Hydrogen bomb (Dodgers) vs coughing baby (everyone else): 2025 MLB regular season thread!

Starting this now cos the Japan series is in like two days? And I wanted to link this article about Dave Roberts ahead of that.

https://www.latimes.com/sports/dodgers/story/2025-03-13/dave-roberts-japanese-heritage-tokyo-opening-day

The Dodgers’ acquisition of Japanese stars Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki has made Roberts a baseball celebrity in Japan. It has exposed him to a culture he once rarely encountered, only at home through his mom and on occasional trips to Okinawa while growing up.

It also has come at a point in life where the 52-year-old skipper feels “more secure with who I am,” he said, and “much more confident in doing a deeper dive into where I came from.”

wait, shouldn’t the st. louis cardinals be in the thread title for the regular season? because they’re going all the way this year

jk about the cards, sadly, but i do honestly think the dodgers won’t win the WS this year though, even though of course on paper it seems like a foregone conclusion. why? baseball’s weird

Thread title jinx 😎

Oh should have linked in the original post, but Jeff Passan’s regular season preview is really good!

https://www.espn.com/mlb/insider/story/_/id/44195789/mlb-season-preview-2025-jeff-passan-bold-predictions-breakout-stars-fantasy-tips

Some interesting facts about various teams:

Twins:

The best thing I heard all spring: Cory Lewis' knuckleball is almost ready for the big leagues. A ninth-round pick in 2022, Lewis -- who finished last season at Triple-A -- has averaged 83.5 mph on 13 knuckleballs this spring.

It is by far the hardest version of the pitch ever seen at the professional level. San Diego's Matt Waldron averaged 77.6 mph on his knuckler last year. R.A. Dickey topped out at 77.3 mph. While Lewis mixes it with a 90 mph fastball as well as a slider, the knuckler will be the pitch that gets him to Minneapolis.

The best thing I heard all spring: The noise from the crowd outside the fencing on a Mariners backfield. Members of the team's front office had gathered with great anticipation to take in a one-of-a-kind live batting practice. When Jurrangelo Cijntje pitches, he can run one of his fastballs up to 98 mph and the other to 93. And this isn't a four-seamer/sinker situation. It's right hand and left hand.

In a moment where the best player in the world hits and pitches at an otherworldly level, the shock of a switch-pitcher -- not a slopmaster like Pat Venditte but a true-blue power arm -- shouldn't be quite as acute. Be forewarned: It is. Even if Cijntje, taken in the first round last year as the Mariners continue a tremendous run of draft classes, is a couple of years from the big leagues, the 21-year-old is no novelty. The stuff will play, and the power switch-pitcher will be a reality.

Something you might not know: Only five of MLB's 30 teams have never won a World Series: the Brewers, Mariners, Rays, Rockies and, yes, the Padres. (The Mariners are the lone team never to have even made it to one.)

I’m feeling good about the Cubs for the first time in a few years, though I haven’t been to bummed about their lack of success in the post World Series win era just because knowing that era is only nine years and not 117 is pretty nice.

Jeffers' response is the kindest shut the fuck up i have heard in a while. There was an interview with Cease on MLB Network a few days ago where he was talking shop - it's not hard to find alternatives to Bauer.

I’m feeling good about the Cubs for the first time in a few years, though I haven’t been to bummed about their lack of success in the post World Series win era just because knowing that era is only nine years and not 117 is pretty nice.

What a beautiful morning

Yama's last season opening Asia trip still in the memory but it's a new day! Ready for these splitter boys to do some splitting

Ohtani’s batting stance is so unusual looking from that straight on angle, looks almost like he’s threatening the pitcher. Maybe to make himself look more intimidating like goalies do during penalties.

Hopefully Freddie Freeman just has the clubhouse shits.

Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman was scratched from today’s lineup with left rib discomfort.

:|

Yama through 1 was all I asked for this game. Everything herein is a bonus.

Empty seats behind home plate wtf Japan?

Steele-Imanaga or Imanaga-Steele is such a sexy 1-2 and maybe the only LHP pair at the top of a rotation?

Ump in form

Joey Votto is there!
https://i.postimg.cc/T1DXNQKh/IMG-3077.jpg

Jed Hoyer: Shohei just coming out for batting practice was amazing, the reaction he’s like…
Commentator: Elvis
Jed Hoyer: Taylor Swift

That was a real "I'm getting a hit this ab whether you like it or not" swing from Ohtani

Just when you get hyped for the Cubs season...

you realize Counsell is involved in in-game management and that alone sucks all the wind out of your sails.

Tbf to Counsell the throwing philosopher managed to suppress the Dodgers last season & was doing a decent job again before he got taken out… probably on a pitch count limit. Iirc Passan mentioned Ben Brown as a real possibility for making this rotation but this probably isn’t the best evidence for that.

ah ok, finally there's movement in the bullpen

Also, Cubs taking Reese McGuire to Japan is an accident waiting to happen

“I can’t even look at King Tuck in another uniform” - the Astros fan I am married to

Commentator: I did not expect them to be playing EDM music…that’s a curveball…Tokyo, Japan never ceases to amaze

Who is this hayseed?!

guess i'm getting up early to watch tomorrow's

i only had to get up a little earlier than usual and it was pretty cool sipping my coffee and catching a few meaningful innings this morning.

Honestly it was pretty boring but Justin Steele has a new mountain man look & I haven’t watched a game he pitched in like ten months and I haven’t seen Sasaki at all so hoping it’s better. Also hope for good news on Freeman

i am also feeling mildly optimistic about the cubs but it's interesting that they don't have a starter who throws harder than ... 93?

thank god for baseball

xp soft contact merchant Imanaga has maybe one of the best middle infields in the game behind him, plus Imanaga and Taillon both finished top 10 in adjusted ERA+ for NL starters last year. Justin Steele is also a soft contact merchant and had the lowest HR/9 rate in the NL in 2023. It’s antithetical to the Rays or Dodgers but it works for them.

i am also curious if the white sox will actually be worse this year. it doesn't seem possible but they lost crochet and will presumably trade robert at some point.

i'm sure they have some young guys ready to prove themselves – but literally can't think of a single one off the top of my head.

They got Braden Montgomery off the Red Sox in the Crochet trade and Kyle Teel; both are top 100 prospects who’ll contribute to the rebuild significantly. Montgomery could have gone 1st overall if he didn’t break his ankle. Whoever they get for Robert Jr should too. Colson Montgomery is going to be a stud too.

Is Robert the only ChiSox player who got drafted in the fantasy league this year?

And their top pitching prospect in the system (16th overall) had this writeup:

Schultz has done a nice job honing an upper-80s changeup that can get a bit firm but is a solid offering that fades in an opposite direction from his slider. He has advanced body control for a pitcher who is so large and so young, and his control and command both grade as better than average. His frame, arm angle and slider prompt inevitable comparisons to Randy Johnson, but Schultz is a much more polished pitcher at the same stage of development.

Both Smith's fastball and slider are well-above-average pitches. His four-seamer works at 94-97 mph and reaches 100 mph, playing even better than its impressive velocity because his funky delivery and low release height create plenty of deception and carry. His slider is his best offering, an 83-87 mph beast with horizontal and vertical action that overwhelms lefties and also works against righties.

As a Cubs fan, I still hope the White Sox return to competitive relevance, Chicago is a lot more fun when both of those teams are doing well. And I’ve always had a soft spot for them because they kept my baseball fandom going in the immediate aftermath of the Cubs basically letting Greg Maddox walk because they didn’t want to cough up $35 million for his peak era. Those White Sox teams in the early to mid 90s were legitimately fun and awesome.

I mean, actually I think all the way through that 2000 season when Frank Thomas finished second in the MVP voting, they were just a blast.

I’m not sure Mookie Betts could afford to lose “a bunch of weight”!

Can’t believe I just had to hear a commentator say “Roki Sasaki is from a little town in Japan with a load of letters” in the age of pronunciation guides.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KYS6xeoBnc

Steele looks like he just emerged from a cave in the mountains with that hair and unblinking stare, I would NOT be fumbling pitches at the plate if I was the catcher

Btw Roki Sasaki being considered a “prospect” is extremely stupid and bad

Ohtani’s walkup being Michael Bublé’s cover of Feelin’ Good is Bad For The Game.

are there any MLB stadiums that don't have dirt along the paths between bases? looks so strange.

48 pitches, 19 strikes for Roki. yikes

Could write a doestoevskian psychological novel on this inning

Love to see the crowd behind him. Nasty strike outs following the walks, glad Roberts left him in to figure it out

I don’t think the mound has seen a guy visibly sweating that much trying to find the zone since Lincecum

Mountain man Steele should be allowed to descend from the mound and dish out a few slaps if his godawful defence lets him down again

Embarrassing

Poor Dino Ebel

I think that would also be his first run since July 23--possibly even his first hit.

Hate the guy, but he’s def having a season

i got curious about that wild ERA+...
best i can tell only 8 relievers have had an ERA+ better than 400 in a (full) season...

Eckersley at 603 in 1990
José Mesa at 410 in 1995
Papelbon at 510 in 2006
David Robertson just missed with 399 in 2011
Fernando Rodney with 641 in 2012
Kimbrel also just missed with 399 in 2012
Wade Davis with 448 in 2015 (after just missing the year before)
Zack Britton at 803!!! in 2016
Blake Treinen at 531 in 2018
and Clase with 667 in 2024

I had been thinking of doing the same thing, rounding up a few of the most dominant closer seasons ever for comparison. Thought of Gossage in '81, Eckersley in '90, Gagne's Cy Young year, Kimbrel had one, Hader must have had one, etc.

Gossage's ERA+ was 465; Eckersley was over 600. By full you mean how many innings?

ya, i beat you to it. i had a list ready!

i mentioned Eckersley!

Newman! I mean, Thermo!

my floor was 50 innings, which is why Gossage's '81 season got left out. but his '75 (8.2 WAR, 1.84 ERA) and '77 (6.0 WAR, 1.62 ERA) seasons were epic.

Don't forget '86 Eichhorn if we're talking WAR (7.3).

i did not. i tried to look at any/all things that might stand out...

the list, just year/name without all the stats...

1963 Dick Radatz.

1964 Dick Radatz.

1967 Ted Abernathy.

1973 John Hiller.

1974 Mike Marshall.

1975 Rich Gossage.

1977 Bruce Sutter.

1977 Rich Gossage.

1979 Jim Kern.

1982 Dan Quisenberry

1984 Willie Hernández

1986 Mark Eichhorn.

1990 Dennis Eckersley

1990 Bobby Thigpen.

1993 John Wetteland

1995 José Mesa.

1996 Mariano Rivera.

1998 Trevor Hoffman.

2002 Octavio Dotel.

2003 Eric Gagné.

2004 Brad Lidge.

2006 Jonathan Papelbon

2008 Mariano Rivera.

2008 Francisco Rodríguez

2011 David Robertson

2012 Fernando Rodney

2012 Aroldis Chapman

2012 Craig Kimbrel.

2013 Koji Uehara.

2014 Wade Davis.

2014 Dellin Betances

2015 Wade Davis.

2016 Zack Britton.

2018 Edwin Díaz.

2018 Blake Treinen.

2019 Kirby Yates.

2024 Emmanuel Clase.

Yikes--Skubal left tonight's game in the middle of the fourth inning (called out the trainer).

Praying for the 🐐

Looked like maybe an oblique injury

That really sucks. Pitching, the way it is these days, I feel like it’s so rare to see back to back dominant seasons. Tho 28 GS and 180 IP is still solid.

Tigers playoff odds just dropped from 11-1 to 20-1.

Said it was some tightness, will get an MRI tomorrow.

Good Skubal news, per Passan:

Tarik Skubal’s imaging came back clean and he plans on making his next scheduled start, Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said. Skubal was optimistic after leaving last night’s game with discomfort in his side, and his optimism was well-founded as Detroit tries to capture AL home field.

Just came to post that...both starting pitchers in last night's Jays game, Bassitt and Trevor Rogers for the Orioles, were having issues when they left. Toe blister for Rogers, no word yet on Bassitt.

I think that AL Cy is definitely coming down to the wire

Both catchers on the Angels on concussion protocol list, one from a warmup swing hitting him in the chin, the other from getting nailed by a backswing.

I think that AL Cy is definitely coming down to the wire

Do you? I can’t see anyone catching Skubal.

Agreed, I think Skubal has it.

Depends on if the injury affects him. crochet could, if he has several spectacular starts to wrap up the season, come out ahead. I think as it stands right now, he would have it. I’m hoping it’s him!

Crochet has not been as good recently, Ks down, over his career innings high, struggling with command a lot more. I think Skubal has him cooked innings and Ks wise, but I haven’t checked the numbers recently. Hunter Brown has made a sneaky run but I think it’s Skubal’s by now.

I don’t know, he’s definitely had a couple of shit starts in the last month and a half but his last game he went 7 IP, 10 strikeouts, no walks, no runs. I definitely don’t think he’s been better than Skubal, I just think we are still at the “it’s possible” stage.

Against the A’s, though…that was a good start but he’s had a few recently where the line benefits from insane plays made by Story or Rafaela and doesn’t show that he’s getting harder hit, he’s missing his spots just that bit more, etc. Just looks a bit fatigued, but yeah I agree it’s possible.

Soto just became the third player ever to hit 40 home runs, steal 30 bases and walk 100 times in a season. Bonds and Bagwell the others.

Mets lose again

mets no longer control their own destiny, handing the baton off to the giants

i guess i am locking arms with hp for the next couple of days? 😬

Fuck I forgot to put cologne on today

Love da mets

https://i.imgur.com/9LQINoK.png

https://i.imgur.com/9LQINoK.png

One of those metronomes:

Jose Ramirez, career line (per 162 games): 29 HR, .279/.352/.503
Jose Ramirez, 2025: 28 HR, .281/.354/499

a career year for ramirez! ;)

DOMPZ with 55 & 56...

11.33 games left in the season, would be amazing for him to eclipse Judge.

amazing to have 56 HRs and only be a 160-ish wRC+ hitter! but also, super significant that he’s a catcher, and not only that, but (by stats at least) an incredibly good defensive catcher.

it’ll be interesting to see what robot strikezones do to affect the value of certain catchers

While on the Athletics, his teammates gave Kurtz the nickname "Big Amish", a jocular reference to his stature at 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m), 240 lb (110 kg) and his hometown of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, which has a large Amish community. After a home run, Kurtz began celebrating by twirling his hands in a circular motion, in homage to the Amish tradition of churning butter.[25][26] Kurtz himself is not Amish.

Juan Soto just hit his 42nd. A new single season high.

most home runs ever for a Soto, but not for a Juan.

One of those Rube Goldberg contraptions, but important categories, and automatically cool because Jose Ramirez: first player ever with consecutive 30 HR/30 doubles/40 SB seasons.

what happens when we remove doubles from the equation?

You read mlb.com's mind; fourth player to do it more than once (Soriano and the two Bondses).

https://www.mlb.com/news/jose-ramirez-first-player-in-franchise-history-with-three-30-30-season

first Jose to do it more than once!

Get in you guardians!

Also Schwarber please take a seat, Ohtani is doing things

Cal Raleigh just passed Griffey Jr as the holder of the Mariners single season home run record. 57!

sick