Living in a Pod while Listening to Podcasts

Many of us are finding ways to get through this pandemic. Many of us that love playing APBA have found time or in my case extra time to roll some games. I have found myself listening to more podcasts, or I should say found myself listening to podcasts. I was never a podcast guy before this whole thing went down.

Before the pandemic, and shortly before my wife had her surgery to remove a cancerous tumor back in October, I accidentally dropped my basic bottom-of-the-line non-smart phone onto the cement at work, and the screen was all shattered. We found out through our phone plan that updating myself to a Samsung 8 Smartphone was not going to bump my monthly payment by much, not much at all... So it was a no-brainer.

Once we got a tax return, I finally got myself a portable speaker for work. I work overnights, and I work alone, so having a smartphone now allowed myself to do bluetooth, which allowed myself to purchase Spotify Premium. Having unlimited access to all of the music out there, was a great release for me, and it's been great to play at home as well, while the wife has also benefited with Spotify as well.

She was always listening to podcasts. I jumped on board the podcast train, and wanted to listen to something other than music one night at work. So I fell upon Bill Simmons' Podcast, which I have to say he does an amazing job, and is really easy to listen to. I usually don't care for homers, and I will admit before listening to his free-flowing podcasts, I unfairly judged him in a negative light based on short spurts such as his work on the NBA Playoffs Pregame show or some of his 30 on 30 work.

His work on The Ringer, The Rewatchables & Bill Simmons Podcast is for the most part podcast gold. I really enjoy Simmons the most when he's working with Ryen Russillo.

Before I move on to other podcasts, his work and The Ringer's work on the Michael Jordan 'The Last Dance' documentaries have been amazing to listen to, and I wanted share my thoughts and memories on Jordan before I move on

If you have not watched 'The Last Dance' ESPN & Netflix documentary (although it's not on Netflix at the moment), you need to. Even if you were not a die-hard Jordan fan or even a fan of his, but love basketball, you need to watch this 10-part documentary... It's that good!

If there was any doubt that Micheal Jordan was the greatest player in NBA history before this documentary, it has all been erased with this documentary. In fact some fans who were living on Camp LeBron have crossed over the line in Jordan's defense. Let's face it, the LeBron James era and his young fans had no idea how big Jordan was on-and-off the court. Now with everyone stuck in their homes (or at least the people that properly followed through with social distancing) and looking for things to do, decided to watch the documentary and see what all the fuss is about.

The documentary just recently passed The Tiger King as the most watched documentary of 2020, and seems to be taking the sports world (and possibly the world) by storm... It's as if Jordan came out of retirement yet again.

Growing up in Michigan, naturally I am a Detroit Pistons fan, while my brother Jared, two years younger than me loved Jordan. I remember we were shopping at a Dunham's and we saw the first Air Jordan shirts, and my dad ended up buying us those. My 4th grade teacher Mr. Walton ended up calling me Air Baier because of the shirt, and my brother Jared, Little Air Baier. I also drew a picture of Michael Jordan from the Sports Illustrated issue where Jordan hit the game-winning shot against the Cleveland Cavaliers. The drawing was so good, that my teacher decided to make copies of the drawing and then had everybody do a coloring contest... which was cool, because copies of my drawing were literally decorating the hallway.

I remember when the Bulls and Pistons were going head-to-head, and the Pistons knocking them out for three consecutive years. I did momentarily forgot that Chicago actually had the Pistons on the ropes during the 1988-89 (2nd straight attempt) with the Bulls up 2-1, but the Pistons focused completely on Jordan, and won three straight to finish out the series. The Bulls felt they had a legit shot during 1990 Eastern Conference Finals, after winning Game 6 and forcing a Game 7, in which then Scottie Pippen would suffer the migraine game. The last NBA game that I was ever in attendance for was Game 4 of the 1991 Eastern Conference Finals, in which the Bulls would finally past the Pistons, sweeping them. I was there when the Pistons ducked out and didn't shake hands with the Bulls.

Now as a Pistons fan, do I get the whole everyone hates us thing? Sure, I do... I feel unlike most sports fans, that I can think in a unbiased way and put myself in an opposing fans' shoes. Was it cool, what the Pistons did, looking back at it? No.

This is the thing though, the city of Detroit has a history of being stepped all over from the world in general to the sports world, and the "Bad Boys" carried the determined attitude that no team is going to come onto the court and embarrass us, we are going to show you up! This outside attitude continues to this day, the fact that some of our 1980's Detroit Tigers had to wait so long to get into the Hall of Fame (while we are still waiting on Lou Whitaker) and the flat-out disrespect that the 2004 Detroit Pistons got for being a dysfunctional Los Angeles Lakers team that in all honesty never had a shot at that great defensive team. I remember when the Pistons and Pacers would play in the playoffs in the 2004 & 2005 NBA Seasons, and fans would cry all over the internet about how it was ugly basketball.

So reliving the Jordan-Bulls vs Pistons stuff was a lot of fun, but I have to say Jordan calling Isiah Thomas an asshole is funny, true, and let's be honest... totally hypocritical of Jordan. While the documentary has captured Jordan to be human, to be the ultimate competitor, to be addicted to gambling (contrary to belief, he had a problem), to be the greatest thing and player to happen to the NBA... it captured another thing, that Jordan was also an asshole... Let's be honest, he was a dick to even his teammates, so I had to chuckle when Jordan called Thomas that. And as much as Isiah still wants to downplay the non-shaking hands things, Jordan does the same with Isiah and Joe Dumars, downplaying the fact that the two stars were blacklisted from the Dream Team.

I was happy to hear the credit that Simmons gives the Bad Boys team, and I know that they said that Isiah's problem is that he feels that the team has been persecuted and that Isiah feels that their place in history is lost. I don't believe its lost. You might remember earlier in this post that I first had a negative light on Simmons, that was because of a Boston Celtics special that really painted the Pistons team as nothing but a rough-and-tough tumble team, but am enlightened since that people like Simmons came around, and did their research and realize that this Pistons team is among the very best in NBA history. You will never find a better backcourt with Isiah, Dumars, Mark Aguirre & Vinnie 'The Microwave' Johnson, and the team is one of the best ever defensively. I also want to note that in DK Sports and NBA2K Basketball had only one team really better than the "Bad Boys" and that was the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls.

Now do I believe that the Pistons were the #2 team of all-time? No, do I think they can make that a series? Oh, hell yeah... although I used to believe the 95-96' Bulls to be the best of all-time, I think I will agree with Simmons that the best Bulls team of all-time is actually their 1991-92' team. Looking back, the 1995-96 team benefited a lot due to recent expansion, so maybe with that we go to the earlier 90's teams as the best, or one of the great Celtics or Lakers teams.

One last note on Jordan, I agree with Ryen Russillo on the whole tearing down heroes segment during one of Bill Simmon's podcasts. They were in discussion over The Last Dance Episode where the media was turning on Jordan for primarily the gambling and other factors in his life, and how the media will always build someone up just to tear them down. It reminded of the situation with Tiger Woods as well, you can't tell me that no one in the media knew of his other women, but once his domestic dispute came out to the press, they all decided to bury him. Not saying that Jordan or Woods are saints, but I really hate that part of the press.

Anyways, I have also been listening to The Daily, another pod cast called 'Still Processing' done by two New York Times writers, and the Rewatchables podcasts -- Their take on "The Karate Kid", "Scream" and "Beverly Hills Cop" were among the best, with hilarious valid points that we can all relate to.

Podcasts have been a great escape from all the bad things going on in the world, plus its great to listen to while plugging out stats or blogs even (which I am doing right now). Hope all is well in your world, and keep rolling 66's.

Keep on Plugging Away

Be generous like Roberto was in someone's time of need.

When the New Year began, my brother and I started going through cruise control in our 1978 MLB Replay (I'm American League, he's National). Ending this month, I have rolled 133 games of the A.L. Replay, going from game #212 (May 15th) on New Year's Day, while rolling Game #345 (June 4th) this morning. I have also rolled 40 home UAL games in a mail-in league that I am, along with a 1993 N.L. Championship Series replay that went all 7 games.

All in all, I rolled 180 games since the New Year, but in the last 3 weeks, I have rolled 18 games of my 1978 A.L. Replay & had to play my 10 UAL games, which I barely had the energy to play given the circumstances. Only 28 games or less in 21 days or so -- A huge difference considering the pace prior to the outbreak. 

The Coronavirus outbreak hit all of us hard on so many levels, effecting our way of living, and our own psyches. On my two off-nights, I can easily log at least 20 APBA games if I wanted to, but with all the distractions it's kind of hard to find the motivation.

I will say recently though, it seems that the APBA community has been very active. Many of the guys have started new projects in the last week, and are really having fun with them. I think we are plugging away at the games in ways to keep our mind off the depressing news. Their posts have inspired me to continue with our project the best that we could do, and it's this wonderful game that takes us back to places like 1978... The year of Ron Guidry and the days that relievers like Bob Stanley could go at least 2 innings, if not 3 or 4 innings at a time.

This is also a time to help those in needs in your communities. Becky and I, were blessed with help provided by our APBA community, friends & family, after she had a cancerous tumor removed from her right lung in November. 

We wanted to try to return the favor in some way, by helping someone in our local community, and we decided to help our upstairs neighbor who has two young teenage girls, and were already struggling before this pandemic broke out. We stopped by with some strawberry strudel bars, a card, and a gift card to Meijer grocery store for $50. It was the least we could do, the way that we looked at it, we were in the same boat once, and in many ways what effects them can effect us. I couldn't live with myself if I known someone was starving, when all they needed was someone to offer some help.

She didn't open the card at first when I was speaking with her, but the next morning she came by our apartment, and you could see the glow in her face, and was very thankful. She joked that since she was a diabetic, her girls had no problem rubbing it in, which mean't more Strawberry Streusel for them.

This is also a time to make sure your wives, husbands, children are absolutely okay. Just because they are not talking about the situation doesn't mean its not on their mind. I had to nudge the wife a little the other night when I noticed she was more quiet than usual, and she opened up about much more than I ever expected, she was telling me about all her worries while we were cuddled up on the bed together. She mentioned that the news and Facebook have both been overwhelming for her as of late, which I can completely understand. I now watch the news for about 15 minutes a day, to see if there is any updates, and I do that when she's not in the room. My wife has had a history with anxiety and depression issues, and I am glad that she communicated with me, instead of keeping it all inside. 

It's absolutely alright to be scared, it's absolutely alright to share your feelings.

It's good to keep those communication lines open, so please keep communicating with all your family members. Try to reconnect on things that you love to do, while keeping them busy, by not being saturated with the depressing news channels and limit your Facebook time as well.

In the last couple days alone, less news and less Facebook, has actually put me in a much better and happier place, while giving me a boost of motivation on doing my APBA projects, while catching up on some shows with the wife, while we also played some Mario Kart as well.

So whatever it that helps you get by, let's keep plugging away at our APBA projects together, while plugging away at making our 'new normal' lives as normal as they can be. We can't just lie down, just like our doctors, nurses, truckers, and cashiers, we need to keep plugging away at the things that we love and for the people that we love.

Many 66's to all of you, good health to your families & be safe! 

New post coming up on the 1978 Replay - Two-Month Report

The New Normal

I am still working on a post from my own perspective here in Traverse City, but until then, I wanted to relay something I wrote on Facebook, here it goes...

I keep seeing a bunch of people on here acting like children, talking about the "little number" of confirmed cases. I am going to have to skip the building blocks, flash cards, and the mid-afternoon book-read snack time for you, and try to explain this to you in short, even though I am pretty sure I am talking to a wall, and you are going to find out the hard way.

First some statistics for you...

The stock market crash of 2020 began on Monday, March 9, with history's largest point plunge for the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) up to that date.1 It was followed by two more record-setting point drops on March 12 and March 16. The stock market crash included the three worst point drops in U.S. history. The one on March 16th was the worst in 30+ years (1987).

From the morning of March 17th to March 18th, we saw a 34% increase in CONFIRMED cases in one day.

There is no vaccine at the moment for COVID-19

This is only the beginning, they are talking 18 months now, while talking waves after waves.

The analysts have been watching the other infected areas of the world, and from what I have read, that people can be asymptomatic for up to 2 weeks before showing any signs, and they figure for EVERY confirmed case, there is 8 people asymptomatic running around, in which than each of those 8 would infect another 8 each, etc etc etc...

So for all of you that are bitching about places being closed, we are trying to stop it from spreading further, we will see the cases keep quadrupling even with these preventive measures, and oh yeah...

We are playing from 6-to-8 weeks from behind, and hospitals all around the country are already overwhelmed and they have realized if this is going to be 18 months, that they will be running out of supplies much sooner.

We are completely not ready for this, and if we all do get out of this, you better bet your ass things are going to change. The American people, especially the middle-class and under, will make sure in the future that we are well taken-care of, and we will set ourselves up to not be kicked around no more. We are going to take back this country...

That's if we get out of this pickle, but I try to stay optimistic.

This is a time for communities to pull together like this country has done so before, much in the way we did during World War II -- We need to be there for our neighbors, coworkers, friends & families.

This is not a time to make light of the situation, sure myself and many other people have passed around memes and jokes, but as a way to defuse the stress inside of ourselves. I guarantee you, I have not taken this situation lightly.

We have to pull together, and to do that we have to follow the rules in place, even if you don't completely understand the reasons, you need to cooperate. We will have one huge mountain after to climb, we have to keep moving forward as best as we can, and we have to climb out of the situation together.

Eventually the ones that think this is a joke, will be left behind. As we move forward, and the situation gets incredibly real & serious (Hopefully it doesn't get to that point), but People as a group will deal with those individuals, in very swift results, we can't have people endangering the entire process.

Everything effects everything at this point, we are all in a vulnerable position and we have to keep praying that it will get better in the end. We have to at least try.

Even our out-spoken President seems to have changed his tone a bit, realizing that this is going to be a long, tough, and ugly process and that eventually many lives will be lost. The economy is already showing signs that this will be worst than post 9/11 and that we will be hurting for the next decade and longer.

We have to hope that from here-on-out that our government hits this head on, and hope that it won't take horribly long for a vaccine.

Keep yourself informed, make sure that you have enough food (especially non-perishables, meat, etc -- that doesn't mean 200 rolls of toilet paper!). AA-Batteries, enough meds, plenty of tylenol and ibuprofen -- all that! We don't know how long we might have to hunker down for, so be safe, and not sorry.

Protect your loved ones, this is not a time to drop your guard, be more observant of your surroundings even in places you may feel that you are usually safe.... all bets are off.

Follow the news enough to know what's going on, don't watch it 24/7 though! -- Take a break from Facebook as well, negative energy feeds negative energy and we need to try to carry on our regular lives in what is now the new normal.

I need to work hard on this as well, see opening paragraph again ("flash cards"), that was harsh, but I am human, and you are human, and we are still going to have our moments of imperfection, and we will still show our ugly side from time-to-time, but I believe we will see people being more empathetic towards one another. I have to do better, we all have to do better.

This is the new normal, we must accept this, if we are going to rise above this and succeed. If we all work hard on this, we can get ourselves back to a better place, and even a better place than it ever was before.

APBA Game Play Preferences

Often it comes up on the APBA Facebook Group... Do you play the Master Game of APBA Baseball, or the Basic Game?

Everyone has their reasons for each one, some love strictly one and not the other. Some are happy with the Basic, and aren't willing to give the other a try, due to things like more dice rolls and time (which is understandable). Some have created different hybrid versions as well, merging the two.

My entire APBA life, I have played the Basic Game, and until the summer of 2016, I never played with Optional Fielding. Now like coffee, I can't even imagine not playing without Optional Fielding... it gives realistic value to any sort of replay, and really ups the importance of players like Alan Trammell and Lou Whitaker -- The 1984 Tigers not playing up to par? Play with Optional Fielding and they do very well.

I thought about these posts and discussions, and realized that in my entire time posting that I never really did a blog piece on what my preferences are, and why I prefer certain things. For those that may have been interested or curious in what I like, well here you go...

Basic or Master?

Like I mentioned above, I play Basic with Optional Fielding, while I have now been rolling my personal APBA projects with the APBA Baseball Error Card and Unusual Play Card (from the APBA Journal) since going to the Glass City APBA Baseball Tournament (ran by my friend Ron Emch).

I started playing Optional Fielding back in the summer of 2016, when my friend James Welch showed me quickly during that summer's Chicagoland Tournament how easy and showed me a quick way how to go about using it.

I currently play in the UAL (Ultimate APBA League), which is a cool mail-in league, although I wish they reconsider renaming the league to something else. In that league, we use the Optional Fielding, but I don't use the Error & Unusual Play Card for that league since it is not part of the league's rules. I always follow the league or tournament rules, even if its not exactly how I might play solitaire.

For my 1978 Replay with my brother Chris Baier, we are using actual game starting pitchers and position players. He is using a hybrid system, mostly basic for the National League side, while I am playing Basic with Optional Fielding, while using the Error & Unusual Play Card. You can follow us on the Delphi - APBA Between the Lines forum, under the label "Brothers in Dice." I first came up with "Brothers in Arms" like the Dire Straits song, and he said let's go with dice, which I agree sounds better and makes more sense.

Solitaire Tournament Play or Playing Teams from Different Eras

When I roll projects such as my Amazing April Tournament for example, the home team of that game plays under the rules that their team played under back during that time. For example, if the 1953 Brooklyn Dodgers played the 2007 Boston Red Sox at Fenway, both teams are playing under the DH rule. If the 2013 Detroit Tigers are playing the 1968 Detroit Tigers, both teams' pitchers will hit. If those 2013 Tigers though played the 1984 Detroit Tigers at those 84' Tigers' home, back to the DH, and so forth.

I have seen people do their solitaire tournaments due one or the other, strictly DH or strictly pitchers hitting, but I don't recall seeing any doing what I prefer or at least in a real face-to-face tournament. If I was hosting my own face-to-face tournament, I feel the home team gets to play by its era's rules, plus the tournament would definitely have optional fielding and the Error Distribution Card & Unusual Play Cards.

Different Era Cards, for some projects, if a old era APBA 'A' pitching card (pre-K ratings) was to have the result '9' with Bases Empty, I record it as a strikeout instead of the new boards which it is now a ground out.

Another note on my Amazing April Tournaments, I usually go with the first 2 starters alternating from round to round. I have been also working on a tournament, The Tournament of Champions where at least the first 3 starters from each rotation gets work, and the rounds are broken down in series & not single-games.

Rolling Preference 

I used to hand roll, but since I use my arms a lot for my job, and the fact that I am getting older, my elbows started hurting with all the repeated motions. My wife bought me this beautiful dice tower featured in a post named "Rolling into the Holidays", and I now use that, plus dice don't go everywhere.

TOP SECRET -- Upcoming Future Project

Not to be unveiled yet, because this bad boy is going to be my baby... so much to the point, that I believe that this will be my APBA imprint in the community or what I will be known for, when its all said and done.

So with that in mind, I will not reveal the overall concept, although I did share it with my brother and one APBA friend.... shhhhhhh!!!! Which reminds me, you both need to stop by and sign some papers making sure that your lips remain sealed.

It doesn't mean that I won't let you know, what I plan to use for this project...

• The PAAL (Pottstown Area APBA League) Playing Boards.
• Optional Fielding.
• Designated Hitter Rule in effect for both leagues.
• Error Distribution Card & Unusual Play Card.
• Starter Fatigue Adjustment.
• Will be using a stolen base attempt system, which will involve pitchers' move to first, catcher's throwing arm & the stolen base ratings grade for players attempting to steal bases.
• Pitchers' HR allowance ratings (which are reflected on PAAL Boards).
• The Pitchers' Number Grades (not letters) for realistic results.
• APBA Brawl Chart

So the project will basically be using the PAAL Boards, which with the stolen base system and pitchers' numeral grades, will be much of a hybrid-game experience for this project. I am still on fence for ballpark effects, which overall is because I don't quite fully understand them, and may just be better off leaving that out.

I will say this, the PAAL Boards are necessary for this project, because there will be more talent among the rosters than there normally would be. The PAAL Boards is for a league that has 16 teams I believe. My league will have 28 teams.... and no it is not a BATS (Baseball All-Time Stars) project!

Anyways, these are some of my preferences, I am sure I left something out. I hope you enjoyed this article.

All Betts Are on the Dodgers

On Tuesday evening, as part of a three-team deal, the Los Angeles Dodgers landed superstar outfielder Mookie Betts, veteran starting pitcher David Price & cash from the Boston Red Sox. The Minnesota Twins were the third party involved in the trade, in which Minnesota acquired SP-Kenta Maeda. Boston acquired OF-Alex Verdugo from Los Angeles, and pitching prospect Brusdar Graterol from Minnesota.

I was shocked initially that the Red Sox didn't acquire either prospect 2B-Gavin Lux or pitcher Dustin May, personally I feel they lost big on this trade, they should have got more. I understand the need to cut payroll, but was this the best deal they could have got for a stud like Mookie?

Before this deal, I was already leaning towards the Los Angeles Dodgers to win it all. Now with Betts?! There is no excuse for this team, this powerhouse, not to walk away holding the World Series trophy. I was leaning towards a Dodgers-Yankees World Series before Betts, now I'm calling it -- Just as confident as I was that the 2016 Chicago Cubs (prior to the season) would go on to win it all, I feel the exact same way about the Dodgers right now.

I'm not always right, and to be honest my preseason World Series picks don't even come half-way true most of the time, but I'm feeling it.

There is just too much talent for them to come up short. I know there is 162 games to play during a season, and I know that 10 teams go into the postseason with a shot, but way too much talent... Sure Atlanta, Houston, Washington & the Cubs should be in the mix, but Walker Buehler is only going to get better folks!

Projected starters happen to be C-Will Smith, 1B-Max Muncy, 2B-Gavin Lux, SS-Corey Seager, 3B-Justin Turner, LF-A.J. Pollock, CF-Mookie Betts & RF-Cody Bellinger. This team still has tons of depth, good prospects & strong pitching. The league woke up seeing blue this morning.

Plus I believe baseball is dying to see a Dodgers-Yankees World Series, it's been 39 years... Wouldn't it be great to see those two iconic franchises go at it?!

Say It Ain't So!

As you all know back on Monday, January 13th, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred & Major League Baseball shelled out punishments to the Houston Astros for their role in the alleged sign-stealing scheme.

The penalties were...

• Manager A.J. Hinch suspended for one year.
• General Manager Jeff Luhnow suspended for one year.
• Former Assistant General Manager Brandon Taubman suspended for one year.
• Astros are punished the next two MLB Drafts (2020-2021), in which the team will have to forfeit their 1st & 2nd Round Draft Picks in each draft.
• Fined the maximum $5 million that is allowed under the MLB Constitution.

It didn't take long for the Houston Astros' Owner Jim Crane to turn around and fire both Hinch and Luhnow. Former Houston coach and Boston Red Sox Manager Alex Cora who was also suspended, suffered the same fate from the Boston Red Sox.

I will be going over some (or most) of the nine-page report that covered the MLB investigation, throughout this post, but first things first.

There is so much that I want to get off my chest on this subject, that I am not sure how this whole blog piece will even flow together by the time I finish it, or if it will even come up as good as I want it too. I really don't plan to leave no stone unturned. 

Be warned, that this post could look like the opening sequence of Star Wars: A New Hope (IV) with the Star Destroyer going across the screen by the time it's all done. 

I have been watching and reading the reaction of many baseball fans, some who know their stuff or seem to know their stuff, while most of the others seem to be fair-weathered fans at best, just looking to kick dirt on the Astros, all because it just seems like the cool thing to do. They are jumping to conclusions without fulling understanding the entire ordeal, and the fact this is not something that just happened over night. It's been going on, and it's been going on for awhile.

This is not something that just started --This and different versions of the scheme that the Astros "pulled off" (if you really want to call it that), and schemes that are completely different have been going on, long before the Houston Astros' version.

There are variations that have been used in other ways than just video, from many things, like a spy positioned with binoculars in the center field bleachers (which was actually quite somewhat common, dating back to the 1970's) to camera flashes, reflected mirrors, certain coded relay chants, and even codes that could be used through the PA, maybe even stadium music or fan drums, you name it...

The Astros, and all the other MLB teams that are doing this, have been finding more and more detailed schemes that could give their team a edge. I know some of you are under the illusion that only a handful of teams have come up with schemes, and all of the others are simply innocent... 

Well, no... you are wrong.

It is not a case that other teams may be doing this or might have thought of doing this... 

Nope, all have been doing this, if you think otherwise, you are simply naive or completely kidding yourselves. Then again, some of you that are under this illusion that its only the Astros and a couple teams, seem to be the same exact people that believe there is no juiced ball, simply and only because the Commissioner and Major League Baseball came out and said there was no juiced ball. Taking it at face value, running with it & excepting it as fact....

....Yes, you are so right... because Major League Baseball or any other major cooperation has never lied to the public before just to cover their own asses. [Eyes roll]

I don't understand this fan that believes everything is so cut and dry, living in their vanilla world, thinking that nothing is murky, that everything is simply black and white. Talking and acting as if any of things that I brought up, is completely impossible. We have had pitchers doctor baseballs, we have had players cork their bats, we have had teams take advantage of little loopholes in contracts, baseball drafts, luxury taxes, international signing rules & even with in-game strategies. Every player, every owner, every manager, and every team is looking for an edge against the opposition, and they will go at any lengths, even ignoring a half-ass warning (a couple years ago) by the commissioner...

all in an attempt to try to give their team a chance at a possible advantage.  

I never once denied that the Houston Astros cheated...

You all, automatically assumed that I was saying that, while you were thinking that I stand by this behavior. All I have been trying to say is that you are a damn fool for thinking that the Houston Astros were the only team conducting these schemes.

Take that in for a moment...

I never denied they cheated, while I believe all the other teams have cheated as well, and probably as often in different ways, and some maybe less. The commissioner as well as I did, knew about things dating back years, the Alex Cora mess, is not the first time the Boston Red Sox have been echoed through the press. When John Farrell was managing the team, the press (of an opposing playoff team) got wind that the Red Sox were using apple watches and cell-phone video capabilities to relay things back to the batter. Off the top of my head, I can't recall if it was as recent as 2016 or even around 2013's World Championship team. I believe that was the spark that caused the commissioner to respond with his weak 2017 warning to all teams. 

The warning (or murmur) from what I understand and remember, was nothing more than a paragraph long statement from the league, which the statement was repeated through the press and the MLB Twitter feed. It came out in September 2017, which was even mentioned in the Commissioner's nine-page investigation report. There was nothing detailed in the warning, of what the consequences could be... It came off as "Don't you dare take another cookie from the cookie jar." (shaking his finger)... Let's be honest, we are all going to go snag another cookie before dinner. 

The unfortunate thing for the Houston Astros, they ended up being the ones who got caught with their hand in the cookie jar. They are now the example. They have been punished to the extreme, the team turned around and fired their top personnel, they will lose their top two picks during the next two years, while being fined $5 million. They have suffered the consequences, so that said, I ask these so-called baseball fans to stop making them out to be the villains, when your team is doing just the same. Sure the haters and trolls are going to come out at full force, especially the fans of those teams that feel that their teams were effected by these schemes, which they simply were not affected.

Since Monday, I have been mentioning that these so-called schemes work out, maybe 2-4% of the time, and since Monday's fallout... I have seen former players from different eras, press members and analysts echoing my remarks. The edge was close to nil... nada... nothing! Even in the commissioner's investigation report, the Houston Astros players that were interviewed, mentioned that they found the scheme to be overall "ineffective" and the position players abandoned the scheme. You are talking a play here or there maybe games apart or series apart even, and that's not to mention if the hitter ever did anything with the ball when he did know a off-speed pitch was coming. Which leads to the fact that the hitter still needs to think "is the pitch going to being up, down, left, right"? Plus today's off-speed by pitchers today is not much different from their fastball, now you can notice with notable greats like Justin Verlander, when he throws his off-speed stuff, and yet he still makes the hitter look foolish.

At the beginning of the prior paragraph, I mentioned that I mentioned this stuff since Monday, I also echoed these same statements years ago when I heard about the silly cell-phone/apple watch video relay... So for those who think I hitched my wagon to the Astros, no, I have been saying these relay schemes have been ineffective for a few years now. My favorite team is the Detroit Tigers, while my National League team is the Atlanta Braves, while my favorite player is Justin Verlander who plays for the Astros. I root for Justin to have success, I root for him to pitch well, I root for him to win big awards, and to be as successful as possible during each season. I also root for him to have a longer season, meaning yes, I want to see my favorite player in the playoffs, so to accomplish that I would have to hope the Astros are successful in way to making him successful... got that?!

Speaking of Verlander, it was Verlander and I believe other pitchers that presented diagrams, charts and graphs that clearly pointed to the impact of juiced balls through the years. Heck, they didn't even need charts, look at all the pitchers over the years, having blisters issues, the texture and feel of the ball is obviously different. Verlander was simply trying to point out to the Commissioner and Major League Baseball, with ballparks designed to have fences in, mound levels changed & the strike zones constantly shrinking, do the hitters really need any more help? He asked for an answer, and they simply lied that there was no juiced ball, and that it was the same, until they recently admitted that they are "smaller." So they lied, lied, lied, lied and than admitted the ball was smaller, and that may be the reason for more home runs.

The simple fact is that MLB replaced the steroids with juiced baseballs, so that the average fair-weather baseball fan can get his jollies off having their big home run numbers.

You don't really need the graphs and charts, when you take in the fact that three 2019 MLB teams are now in the top four slots for single-season HR totals (not fishy, one bit)... all from one season. If I remember right, both April and May shattered their previous combined HR marks. I will go as far as saying that the juiced ball is more of a factor, and has more of an impact on the game than these so-called schemes that teams are using to cheat with. There is clear evidence of juiced balls, while we don't know for certain where or when these relay schemes actually helped the accused teams.

The New York Post, of course, feel that the Yankees were obviously screwed of a potential World Championship the last few years. Then again, Yankees fans believe every year is their year while ignoring the obvious facts that their starting pitching was not that good, if they were all healthy at the same time, then yes they had the potential to win it all... but the series only went so far in the first place because of James Paxton's solid outing in Game 5. It wasn't a scheme that made Yankees like Edwin Encarnacion swing at really bad pitches now, was it?

I have also read posts in the APBA Facebook Group and USA Todays' recent article, mentioning that the 2017 Houston Astros' World Championship is now tainted. USA Today wanted to use the Game 5 of the 2017 World Series as an example, where the Astros won 13-12 (10 innings)... so... the Los Angeles Dodgers, were also using the Astros' bang-the-can system, too? Could it just be the fact that both teams' pitching just didn't show up that day, and the fact that everything was flying to that short-distance left field porch?! The article went on to post that Jose Altuve was making things look easy, you know, because never mind the fact that he is one heck of an athlete. This scheme which we should mention maybe cause 2 plays tops in this series, and who is to say that those both didn't result as a dinky single? If someone is going to go as far and say that my favorite player didn't earn his ring, I'm going to be frank, and tell you to shove that little thought up your stinking ass.... Simple as that.

It still hasn't stopped the Los Angeles Dodgers from opening up about their feelings in recent weeks, while their fans went as far as demanding a World Series Trophy, by protesting outside of court houses. I had to make the joke on line, that the Dodgers should rename their franchise the Cry Babies or the Choke Artists, while they seem to be copying off the 90's Braves, winning tons of games, divisions, while the Dodgers are doing one worse, they (unlike the Braves) are still searching for a title. They can't win the big one, so they need to dig for excuses apparently.

CBS MLB link did a great job highlighting the following...

• First off their article, which was unbiased and broke down the nine-page commissioner report: 10 Things We Learned from MLB's 9-Page Investigation 

The other is this video, which was great at the 2:23 to 2:35 mark -- Echoing the fact that none of these schemes were pulled off to make any sort of real impact on the games or series, which the Houston Astros won to win the 2017 World Series.

This next 25-minute video is compelling because, you can hear the bangs, and you will see that it only working out for them in a big way with George Springer's home run at around 15:00 minute mark. There was a RBI double around the 9:00, 10:00 minute mark. Please watch video while having a bowl of cereal, and you will see it not working out for them most of the time. Plus I have not seen any playoff footage, if there is some playoff footage out there please let me know, I would like to check that out. 

Before I end this piece, I mentioned all the teams have been doing this, teams are now voicing out because they knew the Dodgers, Red Sox, Yankees and Astros were starting to become a league of their own. So the other teams no longer wanted to play along. Plus Manfred knew what was going on long before he took office, and just like with everything, Baseball doesn't address the issue until its bubbling over, and they are literally forced to address the issue. If it was not for that rat, Mike Fiers, many of the so-called Baseball fans would still be in the dark from all this.

There has been rumors about other teams such as the Milwaukee Brewers, I feel that Manfred is happy is enough not to want to dig more, because if he reveals the whole league is doing that would not look good for him. It's like when the steroid era, MLB wanted you to believe it was like 5 players on each team, when in all reality it was probably (and sadly) 75% of the league was doped up. The Astros are now the poster child of the scandal, while the commissioner wants everyone to take all of this in a serious manner.

For me, none of this was shocking news. The penalties shelled out were a bit shocking, but I now fully understand that the Commissioner wanted to make sure he sent a message to the entire league in a big way, hoping that this will stop teams from doing it again.

Trouble is, it's not.

My thing is how can you ever believe Major League Baseball? When time and time again, they have continued to lie to their fans -- being steroids, juiced baseballs, or relay schemes. If they had concrete rules in the first place, maybe none of this would ever have happened.

It's as if this sport loves giving itself a black eye. Make this game great again -- no clocks, no openers, limit the shifts, earlier start times for the playoff games. You have been losing generations of fans, and yet you don't seem to understand why.

The Blame Game

It's that time of year again, when everyone loses their damn minds...

Over the holiday season madness?

Nope...

Over the fact that some team's owner (competing with other owners) was willing to shell out the money to a big free agent, signing him to a pricey, long-term deal, all in an attempt to make his team better, or to compete against the other teams. The deal is announced to the press, in which the average baseball fan screams bloody murder, saying things like the contracts are getting ridiculous, and that the players are just downright greedy. This complaint often seems to come from the fan born before 1970, while fans even younger than myself seem to have a more understanding about the times, and feel the product should be paid.

My question to the old school is this...
Are you saying if you are offered more money, even if seems to be more than enough, you wouldn't take it?

Of course you would...
and if you say you wouldn't, well my friend, you are lying.

I wish that we lived in a world that our teachers, police, surgeons and military are paid more than they are actually paid. I served in the United States Navy from 1996 through 2000, and worked alongside other veterans from the other branches of the government, and knew cases where military families were depending on food stamps, and this was before the recession.

We unfortunately don't live in that world. We do live in a world where there everyone is judged on everything by everyone, and that regardless of what they do, they are never going to make anyone happy.

We live in a world where fat-cat CEO's make millions-upon-millions-upon-millions for running pharmaceutical companies, hospitals, and cooperate giants such as Wal-Mart. Companies like Wal-Mart have found ways to cut corners, gain more money, by cutting their payroll and staff. Wal-Mart claims to supply more jobs than any U.S. company, well that's not difficult to do as a overall number when you have the most locations of any company (not counting fast food joints)... but the truth of the matter is that each of their individual stores have cut staff all across the board, and through the years have cut tons of the benefits that employees used to earn. The Wal-Mart of 30 years ago, is a far cry from the Wal-Mart of today... Believe me, Sam Walton is rolling in his grave.

My point is that these companies have financially raped their workers, while companies like Spectrum have financially raped their customers by cornering the cable media market. So my point is that these CEO's and top pinnacles of these companies are saturated with the wealth, and have so much wealth that they couldn't piss it away if they tried. Not to mention all the questionable mergers, or that we allow companies to corner markets, or the simple fact that these rich bastards don't pay squat when it comes to taxes, and yet most Americans seem to look the other way from all this....

... but the moment a baseball player, who is out there keeping us entertained, signs a big deal netting him millions, everyone loses it.

Fans frown on the fact that these players are making $27-$33 million a year, meanwhile the average movie star is making that much per film, and some of these actors will put out 5-to-7 films out on a year. Take in the fact, that we are talking about today's Hollywood, which has milked the nostalgia machine by doing nothing but sequels and reboots, while most of them have been really good. Hollywood got lazy. I'm sorry, but I rather shell out the money for a baseball game, than pay for an overprice movie any day of the week, plus I'm happy whether my team wins or loses, because I still had fun at the game, while with the movies, you are most often going to end up seeing a flop.

The fact of the matter is that the players have earned it. The owners have had no problems trying to outbid one another for the prize that may put them over the top.

During the last 3 seasons, the New York Yankees have not been able to move beyond the American League Championship Series. The Yankees' biggest obstacle has been the Houston Astros, who have defeated the Yankees during the 2017 & 2019 ALCS -- taking both series to at least 6 games. The Yankees' 2019 roadblock happened to be Gerrit Cole, if it were not for Cole, the Yankees could have moved on to the World Series.

So what did the Yankees do?

They signed the lifelong Yankees fan Gerrit Cole, to a worthy long-term deal, which now gives them the likely edge against the Houston Astros. To be the best, New York has to beat the best (Houston being the American League's best), and they definitely have a good chance of doing so, that's why I am already calling it -- These two teams will meet in the 2020 American League Championship Series (Cole vs Verlander, could you imagine?!).

I go to the games to see the players, not the owners, and as a fan I want to see owners be aggressive and sign players. The last few years, the off-season activity was stagnate at best, and due to that baseball fans were not happy.

Now we finally have activity, and yet... baseball fans are still not happy.

We live in a world where people just want to blame something, and unfortunately the players take the brunt of the blame when it comes to baseball. I always say don't blame the product. I keep hearing the old school complaining that they plan to stop following baseball if this continues...

but what do you know?!

Those same so-called fans are here a year later (and they'll be here a year after that, and a year after that) complaining during the same time of year, about the same exact thing.

It's safe to say that the blame game runs rampant in baseball.

Remembering Buckner

I was just turning 10 years old, when the 1986 World Series was front and center. It was the first World Series that I truly ever watched, my parents let us watch each and every single one of those games -- plus much of the League Championship Series that preceded this classic World Series as well, which were as equally as exciting as the fall classic itself. The drama of that entire 1986 MLB postseason took me from a curious-about-baseball-novice to full-blown-baseball-lover for life...

and unfortunately for Bill Buckner, he played a pivotal role in that.

I remember feeling so bad for Bill, I remember that the very next school day, everyone talking about it (teachers and students), everyone replaying it by doing actual re-enactments on the playground.One of the kids played Buckner, while one of the others is an exuberant Gary Carter running across home plate.

I remember when my friends and I would open up packs of the 1987 Topps Baseball, the next spring, and when they pulled a Bill Buckner card, someone would say something on the lines of "Oh man, I got that loser" or "Oh, that poor bastard." Keep in mind, we were only kids, so we all know how much more worked up the adults and especially New Englanders were about that gaffe.

Of course, as history would play out, Buckner would be forever linked and haunted by the fielding mistake. Red Sox Nation and  the media would quickly turn their back on Buckner, and Buckner himself would even move his family away from Massachusetts to Idaho, to avoid scrutiny.

His career was not the same from that point as well, as he batted only .258 over his next 1,041 plate appearances, with only a .621 OPS and .289 on-base percentage.

With his recent passing, many interesting stat lines over his career were noted, here are a few...

• Only one player had more hits than Bill Buckner in the 1970's and 1980's combined, and that was Pete Rose. Buckner had 2,707 hits during that span.

• Bill Buckner NEVER struck out more than 2 times in a single-game throughout his entire career. In fact, in 1980, when he won his only batting title (N.L. Batting Title for the Cubs), he only struck out 18 times that whole season (615 plate appearances).

• Per 162 games, Buckner struck out on average - 29 times a year.

• Buckner was one of five players to play in the 1960's, 1970's, 1980's & 1990's.

• Buckner only made the All-Star Game once, which just goes to show how often he was overshadowed.

• Buckner was drafted in the 2nd round of the 1968 MLB Draft. The Dodgers also selected Davey Lopes, Ron Cey, Steve Garvey, Tom Paciorek, Doyle Alexander, Bobby Valentine, Geoff Zahn and Joe Ferguson in that draft.

Bill Buckner was loved by many of his teammates, and many say you won't find a nicer guy in the baseball world. He was a solid player, but he was an even better person.

I know that he will always be unfortunately known for that play, but I will say this, if it wasn't for Bill Buckner and his Game 6 blunder, I may not have fallen in love with the game in the same way, like I did that autumn.

So with that, I want to say thank you Bill, for helping me fall in love with baseball.

You will be missed.

What is Too Much?

People constantly look at everything as too much. 

Bryce Harper for example, when you look at 13 years separately, it comes off as too long. If you look at the overall total of the price tag, it appears to be too much... but when you look at the second-half of that contract, by then 2nd-tier stars will be making $25 million a year. That deal actually was great for both. People penalize players for jumping teams all the time, but then the same people penalize players for wanting to stay in one place, which was his #1 objective in the contract negotiations. I do wonder about his durability, but if they get even 10 years of that 13 from him, that would be great. It has already energized the city, it appears to be a marriage made in heaven (Harper-Philly) while it will only attract more starts to Philly, who now has the money to start acting like the big market team that it is.

As recent as the holidays, I would never have declared myself a fan of Harper... but since the contract, I have been in his corner for many reasons.

I get sick of the old-school baseball fans knocking a contract, just because they don't understand something simple like inflation. Yes, I do understand that baseball players make more money than pretty much any average human does on any given year, but that has always been the case dating back to even Ty Cobb. I know that we will have a billion-dollar baseball contract inside these next 10 years, that's a given!

So I can't even tell you how elated I was to watch this morning's highlights of Bryce's epic return to D.C. -- facing off against his ex-teammates. I was so glad to watch go 3-for-5 with HR, 2B & 3 RBI in that game...

The HR blast, the bat flip, which I don't have any problems with after those pathetic, thankless, DC fans booed in the manner that they did... Do they forget that he was a major (if not THE major) reason that they were winners in the first place? Boo your owner, who was afraid to commit to Harper. Harper wanted his new contract to keep him in one place for the remainder of his career, Washington had every opportunity to do this, much like Philadelphia, the L.A. Dodgers and whoever else did. He could have grabbed the $45 million-a-year contract the Dodgers offered, but he didn't.

This is the same pathetic fan base that should have embraced winning when they had the chance, I do think they will be winners with new stars on the rise in Juan Soto and Victor Robles...
But keep in mind that this is a fan base that knows nothing but losing for Washington Baseball history, as well as nothing but losing for its badly-offensively named football franchise and its silly-nicknamed basketball franchise. They are losers, and the fan base only echoed these notions by their actions.

Plus the Nats voicing on twitter, only opened up a nice response by Phillies above.

The Angels made sure that Mike Trout didn't go anywhere (go to Philly or the Yankees), by extending his contract. So there won't be no Andrew McCutchen-Trout-Harper 2020 Phillies outfield as some was projecting, due to Trout being a lifelong Phillies fan prior to becoming a big leaguer. He's the biggest star in the game, while there is only a small handful of players all-time that have had maybe a greater start to their career. Unlike Angels' previous contract disasters this one should be a win-win.

The Atlanta Braves won big time by extending Ronald Acuna, Jr. This deal was truly amazing for Acuna and the Braves, this was a no-brainer for both... while keeping a bona fide superstar for years to come right in one place. Plus the Braves' farm system echoes that of the early 90's... this team could be championship contender for years to come. The prospects that they STILL have coming up are so talented, it makes sense to tie down the future MVP.

Now the Braves landed a steal of a deal in extending Ozzie Albies on top of that, with many from the players union and many former big leaguers scratching their heads on why Albies settled for such a small amount (7 years, $35 million). Maybe Albies knows as much as I do that the Braves may be the next dynasty in the making. The team has its best farm system in 20-25 years, and will make a lot of noise, much like those 90's Braves with prospects such as Mike Soroka, Kyle Wright, Ian Anderson, Cristian Apache, and Austin Riley to go along with young studs Acuna, Albies, Dansby Swanson & veteran leaders such as Freddie Freeman, Brian McCann, Josh Donaldson & Julio Teheran.

Extensions might start becoming the new norm, while the crusty people will lose their heads when that first superstar gets a billion-dollar contract inside this next decade.

Your Heroes Would Have Done Exactly the Same

With this offseason, and well with many of the recent past offseasons for that matter, many of the crusty old school fans have been coming out in droves to constantly complain about today's salaries and the big amounts of money that the owners shell out. For me, it gets increasingly tiring to hear the griping and whining... because you know damn well you would have signed that contract without hesitating, and if you were an owner you would have tried to land that star player at all costs.

Today, one of the biggest free agent stars, Manny Machado (right) signed a huge 10-year deal worth $300 million. Some of these old school fans seem shocked by the number, even though for the past couple years these have always been the projected numbers. I personally believe Bryce Harper will sign for an even bigger contract in the neighborhood of $325-$340 million for 10 years, which will surely create even more belly groans.

Now do I agree with Machado's antics? No, but we have had many players throughout the past decades that were flawed as well, and created as many headaches as well.

I'm 42 years old, and as a fan, I get sick of the old school hating on today's game and today's players. I hate to break it to you, but your beloved Sandy Koufax and your flawless baseball god Mickey Mantle would have signed the same exact contracts without blinking. Don't you dare sit there and act like they wouldn't, you know damn well that they would. The Mick would use his Twitter account 'The Real Mick 7' and he would post something like "I'm very thrilled to start the next chapter of my career, thrilled to be in Boston." Could you imagine Reggie Jackson on twitter, he had no problem saying things like he was "the straw that stirred the drink" or "I'm bringing my star with me" in the old media outlets... imagine how polarizing he would come off in today's twitter outlets.. he would probably be the most hated player outside of Yankees baseball. So let's all not pretend that these guys would act any different in today's world.

I do think that MLB Baseball needs to make a free agency deadline of sorts, to end these long waits that is simply destroying the MLB off-season. The MLB used to have the edge over all the other major sports with their offseason activity. For some of us Baseball fans, the off-season used to be almost as exciting as the season itself.

When I was a kid, on Valentine's Day, my dad would get us boys, the latest MLB Preview magazines  such as The Sporting News and Street & Smith's, they would be sitting on the kitchen table at our spots, first thing in the morning. It was great to read them and see  who landed where and who was traded for who. I remember thinking "Wow, Andre Dawson is with the Cubs?!" -- You know, things like that, but with the last few off-seasons grinding at a snail pace, MLB Baseball finds themselves with no hot stove, or a stove for that matter.

This is what Max Scherzer had to say on the slow offseasons in a ESPN post on February 14th...

I do agree with the media knowing too much of who's talking to who, who is visiting who, I used to love the complete mystery of it all. It was just a few weeks ago when the San Diego Padres suddenly thrust their name into the Harper-Machado sweepstakes... If this was 1987, we would all find the news of today as a complete shock... San Diego?! Don't get me wrong, there was still a bit of that, but we did know they put their name into the hat, if this was 1987, we would never have known (outside of San Diego) that the Padres were attempting at signing one of these big guns.

I hope that the MLB finds a way to make the offseason what it once was, if they don't, it's just yet another thing to add to a huge list of things on why Baseball is losing to the NFL & NBA.

But back to my earlier point, can we stop blaming today's players for today's game? Can we quit bitching about launch angles & sabermetrics? These things are not going away, so you mind as well embrace it, even if it leaves a bitter taste in your mouth. The game of baseball is always evolving, and although it may go through ugly spurts, it usually comes out as beautiful thing.

You know yesterday's players such as Willie Mays, if he played today's games, he would study these very things if it was to make his game better. Yesterday's owners and General Managers would have studied all the information of today's game to make their teams better.

Simply put, your heroes would have done exactly the same.

The Longer We Wait

I'm starting to think the longer it takes Bryce Harper to sign with anyone, the better the chances are that the Washington Nationals resign Harper. I think most of baseball would love for him to sign with the Philadelphia Phillies, while we would not be surprised that the Los Angeles Dodgers swoop in and sign him as well.

Recent news has the San Diego Padres of all teams, suddenly getting in on the Bryce Harper-Manny Machado sweepstakes.... Machado especially. Early reports are that the San Diego Padres plan for a meeting with Machado. The Padres might be able to get this done, maybe they are sick of sitting at the kids table, and they want to graduate to the big boys table. The Padres landed Eric Hosmer last off-season, and are apparently one of the teams talking to the Miami Marlins in acquiring J.T. Realmuto, who many consider the best catcher in all of baseball.

The Padres have plenty of young talent coming up, they need to merge veteran ready-to-play stars with this youth movement for what they have been working on to ultimately pay off. Imagine if they had Machado, Realmuto & maybe even Corey Kluber eventually joining Hosmer -- then they would be in business, right? But would it cost them some of the big prospects such as Fernando Tatis Jr.? We'll have to see. The Padres are in a tricky spot, they could stay low and see if all these prospects pay off, but that may be another two to three years until their full potential is realized, and that's if these prospects fully materialize.

Now will Machado sign with San Diego? Overall, I can't see him doing it unless, the Padres land Kluber and Realmuto in the next few days. I do like the idea of Kluber heading that rotation in San Diego though.

Like I mentioned above, it would not surprise me now if the Nationals resign Harper, but I'm guessing if they do, there would be a player option for Harper to bail out of a new contract with Washington, if the Nationals still keep coming up short of a world championship.

This season's off-season moves for the most part have looked good for the Nationals, maybe this could be one last hurrah with the acquisitions of Patrick Corbin, Anibal Sanchez, Yan Gomes & Brian Dozier. Sanchez was a low-risk signing which can pay huge dividends if it pays off, but the idea of Sanchez to repeat last season's performance this late in his career, while putting up more innings is a lot to ask for. I hope it works out, I like Anibal from his Tigers days, and he will be rejoining Max Scherzer. Don't get me wrong, I think Dozier is on the decline, but his glove is definitely an upgrade over Daniel Murphy's glove, and with that rotation you want good fielders behind you.

I also want to take the moment and mention, with the slow off-season and this becoming the new norm, maybe MLB preview magazines such as Athlons, The Sporting News, Street & Smith's, should heavily consider pushing their publications for these issues back for release dates in mid-March now. No one wants to shell out $8 to $10 on a magazine that doesn't have Harper, Machado or any other big name guys on any big league rosters.

While us fans (particularly in the Midwest) are freezing, while trying to stay warm in our beds, really need the hot stove to heat up... Baseball fans really live for the off-season, and for at least the second consecutive year its a dud, and with the bigger contracts, we may unfortunately see more and more of this as it is becoming the new norm.

The Man with 100,000 Hits

I have been very blessed to share my passion through this blog, and am very thankful to all the readers out there. It started out as something small, but blossomed over time, this blog would not have thrived if it was not for all the love and support out there in the APBA Baseball and Baseball world.

This blog brought friends into my life, friends that I have not met in person and friends that I have got to meet by participating in APBA tournaments.

My main goal with the blog was to be an enjoyable outlet for me to share my passion for the game, it really didn't matter if I had just 5 readers, 50 readers or 50,000,000 readers, it was just all for fun. The blog made it possible for me to inspire others, while they have in return inspired me.

On July 28th, my blog had reached 100,000 hits-- This is simply amazing to me, I could not have imagined anything like this when I started out. The blog didn't really get rolling until late Spring 2013, and during the time since its creation, we have seen plenty of FTF APBA Tournaments launched across the country, APBA Facebook adding 2,500 people, while I must have rolled a few thousand games (at least). I have made numerous APBA friends since, while I unfortunately known a few that have passed on. It was such blogs from my friends, Thomas Nelshoppen (The APBA Blog) and Kenneth Heard (Love, Life & APBA Baseball), among others that have inspired me to create the Boys of Summer.

My wife has been a huge influence on my blog as well, she's a writer and blogger, while she has always supported my habit called APBA Baseball (Fellas, she actually finds the dice-rolling sound soothing!)

I knew that it was always special, but it wasn't until I got to the 2013 Chicagoland (Fall) Tournament when 7 of the 24 players or so there, came up to me and mentioned "I love your blog" -- that to me made me hungry to deliver all things APBA Baseball & Baseball related through this blog. It simply is an amazing outlet to share my love for the sport & game.

Thanks to all for making it all possible,
Shawn Baier

(aka Shawn Summers via Facebook)

From Quick Game to Long Game

Marwin Gonzalez has been on-base machine against the White Sox.

So for everyone that has ever played the lovely game of APBA Baseball, and for those that have been playing it for a very long time, all know the 'joys' of quick games suddenly transforming into longer or long games.

When playing a massive season project, such as I am with the 2018 MLB Projections Season, we (the rollers) are usually rooting for a quick one, and there is nothing more frustrating than pitchers duels suddenly turning into "we never want to leave the park"baseball.

Case in point, it's April 21st on my MLB Schedule between the Houston Astros and Chicago White Sox, the series is in Chicago. The Astros won Game 1 (the previous night) easily behind great pitching by (who else?) Justin Verlander (8 IP, 5 H, 1 R & 9 K). Game 2 (April 21st) featured a lop-sided pitching match-up between Houston's Dallas Keuchel (Grade B-Y) and  Chicago's Reynaldo Lopez (Grade D-Z).

Reynaldo would actually hold his own, going 5 scoreless innings (3 hits allowed), which is great for him because he can be promoted to a Grade C... the bad news is that he got injured on the last out of that inning covering first base & will now miss the next 8 games.

The first 6 innings there was no scoring by either team, the next three innings would be teeter-top madness, and you all know exactly what I mean, if you played this game long enough you will see the wackiest things unfold.

The Houston Astros struck first with an RBI double by Yuri Gurriel during the top of the 7th, the White Sox answered back with a two-run homer by rookie Daniel Palka, who by the end of the game, had one heck of a rookie debut.

Down 2-1, top of the 8th -- The White Sox relievers Juan Minaya and Gregory Infante would team-up to give up 5 runs, the capper being a Grand Slam by Carlos Correa (off of Infante)... So Game over, Astros' bullpen closes the game out, right? RIGHT?!?!

Nope.

Brad Peacock came back in to pitch the 8th, after two quick outs in the 7th. He would walk two batters & leave men on 1st & 2nd for Welington Castillo. Castillo's card has a lot of pop, and I believe his HR rate for this Projections Season is even better than his 2017 rate at this point, so Houston calls on Will Harris (Grade B-XYZ, but bumped up to A-XYZ for 1st batter) to face him, hoping for a double-play... nope, three-run home run & the White Sox are now only down by a single run. The White Sox would follow that with back-to-back-to-back doubles by Matt Davidson, Daniel Palka & Tim Anderson (Palka and Anderson with ribbies) to take a 7-6 lead after 8 innings.

White Sox call on their closer Joakim Soria, but a two-base, one-out error by Daniel Palka in left opened up another scoring threat, with Jose Altuve capitalizing on the opportunity two batters later.

The 10th & 11th Innings would be silent, until the 12th.

Top of the 12th, Marwin Gonzalez and George Springer each hit two-run home runs (both off of Luis Avilan) to give the Astros a 11-7 lead...

Once again, the White Sox don't go away quietly, the Astros' closer in a non-save situation (4 runs up), would allow a lead-off HR to Avisail Garcia. Garcia's home run was followed by two quick outs in Jose Abreu (Fly-out) and Welington Castillo (pop-out). With one more out to get, Matt Davidson and Daniel Palka would hit back-to-back home runs, to make it once again, a one-run game. Houston calls on Hector Rondon & he closes the door on Tim Anderson & the White Sox.

Marwin Gonzalez has been an on-base machine against the White Sox, reaching base 10 times out of 11 plate appearances during the first two games of this series. He went 5-for-5, with a double & 3 RBI during the first game, while he drew 3 walks, 2 hits & 3 RBI (including his 12th Inning two-run HR).

White Sox' rookie Daniel Palka had an impressive MLB debut going 4-for-6, with 2 HR, 2B, 4 RBI & 3 runs.

The Houston Astros improve to 17-5, while the Chicago White Sox fall to 9-12.

VER-LAN-DER

Verlander's career path has him heading towards Cooperstown.

This morning (October 14th), I woke up, got ready for work and prepared for a big day of prep with my wife at the restaurant. We were slammed, we knocked it out, and what kept me going through the day was knowing the fact that we would get out in time for the Yankees-Astros game, and that I would be able to cheer my boy, Justin Verlander on.

I knew since that morning, he was going to rise to the occasion, and as I left work and was saying good-bye to my friends for the day, one of them asked me what I was going to do after work, and I said without hesitation, "I'm going to watch my boy dominate the Yankees".

Many of my readers, many of my friends from my APBA Facebook Group all know how much of a Justin Verlander fan that I am. He is my favorite active player in the game, and has been since he was a rookie. I never wavered, never doubted him, and have always believed in him. There has been many fans of the game that have for about 3-4 years now, that did give up on him, even ones that claimed they were die-hard Tigers fans, saying that Justin was on the decline... I laughed at all this.

His performance the other night was a gem that reminded me of performances such as Game 7 of the 1991 World Series between John Smoltz and Jack Morris. Never in my time of cheering him on have I ever witnessed such a performance by Justin (of course, I happened to miss the two no-hitters). His performance moved me so much that I found myself tearing up between the bottom of the 8th & top of the 9th. I knew what he was capable of, while many gave up on him long ago, I was still blown away regardless.

Not to do a whole history lesson here, but as you all may know, J.V. suffered a serious injury that effected his physical ability, which is reflected in 2014 & 2015's statistics. His injury required surgery to his major core area (abdominal region), which also effected his right shoulder a bit as well, his velocity was down. Injuries happen in this game, and it's the great ones that get back up & learn new ways & lessons to get back to the very top.

He should have won the A.L. Cy Young Award last season, and barely lost the award to Tampa Bay's David Price in 2012; He could easily have 3 Cys by now. Personally, if I had a vote in this year's Cy Young, I would make him my 1st vote, I know it sounds crazy, and yes I am saying this in a half-serious way, but in the last couple months, he has been the best pitcher in baseball... not one of the best, or among the best, he has been the best pitcher... To say he wasn't, would be like admitting you have been living in a cave or something.

It's absurd what he has accomplished not only in the last couple months, but his entire career. Here is a quick look at his career from a glance...

• Drafted 1st Round (2nd Overall) in the 2004 June Amateur Draft, out of Old Dominion University.
• 2006 American League Rookie-of-the-Year Award winner.
• 2006 & 2012 World Series appearances.
• 2011 A.L. MVP & Cy Young Award winner, becoming the 1st starting pitcher to get both awards in the same season since Roger Clemens (1986).
• 2011 Triple Crown (for pitchers) - leading the league in wins (24), ERA (2.40) & strikeouts (250).
• 2,373 Career strikeouts as a Tiger, is 2nd to Mickey Lolich (2,679); More than Hall-of-Famer Hal Newhouser's 1,770 K's.
• Career record of 188-114, with a 3.46 ERA & 2,416 strikeouts.
• Career WAR of 56.6
• 2017 Season WAR (6.4) - best since 2012. 

Now some more in-depth statistics...

• His 2009-2012 stretch was simply brilliant: 78-31 (.716 winning pct), with 977 K's, 1.076 WHIP & a combined 26.1 WAR; Those 4 seasons average out to a 20-8 record, 2.95 ERA, 244 K, along with a 145 ERA+ to go along with a average WAR of 6.5 WAR per season -- To put his 2017 performance into perspective, he had a season WAR of 6.4, meaning he is pitching as good as he did during his 2009-2012 stretch, which he has accomplished in his white-hot second half.

• His Houston Astros numbers: Perfect 5-0 in 5 regular season starts, featuring a 1.06 ERA, 0.647 WHIP & 43 strikeouts in 34 innings, while holding opponents to a .149 batting average and .192 on-base percentage.
• Career 6-0 record in League Division Series [LDS] play.
• Career Post-Season record (entering 2017 Game 2 ALCS): 9-5, 3.36 ERA, 1.103 WHIP with 115 strikeouts in 107 innings (18 games / 17 game started).
• Most Postseason games with 10+ strikeouts in MLB history with 7 total; Randy Johnson & Bob Gibson had 5. 
• His 128 strikeouts in the postseason is tops among active pitchers.

The Houston Astros got him on the very last minute of the final-final trade deadline on August 30th, and Verlander & Houston have not looked back. The only regret would be Houston thinking they could have got him even earlier.

Verlander continues to pad his excellent postseason numbers as they should help solidify his resume for Cooperstown. With him now playing for a winner again, he will achieve 200 wins next season (which he would have with Detroit even) & now will be competing for the 250 mark. The last few years with the Tigers, it's safe to sat that he has probably lost about 10-12 potential wins, so he would probably already have 200+ wins at this moment even.

In today's game, with bullpens eating up starting pitchers' opportunities for wins, 250 wins will be the new '300' marker. It's been like this for some time, and at age 30, both CC Sabathia and Justin Verlander had the best chances for 300 wins among active players, which is now looking impossible.

Although I am talking about wins, let it be known, that I believe wins is the most overrated pitching statistic in all of baseball. Wins really comes down to luck, being in the right place at the right time to accumulate the wins, having a team that keeps the lead after a starting pitcher is taken out of the game, etc etc....

There are more telling pitching stats that paint a picture of Verlander, being a Hall-of-Fame pitcher than wins will ever tell. His career strikeouts sit at 2,416 K, and at his current rate, he will pass the 3,000 mark (which is another Hall bench-mark number). His lifetime WAR (56.6) is higher than Mordecai Brown (56.4) and Waite Hoyt (51.8) both Hall of Fame pitchers -- while his career WAR is higher than Joe Medwick (55.6), Enos Slaughter (55.1), Billy Herman (54.7) & Sam Rice (52.9) who are Hall of Fame players. 

Comparing Hoyt to Verlander:

• Waite Hoyt (51.8 WAR): 237-182 (.591 winning pct), 3.59 ERA, 1.340 WHIP & 1,206 strikeouts (112 ERA+)
• Justin Verlander (56.6 WAR): 188-114 (.623 winning pct), 3.46 ERA, 1.184 WHIP & 1.184 WHIP & 2,416 strikeouts (124 ERA+).

Verlander clearly has double the strikeouts, much-better WHIP, with similar ERA & winning percentages, while Hoyt accomplished most of his winning percentage (157-98, .616 pct) with having the privilege that comes with wearing pinstripes; Hoyt accomplished his better ERA with the Pittsburgh Pirates (3.06) actually. 

The Hall of Fame should be about players reflecting their eras, and Justin Verlander, along with Clayton Kershaw are among the best of their era, while at the same time we can measure up players to those already enshrined (such as Hoyt). When you keep bouncing around the numbers, Verlander is indeed a Hall of Fame pitcher. Things that will solidify his case will be 230-250 career wins, 3,000 K's (which should be a shoe-in), and lowering his career ERA.