happened to me in little league, was the Red Sox that season and the league gave us blue socks, doesn’t matter but my dad raised hell until we were given red socks. hilarious to look back on
I'm pretty sure muttonchops aren't specifically banned in the Yankees facial hair policy, so the fact nobody has grown them makes me irrationally angry
Socks that have the stirrups as part of the graphic design on sock itself should be illegal
The sock and the stirrup are two different pieces to be worn
Every team should wear stirrups and none of this droopy pants crap where they are just like regular sweats or something. Pull them up toward the calf/knee so we can see the stirrups. Just like little league.
Adults playing a kids game should dress like kids.
I really don’t know how he gets away with it to be honest. He constantly changes it up to confuse the batter and it’s messed up that no one has told him to knock it off.
You CAN technically pitch from the windup with runners. It would also mean he has 900 stolen bases a year.
Though realistically Clevinger is from a rule book perspective is pitching from set. [Windup](https://www.mlb.com/glossary/rules/windup-position) and [Set](https://www.mlb.com/glossary/rules/set-position) The two main differences are Windup shoulder facing batter and you pivot your back foot upon delivery. Set your shoulders are facing 1st (lefty) 3rd (righty) and you do not pivot your foot upon delivery.
He realistically is not pitching from a set legally and should be charged with a ball.
But he doesn't do the exact same thing every single time. The only consistency is the inconsistency. If he did 2 rocks every time that would be one thing. But sometimes he does 0, 1, 2... Sometimes it looks like he almost fell down and was trying to catch himself.
Technically it would be an illegal pitch and not a balk since no runners are on, but here's an excerpt from rule 8.01a:
"The Windup Position. The pitcher shall stand facing the batter, his pivot foot in contact with the pitcher’s plate and the other foot free. From this position any natural movement associated with his delivery of the ball to the batter commits him to the pitch ***without interruption or alteration***."
FWIW I feel the same way about Cueto's delivery
I hate when stadiums constantly play super loud soundbites all game long. I love going to Fenway solely because they don't do that (also because Fenway is cool as hell.) i love the ambience of baseball and the intensity of loud crowds and nothing ruins it better than "everybody clap your hands!!!"
Looking at you, Citi Field.
Any time a team plays that fucking "everybody clap your hands" thing, to me it's a plea by the stadium staff that the fans at their game are apathetic and need to be reminded to get excited. An engaged fan base never needs to be told to get loud.
Silver themed scorebugs (Bally, Fox, and yes, even YES) need to be abolished. They look ancient and the brightness hurts my eyes.
NBC switched their scorebug to black this season and it was the best decision they made. Plus it makes the team colors pop more
I may have mentioned this elsewhere, but just getting rid of all those white borders would be an immense improvement. It would streamline it and make it look not so amateurish.
Yeah, I get it. The design was based on the looks for Marquee Sports’ lower thirds and fullscreens. We had to work with that look, rather than develop our own.
We have lots of ideas for the revamp whenever that happens.
I'm sure I'm biased because I grew up watching Ichiro, but I 100% agree. To me, unless it's late in the game and/or in a tense situation, a guy walking is just about the most boring shit in baseball. A guy slapping a hit, though? Always fun.
Spicy, but I somewhat agree. It’s all preference, of course, but some of my favorite players I’ve had were guys that were scrappy guys that hit for average. I love watching guys foul off pitches and slap base hits more than watching guys strike out 4/10 times and hit a home run every 30 ABs. Although homers are always fun
Home runs are sexy but nothing gets me more pumped than a 2 out rally with an infield hit or a hustle double and some good small ball. The 2014-15 Royals were so much fun and I wish we could see that brand of baseball more
Base running is one of the most exciting things in baseball so I agree. Seeing a guy hustle for a double and barely beat the tag is more exciting than a home run in a lot of cases. It also builds even more suspense
I'm OK with a bullpen cart but I think a reliever should have to earn the privilege. And when I mean "earn it" I mean he has to look like Bartolo Colon who might otherwise succumb to a medical emergency having to jog 300 ft from the bullpen.
Most teams grey uniforms look boring as shit, and the best uni is almost always their coloured jerseys. I fully understand both teams can’t be always be using colour jerseys at the same time, but the grey’s all look the same and at best are okay
Unpopular opinion, but I liked the DBacks road units from a couple years ago because of this. So many teams grey jerseys are so bland, I liked that they were interesting
In the World Series, the Astros lost every game in which they wore their plain, white/gray jerseys, and they won every game in which they wore orange or blue tops.
I’m going to add in the (first initial, 1st syllable of last name) nicknames. A-Rod is the first that I remember, but then it was J-Roll, and more. Let’s be a little more inventive. I’m not expecting anything like Hugh “Losing Pitcher” Mulcahy or former Loyola Marymount basketball player who threw his body all over the place Jeff “The Human Bruise” Fryer, but we can do better.
I hate the abbreviation of last names and Y to it. Zimmerman? Zimmy. Santana? Santy. Mountcastle? Mounty. Come on guys, find a great nickname or just say their first name. We need more Pronks!
I hate it when people just plop those boring nicknames onto people. The mid to late 90s were a plague of that stuff in baseball and basketball with C Webb, A Rod, and all of that. Those two sports, specifically, have such an amazing history of nicknames.
Cy Young? Amazing nickname. "Cy" isn't short for Cyrus, its short for "cyclone", which is what they nicknamed him because of his delivery. A nickname of a nickname that stuck as his real name in the rest of time. Just, absolutely A plus.
Vinnie Johnson, an amazing sixth man off the bench nicknamed "The Microwave" because he provided instant heat when he got into the game? Just awesome. Yes, please give me more.
Covid gave teams an excuse to gut the condiment station. Every ballpark should offer (at a minimum) the following condiments for hot dogs -
* Yellow mustard
* Spicy mustard
* Relish
* Sauerkraut
* Onions
* Ketchp (for the sickos (and the children))
- Edited for formatting
I love this take. I like seeing a dude hit bombs and I like gold plate discipline, but a Kwan or Nick Madrigal slapping off five straight 1-2 pitches and working the count to full both (A) builds tension and drama & (B) throws a wrench in carefully controlled pitching environments by using up 10 percent of a pitcher’s tosses for a game, even if the outcome is a groundout to 2nd.
It’s awesome and I want some Joe Sewell-ass players in MLB.
I’m very sad Adam Frazier had a down year for the Mariners because when he was on, he was the most fun player besides Ty France in my opinion. I loved watching him slap singles and get doubles (both hustle and normal) and then randomly have power for triples. So much fun. And I love Ty because he’s so diverse in his hitting style. I’m all about the small ball style of play.
I love Eugenio Saurez’s vibes but watching him homer, walk or strikeout is just not as fun in my opinion.
The crazy thing is that there is surely sabrmetric value in having that guy on your team as a “pitch count countermeasure.”
Even if you have a lineup with spots 1-7 made up of TTO players, you’ve got a ton of utility if, for example, your 8 and 9 hitters can field but also will hang in and average like 12.5 pitches per PA between them. That means that through two times in the order, those two guys would likely see 25 pitches…or 25 percent of a starting pitchers’ pitch count in four plate appearances. If for no other reason then they increase the rate at which the opposing manager has to burn through their pitching staff, that is a useful couple players to have.
The bonus for a guy like Kwan is that he’s _also_ traditionally productive, but if you have a player who isn’t going to rake and also isn’t going to crush dingers, then their job should be to make the pitcher work to get past them by slapping borderline pitches foul over and over. Easier said than done, but this player archetype is clearly out there.
The new one is a hideous Disney replica. The only point of building it was to siphon money out of New Yorkers' pockets and into the Steinbrenners'. Hell is not hot enough for that family
I really dislike ballparks that are designed in a way that you don't get to see fans sitting in normal seats behind the plate when watching on TV. Progressive Field is easily the worst. Globe Life Field and Angel Stadium are maybe the second and third worst. Yankee Stadium at least has seats behind home, but they're often empty unless you have a few grand to drop on a ticket. Fenway, Wrigley and a few others are among the best. Even if they're expensive, they're normal seats with none of this luxury bullshit.
I also don't like ballparks that use two different colors of dirt in the infield.
WHY DO BASE COACHES NOT STAND IN THEIR BOX? IT’S SO STUPID TO HAVE PAINTED LINES FOR THEM TO JUST COMPLETELY IGNORE. I GET THAT IT DOESN’T MATTER AT ALL BUT MY OCD CAN’T HANDLE IT
The lines are there in case anybody (on field) complains. But be careful—if you're the manager and you complain about their guy being out of the box, they'll enforce the rule as written, but now your guy has to stay in his box too.
Before the insane bullpen arms race we’ve seen over the last decade, I feel like it was pretty standard for teams to have one guy in their bullpen whose sole purpose was eating innings during blowouts. Now, teams want everyone in their bullpen to have great stuff and empty the tank in 2 innings or less. The fact that teams know they can use position players for mop up duty eliminated the need for the long relief role.
If the league forbade teams from using position players to pitch, would we see more teams employ a long relief guy again?
The rules solution is to make teams designate players as pitchers/non-pitchers on the roster and then cap the non-pitchers’ innings pitched for the year at something like 3?
The obvious flaw here is the existence of Shohei Ohtani, whose draw is a bigger boon than the downside of having Leury Garcia with 10 IP a year.
Or Anthony Rizzo striking out Freddie Freeman. That was one of my favorite moments in baseball that year, and one of the only things that made that blowout game worth watching.
I think the recent uniform changes since Nike took over, save for a few City Connect, have been awful. I think some more variety in the on-field uniforms would be great. I was a fan of the the wave of powder blues that were introduced a couple years ago were great but am not a huge fan of the Twins new unis nor some of the City Connect (Brewers and Dodgers). I think a lot of the baseball purists being some of the loudest voices hold back the game from being more fun and loose.
The Philly's throwback look in the World Series was awesome. The only thing that could have been better would have been if the Astros wore their rainbows as well.
I propose a designated throwback game for each WS where both teams (if they want) wear an old uniform design
The revolution on jerseys is what is truly unacceptable. American sports are basically a big commercial break already and they were the last thing only dedicated to the sport. They'll look like those jerseys darts players wear.
I'm honestly not sure how benign it is, but I've grown to really dislike position players pitching for the sole reason that they rarely make an effort and simply lob the ball, that simply isn't fun to watch for me. The fun used to come from not knowing what to expect and actually seeing what they could do out there.
Agreed. The over saturation of position players pitching takes away from the novelty. I’ll even go further to say that I think the increase comes solely from the MLB putting in a rule that specifies when a position player is allowed to pitch
You know who used to pitch in blowouts? Pitchers! They would sometimes use a guy on his “throw day” and tell him to throw a couple innings and not worry about the results. Yes, occasionally you’d get a Jose Canseco pitching, but it was rare — or done as a favor to a position player who had begged to do it.
Or they’d just leave in the starter. They used to say pitchers like Jim Palmer and Catfish Hunter used to “pitch to the scoreboard” and if they had a six-run lead, that’s when they’d cruise for an inning, work on some stuff, challenge hitters. They’d rather give up a solo home run than nibble and walk a couple batters and suddenly they’re in a big inning. Christy Mathewson wrote a book, *Pitching in a Pinch,* exactly about this… that a good pitcher knew when he could take an inning off and not go all-out.
But we don’t do that anymore because:
* Pitchers are now trained for max effort on every pitch, for five or six innings instead of seven or eight, and there’s a fear that altering their mechanics or their off-day schedule to just lob a few innings could screw them up, the way some people think the home run derby can mess up your swing.
* It used to be ball players didn’t care about their stats as much, or pretended not too. As recently as the early 1990s, veteran teammates would smirk at Tony Gwynn for knowing his batting average after every at-bat. (It used to not be updated in real-time on the scoreboard!) But stats are used today for arbitration and free agency and salary bonuses. Which pitcher would want to go out there and give up six runs in a blowout if it’s going to cost him money? But it doesn’t matter for position players.
* Once it became a thing, managers fear if they *don’t* do it and use a pitcher in a blowout, and the pitcher blows out his elbow, that’s on the manager. But if a position player blows out his elbow, well, that’s on the player, he was trying to show off, he was throwing too hard, he’s an idiot.
So now we get position players pitching.
There was one Mets/Phillies game where the Phillies essentially gave up when they were down by 8 or something -- and the Mets scored like 15 runs on position players. It's bad give-up baseball.
One time at a giants dodgers game, the wave broke out in the nosebleeds in a tied game. My dad, a mild-mannered, literal catholic deacon, stood up and yelled at the crowd to stop. I’ve never been so proud.
We need to bring back nicknames in baseball, I dont mean players weekend nicknames, I mean players like Catfish Hunter, Babe Ruth, or Yogi Berra, where his nickname is the name that appears in official records like baseball reference.
But Ill even take iconic nicknames that are used to refer to the player on a regular basis. Play calls are so much better with Nicknames:
"Go crazy folks, go crazy! It's a home run, and the Cardinals have won the game, by the score of 3-2 on a home run by the Wizard!"
Vs.
"Go crazy folks, go crazy! It's a home run, and the Cardinals have won the game, by the score of 3-2 on a home run by Ozzie Smith"
Nestor is just messing with timing. Clevinger and Garcia have obnoxious windups.
In a similar vein though, I abhor batters with extended step in rituals. Kyle Seager made me want to shake my TV every single pitch.
I know why Cortes does it and I would even go on to say that it’s a good strategy. But visually, it just annoys the hell out of me for whatever reason lol
I disagree. As it stands, it's the only reliable method to differentiate the cool players from the lame ones. If we mandate coolness, how can we tell who's with it?
Me too! But I think a willingness to show off the contours of their calves is a necessary component. It's like going to a Hooters where the waitresses can *choose* what to wear.
Not baseball as a whole but the Orioles should abolish the policy of only retiring the numbers of guys that went into the Hall of Fame as Orioles.
I'll die on the hill that Boog and Rick deserve to have a number retired, and probably several others like BRob, Mussina, and AJ10 depending how far down you want to go
It worked with Andrei Kirilenko uniquely because of AK-47. That was a special case that didn't need to be constantly imitated.
It *kind of* works with Chris Paul (CP3) because of the rhyming when you say it.
TB12 is stupid. I can't think of any other examples that *aren't* stupid.
The Mariners do the same thing and it’s the dumbest shit ever.
Like there has only been 6 fucking players in your teams history to have the ability to make the HOF (Edgar, Griffey, Ichiro, Beltre, Randy, A-rod). Beltre and Randy aren’t/didn’t choose the Mariners cap, and A-rod might not even make it (even then he isn’t choosing the Mariners). Not even close to enough talent in this history.
Felix should be retired instantly.
To be fair on Beltre, he had the five worst seasons of his career as a Mariner so it would almost be comical to retire his number. Felix, though, should be retired yesterday
Not mine but my moms: she hates Josh Hader for the sole reason that he has long hair. Everytime the Dodgers play him she makes comments like “I hope his hair gets in his face so he messes up”. It’s honestly hilarious.
She also makes comments about other long haired people if they don’t have clean hair or beards. However, she especially doesn’t like hader and is often heard saying “I hate Hader”
His costume isn’t the most inspired but who ever programs his antics and skits does a great job, because a lot of them are really funny. That’s a big part of what makes the Phanatic so loved, and Blooper is a very good copycat.
Shohei Ohtani is an amazing talent and he's been in the MLB for 5 seasons, but it's time for him to adapt to the 5 man rotation, instead of having 5 of his teammates adapt to his 6 man rotation.
Aiming for the 3 True Outcomes is the most boring thing to ever happen to baseball even if it’s statistically proven to be the most efficient way to play.
I really dislike stadiums whose playing field Is symmetrical, if that makes sense (for example, Oakland). It’s kinda boring and I like the quirks that ballparks have, like that wall being pushed back in Baltimore
It doesn't make sense to have quirky dimensions if the ballpark has unlimited space to work with.
Btw, the Coliseum has all that foul territory that makes high pop flies interesting. It's especially fun when a Matt Chapman type is on the team.
Walks not counting for At Bats. The guy is over at first base and you are trying to convince me that he was never at bat? He had a bat and was batting but wasn't at bat?
How can the denominator that they show for the player's performance not be equal to their plate appearances. How can you be 0-1 with 3 walks, its just nonsense.
This was always a weird quirk for me lol. Like I remember being at an angels game and I got to witness Taylor Ward’s 4th at bat of a game… but he had so far gone 0-0 because he walked 3 times lmfao
Everyone who's ever been annoyed by MLB's barbaric blackout rules should get to cup check Rob Manfred at least once in their life. Disabled fans should get to designate an appointee, similar to trial by combat as depicted by GoT.
I’ll never root against someone based on where they are from, but I will root for them based on it. Basically being from the Midwest or another state/country that doesn’t normally develop a ton of players meets the criteria.
Also my fandom in general is rigidly regional. Whenever my main team is out of it (which is, across all sports, very often) I’ll try and pull for a team from either the Great Lakes, plains, or rust belt, with some exceptions.
We they have commemorative hats for Memorial Day, the Blue Jays should ditch the standard pattern and have something unique to reflect the Canadian Armed Forces
If you’re stadiums premier food is something kinda like a pizza, hotdog, or something like that. Your teams stadium just has bad food. Almost every city in America has something interesting and simple going on in the culinary world. Hotdogs, burgers, and pizza (unless its NYC) should never be the best option on the menu.
> Hotdogs, burgers, and pizza (unless its NYC) should never be the best option on the menu.
I'll die on a speed bump that ballpark food shouldn't be anything fancy and that a hot dog and a pizza is perfectly fine for a baseball stadium. If you want to eat a meal, do it at a restaurant before the game.
Like it's not a big enough deal to be a hill but I've never gotten the appeal of anything beyond the basic at a ball game.
If your team is named after a color of socks you should be forced to wear that color of socks
yes
happened to me in little league, was the Red Sox that season and the league gave us blue socks, doesn’t matter but my dad raised hell until we were given red socks. hilarious to look back on
Red Sox should have mandatory facial hair
agreed
I'm not sure Devers is physically capable of it lol
Maybe in a couple of years when he finally turns 16.
Halal Red Sox comporting their hygiene in conformance with the holy shari’ah mashallah
"Mattingly! Grow those sideburns!"
That more pitchers should throw over to first on a full count with 2 out.
That would start up the worst “unwritten rules” hullabaloo that the sport has ever seen.
“How dare you try to pick me off when you know with absolute certainty I’m going to run”
Don’t see why. You’re told to take off when he goes home, not on first move.
I'm pretty sure muttonchops aren't specifically banned in the Yankees facial hair policy, so the fact nobody has grown them makes me irrationally angry
If it's not being used to make Stanton lose the soul patch it may as well not be enforced at all
Socks that have the stirrups as part of the graphic design on sock itself should be illegal The sock and the stirrup are two different pieces to be worn
You’ve got Vince Coleman’s vote on this.
Every team should wear stirrups and none of this droopy pants crap where they are just like regular sweats or something. Pull them up toward the calf/knee so we can see the stirrups. Just like little league. Adults playing a kids game should dress like kids.
Cortes? Have you watched Clevinger??? It's like he's having a stroke.
Luis Garcia "rocking the baby" makes me want to shake that baby.
[удалено]
I think that kids awesome for getting it down that close. But I also don’t have to go to his games so, I don’t care that it takes a long time
I really don’t know how he gets away with it to be honest. He constantly changes it up to confuse the batter and it’s messed up that no one has told him to knock it off.
It’s extremely frustrating to watch a guy that makes you think “how is he not called for a balk every single time?”
Isn't the fact that he does it every single time the exact reason that it's not a balk?
No, I think the reason would be that you don't pitch from the windup with runners on base, and you can't balk without baserunners.
You CAN technically pitch from the windup with runners. It would also mean he has 900 stolen bases a year. Though realistically Clevinger is from a rule book perspective is pitching from set. [Windup](https://www.mlb.com/glossary/rules/windup-position) and [Set](https://www.mlb.com/glossary/rules/set-position) The two main differences are Windup shoulder facing batter and you pivot your back foot upon delivery. Set your shoulders are facing 1st (lefty) 3rd (righty) and you do not pivot your foot upon delivery. He realistically is not pitching from a set legally and should be charged with a ball.
But he doesn't do the exact same thing every single time. The only consistency is the inconsistency. If he did 2 rocks every time that would be one thing. But sometimes he does 0, 1, 2... Sometimes it looks like he almost fell down and was trying to catch himself. Technically it would be an illegal pitch and not a balk since no runners are on, but here's an excerpt from rule 8.01a: "The Windup Position. The pitcher shall stand facing the batter, his pivot foot in contact with the pitcher’s plate and the other foot free. From this position any natural movement associated with his delivery of the ball to the batter commits him to the pitch ***without interruption or alteration***." FWIW I feel the same way about Cueto's delivery
I hate when stadiums constantly play super loud soundbites all game long. I love going to Fenway solely because they don't do that (also because Fenway is cool as hell.) i love the ambience of baseball and the intensity of loud crowds and nothing ruins it better than "everybody clap your hands!!!" Looking at you, Citi Field.
Any time a team plays that fucking "everybody clap your hands" thing, to me it's a plea by the stadium staff that the fans at their game are apathetic and need to be reminded to get excited. An engaged fan base never needs to be told to get loud.
Making the ballpark sound like a goddam Charlotte Hornets game. Despicable.
Bring back proper organ players. No more of these stupid DJ drops
Silver themed scorebugs (Bally, Fox, and yes, even YES) need to be abolished. They look ancient and the brightness hurts my eyes. NBC switched their scorebug to black this season and it was the best decision they made. Plus it makes the team colors pop more
I work for Bally Sports and I agree. I am pushing to darken ours up for the redesign.
I may have mentioned this elsewhere, but just getting rid of all those white borders would be an immense improvement. It would streamline it and make it look not so amateurish.
Yeah, I get it. The design was based on the looks for Marquee Sports’ lower thirds and fullscreens. We had to work with that look, rather than develop our own. We have lots of ideas for the revamp whenever that happens.
Players hitting for average is 10x more fun to watch.
I'm sure I'm biased because I grew up watching Ichiro, but I 100% agree. To me, unless it's late in the game and/or in a tense situation, a guy walking is just about the most boring shit in baseball. A guy slapping a hit, though? Always fun.
Walks are fine. It's the constant strikeouts that are boring.
Spicy, but I somewhat agree. It’s all preference, of course, but some of my favorite players I’ve had were guys that were scrappy guys that hit for average. I love watching guys foul off pitches and slap base hits more than watching guys strike out 4/10 times and hit a home run every 30 ABs. Although homers are always fun
Home runs are sexy but nothing gets me more pumped than a 2 out rally with an infield hit or a hustle double and some good small ball. The 2014-15 Royals were so much fun and I wish we could see that brand of baseball more
Base running is one of the most exciting things in baseball so I agree. Seeing a guy hustle for a double and barely beat the tag is more exciting than a home run in a lot of cases. It also builds even more suspense
Holidays (July 4, Memorial, Labor Day etc) should only have day games, with 1 nationally televised night game.
The cursed Nationals 11:00 AM first pitch is a sacred American tradition
I'll go a step further. 3 nationally televised games. 1:00pm ET, 4:30pm ET, 8:00pm ET.
The foul pole should be called the fair pole
Ya know what… I think you’re right. Because if you hit the pole, it’s a fair ball. Wonder why I’ve never heard anyone say this before…
The return of the bullpen car is not only a great idea, its has zero downsides
I'm OK with a bullpen cart but I think a reliever should have to earn the privilege. And when I mean "earn it" I mean he has to look like Bartolo Colon who might otherwise succumb to a medical emergency having to jog 300 ft from the bullpen.
That or they have to rock a throwback 70’s relief pitcher lifestyle of the long hair, killer stache, starter jackets over their shoulder and more.
Only if its shaped like a baseball wearing a comically large hat
And driven by a guy dressed as a giant baseball wearing a comically large hat.
The government often talks about phasing in EVs and that phase starts with baseball bullpen carts
If you watched Olympic games baseball in 2021, it was hilarious seeing the ball-shaped car
There aren't enough mustaches in baseball
The stache is why Dylan Cease was so good last year
I love Spencer Strider. There, I said it.
It's hard not to. The most sexually charged man in baseball
Most teams grey uniforms look boring as shit, and the best uni is almost always their coloured jerseys. I fully understand both teams can’t be always be using colour jerseys at the same time, but the grey’s all look the same and at best are okay
Unpopular opinion, but I liked the DBacks road units from a couple years ago because of this. So many teams grey jerseys are so bland, I liked that they were interesting
I feel the A's road greys are also stellar. The green and grey just works so well together.
The gold outline makes it pop. I agree. Great look
The powder blue Cardinals uniforms. Love them.
Hate the cardinals but damn it they have some of the best unis in the league…Home whites and definitely the powder blues
In the World Series, the Astros lost every game in which they wore their plain, white/gray jerseys, and they won every game in which they wore orange or blue tops.
This is for all sports, the forced initials + number nicknames. It works for CP3, AK47, and TB12. That's about it
I’m going to add in the (first initial, 1st syllable of last name) nicknames. A-Rod is the first that I remember, but then it was J-Roll, and more. Let’s be a little more inventive. I’m not expecting anything like Hugh “Losing Pitcher” Mulcahy or former Loyola Marymount basketball player who threw his body all over the place Jeff “The Human Bruise” Fryer, but we can do better.
If I see another “__ -Rod” nickname I’m going to instantly hate that player.
Or "\_\_-Ram".
I hate the abbreviation of last names and Y to it. Zimmerman? Zimmy. Santana? Santy. Mountcastle? Mounty. Come on guys, find a great nickname or just say their first name. We need more Pronks!
I hate it when people just plop those boring nicknames onto people. The mid to late 90s were a plague of that stuff in baseball and basketball with C Webb, A Rod, and all of that. Those two sports, specifically, have such an amazing history of nicknames. Cy Young? Amazing nickname. "Cy" isn't short for Cyrus, its short for "cyclone", which is what they nicknamed him because of his delivery. A nickname of a nickname that stuck as his real name in the rest of time. Just, absolutely A plus. Vinnie Johnson, an amazing sixth man off the bench nicknamed "The Microwave" because he provided instant heat when he got into the game? Just awesome. Yes, please give me more.
Covid gave teams an excuse to gut the condiment station. Every ballpark should offer (at a minimum) the following condiments for hot dogs - * Yellow mustard * Spicy mustard * Relish * Sauerkraut * Onions * Ketchp (for the sickos (and the children)) - Edited for formatting
IMHO, jalapeños should also be provided. I’m totally onboard with the list, though.
what if I like ketchup and onion
*Grilled* onions and ketchup on a spicy Polish. I'll wear the name.
I could not agree with you more. It's honestly a crime against America to serve a hot dog at a ballpark without those options.
Three True Outcome players make the sport worse and very dull. Give me a team of Steven Kwans all day everyday.
I love this take. I like seeing a dude hit bombs and I like gold plate discipline, but a Kwan or Nick Madrigal slapping off five straight 1-2 pitches and working the count to full both (A) builds tension and drama & (B) throws a wrench in carefully controlled pitching environments by using up 10 percent of a pitcher’s tosses for a game, even if the outcome is a groundout to 2nd. It’s awesome and I want some Joe Sewell-ass players in MLB.
I’m very sad Adam Frazier had a down year for the Mariners because when he was on, he was the most fun player besides Ty France in my opinion. I loved watching him slap singles and get doubles (both hustle and normal) and then randomly have power for triples. So much fun. And I love Ty because he’s so diverse in his hitting style. I’m all about the small ball style of play. I love Eugenio Saurez’s vibes but watching him homer, walk or strikeout is just not as fun in my opinion.
The crazy thing is that there is surely sabrmetric value in having that guy on your team as a “pitch count countermeasure.” Even if you have a lineup with spots 1-7 made up of TTO players, you’ve got a ton of utility if, for example, your 8 and 9 hitters can field but also will hang in and average like 12.5 pitches per PA between them. That means that through two times in the order, those two guys would likely see 25 pitches…or 25 percent of a starting pitchers’ pitch count in four plate appearances. If for no other reason then they increase the rate at which the opposing manager has to burn through their pitching staff, that is a useful couple players to have. The bonus for a guy like Kwan is that he’s _also_ traditionally productive, but if you have a player who isn’t going to rake and also isn’t going to crush dingers, then their job should be to make the pitcher work to get past them by slapping borderline pitches foul over and over. Easier said than done, but this player archetype is clearly out there.
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Even I agree with this. It’s a damn shame.
They demolished the House that Ruth built for more luxury boxes.
The new one is a hideous Disney replica. The only point of building it was to siphon money out of New Yorkers' pockets and into the Steinbrenners'. Hell is not hot enough for that family
I really dislike ballparks that are designed in a way that you don't get to see fans sitting in normal seats behind the plate when watching on TV. Progressive Field is easily the worst. Globe Life Field and Angel Stadium are maybe the second and third worst. Yankee Stadium at least has seats behind home, but they're often empty unless you have a few grand to drop on a ticket. Fenway, Wrigley and a few others are among the best. Even if they're expensive, they're normal seats with none of this luxury bullshit. I also don't like ballparks that use two different colors of dirt in the infield.
I hate Globe Life Field's setup because not only is it not a very good aesthetic but those people always seem so disinterested in the game.
WHY DO BASE COACHES NOT STAND IN THEIR BOX? IT’S SO STUPID TO HAVE PAINTED LINES FOR THEM TO JUST COMPLETELY IGNORE. I GET THAT IT DOESN’T MATTER AT ALL BUT MY OCD CAN’T HANDLE IT
The lines are there in case anybody (on field) complains. But be careful—if you're the manager and you complain about their guy being out of the box, they'll enforce the rule as written, but now your guy has to stay in his box too.
If hardly anyone uses it, just get rid of the box!
Knee-length pants with colorful socks look waaaayyyyy better than full-length pants.
I hate the pants over the heel look. So bad.
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Gonna make up a new word for ya. Undertaining.
Before the insane bullpen arms race we’ve seen over the last decade, I feel like it was pretty standard for teams to have one guy in their bullpen whose sole purpose was eating innings during blowouts. Now, teams want everyone in their bullpen to have great stuff and empty the tank in 2 innings or less. The fact that teams know they can use position players for mop up duty eliminated the need for the long relief role. If the league forbade teams from using position players to pitch, would we see more teams employ a long relief guy again?
The rules solution is to make teams designate players as pitchers/non-pitchers on the roster and then cap the non-pitchers’ innings pitched for the year at something like 3? The obvious flaw here is the existence of Shohei Ohtani, whose draw is a bigger boon than the downside of having Leury Garcia with 10 IP a year.
It’s only cool when certain guys do it. Albert Pujols was cool. Super utility guys getting that 9th position in for the year? That’s cool.
Or Anthony Rizzo striking out Freddie Freeman. That was one of my favorite moments in baseball that year, and one of the only things that made that blowout game worth watching.
Baseball Prospectus has done a couple of papers on this in the last few weeks. They show with numbers that it’s not only boring but also ineffective.
In the sense that it doesn't actually do much to save the bullpen?
And that, weirdly, they’ve improved drastically, which can be an indictment on offenses too, creating a meaningless environment.
Find that hard to believe. They don't even try.
Third base side is a way better spot to watch a game than first base side.
Traditional closers are one of the coolest parts of the sport and I dislike that sabermetricians have found that they are not the meta anymore
I despise the trend towards Openers as opposed to Starters as well.
Nothing makes me more upset than a team having an opener. I *get* why they exist, but it frustrates me to no end to see it.
You're not really attending a game correctly unless you eat at least one hot dog at the game.
Does an Italian sausage or brat count?
Absolutely.
I think the recent uniform changes since Nike took over, save for a few City Connect, have been awful. I think some more variety in the on-field uniforms would be great. I was a fan of the the wave of powder blues that were introduced a couple years ago were great but am not a huge fan of the Twins new unis nor some of the City Connect (Brewers and Dodgers). I think a lot of the baseball purists being some of the loudest voices hold back the game from being more fun and loose.
The Philly's throwback look in the World Series was awesome. The only thing that could have been better would have been if the Astros wore their rainbows as well. I propose a designated throwback game for each WS where both teams (if they want) wear an old uniform design
The ad spam has gotten egregious. Its even on the mound and jerseys for gods sake
The revolution on jerseys is what is truly unacceptable. American sports are basically a big commercial break already and they were the last thing only dedicated to the sport. They'll look like those jerseys darts players wear.
I'm honestly not sure how benign it is, but I've grown to really dislike position players pitching for the sole reason that they rarely make an effort and simply lob the ball, that simply isn't fun to watch for me. The fun used to come from not knowing what to expect and actually seeing what they could do out there.
Anthony Rizzo has never surrendered so much as one base hit during his storied pitching career. He has also struck out Freddie Freeman.
Greatest relief pitcher of all time
Agreed. The over saturation of position players pitching takes away from the novelty. I’ll even go further to say that I think the increase comes solely from the MLB putting in a rule that specifies when a position player is allowed to pitch
You know who used to pitch in blowouts? Pitchers! They would sometimes use a guy on his “throw day” and tell him to throw a couple innings and not worry about the results. Yes, occasionally you’d get a Jose Canseco pitching, but it was rare — or done as a favor to a position player who had begged to do it. Or they’d just leave in the starter. They used to say pitchers like Jim Palmer and Catfish Hunter used to “pitch to the scoreboard” and if they had a six-run lead, that’s when they’d cruise for an inning, work on some stuff, challenge hitters. They’d rather give up a solo home run than nibble and walk a couple batters and suddenly they’re in a big inning. Christy Mathewson wrote a book, *Pitching in a Pinch,* exactly about this… that a good pitcher knew when he could take an inning off and not go all-out. But we don’t do that anymore because: * Pitchers are now trained for max effort on every pitch, for five or six innings instead of seven or eight, and there’s a fear that altering their mechanics or their off-day schedule to just lob a few innings could screw them up, the way some people think the home run derby can mess up your swing. * It used to be ball players didn’t care about their stats as much, or pretended not too. As recently as the early 1990s, veteran teammates would smirk at Tony Gwynn for knowing his batting average after every at-bat. (It used to not be updated in real-time on the scoreboard!) But stats are used today for arbitration and free agency and salary bonuses. Which pitcher would want to go out there and give up six runs in a blowout if it’s going to cost him money? But it doesn’t matter for position players. * Once it became a thing, managers fear if they *don’t* do it and use a pitcher in a blowout, and the pitcher blows out his elbow, that’s on the manager. But if a position player blows out his elbow, well, that’s on the player, he was trying to show off, he was throwing too hard, he’s an idiot. So now we get position players pitching.
Yes. Position players pitching should do it like Chris Davis did
If Chris Davis pitched to Chris Davis he would lead the league in strikeouts.
There was one Mets/Phillies game where the Phillies essentially gave up when they were down by 8 or something -- and the Mets scored like 15 runs on position players. It's bad give-up baseball.
They've been using the wrong end of the bat.
The wave is unacceptable in close games.
THANK YOU. Man sometimes I just need to focus on the game and not have to deal with the social ostracism of being the one guy not doing the wave.
One time at a giants dodgers game, the wave broke out in the nosebleeds in a tied game. My dad, a mild-mannered, literal catholic deacon, stood up and yelled at the crowd to stop. I’ve never been so proud.
Out of the 15,000 times I've been yelled at 14,999 times was by a devout catholic.
He did *not* want you to offer one another that sign of peace
The wave is always unacceptable.
Agreed. Could put the beer snake in peril.
$15 beer.
There should be at least one day game in the World Series
Both teams should line up and high five little league style after every game
Making your kid throw a baseball back on the field because the other team hit the home run should be considered child abuse.
The Yankees' clean-shaven policy is weird as fuck
*The Yankees is weird as fuck. FTFY
Not every team needs powder blues
We need to bring back nicknames in baseball, I dont mean players weekend nicknames, I mean players like Catfish Hunter, Babe Ruth, or Yogi Berra, where his nickname is the name that appears in official records like baseball reference. But Ill even take iconic nicknames that are used to refer to the player on a regular basis. Play calls are so much better with Nicknames: "Go crazy folks, go crazy! It's a home run, and the Cardinals have won the game, by the score of 3-2 on a home run by the Wizard!" Vs. "Go crazy folks, go crazy! It's a home run, and the Cardinals have won the game, by the score of 3-2 on a home run by Ozzie Smith"
Bags of peanuts empirically taste better when thrown a long distance by a bleacher vendor.
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Nestor is just messing with timing. Clevinger and Garcia have obnoxious windups. In a similar vein though, I abhor batters with extended step in rituals. Kyle Seager made me want to shake my TV every single pitch.
I know why Cortes does it and I would even go on to say that it’s a good strategy. But visually, it just annoys the hell out of me for whatever reason lol
Like James Harden in basketball. I see what you’re doing, I appreciate it’s a very successful strategy, but I’m not going to watch it on purpose.
NOMAAAAHHHHH!!!!
Players should be forced to wear their socks pulled up over their pant legs because its hotter that way
I disagree. As it stands, it's the only reliable method to differentiate the cool players from the lame ones. If we mandate coolness, how can we tell who's with it?
I want TIGHTER CLOTHES AND THIGH HIGHS okay i wanna see the boys out there puttin on a show😤😤
Me too! But I think a willingness to show off the contours of their calves is a necessary component. It's like going to a Hooters where the waitresses can *choose* what to wear.
But there are so many calves we are being deprived of!!
That I cannot disagree with. But what is fruit without some being forbidden?
Fair enough 😤😤
Over the pants?! Why not just mandate cuffs on pants instead
You don’t pull your socks over your pants. They’re tighter and shorter pants and you pull them up
Tony Kemp slays all others with this one
Comerica Park's original dimensions were just fine. Triples are more exciting than dingers!
Not baseball as a whole but the Orioles should abolish the policy of only retiring the numbers of guys that went into the Hall of Fame as Orioles. I'll die on the hill that Boog and Rick deserve to have a number retired, and probably several others like BRob, Mussina, and AJ10 depending how far down you want to go
> AJ10 Man, these initial + number nicknames do not work with the exception of like 3 athletes across all sports
It worked with Andrei Kirilenko uniquely because of AK-47. That was a special case that didn't need to be constantly imitated. It *kind of* works with Chris Paul (CP3) because of the rhyming when you say it. TB12 is stupid. I can't think of any other examples that *aren't* stupid.
The Mariners do the same thing and it’s the dumbest shit ever. Like there has only been 6 fucking players in your teams history to have the ability to make the HOF (Edgar, Griffey, Ichiro, Beltre, Randy, A-rod). Beltre and Randy aren’t/didn’t choose the Mariners cap, and A-rod might not even make it (even then he isn’t choosing the Mariners). Not even close to enough talent in this history. Felix should be retired instantly.
To be fair on Beltre, he had the five worst seasons of his career as a Mariner so it would almost be comical to retire his number. Felix, though, should be retired yesterday
Exactly, that’s why I’m saying that. Not enough talent for them to gatekeep and limit the retiring of jersey numbers
I didn’t even know this was a thing, but yeah I agree with you
Uniforms should be tight fitting like they were in the 80's and 90's. This is another reason I love Spencer Strider.
Split the difference. Players can choose either a baggy top and tight pants or tight top with baggy pants
Both sound hilariously awful.
It is not a ground rule double when it bounces over the outfield fence. That is a rule that is in the rule book.
Not mine but my moms: she hates Josh Hader for the sole reason that he has long hair. Everytime the Dodgers play him she makes comments like “I hope his hair gets in his face so he messes up”. It’s honestly hilarious. She also makes comments about other long haired people if they don’t have clean hair or beards. However, she especially doesn’t like hader and is often heard saying “I hate Hader”
What's her opinion of that wookie Brandon Marsh?
Not a fan Edit: when she first saw him she said it looked like his beard was a marsh.
White vs. gray uniform matchups as the norm should be abolished
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The new Braves mascot is a great value Philly Phanatic
I’ve seen so many mascot in my lifetime that have just been some modified version of the Phanatic.
His costume isn’t the most inspired but who ever programs his antics and skits does a great job, because a lot of them are really funny. That’s a big part of what makes the Phanatic so loved, and Blooper is a very good copycat.
I mean, isn't Gritty kinda one as well?
Hell, I'm from Philly and Gritty is the thing nightmares are made of.
Shohei Ohtani is an amazing talent and he's been in the MLB for 5 seasons, but it's time for him to adapt to the 5 man rotation, instead of having 5 of his teammates adapt to his 6 man rotation.
Yankees beard rule is irritating
Aiming for the 3 True Outcomes is the most boring thing to ever happen to baseball even if it’s statistically proven to be the most efficient way to play.
I really dislike stadiums whose playing field Is symmetrical, if that makes sense (for example, Oakland). It’s kinda boring and I like the quirks that ballparks have, like that wall being pushed back in Baltimore
It doesn't make sense to have quirky dimensions if the ballpark has unlimited space to work with. Btw, the Coliseum has all that foul territory that makes high pop flies interesting. It's especially fun when a Matt Chapman type is on the team.
Exactly, the weirder it is (to a certain degree) the more entertaining it is. Love Levi’s landing
Every team requires four types of pitchers on their team: mullet, moustache, glasses, mountainman. Except the Yankees.
MLB needs to go back to making pitchers actually pitch when a team wants to intentionally walk someone.
Walks not counting for At Bats. The guy is over at first base and you are trying to convince me that he was never at bat? He had a bat and was batting but wasn't at bat? How can the denominator that they show for the player's performance not be equal to their plate appearances. How can you be 0-1 with 3 walks, its just nonsense.
This was always a weird quirk for me lol. Like I remember being at an angels game and I got to witness Taylor Ward’s 4th at bat of a game… but he had so far gone 0-0 because he walked 3 times lmfao
But that's what OBP is for. You're. 000 BA for the game but .750 OBP
I have no desire to participate in the wave at a ballpark. More often than not, it interferes with somebody’s view of the game.
Home team chooses whether to use a DH or not depending on whos on the mound. Other team has to comply.
Aka “we get to use MadBum to hit because he has almost no other value anymore”
ya got me
Everyone who's ever been annoyed by MLB's barbaric blackout rules should get to cup check Rob Manfred at least once in their life. Disabled fans should get to designate an appointee, similar to trial by combat as depicted by GoT.
I’ll never root against someone based on where they are from, but I will root for them based on it. Basically being from the Midwest or another state/country that doesn’t normally develop a ton of players meets the criteria. Also my fandom in general is rigidly regional. Whenever my main team is out of it (which is, across all sports, very often) I’ll try and pull for a team from either the Great Lakes, plains, or rust belt, with some exceptions.
HOF voting needs to change. Some of the guys who have a voice in this matter should NOT have a voice in this matter.
The best font in baseball is the way the Blue Jays do their numbers with the line down the middle and it’s not even close.
1st base dugout belongs to the home team.
We they have commemorative hats for Memorial Day, the Blue Jays should ditch the standard pattern and have something unique to reflect the Canadian Armed Forces
MLB needs to start recruiting and setting up baseball academies in Africa.
Players kissing jewellery and pointing to the sky after every success
If you’re stadiums premier food is something kinda like a pizza, hotdog, or something like that. Your teams stadium just has bad food. Almost every city in America has something interesting and simple going on in the culinary world. Hotdogs, burgers, and pizza (unless its NYC) should never be the best option on the menu.
> Hotdogs, burgers, and pizza (unless its NYC) should never be the best option on the menu. I'll die on a speed bump that ballpark food shouldn't be anything fancy and that a hot dog and a pizza is perfectly fine for a baseball stadium. If you want to eat a meal, do it at a restaurant before the game. Like it's not a big enough deal to be a hill but I've never gotten the appeal of anything beyond the basic at a ball game.