

7:43	Bret: I think Dan mentioned this yesterday, but i swear A-Rod seemed good at this announcing thing when he first started.

7:43	Dan Szymborski: Yeah, Bret said it same time as me.

7:43	Eric A Longenhagen: I agree, he was clearly engaged with even amateur baseball early on. Has become a cliche machine since.

7:44	Dan Szymborski: Even when Joe Morgan or Harold Reynolds were at their worst, they’d bring up some interesting point about positioning or hands at some point, things like that. A-Rod literally didn’t bring anything yesterday

7:45	Eric A Longenhagen: Sac fly from Jon Villar in Philly, 1-0 Marlins

7:45	Dan Szymborski: I mean the stuff about how we should look to the first 20 pitches between Cole and Sanchez to see how the season is going to go? What the @%## is that nonsense? If you don’t have anything to say, it’s OK for there to be some silence.

7:45	Brian: I blame JLo

7:45	Rick: Once again the masses has soured on A-rod lol

7:45	Rudy: I miss Ross in the booth.

7:45	Guest: I love Scambi, but Chipper and Rick made the early game almost unlistenable.

7:45	Dan Szymborski: Boog does good work.

7:45	rational person: oh great, rick sutcliffe!

7:45	annoyed person: sweet, rick sutcliffe is announcing this game!

7:45	man who pleads to god: pls stop letting sutcliffe talk

7:46	Dan Szymborski: Found some sutcliffe comments from earlier! lol

7:46	Dan Szymborski: I’m probably too old to be writing lol after sentences.

7:46	YardGoat: In theory, would catchers be better announcers than other position players. Thinking how QBs tend to be better announcers for the NFL (small sample size though)

7:46	Eric A Longenhagen: Let’s just move away from it needing to be players in the booth.

7:47	Estevao: Juan Soto reminds me of what Oscar Taveras usually looked like after a few years on OOTP 15

7:47	Dan Szymborski: 🙁

7:47	Dan Szymborski: I’m not demanding we just have a bunch of statnerds in the booth. But bring something that a viewer isn’t going to get. Players ought to have a lot of experience in that kind of things. Stay in that zone. Don’t try to be stat guys and don’t just make up nonsense to fill time

7:47	phan: I forgot the Marlins lineup isn’t too bad

7:49	Eric A Longenhagen: We all need to remember that the broadcast isn’t for us. People who come to FG are gonna watch the game no matter who’s calling it. It’s casuals that ESPN needs to attract.

7:49	Dan Szymborski: But I think there are things they can tell casuals that casuals will be interested in.

7:50	Dan Szymborski: A-Rod was just taking out of his ass. I mean “Robinson Cano texted me that the team has great chemistry,” sounds like a parody of a broadcaster that one of us would write.

7:51	viceroy: joining in on the broadcasting roast… I had to mute the stream and turn on a radio station. Wow that really improved the experience

7:51	Derek: Is it surprising that Tsutsugo is batting 3rd against a lefty?

7:51	YardGoat: Didn’t Fangraphs do a local team broadcaster ranking at one point? Would be curious how that would look now

7:51	Dan Szymborski: A few times I believe

7:51	Guest: if ken griffey jr. was a playable character in super smash bros., would you main him?

7:51	Dan Szymborski: Depends on hsi skill!

7:51	Sgt. Pepper: To be honest broadcasts have become a lot more friendly to FG type people over the last few years so I’m not gonna knock progress

7:52	Brian: But Cano is so consisstent and just know how to play the game, like Dave Concepción. I remember this little guy from the Angles named Epstein boy did that guy have grit.

7:52	Dan Szymborski: Hey Eric, do you know what writers are doing for food? I assume they don’t have the usual options. Are people bringing in their food? I guess I could ask. I assume that if I go down to Cincy they’re not going to open the bourbon slushies stand just for me.

7:53	Dan Szymborski: I guess I could just ask one of the writers at a game, but I just thought of it.

7:54	Eric A Longenhagen: Lol, I actually don’t know. I haven’t gone to Chase yet.

7:54	Mr Rocktober: How hard is it these days to get press credentials to cover a game in person?

7:55	Dan Szymborski: It’s a little tricky right now because there are only 30 spots total per game, and that includes the photographers.

7:55	Eric A Longenhagen: Oppo gap double for Michael Brosseau, a guy I whiffed on as a prospect. TB on the board.

7:56	Dan Szymborski: So I’m not doing it for a few reasons. One, I don’t want to take a spot from a beat writer or photog who needs to be there. And two, I don’t think I have a nything, but why create extra risk for myself or another writer if I don’t absolutely have to be there?

7:56	Dan Szymborski: Normally, with a BBWAA card, for regular games you just show up.

7:56	Also Ben: Hot take: Ian Happ is better than the Cubs think he is

7:56	Topper Bottoms: IAN HAPP OPENING DAY DONG

7:56	Steve O: Would a permanent 16 game playoff format destroy the game? or at least seriously hurt it

7:56	ben: Cincy offers only all the Skyline you can eat!

7:56	Dan Szymborski: Uggh, I don’t know which comment hurts my stomach more.

7:57	Derek: Dan I wish more people treated covid-related risk like you do

7:57	Eric A Longenhagen: Matt Boyd done for the day. Hard-throwing Jose Cisnero replacing him. Winker hitting for Davidson in the 6th against him.

7:57	Dan Szymborski: And I worry about myself too to a degree. I don’t have any specific illness that I’m aware of, but I am obese and I am 42 now, so there’s some elevated risk that I wouldn’t have had if I was 20 years younger.

7:58	Kiermaier’s Piercing Green Eyes: Eric, I remember being surprised when Brosseau was called up and stuck because you had (almost?) never mentioned him. What’s the one-sentence blurb?

7:59	Eric A Longenhagen: bat-first multi-positional player who’s a mediocre glove at 2B/3B/1B/LF/RF.

7:58

Aaron’s Aron: I just get sad when announcers quote RBI’s and whatnot. How are casual fans supposed to learn about “new stats” if they’re never taught. At least they have got kinda better over the years. Reds broadcast just said he’s trying to learn newfangled stats like WAR. At least he’s trying… sorta. ._.

7:58	Aaron’s Aron: Ugh the AVG/HR/RBI stat line they show for every batter irks me

7:58	Aspergilius fumigatus: Ian Happ: hits one home run. Matt Vasgersian: If this is the Ian Happ the Cubs are getting they will be a lot to handle!

8:00	ander: thoughts on Chili Time? There or skyline?

8:00	Dan Szymborski: I’ve never eaten Chili Time. I abhor Skyline. I hate the whole Cincy style.

8:00	Mr Rocktober: AVG/HR/RBI are still pretty common in Fantasy baseball, which is of interest to a lot of casual fans.

8:00	Eric A Longenhagen: Sandy Alcantara 5 K’s thru 3ip. Got Cutch on a right-on-right changeup.

8:01	Schmoe: The only chile is New Mexican — red or green.

8:01	Dan Szymborski: There are LOTS of awesome chilis!

8:01	Derek: Hey a huge f-bomb from Kiermaier!

8:01	medium dipper: announcers need to display more advanced stats, like OPSBIs

8:01	Aaron’s Aron: Yes and why are those stats still used for fantasy? This is why I can’t get into fantasy baseball!

8:02	Dan Szymborski: Yeah, but I think it works for fantasy because it’s drastically different categories

8:02	Eric A Longenhagen: 76 pitches from Ryu thru 4

8:02	Dan Szymborski: I don’t think a game necessarily needs to reflect what is ideal in real life

8:03	Dan Szymborski: Like GTA V, it’s way more acceptable to carjack people and runover people on sidewalks.

8:04	Rick: weird use of a GTA analogy

8:04	Sgt. Pepper: I like the simplicity of using the old school stats for fantasy. Its escapism like a video game. I deal with enough numbers at my day job.

8:04	Aaron’s Aron: HRs is fine, but why pitched wins in fantasy? That’s lame. I get it won’t be exactly like real life value, but there clearly needs to be an overhaul to reflect more closely with real life at least.

8:04	Derek: Yeah I honestly don’t mind old-school stats for fantasy. For the most part, the best wRC+ players are still who you want. And it matters some how exactly they get to that wRC+, which is actually kind of interesting!

8:04	Dan Szymborski: I love when Bichette misses he always seems to break the air

8:05	Dan Szymborski: Miss WITH FEELING!

8:06	Dan Szymborski: mmmm, I could go for fried chicken

8:06	Topper Bottoms: And then you’re pushing up terrible players whose only skill is stealing bases, or decent players like Trea Turner into the top five despite being nowhere near there IRL

8:06	Joe: morton velo down today, lots of 90-92

8:07	Dan Szymborski: Yeah, but it’s not identical to real life. If you wanted identical, you’d just doa bunch of wrc+

8:07

kevinthecomic: I LOVED Cito not playing Mussina in ’93. After years of Blue Jays getting hosed without even being chosen for the All Star game, it was nice to see the AL team be basically the Jays and some guys. Also, totally classless move on Mussina’s part to start warming up in the bullpen after he’d been told he wasn’t getting into the game. You scratched a wound, Zim. Scratched. A. Wound.

8:07	Eric A Longenhagen: yup, Morton averaging 92 today, 94.4 last year

8:07	Dan Szymborski: IT’S ON KEVIN

8:08	Eric A Longenhagen: Akiyama getting his first at-bat right now, pinch hitting for Phil Ervin. Platoon-heavy approach from CIN early on. Kind of exciting.

8:08	Aaron’s Aron: Shogo is batting! The Reds finally broke the Japanese barrier!

8:08	Eric A Longenhagen: Three-run Biggio bomb off Morton

8:08	Dan Szymborski: Biggio’s homer got outta there quickly

8:08	Derek: God the bat cracks are so nice

8:08	kevinthecomic: Lighten up on A-Rod. J-Lo’s A$$ is very distracting.

8:09	YardGoat: Charlie Morton just doesn’t have it today

8:09	Dan Szymborski: His movement’s been nasty, but his location has been off

8:09	Dan Szymborski: I think that’s been a problem more than velocity

8:09	Eric A Longenhagen: Akiyama rbi single back up the middle, 5-1 Reds

8:09	Dan Szymborski: The biggio homer was on an awful pitch

8:09	Dan Szymborski: I think Craig would have hit that out. Now, in 2020

8:09	Kvn: Tommy Milone may not be on the top of many lists, but he’s gotta be pretty high up there on the list of baseball player names that are fun to say in a Baltimore accent. That counts for something right Dan? Right?

8:09	Dan Szymborski: I don’t do a baltimore accent very well

8:10	Dan Szymborski: I only really ever spoke it with a handful of words

8:12	Dan Szymborski: Debut alert! Ryan Thompson. Not the Mets outfielder.

8:12	muffindan: eovaldi just came out wearing a different number

8:12	Eric A Longenhagen: hmmm

8:12	JaAm: Chris Cotillo @ChrisCotillo A wild baseball season gets weirder: Nathan Eovaldi, who wears No. 17, comes out for the third inning wearing No. 7. 25 Jul 2020

8:12	Dan Szymborski: Thought on Thompson, ERic?

8:13	Eric A Longenhagen: One of those ‘look’ relievers with a unique slot, frisbee slider in the mid-70s.

8:13	Eric A Longenhagen: He’s one of those fringe roster guys for me but here he is

8:13	Clangdorf: Hendricks is looking rather boffo.

8:13	Brian: Those of you not watching Beiber and CLE tonight are missing out on a massive breakout, i would say at least 70 command with a 65 curve/slider 55 fastball and flashing a 70 change

8:14	Brian: Seriously this is the new best pitcher in baseball

8:14	Dan Szymborski: Hey I’m not going to object, Bieber made me look smart last year.

8:14

Aspergilius fumigatus: I think the issue of traditional vs. advanced stats is really systemic… I worked at a sports summer camp throughout high school and every single kid would cite batting average as the go-to stat for a player’s skill. They are taught at a very young age (by sports media like ESPN and/or role models) how to evaluate players and then once those are solidified it is very hard to open their mind.

8:14	Eric A Longenhagen: Really? It’s hard to open peoples’ minds to factual info?

8:14	Eric A Longenhagen: Is there any other evidence that that’s a widespread problem?

8:15	Eric A Longenhagen: (thinks very hard)

8:15	Dan Szymborski: Players tend to be very open minded

8:15	Derek: Does that just mean Eovaldi’s original uniform has blood on it or something? Any possible other reason to change #s mid-game??

8:15	Dan Szymborski: The newest superstition!

8:15	Eric A Longenhagen: Kepler solo shot off of Giolito

8:17	Sgt. Pepper: I grew up in an old school baseball family where wins and RBI were king. That didn’t stop me from embracing advanced stats when I was old enough. High schoolers, overall, are still pretty dumb. Don’t give up on them.

8:18	Kiermaier’s Piercing Green Eyes: Eric subtweeting here about Dan’s refusal to acknowledge beans in chili.

8:18	Dan Szymborski: He said facts, not grossness

8:18	J: Kyle Hendricks is going to be the strikeout leader this year and I won’t listen to your facts and reason telling me otherwise

8:18	Rick: Does Eovladi’s uni look like they just ripped the 1 off it?

8:18	Dan Szymborski: I want a pitcher to start with a two digit number and at a crucial high-leverage situation off the game, he peels off one of the numbers to show that it’s BUSINESS TIME

8:20	Eric A Longenhagen: BoSox up 1-0 on back-to-back doubles by Jackie Bradley and Jose Peraza

8:20	medium dipper: pitchers uniforms should update in real time to show game score

8:20	corry: Is it just me or has the “crowd” noise at the Reds game gotten progressively louder over the course of the game.

8:23	YardGoat: Dan/Eric, if you were a MLB player, would you wear the high socks look? What about eye black?

8:23	Dan Szymborski: High socks and a buttload of eye black

8:23	Dan Szymborski: stirrups

8:23	AdamZ: Tommy Milone. Nice

8:23	corry: Maybin slammed his bat to the ground after popping up, and it bounced back up and hit Casali in the face

8:23	Also Ben: Where do people stand on 2-person vs. 3-person booths? I think I prefer 2-person generally

8:23	Eric A Longenhagen: Stirrups, no cranium accessories

8:23	Dan Szymborski: I prefer 3 person when the people are comfortable and not talking over each other

8:24	Eric A Longenhagen: Giolito in big trouble already. has just walked the bases loaded with 1 out.

8:25	Eel Ffilc: I like my baseball as two and wrestling as three.

8:25	Brian: also on the subject of former players who were great announcers, Herb Score.

8:25	Brian: 2 person with one of them being vin scully and the other being silent

8:25	kevinthecomic: Used to love Scully doin’s all by hisself

8:25	AdamZ: Ankle socks and hiked up pants

8:25	Eric A Longenhagen: 36 strikes for Sandy Alcantara on 55 pitches so far. Better for him.

8:25	Eric A Longenhagen: Didi just took him deep

8:25	Eric A Longenhagen: right as Yoshi Tsutsugoh went deep for TBR

8:26	Dan Szymborski: I wear high argyle socks when I play golf.

8:26	Dan Szymborski: and I always wore high stirrups as a kid

8:26	Eric A Longenhagen: Didi hit out a hanging slider, Tsutsugoh got fully extended on a fastball out away from him

8:27	Dan Szymborski: I’d pull Ryu now

8:27	Brian: that is now 11K’s for Bieber and I think at least 7 0-2 counts. This is an absolute demolition

8:27	Eric A Longenhagen: Jose Martinez doubles off Ryu, now at 97 pitches.

8:27	Alex: My dad’s high school mascots was the argyles

8:27	Dan Szymborski: We were the Towson Generals. Apparently a general was named Nathan Towson.

8:29	Steve O: Will ranking prospects be easier next year? Maybe move a guy here or there… Not much to go on.

8:29	Derek: I don’t actually know if that is ironic but it feels like an appropriate usage

8:29	Dan Szymborski: No, just matter of fact.

8:29	Eric A Longenhagen: Mitch Garver sac fly, followed by 2-run Jake Cave single and Twins are way out in front of ChiSox already in the first.

8:30	medium dipper: giolito getting squeezed in the lower third? gameday looks a little suspect

8:30	Eric A Longenhagen: I’m not sure how perfect Hawkeye is going to be early on.

8:30	Derek: It is ironic that the year the Cardinals finally get Jose Martinez to the AL is the year they could have actually just played him at DH themselves

8:32	Eric A Longenhagen: Rays let Margot face a righty, he walked. Pinch-hitting for Brosseau with Brandon Lowe, though.

8:32	Stlapoy90: Although I don’t think Generals will be good enough to make the cut

8:32	Stlapoy90: My coverage of HS sports is currently… lacking (without any actual sports) so I’m thinking of ranking the best HS mascots in Maryland just for the content. Between the endless Eagles and Wildcats there are actually some pretty decent ones

8:33	Topper Bottoms: Is Brosseau “Brah-sow” or “Broh-sow”?

8:33	Eric A Longenhagen: brah

8:33	kevinthecomic: I think a good mascot for the new Seattle NHL team (the Kraken!) would be a cartoonish sea monster of UK origin call Phil McKraken! Bwahahahahaha! Tip your waitress, I’m here all week.

8:33	Dan Szymborski: Voros’s dad was a Kraken

8:33	Eric A Longenhagen: https://www.fangraphs.com/players/quinton-mccracken/1377/stats?positio…

8:34	Cliff B: Big Red Machine

8:34	Eric A Longenhagen: Moose homer, 7-1 reds

8:35	Eric A Longenhagen: Jose Alvarez warming for Philly. Runner on 1B, Nola velo now in the 91 range, has Villar, then Aguilar, then Dickerson (LHH).

8:36	Eric A Longenhagen: Hawkeye having trouble classifying Jack Flaherty’s fastball

8:37	Eric A Longenhagen: https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/gamefeed?game_pk=630989&game_date=2020-…

8:37	Dan Szymborski: It doesn’t reflect well on MLB’s umpiring if Joe West is the all-time games leader.

8:38	Dan Szymborski: Imagine if Larry Bowa had the record for most hits in a career?

8:38	Kvn: The real offseason was so long ago that I’ve been really surprised so far. Joe Girardi managing the Phillies! And Didi is there! Totally forgot about all of that.

8:38	2-digit number: Eovaldi is back to wearing 17

8:38	Eric A Longenhagen: Two-run shot for Jesus Aguilar, Marlins lead Phillies 3-1.

8:38	Eric A Longenhagen: hit a hanging curveball way out to right center

8:39	Brian: I’m curious Eric, have you been watching Bieber tonight? How would you rate his pitches (FB, CB, SL, CH) tonight?

8:39	Eric A Longenhagen: Meanwhile, Riley Thompson still working for Tampa Bay. Has gone 1.1ip already and they’re letting him face Derek Fisher with Danny Kansen on deck.

8:40	Eric A Longenhagen: Not on Bieber right now, will stick them on after B1 in the South Side.

8:41	Brian: Cool thanks for the reply, you are the best!

8:41	Eric A Longenhagen: how has Duffy’s breaking ball looked? It looked incrediable during intrasquads

8:43	JaAm: Nola’s day is done and he threw more changeups than curveballs

8:43	Aaron’s Aron: Reds announcer just said he thinks LF is harder to play than CF after Shogo made a nice catch on LF. Ummm what

8:43	Brian: Its solid although to be honest I have been flipping for most of the CLE batting. But with more slider sweep than I remembered. Sorry.

8:44	Fangraph’s Lurker: I’d like to donate a free lasisks surgery for joe west

8:44	Topper Bottoms: Philosophical question here: Isn’t saying a player has “the intangibles” an oxymoron? Because you’re measuring an unmeasurable trait(s)?

8:44	Eric A Longenhagen: I think it’s fair to say some players see the ball better off the bat from one or the other. Like Carl Crawford was definitely fast enough to play CF but he just read balls better from left. But yeah, I don’t think it’s harder overall.

8:44	kevinthecomic: The Toddfather have another good year in him, seeing as he has a starting gig?

8:44	Dan Szymborski: meh

8:45	kevinthecomic: Man, Boyd might be the best player on the Tigers this year and he looked pretty average — gonna be another long year in DET even though we’re only playing 60 games.

8:45	defender: That center vs left question is a surprisingly common belief. Some people think the slicing and spin in corner outfield spots make them tougher

8:45	Molina Mo Problems: in the reds game, you occasionally see grounds crew clapping in background. warms the heart

8:45	Eric A Longenhagen: Jose Berrios had a rocky first and the White Sox picked up a run. 4-1

8:47	Eric A Longenhagen: Austin Hays will become the first 2020 prospect to graduate rookie status in his next at-bat.

8:47	Trevor: If the Blue Jays win it all this year, does it count as breaking Buffalo’s Big 4 championship drought?

8:47	Eric A Longenhagen: Jeez, wouldn’t that be ironic?

8:47	Derek: Man, the Twins are secretly (or maybe not so secretly) loaded. Offensively, anyway

8:47	5 Run Homer: Seeing Dante Bichette in the Blue Jays dugout is fun

8:47	Brian: The CLE home angle also makes it hard to judge lefties stuff properly. And if im honest probably accentuates my hype of Bieber

8:48	JaAm: Thoughts on a Ramon Rosso who can apparently now touch 97?

8:48	UK Cub: LF is clearly harder because fewer guys perform well there!…what do you mean they put worse defenders there?…quiet voice of reason!

8:48	Eric A Longenhagen: Cleveland actually threatening to score now. First and third, one out for Oscar Mercado facing Scott Barlow. Top of the order coming for Cleveland.

8:48	David K: Why is Seth Lugo not a starting pitcher?

8:48	Eric A Longenhagen: Oh, is Rosso suddenly throwing hard? 97 is way up from last year.

8:49	Dan Szymborski: Lugo’s pitched significantly better as a reliever and the Mets are not an organization to take chances.

8:50	Trevor: What is the best case scenario for the Tigers this year? See some development from Mize, etc. and pick up another top-3 draft pick?

8:50	Eric A Longenhagen: Rosso way 90-93, topped out at 95 last year

8:50	Dan Szymborski: Start to see some of the pitchers filter in

8:50	Yoshi yoshi yoshi: The Mets take chances all the time

8:50	Dan Szymborski: Depends what you’re thinking of.

8:50	Dan Szymborski: In terms of modern progressive things, they’re conservative

8:50	Dan Szymborski: See how long it took them to have faith in Conforto, McNeil

8:51	Yoshi yoshi yoshi: Alonso?

8:51	Dan Szymborski: Even then, they didn’t use him in 2018

8:51	Eric A Longenhagen: Cleveland got back-to-back singles from Mercado and Cesar Hernandez, then Barlow hit Ramirez with a pitch. Loaded for Lindor

8:51	Eel Ffilc: Danny Duffy is not pleased.

8:51	phan: phillies broadcast said rosso worked out at driveline to get to 98. Command did not come with the velo

8:52	phan: 5-1 marlins, Cooper just hit a double. Rosso got the hook

8:52	Dan Szymborski: Romano’s control is lousy, but it’s still fun to watch him

8:52	Aaron’s Aron: my dad think WAR and WRC+ are bogus because they’re just made up stats. The numbers in the formula are just made up. No matter how much I try to explain how they’re not, he doesn’t buy it and thinks I’m way to in love with the stats which makes me sad. :/

8:52	Eric A Longenhagen: Another Max Kepler bomb

8:52	Eric A Longenhagen: 5-1 Twins

8:52	Dan Szymborski: BA was handed down from Mt. Sinai!

8:52	Derek: So a pretty good opening day for Max Kepler so far

8:53	Brian: Woe be to those who dispute the word of the Tango Tiger!

8:54	Dan Szymborski: Aron, BA usually unravels dumb arguments.

8:54	Dan Szymborski: Nobody would create BA if it didn’t exist today

8:54	Eric A Longenhagen: BTW, ho hum Kyle Hendrocks has K’d 9 and allowed just two baserunners in 6ip vs Milwaukee

8:54	Dan Szymborski: “How about a stat that’s hits divided by at bats? Yeah, home runs are the same as singles. Walks, we’re just not going to worry about.”

8:55	Yoshi yoshi yoshi: i agree that they’re rarely on the cutting edge in terms of progressive analytical stuff but stretching Lugo out after he’s been so dominant in his current role doesn’t necessarily seem like something that 100% of progressive organizations would do

8:56	Dan Szymborski: With the lack of depth at starting pitcher, I think most woul din their shoes

8:56	Dan Szymborski: And let’s just say I’ve heard some things about them being annoyed with their analytics guys for telling them things they don’t want to hear…

8:56	kevinthecomic: Hey, kudos to the Rockies for starting Hilliard over Kemp or Owings — thought the Owings signing was gonna sink Hilliard’s chances for sure

8:57

Aaron’s Aron: He is an accountant (numbers guy) and claims to be a stats guy with baseball too… then tells me to let go of the stats. He doesn’t care about projections and thinks you could sub in any number you want since some guy had to come up with it in the formulas for WRC+ and WAR so it’s all random. I think your godly proclamation on Mt. Sinai might be right!

8:57	Dan Szymborski: SOme people you just won’t convince

8:57	Dan Szymborski: Trust me!

8:58	Eric A Longenhagen: Thru 6: TOR 6 TBR 3

8:58	Dan Szymborski: I suffer a complete inability to let arguments go, even if I’m like 99.9% certain that I’m right.

8:58	Dan Szymborski: I have this delusion that if I come up with the right fact, argument, joke, or sarcastic retort that I’ll change the other person’s mind.

8:58	5 Run Homer: Yandy Diaz has his mask around his chin at the plate like a dummy

8:58	AdamZ: Sorry Dan, that’s not true

8:58	Alex: Do we get to call them BUF now? BUF 6 TBR 3?

8:59	Dan Szymborski: BUF 6, TB 3

8:59	Dan Szymborski: Haha tom brady

8:59	Dan Szymborski: already in second half and no TDs. Might as well have kept Winston!

8:59	muffindan: do you think MLBtv will air the girardi post game presser? as a former yankee fan i yearn to hear him say “it’s not what you want”

8:59	Eric A Longenhagen: Reds arms tonight: Sonny Gray 91-94 Lucas Sims 92-95 Nate Jones sat 96 Brooks Raley (claimed late in camp) mostly threw sliders

8:59	Aaron’s Aron: Yes my father and I argue about how the stats say something and he says I’m wrong. Then I say the stats say so and it’s not my opinion. So yes, I relate.

9:00	Derek: I’m convinced that the only reason Tom Brady went to Tampa Bay is out of a vain desire to see his initials represent his team

9:00	Dan Szymborski: “Wait, YOU TOLD ME IT WAS CALLED TAMPA BRADY”

9:00	Dan Szymborski: That was one of the most center of the strike zone brushback pitches I ever saw (against Biggio)

9:01	Eric A Longenhagen: Tigers arms: Matt Boyd 90-94 Jose Cisnero 95-96 David McKay 90-93 Gregory Soto: 94-97 Buck Farmer 91-94

9:02	Yoshi Yoshi Yoshi: Dan, what is it about David Peterson that Zips likes so much? .8 WAR projection in less than 50 innings was surprising for me to see

9:02	Dan Szymborski: The WAR feels slightly off

9:03	Dan Szymborski: Maybe not. Not sure. Don’t want to spend half an hour digging through ZiPS in chat!

9:03	Rick: @Aaron’s Aron I think it’s just a generational thing, accountants are resistant to change too

9:03	SeaBass: The road to the hall of fame for Robert begins.

9:03	JaAm: The Patriots should have been going by “Team Boston” this whole time

9:03	AdamZ: Orioles are oriole-ing

9:03	Smiling Politely: anyone surprising you, Eric?

9:03	5 Run Homer: LouBob’s got a hit!

9:03	Derek: Kind of pleasantly surprised by the number of guys wearing masks during play (mostly on the basepaths)!

9:03	Dan Szymborski: The dugout compliance is…mixed

9:03	Aaron’s Aron: I should clarify that my father is fairly neutral (although won’t use it himself) towards WRC+ and WAR until it counters his opinion. Just for full disclosure. Still completely outrageous though lol.

9:03	Dan Szymborski: That’s possibly even worse

9:04	Doctor Parrot: O/U hit batters in Mariners-Astros? 1?

9:04	Eric A Longenhagen: 1.5

9:04	kevinthecomic: So, Dan and Aron being completely baffled by rational and cogent arguments not succeeding indicates one thing pretty clearly: neither one of them are married.

9:05	Eric A Longenhagen: How many Astros HBP tonight? 0 (13.2% \| 7 votes) 1 (30.1% \| 16 votes) 2 (45.2% \| 24 votes) 3+ (11.3% \| 6 votes) Total Votes: 53

9:05	Dan Szymborski: I am not. My girlfriend always has low-key hostility towards me!

9:05

Brian: Final line for Bieber tonight… 14K’s in 6 innings, 22!!! swings and misses, 3 Royals abdicating their crowns, a further 3 in the later stages of King George III syndrome, the remaining 3 can’t even remember what happened and are far far better off for it. (22!!!!!! I repeat 22 swings and misses!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!).

9:07	Estevao: I live in Brazil and because of the rise of the dollar here, it’s gonna cost an absurd amount of money to subscribe to MLB.TV over 300 bucks of my money. Can I get a little simpathy

9:07	Dan Szymborski: Ouch

9:07	Dan’s Mom: Danny, who is this special lady and when can I meet her? I’ll make the special smelt casserole that you love!

9:07	Dan Szymborski: Oh, they know each other

9:07	Dan Szymborski: We’ve been on and off since 1998.

9:08	Derek: T-Mobile offering free MLB.tv is so great

9:08	Aaron’s Aron: That says more about how old you are than anything else, Dan.

9:08	Dan Szymborski: I just said I was 42 above!

9:08	Dan Szymborski: Well, an hour or two ago

9:09	Steve O: Man the Orioles are going to allow 20 runs in a game again this year aren’t they

9:09	Eric A Longenhagen: ChiSox have first and second with 2 outs. Moncada up

9:09	Dan Szymborski: INNING

9:09	Dan Szymborski: She came along to the Staten Island FG meetup. Not into baseball and was mostly confused by the conversations and quiet

9:10	2-digit number: If the sox keep scoring we’ll never get closure on Eovaldi’s preferred number!!!

9:10	UK Cub: 14k’s in 6 inning from Bieber and 8k’s and 7 down but only 73 pitches for Hendricks, both impressive and shows there’s definitely more than 1 way to get it done.

9:10	Eric A Longenhagen: Corey Knebel sitting 94 coming off the TJ

9:11	Topper Bottoms: Travis Lakins is just gonna eat this, isn’t he?

9:11	Dan Szymborski: Kinda his role

9:11	Dan Szymborski: At least he has a finite ERA, unlike Carroll

9:11	Eric A Longenhagen: Meanwhile, Tyler O’Neill solo shot has Cardinals up 1-0 vs Pirates

9:11	Mr Rocktober: Moncada!!!

9:11	Derek: Home run for Tyler O’Neil! I really hope he turns out to be good – if his collection of tools adds up to a good player then that would be so fun

9:11	SeaBass: I LOVE THE WHITE SOX AGAIN

9:11	Estevao: Fun fact. I’m playing an OOTP save with the Pirates and the Orioles won 115 and 106 games on back to back years in the mid 2020’s and got swept in the ALCS both times with multiple shutouts once by a 88 win Tampa Bay Rays. That’s baseball for you

9:11	Derek: Holy crap Moncada destroyed that ball

9:11	5 Run Homer: Yoan just tied it up in Chicago

9:11	marechal: Damn, Moncada.

9:11	Eel Ffilc: The no fans aspect has really highlighted how emphatic the teams get on selling check swings as swings.

9:13	5 Run Homer: Those new Padres unis are sharp as hell

9:13	Dan Szymborski: Thank goodness Generic Team1 uniforms are gone

9:14	Brian: The Cleveland Eerie are living up to their name tonight!

9:14	2-digit number: The moment we’ve all I alone have been waiting for: Eovaldi remains with 17.

9:16	Mister Puppy: Somehow Eovaldi doesn’t have a strikeout against this O’s lineup yet?

9:16	Dan Szymborski: That’s always been Eovaldi’s issue

9:16	Dan Szymborski: He’s pitching to crap contact

9:16	Bosoxforlife: Who in their right minds ever thought a starting pitcher would go into the 8th on Opening Day 2020?

9:17	Mister Puppy: Aaaand just like that he K’s Rio Ruiz

9:17	Chipper: Boston trading Betts was the right move and I’m willing to die on this hill

9:17	Dan Szymborski: RIP your mentions!

9:18	Estevao: Remember when the Angels pay 70+ mil per year for the services of Josh Hamilton, CJ Wilson and Albert Pujols

9:18	Brian: I have not looked but does every team have BLM printed on their pitching mound tonight?

9:18	Dan Szymborski: I thought so

9:18	Mister Puppy: I mean the Red Sox are on pace for like a +3200 run differential (full season) without Betts!

9:18	Jkc: I kind of assumed every team was doing what the Astros were doing and I’m not especially angry at what they did. Am I alone on this?

9:18	2-digit number: I…don’t think 2 of those 3 are comparable to Mookie

9:18	Eric A Longenhagen: Kyle Hendricks is thru 8, has allowed 2 hits.

9:19

Derek: Maybe Boston trading Betts would have been the right move eventually… But it sounds like they never even engaged in reasonable extension talks because of reluctance to pay the $$$, which is inexcusable for one of the richest teams in the league and a player on track to be a top 5 player in franchise history!

9:19	Brian: To be clear, I strongly approve.

9:19	Eric A Longenhagen: German Marquez has been 94-96 for Colorado

9:19	Eric A Longenhagen: Lance Lynn 92-97

9:19	YardGoat: Will Kyle Hendricks pitch the ninth?

9:19	Bosoxforlife: Will Ross have the guts to let Hendricks go all the way?

9:20	Eric A Longenhagen: Royals escape two-on, two-out and keep Cleveland lead at 2-0 thru 6

9:20	5 Run Homer: MadBum in a DBacks uniform is very strange

9:20	Guest: Both hits off Hendricks have been to 68 wrc+ Orlando Arcia!

9:21	2-digit number: As a Sox fan, I was…disappointed to read that Sam Kennedy was “disappointed” in Mookie signing an extension in LA

9:21	Eric A Longenhagen: I still think Arcia could be good.

9:21	Eric A Longenhagen: 2ip, 5k for Jalen Beeks out of the bullpen

9:21	Kvn: Damn Beeks is dealing

9:21	Chipper: Boston had too much bad money already invested to lock up Betts

9:21	Aaron’s Aron: I’d just like to point out again that Castellanos got three(!) MVP votes from the staff. No comment, just pointing it out.

9:21	This is lude-i-cris: We haven’t had an opening day complete game since yesterday

9:22	Knucksy: Kyle Hendricks for MVP. Who says no?

9:22	Aspergilius fumigatus: Do you guys have any guesses about how much home field advantage is reduced this year?

9:22	Dan Szymborski: I’m not sure it’ll be a factor

9:22	Dan Szymborski: HFA is already really small

9:22	Appa Yip Yip: Dante Bichette officially part of the Jays coaching staff now. Neat stuff.

9:23	Nick: Mitch Garver last year had a higher wRC+ than Rendon or Alonso. How does he not get more playing time?

9:23	Eric A Longenhagen: Part of the reason his numbers were so good is they only played him in situations where he’d succeed.

9:23	Nat: What’s the report on Feyereisen?

9:23	Dan Szymborski: “Dante, Bo is working out so well, we’re just going to collect sperm from you every game.”

9:23	Eric A Longenhagen: plus stuff, 30 control

9:23	Mr Rocktober: The BLM on the mound with the logo looks like some accidentally wrote MLB backwards.

9:24	2-digit number: RE: the existing investments, sure, but having someone in a position overseeing these moves, not great optics.

9:24	Aaron’s Aron: Castellanos has a career high 3.0 WAR. He would have to be over twice as good as his previous career best to win… (mind blown)

9:24	Eric A Longenhagen: Rays letting Margot hit right on right again in the 8th, down three. Interesting. Really thought they’d only platoon him.

9:24	Estevao: I was watching a documentary on Roy Halladay and it made me sad

9:24	Chipper: Whether Boston was the richest team or poorest team, they were in such a bad position to add a big contact. On the bright side, they now look positioned to be in decent shape financially in just a couple seasons

9:24	Derek: John Henry is one of the richest people on the planet he has enough money to pay literally any player in the league

9:25	Eric A Longenhagen: Early on in SD: MadBum sitting 88-89, Paddack 94-96

9:25	Mr Rocktober: Lance Lynn 7 Ks thru 4.

9:25	Nick: I see Verlander still thinks its 2019.

9:26

Estevao: I have an opinion about the Hall of Fame and steroids. You see people make the case for Bonds and Clemens because both were Hall of Famers before taking PED and whether or not I would vote for them doesn’t matter but to me that makes it worse. The player was so dominant that he would have been immortalized amongst the all time greats of his sport and he cheated. Why is that an argument in favor of them makes no sense to me

9:26	Dan Szymborski: I’m a rules guy. I don’t care at all about PED use prior to summer of 2004.

9:27	Dan Szymborski: And then I consider it a rules violation, like any other rules violation, and consider it enough to push a borderline HoFer to the bad side.

9:27	Dan Szymborski: And that’s how I”ll vote in a few years

9:27	Also Ben: Is Feyereisen another deceptive guy from the Brewers pen? Looks like his fastball might play up a bit?

9:28	This is lude-i-cris: Whatever happened to two handed catches

9:28	This is lude-i-cris: Villar🙄

9:28	Eric A Longenhagen: Tampa starting to make things interesting… two on, no outs. Rafael Dolis looks wild.

9:28	Eel Ffilc: Bieber was one strikeout away from tying the opening day record.

9:28	Derek: Being in decent shape financially is not actually useful if your team isn’t good. And losing the 2nd best player in the league is not the way to make your team good!

9:28	Eric A Longenhagen: Adames up, Jose Alvarado warming

9:28	Eric A Longenhagen: Rizzo solo shot off Feyereisen. 3-0 Cubs

9:29	Eric A Longenhagen: Also, Brad Boxberger sittig 93-94 right now after he was 88-91 at Driveline Pro Day in January is pretty interesting

9:30	Doctor Parrot: Kyle Lewis just hit a ball about 700 feet

9:30	Estevao: I get voting for them or anyone but the argument is senseless to me.

9:30	Appa Yip Yip: Feel like Eric had to develop a coping mechanism called “talking about baseball” to survive being trapped in a chat with Dan.

9:31	Dan Szymborski: Hey, I’ve talked baseball!

9:31	Eric A Longenhagen: So Kyle Lewis, who hit 4 homers during camp, homered off of Verlander

9:31	Eric A Longenhagen: three of Lewis’ camp dingers were oppo

9:31	Kvn: Eric is doing out of context play by play. It’s very avante garde.

9:33	Sgt. Pepper: We all know Dan’s role in these chats is the color guy

9:33	Brian: Look Captain Dan runs a very jovial ship…we all appreciate his willingness toward levity in these times. Long live captain Dan!

9:33	Eric A Longenhagen: Willy Adames single plates Manny Margot, Rays cut Jays lead to two. Still not outs in the 8th.

9:34	Mr Rocktober: Is PED testing still going on as usual, or is COVID testing taking up all of the bandwith?

9:34	Dan Szymborski: I actually have…no idea.

9:35	Eric A Longenhagen: Nasty wind blowing here in Tempe. I think the monsoon is finally here.

9:35	Eric A Longenhagen: Ji-man Choi hitting for Zunino.

9:36	Brian CashGod: Now that would be a fun way to “enhance” the shortened season, announce that the league won’t test for PEDs this year…

9:36	Brian: Thats just the 3rd horse of the apocalypse Dan.

9:36	YardGoat: Orlando Arcia with his third hit off Hendricks. Still the only Brewer with a hit

9:37	Eric A Longenhagen: Brewers have Yelich up with one out. Hendricks at 97 pitches.

9:38	Brian: obv meant Eric there, apologies to Dan.

9:38	Aaron’s Aron: i appreciate Eric’s play by play since I obviously don’t have every game up right now. :]

9:38	Brian CashGod: whoa I just turned on Cubs – Brewers, those Brewers uniforms are awesome

9:39	Mister Puppy: A-Rod now going with the “magical 100 pitch barrier” cliche :/

9:39	Doctor Parrot: The effects of PED use are medium term (increased strength) and long term (hormone wackiness)

9:39	Steve O: man what happened to brandon drury? he was supposed to be the yankees next 3B. He looks like a good hitter at the plate but nope

9:39	Eric A Longenhagen: Choi walked. Bases loaded for Rays in 8th, 1 out, down 2. Yandy Diaz up

9:39	Dan Szymborski: I didn’t think Drury was ever going to be great

9:39	YardGoat: Dexter Fowler Home Run

9:39	Mister Puppy: “I’m sure he’s got 100 pitches circled” like if Yelich went yard on number 97 it wouldn’t matter

9:39	Derek: Kinda can’t believe Dolis is still in here

9:40	Bosoxforlife: Ross comes out but leaves Hendricks in.

9:40	Estevao: Adelle or Robert? Eric.

9:40	Brian CashGod: what is the Blue Jays manager doing…

9:40	Topper Bottoms: Yeah my opinion is that Drury was in the Rob Refsnyder/Joba Chamberlain group of way-too-overhyped Yankees prospects

9:40	Dan Szymborski: It didn’t happen for Joba, but I think he was above the other too

9:40	Dan Szymborski: two

9:41	Eric A Longenhagen: I still have Adell but the more I see Robert the more I think it’s him. Wanna see him not chase so much for a bit

9:41	Dan Szymborski: Drury/Ref were always going to be role players

9:41	Eric A Longenhagen: Cubs win, Hendricks CG

9:41	Brian CashGod: was Drury really a Yankees prospect? They traded for him after he’d already had some playing time in AZ

9:41	Steve O: Drury wasn’t a yankee prospect lmao they traded him after he played 2.5 years with the Dbacks

9:41	Eric A Longenhagen: He sat 85-89 all game

9:41	Dan Szymborski: He was still youngish when they picked him up

9:42	Bosoxforlife: Complete game shutout!! So much for those 15 man bullpens that the cogniscenti said every team would need.

9:42	Estevao: That’s one CG more than I was expecting for the season

9:42	kevinthecomic: I know everyone has been saying 2020 will be an even bigger bullpen year, but why wouldn’t you leave your starter in if he’s dealing? It’s not like he’s gonna get to 200 innings.

9:42	Eric A Longenhagen: Rafael Dolis is very close to escaping this jam. 2-2 vs Renfroe with 2 outs…

9:42	Eric A Longenhagen: K looking

9:43	Eric A Longenhagen: 6-4 Jays heading to the 9th

9:43	Steve O: Man how much excitement is taken out of this regular season with this new format? These games hardly even matter anymore. A 30-30 record gets you in

9:43	This is lude-i-cris: Dan backpedaling and trying to salvage his Drury take

9:43	Dan Szymborski: I didn’t say he was a yankee prospect! I said he was never going to be great and Joba was better than the other two

9:44	This is lude-i-cris: Isn’t there a prospect guy somewhere in this chat

9:44	Dan Szymborski: Be nice!

9:45	Kvn: Since Eric hasn’t mentioned it, Chris Davis has two ground balls into the shift and a swinging K on a hanging breaking ball.

9:45	Derek: I’m actually happy with the playoff format (provided it doesn’t stick beyond this year). This year is weird anyway, might as well lean into it! The wild card round will be a blast to watch

9:45	Dan Szymborski: I’d be much happier about it if they said “Oh yeah, we promise that we won’t do this crap playoff system in a real year”

9:46	Eric A Longenhagen: Tension in Twins and White Sox game. Bases loaded with two outs for Jorge Polanc vs Evan Marshall. Polanco singles, two score. 7-5 MIN

9:46	This is lude-i-cris: Seriously though thanks for all your hard work on prospect info Eric. Also all the other amazing content the site churns out!

9:47	5 Run Homer: Jose Alvarado’s uniform is TIGHT

9:47	Derek: First “good piece of hitting” I’ve heard this season (Polanco)

9:47	Brian: I would give up an entire postseason for another Joey Bats Bat flip game!!! That was the most fun game I have ever watched and I am not a fan of either team!

9:48	Steve O: Or if the lower seed had to win two games and the higher seed only had to win one game to advance. Now I would be cool with that

9:48	Dan Szymborski: Even that’s too light for me. Three game sweep only

9:49	Eric A Longenhagen: Rangers and Rockies scoreless thru 5. Marquez hasn’t allowed a hit

9:49	OhNoMyOs: There is too much money to be made with expanded playoffs. While it may not be here next year. It is coming.

9:49	Dan Szymborski: I have sads.

9:50	Dan Szymborski: MLB is not the NBA. 8 seeds work in the NBA because low seeds are effectively doomed.

9:50	Dan Szymborski: Teams are too close in baseball and games too random.

9:50	Dan Szymborski: The best team doesn’t have to always win for the playoffs to work, but you mostly need at least a good team to win

9:50	Dan Szymborski: And players would be crazy to approve it.

9:50	Dan Szymborski: What do they think happens to salaries if roster strength becomes less important?

9:51	5 Run Homer: Michael Perez took a bouncing pitch to the throat behind the plate

9:51	Eric A Longenhagen: And that’s rough because they hit for ZUnino earlier

9:51	Eric A Longenhagen: like, scary scary

9:52	Kvn: You would hope that expanded playoffs would come with expansion at the very least.

9:52	Eric A Longenhagen: I think we’ll have it soon

9:52	Dan Szymborski: If the Dodgers can have a 100-win season wiped out by losing 2-of-3 to the 77-85 Giants, what’s the point in in vesting in the team?

9:52	Dan Szymborski: Now at least wild cards have a big penalty

9:53	Dan Szymborski: Elsewise, there’s not much incentive to doing anything more than building an 88-win team. Which is partially why salaries have slowed down

9:53	Meg Rowley: Oh hi, everyone.

9:53	Dan Szymborski: Hey Meg!

9:53	Steve O: If Charlotte, NC (my hometown) gets a team I will be OK with the playoff expansion. But will I be a Yankees fan or a Charlotte fan? Hmmmmm

9:53	Meg Rowley: Hope Charlotte is in the NL and root for both?

9:54	Dan Szymborski: I’ve never asked a team due to conflict-of-interest, but when teams have asked for data about what the playoff probability of each number of wins is, I can read between the lines.

9:54	Dan Szymborski: Eight four-team division, top two each in the playoffs, and me with lots of tears!

9:54	5 Run Homer: Bo’s big hacking swing is so fun to watch, even when he misses

9:54	Eric A Longenhagen:

9:54	Eric A Longenhagen: was crazier in HS

9:55	5 Run Homer: Cavan Biggio looks like a child batting against Jose Alvarado

9:55	Ben Clemens: Hey what’s up everybody

9:55	Eric A Longenhagen: Vlad versus Alvarado is the heavies matchup we’ll see all year maybe?

9:55	Dan Szymborski: How are you doing tonight Meg? Recovered from positional ranks?

9:55	YardGoat: Hello Ben and Meg!

9:55	Dan Szymborski: And hi Ben!

9:55	Brian: Welcome Meg, I am sorry to inform you that I have already named Dan captain for tonight…does this make you the Admiral?

9:56	Meg Rowley: Pffft, I oversee an egalitarian collective, clearly.

9:56	Ben Clemens: Eric is Vlad bigger than Vogey?

9:56	Dan Szymborski: The Brits had an Admiral Rowley in the late 1700s.

9:57	Eric A Longenhagen: he might be

9:57	Meg Rowley: Different bigs though, I’d say?

9:58	kevinthecomic: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bartholomew_Rowley

9:58	Eric A Longenhagen: Musgrove at 92 pitches in the 6th, facing Carpenter with 2 on , 1 out. Just had a mound visit.

9:58	Brian: Me Growley would be a great Beowolf era battle cry!!!!

9:58	Ben Clemens: Sean Dolinar just alerted me to something awesome:

9:58	Ben Clemens: [color: rgba(var(–sk_highlight_hover,11,76,140),1);]https://www.topps.com/dr-anthony-fauci-mlb-topps-now-reg-card-2.html[/…

9:58	Ben Clemens: boy sorry about the formatting there

9:58	Ben Clemens: Let’s try this again

9:58	Dan Szymborski: https://www.topps.com/dr-anthony-fauci-mlb-topps-now-reg-card-2.html

9:58	Michael Scarn: I am insane to actually kind of like the shortened season? Not saying I want to get 2/3 less baseball each year, but each game meaning something makes super compelling viewing.

9:58	Ben Clemens: Thanks Dan

9:59	Dan Szymborski: In that card, you can see that release point. No way he was going to get near home plate!