BBTV

Haven't seen any legitimate confirmation, but there seems to be some strong speculation that Apple is looking to buy ESPN and their rights to MLB, NBA, etc.

I guess these are some of the bats that are going to be used tonight? The #2 pencil is briliant.

LOL

I hope he does well and shows that not everyone needs to pay their dues for 30 years in the minors before they're ready for a shot.

The N looks silly placed like that. Stands out way too much. Would look much better if it was lowered and the letters in a standard arch rather than angled like that.

It's a good look. Non-pinstriped jerseys should never be worn over pinstriped pants.

LOL. Lorenzen's bid for a second no-hitter is ended in the 1st inning when Turner fields a routine ground ball and throws an errant ball to 1st base... and it's ruled a hit. I think I posted before about how out of wack the scorekeeping has been this year, likely in a bid to artificially increase offensive stats, but it's downright beyond silly at this point. It's nearly impossible to actually commit an error. EDIT: fortunately they got a legit hit the next inning, but this pro-hitter scoring is out of control.

I was in Denver just a couple of years back in early-mid October when it was single digits and a foot of snow.

https://x.com/byalexcoffey/status/1691547386659721216 Edit: now I’m seeing the x.com thing. This is the first time I’ve come across that url.

I'm genuinely curious - where are "x.com/" links coming from? Anything I see on a desktop browser or mobile is still "twitter.com/".

he and Morey have had a bizarre love affair. Im not sure if any bad blood - they seem to be BFF up until the end of this season No idea what this is about, but I can speculate that Morey may have indicated that if he took the discount deal last year, they’d reward him with a max deal this year. Or that he promised him a trade, but then walked that back (it doesn’t help when the player says he’ll only go to the Clippers). Just speculation.

dunno. Not planning to switch unless I have to.

This was the annual Phillies alumni weekend, and they were honoring the 40th of the '83 World Series team, and the 30th of the 93 team. Broadcaster and former pitcher Larry Andersen threw out the first pitch wearing a 83/93 Frankenjersey, as he is the only pitcher to have pitched for both of those teams:

seems to work for me, though I’ve been having lots of issues with X lately.

EDIT: Here's the story. When the player spiked his bat, the umpire made a motion indicating "equipment violation", which is the fine part of it. So he did essentially issue a fine on the spot (since there's a fine associated with equip violation). The umpires should be fined and ejected. I'm really tired of this, on either side of the coin. Refereeing should be according to the rulebook, not according to their whims. EDIT2: he was another minor league ump that was filling in, like the ass-clown that had three calls overturned in a single game last week.

no, he was fined well before the ejection. They showed a replay and said “right there is where he was fined…. … and now comes the ejection” This guy is complete trash.

Do umpires now have the ability to issue fines to players right on the field? Bases loaded, two outs, full count. Twins pitcher throws a pitch 6" inside, which should have forced home a run (and brought Bryce Harper to the plate with bases loaded), but the umpire calls the batter out. Batter is understandably frustrated, and the umpire made some gesture, and the announcer said that Alec Bohm has just been fined (he was later ejected). I didn't know this was a thing (unless the announcer was wrong.) Also, crossing threads, back to sports betting - you have complete crap like this umpire ruining games, and if you had bet on it, you just got hosed. At some point, some of these calls are so bad that you have to question if the umpires (or referees in general) are on the take. These types of game-changing botches have big impact, not just on the current game, but now different pitchers are in the game, which could impact future games. EDIT: they just confirmed that they can fine players right there. Since when? EDIT2: I don't think I've heard a louder "Ump Sucks" than right now - at least not one that was actually audible on the TV broadcast. Edit3: he did it again! It’s so bad. Bring on the robots. At this point it’s not incompetence, it’s vengeful. How are umpires never held accountable? It’s not as bad as Angel Hernandez or Buckner, but still awful (and at least today, one sided as opposed to terrible both ways like usual).

Never seen this before:

As great as that helmet decal looks, it now clashes with the flat material of the jerseys/pants and the color doesn't match unless the light hits it juuuuuuust right. Just an awful redesign. It's better by default, but it could have been so much more.

At this rate he'll be the World Series MVP. Three more hits last night. Not sure what Dallas Keuchel is doing on a major-league roster. Also, this Luplow guy is awesome. Had me cracking up in the stands. Part of me feels bad for him that one of the Phillies took him yard while he was doing his Kimbrel impersonation, but I think that actually makes it funnier (and I think he'd agree.)

keeping this on the topic of "sports media", from time to time the Phillies TV PBP guy reads the lines, and it's pretty obvious he has no idea what he's talking about, but he has to work it into whatever segment it's in as if it's natural. I don't hear it every game, but when I do, it makes for a really choppy segment. Even worse is the commercial reads that the sports-radio guys do, where they have to tiptoe around actual names and pretend like they're actually betting "the quarterback from Kansas City is really playing well, but the defense from that team up in Buffalo is tough, so I'm taking the points." Worse than that is when the read has a local team involved. So they'll literally be talking about the Eagles and Jalen Hurts one second, then the very next, they have to talk about "that quarterback from the Philadelphia team".

I'm not familiar with "Penn", and when I read that post last night, I legit had to look it up and make sure it wasn't "Penn". I'd throw up if an ivy-league school was partnering with these operations. One last point about sports gambling - there's always risk involved when the thing you're betting on can be rigged by the people involved, whether they're on the take (more likely in the case of college sports vs pro), or decide to take a "rest day" and not play in the game you bet on, or pull a Ben Simmons and simply not take a shot that may or may not have factored into it. It's not like poker where you're playing what is a skill game. Obviously there's some luck involved, but it's more a battle of skill against another opponent and in the long run, if you're good, you'll profit even if you run into bad luck occasionally.

The thing with gambling on sports as opposed to insurance is that people can become addicted (I think?) or at least make very poor decisions when it comes to gambling and end up not only ruining their life, but the life of those who depend on them, and if we want to go further, potentially turn to criminal activity to get by or end up requiring public support. Obviously I'm going to extremes here to make the point, but I don't think it's too off base, given that I know personally someone who this happened to and is now divorced, completely cut off from his family after being bailed out time after time, and last I heard, had done (or is doing) time for drug selling (this, from someone with a legit great degree and who at one time had a very prestigious job.) That being said, I'm also of the mindset that people are going to do it one way or another, so let's regulate it and at least make it safe, so they're not getting their legs broken by the bookie down the street (and where I live, that was a thing.) I feel the same way about prostitution and other things of the sort. I don't personally smoke marijuana, and I hate the smell of it (though I'll concede to enjoying the occasional edible), but I'd rather it be totally legal and safe as opposed to when kids would come to my high school all beat up because they went to the "bad part of town" (back when I lived in burbs) to get a dime bag.

For anyone that's confused, NOT University of Pennsylvania.