I just posted in another thread that I use the “new” forum skin because it doesn’t impact my reading of the boards at all. But that function definitely does not seem to work in the new skin.
You’re right. I just changed skins to check. It’s a mess.
But it DOES work in the new skin if you also use BigT’s user script from this thread.
Looking on the other side, the Indians have allowed 24.3% fewer runs than the AL average. The next best team is Boston with 13.3% fewer.
In the NL the Dodgers lead with 21.3% fewer. Arizona is next best at 13.5% fewer. It would seem the Indians and Dodger must rank pretty well historically as well.
Put up netting at all parks.
Hoping for that longed-for day when Altuve will stop obsessively biting his nails/ends of his fingers while on-field waiting for next pitch.
Maybe that has something to do with all their high OPS+ players being at low-offense positions (2B, SS, CF, and Marwin Gonzalez has played half his games at 1B/LF and half at 2B/SS/3B). I do think a team is better off with a murderer’s row than a strong top-to-bottom lineup (though of course the correct answer if offered a choice is “I’ll take whichever one I can get”).
Conveniently, with pitching we have ERA+, which accounts for park effects on earned runs. I don’t have to use the calculator.
Cleveland’s is 137, which is AMAZING. (They have allowed very few unearned runs, too.) As you suggest, 20% is rare and excellent. 137 is historically dominant.
Only in September:
St. Louis used four pinch runners tonight.
I just checked, and the best number the Bobby Cox-managed Atlanta Braves put up was 133 (in 2002).
So here’s a question - if Altuve ends up winning MVP (as seems likely) is he the most under-drafted (sort of) player ever to receive that award? Mike Piazza might be competition for it, but Piazza didn’t win an MVP (though he should have in both 96 and 97). It’s a bit hard to quantify in Altuve’s case, since Venezuelans aren’t entered in the draft and so like anyone else from Venezuela he just signed a professional contract, but anecdotally he had to come back for a second try-out after being turned down on the first one. Are there other recent/long-ago MVPs who were not remotely considered prospects as amateurs?
As Altuve was not drafted, it’s hard to objectively make an argument. Altuve was cut, but at the age of 17, which hardly means anything, really, and was subsequently signed by the same team. Since he was a major leaguer by the age of 21, clearly his prospect status was rather quickly established.
George Bell (1987 MVP) was an amateur signing who was allowed to leave under the Rule V draft by the team that signed him.
Larry Walker (1997 MVP) was signed as an amateur for $1,500.
Albert Pujols, who won 3 MVP awards, was drafted in the 11th round.
The lowest drafted MVPs I can find are Ryne Sandberg and Jeff Kent, both 20th round picks. Additionally, both were traded away as young players.
I did some digging as well after I posted that, and apparently Kevin Mitchell was an undrafted free agent signed after a tryout to a $600 a month contract.
I can see the argument for Piazza in 1997, but 1996? How do you figure?
Was operating from memory - I remember rec.sport.baseball being up in arms about that MVP vote at the time. Looking at the bbreference page now, looks like Caminiti was the correct choice (if you disqualify Bonds for playing for a bad team that year).
Bruce Maxwell of the Oakland A’s knelt during tonight’s national anthem.
In general, I don’t agree with the kneeling during the anthem. But, since Trump threw gasoline on the fire, I’m fine with it.
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I would only worry if the Cubs just absolutely collapsed Red Sox or Braves style. At this point, teams are who they are. The Cardinals are probably a few games over .500. The Brewers a few more games over .500. If the Cubs just play .500 ball or near it, they’ll win. And despite their record, there’s definitely a path for them to return to the WS. The American League is going to be much tougher this year, though. And it took everything the Cubs had to take care of the Tribe last year.
Kneeling before the anthem would have been talked about a few years ago, but it would have blown over. In the social media age, though, behavior goes viral. Ideas spread more infectiously. The 49ers could have addressed this with Kap early on but I think their own internal turmoil as an organization made it more challenging to do so, particularly given that many of their home fans probably identify with his message.
FTR, a white guy from a military family was the first to do it in MLB.
Yeah, its funny, I’m a white guy and ex-Navy and not a Liberal, though far from a Trumpite and I swear that I swore that oath so US citizens had the right to peaceful protests. I find the upset of the right on this issue ridiculous.
But meanwhile, those damn Red Sox won’t accommodate my hopes and lose. Time is nearly gone for the Yanks to close the gap. Both teams have been playing great.
Maxwell is black, but he is from a military family.