Poll of the Day > Sports Discussion Topic #173: Wheel, Snipe, Celly

(+) Yeah! (+)

Unless they really overachieve, the Giants will have a rough season because they have no pitching. This is their rotation right now:

1. Ty Blach
2. Johnny Cueto
3. Derek Holland
4. Chris Stratton
5. (empty)

Samardzija will come back from injury at some point but he sucks anyway. And they're at the luxury tax cap so they can't get anyone else except maybe Bartolo.

Bartolo was like the 4th best pitcher for the twins last year

There's probably still hope for Cueto to be good again at least. Hell, Samardzija too. Anyway here are my standings:

AL West:

1. Astros
2. Angels - WC2 (believe in Ohtani)
3. Mariners
4. Athletics
5. Rangers

AL Central:

1. Indians
2. Twins
3. White Sox
4. Royals
5. Tigers

AL East:

1. Yankees
2. Red Sox - WC1
3. Blue Jays
4. Rays
5. Orioles

NL West:

1. Dodgers
2. Diamondbacks - WC2
3. Rockies
4. Giants
5. Padres

NL Central:

1. Cubs
2. Cardinals - WC1
3. Brewers
4. Reds
5. Pirates

NL East:

1. Nationals
2. Mets
3. Phillies
4. Braves
5. Marlins

Best record: Dodgers
Worst record: Marlins

AL MVP: Mike Trout
NL MVP: Bryce Harper

AL Cy Young: Chris Sale
NL Cy Young: Clayton Kershaw

And now I'm really flying blind but I'll give Rookie of the Year a shot

AL ROY: Gleyber Torres, Yankees
NL ROY: Ronald Acuna, Braves

Looks like the Cards are going to sign former Rockies great Greg Holland. That's exciting. They need a closer.

AL MVP: Trout
NL MVP: Freeman

AL Cy Young: Severino
NL Cy Young: Kershaw

AL RotY: Ohtani
NL RotY: Nick Senzel (yes I just googled RotY candidates but I read about this guy some last year and he seems cool)

And I'm excited about Holland too. The Cards bullpen should be good.

I can't wait to compare your predictions to what actually happens at the end of the season

I can't believe I didn't give AL ROY to Ohtani even though I mentioned him earlier in the post. I am a perfect fool.

MNTwins1991 posted...

I can't wait to compare your predictions to what actually happens at the end of the season

I'll be saving them in my folder where I keep all my research on PotDers

Biggest choker: Nationals (as usual, will lose in NLDS)
Biggest surprise: Baltimore Orioles
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MNTwins1991 posted...

I can't wait to compare your predictions to what actually happens at the end of the season

Our annual MLB season recap topic is always a joy

Cubs Happ tied the record for hitting a HR on first at-bat for the season (Dwight Evans did it first on 4/7/86).
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It's crazy that the first pitch of the season was a home run. What a way to start.

They need to yank that pitcher, hes clearly not ready for Opening Day, probably will be sent down to minors tomorrow...
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TyVulpine posted...

Cubs Happ tied the record for hitting a HR on first at-bat for the season (Dwight Evans did it first on 4/7/86).

He tied the record? How many times did he do it?

TyVulpine posted...

They need to yank that pitcher, hes clearly not ready for Opening Day, probably will be sent down to minors tomorrow...

It's the Marlins

Evans had four Opening Day HRs his career, the 1986 occurrence was as leadoff hitter, and the first game of all MLB in 1986.
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Molina took him deep, but Syndergaard has 7 strikeouts through 3 innings against the Cardinals.

Not to be outdone, Houstons leadoff man Springer decided to join Happ with a leadoff home run...
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AL West:

1. Astros
2. Angels
3. Athletics
4. Rangers
5. Mariners

AL Central:

1. Indians
2. Twins
3. White Sox
4. Royals
5. Tigers

AL East:

1. Yankees
2. Red Sox - WC1
3. Blue Jays - WC2
4. Rays
5. Orioles

NL West:

1. Dodgers
2. Rockies - WC2
3. Diamondbacks
4. Giants
5. Padres

NL Central:

1. Cubs
2. Cardinals - WC1
3. Brewers
4. Reds
5. Pirates

NL East:

1. Nationals
2. Mets
3. Phillies
4. Braves
5. Marlins

Best record: Astros
Worst record: Marlins

AL MVP: Mike Trout
NL MVP: Kris Bryant

AL Cy Young: Corey Kluber
NL Cy Young: Jon Gray (this will never actually happen)
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I'd shit myself if Gray won the Cy Young (which he won't)

The twins season is over

SteamedHams posted...

I'd shit myself if Gray won the Cy Young (which he won't)

I want a video of this
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Thoughts so far:

ESPN's commentary crew needs work

I'm not used to seeing Pence in left field

Kershaw is good

Stanton on the Yankees is EZ mode confirmed

The Yankees are going to be disgustingly good again and I hate it

It's very early, but I think Stanton will challenge the single-season HR record this year.

The best power hitter of this generation + Yankees Stadium + balls flying further.

He and Judge will probably have over 100 between the two of them.

I wonder if you adjusted Stanton's hitting at Marlins Stadium last year to Yankee Stadium how many more homers he would have hit.

Longo plays for the Giants. Literally no one remembers this

I forgot about both him and McCutchen until yesterday

I'm not sure which of those is weirder. I guess I lean McCutchen. I think he really meant a lot to the city of Pittsburgh and they pretty much just gave him away.

Judge is a one hit wonder (literally) and I hate the Yankees!

Ichiro is on TV

He looks old as fuck

DJ LeMahieu is the first Rockie to hit a home run in 2018, as everyone expected

that sounds like a French rapper

Oh my god David Ross is such a bad commentator

I was thinking the same thing about Ross

Right after I posted that he compared getting a hit in your first AB of the year to winning the lottery, which seems like a little much.

He's a commentator now? Fuck. How did such an irrelevant player end up with this mythical baseball guy status

He was on the right team at the right time, and had a bunch of young teammates who were strangely committed to building up that fake myth status. It was a very obnoxious set of circumstances.

He doesn't have a good voice or a speech pattern that's easy to listen to, plus he's been saying dumb things. I don't know who thought he was a good fit.

Jon Gray is trying to relive the wild card game

Also I'm used to hearing Dave Flemming call Giants games with Jon Miller on the radio and they usually work great together. Dave is putting in like three times the work to carry this broadcast with David Ross.

He is all but begging for Ross to give him anything.

I still have this game on in the background and a few minutes ago I heard David Ross reference the Thong Song

He sang it for a few seconds and then played dumb like "that's how it goes right?"

The Chicago Blackhawks ran out of goalies and put a local accountant into the game and he saved 7 shots in 14 minutes of play. What a great story for that guy.

NHL put together a highlight reel:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tG-IGNvfrg8" data-time="
And here's his beer league buddies cheering him on:

That's cool and all but it's so weird to me that NHL teams do this instead of just having a guy on the team who can play goalie in a pinch. That's what MLB does with emergency catchers.

STLCards1991 posted...

That's cool and all but it's so weird to me that NHL teams do this instead of just having a guy on the team who can play goalie in a pinch. That's what MLB does with emergency catchers.

Do you mean like a guy on the roster from a different position that suits up for catcher? Like for the twins if all their catchers got hurt, they would put Mauer back at catcher? honest question

if that's the case, I'm assuming the NHL doesn't do that because their skaters aren't any good at goalie, they need the roster space (because other than backup goalie, if a player is dressed and active, he'll play, unlike the NFL where every player has a backup or 2 suited up and ready to go if needed), and they don't want to risk injuring a skater. Every NHL team has a guy like this. A lot of times they give him free press box tickets for every game and have a set of gear for him in the locker room just in case.

What's strange (from what i understand) is that a lot of times, it goes by arena, not team. Like the jets weren't going to fly in their accountant backup goalie to watch the game. If all the Jets' goalies got hurt, Foster would've been playing for them

Baseball is boooooooooooring
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I like it.

here's the rule for emergency goaltenders...interesting
For every NHL game, each team is allowed to dress 20 players: 18 skaters and two goaltenders. So if one of the goalies comes down with a stomach bug or some other sudden ailment on the day of the game, that team will try to recall a minor-league goalie to back him up. And if that isn't an option? Enter: Emergency goalies.

NHL rules state that if both of a team's goalies are forced out due to injury, a team is "entitled to dress and play any available goalkeeper." And more recently, the NHL has required home teams to maintain a list of available area goaltenders who could fill in for either team in a pinch.

I will probably end up going to White Sox games this year because my friend has season tickets. They have a nice craft beer corner and decent food.
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