Mega Thread MLB season 2024

[FreoRicci]

Florida was hit by Hurricanes Helene and Milton, with the latter hurricane crossing over the panhandle around the Tampa Bay area. As a result, the Rays' home stadium, Tropicana Field, was damaged by the high winds that accompanied the hurricane, causing damage to the ballpark, including the almost complete destruction of the roof. Given that the stadium was domed, there was no drainage system built into the ground, meaning that the Rays may need to deal with long-term water damage to the field.

The Rays are planning to replace Tropicana Field with a new stadium that is to be constructed next door, but this stadium is not expected to be ready until the start of the 2028 season, meaning that the Rays will need to determine whether they are able to play at Tropicana Field in the next three seasons or whether an alternative site will need to be procured. The Rays are scheduled to open the 2025 season with a home series against the Rockies and the Pirates for three games each.

Rays start assessing damage, viability of Tropicana Field

Winds from Hurricane Milton shredded most of the Teflon-coated Fiberglass roof; only a small number of staff were in the building at the time.

www.tampabay.com

How are they building a stadium right next to it, in one of the dangerous/precarious spots for hurricanes.

The owner is a frugal as well.

Tampa Bay deserve better

 

[FreoRicci]

Did Roberts pull his starter Brasier after just one inning?

Gosh his over management in post season is horrible. Knack let on his first 3 runners for a loaded bases for Lindor to only hit a Grand Slam. 3 BBs! That’s horrendous

 

[Dixie Flatline]

Did Roberts pull his starter Brasier after just one inning?

Gosh his over management in post season is horrible. Knack let on his first 3 runners for a loaded bases for Lindor to only hit a Grand Slam. 3 BBs! That’s horrendous

Brasier is a reliever. Dodgers were going to go with a bullpen game today, because they have a starting rotation's worth of pitchers on their injured list. The plan would have been for Brasier to get through the first three innings, then have Knack to go for more than two innings, but giving up five runs in the second wasn't in the plans of the Dodgers.

Bullpen games have been fairly common in the postseason. The Tigers used this strategy to beat the Guardians in the ALDS, in the expectation that Skubal would be able to go again in game #5 (until Lane Thomas spoiled those plans).

BTW, it was Vientos who hit the grand slam. Lindor hit a solo shot off of Brasier.

 

[FreoRicci]

Brasier is a reliever. Dodgers were going to go with a bullpen game today, because they have a starting rotation's worth of pitchers on their injured list. The plan would have been for Brasier to get through the first three innings, then have Knack to go for more than two innings, but giving up five runs in the second wasn't in the plans of the Dodgers.

Bullpen games have been fairly common in the postseason. The Tigers used this strategy to beat the Guardians in the ALDS, in the expectation that Skubal would be able to go again in game #5 (until Lane Thomas spoiled those plans).

BTW, it was Vientos who hit the grand slam. Lindor hit a solo shot off of Brasier.

Roberts’ bullpen strategy has sucked regardless of SPs.
Just keep Braiser on for 3-4 innings. Overkill.

I thought it was Lindor, but he was a forced walk. My bad. Crazy planning regardless

 

[YOTC]

Roberts’ bullpen strategy has sucked regardless of SPs.
Just keep Braiser on for 3-4 innings. Overkill.

I thought it was Lindor, but he was a forced walk. My bad. Crazy planning regardless

He took Brasier off because the Mets weren't missing his pitches and got a DP to get out of it.

Problem for the Dodgers was that Knack also had the same issue. Honeywell also let plenty of guys on but we failed to score.

Manaea was cruising until he lost his radar in the 6th and only then the dodgers got some back with some errors. Scary game for us Mets fans with our bullpen; but Diaz found his fastball after a bit of hassle, and his slider actually had some slide for the first time in a long time.

Dodgers just bat deeper than us and will probably win this series but it's nice to watch some fight and have the bullpen win a game.

 

[Upstart Swan]

ALCS seems like a real mismatch at the moment.

 

[Jatz]

Does anyone else think it's crazy that the lower ranked team gets 3 home games in a row?

With us pinching 1 in LA, it means LA have to beat us in NY now to even get it back to LA. Obviously you'd back them to do that but I feel like 3 home games in a row should be given to the higher ranked team if anything.

Personally think it should go 2 home/2 away /2 home /1 away.

 

[Upstart Swan]

Does anyone else think it's crazy that the lower ranked team gets 3 home games in a row?

With us pinching 1 in LA, it means LA have to beat us in NY now to even get it back to LA. Obviously you'd back them to do that but I feel like 3 home games in a row should be given to the higher ranked team if anything.

Personally think it should go 2 home/2 away /2 home /1 away.

View attachment 2143726

No system is ideal. I can see a couple of disadvantages in your system. More travel. The only time the lower ranked gets 3 home games is if the series goes to 7. And the lower ranked team gets to play a game 7 decider in front of their home crowd.

 

[Jatz]

No system is ideal. I can see a couple of disadvantages in your system. More travel. The only time the lower ranked gets 3 home games is if the series goes to 7. And the lower ranked team gets to play a game 7 decider in front of their home crowd.

You mean currently? Because that's not the case.

I don't think either team should get 3 in a row. The travel sucks but they've been travelling all season. It's not like it would be unusual.

 

[Dixie Flatline]

All these suggestions regarding the changes to the postseason seem to overlook the fact that we're half-way through October and the World Series hasn't started yet. It's entirely possible, if not probable, that this year's World Series ends in November.

For teams in the northern part of the USA, they'd have to deal with bad weather and not all teams in the north of the country have domes (at the moment, off the top of my head, you'd have the Astros, Marlins, Rangers, Brewers, Blue Jays and Mariners with retractable roofs, while the Rays' home field had a fixed roof but that its own issues now).

To go from a 2-3-2 format for the Championship Series and the World Series to a 2-2-2-1 format means you're adding extra rest days to account for additional travel, which drags out the series and then increases the probability that you get a weather delay, which then compounds the delay.

Given the ratings for the playoffs so far (apparently, they are considerably higher this year than in previous seasons), there's no way that the MLB owners or even the MLBPA would agree to shortening the playoffs by removing the wild cards, so the MLB is between a rock and a hard place with respect to the format of the playoffs.

 

[Upstart Swan]

You mean currently? Because that's not the case.

Sorry, I wasn't clear. I meant under your system. First two games are played at the higher ranked team's stadium. Next two games at the lower ranked team's. Then it goes back to the higher ranked team's stadium for 2 games. So the only way the other team gets a third home game is if the series goes all the way to 7 games.

 

[Jatz]

Sorry, I wasn't clear. I meant under your system. First two games are played at the higher ranked team's stadium. Next two games at the lower ranked team's. Then it goes back to the higher ranked team's stadium for 2 games. So the only way the other team gets a third home game is if the series goes all the way to 7 games.

I don't see that as such a problem though. The higher ranked team deserves the bigger advantage. If it goes to 7, the lower ranked team has earned that 3rd home game.

It just provides the best opportunity for the higher ranked side to go through imo. Playing 3 on the road as the higher ranked team seems flawed to me.

 

[largebus]

People say the rot started with introducing 2 wild cards but it was actually a better system than 1 wild card because it forced you to run the gauntlet if you didn't win your division.

The problem with the current system is teams like the Brewers and Astros winning divisions and not getting a bye over the wild cards

 

[RPCB]

That poor snake if Madison Bumgarner was around.

 

[Jatz]

People say the rot started with introducing 2 wild cards but it was actually a better system than 1 wild card because it forced you to run the gauntlet if you didn't win your division.

The problem with the current system is teams like the Brewers and Astros winning divisions and not getting a bye over the wild cards

Only way to get around that is to create a 4th division for each conference.

Which I'm not against either.

 

[Dixie Flatline]

Tampa Bay Rays will need to find an alternate home stadium for the opening of 2025 season after further inspection of Tropicana Field indicated that it can not be repaired in time for Opening Day. Whether the Rays will be able to play any home games at Tropicana Field in 2025 remains to be determined.

As noted earlier this week, the Rays start the 2025 season with consecutive home series against the Rockies and Pirates in late March-early April.

Where Rays will play in 2025 one of many questions after Trop damage

The team should have a better idea in the next few weeks when, or if, it can return to its home stadium that was battered by Hurricane Milton.

www.tampabay.com

 

[Dixie Flatline]

According to the engineers who installed the roof over Tropicana Field in 1990, the roof came with an expected life of 25 years, meaning that the Rays should have replaced the roof before the 2015 season, but the engineers considered that the intention to build a new stadium next door to Tropicana Field probably convinced the owners to forego the cost of replacing the existing roof, leaving it more vulnerable to damage from the hurricanes that blew through Florida a couple of weeks ago. They estimated that the Rays could repair the roof in approximately six months, provided that the supporting structure remains serviceable, which suggests that the stadium could be ready for Opening Day 2025, but that is contingent on there being no additional damage discovered during further inspections.

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5834270/2024/10/10/tropicana-field-roof-damage-hurricane-milton-engineer/

 

[Jatz]

I must admit, I had zero idea that's how old that stadium was.

 

[Dixie Flatline]

In what would be music to the ears of Chicago White Sox fans everywhere, reports are suggesting that long-time owner Jerry Reinsdorf is exploring a sale of the White Sox, and is in active discussions with a group led by former Oakland Athletics pitcher Dave Stewart. It is not yet clear whether a sale is actually on the cards and the amount of progress that has been made by the two sides.

Reinsdorf bought the White Sox for $20 milllion in 1981 and has become known for being a meddlesome owner, which more often than not has worked against the White Sox in terms of on-field success. They did win a World Series back in 2005, but had a stretch of not making the playoffs for 11 seasons (2009-2019). The White Sox did see a core emerge in 2020, that helped the White Sox make the postseason in back to back years in 2020-2021, but the success was not sustained and in 2024, the White Sox set a modern record for most number of losses in a season with 121 losses.

After Tony LaRussa left the club at the end of 2023, the White Sox hired Pedro Grifol as manager, but he and a number of coaches were fired in August 2024, with the White Sox turning to Grady Sizemore as interim manager for the remainder of the sorry season, and the White Sox have not named a permanent manager for 2025 at this stage.

Stewart has had a long and successful career in baseball, having pitched in the majors for the Dodgers, Rangers, Phillies, Oakland and the Blue Jays between 1978 and 1995, winning three world championships in 1981 (Dodgers), 1989 (Athletics) and 1993 (Blue Jays) - Stewart was named World Series MVP in 1989 and was also the ALCS MVP in 1990 and 1993. After retiring from playing, Stewart served as an assistant to Oakland Athletics General Manager Sandy Alderson in 1996, and then joined the Padres in a similar capacity in 1997. In 1998, he agreed to become the Padres' pitching coach and helped improve the pitching staff to the point that the Padres made the World Series that season.

Stewart left the Padres at the end of the 1998 season and interviewed for assistant GM roles with Oakland and with the Florida Marlins, but he eventually turned down an offer from the Marlins to join them in that role due to his concern about the high crime rate in South Florida. Stewart ended up joining the Blue Jays but left after the end of the 2001 season when the Blue Jays hired J.P. Ricciardi to be their GM instead of promoting Stewart to the role.

After a short stint with the Brewers, Stewart started a sports agency and negotiated a six-year, $66 million contract extension for third baseman Eric Chavez with the Athletics. In September 2014, Stewart realised his ambition of becoming a GM when the Diamondbacks hired him in that role. He signed Zack Grienke to a six-year, $206.5 million contract in December 2015, which set a then record for the highest annual average value in the MLB at the time, and the largest contract by total value in franchise history. However, Stewart lasted only two seasons in the role, with the Diamondbacks posting losing records in both 2015 and 2016.

Stewart has recently been the lead voice of a consortium seeking to persuade the MLB to expand the league into Nashville, and apparently the White Sox have also explored the possibility of relocating the team from Chicago to Nashville, although they also have looked into replacing their current stadium in Chicago with a new one in the same city.

Jerry Reinsdorf open to selling White Sox: Sources

The 88-year-old majority owner is in active discussions with a group led by former big leaguer Dave Stewart.

www.nytimes.com

 

[Jatz]

Wish he'd do the same with the Bulls.

 

[Upstart Swan]

If Ohtani is 0-19 with bases empty, but 6-8 with runners on base, surely you'd move him from #1 in the batting order to maybe #3.