Just Shut It Down and be Done with It

Major League Baseball continues to make up the rules for 2020 as it goes along.  The latest is arbitrarily postponing ten percent of the Miami Marlins season.  Granted the Marlins are a very ill team.  About half of the players have tested positive for the coronavirus.  But, why the "powers that be" at MLB chose to postpone the team's next six games rather than three or nine, I have no idea.  A person who tests positive for the Covid virus is to be quarantined for 14 days not six.  So, why then does baseball pick to postpone the Marlins next six games through Sunday?  (And keep in mind that is ten percent of the team's scheduled games.  It definitely puts Miami behind the eight ball, and is unfair to the teams that were scheduled to play them this week.  Now all of the teams involved, the Marlins, Baltimore Orioles and Washington Nationals will have to play make up games in an already tight schedule.  But, given baseball's track record this doesn't come as a surprise.

The last thing I wrote in my previous post is Rob Manfred is an idiot.  As commissioner, Manfred should be looking out for the best interests of the game.  But, he's not.  Manfred is more concerned about making sure his band of billionaire brothers (the owners), make as much money as they possibly can in this pandemic shortened season.  Manfred and his gang of greed have also impacted the season of the Phillies and Yankees.  The Phillies played the Marlins last weekend when the news of the virus hitting the Marlins was released.  Now to be safe MLB has postponed the four games scheduled this week between the Yanks and Phils.  That means those teams will have to make up four games down the stretch on open dates.

 This is crazy.  The schedules are not fair, and the owners are placing their earnings ahead of the players' health.  If the owners won't shut it down, maybe the players will.  This week's postponements are just the tip of the iceberg.  Please, shut it all down now!

Game Seven = 3:42

Image Courtesy Washington Nationals

Congratulations to the Washington Nationals on winning the 2019 World Series over the Houston Astros four games to three.  It's the first time the visiting team has won all seven games in a World Series.  The Nationals came from behind last night to beat Houston 6-2.  It also marks the first time the Nationals / Montreal Expos have won a world series since this franchise came into the National League in 1969.

This final game of 2019 lasted three hours and 42 minutes.  In that time a commercial airliner could have left Washington D.C. and flown to Houston, disembarked its passengers and still had 12 minutes left for them to see the end of the game.  Keep in mind this was a nine inning game.

The average time of game in this year's world series was a tedious three hours and 46 minutes.  The times I have used for all of these games has been published by Major League Baseball in each game's box-score.

All together it took 26 hours and 18 minutes to "play" the seven games.  I doubt too many people watched all seven of the contests from start to finish.  I certainly didn't have a day of my life to lose to these monumental snooze fests.

I wrote it yesterday and I am repeating it now.  Wake up MLB.  If  you want your game to regain its position as the national past time you need to do something soon to speed up the games.  The cosmetic changes you've made the last few years won't cut much time off of them.

I've written repeatedly that to resolve the problem you need to keep the batters in the box and the pitchers on the rubber.  Make the umpires call the strike zone as it is written and stop granting time out to hitters whenever the mood strikes them.  You also need to tell your television partners enough is enough.   Cut back on the commercial breaks
between innings to 90 seconds.  This will speed up the games and return them to the two to two and a half hour time frame most of us grew up watching.

Game Six = 3:37

Image courtesy MLB.

The World Series is knotted at three games apiece and heads to the final game tonight in Houston.  The Nats bounced back in Game 6 to beat the Astros in Houston 7-2 in a game marked by an ugly display of sportsmanship by the Astros Alex Bregman.  And for the sixth consecutive game the visiting team won the game.

Bregman apologized to the Nationals and his teammates for carrying his bat down the first base line and into fair territory before finally dropping it on the infield after homering off of Nationals starter Stephen Strasburg in the first inning.  He may have apologized, but the 25 year old third baseman knows better than to show up the other team and disrespect the other pitcher.  Strasburg and the Nationals handled it well last night.  But, I would almost bet my last dollar Bregman will be repaid the first time the two teams play in Spring Training next year.  Bregman's action was totally uncalled for and he will most likely be sporting a huge bruise on his backside the first time he digs in against any Nationals pitcher.  What makes it likely to happen sooner rather than later is both teams share the same training complex in West Palm Beach, Florida.  They are schedule to meet again on February 23rd, 2020.

Juan Soto pulled the same stunt two innings later when he homered off of Astros starter Justin Verlander.  Soto too, ran to first base carrying his bat in an obvious attempt to copy Bregman.  It too was a douche move and he will pay for it next spring too.  He should get drilled even harder than Bregman for his classless move.

I don't recall a World Series in which the visiting has won all of the games.  All of the Series games have been won by home teams three times including 1987 when the Minnesota Twins beat my beloved St. Louis Cardinals four games to three.  It was most recently done in 2001 when the Arizona Diamondbacks out battled the New York Yankees.

Finally, while 3 hours 37 minutes is shorter than the four hour marathons of last week, it is still way too long for grade school kids living in Washington and Houston to stay up to the end of the game.  Wake up MLB!

Game Five = 3:19

Image courtesy MLB.

The Houston Astros won Game Five 7-1 over the Washington Nationals to take a three to two lead in games and move within one game of winning its second title in three years.  And for the fifth time in five games the visitors got the win.

This became the fastest game played in this World Series at 3:19.  Notice I did not write just 3:19 because three hours and 19 minutes for a 9 inning game is still way too long.

The teams are off for a travel day today.  The 2019 World Series will continue in Houston tomorrow evening at seven p.m.

Game Four = 3:48

Image courtesy MLB.

This was the quickest game of the series to date as the Astros again beat the Nationals 8-1.  Houston tied the 2019 World Series
at two games each and returned home field advantage to themselves.  This game also marked the fourth of four times in this series the visiting team won.

Game five is scheduled for tonight.

Game Three = 4:03

Image courtesy MLB.

This was the longest game of the 2019 World Series yet as the Houston Astros bounced back to beat the Washington Nationals 4-1.  It was painfully slow and some of the at bats were almost unbearable to watch.

I got home from a completed high school football game that started the same time as Game three only to find the baseball game in just the bottom of the fifth inning. Ryan Zimmerman was the hitter and he wandered in and out of the batters box like a puppy lost in new surroundings.  Zimmerman eventually struck out but I swear the AB lasted ten minutes.

As a point of comparison, in the four hours and three minutes the game lasted a person could have left O'Hare airport in Chicago and flown to LAX in Los Angeles.  The distance between the two cities is 2100 miles.

The series is set to resume tonight with Game four.

Game Two = 4:01

Image Courtesy MLB

Game Two of the 2019 World Series was won by the Washington Nationals 12-3 over the Houston Astros.  The game moved at a snail's pace and last over four hours.  That is way too long for a nine inning baseball game.  The first six innings were interesting.  In the 7th the Nats blew it open with a six run inning that seemed to last forever.  I watched early on in the game but then turned it off to watch the last hour of ABC's comedy night.  And the sitcoms were more interesting than the World Series.  Game Three will be played on Friday night in Washington D.C.

Game One = 3:43

Courtesy of MLB

The first game of the 2019 World Series is in the books with Washington winning 5-4 in a game that lasted 3 h ours and 43 minutes.  I saw a couple of talking heads on TV this morning refer to it as exciting.  It definitely was not.

There were 13 strikeouts, four walks and three home runs in the game.

The two teams are back at it again tonight in Houston.  I will probably watch the ABC prime time comedy lineup instead of baseball.

Thoughts on the 2019 World Series

Image courtesy MLB

I believe it was Casey Stengel who asked "if this is so important why do we play it every year?"  He was referring to the World Series and he makes a valid point.

Major League Baseball (MLB) is holding its annual best of seven series to determine the best baseball team in the "world".  This 115th series is being contested by the Houston Astros and Washington Nationals.  I will be cheering for the 'Stros, and predict they will win it four games to two, but to be honest really don't care who wins.

In fact, I don't plan on watching much of it on TV.  MLB games are way too long to begin with and with the added commercials in a World Series, they will become more unbearable.  Last year's average game in the "Fall Classic" lasted 3:33.  If the series goes seven games and I doubt it will take over 24 hours to watch all of the games from start to finish.  At my age I don't have a day to waste watching a bunch of overpaid undisciplined hitters swing from the heels and play "Home Run Derby".  It seems as if many of the at bats come down to three results; a walk, strikeout or home run.

I will follow the games on my phone with "The Score" app.  That way I can do what I want to do rather than be held hostage by MLB and Fox TV.

Wow, Did I Miss Calling that Series!

In my previous post of nine days ago I predicted the Atlanta Braves would sweep the St. Louis Cardinals in a National League Divisional Series.  I blew the call.  The Cards won the series three games to two this afternoon and advance to the National League Championship Series against either the Los Angeles Dodgers or the Washington Nationals.  (The outcome has not been determined as I write this).

In the decisive game this afternoon the Cards scored ten runs in the first inning and the rest, as they say, is history.  Redbird starter Jack Flaherty was sharp and pitched six strong innings giving up only one run as the Cards went on to win 13-1.  Flaherty is only 23 years old and if you are not familiar with him, watch him pitch.  He is something special and might be one of the great ones if he stays healthy.  Many times this season he pitched when his teammates did not give him run support or the bullpen blew a save.  But, he still  posted an 11-8 record with an ERA of just 2.75.

This Cardinal team has surpassed my expectations, especially when you think how feckless it was at the All-Star break. On July 12 the Birds were 44-45, three games back of the then division leading Chicago Cubs.  I don't know what will happen from this point on but the rest of the season is gravy.  Game one of the NLCS will be Friday night in either Los Angeles or St. Louis.

National League All-Star Team

Major League Baseball is back at it again asking its fans to select the All-Star team.  This is a ludicrous idea because most baseball fans can't name many more players than those on the team they support.  Which is why you have moronic selections each year.

I'm no expert, but after watching the game for 55 years, I know who can play and who isn't living up to their hype.  So, with that in mind here are my National League picks for the upcoming All-Star game which will be played in Minneapolis at Target Field on July 15th.

C      Jonathan Lucroy          Milwaukee Brewers
1B     Paul Goldschmidt        Arizona Diamondbacks
2B     Anthony Rendon         Washington Nationals
3B     Todd Frazier               Cincinnati Reds
SS     Troy Tulowitzki           Colorado Rockies
OF     Giancarlo Stanton       Miami Marlins
OF     Yasiel Puig                  Los Angeles Dodgers
OF     Andrew McCutchen    Pittsburgh Pirates

Of these players only\Tulowitzki, Puig and Stanton are currently leading at their positions.

Maybe the Cardinals Bats are finally Warming Up

As you may or may not know it was a very cold winter and cool wet spring in Saint Louis.  Perhaps that's why the Cardinals have been hitting so poorly thus far this year as compared to last year.

But, this weekend the Birds swept the Washington Nationals at Busch Stadium III and showed a little pop in their bats.  Cardinal First Baseman Matt Adams homered in each of the game and gives St. Louis a legitimate power hitter now that he is off of the DL.

Hopefully, the warm weather has warmed up the bats and the Cards are on their way.  As I write this they trail the Milwaukee Brewers by 3.5 games in the National League Central Division and are only three out on the lost side.

Now that the Cardinals are hitting let's hope the pitching continues to be just as strong as the last few weeks.  Oh did I say that includes four shutouts of the opponent in the past eight days and a strong start this afternoon by number five starter Jaime Garcia.