20.) The Few Milestones
19.) The New Single Trade Deadline
The most outrageous change MLB pushed through randomly was probably going to the 3-batter minimum rule for pitchers which is slated to start in 2020, but it is interesting for them to suddenly move to a single trade deadline this year. Now it makes perfect sense. I never could understand what the waiver process actually represented, but all I know is the Astros got Justin Verlander in the August trade deadline - in what was maybe the best August trade ever. That is gone. The earlier deadline may actualyl stunt the trade action, as more teams may think they're in it a month earlier. It will be interesting what impact this actually has on trade activity.
18.) Vlad Guerrero Jr Making me feel Old
I remember Vlad Guerrero. I'm not mentally ready for another one. I realize this is not a nromal age gap between generations, that Vlad Sr. was fairly young when Vlad Jr. was born, but I remember Vlad Sr. vividly. He was a large factor in a running diary I wrote about teh Angels/Yankees ALCS in 2009 in this blog's infancy. I distinctly remember his dominant 2004 season. I remember him way too much to know be watching ridiculous highlights of his ridiculous son that is set to dominate the world with his bat. Him hitting a one-handed double in spring training was the most watched mlb .gif since Jose Bautista's bat-flip (may be an exaggeration). Anyway, stop making me feel old.
17.) Scherzer
The world's moved on to finally accepting that Scherzer is the best pitcher in baseball in terms of the multi-year approach (I mean, for jsut last year, it is still DeGrom). And despite not three-peating his Cy Young wins, he had maybe his best season - 300 strikeouts, a b-war of 9.5. It will be so interesting to see if we see any slippage from Scherzer in his age-34 season. At some point he has to start slipping. At some point his incredible arm has to give way. Hopefully not this year - being so used to his dominance. He slowly passed Kershaw, and while peak Kershaw was better, you can easily argue peak Scherzer is more dominant (though let's not forget Kershaw too had a 300-k season).
16.) Damn Long Summer Nights
I have way too many of these that are basically a version of 'man, isn't baseball amazing' but the endless nature of it's season will always get to me. The length may seem like its biggest weakness, but to me it is baseball's biggest strength. The issue with basketball is the season is too long. Baseball took that length and doubled it, so overwhelming is the regular season it is the one sport that people care more about regular season success when debating who the best player is. There are other factors, but the length, the monotonous, ridiculous length, is the biggest part of that.
15.) Harper in Philadelphia?
It is easy to argue that Manny Machado is better than Bryce Harper, adn the Padres got a better deal than did the Phillies, but even if you accept that, you have to still admit that Harper in Philadelphia is a much more ineteresting story. Bryce Harper can be a beast in that ballpark with the same powerful swing that Ryan Howard worked so well - but with better bat control. He can also quickly become a hated figure in the area. That team can be really good, and if Harper can approach even his 2017 form (let alone if that 2015 Harper tyrannasaur ever comes back) they are the clear favorite in teh division, even with the strength of the Nationals. Philadelphia loves the Phillies - I learned that first-hand being in the Philly region from April through July of last year. They'll love Harper, or quickly love to hate him.
14.) The Dodgers trying to Hold Onto Dominance
People got mad this offseason when the Dodgers did nothing. They let Machado go (fairly expected). They did that weird Puig trade that seemingly got them the ability to clear salary to sign AJ Pollock, a nice, if oft-injured player. The biggest addition is just getting Corey Seager back healthy (remember him, the 8 WAR player in 2017?), but with Kershaw already feeling arm issues in the spring. I think the Dodgers honestly have fooled people into thinking they are better than they are. This is still a team that needed to play Game 163 to win the divisiion last year. Yes, they went to the World Series, but were overmatched there and needed seven games in the NLCS. I truly think this is the worst iteration of the Dodgers since probably 2015 - of course, that year they still won the division. That's almost guaranteed. What happens when they get there? No idea.
13.) The Twins and White Sox fight to be the surprise team
Last year, the AL seemed fairly boring coming in, and then the Athletics appeared and won 97 games. This year, teh Astros, Indians, Red Sox and Yankees seem like obvious locks for the playoffs - again (if they do all make it, it will be that quartet's third straight year), but who will be that fifth team. The A's are the 'favorite' I guess. The Angels still have Trout and a rebuilt lineup around him. But I think if any team were to surprise, it might be one of these two. The Twins wouldn't be a huge surprise given they were in teh wild card game two years ago, but I like what they did this offseason, getting Odirizzi and Pinieda - even if both are true wild cards. For the White Sox, we've all been waiting for their version of the 2014 Royals or 2015 Astros, the perennial dormant team with a great famr. It could be this year - more likely it is next, but it is coming, and I can't wait.
12.) T-Mobile's MLB TV Promotion
At this point, I can't remember if this is the third or the fourth year T-Mobile has ran this great promotion, but once again, T-Mobile is allowing their customers to get free MLB.tv for the year. It might be the single greatest promotion in cell phone plan history - like really, how does this happen again. I remember when Madden gave out a year of DirecTV Sunday Ticket for free in 2012 (might have been 2013). That was a miracle. T-Mobile doing this three straight years is just insane.
11.) The Royal's Speed
The Royals stink. They will very likely stink this year. I pulled up their depth chart and am so damn confused who 'Brad Keller' (#2 SP) and 'Jakob Junis' (#3 SP) is. I have no idea who Ryan O'Hearn is, and barely know who Adalberto Mondesi (starting SS) is. But what I do know is they will steal all the bases. The Royals won in 2014-15 because they eschewed the high-OBP trend to get guys who could put the ball in play, and build a dominant bullpen before that was in vogue (excepting the Giants, who beat them in 2014, were doing this for years). Now, they are turning back the clock to some old 1980's style of heavy hit-and-run and I can't wait to see it not work. If you're going to lose 90+ games, you may as well do it in style.
19.) The New Single Trade Deadline
The most outrageous change MLB pushed through randomly was probably going to the 3-batter minimum rule for pitchers which is slated to start in 2020, but it is interesting for them to suddenly move to a single trade deadline this year. Now it makes perfect sense. I never could understand what the waiver process actually represented, but all I know is the Astros got Justin Verlander in the August trade deadline - in what was maybe the best August trade ever. That is gone. The earlier deadline may actualyl stunt the trade action, as more teams may think they're in it a month earlier. It will be interesting what impact this actually has on trade activity.
18.) Vlad Guerrero Jr Making me feel Old
I remember Vlad Guerrero. I'm not mentally ready for another one. I realize this is not a nromal age gap between generations, that Vlad Sr. was fairly young when Vlad Jr. was born, but I remember Vlad Sr. vividly. He was a large factor in a running diary I wrote about teh Angels/Yankees ALCS in 2009 in this blog's infancy. I distinctly remember his dominant 2004 season. I remember him way too much to know be watching ridiculous highlights of his ridiculous son that is set to dominate the world with his bat. Him hitting a one-handed double in spring training was the most watched mlb .gif since Jose Bautista's bat-flip (may be an exaggeration). Anyway, stop making me feel old.
17.) Scherzer
The world's moved on to finally accepting that Scherzer is the best pitcher in baseball in terms of the multi-year approach (I mean, for jsut last year, it is still DeGrom). And despite not three-peating his Cy Young wins, he had maybe his best season - 300 strikeouts, a b-war of 9.5. It will be so interesting to see if we see any slippage from Scherzer in his age-34 season. At some point he has to start slipping. At some point his incredible arm has to give way. Hopefully not this year - being so used to his dominance. He slowly passed Kershaw, and while peak Kershaw was better, you can easily argue peak Scherzer is more dominant (though let's not forget Kershaw too had a 300-k season).
16.) Damn Long Summer Nights
I have way too many of these that are basically a version of 'man, isn't baseball amazing' but the endless nature of it's season will always get to me. The length may seem like its biggest weakness, but to me it is baseball's biggest strength. The issue with basketball is the season is too long. Baseball took that length and doubled it, so overwhelming is the regular season it is the one sport that people care more about regular season success when debating who the best player is. There are other factors, but the length, the monotonous, ridiculous length, is the biggest part of that.
15.) Harper in Philadelphia?
It is easy to argue that Manny Machado is better than Bryce Harper, adn the Padres got a better deal than did the Phillies, but even if you accept that, you have to still admit that Harper in Philadelphia is a much more ineteresting story. Bryce Harper can be a beast in that ballpark with the same powerful swing that Ryan Howard worked so well - but with better bat control. He can also quickly become a hated figure in the area. That team can be really good, and if Harper can approach even his 2017 form (let alone if that 2015 Harper tyrannasaur ever comes back) they are the clear favorite in teh division, even with the strength of the Nationals. Philadelphia loves the Phillies - I learned that first-hand being in the Philly region from April through July of last year. They'll love Harper, or quickly love to hate him.
14.) The Dodgers trying to Hold Onto Dominance
People got mad this offseason when the Dodgers did nothing. They let Machado go (fairly expected). They did that weird Puig trade that seemingly got them the ability to clear salary to sign AJ Pollock, a nice, if oft-injured player. The biggest addition is just getting Corey Seager back healthy (remember him, the 8 WAR player in 2017?), but with Kershaw already feeling arm issues in the spring. I think the Dodgers honestly have fooled people into thinking they are better than they are. This is still a team that needed to play Game 163 to win the divisiion last year. Yes, they went to the World Series, but were overmatched there and needed seven games in the NLCS. I truly think this is the worst iteration of the Dodgers since probably 2015 - of course, that year they still won the division. That's almost guaranteed. What happens when they get there? No idea.
13.) The Twins and White Sox fight to be the surprise team
Last year, the AL seemed fairly boring coming in, and then the Athletics appeared and won 97 games. This year, teh Astros, Indians, Red Sox and Yankees seem like obvious locks for the playoffs - again (if they do all make it, it will be that quartet's third straight year), but who will be that fifth team. The A's are the 'favorite' I guess. The Angels still have Trout and a rebuilt lineup around him. But I think if any team were to surprise, it might be one of these two. The Twins wouldn't be a huge surprise given they were in teh wild card game two years ago, but I like what they did this offseason, getting Odirizzi and Pinieda - even if both are true wild cards. For the White Sox, we've all been waiting for their version of the 2014 Royals or 2015 Astros, the perennial dormant team with a great famr. It could be this year - more likely it is next, but it is coming, and I can't wait.
12.) T-Mobile's MLB TV Promotion
At this point, I can't remember if this is the third or the fourth year T-Mobile has ran this great promotion, but once again, T-Mobile is allowing their customers to get free MLB.tv for the year. It might be the single greatest promotion in cell phone plan history - like really, how does this happen again. I remember when Madden gave out a year of DirecTV Sunday Ticket for free in 2012 (might have been 2013). That was a miracle. T-Mobile doing this three straight years is just insane.
11.) The Royal's Speed
The Royals stink. They will very likely stink this year. I pulled up their depth chart and am so damn confused who 'Brad Keller' (#2 SP) and 'Jakob Junis' (#3 SP) is. I have no idea who Ryan O'Hearn is, and barely know who Adalberto Mondesi (starting SS) is. But what I do know is they will steal all the bases. The Royals won in 2014-15 because they eschewed the high-OBP trend to get guys who could put the ball in play, and build a dominant bullpen before that was in vogue (excepting the Giants, who beat them in 2014, were doing this for years). Now, they are turning back the clock to some old 1980's style of heavy hit-and-run and I can't wait to see it not work. If you're going to lose 90+ games, you may as well do it in style.
