My Angels are off to a nice start, winning 6 in a row. I was looking at tickets for their series in Oakland. Seats behind home plate are $78.
Kelsie Whitmore has become the first woman to sign to a Major League affiliated team. Kelsie Whitmore made history Sunday afternoon when she became the first woman to be in the starting lineup for an Atlantic League game, playing left field and batting ninth for the Staten Island FerryHawks against the Gastonia Honey Hunters in Gastonia, N.C. The 23-year-old two-way player signed with the FerryHawks on April 8, making her one of the first women to sign a contract with a professional league affiliated with Major League Baseball. Hopefully Kelsie is the first of many and make it up to the Majors.
One Mets hitter got plunked again today. A Phillies hitter just got plunked in the 9th inning, but the Mets pitcher didn't get ejected despite earlier warnings to both teams.
Why the hell are the Mets playing the Phillies so much anyway? I mean, they played in Philly two weeks ago. This weekend they played each other in NY. Now in a week or two they go back to Phillly and do it AGAIN! What's up with that?
Because the schedules are no longer done by hand, but effectively by a random number generator. I've explained this before: There was, for more than two decades, a husband-and-wife duo who did the entire 162-game schedule manually. Then about 15 years ago, MLB summarily fired them in favor of an automated solution (translation: They use the Randomize function in Excel a few times until everything shakes out to a minimum viable product).
I can't wait for the schedule to be changed again. It's not like each league is a mystery to each other in the World Series anymore. It's not 1908. Ohtani should be in every stadium at least every other year and I'm tired of these Braves series where they play 2 and 2 against the Red Sox and Yankees. Play a whole series.
There's been a lot of cases where a team (Cubs, say) goes out west, then back home, then out west again right after that. This wouldn't have happened under the old system. They would have done a proper west coast swing, then come home.
‘Field of Dreams’ Series From Universal TV and Peacock Steps to the Plate in Iowa Thoughts? Can the concept support a full season? They're doing it in Iowa, so it has that going for it.
Yeah, I'm still torn on this idea. This is what I wrote on Facebook when this news first broke last August: I'm rather torn on this idea. On the one hand, Field of Dreams remains my favorite baseball film, one that has aged (mostly) well in the years since, as of last week leading into the Iowa game. While I'm not as...stubborn...as I use to be about "cinematic sacrilege," I feel rather protective of the film's legacy. On the other hand, Michael Schur has more than proven his ability to be funny and profound at the same time. The film wasn't a comedy but it certainly had plenty of lighthearted moments and Schur excels at those. An interesting thought occurs: The film was thick with reverence for baseball as a lasting cultural keystone for many decades, an idea that has waned in the years since the film's release. I'd be curious to see how the show could explore how that view has changed baseball in relation to the story.
I've mentioned in the past that I currently live in Dubuque, Iowa, and the Field of Dreams is about 20 miles away in Dyersville. You may recall that the Cubs and Reds are playing there this year. Current ticket prices:
"'Of course, we won't mind if you look around,' you'll say. 'It's only $20 $3,000 per person.' They'll pass over the money without even thinking about it: for it is money they have and peace they lack."