2023 MLB Season Thread

[Shumway]

Ohtani in a double header:

 

Game 1 - Throws a complete game, 1-hit shutout

Game 2 - Hits his league leading 37th and 38th homeruns.

 

Good lord.

[BBTV]

7 hours ago, Cujo said:

Someone wanna tell me why we still have shytehead boomers around who think intentionally throwing at players should go unpunished?

 

Especially now that pitchers don't hit, it's cowardly to throw at someone (even though that was about as soft as an intentional hit gets.)  I'm not sure what "unwritten rule" was violated, but it's well beyond time to throw out those "unwritten" rules.  

 

My (least) favorite is when a star player gets hit, and it's obviously a total accident, and the team retaliates.  What lesson does that teach?  Intentionally walk a guy every time he's up rather than take the 1% chance that you might slip and hit him?

 

I thought at first that this would be a Michael Kay thing (which, by the way, ended up being the best thing for that bat boy's career as now his band is selling tons of merch due to the exposure gained by idiot Kay's old-man rant.)

[dont care]

7 hours ago, Cujo said:

Someone wanna tell me why we still have shytehead boomers around who think intentionally throwing at players should go unpunished?

 

 

To be fair, he just hit his catcher in the side of the head with his bat

[BBTV]

5 minutes ago, dont care said:

To be fair, he just hit his catcher in the side of the head with his bat

 

On purpose?  Or just a backswing?  Regardless, I think the umpires should be policing things and not the players (at least not by throwing a potentially-deadly object at someone who's defenseless).  

 

Reminds me of Curt Schilling going off about Ben Davis bunting to break up a no-hitter in a 1-0 game when it made sense to bunt.  I don't recall if anyone threw at Davis, but Schilling went off about the "unwritten rules".  GTFO with that.

 

Flip the bat all you want.  Cross home plate by walking on your hands if you want.  Who cares.  If you're that upset about being shown up, then just do the same when you strike out the batter.  This macho stuff is lame and sucks the fun out of it.

[McCall]

It seems like there has been quite a few instances of batters hitting catchers with backswings this year. This isn't intentionally hitting someone after they hit a home run of you (Which is nothing more than an ego thing and I'm against that. If they take you yard, they've earned the right to celebrate. Only issue is when they're getting blown out and they act like they just hit a walk-off. And even then it's just sad, not getting hit-worthy). He literally knocked the catcher out of the game. And yes they hugged it out because they used to be teammates. Plus, it's not like he threw a heater at his head or upper back. He basically floated one in at his butt. And to Happ's credit, he understood and took his base. No staring him down or arguing. The Cubs dugout didn't even complain at that point. It really would've been just a "it happened, they 'retaliated' and now it's over situation" if the umpire's hadn't decided to interject themselves in more than they needed to.  A warning was the most that was warranted.

[Sec19Row53]

10 hours ago, Cujo said:

Someone wanna tell me why we still have shytehead boomers around who think intentionally throwing at players should go unpunished?

 

 

[Declaration of fandom - Brewers. I cheerfully root for a comet when the Cubs and Cards play :-)]

 

I think the vitriol in this case ought to be directed at the umpiring crew for choosing to toss Mikolas. Happ got plunked after Mikolas probably sent an 'I'm not happy' message on the previous pitch. Given his ability to locate the plunking on his backside, I think Happ recognized that this wasn't anything to get worked up over.

[BBTV]

I don't get intentionally  hitting someone when it's a close game, since the hit-player could score if there's a HR or even just a series of hits.

 

There's two outs in this case, but i'm sure this happens when there's 0 or 1 outs too.

[McCall]

1 hour ago, BBTV said:

I don't get intentionally  hitting someone when it's a close game, since the hit-player could score if there's a HR or even just a series of hits.

 

There's two outs in this case, but i'm sure this happens when there's 0 or 1 outs too.

It was literally the top of the first inning.

[Sec19Row53]

3 minutes ago, McCall said:

It was literally the top of the first inning.

I had seen that, but looked at the game summary to see the importance of it.

 

Happ reaching, while he scored, wasn't the issue. The issue was the effect on the Cardinals' pitching for the game.

[McCall]

1 minute ago, Sec19Row53 said:

I had seen that, but looked at the game summary to see the importance of it.

 

Happ reaching, while he scored, wasn't the issue. The issue was the effect on the Cardinals' pitching for the game.

Yes, Mikolas has been pitching very well lately. With him ejected, they had to bring in Dakota Hudson. Completely changes the dynamic.

[Cujo]

4 hours ago, BBTV said:

On purpose?  Or just a backswing?

 

It was a complete accident. Not that it should even matter.

 

If a players wants to take justice into his own hands, while it's crap, that's his decision and deserves an automatic ejection if anything slightly resembles a retaliation tactic. Just like if an NBA player were upset about something an opposing player did and retaliated with a dirty foul. Get him the hell out of the game, no questions.

 

 

1 hour ago, BBTV said:

I don't get intentionally  hitting someone when it's a close game

 

The Cubs eventually trounced the Cards 10-3. STL is trash this season, but it's not a 10-3 score if the Cards' starter don't go out of his way to "send a message".

[Cujo]

2 minutes ago, McCall said:

Yes, Mikolas has been pitching very well lately. With him ejected, they had to bring in Dakota Hudson. Completely changes the dynamic.

 

2 quality starts over his last dozen games is "very well"?

[Sec19Row53]

2 minutes ago, Cujo said:

 

The Cubs eventually trounced the Cards 10-3. STL is trash this season, but it's not a 10-3 score if the Cards' starter don't go out of his way to "send a message".

You typed 'if the umpires don't act clueless about what happened' wrong.

[Cujo]

Just now, Sec19Row53 said:

You typed 'if the umpires don't act clueless about what happened' wrong.

 

Act clueless? They sniffed it out and took immediate action, which almost never happens.

 

What usually happens is umps will give out a few warnings until players get hit with enough pitches an full-blown melee breaks out. For once, hats off to them.

[Sec19Row53]

7 minutes ago, Cujo said:

 

Act clueless? They sniffed it out and took immediate action, which almost never happens.

 

What usually happens is umps will give out a few warnings until players get hit with enough pitches an full-blown melee breaks out. For once, hats off to them.

Had they done nothing, I'll bet nothing more would have happened in this situation. You'll notice the Cubs bench pretty much knew that this was coming, accepted it, chirped, and were willing to move on. It was after the ejection that crap got aggravated.

[McCall]

5 minutes ago, Cujo said:

 

Act clueless? They sniffed it out and took immediate action, which almost never happens.

 

What usually happens is umps will give out a few warnings until players get hit with enough pitches an full-blown melee breaks out. For once, hats off to them.

They could've at most issued warnings and nothing more would've happened. The Cubs never responded until basically laughing at the situation after Mikolas was tossed. Happ took it with no issue. Basically the most casual, non-aggressive retaliation. It was done and over with. The umpires were the ones who decided to make it into something bigger.

[gosioux76]

33 minutes ago, McCall said:

They could've at most issued warnings and nothing more would've happened. The Cubs never responded until basically laughing at the situation after Mikolas was tossed. Happ took it with no issue. Basically the most casual, non-aggressive retaliation. It was done and over with. The umpires were the ones who decided to make it into something bigger.

 

And that's 100% within their right. 

 

The outrage over this seems really overblown. These retaliatory beanings is another one of those sacred cows of baseball that the game doesn't really need. The situation yesterday says to me that MLB — or maybe just this umpiring crew? —  is starting to see it the same way. 

 

I don't disagree that the example here seemed pretty benign, but Mikolas and the Cards could've also exercised better judgement in realizing ejection was a possible outcome of this, to the continued detriment to the team. And if they didn't, they certainly will next time, which is exactly what the league is probably hoping for. 

[Sec19Row53]

19 minutes ago, gosioux76 said:

 

And that's 100% within their right. 

 

The outrage over this seems really overblown. These retaliatory beanings is another one of those sacred cows of baseball that the game doesn't really need. The situation yesterday says to me that MLB — or maybe just this umpiring crew? —  is starting to see it the same way. 

 

I don't disagree that the example here seemed pretty benign, but Mikolas and the Cards could've also exercised better judgement in realizing ejection was a possible outcome of this, to the continued detriment to the team. And if they didn't, they certainly will next time, which is exactly what the league is probably hoping for. 

You make a good point. If this was their decision, it would be best if it were broadcast by MLB to teams, umps, and fans. I'd be totally happy with that outcome. If you're gonna do this, we toss the first guy. Done. If you don't like it, don't do it.

[LMU]

If it takes you two attempts to bean a guy you deserve to get run.

[8BW14]

I’ll toss in my $.02 for what it’s worth (as a Cardinals fan). Did mikolas need to hit Happ? No he did not.  I’m not really sure why he thought he had to hit him. Is Happ known for clipping catchers with the long backswing or something? Mikolas obviously hit him on purpose, but it was about as innocent of an intentional HBP as you’ll see, if there is such a thing. At that point, it was over for both teams. Instead of issuing warnings and moving on, the umpires made a mountain out of a mole hill when they inserted themselves into a situation that had apparently already been resolved. They changed the whole outlook of the game and probably created some bad blood that could spill over into games 2, 3 and 4.