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MLB 2021 Baseball Season


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Thank you for this forum. My favorite sports moment is still being in the Astrodome and watching Mike Scott pitch a no hitter against the Giants that put the Astros in the MLB playoffs. It was back when the earth was cooling... in I think 1986.

It was 1986 and Mike Scott was terrific, but no terrific enough to get the Astros past the Mets in the playoffs. There is a thread here on doctoring the baseball, Mike Scott would fit right in there as well. When he moved from the Mets and eventually to the Astros, his ability to doctor the baseball to make it almost unhittable, was well known by all who followed the game.

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Speaking of low batting averages I had no idea till I was watching the Yankees play the Tigers this weekend that practically everyone on Detroit is hitting under .200! :eek:

From Jeff Passan, ESPN:

 

These are the 10 lowest batting averages in baseball right now: .200, .205, .211, .214, .215, .218, .222, .223., .224, .227.

 

Who do they belong to? Entire teams.

 

Which teams? Detroit, Cleveland, Seattle, Oakland, Milwaukee, Chicago Cubs, San Francisco, Tampa Bay, New York Yankees, Baltimore.

 

Those are the two teams with the best record in the NL, the first- and second-place teams in the AL West, the AL representative in the World Series last year and the New York freaking Yankees.

 

Across baseball, teams batted .232/.309/.389. It's the lowest April average since -- you guessed it -- 1968, after which MLB lowered the mound from 15 inches to 10 inches because offense was so putrid. And here's the thing: It's not just batting average. The last time a season ended with a leaguewide on-base percentage of .309 or worse was, yup, 1968.

 

The culprit is the strikeout. In April, there were 6,924 punchouts and 5,832 hits, a difference of 1,092. The previous high in a month: 705 in September 2019. The second largest: 496 in September 2020.

 

How out of hand have strikeouts gotten? Sandy Koufax, one of the greatest strikeout artists of all time, retired with a career rate of 9.28 punchouts per nine innings. In 2021, the average strikeout rate across the sport is 9.29 per nine.

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Drew Robinson makes San Francisco Giants' Triple-A roster despite losing eye in 2020 suicide attempt

 

Drew Robinson, who lost his right eye in a suicide attempt last year, made the Opening Day roster for the San Francisco Giants' Triple-A affiliate and could play as soon as tomorrow when the Sacramento River Cats open their season with a six-game series in his hometown of Las Vegas.

 

Robinson, 29, signed a minor league deal with the Giants over the winter, six months after he shot himself in the head. After a harrowing 20 hours that followed the attempt and more than a year of rehabilitation, a late-spring surge in Robinson's performance during minor league spring training convinced the Giants to place him one step from the team with the best record in the National League.

 

"I don't know if I'll be able to fully describe how excited I am for these next six games, but I know that this is going to be another powerful experience and I'm so ready for it," Robinson told ESPN on Wednesday. "Our game isn't even until tomorrow, but I already had a hard time staying asleep last night because of how excited I am for these games and this experience as a whole.

 

"After going through most of my life not fully appreciating what was happening, I can promise that I'll be taking in every second of this season with a new understanding of how special all of this is."

 

Robinson's family, friends and doctors will gather at 7:05 p.m. PT Thursday at Las Vegas Ballpark, where Robinson spent much of the offseason taking live batting practice - and hit his first home run since he began his comeback attempt. His work at the stadium, just two miles from the house where his suicide attempt took place, convinced Robinson that his desire to play baseball again could be a reality.

 

He began the spring playing shortstop, a position Robinson hadn't regularly manned in nearly a decade, and struggled to adapt to its speed. When the Giants moved him to the outfield, where he played the majority of his 100 games with the Texas Rangers and St. Louis Cardinals from 2017-19, Robinson's comfort returned.

 

Along with it came more offensive production. The concerns about the left-handed-swinging Robinson's ability to track pitches without his lead eye were palpable, but Robinson proved adept at discerning balls and strikes - and unleashing his massive power. He had rebuilt the rest of his body through a consistent workout regimen, adding nearly 20 pounds of muscle onto his 6-foot-1 frame and showing up at minor league camp a shredded 200 pounds.

 

Hard contact proved elusive early in spring training, but when Robinson squared balls up, they soared into the Arizona sky. He hit a pair of home runs, the latter a 450-foot shot on a high changeup. The Giants, whose support after the suicide attempt was vital in Robinson's recovery, were convinced. He wasn't just a great story. He was worthy of another shot at returning to the big leagues.

 

Even making it back to the minor leagues is stunning. The last player in the major leagues with one eye was Pittsburgh pitcher Whammy Douglas, who threw 47 innings in 1957. The questions about Robinson went far beyond the limitations having one eye might place on him, too.

 

For years, the vagaries of baseball had preyed on Robinson - the game's inherent failures, the up-and-down nature of a player who never quite got a toe-hold on a big league roster. His suicide attempt April 16, 2020 surprised friends and family, who always had seen Robinson as the wisecracking, good-natured life of the party.

 

Four surgeries, including the removal of his eye that was damaged by a bullet, stabilized Robinson physically.

 

Rebuilding him mentally was a far more difficult task, one that continues today through regular therapy, meditation and medication. It is the foundation that allowed Robinson to rejoin the sport that brought him joy and pain - and to apply all he has learned so that his family's fears of baseball sending him back to a dark place would be unfounded.

 

There were moments this spring that were frustrating, disappointing, problematic, but Robinson's perseverance won out. And now, with those closest to him there - his parents, his siblings and his best friend, Daiana Anguelova - he'll be where he belongs: playing professional baseball again.

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From Jeff Passan, ESPN:

 

These are the 10 lowest batting averages in baseball right now: .200, .205, .211, .214, .215, .218, .222, .223., .224, .227.

 

Who do they belong to? Entire teams.

 

Which teams? Detroit, Cleveland, Seattle, Oakland, Milwaukee, Chicago Cubs, San Francisco, Tampa Bay, New York Yankees, Baltimore.

 

Those are the two teams with the best record in the NL, the first- and second-place teams in the AL West, the AL representative in the World Series last year and the New York freaking Yankees.

 

Across baseball, teams batted .232/.309/.389. It's the lowest April average since -- you guessed it -- 1968, after which MLB lowered the mound from 15 inches to 10 inches because offense was so putrid. And here's the thing: It's not just batting average. The last time a season ended with a leaguewide on-base percentage of .309 or worse was, yup, 1968.

 

The culprit is the strikeout. In April, there were 6,924 punchouts and 5,832 hits, a difference of 1,092. The previous high in a month: 705 in September 2019. The second largest: 496 in September 2020.

 

How out of hand have strikeouts gotten? Sandy Koufax, one of the greatest strikeout artists of all time, retired with a career rate of 9.28 punchouts per nine innings. In 2021, the average strikeout rate across the sport is 9.29 per nine.

That being said, only one pitcher has as many as five wins.

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That being said, only one pitcher has as many as five wins.

 

That's not too unusual I would think for this point. We only are basically one month in. And a 5 win total now at this point is on pace for 25 wins so that's not happening. 20 is usually the top number you shoot for.

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That's not too unusual I would think for this point. We only are basically one month in. And a 5 win total now at this point is on pace for 25 wins so that's not happening. 20 is usually the top number you shoot for.

Many, many pitchers have won more than 20 games. Denny McClain from the Tigers won 30 games in 1968.

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Many, many pitchers have won more than 20 games. Denny McClain from the Tigers won 30 games in 1968.

 

You're a baseball guy. You know that's because back then they would pitch the whole game so they always earned a decision. In 2006 the NL leader in wins had 16! The leader is usually between 18 - 22 over the last few decades with a couple outliers.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Major_League_Baseball_annual_wins_leaders

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You're a baseball guy. You know that's because back then they would pitch the whole game so they always earned a decision. In 2006 the NL leader in wins had 16! The leader is usually between 18 - 22 over the last few decades with a couple outliers.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Major_League_Baseball_annual_wins_leaders

 

You are mostly referring to Bob Gibson who finished most of his games. Relief pitchers were around when people like Gibson pitched and especially on his team in the early 1960s. (Bobby Shantz)

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Yesterday Alfred Pujols complained about not being in the lineup. Today the Angels designated him for assignment!

https://www.latimes.com/sports/angels/story/2021-05-06/angels-release-future-hall-of-famer-albert-pujols

My initial reaction: Albert Pujols is unlikely to return to the Cardinals because there is no designed history in the National League

 

Sad day for Albert Pujols and for all Angles and Cardinals fans.

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Pujols could easily make it back to the Cards....if he can throw strikes. The Cards played the Mets today and they walked in 3 of the Mets 4 runds. The other came on a single which scored a runner who had walked. The total number of walk was at least 11. The Mets won 4 to 1 but managed to leave 17 men on base, a team record for a nine inning game. That is further evidence that hitting is not what it once was. Mets had 9 hits and 11 walks and Cards made an error and they only scored 4 runs. Cards had three hits, 2 in the ninth. Was one of the worst ball games I have ever seen. I watched it as I am a die hard Mets fan, but this is the kind of game that will kill the sport.

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Pujols could easily make it back to the Cards....if he can throw strikes. The Cards played the Mets today and they walked in 3 of the Mets 4 runds. The other came on a single which scored a runner who had walked. The total number of walk was at least 11. The Mets won 4 to 1 but managed to leave 17 men on base, a team record for a nine inning game. That is further evidence that hitting is not what it once was. Mets had 9 hits and 11 walks and Cards made an error and they only scored 4 runs. Cards had three hits, 2 in the ninth. Was one of the worst ball games I have ever seen. I watched it as I am a die hard Mets fan, but this is the kind of game that will kill the sport.

A few days ago the Cardinals won five games in a row. The team didn't outbid the Angels for Pujols in 2011 and is unlikely to sign Albert now

Edited by WilliamM
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Despite being vaccinated with the J&J vaccine, at least two Yankee coaches have tested positive for COVID_19.

https://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/yankees/ny-phil-nevin-coronavirus-20210511-46enkrv4abdwrae33biqj2bkxq-story.html

 

The Padres have an outbreak as well. Fernando Tatis Jr. & Wil Myers both positive and some other players also going into quarantine. The manager would not say whether they had been vaccinated. Good reminder for people though that you still can get covid after getting vaccinated. You just almost certainly won't be deathly sick or die.

 

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/31427923/fernando-tatis-jr-two-other-san-diego-padres-placed-il-due-health-safety-protocols

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Yesterday Alfred Pujols complained about not being in the lineup. Today the Angels designated him for assignment!

https://www.latimes.com/sports/angels/story/2021-05-06/angels-release-future-hall-of-famer-albert-pujols

My initial reaction: Albert Pujols is unlikely to return to the Cardinals because there is no designed history in the National League

 

Sad day for Albert Pujols and for all Angles and Cardinals fans.

Pujols could easily make it back to the Cards....if he can throw strikes.

The team didn't outbid the Angels for Pujols in 2011 and is unlikely to sign Albert now

 

 

Alfred has cleared waivers and is now officially a free agent. LET THE BIDDING BEGIN!!!

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Alfred has cleared waivers and is now officially a free agent. LET THE BIDDING BEGIN!!!

Why the sarcasm, pal? I had forgotten Pujols won a batting title when he played in the National League. He is usually thought of as a home run, RBI guy

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The Dodgers have won the bidding war for Alfred Pujols.

The question is why?

I guess when you have money to spend you spend it. Not going to cost them anything but money and though I doubt he has anything left in the tank, if there is a bit of gasoline there, it could catch fire for a short time.

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