https://theathletic.com/2537263/202...-to-believe-from-the-start-of-the-mlb-season/ "The Red Sox lead the AL East thanks in large part to manager Alex Cora, who has provided elite leadership and people skills and restored the world championship culture in the clubhouse." ....uhhh may we remind you who was implicated the most in cheating scandals?
Interesting article on the status of three true outcomes (though glosses over the impact of the DH in both leagues last year). Long story short, pitchers are striking out more batters, teams playing more power hitters who strike out more, rinse, repeat. Pitching has gotten runs scored down to levels almost predating the juice ball era/ LA revolution. Excerpt below. https://blogs.fangraphs.com/i-cant-get-no-batting-average/ But as the league’s average slumps into the low-.230s, it’s worth reviewing recent history and the path ahead. As you may recall, the first batch of the livelier balls debuted in mid-2015, right when teams were scoring fewer runs per game than at any point since the pre-strike era. While the league denied making the change intentionally, goosing the ball made a certain amount of sense: a lively pill could help keep offense afloat and prevent pitchers from gaining the upper hand and perhaps buy time for teams or the league to solve the underlying imbalance between pitching hitting. Now, we’re now six years down the road from that. A look at the early season numbers and Rob Arthur’s work suggests we’re playing with the second liveliest ball in history, and the league is hitting .230 with a sub-.400 slugging percentage (lower than all pre-juiced ball seasons save for 2014). Scoring hasn’t fallen to 2014 or early-2015 levels, but it’s close. Barring intervention from the league, it’s hard to see the trend toward the Three True Outcomes decelerating, much less reversing.
If it's that obvious what the Dodgers' signs are that a peek back at the catcher can accurately predict the pitch, it is clear the Dodgers need to change their signs.
Or their catchers need to not set up as early... That article was cringe-worthy. The Dodgers collapsing to the 2018 Red Sox and the 2019 Washington Nationals in the playoffs is as big (if not bigger) let-down than anything the Astros did to them, yet nobody mentions those seasons.
“It’s interesting and it’s funny and it sucks,” Lindor said Wednesday, the day after the boo birds came for him late in a 2-1 loss to the Red Sox. “It doesn’t feel right, for sure. Interesting, because this is the first time that it happened in my career, and funny because I’m getting booed and people think I’m gonna go home and think about why I’m getting booed. I get it. They’re booing because there’s no results. That’s it. They expect results, I expect results and I get it. It’s part of the job. People expect results and they’re booing because there’s no results. “I just hope they cheer and jump on the field when I start hitting home runs and start helping the team on a daily basis a lot more than I’m doing right now.” “I didn’t come to New York to hit .350 and win MVP,” Lindor said. “I came to New York to win and I’m going to do whatever it takes to win.” The good news, Lindor said, is that he isn’t searching for what ails him at the plate. “I know exactly what I’m doing,” he said, adding that it is the reason why he is not frustrated or constantly thinking about every at-bat. “I’m not getting the barrel to the baseball. As I’m getting to the baseball, I drop the barrel or I get around it.” “It’s going to work,” he said. “I came to New York to win. I want to win. I’m going to do whatever it takes. Right now the fans and people think I’m not doing my part to win, and they want to see results. The results will come, for sure. They will come. And if whatever happens at the end of the day, I just want to come out on top at the end of the year. I’m looking forward to God-willing making it to the playoffs and having the greatest postseason in New York history as a team.” NYP
Just coming here to post this. One of the worst calls/decisions I have ever seen. The umpire even doubled down after seeing the pay after the game. Deserves to be suspended for a game or two. Ball clearly beats the runner and the pitcher never left the grass.
