MLB tried to de-juice the balls by about 2 feet this year to decrease homers by a 5%. From the Ringer: What we can say for sure is that the median hit distance this spring is 4 feet longer than it was during the 2020 regular season, and the median fly ball distance is 10 feet longer. If the fly balls travel 10 feet longer, this is going to be a massive year for homers (25% increase if linear over that big a change). https://www.theringer.com/mlb/2021/3/31/22359623/dejuiced-ball-new-baseball
For the second day of baseball as a whole, Im disappointed that theres only one day game today and that dont start til 1:00. WTH?
J.R., I love & appreciate your posts. I’m not trying to turn this into a political debate and I am likewise not a fan of cancel culture...but reducing or summarizing the 98-page GA legislation into just “requiring IDs to vote” is misleading and mischaracterizes the nature and breadth of the new law. It is, without a doubt, a calculated attempt to make it harder to vote, particularly if you live in Urban and historically more democrat areas. It is embarrassing, appalling, and in my opinion, un-American in nature in that it tries to make voting harder. While I’m not the biggest NYT fan, I did find their write-up of the new law helpful: Here are the most significant changes to voting in the state, as written into the new law: Voters will now have less time to request absentee ballots. There are strict new ID requirements for absentee ballots. It’s now illegal for election officials to mail out absentee ballot applications to all voters. Drop boxes still exist … but barely. Mobile voting centers (think an R.V. where you can vote) are essentially banned. Early voting is expanded in a lot of small counties, but probably not in more populous ones. Offering food or water to voters waiting in line now risks misdemeanor charges. If you go to the wrong polling place, it will be (even) harder to vote. If election problems arise, a common occurrence, it is now more difficult to extend voting hours. With a mix of changes to vote-counting, high-turnout elections will probably mean a long wait for results. Election officials can no longer accept third-party funding (a measure that nods to right-wing conspiracy theories). With an eye toward voter fraud, the state attorney general will manage an election hotline. The Republican-controlled legislature has more control over the State Election Board. The secretary of state is removed as a voting member of the State Election Board. The G.O.P.-led legislature is empowered to suspend county election officials. Runoff elections will happen faster — and could become harder to manage
The article literally just cites to portions of the legislative bill. You can read important parts of the bill itself without reading the NYT opining portion (which is what I did), hence why I found it to be a helpful article (unless you would rather read the entire 98 page legal document). It is sickening that voter suppression is still an issue in 2021. I don’t care if you’re red or blue (I am neither, red on some issues and blue on others), but this bill is abhorrent if you look at what it seeks to accomplish. I applaud the league and players union for having the common sense to come together and take this stance. I am not a fan of cancel culture—at all—but this bill objectively deserves to be canceled IMO, or at least does deserve to have strong consequences such as this.
you realize people cried that there was "voter suppression" in 2020 when there was record turnout right? SMH....
I will be the first to admit that I haven't read any of the bill, nor do I really care about it since I do not live in Georgia. Since you brought it up, I read most of what the Times had to say, and almost all of it was just opinion disguised (poorly) as fact. For example, how does reducing the number of days to request a ballot constitute voter suppression? That requirement does not prevent a single solitary person from voting. Much of what you cited from the paper paper was in the same vein. When it comes to their reporting, they have a very distinct liberal lean, and run fast and loose with the truth quite often, hence my comment. Politicians and most of the media are filled with claims of voter suppression, but they almost always fail to cite any actually cases where a person was not actually allowed to vote. And when they do they turn out to be suspect. Then the other side of the politicians and the media claim voter integrity is comprimised. While they are able to show some isolated incidents, they appear to be greatly exaggerated Both sides scream a lot of rhetoric, but mostly it just ends up being bullshit. I do not want to get into a big political discussion, especially on a baseball site, but, you seem very passionate about it, so I do not want to seem dismissive. I just don't see the same perspective as you.
So other than the voter ID laws being changed (Do you not want to know who's voting is who they are claiming to be) nothing really changed from pre=pandemic.
I think we know the reasons for the record voter turnout. If you believe in coincidences it happened during a pandemic.
People died for the right to vote. You would think standing in line for 30 mins wouldn't be to much to ask. The attempted legislation to curb voter fraud is a good thing and if all it costs them is an all star game then that's a very small price to pay.
