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2011 MLB Season Thread


Gary

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I forgo preseason baseball. Is this weird? I'm enough of an NBA/NHL fan that I have other sports stuff to care about, and watching preseason anything is ungratifying in general because you have the cognitive dissonance of wanting your team to win while knowing that having an effective and productive scrimmage is more important than the outcome. I can't watch the games until they count. When I watch the first game of the year without having spoiled my supper with spring training, it makes me so happy.

Naturally, it follows that I don't follow preseason anything, of course, but nobody cares about the other leagues' preseasons. The NFL's preseason is a running gag, the NBA seems to conduct theirs in secret government bunkers, and much like with All-Star Games, I'm almost insulted that the NHL has the audacity to promote a preseason. Only spring training is romanticized.

I'm inclined to agree. I mean with me, the Ducks are in a playoff race, the Lakers are marching to the playoffs again, and Spring Training is almost the last thing on my mind.

And baseball, unlike most sports, can't be viewed objectively one game at a time. You aren't going to take the stats or a performance from one Spring Training game and make a judgment off of that. Especially because pitchers are pitching one or two innings at a time and still loosening up, and the last three innings are minor league scrubs. And until the last week or so, you may not ever see any of the guys with the big club ever. Back to the judgment though, you take baseball in chunks. So, you only really look at baseball stats at the end of Spring Training and judge a full month of performance. And really, once the season starts, the spring stats won't matter to anybody.

The only preseason I pay attention to is the Ducks preseason, because they are my favorite team of my teams and there are less prospects to kind of learn about. And I'm more likely to eventually see some of them play, or at least be in the mix.

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| ANA | LAA | LAR | LAL | ASU | CSULBUSMNT | USWNTLAFC | OCSCMAN UTD |

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I forgo preseason baseball. Is this weird? I'm enough of an NBA/NHL fan that I have other sports stuff to care about, and watching preseason anything is ungratifying in general because you have the cognitive dissonance of wanting your team to win while knowing that having an effective and productive scrimmage is more important than the outcome. I can't watch the games until they count. When I watch the first game of the year without having spoiled my supper with spring training, it makes me so happy.

Naturally, it follows that I don't follow preseason anything, of course, but nobody cares about the other leagues' preseasons. The NFL's preseason is a running gag, the NBA seems to conduct theirs in secret government bunkers, and much like with All-Star Games, I'm almost insulted that the NHL has the audacity to promote a preseason. Only spring training is romanticized.

I'm inclined to agree. I mean with me, the Ducks are in a playoff race, the Lakers are marching to the playoffs again, and Spring Training is almost the last thing on my mind.

And baseball, unlike most sports, can't be viewed objectively one game at a time. You aren't going to take the stats or a performance from one Spring Training game and make a judgment off of that. Especially because pitchers are pitching one or two innings at a time and still loosening up, and the last three innings are minor league scrubs. And until the last week or so, you may not ever see any of the guys with the big club ever. Back to the judgment though, you take baseball in chunks. So, you only really look at baseball stats at the end of Spring Training and judge a full month of performance. And really, once the season starts, the spring stats won't matter to anybody.

The only preseason I pay attention to is the Ducks preseason, because they are my favorite team of my teams and there are less prospects to kind of learn about. And I'm more likely to eventually see some of them play, or at least be in the mix.

I'll tune in for an inning or two or bounce back and forth, but I can't sit through an entire Spring Training game. Hell, I can't sit through one when I'm in Florida and it's happening right in front of me.

 

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I forgo preseason baseball. Is this weird? I'm enough of an NBA/NHL fan that I have other sports stuff to care about, and watching preseason anything is ungratifying in general because you have the cognitive dissonance of wanting your team to win while knowing that having an effective and productive scrimmage is more important than the outcome. I can't watch the games until they count. When I watch the first game of the year without having spoiled my supper with spring training, it makes me so happy.

Naturally, it follows that I don't follow preseason anything, of course, but nobody cares about the other leagues' preseasons. The NFL's preseason is a running gag, the NBA seems to conduct theirs in secret government bunkers, and much like with All-Star Games, I'm almost insulted that the NHL has the audacity to promote a preseason. Only spring training is romanticized.

I'm inclined to agree. I mean with me, the Ducks are in a playoff race, the Lakers are marching to the playoffs again, and Spring Training is almost the last thing on my mind.

And baseball, unlike most sports, can't be viewed objectively one game at a time. You aren't going to take the stats or a performance from one Spring Training game and make a judgment off of that. Especially because pitchers are pitching one or two innings at a time and still loosening up, and the last three innings are minor league scrubs. And until the last week or so, you may not ever see any of the guys with the big club ever. Back to the judgment though, you take baseball in chunks. So, you only really look at baseball stats at the end of Spring Training and judge a full month of performance. And really, once the season starts, the spring stats won't matter to anybody.

The only preseason I pay attention to is the Ducks preseason, because they are my favorite team of my teams and there are less prospects to kind of learn about. And I'm more likely to eventually see some of them play, or at least be in the mix.

I'll tune in for an inning or two or bounce back and forth, but I can't sit through an entire Spring Training game. Hell, I can't sit through one when I'm in Florida and it's happening right in front of me.

Agreed, exhibition games in any sport can't be taken seriously. (I'd even argue that basketball's and hockey's regular seasons aren't all that interesting either.) But baseball's fake games are the most fun. Three-fourths of the fun is the anachronism of it all -- back home my driveway is waiting to be shoveled off, it's the fifth month of winter and we're still two months away from leaves even budding on the trees, but I'm at a ballgame, and I'm in shorts and a t-shirt and sitting in the sun sweating and drinking a beer, and the PA announcer tells us the temp back home and we all moan and groan and laugh. For those three hours, it feels like July. Sure, it's not great baseball -- the vendors mean it when they say you can't tell the players without a program -- but I don't care.

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I know we won't know until July, but I wonder whether the roof at Chase Field will be open or closed for the All-Star Game. Despite the popular catchphase, summers do get humid, and July is one of the most muggiest months of the year in the Valley of the Sun.

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I know we won't know until July, but I wonder whether the roof at Chase Field will be open or closed for the All-Star Game. Despite the popular catchphase, summers do get humid, and July is one of the most muggiest months of the year in the Valley of the Sun.

That has to be uncomfortable. They should close the roof.

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Isn't Phoenix in a desert?

I always thougt it was dry arid heat there with little or no humidity.

Arizona has the monsoon, in which the weather patters changes, and we get thunderstorms.

The Valley of the Sun gets a tad humid during the monsoon.

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I think the way it is now is if it's not a regular season game, it's up to MLB, and they pretty reliably decide "closed."

I went to the game in Houston in 04 and the roof was open until after sunset. They decided to open the roof around about the 7th inning, there was a slight delay, but not too bad.

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On 11/19/2012 at 7:23 PM, oldschoolvikings said:
She’s still half convinced “Chris Creamer” is a porn site.)
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a's could be sleeper team in west, so could the angels

As an Angels' fan, I'm way more concerned with the A's than I am Texas this year.

Keep thinking that as your team approaches an average age of 60. But hey... Vernon Wells! That's spending wisely AND getting younger. LOL

You mean like Adrian Beltre?

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Perhaps this is just because of how terrible the Halos' outfield was last year, but I'm stoked to have Vernon in left, contract aside. He's a 3-time gold glover moving from CF, where he's honestly not an asset at this point in his career. On top of that, he gets to play on grass every day, rather than turf. I'm sure there's a difference over 81 games in a year. In center, there's a guy who can cover a crapload of ground, again benefitting Vernon Wells.

Plus, he keeps Bobby Abreu at DH (and moved Juan Rivera to Canada)

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Oakland isn't just going to be good this season, they're probably going to be scary good.

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On 11/19/2012 at 7:23 PM, oldschoolvikings said:
She’s still half convinced “Chris Creamer” is a porn site.)
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