Major League Baseball

[pinholestar]

30 minutes ago, Stoppy2000 said:

Which method of batting do you use? I've got it on direction based I think. I do like the way it tracks actual real life games in the game. How quickly should I be called up to the major league in Road to The Show mode? Feel like I'm destined to play out a career in the minor league..

Zone hitting all the way. It’s harder to master but when you do it gives you so much more control and is incredibly satisfying. They’ve improved it this year by letting you pre-lock your neutral aiming point, so if you have a tendency to pull down or whatever it’ll mitigate it. If you’re having fun with directional hitting though then by all means stick with it. One of the many excellent things about the game is the wealth of options it gives you to tailor the experience to your liking/skill level. I’d recommend using Strike Zone view when batting though, as it gives you the clearest view of incoming pitches and helps you pick up things like curveballs out of the hand much quicker.

 

With regards to RttS, last year it took me maybe a season and a half to get called up to the majors? I haven’t played that mode much this year though so I haven’t been called up yet, but I have seen a lot of people online saying that it seems to take ages despite them raking in the minors, so maybe they’ve changed something.

[ilpostino]

Last night, Albert Pujols became only the 4th player in Baseball history to reach 700 Home Runs:

 

 

He joins some pretty good company: Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth, Barry Bonds.

[Spleen]

NYY Vs Boston Redsox live on the BBC!

Not that I follow baseball at all but it's live on the BBC so I'll watch it. 

[Orion]

2 hours ago, Spleen said:

NYY Vs Boston Redsox live on the BBC!

Not that I follow baseball at all but it's live on the BBC so I'll watch it. 

 

Anyone know who is the English guy commentating with them because he is awful. Is he a cricketer ? I went to find a stream instead of the BBC because he is just going "yeah, yeah, right, sure, right, yeah, yeah" non stop. He is terrible. I'm guessing he is there to supposedly help people who have never seen the game before but he is really bad at it.

[Spleen]

11 minutes ago, Orion said:

 

Anyone know who is the English guy commentating with them because he is awful. Is he a cricketer ? I went to find a stream instead of the BBC because he is just going "yeah, yeah, right, sure, right, yeah, yeah" non stop. He is terrible. I'm guessing he is there to supposedly help people who have never seen the game before but he is terrible at it.

 

The BBC Sport app says he's a cricket podcaster. 

[Orion]

26 minutes ago, Spleen said:

 

The BBC Sport app says he's a cricket podcaster. 

 

Makes sense as the only time he actually offered anything is when he tried to bring up cricket.

 

Google says he is a filmmaker and musician. He is a really terrible commenter and knows even less than me and I watch like 10 baseball games a year. This is some miracle he got this job.

[Wallace]

On 24/09/2022 at 13:33, Spleen said:

NYY Vs Boston Redsox live on the BBC!

Not that I follow baseball at all but it's live on the BBC so I'll watch it. 

 

I was at this game live, glad I didn't need to watch with that commentary!

 

The atmosphere every time Judge was up was electric, the 1.5 pint cans of Stella were excellent, as was the hotdog. I was sat next to a wee girl and her grandad who were a great laugh; she knew her stuff and was calling balls and strikes all the way through 😆

 

[pinholestar]

After a post-season drought spanning 21 years (the longest of any team in all 4 major North American sports leagues) last night my Seattle Mariners found themselves in this position:

 

They needed just 1 more win to finally end the drought after over two decades of long suffering.

 

Game's tied 1-1.

 

Bottom of the 9th.

 

2 outs.

 

Full count.

 

Cal Raleigh (affectionately known as 'Big Dumper') comes in to pinch hit and does this:

 

 

 

Absolute fairytale stuff. I believe it's the first time in MLB history that a team has reached the playoffs with a walk-off pinch-hit homerun, which is extraordinary enough in itself, but for it to happen in those circumstances is a script worthy of the cheesiest Hollywood movie. Well worth staying up till 6am for 

[McFly]

That's cool, hitting a homer must be such an awesome feeling.

[ryodi]

I've had an MLB.tv subscription for years and this year with no notice at all they've blacked out the post season games in the UK because BT Sport have bought the rights. After a backlash they are at least letting subscribers watch the Wild Card games but that's it. I've emailed to complain this isn't what I paid for but it's incredibly frustrating for what is one of the best sport streaming services to do this. 

[pinholestar]

Yeah that was really scummy on their part. Their ‘apology’ was pathetic too. Moronic thing to do for your dedicated overseas customers if you’re looking to grow the appeal of the sport abroad. 
 

With that said, the playoffs have been fantastic so far. My Mariners coming back against all the odds from 8-1 down last night to win 10-9 had me hopping round in ecstasy. On to the ALDS to face the pantomime villain Astros who’ve had our number for years now, so I’m nervous about our prospects, but this Mariners team has defied expectations time and time again, so you never know. It’s been an incredible season of high drama so far.

 

Cleveland walking it off in the 15th against the Rays earlier in the day was pretty dramatic too, not to mention the rubber match between the Padres and the Mets tonight, which is finely poised to be a tense affair. 

 

Post-season baseball is such a great format. Loving it. 

[ryodi]

I only switched over to the Guardians Rays game in the 8th inning because that's when MLB.tv sent the email saying they'd decided to let us subscribers watch the wild card games only. It was an interesting pitching dual and the crowd stayed energised throughout so it was nice to see them win it with a walk off home run.

 

I didn't watch the end of the Mariners game because I thought Toronto had it. Did you put a shoe on your head to help the team?

 

 

[Sun Tze]

1 hour ago, pinholestar said:

With that said, the playoffs have been fantastic so far. My Mariners coming back against all the odds from 8-1 down last night to win 10-9 had me hopping round in ecstasy. On to the ALDS to face the pantomime villain Astros, who’ve had our number for years now, so I’m nervous about our prospects, but this Mariners team has defied expectations time and time again so you never know. It’s been an incredible season of high drama so far.

 

Cleveland walking it off in the 15th against the Rays earlier in the day was pretty dramatic too, not to mention the rubber match between the Padres and the Mets tonight, which is finely poised to be a tense affair. 

 

Post-season baseball is such a great format. Loving it. 

Amazing comeback by the M's. Team has an aura about it, let's hope it doesn't shatter against the Astro's. Pretty sure the Blue Jays need some help in the bullpen next year though. 

 

Still a couple more 'villain' teams (NYY, Braves and Astros) to beat before a Phil's vs Mariners WS! 

[ryodi]

I emailed MLB.tv to complain about the post season blackout and they are sending me a refund of $24.99 which is the value of the post season package. It’ll go towards my 2023 subscription because I doubt they are going to drop the price in regions with the blackout.

[Sun Tze]

Phillies did it! 

 

Great series against the Padres with a couple of really close games that could've went both ways. Harper is really something else this postseason, rest of the bats are doing their thing but him and Schwarber are (once again) proving to be incredible tough outs these last few games. 

 

Padres fans quite miserable at their coach for not putting closer Hader in sooner but while he was lights out in the post, Phillies took him deep twice during the regular season so i kind of get it.

 

Houston next, see you friday.  

[ilpostino]

 

 

Never want to see the Astros win, and I'm rooting for the Philles - but it's always good to be able to post this.

 

[McFly]

Judge and Rizzo heading to SF Giants perhaps.

[ryodi]

Best to get these mistakes out of the way in spring training.

[pinholestar]

The new pitch clock seems to be having a pretty immediate impact. Average time through the first 10 spring training games is 2h34m, which is lightning quick by modern baseball standards.
 

There’s gonna be a bunch of amusing/catastrophic fuck ups like the one posted above this coming season I think. The crowd counting it down during a tense playoff game etc. could add a pretty cool element too.

[ilpostino]

If there's one thing baseball needed, it was more of the umpire show.

 

Pitch clock isn't why baseball isn't picking up younger fans, it's having regional blackouts and the cost of going to the game.