Kirk. Love your football work.
You’re way off on the baseball takes though.
“Where did the athletic ability go?” - Players are more athletic now than ever.
“Clutch hitting in the 8th and 9th?” This doesn’t even warrant a response. This never went anywhere.
“Starting pitching into the 8th or 9th?” - I’ll give you this. Definitely not as much of this but it’s a little harder when strike zones don’t expand from dugout to dugout anymore because a veteran pitcher “earned it”
“Base stealing-hell just good baserunning and SPEED?!” - Bobby Witt Jr, Corbin Carroll, Chandler Simpson, Pete-Crow Armstrong, Trea Turner, Byron Buxton, etc etc
“Sac-bunts moving runners over late in games?” Eh. No thanks. Don’t give up an out. Thought you wanted clutch late in games?
“Where’s Tony Gwynn? Rod Carew?
Wade Boggs? Ichiro?”” - I raise you Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge
“The game has been dying with the youth of America for YEARS and now is losing the core fanbase as well with this ridiculous product we’ve had to digest for the last 7-10 years.” - Would love to see your data here. Every bit of data I’ve seen shows that since Covid, attendance/viewership are WAY up and the largest area of growth, with EVERY demographic at an increase, is youth viewership and attendance.
“Bring back Small Ball and athleticism…this shit dreadful!!!” - Small ball? No thanks. Sometimes there’s a time and place. Athleticism? It’s never been better.
The product is at an all-time high right now. Would love for you to fire up MLB TV for more than just the Reds right now and experience all the sport has to offer
And just like that the Houston Astros are 1 game out of 1st place and .5 game out of a playoff spot.
Said it a month ago and I’ll keep saying it all year: “The Houston Astros are a playoff team”
Judge is hurt…Bobby Witt is a great player. But, honestly go fuck yourself if you vote that way…Ben Rice was never a serious contender and will fade away…All Yordan has to do is stay on the field and the award will be his.
Spencer Arrighetti won American League Pitcher of the Month in May. He allowed three earned runs across 29 innings and limited opponents to a .165 batting average. Arrighetti's first start of June is tonight against Paul Skenes.
Alimber Santa is the second player in MLB history to pitch in a no-hitter in his MLB debut, joining:
Bumpus Jones of the Cincinnati Reds on 10/15/1892, who threw one all himself
h/t @EliasSports