MLB 2021 Season Thread

[BBTV]

1 minute ago, Jake3roo said:

 

I think it's ridiculous to say he's having a meaningless career. Just because he hasn't really played in the playoffs doesn't mean he hasn't had one or the best careers in modern baseball history, and he's only 29. It's not insignificant just because it didn't happen in October.

 

He plays in obscurity and has never helped a team achieve anything of significance.  If you omitted Mike Trout from the record books, nothing would be really different.  He needs to play on a team where his talents will get more exposure, be it because of the market, or because he's actually helping a team compete.  If Mike Trout was never born, nothing we know about baseball would be any different.  The same teams would have won the same championships, the same players would have had the same careers, etc.

[dont care]

2 hours ago, BBTV said:

 

He plays in obscurity and has never helped a team achieve anything of significance.  If you omitted Mike Trout from the record books, nothing would be really different.  He needs to play on a team where his talents will get more exposure, be it because of the market, or because he's actually helping a team compete.  If Mike Trout was never born, nothing we know about baseball would be any different.  The same teams would have won the same championships, the same players would have had the same careers, etc.

Agreed, amazing stats and will probably be a leader or close in multiple categories by the time his career is over. But his career has been wasted on an angels team that never performs. In 20 years he’ll be forgotten as another guy in the HOF, mean while Mookie Betts will be remembered as one of the greatest players in the game, while possible having worse stats than Trout.

[BBTV]

The pig fans in Georgia just can't let the tomahawk chop go.  

[BBTV]

Extra inning baseball is awesome now.  I feel like I'm going to have a heart attack with every pitch.  I vote to keep this system for the regular season permanently. 

[infrared41]

6 hours ago, BBTV said:

 

He plays in obscurity and has never helped a team achieve anything of significance.  If you omitted Mike Trout from the record books, nothing would be really different.  He needs to play on a team where his talents will get more exposure, be it because of the market, or because he's actually helping a team compete.  If Mike Trout was never born, nothing we know about baseball would be any different.  The same teams would have won the same championships, the same players would have had the same careers, etc.

 

You could say the same thing about Ernie Banks. A more modern example might be Ichiro.

[BBTV]

4 minutes ago, infrared41 said:

 

You could say the same thing about Ernie Banks. A more modern example might be Ichiro.

 

I don't think you can play in Chicago (at least for the Cubs) and be in "obscurity" like Trout is.  Ichiro was kind of a novelty and had international appeal, so I probably wouldn't consider him in the same category.  Ichiro "felt" pretty important to baseball... at least to me.

[infrared41]

7 minutes ago, BBTV said:

 

I don't think you can play in Chicago (at least for the Cubs) and be in "obscurity" like Trout is.  Ichiro was kind of a novelty and had international appeal, so I probably wouldn't consider him in the same category.  Ichiro "felt" pretty important to baseball... at least to me.

 

That's fair.

[BBTV]

 

That there's even such a thing as the "established zone" is ridiculous - imagine the hoop being a different circumference depending on who was referring the game, and it potentially changing without notice?

 

 

[Red Comet]

>Turn radio on

>Hear Steve Physioc state the Royals are down 5-1 to the White Sox after 3

>Losing streak continues

 

Okay this is more familiar to me. What comes up has certainly come crashing down to Earth. 

[DG_ThenNowForever]

17 hours ago, BBTV said:

 

I don't think you can play in Chicago (at least for the Cubs) and be in "obscurity" like Trout is.  Ichiro was kind of a novelty and had international appeal, so I probably wouldn't consider him in the same category.  Ichiro "felt" pretty important to baseball... at least to me.

 

I also think Ichiro came at a time when MLB felt it important to market its players.

 

I feel like there's a WWE thing going on with it now, with no player allowed to be bigger than the game.

[Red Comet]

30 minutes ago, DG_ThenNowForever said:

I feel like there's a WWE thing going on with it now, with no player allowed to be bigger than the game.

 

See, I don't understand that line of thinking at all. You want to get people to watch your product, right? You want to get kids to grow up to be great consumers of your product, right? So why the hell would you not market the players that make adults fork over money for tickets/merch/team-brand prophylactics and kids want to be them when they grow up? Are the morons running these organizations profitaphobes? 

[Crabcake]

35 minutes ago, Red Comet said:

 

See, I don't understand that line of thinking at all. You want to get people to watch your product, right? You want to get kids to grow up to be great consumers of your product, right? So why the hell would you not market the players that make adults fork over money for tickets/merch/team-brand prophylactics and kids want to be them when they grow up? Are the morons running these organizations profitaphobes? 

Somehow the NHL is even worse than this.  Connor McDavid just got point #100 in game #53 and hardly anyone outside the sport cares or realizes just how stupidly good those numbers are.  

[DEAD!]

He would have had over 150 points if this was a full season.  That is a number you have not seen since the 80s/early 90s.

[BBTV]

What does it mean to "market your players"?  I remember back in the early '90s, Magic, Jordan, Bird, Barkley, etc. were on everything - McDonalds commercials and cups, Coke or Gatorade ads, pretty much everything.  But that was third-parties using them - not the league (though I'm sure the league was pushing them to McDonalds and those other companies.)

 

LOL at the pigs in Atlanta busting out the chop on national TV.  They don't even realize how they're just reinforcing the image that most people have of them.

[Quillz]

On 5/6/2021 at 8:00 PM, FiddySicks said:

and I can’t think of any other superstar who’s just faded out as rapidly and depressingly as he did

Late period Shaq clearly going to whatever team he thought could get him a ring and doing nothing but warming the bench was sad to see, too.

[DG_ThenNowForever]

1 hour ago, BBTV said:

What does it mean to "market your players"?  I remember back in the early '90s, Magic, Jordan, Bird, Barkley, etc. were on everything - McDonalds commercials and cups, Coke or Gatorade ads, pretty much everything.  But that was third-parties using them - not the league (though I'm sure the league was pushing them to McDonalds and those other companies.)

 

They absolutely were. David Stern was behind all of that, whether directly or close enough. They pushed hard to get Jordan and Bird in McDonald's ads and it most certainly worked.

 

I see NBA and NFL players in all kinds of commercials. Why isn't there a State Farm commercial with a baseball player? Why don't I see Andrew McCutcheon guest hosting SNL? Why don't I see Clayton Kershaw cameos in Star Wars or Marvel properties?

 

I don't know. I just feel like unless I make an effort to watch baseball, I otherwise wouldn't know it existed.

[MJWalker45]

2 hours ago, Quillz said:

Late period Shaq clearly going to whatever team he thought could get him a ring and doing nothing but warming the bench was sad to see, too.

He went to Cleveland for a wooden spoon, no way they were winning by the time he showed up. 

[JayMac]

On 5/8/2021 at 11:07 AM, BBTV said:

It's really a shame that Mike Trout is having such a meaningless career there.  I don't blame him one bit for signing - he'd have been an idiot not to - but we'll never see him play in clutch situations and barring a trade, he'll go down as basically just a pile of statistics but nothing truly significant.  I would think it's likely he and his contract will get moved at some point (his Phillies have a gaping hole in centerfield... just sayin') but if not, would the sport be any different if he never existed?

Remember when some Phillies fans thought he would sign here just because he is an Eagles STH? Fun times.

[dont care]

The Red Sox currently have the best record in baseball and I just don’t understand how their doing it. I don’t believe Alex Cora is cheating again so he must be that much of a genius that he can get a team of scrubs to perform at a playoff level at a minimum.

[BBTV]

2 hours ago, JayMac said:

Remember when some Phillies fans thought he would sign here just because he is an Eagles STH? Fun times.

had he made it to FA, I think it was a real possibility, especially once Harper signed.  If/when the Angles decide they don’t want to pay him just to finish below .500, I think it’s logical to think that the Phillies would be in play- though I’m not sure what they could possibly offer the Angles since their minor league system is complete trash.