Major League Baseball 2018 Season Thread

[The Whovian]

So what's the over/under on how long it takes Gabe Kapler to lose all control of his team the way he's managing them?

If he loses his player's confidence, it won't be long. But I have a feeling that as long as he doesn't have a major meltdown, he'll make it through the season.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

I don't know how to embed tweets here, so a link to the Molina brouhaha today that will surely get him suspended for some games (probably 5).

https://twitter.com/FSMidwest/status...ana-mlb-scores

Lovullo must’ve said something to Molina that set him off.

So what's the over/under on how long it takes Gabe Kapler to lose all control of his team the way he's managing them?

An anonymous Phillies player was quoted as having said Kapler “needs to get out of the way”. After the third game of the season.

Predictably, after ringing up 20 runs last night, the Phils managed only three as they were doubled up by the Fish today. As for Jake Arrieta, after a slow start, was dealing and looked decent, even without a full spring training. Meanwhile, here’s a troubling stat I just saw on MLB Network: in four of the seven games the Phils have played, they’ve used six or more pitchers. At this rate, Kapler will burn out his bullpen before Memorial Day.

[Hiromi]

Lovullo must’ve said something to Molina that set him off.



An anonymous Phillies player was quoted as having said Kapler “needs to get out of the way”. After the third game of the season.

Predictably, after ringing up 20 runs last night, the Phils managed only three as they were doubled up by the Fish today. As for Jake Arrieta, after a slow start, was dealing and looked decent, even without a full spring training. Meanwhile, here’s a troubling stat I just saw on MLB Network: in four of the seven games the Phils have played, they’ve used six or more pitchers. At this rate, Kapler will burn out his bullpen before Memorial Day.

Considering he's already tried to bring out a Reliever who wasn't warmed up(and I'm still pissed that Umpire threw the Braves manager out of the game for getting upset that they were blatantly ignoring a rule to allow it) and was forced to use a position player to pitch by game 3, yeah he'll definitely burn out his bullpen(who aren't that good to begin with) at this rate. Also his highly paid starters are going to start resenting him a lot if he keeps pulling them around 70 pitches on a good outing

but hey, apparently clubs want managers who are nothing but puppets for their advanced stat geeks instead of actual managers now

[The Whovian]

Wow, how about Ohtani? 7 innings, 1 hit, 1 walk, no runs allowed and 12 K's. Amazing!

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Adrian Gonzalez still has some pop in his bat after hitting a grand slam against the gNats.

[MRP]

Welp, the Red Sox starters finally had a bad day, as Eduardo Rodriguez underwhelmed in his return from knee surgery, but the Sox had one helluva comeback scoring 6 in the 8th (5 with 2 outs) aided by some sketchy defense by the rays to pull it out for their 8th win in a row. The bad news is Xander Boegarts may miss some time after a leg injury sliding into the dugout to try to prevent an errant throw form leaving the field of play. He saved a run but came down awkwardly on his leg and it looked like some kind of ankle injury.

-M

[Hiromi]

Woo Nats lose 5 in a row!

[Joker]

wow, how about ohtani? 7 innings, 1 hit, 1 walk, no runs allowed and 12 k's. Amazing!

the hype is real!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[WestPhillyPunisher]

the hype is real!!!!!!!!!!!!!

MLB Network was slobbering all over Ohtani like he was the second coming of Babe Ruth. Let's pump the brakes on all this hysteria, see what happens a month from now once teams have adjusted to him.

[Joker]

Exactly my point in my previous post. He could very well end up amazing, but we won't know that until the end of the year, or even next year.

[The Whovian]

Bryce Harper already has 6 HRs

[MRP]

A friend of mine, who is a Yankees fan, told me yesterday that as long as one of the big 3 (Judge, Stanton, or Sanchez) homers and Stanton doesn't strike out 5 times, the Yanks would beat the Sox going away. Well Judge had a mammoth home run (solo shot) and Stanton only had 2 Ks (along with 2 hits) and the Yanks lost 14-1. It was a reality check for my friend the Yankee fan. It was nice to see the Sox offense explode the first game after Boagarts (who had been their best offensive player) went on the DL though, but even though the Sox are off to a 9-1 start, this is going to be a long tough season in the AL East, so you got to take the wins when you can.

-M

[Arfguy]

My friend keeps talking about this Ohtani player, so I decided to check out some highlights.

Pretty impressive so far.

[MRP]

My friend keeps talking about this Ohtani player, so I decided to check out some highlights.

Pretty impressive so far.

There was a piece on Ohtani on 60 Minutes that aired before he posted as available to MLB that was very well done and put him on my radar long before he signed with the Angels, so I have been sort of following what he has done since then. What he did in Japan was impressive. What he is attempting to do in the majors is impressive whether he succeeds or not, and there are a lot of naysayers and folks who resent the hype, but I am rooting for him to succeed because it will be good for baseball overall. Baseball needs a new generation of faces of the game and having Ohtani be one of them is a good thing.

-M

[WestPhillyPunisher]

A friend of mine who is a Yankees fan told me yesterday that as long as one of the big 3 (Judge, Stanton, or Sanchez) homers and Stanton doesn't strike out 5 times, the Yanks would beat the Sox going away. Well Judge had a mammoth home run (solo shot) and Stanton only had 2 Ks (along with 2 hits) and the Yanks lost 14-1. It was a reality check for my friend the Yankee fan. It was nice to see the Sox offense explode the first game after Boagarts (who had been their best offensive player) went on the DL though, but even though the Sox are off to w 9-1 start, this is going to be a long tough season in the AL East, so you got to take the wins when you can.

-M

I watched that game, expecting a taut pitching battle, but it wound up a laugher after the Bosox treated Yanks pitchers like rented mules. Never saw that coming.