GDT 5/22/21: Pirates vs Braves - A start for Ender

[Southcack77]

Same with me in most sports. If it’s not my team I couldn’t care less.

Nfl has the benefit of playing only once a week, so “game day” becomes a big deal. Baseball is played every day, and almost becomes more a background thing that’s just always on.

In all honesty, outside of some Super Bowls I'm not sure that I've watched a full NFL game in ten years.

My team has been irrelevant, mismanaged, and boring for quite awhile and I have learned to pick my battles.

Baseball is kind of a perfect thing to have on in the background as you do something else, which is what it has been for me since the 80s when I did my homework to it. Seems like the iPhone era should be a boon but I guess the tv rights are so screwed up now that it isn't easy with the cord cutting.

So many millennials and below are poors or have been poors so that might be the trouble.

[Enscheff]

Riley's xWOBA is now sitting at .359 for which is right between Bregman and Turner among 3B. It's a stacked position right now so good to see we have someone up to snuff.

He’s the best news of 2021 so far by a large margin. The improvements he’s made are remarkable.

He’s turning into one of my favorite players for his ability to identify a weakness and make real improvements. He has half the talent (figuratively speaking) of guys like Acuna and Albies, and has made himself into the player he is.

[Southcack77]

There are many things that could improve the game:

Less time between pitches
Less time watching pitchers bat
More balls in play
Less commentators complaining about the sport
Better dead time content/analysis
Making it easier for kids to play the sport

Some of those things are easy to achieve, and some are very hard to achieve. So let’s take care of the easy ones and make incremental improvements where they are easy to make.

Pitching switches are probably the worst thing the game has going for it.

I assume that was the reasoning behind three batter rule and I kind of supported it.

All the old school stuff that made more statistical sense when everyone wasn't pretty good offensively and at launching homers created a little more action (stolen bases, hit and run, bunts) added a little spice that is missing. I'm not sure that I miss it but more things were happening.

[Enscheff]

Pitching switches are probably the worst thing the game has going for it.

I assume that was the reasoning behind three batter rule and I kind of supported it.

All the old school stuff that made more statistical sense when everyone wasn't pretty good offensively and at launching homers created a little more action (stolen bases, hit and run, bunts) added a little spice that is missing. I'm not sure that I miss it but more things were happening.

There’s no doubt station to station baseball is less exciting. Watching guys pull grounders into the shift produces less action, even though trying to hit HRs over the shift is a better way to score runs.

The solution is probably some combination of moving the mound back to promote more contact, and moving the fences back 20’ for less HRs to promote less fly balls. Problem is, moving the fences back universally is never going to happen, so all that moving the mound back for more contact is going to do is create even more HRs.

Moving the mound back will increase contact and may lessen the impact the hit tool has on the game. I suspect we will see power goons get more PAs now that they will K at an acceptable rate. At that point the problem will be even worse. A game will be even more HRs, the same Ks, more walks, and less reason to play defense.