[Other Sport] World Baseball Classic & Major League Baseball 2023

[Fignon's Ponytail]

Well that was the kiss of death

 

[Fignon's Ponytail]

Not had much to cheer about so far with the Padres this season, but getting the series win against Tampa feels like we are heading in the right direction at last.

Got our tickets through over the weekend for the Cardinals v Cubs - and my boys got me a great "London Series" St Louis cap and t-shirt for Fathers Day yesterday, to wear on Sunday, followed by a trip to the Depot in Lewes to watch Field of Dreams with them. Great movie.

Cant wait to get to the game now

 

[Fignon's Ponytail]

How the Red Sox helped turn 'Sweet Caroline' into an English soccer anthem

Forty thousand exuberant fans had made their way to their seats before England was set to play Germany at legendary Wembley Stadium during the 2021 Euros. DJ Tony Perry knew exactly what song he wanted to play to get the crowd going: Neil Diamond's "Sweet Caroline." It was a triumphant

www.mlb.com

And there was me thinking Albion were ahead of the curve by using that song during the 2016 season when we were promoted....
DJ Tony Perry? Never heard of him.

 

[Barry Izbak]

Tomorrow I get to go see The St Louis Cardinals play in England. With my wife and my daughter.
Obviously we've only ever seen them play in North America before (NY, Denver, Phoenix, Toronto and St Louis)

Cannot wait. Pre match at the Howling Hops in Hackney Wick (which I found when we went to West Ham last season) and meeting up with loads of Cardinals fans

Any Cubbies from here going to be going this weekend?

 

[Fignon's Ponytail]

Tomorrow I get to go see The St Louis Cardinals play in England. With my wife and my daughter.
Obviously we've only ever seen them play in North America before (NY, Denver, Phoenix, Toronto and St Louis)

Cannot wait. Pre match at the Howling Hops in Hackney Wick (which I found when we went to West Ham last season) and meeting up with loads of Cardinals fans

Any Cubbies from here going to be going this weekend?

We had a fantastic time over the weekend! Spent Saturday up at Trafalgar Square & mooching about LDN, then back up there for the game on Sunday, cheering on St Louis.

Absolutely loved it - and we got in early enough for BP. Got autographs from Jordan Montgomery, Adam Wainwright, and James Nailes, plus got to watch the Cards bullpen warm up with Willson Contreras. Those boys can really sling a ball! Caught a ball thrown out by them too, which was a great little souvenir of the day.

Plenty of memories to take away - and one I will treasure was meeting & chatting to an 80yr old Air Force veteran who was based at Mildenhall during his service, & stayed on here after marrying an English girl. He was telling me all about the days of Stan Musial etc, & how the last time he saw his beloved Cardinals play live was back home when he was just 12! Great stuff

 

[Fignon's Ponytail]

 

[Simster]

The current standings make a mockery of the way American sports are run. The team top of the AL Central have a 40-40 record. That's worse than the team bottom of the AL East!

 

[Fignon's Ponytail]

The current standings make a mockery of the way American sports are run. The team top of the AL Central have a 40-40 record. That's worse than the team bottom of the AL East!

Always been, and always will be I reckon!
Hockey is done more fairly I think though isnt it?...basically the top 8(?) in each Conference get through to the playoffs, regardless of which division theyre in. Somebody feel free to correct me if thats wrong!

 

[JJ McClure]

Watched some of game 2 and really enjoyed it. Turned it on at 4-0 Cubs and looking like a repeat of the blow out from the day before but the Cardinals came storming back. Looked like a good and engaged crowd too.

 

[Fignon's Ponytail]

Nice little write up of the London Series from CNN...

https://edition.cnn.com/2023/06/26/sport/mlb-london-series-baseball-uk-spt-intl/index.html

 

[Easy 10]

The current standings make a mockery of the way American sports are run. The team top of the AL Central have a 40-40 record. That's worse than the team bottom of the AL East!

Hey
You
Simster
Leave them Twins alone!

 

[Fignon's Ponytail]

Watched some of game 2 and really enjoyed it. Turned it on at 4-0 Cubs and looking like a repeat of the blow out from the day before but the Cardinals came storming back. Looked like a good and engaged crowd too.

It was a fantastic crowd & atmosphere on Sunday when we went....55.5k I think? Our eldest son was working as a volunteer and he said about 40% of tickets were sold to fans from the US, so it had a very authentic feel to the day with lots of fans travelling over from St Louis & Chicago, on family vacations & group Tours - unlike the NFL London games which always seem to have a very "British" atmosphere. A lot of the food was traditional ballpark fare available from Busch Stadium & Wrigley Field as well - something I dont think the NFL have cottoned onto yet over here?

 

[Badger]

The current standings make a mockery of the way American sports are run. The team top of the AL Central have a 40-40 record. That's worse than the team bottom of the AL East!

This has always been ridiculous but I've just realised the Wild Card format has changed this season. Only the top two divisional winners get a bye to the Division Series. The third divisional winner goes into a 4 team Wild Card round with the three best other teams, to decide the other 2 spots. A best-of-three series with the highest ranked team from each Wild Card series getting home advantage for all games.

It is still somewhat of a mockery, given the Twins have a worse record than 6 of the other teams. A step in the right direction though.

Also, it's made me realise the Jays are only 0.5 behind the Wild Card spots, despite shitting the bed for the past month. I might start taking an interest again.

 

[AZ Gull]

...

Also, it's made me realise the Jays are only 0.5 behind the Wild Card spots, despite shitting the bed for the past month. I might start taking an interest again.

If your boys could actually pull their finger out today and tomorrow, that would be appreciated!

 

[AZ Gull]

Also, it's made me realise the Jays are only 0.5 behind the Wild Card spots, despite shitting the bed for the past month. I might start taking an interest again.

As it happened, Tom McGill was at the Rogers Centre tonight (he's with the Canadian National Men's team playing in the CONCACAF Gold Cup).

Also a piece of baseball history with the Yankees' Domingo German throwing the 24th perfect game in history.

 

[Terry Butcher Tribute Act]

Those Perfect Gane scenes look wild.

This weekend was top class btw, London Stadium more suited for baseball than football!

 

[AZ Gull]

Those Perfect Gane scenes look wild.

This weekend was top class btw, London Stadium more suited for baseball than football!

Must be incredible to be present for such an occasion.

I was at Chase Field in April 2018 when the D'backs' Patrick Corbin had a no-hitter going into the eighth. Unfortunately, with two outs, Brandon Belt hit a check-swing dribbler to third and with AZ playing the shift they had no chance of getting the out. Seeing a one-hit shutout was still pretty special though.

 

[Fignon's Ponytail]

With the season racing along at breakneck speed, Im still none the wiser as to who will be lifting the World Series trophy at the end of the year.
Just as you think one team is looking really good they'll have a dodgy spell, while another "lesser" team can easily go on a decent run.

Who do you see taking it all this year? Seems very open to me still tbh.

 

[Fignon's Ponytail]

Spring Training is all but done....time for the show to begin!

https://www.mlb.com/news/mlb-world-series-division-winner-predictions-2023

And looking at this from back in March......it doesn't look as if anyone was really close to the mark so far, including the "experts"!

 

[NorthStandSeagull]

With the season racing along at breakneck speed, Im still none the wiser as to who will be lifting the World Series trophy at the end of the year.
Just as you think one team is looking really good they'll have a dodgy spell, while another "lesser" team can easily go on a decent run.

Who do you see taking it all this year? Seems very open to me still tbh.

Hopefully it’s my Braves year this year. Certainly on the right track