India's sublime AB was absolutely critical. Idiot typist me sez it possibly saved the team from an 0-2 start - and a possibly long slide seeing how the early schedule is stacked.
Yanx - let's see a Senate committee investigate those bats. Not entirely joking.
The only time I even consider using MLB.tv is in September with multiple tight division races. Was able to watch all of that wacky 2011 final game finish.
Re weird Senzatela line - can't wait for Jayson Stark to weigh in on that.
You strike again, Mr. B: enshittification is one of your best creations. Please keep that up.
If the new bats actually work...everyone will have them soon...just like steroids...except it wont hurt the health of the players over the long term...
Is it only me that thinks just maybe winning today’s rubber game might be maybe a teeny tiny bit important for the rest of the year (if we lose, I’m solidly back into the “it’s a long season” camp)? Also, how is the FanDuel app working for peepz? I’m not gonna sign up until I’m back in the midwest in a couple weeks (last year’s Bally’s app couldn’t handle moving around), but am curious if it’s even a little bit of an upgrade (or is it just Bally’s repackaged?).
With as tight as the AL Central looks, every game against division rivals is important. Or maybe I should say, meaningful.
To me, the FanDuel app is 100% the same as Bally’s. Just rebranded and, in the spirit of Bally’s, done in a half-assed way. The login screen still has the Bally’s logo.
I have also been using mlb.tv to stream royals and mariners games for years...simply, it's a bad product! The audio coverage is brutal with the same three ads over and over and over again! The sad part is there is no where I can contact to give them feedback on how to improve the product. It's just a bad product...but its all I got!
I’ve generally been ok with the app. For a while, it was the gold standard of the sports streaming package. Just make sure the streams are working and leave it alone!Although I am with you on the ads on the radio side. A bit tiring.
You rightly pointed out Garcia’s 2024 start and how it didn’t last. Michael A. Taylor had a similar first week start a couple years back. It’s really hard to draw any meaningful conclusions this early—just avoid injuries and scratch out some wins against a tough schedule.
You forgot MLBtv apps new improvements - Not only are you not able to choose an inning to watch anymore, you also can only rewind and fastforward at 2 minute intervals. If you are lucky, you will only have three or four freezes that force you to start game all over and spend ten minutes trying to pick up where you left off. I am also thrilled that if I am not quick enough to battle the homescreen to scroll to "games" it will force me to watch their mlb show, "Yankees and Dodgers Highlights Only."
As an added bonus, they sent a note of apology for our missing the first third of opening day and a whole $10 coupon off a $25 purchase!!! So excited to give them more of my money since I made the mistake of purchasing their product!
Ok - no more rants, and apologies to anyone who read this.
The boys in powder blue really are providing some quality entertainment. Is the bullpen really going to be as dreamy as we had hoped? Is India really going to be a leadoff machine AND competent in LF? Is Garcia really going to be the badass I keep telling my SO he is going to be? I hope my next rant is that the Royals always make me watch every game to the end becuase they just don't quit.
It's too bad some team in flyover country didn't come up with those weird bats so MLB could ban them (the bats, not the team, although I wouldn't put anything past Manfred).
Man, it's a good thing India looks OK in left because I have no faith the Royals are going to get anything out of Renfroe or Melendez after watching them for the first three games of the season.
I'm also sick and tired of hearing from fans who listened to the Royals' broadcasters complain about Maikel Garcia trying too hard to hit home runs last year. As you correctly note, the problem was that he wasn't hitting the ball in the air enough or pulling enough. He's pulling the ball right now, and he's got a three-game hitting streak to go with it.
Renfroe looks the same. I'll give Melendez a bit of leeway since he's changed up his stance and because two games aren't enough time to judge, but the patience is thin.
If Garcia can just tweak his approach to consistently get the ball in the air to the pull side, good things will happen.
Renfroe doesn't look the same to me at all, he looks WAY worse. Jacob did a check on baseball savant and so far this year his max throwing velocity is 3 MPH below his average from last year. Plus I kept arguing that while he wasn't fast, I at least felt confident that he'd take good routes to the ball and field it correctly if he got there. I no longer have that confidence after watching him Thursday.
Renfroe doesn’t get a good jump, nor does he take the best routes. I mean, he’s just a poor defender overall. The arm is good. Generally. Where do you see velocity from this years games? I don’t think Savant has updated defensive metrics because they don’t have the proper sample.
India's sublime AB was absolutely critical. Idiot typist me sez it possibly saved the team from an 0-2 start - and a possibly long slide seeing how the early schedule is stacked.
Yanx - let's see a Senate committee investigate those bats. Not entirely joking.
The only time I even consider using MLB.tv is in September with multiple tight division races. Was able to watch all of that wacky 2011 final game finish.
Re weird Senzatela line - can't wait for Jayson Stark to weigh in on that.
You strike again, Mr. B: enshittification is one of your best creations. Please keep that up.
I agree with you on India’s at bat. Games tend to turn on such things and him doing that—at that moment—was massive.
As much as I’d like to take credit for enshittification, I cannot. Fantastic word, though.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enshittification
If the new bats actually work...everyone will have them soon...just like steroids...except it wont hurt the health of the players over the long term...
Not sure I need 9 home runs a game. I’ll save that for MLB The Show.
Is it only me that thinks just maybe winning today’s rubber game might be maybe a teeny tiny bit important for the rest of the year (if we lose, I’m solidly back into the “it’s a long season” camp)? Also, how is the FanDuel app working for peepz? I’m not gonna sign up until I’m back in the midwest in a couple weeks (last year’s Bally’s app couldn’t handle moving around), but am curious if it’s even a little bit of an upgrade (or is it just Bally’s repackaged?).
With as tight as the AL Central looks, every game against division rivals is important. Or maybe I should say, meaningful.
To me, the FanDuel app is 100% the same as Bally’s. Just rebranded and, in the spirit of Bally’s, done in a half-assed way. The login screen still has the Bally’s logo.
What in the name of Dusty Coleman was Isbel doing out there on Thursday?
I have also been using mlb.tv to stream royals and mariners games for years...simply, it's a bad product! The audio coverage is brutal with the same three ads over and over and over again! The sad part is there is no where I can contact to give them feedback on how to improve the product. It's just a bad product...but its all I got!
I’ve generally been ok with the app. For a while, it was the gold standard of the sports streaming package. Just make sure the streams are working and leave it alone!Although I am with you on the ads on the radio side. A bit tiring.
You rightly pointed out Garcia’s 2024 start and how it didn’t last. Michael A. Taylor had a similar first week start a couple years back. It’s really hard to draw any meaningful conclusions this early—just avoid injuries and scratch out some wins against a tough schedule.
Agree. Bank the wins early and often.
You forgot MLBtv apps new improvements - Not only are you not able to choose an inning to watch anymore, you also can only rewind and fastforward at 2 minute intervals. If you are lucky, you will only have three or four freezes that force you to start game all over and spend ten minutes trying to pick up where you left off. I am also thrilled that if I am not quick enough to battle the homescreen to scroll to "games" it will force me to watch their mlb show, "Yankees and Dodgers Highlights Only."
As an added bonus, they sent a note of apology for our missing the first third of opening day and a whole $10 coupon off a $25 purchase!!! So excited to give them more of my money since I made the mistake of purchasing their product!
Ok - no more rants, and apologies to anyone who read this.
The boys in powder blue really are providing some quality entertainment. Is the bullpen really going to be as dreamy as we had hoped? Is India really going to be a leadoff machine AND competent in LF? Is Garcia really going to be the badass I keep telling my SO he is going to be? I hope my next rant is that the Royals always make me watch every game to the end becuase they just don't quit.
Rant away! The navigation required in the app to even watch a ballgame is insane.
Here’s hoping the answer to all of your questions is an emphatic, “YES.”
It's too bad some team in flyover country didn't come up with those weird bats so MLB could ban them (the bats, not the team, although I wouldn't put anything past Manfred).
RIght? As someone said, "It's the Yankees. The league will let it slide."
I guess they are legal, though. They look like deformed fungo bats.
Man, it's a good thing India looks OK in left because I have no faith the Royals are going to get anything out of Renfroe or Melendez after watching them for the first three games of the season.
I'm also sick and tired of hearing from fans who listened to the Royals' broadcasters complain about Maikel Garcia trying too hard to hit home runs last year. As you correctly note, the problem was that he wasn't hitting the ball in the air enough or pulling enough. He's pulling the ball right now, and he's got a three-game hitting streak to go with it.
Renfroe looks the same. I'll give Melendez a bit of leeway since he's changed up his stance and because two games aren't enough time to judge, but the patience is thin.
If Garcia can just tweak his approach to consistently get the ball in the air to the pull side, good things will happen.
Renfroe doesn't look the same to me at all, he looks WAY worse. Jacob did a check on baseball savant and so far this year his max throwing velocity is 3 MPH below his average from last year. Plus I kept arguing that while he wasn't fast, I at least felt confident that he'd take good routes to the ball and field it correctly if he got there. I no longer have that confidence after watching him Thursday.
Renfroe doesn’t get a good jump, nor does he take the best routes. I mean, he’s just a poor defender overall. The arm is good. Generally. Where do you see velocity from this years games? I don’t think Savant has updated defensive metrics because they don’t have the proper sample.
They don't have ratings, but they have the number of throws and max velocity. His max velo on a throw so far this year is 88.4 MPH https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/savant-player/hunter-renfroe-592669?stats=statcast-r-fielding-mlb