Baseball

[GoCubsGo]

Fauci to throw first pitch for season/Nats.
https://news.yahoo.com/dr-fauci-throw-c ... 14456.html

Maybe he'll get to talk there, apparently he's not going to be at the pino "coronavirus " briefing.

[GoCubsGo]

[Vrede too]

But what if they win?

MLB, players agree to expand playoffs to 16 teams

... Sixteen of the 30 teams will advance to a best-of-three first round: the first- and second-place teams in every division and the next two clubs by winning percentage in each league. Those winners move on to the best-of-five Division Series, where the usual format resumes. The final four teams are in best-of-seven League Championship Series, and the pennant winners meet in the best-of-seven World Series....

IMO: IF CV-19 allows MLB to reach the playoffs.

[O Really]

Fauci to throw first pitch for season/Nats.
https://news.yahoo.com/dr-fauci-throw-c ... 14456.html

Maybe he should have been "busy" and declined. It did not go well.

https://www.insider.com/video-dr-anthon ... day-2020-7

Serious-y question: I know Fauci really is busy, but it's not just him. When you get invited to throw out the first ball, doesn't anybody go to the local ball field and practice throwing? That's worse than getting selected for "Survivor" and not bothering to learn how to make fire.

[Vrede too]

Maybe he should have been "busy" and declined. It did not go well.

https://www.insider.com/video-dr-anthon ... day-2020-7

Serious-y question: I know Fauci really is busy, but it's not just him. When you get invited to throw out the first ball, doesn't anybody go to the local ball field and practice throwing? That's worse than getting selected for "Survivor" and not bothering to learn how to make fire.

Tweets:

Dr. Fauci's first pitch was just trying to social distance from home plate.

Exact same trajectory that makes respiratory droplets dangerous.

Same game:




https://www.nhregister.com/news/article ... o-19720949

Apt that it's a Yankees - Nationals game. No traitors.

[GoCubsGo]

Baseball in 2020.

[Vrede too]

I don't think they'd need to actually put up cardboard fans. Why couldn't they electronically spread fans into the stands in the same way they superimpose logos, ads, etc. on the field? They guys who came up with the first down lines, the blue-tailed puck, and the strike zone could surely create some fans.

From your fingertips . . .

One broadcaster is putting virtual crowds in MLB games powered by the technology behind 'Fortnite' — here's what they look like

[GoCubsGo]

I don't think they'd need to actually put up cardboard fans. Why couldn't they electronically spread fans into the stands in the same way they superimpose logos, ads, etc. on the field? They guys who came up with the first down lines, the blue-tailed puck, and the strike zone could surely create some fans.

From your fingertips . . .

One broadcaster is putting virtual crowds in MLB games powered by the technology behind 'Fortnite' — here's what they look like

Debut in three hours at Wrigley.

[O Really]

Speaking of cardboard fans - for $30 you can get your cardboard picture at all the Mariner games. The promotion seems to be popular, but the problem for the team is that if it's very popular there will be more cardboard fans than the usual number of real fans in recent seasons. ba-da-boom

https://www.mlb.com/mariners/fans/seat-fleet

[O Really]

Debut in three hours at Wrigley.

How'd it go? I turned on the Cubs game for a little while and didn't see any crowd. Didn't watch very long, though. Did it work?

[GoCubsGo]

Debut in three hours at Wrigley.

How'd it go? I turned on the Cubs game for a little while and didn't see any crowd. Didn't watch very long, though. Did it work?

So so. They did it just for fun basically and pretty much acknowledged it and had some fun with it. Only used it on some shots. Looked ok on long shots like home runs but on closer shots it was obviously cgi. Guessing green screen type stuff with the green seats.

[Vrede too]

Baseball in 2020.

I think you predicted this:

The Marlins' COVID-19 outbreak is really bad, and exactly what MLB signed up for

Will teams just keep calling up sacrificial players from the minors?

[GoCubsGo]

Baseball in 2020.

I think you predicted this:

The Marlins' COVID-19 outbreak is really bad, and exactly what MLB signed up for

Will teams just keep calling up sacrificial players from the minors?

Pretty much, of all the team sports, baseball had the best chance of having a season. I guessing they'll call up sacrificial players, what choice is there if they continue? I'm guessing that the Marlins and Phils are going to have to isolate before they can play again. The 60 game season is going to wind up being flexible.

Be curious if they can contract trace these guys, odds are they did something young and dumb because they're bulletproof.
Very little hope for basketball or football.I

Also thinking baseball will be 100% masked.

[Vrede too]

... Also thinking baseball will be 100% masked.

Could be. Then, there are the dressing rooms and team buses and flights.

[Vrede too]

Speaking of cardboard fans - for $30 you can get your cardboard picture at all the Mariner games. The promotion seems to be popular, but the problem for the team is that if it's very popular there will be more cardboard fans than the usual number of real fans in recent seasons. ba-da-boom

https://www.mlb.com/mariners/fans/seat-fleet

Adam Duvall hits homer off cardboard cut out of a dog in the stands

Fetch!


TV news said that he paid $300 for the cutout. Idk if there's tiered pricing based on seat location. MAYBE worth it if you get decapitated on TV, but otherwise - really?!

[O Really]

I don't know what they're doing at Mets or Braves, but the Mariners use a random placement, and if "you" get hit with a ball you get to keep it.

[Vrede too]

How'd it go? I turned on the Cubs game for a little while and didn't see any crowd. Didn't watch very long, though. Did it work?

So so. They did it just for fun basically and pretty much acknowledged it and had some fun with it. Only used it on some shots. Looked ok on long shots like home runs but on closer shots it was obviously cgi. Guessing green screen type stuff with the green seats.

Your remaining tribe:

"We love baseball" Wrigley ballhawks stay on during pandemic

Standing on a corner on Waveland Avenue, Moe Mullins has seen them come and go.

Sosa and McGwire. The Sandberg Game. Pujols. Young and old men alike. Summers full of blue skies, and a neighborhood changed forever.

''You know, life is a big circle,'' Mullins says.

Like a baseball.

While Major League Baseball is beginning this season without fans in its stadiums, the famed ballhawks of Wrigley Field remain at their post amid the coronavirus pandemic....

Mullins, 69, is the dean of the Wrigley ballhawks, coming out for the first time in 1958. He has kept most of his 6,000-plus balls from the past eight decades, filling three big fish tanks and a handful of bags at his Elmwood Park home, to go along with a few homers stored in drawers upstairs....

Pat Gainer, 52, just started coming out to chase down balls. He lives near Wrigley, but never had the time before he started working from home because of the pandemic.

''Some sense of normalcy. Something to do. If you're working from home and you're done as I am early, it gives you something to do,'' Gainer says, ''and a sense of community.''

[GoCubsGo]

How'd it go? I turned on the Cubs game for a little while and didn't see any crowd. Didn't watch very long, though. Did it work?

So so. They did it just for fun basically and pretty much acknowledged it and had some fun with it. Only used it on some shots. Looked ok on long shots like home runs but on closer shots it was obviously cgi. Guessing green screen type stuff with the green seats.

Your remaining tribe:

"We love baseball" Wrigley ballhawks stay on during pandemic

Standing on a corner on Waveland Avenue, Moe Mullins has seen them come and go.

Sosa and McGwire. The Sandberg Game. Pujols. Young and old men alike. Summers full of blue skies, and a neighborhood changed forever.

''You know, life is a big circle,'' Mullins says.

Like a baseball.

While Major League Baseball is beginning this season without fans in its stadiums, the famed ballhawks of Wrigley Field remain at their post amid the coronavirus pandemic....

Mullins, 69, is the dean of the Wrigley ballhawks, coming out for the first time in 1958. He has kept most of his 6,000-plus balls from the past eight decades, filling three big fish tanks and a handful of bags at his Elmwood Park home, to go along with a few homers stored in drawers upstairs....

Pat Gainer, 52, just started coming out to chase down balls. He lives near Wrigley, but never had the time before he started working from home because of the pandemic.

''Some sense of normalcy. Something to do. If you're working from home and you're done as I am early, it gives you something to do,'' Gainer says, ''and a sense of community.''

Bet they don't get nearly as many as they used to. The videoboard blocks a lot and I think it's even affected the jet stream blowing out to left field.

[GoCubsGo]

I've always considered myself a baseball purist, no DH in the National League, the pitcher is one of nine and should bat. Makes for more interesting in game strategy etc.

Really not missing their plate appearances much at all.

[O Really]

I've always considered myself a baseball purist, no DH in the National League, the pitcher is one of nine and should bat. Makes for more interesting in game strategy etc.

Really not missing their plate appearances much at all.

What do you think of the softball-style long draggy pants that they wear, instead of the traditional calf-length pants?
I'm not that big a baseball fan, and DH/no-DH doesn't bother me one way or the other. But I have always abhorred aluminum bats and it's good MLB never started using them. I do like the strike zone graphics they've been putting up, and wouldn't object to electronic plate umps.