Tag: MLB

2020 Baseball Projections

~ Darren Cohen ~ Leave a comment

After correctly picking the Nationals to win the World Series last year, it’s time for my all important 2020 projections.

*I had to edit this post the day after posting as baseball changed the rules around who makes the post season! Now the top two teams in each division get in while keeping the next two as Wild Cards. My picks to win it all did not change.

NL East: Phillies/Braves

NL Central: Cubs/Cardinals

NL West: Dodgers/Padres

Wild Card 1: Mets

Wild Card 2: Diamondbacks

AL East: Yankees/Rays

AL Central: Twins/White Sox

AL West: Astros/Angels

Wild Card 1: Rangers

Wild Card 2: Blue Jays

AL Champs: Rays

NL Champs: Dodgers

World Series Champions: Dodgers

Baseball is almost the only orderly thing in a very unorderly world. If you get three strikes, even the best lawyer in the world can’t get you off.

Bill Veeck

Say No to the DH

~ Darren Cohen ~ Leave a comment

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If you pick up the glove to play the field, which a pitcher does, you should pick up the bat to hit. The DH has always been evil, and now the evil will take root in the National League.

Baseball in a Covid World

~ Darren Cohen ~ Leave a comment

The days get longer, the temperatures get warmer, and the green returns to the trees. This can only only mean one thing. It’s baseball season. The sounds, the smells, and me yelling at my TV that they should never bunt. The many things that come alive when the calendar turns to April.

As many things in our world have rightly stopped, baseball is on hold. However thanks to technology I have found my fill. First came the Chinese Professional Baseball League with its five teams, and now we have the Korean Baseball Organization. They are playing under the rules that will be our normal for a while. That means no fans, but it’s still baseball. You can find most CPBL and KBO games on Twitch, but ESPN has picked up the rights in the US to the Korean League which means there is one game a day. Most games start at 1AM or 4AM eastern, but they are shown again during the following day.

While the Mets are not coming back for a while I can root for the Chinatrust Brothers in Taipei and the LG Twins in Korea. It’s more fun to pick a team, and the Brothers were the first team I saw on Twitch from that league and someone who knows the KBO compared the Twins to the Mets on twitter. I was sold.

It might be something small, but there is just a small sense of normal when you hear the crack of the bat. Give it a try, and enjoy some good baseball!

The Year Doctor K Was Born

~ Darren Cohen ~ Leave a comment

Those of you younger than, say, 40 years will have to imagine, for Gooden’s insane ’85 — a 24-4 record, a 1.53 ERA, just 13 home runs allowed and 268 strikeouts against 69 walks in 276 ¹/₃ innings pitched, all in his age-20 season — celebrates its 35th anniversary without quite being matched. Nor had folks witnessed quite as dominant a campaign in the 71 seasons that preceded it. By Baseball-Reference’s Wins Above Replacement measure, Gooden’s 1985 ranks as the best major league season by a pitcher in the past 106 years.

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I was 6 years old during Gooden’s rookie year, and it did not take long for his starts to become appointment viewing in my house. I still remember like it was yesterday sitting on the beach with my dad listening to Doc finish off another one of his complete games.

It’s Time for the Mets to Find a New Bench Boss

~ Darren Cohen ~ Leave a comment

Brandon Nimmo doesn’t agree with Mickey Callaway’s thoughts on slump | Newsday

“I’m definitely not a Vladimir Guerrero,” he said, referencing the Hall of Famer famous for hitting bad pitches. “I can’t swing outside the zone and be successful. It’s going to be me capitalizing on mistakes rather than expanding the zone.”

We have now hit the point where the Mets players are disagreeing with their manager to the press. It has been clear for a while Callaway has no feel for the game, and it’s time for the Mets to make a change before this season gets away. It’s obviously all not on him, but it also felt that the new GM agreed to hold on to him while holding his nose. Mets fans deserve better than the status quo.