The Syndicate

We're less than three weeks away from the happiest season of all, folks.

And the big question in NY is will Tebow actually come up with the Mets and play?

S~V~S wrote:And the big question in NY is will Tebow actually come up with the Mets and play?

I give him a 0.01% chance of cracking the roster this year. I am interested to see how he fares though.

They are putting him in Grapefruit games, so

But yeah not likely unless he is Thor's BFF or something.

Our only real question here is how to react to not having David Ortiz in the lineup.

S~V~S wrote:They are putting him in Grapefruit games, so

But yeah not likely unless he is Thor's BFF or something.

I was surprised just now to learn he's hitting above .200 this spring.

Sloonei wrote:Our only real question here is how to react to not having David Ortiz in the lineup.

It's hard to conceive of baseball without Big Papi for sure. He's like Mr Boston really.

S~V~S wrote:

Sloonei wrote:Our only real question here is how to react to not having David Ortiz in the lineup.

It's hard to conceive of baseball without Big Papi for sure. He's like Mr Boston really.

It really is. He's been here since I was 11 years old. That's more than half of my lifetime. It's going to take a while to get used to this. But I'm pretty excited for this season, and it's nice that they'll be able to use the DH spot to let guys rest every so often. And I'm super excited for this season. The Sox are loaded with young talent and might have the best starting rotation in the AL. If Andrew Benintendi isn't Rookie of the Year, I'll eat my shoe.

Murrica won the WBC last night. I was kind of rooting for Puerto Rico, they seemed to be having a lot of fun. But I like Marcus Stroman a lot so it was cool to see him dominate on that stage. Now I'm scared.

I almost always root for the teams from the islands. One good ball player can raise the standard of living of entire villages in the DR, for instance, so I like to see those guys make it to the bigs. Years ago before he became controversial, from time to time you used to see Jose Reyes' whole family, parents, aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces, nephews out and about on excursions in the NY area and they all looked so happy.

It is my understanding that David Ortiz puts tremendous amounts of $$ into the DR economy, and Pedro Martinez not only pays to have whole villages upgraded, he pitches in on the building himself.

Yeah they've both got good reputations here as guys who give a lot back to the DR. I've been reading up on what life is like for prospects from the DR latsly and it makes me root for those guys so much harder. It's not just about playing a game to them, it's about lifting their families or entire communities out of poverty.

And there have been stories over the last week about how crime rates in Puerto Rico were down as their team went on this run, so that was cool. Either way, it seems this tournament was a big success around the world. With that and the World Series last year, baseball finally seems to be on the rise again, and I'm all for that.

It's Opening Day.

How about we just start the playoffs right now.

JaggedJimmyJay wrote:How about we just start the playoffs right now.

Pretty much how Reds fans feel every single season... We all know the inevitable always happens.

JaggedJimmyJay wrote: ↑Wed Apr 12, 2017 5:45 pm How about we just start the playoffs right now.

Only if Bronson Arroyo is your Game 1 starter.

So yeah, weren't the Cleveland Indians the favorite to win the World Series?

G-Man wrote: ↑Thu Oct 12, 2017 1:17 pm So yeah, weren't the Cleveland Indians the favorite to win the World Series?

Yes. I believe in Houston this year. That lineup is nuts, their top two starters can match up with anyone, and they're playing for a city that needs good news bad.
If the Cubs lose tonight, all four of the teams I was rooting for in the Division Series will be eliminated.

I was rooting for the Indians, but I'm going to have to pull for Houston now.

Yeah, Houston is probably my top team now, even though I don't care about baseball.

1. Houston
2. Cubs
3. Yankees or Dodgers

I'm a certified New York and California hater for the most part.

If the Yankees win I'm going to have bury my head in sand for ~6 months. I can stomach a Dodgers win only because of Rich Hill. I'll always root for the Cubs as my #2 team, but Houston has the most going for them this year. They've got a pair borderline Hall of Fame veterans with a combined 0 World Series titles between them (Beltran and Verlander), so it would be cool to see them win it. Plus Jose Altuve is the most exciting player in baseball. And then there's the city of Houston itself right now. Go Astros.

As a fan of the Montreal Canadiens, I root against the Yankees so they don't extend their lead in total championships over my Habs any further.

Roy Halladay died today. He will always be one of my favorite opponents in any sport and I'm stunned by this news. I'll never forget when he finally got a chance to pitch in the playoffs and proceeded to throw a no-hitter in his first game like it was nothing. RIP to an absolute legend of the sport.

This will no doubt get buried in the snoozefest celebration taking up two threads, but I built a baseball model meant to analyze batter versus pitcher, and I made some major tweaks on it this morning that makes it hopefully more reliable.

Anyway, one of the things I got from it was that the Colorado Rockies, who are small favorites at home tonight against the Mets, will likely not perform well against the opposing starting pitcher. This is significant to me for obvious reasons if you are aware of my avocation: Coors Field is a great place for hitters, and most people know that, and the Rockies put up ten runs last night. I therefore expect them to be popular plays.

At any rate, I'm curious to see how the Rockies perform tonight. Mind you that my model only studies the starting pitcher, so it is not saying the Rockies won't win the game, only that they should struggle for the first five to seven innings- it doesn't preclude them from putting up ten runs against the opposing bullpen.

Curious to see how this plays out.

Well this sucks. It's hard to gather meaningful data when the outfielders are making costly errors and the pitcher wants to walk the guy before the opposing pitcher and then give up an RBI to the opposing pitcher himself.

You brought this upon yourself, Charlie.

What did you model have to say about Lance Fucking Lynn tonight?

Sloonei wrote: ↑Wed Jun 20, 2018 11:13 pm You brought this upon yourself, Charlie.

What did you model have to say about Lance Fucking Lynn tonight?

I didn't study Lynn. I fade pitchers against Boston. It burns me sometimes, but I don't care.

Lynn only had two strikeouts. That's not what I'm looking for in a pitcher.

so the red sox won.

Sloonei wrote: ↑Mon Oct 29, 2018 12:07 am so the red sox won.

Another Boston sports championship? *yawn*

We almost just went a full calendar year without one. It was tough.

We’re living in a universe where Howie Kendrick is a postseason legend.

Y'all turn on Game 7 if you didn't already. Here's a stream:

http://yoursports.stream/mlb?v=NTMyNDY4 ... JlZmU5M2Ix

Bryce Harper has been lynched.

A franchise that once misspelled its own name on their uniforms has won the World Series.

JaggedJimmyJay wrote: ↑Wed Oct 30, 2019 11:51 pm Bryce Harper has been lynched.

Just as he foretold.

The Red Sox just traded away the best position player they've had in my lifetime. I understand it. I hate it.

S~V~S wrote: ↑Wed Mar 15, 2017 9:33 pm And the big question in NY is will Tebow actually come up with the Mets and play?

Can I get an under on the 0%?

https://sportsnaut.com/2019/06/mets-tim ... -baseball/