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

Does he play first or DH with the Giants? Assume Chapman's solid.

Getting Harrison and Hicks back and maybe more… wonder what this mean for Chapman?

I'd probably be tearing my hair out watching him with the bat every day, but he's headed for another 6.0+ WAR season--he's got to be untouchable.

Does he play first or DH with the Giants? Assume Chapman's solid.

Supposedly he was pulled off the team plane? What a shitshow

Gave up Harrison for Devers. He will play second base as Chapman is not going to be moved.

Getting rid of Hicks is only a positive and two years after this as well.

Devers will DH surely? Who even DHs for the Giants?

jfc

It’s wild. Julian McWilliams the beat reporter says they pulled him off the plane. Giants play Red Sox in less than a week btw.

Devers will DH surely? Who even DHs for the Giants?

― from…Peru? (gyac),

Wilmer Flores, Giants best hitter.

Oh wait I forgot Chappy was injured he’s probably going to play 3B for a while

This is a second base move, just watch. I mean it could be short stop but that's not happening and either is Chapman off third.

They’re asking Adames about it in an in game interview. It’s a huge get for SF. We talked about the whole Devers shitshow itt: The Roman Empire: Boston Red Sox 2025

Devers cannot play 2B lmao, have you ever seen him play?!

Chapman is currently injured now though? I would think they put him at 3B until Chapman’s back maybe some of the time, DH is his destiny, he’s going to hit a ton so who cares

Devers does, apparently?

i'm agnostic on the trade (if still shocked) -- that's a lot of money for a DH, after all

but mostly this reminds one how they could have just paid mookie instead

Well they paid Devers cos they didn’t pay Mookie and now they have neither. SF have tons of money and need hitting. For a guy who’s a regular 30 a year hitter, they haven’t had that since Bonds. (Belt came closest!)

<3 brandon belt

My man!

There’s a video on Twitter which I won’t link but can’t find elsewhere shows Devers arriving at Fenway in a cab after being taken off the team plane. Truly insane way to conduct a deal.

Such a uniquely Red Sox move -- essentially running a superstar player out of town and humiliating him on the way out.

I always had the notion that they didn't really want to re-sign Devers, but felt they had to after missing out on a bunch of high profile FA.

people are saying the red sox didn't get a lot back but i think getting the giants to take on the remainder of the contract in full is pretty big

who are the big FAs this off season?

i don't follow the AL but i heard devers wouldn't play 1st? the red sox need a 1bman? pete can opt out this offseason... are the red sox gonna go after pete?? :(

Kyle Tucker, a load of pitchers. Tucker is maybe the only guy who’s an elite hitter. He’s going to get paid.

xp why would Pete leave NY, he wouldn’t even when they laughed at his ask. Casas got injured so that’s why they were asking Devers to play 1B.

The Red Sox are far too scared to post the WELCOME TO BOSTON posts for Harrison & Hicks on their main Instagram, going to be insane when they put up a THANK YOU RAFFY post

Ohtani pitches tomorrow!

Redid my ballot--this one registered--with a few minor changes:

AL 1B - Aranda for Goldschmidt...breaking my own rule about three good months.
AL 2B - Torres for Altuve...gets a Tiger on there, and Altuve's really pretty ordinary this year.
AL DH - O'Hearn for Devers...thought about sticking with Devers (deserving), but would have been symbolic.

Left my NL picks the same.

Yooooooo bad day to be off-line! I really hope raffy smashes for giants. Red sox such a frustrating organisation. Just be normal!!!!

I’ve never needed Tracer Hand to wake up and log on to talk ball as urgently as I did this morning - total vibe shift, what an awful franchise

It’s more of a gut punch than the Mookie trade - completely out of nowhere. At least w Mookie entity knew free agency was looming. We thought we had Devers locked up for 8 more years.

He is absolutely capable of hitting 30HR a year til then.

And SF is absolutely capable of making it to the playoffs and winning it all. Won’t that be a treat for WEEI callers?

“entity” = “we”

Team construction should be a thing GMs consider more heavily than “who can we get” because the Red Sox positioning logjam was awkward this year, even more so when they asked Devers to play again after Casas and Bergman got hurt. The trade feels like the front office were reacting to Devers’ defiance but really they got themselves in this mess by signing multiple big name guys at the same position. I would have erred on the side of “things have a way of working themselves out” when you are in it for the long term with Devers.

They are going to miss his bat for sure, but as Mookie said that’s a lot of money + years for SF to pay for a DH, and it doesn’t solve the issue that started this mess

And SF is absolutely capable of making it to the playoffs and winning it all. Won’t that be a treat for WEEI callers?

that’s a lot of money + years for SF to pay for a DH, and it doesn’t solve the issue that started this mess

You know who else loves this trade? Willy Adames. Diabolical start to his big contract, not much in the way of lineup protection. Now there’s another big bat in the lineup that takes some of that pressure off him and hey it’s one of his best friends in the league.

It’s also wild that this is the first time he did a postgame presser in like a month btw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOxpfZ5jXNw

dodgers org fist pumping right now, their craven bootlicking antics have totally dropped off the headline board

The Red Sox will take on the $32.056 million remaining on Jordan Hicks’ contract.

that's 1/8 of the remaining Devers money spoken for

Incredible to me how many articles I've read that claims this clears any of the Red Sox logjams. If anything now Boston gets even more musical chairs than before. Anthony and Mayer platooning, rotating in and out of the DH spot... yuck

oddly enough 48 years ago yesterday this happened

Geez--and Mike Greenwell managed to spend his whole career in Boston. Good player, but not exactly Betts, Bogarts, or Devers. (I just wanted to say Betts, Bogarts, and Devers, because it sounds just like Beck, Bogert & Appice.)

is it just me or are all the teams playing their inter-divisional games this month? mets are playing braves/phils/braves and it feels like the dodgers have only been playing the padres/giants recently

can i just say the braves shortstop nick allen is objectively hilarious looking? what a dweeb!

Historically Bonds ended up there not because the park suited him

Historically (93-99) Bonds played 7 seasons at Candlestick before the current SF stadium was built.

The 'Stick was a combo football/baseball stadium that played a bit to pitchers (massive foulgrounds) but was symmetrical and neutral to -handedness, unlike the current park that punishes mostly lefties but also sucks the power out of righties.

dodgers pr team having quite a week

Yup, quite the season really with the white house visit and jackie Robinson erasure

don't forget the star spangled banner incident!

Just read about the fireworks in game. Fernando Tatis Jr was hit three times over the series? No wonder San Diego were pissed.