MLB 2023

calodo2003

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Too late. The club and Pinellas County (or the city of St Petersburg perhaps) have agreed on a new stadium to open in 2028, think it was. Posted on a prior page in this thread. The new venue will probaby draw well initially but eventually the luster will wear off, especially if the Rays are bad again, and most people in Greater Tampa and Bradenton-Sarasota do not want to deal with the St Pete clusterfeck traffic. Forget about anyone east of Tampa attending games in St Pete and spending 1-3 hours driving each way.

I wanted the stadium near the Fair Grounds over by the Hard Rock Casino, near I-4 & I-75 intersect. Would also draw the Central Florida and Orlando bases on that side with easier and quicker access to/from, even with I-4 a parking lot during rush hours.

The other considered location was in Ybor, possibly near the River for a sweet looking venue on the waterside like Pittsburgh or San Francisco, though more likely off 275 in the South Nebraska block. I think East Ybor was also mentioned if they pulled imminent domain on that old suburban housing area. Either Ybor location would have been fantastic for activities outside the game in the bar district and within earshot of downtown Tampa and the Channel District.
Fairgrounds area would have been perfect. West Ybor a tad less so as the traffic would be chaotic. East Ybor - why not just build it at the Fairgrounds & have less traffic snarl?
 

calodo2003

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https://www.si.com/mlb/rangers/news...ild-card-playoff-attendance-snaps-century-low
Embarrassment At The Trop: Rays Fans Break 104-Year Attendance Low Record
Only 19,704 were in attendance for Tuesday afternoon's Wild Card series opener between the Texas Rangers and Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field.

The sad thing is that we opened the upper level for this game.

300Pish first pitch on a weekday would suck for attendance in many locales, we just like to really focus on sucking & distill it down even further.
 

calodo2003

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Congrats Texas, good luck v. Baltimore.

Hopefully we can build upon our success in 2023 next year.
 

SirAnderson

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Congrats Texas, good luck v. Baltimore.

Hopefully we can build upon our success in 2023 next year.
Sorry calodo. Rays have been one of the great teams this year that I enjoyed following, played some great baseball but unfortunately the wild card comes at a bad time for you guys. Maybe there's a miracle, but being a Man United fan...I've learnt to know better from the last few years.
 

calodo2003

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Sorry calodo. Rays have been one of the great teams this year that I enjoyed following, played some great baseball but unfortunately the wild card comes at a bad time for you guys. Maybe there's a miracle, but being a Man United fan...I've learnt to know better from the last few years.
Thanks.

Injury bug (& Wander’s idiocy) hit us hard, but we battled & almost crested 100 wins.

I think we are in good shape contractually with all the key players so there should be optimism headed into spring training.

Now it’s all aboard the Baker Train!
 

MrMarcello

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Orioles over Rangers
Cheaters over Twins
Dodgers over Diamondbacks
Braves over Phillies

Philly has performed well against Atlanta in two postseason meetings, winning both series (1993, 2022), but was 5-8 in the 2023 regular season.
 

MrMarcello

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https://www.facebook.com/BaseballHistoryDork

DID YOU KNOW?: The Seattle Mariners have the same number of playoff appearances in their 47-year history (five) as ruptured testicles suffered by their players. In 1980, Mariners pitcher Mike Parrott (pictured) took a comebacker off the bat of Minnesota SS Roy Smalley...directly in the stuff. Not to be out-done, in 1997 another Seattle pitcher, Josias Manzanillo stopped a Manny Ramirez liner with his cup. Ramirez claimed both of Manzanillo's marbles with one shot. By then, it seems that either there was a bounty on Mariners players giblets or they were inviting it. Because in 2009, 3B Adrian Beltre reportedly was not wearing a cup when Alexei Ramirez of the White Sox took a crack at him. Beltre must have pivoted just right to deflect the ball off just one of them, but left un-helmeted, that was bad enough. Beltre was a stud, though, and stayed in the game. And finally, if it weren't evident enough that this were some kind of weird contest among Mariners players, in 2019 outfielder Mitch Haniger took matters into his own umm...hands...and fouled off a pitch hitting himself in the lower Pacific Northwest.

Meanwhile the Mariners, 1995-2022 have three ALCS losses and two in the Division Series under their belts.
 

WI_Red

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https://www.facebook.com/BaseballHistoryDork

DID YOU KNOW?: The Seattle Mariners have the same number of playoff appearances in their 47-year history (five) as ruptured testicles suffered by their players. In 1980, Mariners pitcher Mike Parrott (pictured) took a comebacker off the bat of Minnesota SS Roy Smalley...directly in the stuff. Not to be out-done, in 1997 another Seattle pitcher, Josias Manzanillo stopped a Manny Ramirez liner with his cup. Ramirez claimed both of Manzanillo's marbles with one shot. By then, it seems that either there was a bounty on Mariners players giblets or they were inviting it. Because in 2009, 3B Adrian Beltre reportedly was not wearing a cup when Alexei Ramirez of the White Sox took a crack at him. Beltre must have pivoted just right to deflect the ball off just one of them, but left un-helmeted, that was bad enough. Beltre was a stud, though, and stayed in the game. And finally, if it weren't evident enough that this were some kind of weird contest among Mariners players, in 2019 outfielder Mitch Haniger took matters into his own umm...hands...and fouled off a pitch hitting himself in the lower Pacific Northwest.

Meanwhile the Mariners, 1995-2022 have three ALCS losses and two in the Division Series under their belts.
I did not know this, and I would have preferred to keep it that way. :nervous:
 

calodo2003

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Would like to see the Orioles win it this year.

Barring injury, in a couple of years they will be really fecking good (& their closer will be back from TJS).
 

Murder on Zidane's Floor

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Is it me or do most of the best ever pitchers in the league seem to struggle in the post season?

Saw Verlander's WS stats, was 0-6. Kershaw got smashed last night. I think Scherzer has also struggled.
 

MrMarcello

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Clemens*, Johnson, and Maddux also had postseason struggles, can't recall if Glavine did as well. Smoltz was money in October from what I recall.

Clemens struggles were mostly in Boston, he was much better with the Astros and Yankees. He also had the best playoff pitching performance I've witnessed. Threw a 15 strikeout, 1-hit shutout against Seattle in 2000, the sole hit in the seventh on a line drive just off Tino's glove. It was more dominant than anything I've witnessed from Pedro, Johnson, Halladay, Lee, etc. in the playoffs.
 

Plastic Evra

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Carlos Correa went from "huh not a season to remember" to "I had no idea he was so clutch."
 

Plastic Evra

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Well Twins took a game and Atlanta still can save itself but lots of big scores and teams blazing through to the CS.
 

WeePat

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Carlos Correa went from "huh not a season to remember" to "I had no idea he was so clutch."
In the short period I’ve been following the Astros, he was always a clutch player for them.
 

WeePat

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Always good to see the Dodgers lose.
Swept as well. I had a look at the Dodgers subreddit and they are fuming. A lot of them want to rip everything up and start a rebuild :lol:
 
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Plastic Evra

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In the short period I’ve been following the Astros, he was always a clutch player for them.
With all the medical ruckus for his two aborted trades and a middling regular season, I can see why some Twins fans were skeptical. They had to see the proof in the playoff pudding...
It's still a young team and they dispelled long standing bad records, if they can build on that next year they'll be back with a better shot.
 

calodo2003

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Yes it is great, the extra wild card spot is one of the better things MLB have done recently
Adds a couple of layers of suspense down the stretch of the season & shows that even a team squeaking into the post season just might get to the CS with a couple of breaks.

I think every change that MLB made for this season was a positive one. That doesn't happen often at all in US professional sports.
 

Red in STL

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Adds a couple of layers of suspense down the stretch of the season & shows that even a team squeaking into the post season just might get to the CS with a couple of breaks.

I think every change that MLB made for this season was a positive one. That doesn't happen often at all in US professional sports.
I don't like the start at 2nd base in extra innings in the regular season but not in post season