Baseball Opening Day is Tomorrow!

[Westerly Wood]

Can I even get a golf clap re the excitement?

Well, I plan to watch some games this season...it's a leisure sport after all, slow moving, easier to follow as I get older.

I hear the Sox will stink, but who knows.

 

[GGJaguar]

Sorry, but MLB has been dead to me for the past few years, but is even more dead (deader than dead?) now with the new rules to make the game faster and higher scoring. I'll stick with English Football (soccer).

 

[Westerly Wood]

Here it comes! Pitch Clock...

 

[GGJaguar]

Pitch Clock...

Ugh!

 

[Westerly Wood]

Ugh!

Will go over like a Lead Zepplin.

 

[shihan]

I’m definitely not on board with all the rule changes, but I reluctantly agree with the pitch clock. It eliminates the endless fooling with batting gloves (and other time wasters) that have slowed games to a crawl.
I watched a Dodgers Angels spring training game that was over in 2H 9Min. Batter stays in the box, pitcher pitches. Definite improvement In enjoyment of the game.

 

[amnicon]

Baseball, like all sports are a set of arbitrary rules that allow fun to be organized. It's fun to play and fun to watch/listen to. A few more arbitrary rules won't change things that much, and we'll all be used to it soon enough.

 

[FNG]

I signed up for MLB.TV last year for the Yankees, love it. Got a great deal, think it was only 50 bucks. The only blacked-out games are against Tampa Bay. Going again this year for about 85 bucks. Been watching a little of the spring training games and the pitch clock is long overdue. Shouldn't take over 4 hours for a game. It's going to draw more fans to the park and probably reduce player wear and tear and injuries. We'll see how the bigger bases and the limit on pick offs work out.

28 in '23!

 

[AcornHouse]

I opened a baseball once when I was a kid. Kind of boring inside. I don’t understand why they’d have a whole day devoted to opening baseballs.

 

[Bill Ashton]

...and the wind chill at Fenway Park is said to be around 30 deg F...not exactly "baseball weather." The Triple A "Woosox" may well open
in heavy rain, if they actually do at all...

 

[RBSinTo]

Since hockey and baseball are the only sports I enjoy watching, I am excited about the baseball season starting tomorrow.
And now that the Blue Jays are considered to be serious contenders, baseball should be even more interesting this season.
RBSinTo

 

[Bill Ashton]

Well, that last storm of the season seemed to miss us last night, a little wind but no rain, not a snowflake, and its 30° out not 20...air is still. Maybe the Sox first game won't be as environmentally challenging after all...

 

[Midnight Toker]

I'm all for the pitch clock. The game NEEDS to speed up. And no players should have any reason to complain, as they've lived with a faster moving game from little league to the minors. For a game that on average only has 17 minutes of actual "action", I greatly welcome anything that can trim the fat! Now they just need to add only getting 3 time outs per game, only one mound visit per game, and only one pitching change per inning, then I might go back to watching. As it stands, I can only take watching playoff/WS games from the 7th inning on. The rest is like watching paint dry. (Well that, and being a disgruntled Orioles fan that watched a proud successful franchise turn into the 20 yr laughing stock of MLB w/ an owner that cares more about selling tickets to NY/Boston fans than he does winning. )

 

[lungimsam]

I saw Orioles during Memorial Stadium years and it wasn’t til I was an adult at Camden Yards that I noticed how sloooow the game is. Stop with the physical dances/idiosyncrasies and throw the ball already. You don’t need to spit and touch your hat 30 times. Stop tugging your shirt sleeve, it won’t go any higher!! Throw the ball already!!!!
But seriously, I do feel sorry for the pitchers though and the mental toll that precision fine tuned efforts like pitching must take on one’s mind, as evidenced by the endless nervous compulsions before feeling ready to throw a pitch. I think the league owes it to the players to have psychologists train them how to deal with fine tune performance. They must feel so tormented up there on the mound. I feel sorry for them.
BTW, how long is the pitching clock for?

 

[Westerly Wood]

BTW, how long is the pitching clock for?

Pitchers will have 15 seconds to begin their motion with the bases empty and 20 seconds with a runner on.
If they don't, they will be assessed a ball.
Batters not in the box by the eight-second mark will receive a strike.

I can't wait for the first tie game won because of this rule. The fallout of that will be legendary.

 

[Cougar]

It eliminates the endless fooling with batting gloves (and other time wasters)....

I know! That batting glove thing, where the batter has to re-tighten both batting gloves EVERY PITCH is just so annoying. Bigger bases? Whatever. Is there a new rule about defensive shifts?

 

[Westerly Wood]

I know! That batting glove thing, where the batter has to re-tighten both batting gloves EVERY PITCH is just so annoying. Bigger bases? Whatever. Is there a new rule about defensive shifts?

it's like high anxiety.

 

[FNG]

Judge hits his first home run on the second pitch of his first at bat. Gotta love it!

 

[amnicon]

I know! That batting glove thing, where the batter has to re-tighten both batting gloves EVERY PITCH is just so annoying. Bigger bases? Whatever. Is there a new rule about defensive shifts?

Yes, new shift rules too. There has to be two players on each side of 2nd base.

 

[schoolie]

As a Giants fan, it's going to be a tough season