Yeah, the lockout and whatever.
Anyway, I haven’t been following MLB off season, so no idea.
My gal Ra Teasha at work is a KC fan, and my real gal is from KC.
I think I must follow KC! Blending of both worlds!
So, whenever they get around to pre-season, much less real ball, what’s the haps?
Royals are on the road to improvement. They’re one of the 3 teams I follow, and I think they have a good chance at a .500 season after some down years. If there’s a season, that is.
What’s the other two? I like Cleveland on principle (rivals to Yanks) and Mariners for no reason.
I’ll be following KC this season (?) just for diplomatic reasons, but dunno.
Ir anyone is having hard core withdrawal the KBO (Korean Baseball Organization) starts soon and they are fun to watch.
Eh? There’s a lockout? I haven’t watched baseball since the Chicago Cubs released Mark Grace (I’m still sore about that), so I have no idea what’s been going on the last two decades. Are there still any teams in Canada?
Yeah, it’s a whole thing. Estimated real games, maybe Mar. 31st. Pre-season, not yet even.
It’s kind of effed up, and I don’t know the whole story.
Maybe World Series in December?
Who knows.
The Mets, who I became a fan of when I was a kid 55 years ago, and the A’s, who I’ve adopted since moving to the West Coast. I have a good friend who’s a Royals fan, so I also follow them.
Cubs fan here all the way back to - and in spite of - 1969. Been having a good time lately, though they fell into the trap of every hit has to be a home run, every out has to be a strikeout. I wonder if the shirts didn’t try to re-sign all those guys because they knew there wouldn’t be a season this year.
I follow the Jays (being Canadian and all) and the Red Sox
I’m really hoping this lockout nonsense resolves itself soon. Let’s play some BALL! 
At least my Rams won because my Angels and their minor league system, especially with how the prospects are treated, aren’t getting any better. 6 straight losing seasons with two of them being one game below 500 because of Scioscia’s bs “turn the page” philosophy. Good grief. Go to hell, Cheatstros.
I’m a Colorado Rockies fan. We always start to season so full of hope and by July it’s pretty much gone.
Not sure what all of the problems are that there’s a lockout (again). Gotta say though, I’m not that thrilled with the idea of a universal designated hitter. Every sport is offence, offence, offence these days. Football, hockey, baseball (not sure about basketball don’t watch that one) but they have all tweaked their rules in favor of scoring that defensive play is almost pointless.
Yeah, I follow your point about defense, to a degree.
However, there’s a problem in that it’s very likely the talent pool of pitchers who can actually swing a bat somewhat competently is small, and probably will continue to shrink.
Not a lot of Bob Gibsons out there.
Could that be fixed by eliminating all DHs? Sure, maybe, but that will never happen. So, accepting it and adopting universal DH seems a better alternative.
And, a minor advantage is that it will make the game easier to explain to newcomers, I guess.
Honestly, I think MLB needs to shrink anyway. The talent pool for all positions is slim these days. Does California need five teams? Three of them in LA alone?
I guess I’ll just wait to see how the UDH works.
UDH is a fait accompli because it’s another high-salary position for the union. I agree that the focus on offense has taken over; as David Ross said, “nobody plays baseball anymore.” I’m sick to death of batters hitting into the shift time after time. The next team that plays strategic baseball will win 120 games.
I have a theory about pitchers: There will never be another 300-game winner. That has been the golden ticket to the Hall of Fame, so now the emphasis has to change to something else. That thing is K’s, so that’s why K’s are up, pitch counts are up and strategic pitching is dead.
I’m a lifelong Cardinals fan (I know, the Internet hates them, but I kinda enjoy being a heel now). Probably my most fun baseball experience was seeing the Cardinals playing the Blue Jays at Olympic Stadium in Montreal in 2018.
I have to say, though, the stadium itself was very weird. Check out the bullpens:
What’s the inside story on Oakland this …upcoming…sometime…season? Haven’t followed any of the off season machinations, and don’t know anything about their recent history.
I like that they sometimes can put the screws to San Fran, but that’s all I know, just as a casual observer.
Word is that they’ll be trading away their soon-to-be-free-agent stars for a rebuild, but the lockout has prevented any transactions from happening. One assumes that the teardown will commence when the lockout ends.
Living in a minor league town I barely watch baseball, but will watch the odd Mariners game. and as a kid collecting cards I loved the O’s just for the look of their logo.
I do pay attention to some things, like the drama the Rays are having with the failed split city plan and the issue with their home field.
The main thing that I can’t stand is that since the Expos moved to DC, the league has really pushed the Blue Jays as being Canada’s team. (the NBA basically has done the same with the Raptors) Local media pushes the Jays as our team, Sportsnet shows most if not all Jays games. looking at a map you would think we were in M’s territory, I can be at a M’s home game by car faster than I can be at a Jays game by plane. (and hey NBA with good traffic I can see the Trailblazers with less commute time than the Raptors. ((bring back the Sonics at least)) ) The more I’m “told” I should be supporting a team that far away, the more i’m likely to tune out.
As far as the lock out, it would be nice if both sides in any sporting lock out would just stop being greedy. Players yes some junior players don’t quite make enough, if the top players were willing to not demand the moon with each contract the would be room to raise the base pay. Owners we know you make bank from merch and broadcast deals, if you can afford teams, you can afford players. And if things ever get to the point no team can afford to operate a major league team in any of the top leagues… oh well guess i’ll pull out my DVD of Baseketball…
San Diego is in L.A.?
A’s might follow Raiders if they don’t get their new stadium approval. I’m selfishly biased towards UDH because the Angels don’t have to face veteran NL players moving to play DH and they have one of the best interleague records anyways especially against the Mickey Mouse champs of 2020.
No, I was confusing Oakland with LA instead of San Fransico. Still why? The same question could be asked about New York (The Yankees and the Mets) and Chicago (White Sox and Cubs). Or even states with more than one team Ohio (Reds and Indians), Pennsylvania (Pirates and Phillies) Missouri (Cardinals and Royals) or Florida (Marlins and Rays)
Some consolidation of teams would be good for the sport in general. But I’m also aware that will never actually happen. There’s too much money at stake.
