2017 MLB Thread - PLAY BALL!
 

And..... we're off. Thought to start a regular season thread where folks can post their favorite moments as well as things that run the gamut from :mad: to :D.

Cubs came out on the short end of a close one tonight in STL (Cards starter Martinez looks reeeeally good). Was weird to see an intentional walk taken care of in a few seconds without the obligatory 4 pitches. Don't believe I care for that but they were interested in moving the game's pace, along with mgr's having only 30 seconds to decide if they want a review, and reviews must take a max of 2 min.

Congratulations to STL fans who stuck around for a pretty interesting game.
Here we go.

It would be a great start for the Cards to pull off a home opener sweep of the Cubs.

The Cards were horrible at home last year, and must return to Busch Stadium dominance of visitors in order to be in contention come September.

Today is opening day for my new hometown Texas Rangers, my first full season in DFW area.

Madison Bumgarner certainly stole the show on opening day. Struck out 11 batters - which is a pretty damn good day for ANY pitcher at any time of the year.
Not to mention hitting two home runs.

No major league pitcher has ever hit two home runs on opening day. The last Giant ballplayer to do it was the roid raging Barry Bonds.
...Bumgarner did AND struck out 11 batters.

That guy is monster. To do that & still lose the game to the D'backs sucks in a major fashion.

Hee, Hee...Trumbo for the homer in the 11th for the O's...happy, happy....:p

Decent start from O's pitching. Gausman got a little jammed up in the 5th but the bullpen extracts them from the fire..... ZB unleashes the filthy 95mph sinker.... Manny the-human-highlight-reel Machado throws a strike from 3rd to first, across his body while on his knees. Great day at Orioles Park at Camden Yard....

161 to go....

I know, I turned it on when I got home from work. I was a bit frustrated...kept jumping and yelling "Strike them out"..."Hit a damn ball"...:) ZB has a great pitch, our go-to closer... Toronto is always the O's Nemesis, but they are good....nice to get a win on opening day :munchin

Post removed for review.

The banner is up, the trophy is home... and it's a typical April night at Wrigley (cold & rainy).
Play Ball!
:lifter

Congratulations to the Cubbies.

Now let's see what they bring this year :D

Made the mistake of going there for a game one April; preparedness by yrs trly was an epic no-go. Backside of a cold front, wind shifted about 120° and spent $12 on coffee just to have something warm to hold onto - and that was the daytime. Afterward I realized this is why God gave us Gore-Tex & Polar Fleece. :rolleyes:

Was nice to see they got 3 retired numbers there to help hoist the banners; I'm sure that is on their list of cool moments. Even better than 40,000+ watching their retired catcher David Ross do his Dancing With the Stars number on the Jumbo-tron during the rain delay.

Think Cincinnati and Colorado have a couple teams that are tough so far.

Pretty cool having the Cubs visit the Red Sox; they having (imnsho) the last 2 great ball parks. Also, 2 of the Cubs who were formally in the Red Sox organization, have more than playing memories. Both beat their cancer there and, when thinking that life & any future was looking bleak (let alone MLB paychecks), were robustly supported by the Red Sox who picked up the whole tab. Considering one was only recently drafted & still in Single-A ball at the time thought that's pretty cool. Wrigley & Fenway would be some special kind of World Series. Anyway, hope we beat 'em but the 'Sox are a class organization. Hat tip.
:cool:

Rubber game tomorrow night, ESPN 8E/7C.

What's your Division like so far?
 

Yeah... It's 162 game season but what's your Division looking like thus far?

Historically, what ends up mattering more is staying close, staying healthy and getting hot after the All-Star break.

A/L East is a bit off kilter from preseason prognostications. The Yang-kees are the Bronx Bombers so far with a really young lineup.

Boston is underwhelming thus far in the post "Big-Papi" era. I figured their pitching to be more dominant but that hasn't arrived. I wasn't expecting them to be playing sub-.500 ball. It's early.

The O's continue to grind in the face of forecasted basement-dwelling. The ham-and-egger pitching rotation is Jekyll and Hyde with some gi-normous failures and some no-name call-ups. Defense continues to be what Showalter demands. The Boston rivalry is in full swing (along with national hype).

I think all of Toronto is on the D.L. with the exception of Joey Batts...

and the Rays be the Rays.

What's up in your world?

The NL Central continues so far to be the usual tooth & nail hairball with the Cubs not getting out of one of their pitching acquisitions what they'd hoped for. Having seen several of the games with Milwaukee the Brewers are actually looking good, at least to be a factor. The others are up & down like a boat with the wrong hull on a choppy sea but the current records are so close that 1 weekend could flip everything.

Outside the Central it's kinda like "holy krap, look at the Rockies." They're playing some serious ball, as are (typically last couple of years) the Nationals. All those look to be factors, but need to stay solid for the division first. 25 games in is not too early to remember that old adage about the 25m target.

OK, I still love my "O's", even though our pitching is our biggest problem. Bundy was good last night, and we will soon get back Tillman and Z. Britton, which I hope helps in the pitching area. W. Miley and Jimenez ( last year of his enormous contract) suck...But we do have some good new players, Gentry and Mancini who have been pretty good. Manny is stepping up, and Trumbo has been hitting in runs. Davis is slacking, and my boyfriend (LOL :) ) Joey Rickard is always injured, who knows next time it might be a hang nail. :o

Still rooting for them...Go O's...:lifter