My wife is hilarious. I only play The Show when she’s busy so she encourages me and says she’ll be busy for an hour or so, so it’s a good time to play if I want.

I’ll mention to her that there’s a stream I’ve got to watch later to get some Twitch packs and like clockwork she’ll remind me later to watch my stream so I can get my “sticker packs” lol.

My wife has my back relentlessly, so when I blow a showdown she agrees that the computer clearly cheated me. If I causally mention that I’m going to play for a bit she’ll say okay but don’t $&*+ the bed this time. She’s definitely not above chirping me.

My wife is honestly just the best. She’s my best friend, my ultimate teammate, and the best thing that’s ever happened to me. And she’s a friggin knockout too. If there’s going to be a wife appreciation thread, my wife definitely deserves a shoutout.

Cheers to all the partners out there that put up with us

All blackouts should be lifted for the 2020 season. They’ve always claimed blackouts help attendance since it entices locals to attend the game rather than watch it on tv. There’s ZERO attendance at any games this season. What’s the advantage of blacking anyone out?

All the time and money they spend trying to increase the fan base and they can’t figure out that maybe putting the games in front of as many eyeballs as possibly is a good start?!

Tyler Alexander’s LS series card is a 51 overall common, but his relief performance yesterday was record breaking.

For anyone that missed it, he pitched 3.0 innings and struck out all 9 batters he faced on just 39 pitches;

• Struck out Mike Moustakas on a foul tip
• Struck out Eugenio Suárez on three pitches, all looking
• Struck out Jesse Winker on three pitches, all swinging
• Struck out Nick Senzel swinging
• Struck out Josh VanMeter on three pitches, the last called
• Struck out Freddy Galvis swinging on a 3-2 breaking ball
• Struck out Tucker Barnhart on a called third strike
• Struck out Shogo Akiyama on a called third strike
• Struck out Castellanos swinging on a 2-2 curveball

What kind of attributes should we expect on his Topps Now card? Max k/9 is a given but what will be his overall?

(Also, his LS series card will surely be bumped to bronze but I’d imagine it’s too late to invest at this point)

To take it a step further, the same release point/arm angle allows the balls trajectory to appear the same for the first X feet of travel.

With different release points/arm angles, it’s easier for the hitter to determine the type of pitch sooner in time and from a further distance.

With pitch tunnelling, two pitches may appear to be the same for the first 30 feet of travel. Now the hitter has half the distance and significantly less time to identify the pitch type, speed, and break.

Bottom line is that WAR is imperfect and flawed (OP’s point), but is currently the best available stand alone stat we have to compare players across different eras (other commenters points).

In 2019, Justin Verlander was 21-6 with a 2.58 ERA and 300k. His pitching was worth 7.4bWAR. In 2019, Mike Minor was 14-10 with a 3.59 ERA and 200k. His pitching was worth 7.8bWAR.

In 2019, Gerrit Cole was 20-5 with a 2.50 ERA and 326k. His pitching was worth 6.6bWAR. In 2019, Lance Lynn was 16-11 with a 3.67 ERA and 246k. His pitching was worth 7.5bWAR.

In this case, WAR is misleading. Despite having lower bWAR totals, Verlander and Cole had better seasons. Accordingly, Verlander and Cole finished 1st and 2nd in Cy Young voting while Lynn and Minor finished 5th and 8th.

bWAR includes park adjustments, so playing in Globe Life increased the bWAR totals of Lynn and Minor and without a deeper dive could lead someone that lives and dies by WAR to believe that Lynn and Minor were better than Verlander and Cole last season. Which to OP’s point, would be a ridiculous conclusion.

Having said that, more often than not, WAR (bWAR or fWAR) is going to be the best all-incompassing stand alone indicator of performance. The best players will consistently post the highest WAR totals.

In baseball, almost everything is recorded, quantified, and analyzed. With all the information that’s available, why would anyone choose just one stat to look at when comparing players? Even if that stat is comprised/calculated using other stats, it’s impossible to paint the entire picture and honestly, that person is just missing out on the incredible and fascinating information that’s out there.

I apologize to anyone who stuck with me and read all this. Believe it or not, I tried to keep it short. There’s just so much information out there that people are missing out on, and because of it, there’s seasons and careers that get tragically overlooked.

Collecting Belli and Arenado will net you 1,500 stubs each for the team collections, 4,000 stubs and Gwynn for the NL West collection, 10,000 stubs and Sheff for the NL collection, and 20,000 stubs and Mantle for the live series collection.

So if you sell and complete the collection, you’ll gain Diamond Piazza, Diamond Ottavino, Diamond Gwynn, Diamond Sheffield, and Diamond Mantle, plus 37,000 stubs which would put you close to halfway toward repurchasing Walker anyway. Could be wrong about the stub totals but I’d look into it if I were you.

Of all the inner circle GOAT candidates in basketball, LeBron is undoubtedly the one with the most haters. There is absolutely no reason whatsoever to hate on LeBron. Think he’s the GOAT or don’t. Just appreciate what he’s accomplished in his career on and off the court. It’s absolutely commendable.

It’s ridiculous to hold someone’s strive to be the greatest of all time against them. Every single athlete strives to be the best and every single one would love to be considered the greatest to EVER do it. Jordan wanted to be the best. Kobe as well. Kareem, Wilt, and Russell too. What professional athlete would aspire to be the 2nd best?

Every athlete wants to win championships upon championships. But it’s a team sport. Measuring an individual’s career by championships in a team sport is futile. Paul O’Neill won more championships than Barry Bonds, Ted Williams, and Ty Cobb combined. Robert Horry won more championships than Jordan. Henri Richard won more Stanley Cups than Gretzky, Lemieux, and Howe combined.

You can think LeBron is the goat, think it’s MJ, or Magic, Wilt, Kareem, Kobe, etc. But what you can’t possibly do is take anything away from what LeBron has accomplished in his career.

@SchnauzerFace said in Topps Now Tyler Alexander:

The best part of this story is that the tigers still managed to walk away with an L

If there’s anything I’ve learned being a Tigers fan, it’s that Tigers gonna Tigers. But at least every now and then you get a few of these kinds of moments to give you something renew your faith

@the_dragon1912 said in Topps Now Tyler Alexander:

@ilvmyjeep said in Topps Now Tyler Alexander:

@SchnauzerFace said in Topps Now Tyler Alexander:

I just really wish that saturdays game wasn’t postponed causing the double header. Yesterday would have very likely been Mize’s Debut otherwise

Oh man, I watched Nate Pearson’s debut last week and it had me pumped for Mize. The double header impacted it obviously but the silver lining is that it’s only a matter of time

@MathMan5072 said in Best player you seen play live and or best game you seen live at the stadium.:

@vox_pestis said in Best player you seen play live and or best game you seen live at the stadium.:

@MathMan5072 said in Best player you seen play live and or best game you seen live at the stadium.:

@nflman2033 said in Best player you seen play live and or best game you seen live at the stadium.:

As much as I hate his guys, statistically speaking, the answer is Barry Bonds, both as a Pirate and a Giant.

Ignoring Bonds, I would say Ken Griffey Jr., but by the time he got to Cincinnati, he was a shell of his former self. I may have to go with Tony Gwynn, at least in the early 90s he was still great. Saw Glavine and Smoltz, but never got to see Maddux or the big unit live.

Best game I went to, well most memorable, I was at the brawl between the Reds and Cardinals, where Molina and Phillips had words at the plate right in the bottom of the first, Cueto kicked LaRue I believe. Quite a nasty site as bad as anything I have ever seen at a hockey game.

Shoot. I forgot about Barry. I sat in the right field seats on opening day at dodger stadium one year and the guy must have hit the ball a good 20 rows behind me. It was unbelievable.

Such a shame. As much as I dislike him, Barry was great before ever touching a needle. The talent was unquestionable. But the jealousy bug got him, he just couldn’t stand seeing players he considered inferior surpassing him (McGwire). That season where he hit .370 and a ton of home runs was amazing, not for the counting stats but because he walked almost every at bat, rarely swung, but when he did it was “perfect/perfect”. That isn’t just roids.

.370 46 hr 110 rbi. 47 strikeouts. 198 BB!!!

He just made the perfect villain though, especially if you’re a dodger fan. He was incredibly good, he didn’t hesitate to tell you how good he was, he was a cheater, he broke several sacred records, and did I mention that he was really good. The crazy thing is I believe he could’ve have done all of it without the steroids. Unfortunately we’ll never know. But it was still amazing to see what the guy could do on a baseball field.

The thing with Barry though is that he’s just as much a victim as he is a villain. Barry Bonds was Mike Trout before anyone even looked at WAR. He was a victim of being under appreciated and his talent was evaluated differently in the era he played. Counting stats were what got the attention. If Bonds had been evaluated then in the way we view Trout now, the narrative around him would be different and perhaps he never would’ve sought the attention he craved because his greatness would’ve been appreciated and recognized at the time.

He may not have been the most likeable personality, but his prickly relationship with the media also stemmed from his frustrations in his lack of recognition as the best player in the game. In 1996, Barry put up a 40/40 season worth 9.7 WAR and finished 5th in the NL MVP vote. Two years later, Sammy Sosa won the NL MVP with 66hrs and a 6.5 WAR. That same season, Mark McGwire hit 70hrs and posted a 7.5 WAR, finishing 2nd in NL MVP voting. Barry Bonds that season? His 37hrs were barely half as many as McGwire’s. Barry finished 8th in NL MVP voting despite posting an NL best 8.1 WAR for position players. They were different times and different metrics were used to measure these guys.

I’m not a live or die by WAR kind of guy, but it’s so easy to see how under appreciated he was in his time, and easy to see how it could motivate him to do what he thought was necessary to receive the recognition he thought he deserved.

@CodyAC1234 said in Todd Helton showdown:

Todd Helton according to his player card is available in the 9th inning showdown? How do you want him through that..I didn’t know you could earn specific players that way

One of the mini-mission rewards is a set 47 headliners pack. So Helton is guaranteed but he can technically be acquired through the 9th inning showdown.

I believe a set 43 headliners pack is also awarded in the 9th inning showdown so Joey Bart may also show as available through the 9th inning showdown in the same way as Helton.

I’d like to see prospect cards as evolution programs: prospect to future star. More or less the same as the old rookie to prime evolutions from a few years ago.

It gives a reason to use the prospects cards. There are always so many cards available and it means so many fall by the wayside. At least this would incentivize using the prospects cards since they’d lead to better cards as you use them.

@Jeviduty said in What is one card..:

Josh Gibson. Somehow idk what licensure entanglement there is - but we haven't seen Negro Leagues Legends. So that's my pick.

I remember that Buck Leonard was an unlockable legend in MVP 05.

There have been MLB legends in games before that had played in the Negro Leagues at the start of their careers, Jackie Robinson, Roy Campanella, Satchel Paige, come to mind. But Buck Leonard is the only one I remember that never appeared in MLB.

There are so many Negro Leagues players that would make great additions to The Show; Josh Gibson, Cool Papa Bell, etc.

Does anyone else lose their connection to The Show when the dailies reset? I literally mean every day. If I’m mid-game at 7pm ET I will lose my connection briefly enough to be forced back to main screen but I can immediately log back in.

It’s definitely only an issue with The Show. Everything else in my house maintains the internet connection.

During daylight savings time, the connection loss would occur at 8pm ET, the same as the dailies resetting, and now that DST is over, it occurs at 7pm ET, so it seems tied to The Show’s servers in some way.

Does this happen to anyone else? I’d love to get this resolved. It’s frustrating to have to wrap up whatever I’m doing before I know there’s a connection loss coming.

@Dino-might_not said in Someone explain IRL Chris Davis to me:

What the heck happened to him? I'm a Phillies fan and don't really follow the AL teams that much.

From what I remember, he was diagnosed with ADHD and used Adderall for treatment. He had two failed drug tests, the second of which resulted in a 25 game suspension back in 2015.

Instead of using the banned Adderall, he now receives a year long exemption under the drug testing policy and uses an approved medication, Vyvanse. The difference between the two drugs is that Adderall is fast-acting and Vyvanse is a slow-release acting drug. That’s why Adderall is common as a performance enhancer.

His performance and career numbers dropped dramatically after switching medications.

It’s going to be a slower hot stove this off-season. The economic state of the 2020 season will definitely impact the free agent and trade markets, as will the uncertainty regarding the universal DH and expanded playoffs.

With that said, let’s hear some predictions on what uniforms the high profile free agents and trade candidates will be wearing come the start of the 2021 season.

Free Agents:

Trevor Bauer
JT Realmuto
George Springer
Marcell Ozuna
DJ LeMahieu
Marcus Stroman
Didi Gregorius
Masahiro Tanaka
Liam Hendriks
Michael Brantley
Justin Turner
Marcus Semien
James McCann
Andrelton Simmons
Joc Pederson
Jose Quintana
Nelson Cruz
Jackie Bradley Jr.
James Paxton
Taijuan Walker
Kolten Wong
Brad Hand
Corey Kluber
Yadier Molina
Charlie Morton

Trade Candidates:

Kris Bryant
Francisco Lindor
Nolan Arenado
Trevor Story
Lance Lynn
Josh Hader

Who do you see moving where? Which team makes a move to take that next step? Who is left on the outside looking in like Puig last off season? What are your thoughts?

I think he was experiencing what’s called “delayed auditory feedback”. He likely could hear what he was saying over the sound system a few seconds after he was speaking and it made it difficult for him to focus.

It would be like when someone calls into a radio a station and they ask them to turn down their radio.

To take it a step further, the same release point/arm angle allows the balls trajectory to appear the same for the first X feet of travel.

With different release points/arm angles, it’s easier for the hitter to determine the type of pitch sooner in time and from a further distance.

With pitch tunnelling, two pitches may appear to be the same for the first 30 feet of travel. Now the hitter has half the distance and significantly less time to identify the pitch type, speed, and break.

No way to tell if this contributes to either of their success this year, but Arozarena gained about 15lbs of muscle over the offseason/quarantine, and Voit actually shed about 20lbs over the offseason and is leaner than he’s ever been.

Sometimes there are other factors that contribute to a players’ success that only come to light because of a change of scenery, in opportunity, or circumstance, and it doesn’t necessarily mean that someone missed something.

Other times, someone is able to pick up on something that unlocks a player’s potential. Charlie Morton’s pitching usage changed when he got to the Astros and he became incredibly effective, the Blue Jays changed Jose Bautista’ s swing and unlocked immense power, and numerous other examples.

Who is to say that had those players not had that change of scenery that they’d ever have reached their potential. Really makes you think about all the players that could have been had they been able to unlock whatever was holding them back.

@James97M said in Joe Morgan:

On the home tab for DD Joe Morgans name is listed under postseason events. Anyone know why?

It’s just an ‘in memoriam’. They did the same for Tom Seaver and Bob Gibson I believe. Can’t remember but possibly Al Kaline and Lou Brock as well.