MiddleCoastBias

"The New York Yankees select the Minnesota Twins and a first round bye" is totally going to happen.

I watched Chuck and Jason "call" simulated games of MLB the Show on YouTube for weeks so whatever, I'm ready for the wacky. Now can they digitally remove Joe Buck from broadcasts?

Knee-jerk reaction was to say that this would be terrible, but it's not the worst situation. No fans in stadiums mitigates (much) of the road atmosphere, and they would still be able to bat last for their 'home' games on the road. There are worse situations to be in.

Morosi going bold and picking Indians, Sox, Twins in that order with the Sox making the Wild Card. Seeing Minnesota at 3rd in the Central I think means he may be expecting their guys to fall off quite a bit. Pitching is top-heavy and a bit suspect on the back end, but still surprised he's fading them.

Yeah, like Bill Walton. Punt that guy into the sun.

Wasn't it Ivan Nova that was mentoring him last year to get him to focus? He had that $100 bet going with him to see ReyLo to practice his English too. I've heard Keuchel is a good clubhouse mentor, hopefully he can work with ReyLo as well. But end of the day, Reynaldo needs to be accountable to himself and 'want' to put in the work and focus. Hope he does for his own sake.

And I think Mendick is on his way to providing more depth in that same role

I'd like to change my previous selection now, please.

No umpires today. One step closer to robot umps ???

I get that, and same thing with letting Mercedes stretch it out over there earlier this week. But those two errant throws to second yesterday (yes, Leury should've caught one of them) are from his natural position. Small sample size etc, but not something I want to pencil into the lineup right away.

Three bad throws by Vaughn in the last two days. I know he's a 1B by trade and he doesn't need to throw TOO much, and maybe chalk some up to jitters, but something to keep an eye on.

Looks like today's intrasquad game is free on MLB.tv for the out-of-towners

Reading more about this league and what he's doing, it actually sounds like a great opportunity for him to get his reps and stay in the game. " Burger was focusing on his training before his father, Mike, became an assistant coach in the league. That's when Burger contacted the White Sox to see if it would be OK if he played. ''They were pretty positive about it,'' Jake Burger said. ''They were like, yeah man, we've got to get at-bats. They wanted to check in on me first, get a couple days where they could get their eyes on me. That went well so they were like, yeah, let's do it.'' Burger said Chase Krogman, a 19-year-old outfielder who was selected by Chicago in the 34th round of last year's draft, also plays in the six-team CarShield league. The games last seven innings, and Burger is hoping to play in his first one Friday night." https://sports.yahoo.com/white-sox-prospect-burger-play-local-st-louis-213143596--mlb.html

Playing for a local league in St. Louis. That's a new one. Any way to get a juices flowing, I guess.

Aside from the HBP, Anderson looking sharp against the first few batters. He's really working the corners (maybe not getting the calls) and changing where the batters are looking. Worked it really well against Abreu.

Ugh, fell victim to the time zone difference, been scrounging around for live video. Spring Training v.2 for everyone.

I don't have an Athletic sub. Can you provide some highlights?

Perspective.

There will be a 10-day injured list for both pitchers and hitters, though the 60-day IL will be reduced to a 45-day IL. • There will be a separate IL for players who either test positive or have symptoms/confirmed exposure to COVID-19. There is no maximum or minimum days for this IL. This is from MLB.com

... which proves even more costly when you look at some of our pitchers like Keuchel that induce a lot of ground balls. Now is when we should be stressing strong infield defense - we've got enough bats to go around, we don't need HRs at every single position just to be able to compete now.

I've heard other teams doing this as well, fun idea. I've wondered if some enterprising fan/fanbase would use this to troll another team with putting up pictures of [team] killers ie would some Twins fan pay $49 to submit Nick Punto?

Everyone remember how dramatic the last night of the 2011 regular season was with everyone watching the Red Sox and Rays games to see who clinches that final spot? I've got a feeling Game 60 Day is going to be crazy-fun with greater chances of teams being bunched up at the end of the season, less chance for teams to back away. Whatever happens, the hunt for the playoffs is going to be wild, and I would bet we get to see a Game "163"/61.

Good call on changing the times - no fans on attendance means no juggling ticket reimbursements, etc., they can just check the forecast the day before and let the teams know the schedule is updated.

Forgot about the rainouts. Wash out a two-day series and there could be major headaches. What happens if that St. Louis series or Cincinnati series hits a bad patch of weather? That could be a nightmare.

I wonder why no double-headers? Thought with the compressed timeline, we might see a few of those to get people in and out of a city, limit the number of nights in hotels, etc.