2023 MLB Season Thread

[NewYorkExpress]

Those of you who have taken part in our draft the past few years, the draft date is Sunday, March 12 at 7:00 PM.

If you are unable or unwilling to participate this year, please PM me so I can remove you and replace you with someone else.

[NewYorkExpress]

https://twitter.com/Cardinals/status/1626297107471630340

[NewYorkExpress]

Manny Machado signs an eleven year, $350 million extension with the Padres.

It seems likely that Machado will retire a Padre with the signing of this extension.

[NewYorkExpress]

Fantasy draft in less than ten minutes!

[NewYorkExpress]

My predictions:

AL East:

1. New York Yankees 96-66
2. Tampa Bay Rays 96-66
3. Toronto Blue Jays 85-77
4. Boston Red Sox 76-86
5. Baltimore Orioles 61-101

AL Central:

1. Cleveland Guardians 88-74
 2. Minnesota Twins 86-78
3. Chicago White Sox 81-81
 4. Kansas City Royals 70-92
 5 Detroit Tigers 55-107

AL West

 1. Houston Astros 91-71
2 Los Angeles Angels 89-73
3 Seattle Mariners 89-73
4. Texas Rangers 74-88
5. Oakland Athletics 50-112

AL MVP: Shohei Ohtani, Los Angeles Angels
AL Cy Young: Shohei Ohtani, Los Angeles Angels (No, I don't have Ohtani winning both awards because he was my top pick in my fantasy league. That would be silly)
AL Manager of the Year: Phil Nevin, Los Angeles Angels

NL East:

1. Atlanta Braves 94-68
2. New York Mets 93-69
3. Philadelphia Phillies 93-69
4. Miami Marlins 81-81
5. Washington Nationals 38-122

NL Central:

1. St. Louis Cardinals 95-67
2. Milwaukee Brewers 93-69
3. Chicago Cubs 70-92
4. Pittsburgh Pirates 59-104
5. Cincinnati Reds 37-123

NL West:

1. San Diego Padres 100-62
2. Los Angeles Dodgers 100-62
3. Colorado Rockies 79-83
4. San Francisco Giants 77-85
5. Arizona Diamondbacks 75-87

NL MVP: Juan Soto, San Diego Padres
NL Cy Young Award: Justin Verlander, New York Mets
NL Manager of the Year, Skip Schumacher, Miami Marlins

[NewYorkExpress]

https://twitter.com/RandyHolt42/status/1636743226660106240

[NewYorkExpress]

WBC Final is American loss, 3-2.

Kind of hard to win when you are facing the best hitter and the best pitcher in the world. Even harder to win when he's the same guy.

[NewYorkExpress]

WBC Final is American loss, 3-2.

Kind of hard to win when you are facing the best hitter and the best pitcher in the world. Even harder to win when he's the same guy.

Is Ohtani really that good?

Where have you been for the past five years?

[NewYorkExpress]

WBC Final is American loss, 3-2.

Kind of hard to win when you are facing the best hitter and the best pitcher in the world. Even harder to win when he's the same guy.

Is Ohtani really that good?

Where have you been for the past five years?

I'm not doubting that Ohtani is good. I was just wondering if such a lofty praise, going that far, should be unambigiously given to him.
In any case, Japanese people online I've talked to have agreed he's quite talented and I saw no reason to disagree.
I was under the impression the US team would have enough talented players to make up the difference. I guess it wasn't enough. The results speak for themselves.

Decades from now, he will likely be considered the greatest baseball player of all time. Better than Babe Ruth. He's that good.

And the best part is that he's a free agent after this season.

Looking forward to Steve Cohen signing Ohtani for something like twelve years, one billion dollars.

[NewYorkExpress]

As a Cards fan, I'm excited for the season.  We got this rookie, Jordan Walker.  Young, big and strong with a great attitude.  Somehow one of the best catchers of all time retired and we still somehow got better at the position (at least on the bat side of the equation).  We have way too many quality outfielders.  The rotation is shaky, hopefully we can pick up an arm before the trade deadline.  The bullpen looks better than it has the past few years, but that's not saying much.

Unless for some reason, the Angels decide to trade Ohtani, AND he wants to go to St. Louis (i.e, sign an extension),there won't be a good starter available at the deadline.

[NewYorkExpress]

The AA Rocket City Trash Pandas somehow allowed no hits through seven innings and still lost 7-5 to the Chattanooga Lookouts.

The Los Angeles Angels' Double-A Rocket City Trash Pandas allowed one hit in a doubleheader and only got a split.

Three pitchers combined on a seven-inning, no-hitter for the Trash Pandas only to lose 7-5 to the Cincinnati Reds' Chattanooga Lookouts in Saturday's opener after wildness caused a seven-run top of the seventh.


Rocket City pitchers walked five, hit four batters and threw a run-scoring wild pitch in the seventh inning and were hurt by a dropped fly ball with the bases loaded on what would have been the final out.

[NewYorkExpress]

The Rays are up to 9-0. They've also outscored their three opponents (The Tigers, Nationals and A's), 75-18 in those nine games.

[NewYorkExpress]

A's moving to Las Vegas

The Las Vegas Degenerate Gamblers has a nice ring to it.

[NewYorkExpress]

Through almost one month of the season, Shohei Ohtani has an ERA of 0.64.

He's not hitting as well as he did the last couple of years though.

[NewYorkExpress]

The Pirates have shown an unusual willingness to spend money, signing Bryan Reynolds to a long-term extension.

The Pittsburgh Pirates and switch-hitting outfielder Bryan Reynolds have agreed to an eight-year extension, the team announced Wednesday. The deal is worth more than $106 million and includes a club option for the 2031 season, as well as no-trade protections for Reynolds. It does not include an opt-out, CBS Sports HQ has confirmed.

Reynolds' pact eclipses teammate Ke'Bryan Hayes' extension for the most guaranteed money in Pirates franchise history. Hayes, Pittsburgh's starting third baseman, signed an eight-year deal worth $70 million in April 2022.

[NewYorkExpress]

Last night Shohei Ohtani became the second player to have five hundred strikeouts as a pitcher and one hundred home runs as a hitter.

The other one? One George Herman Ruth.

[NewYorkExpress]

Matt Harvey has announced his retirement.

[NewYorkExpress]

Vida Blue dead at 73.

[NewYorkExpress]

The Yankees designated struggling Outfielder Aaron Hicks for assignment.

Got to wonder where Hicks ends up. He's hitting just .188, but assuming he clears waivers, somewhere like Oakland or Kansas City seems plausible, with the Angels also seeming at least theoretically possible as well.

[NewYorkExpress]

Oakland A's broadcaster Glen Kuiper was fired after using a racial slur during a live broadcast earlier this month.

[NewYorkExpress]

Just a few a hours ago, the Phillies beat the Braves 6-4. Craig Kimbrel picked up the save, the 400th of his career, becoming the eighth pitcher to reach that milestone.

[NewYorkExpress]

So, when are the Mets firing Buck Showalter?

They have way too much talent to be just two games over .500 at this point in the season.

[NewYorkExpress]

Marcus Stroman one-hit the Major League leading Rays today, as the Cubs won 1-0 at Wrigley field.

[NewYorkExpress]

There's been an ongoing crisis with Diamond Sports Group, which is in bankruptcy proceedings and holds the rights to multiple teams. They missed the payment to the Padres today, so going forward Major League Baseball will be directly responsible for getting Padres games on the air.

Diamond Sports Group won't be making its scheduled rights fee payment to the San Diego Padres by the end of its grace period on Tuesday, making the team's game against the Miami Marlins that afternoon the final one under Bally Sports.

Moving forward, through the end of the regular season and perhaps in perpetuity, Major League Baseball is expected to assume control of the Padres' broadcasts.


"We have been preparing for this groundbreaking moment. The Padres are excited to be the first team to partner with Major League Baseball to offer a direct-to-consumer streaming option through MLB.TV without blackouts while preserving our in-market distribution through traditional cable and satellite television providers," Padres CEO Erik Greupner said in a statement. "Our fans will now have unprecedented access to Padres games through both digital and traditional platforms throughout San Diego and beyond."

Diamond Sports Group, the Sinclair subsidiary that operates its broadcasts under the name Bally Sports, is navigating through bankruptcy proceedings in the wake of significant financial losses that were caused by the debt it incurred in the initial purchase and the accelerated rate of cord cutting throughout the country. Diamond owns the regional sports networks for 42 teams across the NHL, NBA and MLB, the latter of which comprises 14 teams.

[NewYorkExpress]

So, when are the Mets firing Buck Showalter?

They have way too much talent to be just two games over .500 at this point in the season.

Do you think Buck Showalter is the MLB's Marty Schotteinheimer or Doc Rivers? Great regular season coaches or coaches who can't win the championships despite their talent as a coach?

That's a pretty good comparison.