MLB 2018 Season | Open Thread

[Sestak]

AL East: Yankees
AL Central: White Sox (because why the **** not)
AL West: Astros
AL Wild Card: Indians, Twins

NL East: Nationals
NL Central: Cubs
NL West: GIANTS!
NL Wild Card: Cardinals, Phillies

AL Champ: Yankees
NL Champ: GIANTS!

World Champs: GIANTS!

0-162: Dodgers

[Sestak]

Also, anyone else feel really weird having Opening Day not be on a Monday?

I'm not complaining, though. Any condition where you we can beat Kershaw is a good one.

[Sestak]

Cueto is perfect through 6.

But Giants haven't scored either, and only have one hit (and three Dodger errors), so who knows what happens.

[Sestak]

Cueto is perfect through 6.

But Giants haven't scored either, and only have one hit (and three Dodger errors), so who knows what happens.

     Yesterday was a defensive battle too.

Well so much for the perfecto. Now I feel like I jinxed it.

Anyway, we got the double play to make it up.

Seeing defensive battles like this is actually comforting because it shows our pitching staff isn't hopeless. Especially against a relatively good team like LA.

[Sestak]

This Tony Watson guy actually seems pretty good. Maybe the Giants bullpen is finally making a comeback?

[Sestak]

Yesterday: Giants win, 1-0, with the run off a Joe Panik solo shot.
Today: Giants win, 1-0, with the run off a Joe Panik solo shot.

Giants become the second team after the '43 Reds to win their first two games 1-0. Panik becomes the first player to homer in back-to-back 1-0 games.

Hey everyone, where are your projected NL West champs now?

(And even better, the homers, and the Ls, were off Kershaw and Jansen).

[Sestak]

Man, Shohei Ohtani is really something.

[Sestak]

The Angels really should consider using Shohei Ohtani as their DH on days he's pitching too...

I don't think you can have the pitcher also play DH simultaneously.

What you can do (and what they should do in my opinion) is to choose to forgo the DH and just set up their lineup as if they were a National League team. In the AL, you're always allowed to do this; the Giants did it with Bumgarner a few years back in a game at Oakland.

Also, in other news, Ohtani is making me slightly more accepting of the DH. But still, #NotInMyNationalLeague

[Sestak]

^ yeah. They'd lose the DH for when he's pulled and the Angels probably don't want random relievers to be forced to hit.

Might be able to do a switch to DH when he's being pulled from the mound.

They wouldn't be forced to hit, they'd just have to be pinch-hit for like in the NL.

On the flip side, it adds an extra player to the bench, which gives the manager more flexibility in substitution situations.

[Sestak]

http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/23288102/atlanta-braves-rainout-sets-early-season-ppd-record

Major League Baseball set a record for weather related postponements with 26.

This April has been crazy weather wise.

Yeah. We had one here, only the 6th rainout in AT&T Park history (in 18 seasons).

[Sestak]

Move over, Shohei Ohtani. There's a new two-way player in town:

https://www.sfchronicle.com/giants/shea/article/Giants-Pablo-Sandoval-gets-to-pitch-against-12872378.php

[Sestak]

Just when I thought we were doing well, we get swept by the f**king Phillies and now we're back to .500.

Also our pitching situation sucks. We started the season with Bumgarner and Samardzija out. Now Samardzija's back, but Cueto, who had been pitching very well, is now on the 60-day DL with a sore elbow.


Giants baseball: Torture.