You mean on the Yankees I think. I believe there may have been on other teams.
Retiring numbers is silly. The greatest Yankees have been ‘immortalized’ in Monument Park. That’s enough. I’d like to see all the numbers put back in play.
Even Jackie Robinson’s?
I was on a relatively long drive home last night and the Mariners/Guardians game had just started, so I turned on the radio to listen in. The announcer was calling pitches in a rapid fire manner, as they were only seconds apart.
I had actually forgotten about the pitch clock and the rapid pace was so different that it was jarring. Not in a bad way though, a good way. With the slow pace in the past I would sometimes tune it out. No more. It was like night and day.
I’ve always been a casual baseball fan. Football is the sport I follow closely, and for a time in the early 90s I was a big basketball fan. But baseball was always too slow for me. So often I’d listen to a game where the commentators were clearly trying to find something interesting to talk about while the pitcher and/or batter fiddled around with whatever.
This to me is a game changer (so to speak). It was exciting. I freaking loved it.
Why are so many teams taking today off and then playing the same opponent tomorrow as they did yesterday?
It’s common practice for scheduling the first two games of the season, as the home opener is a big deal, but weather can be pretty iffy in much of the country in late March and early April. So, today was held as an open date on the schedule for many of those teams, in case there was bad weather yesterday.
Thanks. I hadn’t noticed that before but it’s a great idea. That’s why all of today’s games are in better weather cities.
Not something you hear often about Seattle.
Scary moment yesterday:
So funny that his hairstyle may have saved him from a serious injury.
He pitched 6 innings with no hits except the one that glanced off his head.
I’ve been dreading the rules changes. So I watched a little of the Mets’ game today and… I think I’m done with baseball.
I don’t like the pitch clock and I especially don’t like limiting the number of throws to first base. I found myself worrying about the clock, checking it too much, and worrying on behalf of the players. Call me an old fashioned, set in my ways boor, but I think baseball should not be timed. And I think limiting throws to first is too big a change to basic strategy.
While we’re at it, I hate the DH and instant replay. Pitchers should hit (though I understand why they don’t want to, but tough) and umpires making mistakes is part of the game.
This isn’t the game I want to watch anymore. Lately I’ve been watching old games from the 80’s on YouTube. Might do more of that.
While the game may not have been your cup of tea, it was completed in a tidy 2 hours and 9 minutes. Admittedly a low scoring contest, but there were five walks and five pitching changes between the two teams.
I’m not sure the problem is with the individual specific rule changes (except for limiting pickoff throws and the ghost runner in extra innings, which are patently ridiculous.) For me the big issue is that baseball is now perceived as screwing around with the rules almost every year, giving the impression that no one knows what the hell they are doing and are constantly monkeying around with things while, coincidentally, invalidating long-held records. For example, somebody is probably going to break Ricky Henderson’s stolen base record which he earned while having to deal with limitless pickoff throws to first base. Now, you basically get a free base after the first two throws.
Didn’t he get eight more games per year than Lou Brock?
Good point.
Given how ludicrously high his records are, the odds are not in favor of this happening.
No, Lou Brock played in 162-game seasons.
Thanks for the correction. I should have checked.
To me it sounds like you hate everything making baseball better.
But tastes will vary of course.
Not really intending on arguing with you – if you don’t like the current game, you don’t like it – but the average game time that they’re likely to wind up with this season (around 2:35 or so) is comparable to what the average game time was in those old games from the '80s.
Interesting fact - there’s always been a rule on the books for pitchers to pitch within a certain time, but it’s just never been enforced.
Oddly enough, the new rules are bending today’s game to look more similarly to the game I grew up watching in the 80s. No shifts, lots of base stealing, small ball strategy.
Strongly agree, I’m a 70s kid and baseball was much faster paced back then.
I went to a doubleheader in 77 or 78 where both games with the intermission were down in under 5 hours. I’ve been to a game in the last 20 that took almost 5 hours for 9 innings. Brutal.