2010 MLB Season

Pitchers and catchers have reported, and we're exactly 6 weeks away from opening day. I'm damn excited for MLB - the 2010 Edition:

- Can anyone take down the Yanks? The baseball gods have been good about evening things out lately. I hope they keep the trend going.

- Roy Halladay in the NL. He should be awesome. It's too bad the chicken-shit Phils didn't keep Cliff Lee, though.

- Will the Mets insane injury luck continue?

- The Red Sox added John Lackey to what was already a deep rotation. Pitching won't be a problem, and neither will the potentially historic defense. Will the offense be enough to catch the NYY, though? PECOTA and others think so...I hope they're right.

- Bobby Cox will retire at the end of 2010. What a run the Braves have had under his watch.

- Will the Twins keep Joe Mauer? I think they will, but it would be a huge commitment from a traditionally small-market team. There's more money out there, but I'm sure JM will sleep at night with $180 mil in the bank.

- Is anyone going to any Spring Training games? I'm trying to get down to Ft. Myers to see the Sox in a few weeks.


So much more to discuss, but I've already said too much!

There are only two reasons why I want a PS3 - Blu-Ray and MLB The Show. It looks so amazing this year.

That franchise and their fans deserve so much more than the nonsense of the last 17 years. Hell, it's amazing they still have fans.


I'm pretty stoked to see Stephen Strasburg. Plus the Nats will draft Bryce Harper #1 next year (baseball's LeBron). Amazing how both players will end up on the same team. It's no mystery as the Nats have been just awful, but I can't remember a time when two guys were drafted #1, in consecutive years, with this much hype. I hope they both live up to it.

http://www.foxnews.com/sports/2010/02/26/break-al-east/

The annual baseball changes article. Nothing really new there, but I do believe some changes need to be made:

- return to a balanced schedule, get rid of the ridiculous WC rules, and simply take the top 4 teams from each league for the playoffs. Screw divisions, screw the WC.
- get rid of interleague.
- embrace technology, including on balls and strikes.
- the NL needs the DH. Almost every other level of baseball has the DH. It's ridiculous that the NL doesn't have it.
- stiff penalties for teams not using their revenue sharing money properly.

I know MLB is still raking in the dough, but I think it could be a much better league.

Notice I didn't say get rid of the 4 playoff teams per league, I just said get rid of the dumbass WC rules and take the actual top 4 teams.

I don't know, but K Zone is immensely better than the umps and their ridiculous, inconsistent "strike zones". It's absurd to watch pitches that are clearly 6 inches off the plate get called for strikes. But not for both teams. And the fact they won't use HD instant replay to help make calls on the bases is ludicrous. Umps have way too much influence on games.

From Wikipedia, about the DH:
"Since then, most collegiate, amateur, and professional leagues have adopted the rule or some variant; MLB's National League and NPB's Central League are the most prominent professional leagues that have not."

It's dumb the NL still has it, if every other league has the DH. Pitchers hitting is silly. Their job is to pitch, not make automatic outs.

So 12-13 games against the Cards isn't enough to establish/keep the rivalry? That's what a balanced schedule would do. Playing the Yankees 19 times a year, while only playing the Royals 6 times a year, but still competing for the rest of the AL for the same Wild Card spot doesn't make sense.

And you see how bad more offense has been for the game. Not only did the WC help save baseball, but so did the offensive explosion.

Like pinch hitters and pinch runners? Why must you take it a step further? I'm not asking for that, just for the leagues to be on the same playing field.

There's no reason to make it that complicated. Just make it similar to college football and have a designated replay person in a booth, reviewing each play. If something comes up, they send the right call down to the field. There's more than enough time between plays for this.

I knew nothing about this until I saw your post, but here's a link:

It seems to be true

ESPN is some suspending mofo's lately.


Girma, I know my proposed rule changes will never happen. It's unfortunate that MLB is so reluctant to embrace technology. Without a doubt bad umpiring has been way more exposed with technological advances, so that's probably where most of my frustration lies.

As for the DH, I really don't mind that the NL doesn't have it, I just think it's funny that they're basically the only major players that don't. Especially in today's age where kids/prospects/players are so specialized, and they make their way up the ranks in professional leagues where they never have to hit. Then they get to the Majors and they're expected to "hit". However, I understand that it's been a part of the game since the beginning. Like adopting technology, there's way too many traditionalists to even think about changes like that.

Mauer signs an 8-year, $184 million contract to stay with the Twins:

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=5016230

Good for him, good for the Twins.

The odds of this happening have to be incalculable:

Denard Span hits his own mother with foul ball

I don't know. There have been some decent ideas floated around, but it just seems unlikely. I think a balanced schedule would help even things out a lot, without a need for any radical ideas.

As far as tonight's game, hell of a way to start the season.

I also think it's funny that one of the biggest gripes against instant replay is that it would slow the game down. Yet they have time for Steven Tyler and Neil Diamond...in the middle of a Yanks/Sox game. Don't get me wrong, I liked both performances, it's just I like accurate baseball even more.