Yu Love to See It: MLB 2021

[ursus arctos]

You know how I feel about the Mets. ursus minor supports Seattle, who disappoint him on the regular.

The Rays are a very well run club with an awful stadium in a poor location. Their iconography has improved dramatically from their inception.

The Jays are a great deal of fun to watch, with exciting young players and the exoticism of playing in Dunedin.

The A's generally over-achieve and look great, though West Coast game times and the spectra of a move might be issues

I don't know enough about relative quality of broadcast crews, but that would matter to me, especially given how you consume games.

You might consider the White Sox, who have a lot going for the, beyond hipster cred. Very strong broadcast teams and a host of exciting Latinx players.

[San Bernardhinault]

Why not the Padres? Legendary underachievers. Possibly great (and definitely fun) team. Lovely ball park. Excellent place to visit. Apart from looking like your jumping on the bandwagon (but odds are we’ll still underachieve) what’s not to like?

The brown kit, the swinging friar. You can always get a ticket. That’s more upside. Great (if overpriced) beer at the ground. The military fetishism is horrible and even worse than anyone else, true.

[ursus arctos]

Ooof

https://twitter.com/jaysonst/status/1394793097981202433

[caja-dglh]

The Brewers work well for inner-league rivalry with more OTF-ers.

I get the sense I might end up being more of a White Sox fan than Cubs on a sense of ease and function and down-right weird cultish outsider style, though I do love Wrigley Field and will happily allow anyone else to pay for my tickets.

Truly - the White Sox fans are the closest I have encountered in likeness to Raiders fans for their very clear lineation of fandom.

[danielmak]

Greenlander You're listening to radio broadcasts. I assume it's fun to bounce around. If I wasn't watching so much football, I'd probably bounce around a bit more as well (well, in a year other than this one since most of my baseball viewing is spent hoping the Dodgers repeat). But at some point, I think choosing the radio crew you like best would be the move I would recommend. On that front, the White Sox landed Len Kasper who had been the Cubs TV guy. He's great. But man, the ownership and front office leaves a bit to be desired. Not that any owner is perfect, but Reinsdorf's shenanigans in the past (as I posted upthread) during the years when there were a lot of strikes and lockouts still irritates me personally. The other criteria I would use is the ability to listen. As we see with PT, staying up all hours of the night to catch west coast US games can work if you're a night owl but will be tough if you're not. The Cubs will give you the best shot at the most games because they play so many afternoon home games and are only 6 hours behind you.

The Dodgers are my top team, but I can also say that once the Dodgers shifted away from Vin, Rick Monday, and Ross Porter their radio commentary dropped. Charlie Steiner does not work for me at all. But I get why you wouldn't choose them. The Yankees have a really good radio team, although a lot of people don't dig Sterling's shtick with nicknames used during home runs. When I moved to NYC in the early 90s, I planned to mostly follow the Mets because I was more of an NL guy and I loved watching that mid-80s team, but the radio team of Sterling and Michael Kay (now on TV) really pulled me in during a time when the Yankees were horrible. Mets announcers are objectively very good, I think. And if you love some pain with your sports fandom then the Mets and Cubs might be your best bet. Although the Cubs do have another century of grace period with that 2016 win. It will probably take 20 years before Cubs fans start feeling what Mets fans seem to feel every year. Haha.

In terms of uniforms, I think it's really hard to top the As. Their uniforms are DOPE. Reds uniforms are probably second for me. Really clean style.

The three teams I dislike the most are the Marlins (too many buy big, sell off the next year moves; were threatened by MLB because they didn't use luxury tax dollars they received to improve their team), Diamondbacks (just boring to me for some reason and a team that seems to lack any kind of plan), and the Rangers (too many steroid-induced boppers over the years, too many new stadiums probably with tax payer money, George Bush, and Tom Hicks in the past).

[Levin]

I think I follow too many people who love baseball but are aware of owners failings to pick a club.

The Angels have two of the coolest/best players in the world but don't look like they want to win anything.

The old brewers logo is cool though.

Are the Devil Rays one of the teams constantly turning over players?

Is the whole La Russa thing as stupid as it sounds? I don't get how a team can effectively give up yet you're the bad guy if you carry on trying against them.

I know we've almost certainly done this before but US sport has a whole no running up the score thing that I don't think you see anywhere else.

[ursus arctos]

The Rays dropped the Devil in 2008. They lose players to wealthier clubs in free agency, but have not been guilty of the kind of "blow up the team" shenanigans associated with the Marlins.

The LaRussa thing is incredibly dumb unless the idea is to unite the squad in hatred and disdain for their manager.

The Brewers have serious beef with the Cubs since joining the National League, as Cubs fans invade their fpstadium every time the clubs play (tickets being cheaper and more available than they are at Wrigley).

Your view of the Angels is spot on. The caps are an atrocity. An Angels cap should look like this (the "halo" is in silver thread)

[Patrick Thistle]

[. As we see with PT, staying up all hours of the night to catch west coast US games can work if you're a night owl but will be tough if you're not.

Padres are live on BT Sport ESPN at 8pm tonight!!!

Come join the Friar Fam, Greenlander

[Flynnie]

The halo is a bit twee for me, but the Angels being in all-red kinda stinks. They really need to go back to navy and red. My guess as to why they haven't yet is nostalgia, they won their lone World Series *spits on the ground* in 2002 wearing all-red.

[Flynnie]

Also the best choice is the Giants. No, I don't care that you excluded them, you don't know what's good for you. I know what's good for you.

[Patrick Thistle]

Padres are live on BT Sport ESPN at 8pm tonight!!!

Come join the Friar Fam, Greenlander

Oops it's at 9pm tonight. 9pm!!

[Patrick Thistle]

Also the best choice is the Giants. No, I don't care that you excluded them, you don't know what's good for you. I know what's good for you.

Did I ever tell you that I was a just one run away from becoming a Giants fan?

[Flynnie]

Did I ever tell you that I was a just one run away from becoming a Giants fan?

Do tell

[Flynnie]

Anyway, you *should* be an Orioles or a Cardinals fan. I'll let you guess why.

Edit: actually Braves or Red Sox would work too.

[Hot Pepsi]

I'm a Reds fan but, TBH, I don't really like the color. It makes me anxious. Same with yellow.

[danielmak]

Although I prefer to avoid anything positive about the Giants, haha, they really do have top quality announcers. Jon Miller should be in the HOF if he isn't already. I am shocked that ESPN let him go when they did. Orioles were even more ridiculous to fire him. I don't know the main TV guy's name off the top of my head (Kuyper???) but he's excellent as well.

[Flynnie]

Duane Kuiper. Miller won the Ford Frick Award in 2010.

There is a serious chance the Giants could end up with three Ford Frick award winners. Miller is still going strong, Kuiper has to be a contender pretty soon (they gave it to Al Michaels this year, who was excellent at baseball but shows they’re scraping the barrel of not currently active broadcasters now), and Dave Flemming is a dead certainty to win it in the future at only 44.

[ursus arctos]

Former major leaguers Duane Kuiper and Mike Krukow.

Dave Fleming, the youngish guy, ain't bad either.

The Bay Area has been specially blessed for announcers since the clubs moved there, though the A's penury has at times forced them to let good ones go.

Jon Miller won the Frick Award from the Hall of Fame in 2010.

[ursus arctos]

Other Frick Award winners who have worked for the Giants: Russ Hodges, Lon Simmons and Michaels.

[Patrick Thistle]

Do tell

We were in San Diego on the tail end of our California road trip and we went to a baseball game. Padres v Giants. End of the season. Wild card place up for grabs. I decided I would follow whoever won. Padres won 3-2. Been my doom ever since.

[Patrick Thistle]

Anyway, you *should* be an Orioles or a Cardinals fan. I'll let you guess why.

Edit: actually Braves or Red Sox would work too.

Funny you should say that. Mrs Thistle is keen on the "bird teams" so that's 2 of the 3. She also likes the fish teams.

I've been to Fenway Park and loved it. Did the tour. Watched a great game.

[Flynnie]

Funny you should say that. Mrs Thistle is keen on the "bird teams" so that's 2 of the 3. She also likes the fish teams.

I've been to Fenway Park and loved it. Did the tour. Watched a great game.

Well, Wales’s greatest contribution to big league baseball was Jimmy Austin, a Swansea native who had a long career with the St Louis Browns, who are now the Orioles, so that may well be appropriate. The only other Welsh native to make a mark was Ted Lewis from Machynlleth, who played a couple years for the Boston Braves, then was an original member of the Red Sox, then quit baseball to become a professor at Columbia University and later became president of the University of Massachusetts. And he was an ordained minister. Quite the life!

[Hot Pepsi]

Well, Wales’s greatest contribution to big league baseball was Jimmy Austin, a Swansea native who had a long career with the St Louis Browns, who are now the Orioles, so that may well be appropriate. The only other Welsh native to make a mark was Ted Lewis from Machynlleth, who played a couple years for the Boston Braves, then was an original member of the Red Sox, then quit baseball to become a professor at Columbia University and later became president of the University of Massachusetts. And he was an ordained minister. Quite the life!

That is impressive.

Though sometimes I get the idea that, 100 years ago, almost any white man with a degree could become college professor. That's overstating it, perhaps.

[Patrick Thistle]

Cheers Flynnie I didn't know that.

[ursus arctos]

That is impressive.

Though sometimes I get the idea that, 100 years ago, almost any white man with a degree could become college professor. That's overstating it, perhaps.

Especially of "Elocution" (though he seems to have been a genuinely solid administrator).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_M._Lewis