BASE-BALL

[Henry]

Astros are cursed by themselves now

What about the Cleveland Indians?  Funny they never gets brought up as a curse. 

"Ha!  Ha!".  Maybe the curse will be gone from that team since Chief Wahoo is getting retired as a team symbol according to a recent article I read. 

Seattle.  Now there's a curse.  Get the record for most wins in the regular season and they still have yet to play for an AL pennant let alone in a World Series.  In the meantime, the original MLB Seattle franchise, the Pilots, moves to Milwaukie and that city gets a championship. 

Rick

The Brewers never won a world series. Though the Bucks won a NBA championship at that time.

And the Braves won a World Series there 14 years before (but lost another the following season). Having also won in Boston and Atlanta, they're still the only MLB team to have won World Series while being established in three different cities.

[Henry]

The postseason could see some major changes a few years from now, as MLB is considering expanding the playoff field and letting its top seeds pick who they want to face in the first round, like they do in college basketball's March Madness tournaments. Guess time will tell if it becomes a hit success or major bust.

[hotdogPi]

The postseason could see some major changes a few years from now, as MLB is considering expanding the playoff field and letting its top seeds pick who they want to face in the first round, like they do in college basketball's March Madness tournaments. Guess time will tell if it becomes a hit success or major bust.

The more teams that make the playoffs, the less the regular season matters.

[roadman]

The postseason could see some major changes a few years from now, as MLB is considering expanding the playoff field and letting its top seeds pick who they want to face in the first round, like they do in college basketball's March Madness tournaments. Guess time will tell if it becomes a hit success or major bust.

The "everyone gets a trophy" generation strikes again.

[Alps]

The postseason could see some major changes a few years from now, as MLB is considering expanding the playoff field and letting its top seeds pick who they want to face in the first round, like they do in college basketball's March Madness tournaments. Guess time will tell if it becomes a hit success or major bust.

The "everyone gets a trophy" generation strikes again.

Pretty much. I could see making the current play-in better but why do you need 4 wild card teams? (Hint: the answer begins with $. The more meaningful games played per season, the more profits.)

[1995hoo]

Which college basketball tournament allows higher-seeded teams to choose their opponents? The NCAA Tournament doesn't, nor does the NIT, nor does any conference tournament I know of.

[Bruce]

Baseball is back. The Korean Baseball Organization will be airing on ESPN with improvised English commentary at 1 am Eastern for the next few days.

Tonight's opener is the NC Lions (from Changwon) at the Samsung Lions in Daegu.

[Henry]

The Little League World Series has been cancelled, but there's still hope that the MLB season will start in a month or two.

[ftballfan]

The Little League World Series has been cancelled, but there's still hope that the MLB season will start in a month or two.

First time ever the LLWS has been cancelled (it started just after World War II)

[TheHighwayMan3561]

The NL teams will likely formally agree to use a DH this season.

https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/mlb-players-expected-to-approve-universal-dh-for-2020-season-report-says/

[triplemultiplex]

The NL teams will likely formally agree to use a DH this season.

https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/mlb-players-expected-to-approve-universal-dh-for-2020-season-report-says/

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!
Baseball is dead.

[US 89]

The NL teams will likely formally agree to use a DH this season.

https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/mlb-players-expected-to-approve-universal-dh-for-2020-season-report-says/

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!
Baseball is dead.

Hopefully this season provides an opportunity for everyone to see how lame a universal DH would be and stop complaining about how "old-fashioned" the NL is. There's so much more depth and strategy to the game when the pitcher has to bat just like any other player.

[Roadmaestro95]

The NL teams will likely formally agree to use a DH this season.

https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/mlb-players-expected-to-approve-universal-dh-for-2020-season-report-says/

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!
Baseball is dead.

Hopefully this season provides an opportunity for everyone to see how lame a universal DH would be and stop complaining about how "old-fashioned" the NL is. There's so much more depth and strategy to the game when the pitcher has to bat just like any other player.

I hope it's just for this year, but I doubt that will happen. Manfred is going to implement every faction of his version of Major League Baseball into this shortened season. It's embarrassing to the tradition and history of the game, but I'll reluctantly give it a shot if it's only just for this season to get the MLB back in some form.
I believe that the entire league will be split into 3 divisions (disregarding AL/NL) to limit travel and make it safer, so this is why the universal DH route is being taken. We'll see what happens...

[Stephane Dumas]

I hope it's just for this year, but I doubt that will happen. Manfred is going to implement every faction of his version of Major League Baseball into this shortened season. It's embarrassing to the tradition and history of the game, but I'll reluctantly give it a shot if it's only just for this season to get the MLB back in some form.
I believe that the entire league will be split into 3 divisions (disregarding AL/NL) to limit travel and make it safer, so this is why the universal DH route is being taken. We'll see what happens...

Or instead of 3 divisions, we could split it into 3 leagues: AL, NL and a 3rd one who could be called the FL for Federal League as a nod to the attempted 3rd major league in 1914-15. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_League

[SEWIGuy]

I'm a Brewer fan who has seen them play in both leagues.  Bring on the DH.  Kill pitcher batting.  There is nothing magical about it.  Relic of a bygone age.

[Alps]

I'm a Brewer fan who has seen them play in both leagues.  Bring on the DH.  Kill pitcher batting.  There is nothing magical about it.  Relic of a bygone age.

Just like manual transmissions. *ducks*

[Roadgeekteen]

I'm a Brewer fan who has seen them play in both leagues.  Bring on the DH.  Kill pitcher batting.  There is nothing magical about it.  Relic of a bygone age.

I agree as a Red Sox fan. Big Papi would not be able to play for as long in the NL. I do, however, enjoy it when pitchers hit home runs.

[NWI_Irish96]

I'm a Brewer fan who has seen them play in both leagues.  Bring on the DH.  Kill pitcher batting.  There is nothing magical about it.  Relic of a bygone age.

I agree as a Red Sox fan. Big Papi would not be able to play for as long in the without steroids. I do, however, enjoy it when pitchers hit home runs.

Fixed that for you.

[triplemultiplex]

Reliance on jacking home runs is killing baseball.  Everyone's up there swinging for the fences, so the entire game is all strikeouts.  No one bunts to easily beat those radical infield shifts either.  Or, I dunno, learn to hit to the opposite field?  It's totally doable.  But no, it's all about trying to go yard because the old people running baseball think that's what young people want.
The DH is the embodiment of this fetish for home runs.  Get some over-the-hill lumox to string out his career a little more and completely torpedo the gamesmanship of when to use the bullpen just so they can push the fireworks button a couple of extra times per season.  I hate it.

I see it as catering to the lowest common denominator.  The impatient dumb chucklefuck who's like, "Derrr, baseball is boring; they should have more home runs!!"
The same people who are bored with the running game in football cuz they wanna see dudes huck the ball 50 yards down field at a time all the time.
By that logic NASCAR should have more crashes because isn't that more 'exciting' then drivers executing great passes?

The worst part of it to me is adding a DH will do nothing to make baseball more popular.  Like it was in the long-long ago.  When there was no DH at all.

[oscar]

^ I don't mind the DH, since it offers a refuge for pitchers who can't hit, and hitters who can't field. But I like all the strategy involved in NL games without the DH. Plus, it's fun to see pitchers get hits or even home runs every once in awhile.

If we must have DH or no DH in both leagues, I'd prefer no DH. But I don't see the need to have the same rule for all MLB teams.

[SEWIGuy]

Reliance on jacking home runs is killing baseball.  Everyone's up there swinging for the fences, so the entire game is all strikeouts.  No one bunts to easily beat those radical infield shifts either.  Or, I dunno, learn to hit to the opposite field?  It's totally doable.  But no, it's all about trying to go yard because the old people running baseball think that's what young people want.
The DH is the embodiment of this fetish for home runs.  Get some over-the-hill lumox to string out his career a little more and completely torpedo the gamesmanship of when to use the bullpen just so they can push the fireworks button a couple of extra times per season.  I hate it.

I see it as catering to the lowest common denominator.  The impatient dumb chucklefuck who's like, "Derrr, baseball is boring; they should have more home runs!!"
The same people who are bored with the running game in football cuz they wanna see dudes huck the ball 50 yards down field at a time all the time.
By that logic NASCAR should have more crashes because isn't that more 'exciting' then drivers executing great passes?

The worst part of it to me is adding a DH will do nothing to make baseball more popular.  Like it was in the long-long ago.  When there was no DH at all.

The team stat with the higest degree of correlation to team wins is OPS.  The stat with the second highest is Slugging.  (Which is part of OPS.)  And strike outs has only a slight negative affect.

Until you make the parks bigger, the mound higher or the ball softer, teams are simply playing the best way to statistically win the game. 

[Henry]

I just read an interesting article on how the Browns almost left St. Louis for Los Angeles after the 1941 season ended, but World War II kept that from happening, and of course, the City of Angels would have to wait 17 more years to get a team (the relocated Brooklyn Dodgers being the one). The link below also provides the alternate reality and how the major leagues would've looked today, had it actually been done:

https://www.mlb.com/news/featured/the-story-of-the-los-angeles-browns-changed-baseball-forever

Considering this setup, I find it very intriguing indeed, especially since the Giants-Dodgers rivalry would not take place on the West Coast as it does now, but along the I-35 corridor, and in metropolitan areas that feature splits in that highway (the Twin Cities and the DFW Metroplex).

AL EAST
Baltimore Orioles (1962 expansion team)
Boston Red Sox
New York Yankees
Tampa Bay Rays
Toronto Blue Jays

AL CENTRAL
Atlanta Senators (moved from Washington in 1966)
Chicago White Sox
Cleveland Indians
Detroit Tigers
Kansas City Royals

AL WEST
Houston Astros (1962 expansion team, but in AL)
Los Angeles Browns (moved from St. Louis in 1942)
San Diego Padres (1977 expansion team, but in AL; replaced NL Padres team that relocated to Washington)
San Francisco A's (moved from Philadelphia in 1948; no team in Oakland)
Seattle Pilots (1969 expansion team; with another team in Milwaukee, remains in Seattle today; Mariners don't exist)

NL EAST
Miami Marlins
Montreal Expos (1969 expansion team; with another team in Washington, remains in Montreal today)
New York Mets (1961 expansion team)
Philadelphia Phillies
Washington Stars (moved from San Diego in 1974; Nationals don't exist)

NL CENTRAL
Chicago Cubs
Cincinnati Reds
Milwaukee Braves (with another team in Atlanta, remains in Milwaukee today; Brewers don't exist)
Minnesota Giants (moved from New York in 1954; Twins don't exist)
Pittsburgh Pirates

NL WEST
Arizona Diamondbacks
Colorado Rockies
Dallas Dodgers (moved from Brooklyn in 1958; Texas Rangers don't exist)
Los Angeles Angels (1961 expansion team, but in NL)
St. Louis Cardinals

However, I would've switched the Giants and Cardinals around so that they could still play in the same division as their chief rivals.

And to expand it even further, let's take a look at the four divisions from 1969 to 1993:

AL EAST
Atlanta Senators
Baltimore Orioles
Boston Red Sox
Cleveland Indians
Detroit Tigers
New York Yankees
Toronto Blue Jays (1977)

AL WEST
Chicago White Sox
Houston Astros
Kansas City Royals
Los Angeles Browns
San Francisco A's
Seattle Pilots
San Diego Padres (1977)

NL EAST
Chicago Cubs
Montreal Expos
New York Mets
Philadelphia Phillies
Pittsburgh Pirates
St. Louis Cardinals
Florida/Miami Marlins (1993)

NL WEST
Cincinnati Reds
Dallas Dodgers
Los Angeles Angels
Milwaukee Braves
Minnesota Giants
San Diego Padres (1969)/Washington Stars
Colorado Rockies (1993)

[CNGL-Leudimin]

I think if the 1994 strike happened in this timeline as well, the Montreal Expos would be elsewhere now, possibly Portland, Las Vegas, the Hampton Roads or even Monterrey, Mexico. All these cities alongside Washington expressed interest in the team.

[NWI_Irish96]

So I took that Browns moving to Los Angeles in 1942 and played out a different plausible scenario:

1953: Braves still move to Milwaukee, as this was before the Browns moved to Baltimore so assuming that Milwaukee was still the more attractive city

1955: To give the LA Angels (renamed from Browns) a West Coast companion, the A's move to San Francisco instead of Kansas City

1958: With the West Coast already having teams, the Dodgers decide to stay put in Brooklyn and the Giants move to Kansas City

1961: Since LA already has an AL team and Baltimore doesn't, Baltimore gets the other expansion team along with Washington after the first Senators move to Minnesota.

1962: Since the Dodgers never left, Los Angeles gets an expansion team instead of NY, with Houston still getting the other. Dodgers move from Brooklyn to Queens.

1965: Braves still move to Atlanta

1968: Giants move from Kansas City to Oakland

1969: The same four cities get expansion teams, but Kansas City is in the NL with Montreal and San Diego is in the AL with Seattle

1970: Seattle moves to Milwaukee

1971: Washington moves to Texas

1977: Seattle and Toronto still get their expansion teams

1993: Colorado and Florida still get their expansion teams

1997: Tampa Bay and Arizona still get their expansion teams and Milwaukee still moves to the NL

2005: Montreal still moves to Washington

2013: Kansas City moves to the AL instead of Houston

Divisions:
AL East - NY Yankees, Boston Red Sox, Baltimore Orioles, Tampa Bay Rays, Toronto Blue Jays
AL Central - Chicago White Sox, Cleveland Indians, Detroit Tigers, Minnesota Twins, Kansas City Royals
AL West - Los Angeles Angels, Texas Rangers, San Francisco A's, San Diego Padres, Seattle Mariners

NL East - New York Dodgers, Atlanta Braves, Philadelphia Phillies, Washington Nationals, Florida Marlins
NL Central - Saint Louis Cardinals, Cincinnati Reds, Pittsburgh Pirates, Chicago Cubs, Milwaukee Brewers
NL West - Oakland Giants, Los Angeles Kings, Houston Astros, Colorado Rockies, Arizona Diamondbacks

[amroad17]

There was also the possibility that the San Francisco Giants were going to move to Toronto after the 1975 season.  With the near re-locations of both San Diego to Washington after the 1974 season and the Giants to Toronto after 1975, the National League would have had a radically different look starting in 1976, if these re-locations did occur--along with a decision on what city would have the 2nd American League expansion team in 1977.

My take...
NL East: NY Mets, Pittsburgh Pirates, Philadelphia Phillies, Montreal Expos, Toronto Giants (or possibly some other team name), Washington Padres/Stars.
NL West: Cincinnati Reds, Los Angeles Dodgers, Atlanta Braves, Houston Astros, Chicago Cubs, St. Louis Cardinals.

As you see, the Cubs and the Cardinals would have probably been shifted to the NL West for both travel purposes and for maintaining their rivalry.

Now, which city would have the 2nd AL expansion team?  Obviously, with the Giants leaving San Francisco, that city is out of the equation.  San Diego?  Maybe--with a decent ownership, however, would the fans endure another few years of "expansion team baseball"?  If your team left after six years, probably not.  Miami, Tampa Bay?  Not sure, as these cities have forever hosted Grapefruit League spring training games and may have developed a "minor league mentality" among MLB executives and owners.  After these cities, there were not a lot more possibilities, other than maybe Phoenix.

My scenario would be that Denver may have gotten the 2nd AL expansion team--provided they built a "baseball only" ballpark.  The minor league Denver Bears, playing in the American Association, consistently drew good attendance numbers.  They did play in Mile High Stadium, though--not an ideal baseball "park".

If a park could have been built in Denver, here is how the AL may have looked in 1977...
AL East: NY Yankees, Boston Red Sox, Baltimore Orioles, Cleveland Indians, Detroit Tigers, Milwaukee Brewers, Chicago White Sox
AL West: Kansas City Royals, Oakland A's, Texas Rangers, California Angels, Minnesota Twins, Seattle Mariners, Denver Bears/Colorado _______.

The White Sox would be the logical team to be moved to the AL East.  Plus, someone can fill in the blank for Colorado because, at the time, there was an NHL team called the Colorado Rockies based there in Denver.  Or, Denver could have mirrored St. Louis and named both teams the Rockies.  Aside: this NHL Rockies team started as the expansion Kansas City Scouts on 1974, then moved to New Jersey in 1982, becoming the NJ Devils.