So Baseball!

Every MLB team needs to immediately start going by their Spanish names only.

Cada equipo de la MLB debe comenzar a usar su nombre en español de inmediato.

Examples/Ejemplos:

Michael Conforto of the New York Mets is quietly having a very nice season.

The power is not overwhelming, just 4 HRs on the season, but a very respectable .928 OPS.

I hope the Mets’ COVID scare doesn’t turn out to be a full-blown thing. 🙏🏽

The Cardinals have an incredibly balanced lineup, righty/lefty-wise.

They can send out 3 lefties and 4 switch-hitters against the Cubs in Game 1 today. This is what I’ve been saying the Yankees need to do. (And they are starting to, with lefties Mike Ford, Tyler Wade and Mike Tauchman. Would I prefer righties DJ LeMahieu, Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Judge back from the IL? Yes).

Now let’s take a look at how this “balanced lineup” did yesterday:

Worked out pretty well for them. (Matt Wieters still batting .000 on the season, oof).

I was at both of these games (the first one, by chance), and watching these videos, I can still remember the sheer insanity that was inside Yankee Stadium.

Incidentally, both hit by lefties who are no longer with the team. Didi was amazing his entire time with the Yankees, Bird was a rookie with a ton of talent.

Whenever fans do come back to the games, I will definitely miss the roar of a sold-out Yankee Stadium at moments like these. I think that 2017 post-season run (where we lost in 7 games to the cheating Astros) created a whole new generation of fans.

I have Christian Javier, Tyler Glasnow and Kyle Freeland on my bench this week, because they are pitching in Colorado, Yankee Stadium and Houston respectively. I really need counting stats, and my ratios are already ruined, so maybe I should just start them all?

Look. I don’t know Kyle Schwarber. I don’t follow the Cubs (much). I leave that to Cubs fanatic Liz Steelman. But, I’ll tell you what I do know:

1. He was injured in 2016, and managed to come back and DH a bit in the World Series, in the AL parks. 2016 was the year that Pete Rose and A-Rod did pre- and post-game commentary for FOX and everyone decided they loved A-Rod for the first time ever. Pete Rose was also great, and he kept saying that Schwarber was the Cubs’ “glue guy”. I took this to mean he held the lineup together, like glue, or something. And the Cubs won the 2016 World Series with an injured Kyle Schwarber and all was right in the world.
2. Schwarber had meltdown on a third base umpire who called him out on a check swing strike three to end a game. It seemed like he was about to charge the umpire. I’ll post the video and you can judge for yourself.
3. Schwarber bats left-handed and has a 5.5 bWAR.
4. Schwarber is not having the greatest of years at the plate in 2020. Not terrible, but not great. As of today, August 17, he’s hitting .238 with 3 home runs.
5. Kyle Schwarber is on my fantasy team, and I wish him the best. I hope you are staying calm, enjoying the season, staying safe, and maybe start mashing a few more homers?

God bless Schwarbs.

❄️ pic.twitter.com/FU2aDsvmrA

— Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) August 17, 2020

Those of us who are a little too baseball like to consume baseball chat on a daily basis. For years, there were only a few choices. Yes, there’s Buster Olney’s daily podcast, the Athletic’s daily show, and other awesome flashcasts, but they take a while to hit your feed, so mostly your only option in the morning are the various MLB Network shows (High Heat, MLB Central, Intentional Talk, et al.).

I’m not saying MLB Network is unwatchable. Sometimes they’re the first to give you breaking news. I’m just saying, they’re the only game in town (TV-wise) and that’s not a good thing.

What I’m advocating is that you get your morning MLB fix from Jomboy, Jake and Trevor Plouffe‘s “Talkin’ Baseball” livestream (available on Periscope, YouTube, Patreon, and all the other places). It’s good stuff and it makes me laugh.

Get on this bandwagon!

[UPDATE] I realize that my headline says “Why Jomboy Media is Better,” but I didn’t really tell you why. Mostly because they’re real people, they’re like you and me (well, Trevor is a former pro), and very funny and disarming. They’re not slick or trying to be cool like some other shows.

Baseball on the West Coast is so weird. It starts early, and it ends early. Not that I’m complaining. The weather in California this week has been brutally hot. Some say the hottest ever.

I probably need to start looking at my lineups for this week, but it’s really hot, and I have paralegal work to do.

On the East Coast, I could put off all this fantasy baseball stuff until the afternoon.

Stuff out here starts way earlier.