2023 Official MLB Season Thread

Wouldn't be surprised if they rushed back and the cycle started all over to a lesser degree. This country is ****** stupid.
 
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Oo interesting. At least baseball games will be played this season

First time throwing no-hitter in MLB online (ranked season) in my lifetime last night. I’m more surprised about my offense because I don’t bat well mostly :lol:

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i think all sports is going to be lost til at the earliest early 2021
hopefully, they think twice before starting it up too soon. baseball is not essential
 
A good read of what's likely ahead, is on S.I.com today...

Bursting the Bubble: Why Sports Aren't Coming Back Soon
The NBA, NFL and MLB are dreaming up ways to play amid a pandemic, with talk of isolating players in Arizona or Las Vegas or maybe on the moon. It all sounds great, until you talk to people who actually know science.

https://www.si.com/mlb/2020/04/10/sports-arent-coming-back-soon

Goes along with what I've believed since day 1. This is going to be enormously hurtful to Sports in general for a LONG time.

Guys like Brady, Brees, and LeBron near their ends even sooner, without a way to fight it.
Trout, Giannis, Kawhi lose years off their primes.

Money going to dry up real quick, and will take time to rebuild. College players might go a year or two without real training. Minor Leaguers.

Leagues themselves will have months without working together, or even individually. The rust on ALL players, QB's, pitchers, batters, Shooting Guards, lineman, Running backs, goalies, .........

If this really does hold out the next 6-8-10+ months.......not only the affects on this season, that will bleed into next season.

High School seniors that don't get to play this year, tryin to get into college in 2021......

This is grim. :frown:
 

MLB The Show online league, one player per team. Either gonna be a lot better or a lot worse than the NBA 2K tournament. Watching baseball video games sounds pretty boring.
 
From USA Today:

MLB considering radical realignment for 2020 season: Grapefruit and Cactus leagues
Bob Nightengale
USA TODAY

PHOENIX — How about the New York Yankees and Philadelphia Phillies being divisional rivals for the season?

Or the Boston Red Sox and Atlanta Braves?

And the Los Angeles Dodgers and Cleveland Indians?

Major League Baseball, assessing myriad proposals, has discussed a radical plan that would eliminate the traditional American and National Leagues for 2020, a high-ranking official told USA TODAY Sports, and realign all six divisions for an abbreviated season.

The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because the proposal is one of several being discussed.
The plan would have all 30 teams returning to their spring training sites in Florida and Arizona, playing regular-season games only in those two states and without fans in an effort to reduce travel and minimize risks in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The divisions would be realigned based on the geography of their spring training homes.

The plan would allow teams to return to the comforts of their spring training sites for three weeks of training, which would also include exhibition games, before opening the regular season and playing a schedule with wholly different divisional opponents.
Here's a look at one realignment structure:

GRAPEFRUIT LEAGUE
  • NORTH: New York Yankees, Philadelphia Phillies, Toronto Blue Jays, Detroit Tigers, Pittsburgh Pirates.
  • SOUTH: Boston Red Sox, Minnesota Twins, Atlanta Braves, Tampa Bay Rays, Baltimore Orioles.
  • EAST: Washington Nationals, Houston Astros, New York Mets, St. Louis Cardinals, Miami Marlins.
CACTUS LEAGUE
  • NORTHEAST: Chicago Cubs, San Francisco Giants, Arizona Diamondbacks, Colorado Rockies, Oakland Athletics.
  • WEST: Los Angeles Dodgers, Chicago White Sox, Cincinnati Reds, Cleveland Indians, Los Angeles Angels.
  • NORTHWEST: Milwaukee Brewers, San Diego Padres, Seattle Mariners, Texas Rangers, Kansas City Royals.


“When you’re trying to get really creative, why say no now?’’ says Hall of Fame manager Tony La Russa, the Angels’ senior adviser of baseball operations who has been briefed of the potential plan. “So you have a unique season. I’ve got no problem with that.
“I’m not sure we’ll be able play in our own cities across the country, so if you split it up like that, it’s a possibility.’’

The Cactus League provides more flexibility given all of the teams are within an hour's drive of each other.
Also, Florida, with teams spread throughout the state, presents a bigger challenge if players, officials and support staff would needed to be quarantined, which has not been determined.

Earlier this week, following a report by ESPN, MLB said it was having preliminary discussions about playing the season exclusively in Arizona.

The Arizona-Florida plan has several advantages, including allowing teams to establish home bases with facilities they are familiar with. There would be 26 ballparks available to be used, including three major league domed stadiums – Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida, Marlins Park in Miami and Chase Field in Phoenix.

Financially, it could be a huge boon for the TV rights holders. You could have a captive TV audience the entire day. Games in Florida could begin at 11 a.m. ET and still have games in prime-time for East Coast teams and their fans. The time slots still would permit West Coast teams to play prime-time games in Arizona.

Baseball, even with the realignment, could still play 12 games apiece against their new divisional opponents and six games apiece against the other teams in the state. There would be at least one doubleheader a night when all teams are scheduled to play because of the odd number of teams in each state.
The DH would likely be universally implemented as well.

There could still be division winners and wild-card winners, perhaps adding two more wild-card teams to each league, or a postseason tournament with all 30 teams.

The winner of the Cactus League in Arizona would play the winner of the Grapefruit League in Florida for the World Series championship, utilizing the domed stadiums in late November.
The official cautioned that nothing has been decided. They will continue to wait until advised by health and government officials that it’s safe to start the season, holding out hope that teams could return to their major league cities, even including fans.

Yet for now they’ll continue to explore all options, knowing that anything and everything is possible for a season like no other.

“There are so many workable possibilities,’’ La Russa says, “why give up on any alternative until it’s clear it can’t work?

“What we can’t do is give up.’’
 
From USA Today:

MLB considering radical realignment for 2020 season: Grapefruit and Cactus leagues
Bob Nightengale
USA TODAY

PHOENIX — How about the New York Yankees and Philadelphia Phillies being divisional rivals for the season?

Or the Boston Red Sox and Atlanta Braves?

And the Los Angeles Dodgers and Cleveland Indians?

Major League Baseball, assessing myriad proposals, has discussed a radical plan that would eliminate the traditional American and National Leagues for 2020, a high-ranking official told USA TODAY Sports, and realign all six divisions for an abbreviated season.

The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because the proposal is one of several being discussed.
The plan would have all 30 teams returning to their spring training sites in Florida and Arizona, playing regular-season games only in those two states and without fans in an effort to reduce travel and minimize risks in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The divisions would be realigned based on the geography of their spring training homes.

The plan would allow teams to return to the comforts of their spring training sites for three weeks of training, which would also include exhibition games, before opening the regular season and playing a schedule with wholly different divisional opponents.
Here's a look at one realignment structure:

GRAPEFRUIT LEAGUE
  • NORTH: New York Yankees, Philadelphia Phillies, Toronto Blue Jays, Detroit Tigers, Pittsburgh Pirates.
  • SOUTH: Boston Red Sox, Minnesota Twins, Atlanta Braves, Tampa Bay Rays, Baltimore Orioles.
  • EAST: Washington Nationals, Houston Astros, New York Mets, St. Louis Cardinals, Miami Marlins.
CACTUS LEAGUE
  • NORTHEAST: Chicago Cubs, San Francisco Giants, Arizona Diamondbacks, Colorado Rockies, Oakland Athletics.
  • WEST: Los Angeles Dodgers, Chicago White Sox, Cincinnati Reds, Cleveland Indians, Los Angeles Angels.
  • NORTHWEST: Milwaukee Brewers, San Diego Padres, Seattle Mariners, Texas Rangers, Kansas City Royals.


“When you’re trying to get really creative, why say no now?’’ says Hall of Fame manager Tony La Russa, the Angels’ senior adviser of baseball operations who has been briefed of the potential plan. “So you have a unique season. I’ve got no problem with that.
“I’m not sure we’ll be able play in our own cities across the country, so if you split it up like that, it’s a possibility.’’

The Cactus League provides more flexibility given all of the teams are within an hour's drive of each other.
Also, Florida, with teams spread throughout the state, presents a bigger challenge if players, officials and support staff would needed to be quarantined, which has not been determined.

Earlier this week, following a report by ESPN, MLB said it was having preliminary discussions about playing the season exclusively in Arizona.

The Arizona-Florida plan has several advantages, including allowing teams to establish home bases with facilities they are familiar with. There would be 26 ballparks available to be used, including three major league domed stadiums – Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida, Marlins Park in Miami and Chase Field in Phoenix.

Financially, it could be a huge boon for the TV rights holders. You could have a captive TV audience the entire day. Games in Florida could begin at 11 a.m. ET and still have games in prime-time for East Coast teams and their fans. The time slots still would permit West Coast teams to play prime-time games in Arizona.

Baseball, even with the realignment, could still play 12 games apiece against their new divisional opponents and six games apiece against the other teams in the state. There would be at least one doubleheader a night when all teams are scheduled to play because of the odd number of teams in each state.
The DH would likely be universally implemented as well.

There could still be division winners and wild-card winners, perhaps adding two more wild-card teams to each league, or a postseason tournament with all 30 teams.

The winner of the Cactus League in Arizona would play the winner of the Grapefruit League in Florida for the World Series championship, utilizing the domed stadiums in late November.
The official cautioned that nothing has been decided. They will continue to wait until advised by health and government officials that it’s safe to start the season, holding out hope that teams could return to their major league cities, even including fans.

Yet for now they’ll continue to explore all options, knowing that anything and everything is possible for a season like no other.

“There are so many workable possibilities,’’ La Russa says, “why give up on any alternative until it’s clear it can’t work?

“What we can’t do is give up.’’
This is interesting and got my attention. Sounds like it can work and if no other sport comes back this year I can see MLB going for this for the ratings alone.
Merch sales would be thru the roof if they redesign uniforms with a cactus and Grapefruit League patch
Of course The Mets get the toughest division
 
CBS' top 100 baseball players is one of the biggest jokes I have ever seen in terms of rankings lists...

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So many things wrong with this list.
 
I don't like it, or agree with it either, but in fairness, those type lists are subjective and very difficult. Especially 100.
 
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