Designed to break your heart - the 2026 MLB regular season thread

Opening Day is less than a week away!

“It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall all alone. You count on it, rely on it to buffer the passage of time, to keep the memory of sunshine and high skies alive, and then just when the days are all twilight, when you need it most, it stops.”

Joe Castiglione reading this in 2024

https://i.postimg.cc/Gtj09X13/IMG-1317.gif

Play ball.

It is, it is, with time out now and again for some fun.

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

i wonder how ball/strike challenges will impact umps calling anything near the zone a strike on 3-0 and the zone shrinking on 0-2. like i wonder if it will be an unwritten rule that you don't challenge those calls. i guess it will be situational.

like i wonder if it will be an unwritten rule that you don't challenge those calls

god, I hope not

Chris Sale already said he wouldn’t challenge anything

Tyler O’ Neill home run opening day: y/n?

Roki Sasaki 15 earned runs in 8 2/3 spring innings, 2.77 WHIP

Slotted as #3 starter, I believe

it seems weird that not every team is playing on opening day. i didn't check every team but i noticed that KC/ATL doesn't start until friday

I read six teams aren't starting until Friday. It was to give NBC an exclusive window in prime time.

that's lame

The Yankees and Giants are off on Sunday too.

i read that it used to be tradition that the reds would always play first, guess that went out the window!

Speaking of the Reds, did we all see Joey Votto’s gift to them for opening day?

https://www.mlb.com/amp/news/joey-votto-gifts-street-clock-to-reds-at-great-american-ball-park.html

https://www.bajablasthomeruns.com/

ugh Bert Kreischer this season is doomed

first walk of the season drawn by . . . luis arraez!

I can't recall a time ever when the Giants opened up the season first, and it's been probably a decade since they opened at home.

My thoughts as well.

I don’t have Netflix and thought I could piggyback on my brother's account, like I have done in the past but they locked me out. $8 wouldn't kill me but nah.

golden sombrero for Judge while every other Stankee is the reincarnation of Roberto Clemente

So, sounds like the Netflix broadcast was not popular

it made roughly $1m for each team, which is clearly all that matters

Watched I think a couple of innings and then went to sleep, opening day to forget. This is all my fault, the last time I watched the Giants open their season against the Yankees they also got shit on. Apparently I missed Bonds show up, drop a nuke that he almost signed with the Yankees, and leave again lol

https://bsky.app/profile/lukeknox.me/post/3kbnxlj5s6h2d

Ozuna loudly booed at Citi field

Nbc announcers spotlighting a betting parlay for the game feels like a new low.

yeah, i was watching a mlb highlight reel of the opening game yesterday, and it showed a ABS challenge (called strike; upheld as it just caught in the zone) and the announcer was like ".....and if you bet on the first ABS in MLB being upheld...you would be a winner" or something.

thanks

honestly would love to get a 30-second break from each game and just show me a live feed of a near-empty casino at 5 am with one dude and a bucket of tokens, just feeding the slot machine and staring at his phone

IT'S BIG BALL CHUNKY TIME

Skenes gave up 5 runs in the bottom of the first and then got pulled after the Mets batted around!

“As we go to commercial break, we’d like to congratulate those of you who took that parlay where Skenes would give up 5 runs and be taken out after two-thirds of an inning. Enjoy your payout and we’ll be right back.”

Tbf, those runs sounded like a team effort (I missed the first few runs tho)

Just saw the boxscore for Skenes...yikes--hope he's not hurt.

He looked ok. Think it was just bad luck/ one of those games

america's feelings are hurt due to the iran war fuckup and the it's affecting skenes as well

Mets lineup is very sexy

Carson Benge’s first big league hit is a home run

that's my boy!

unintentionally funny and interesting piece of cards radio commentary from ricky horton

“a bad day to be a reliever….and a bad day to be in this city"

however, we’re in the middle of cardinals devil magic comeback against the rays so all is well

jj wetherholt will be mvp by 2030, easy, i’m calling it now, no problem

this guy jj wetherholt, he can’t miss

Skubal today: 6 innings, 3 hits, 6 K, no walks, no earned runs. Without any recency bias whatsoever, I am officially declaring him the best pitcher in baseball.

Cubs extending Nico Hoerner

The dodgers still looking very dodgery

Man its good to be back

was at the game today, pretty great atmosphere, I really love going to opening day because it comes right as the weather starts getting better, it's nice to see all these people around again

did not appreciate that it was against the White Sox, aren't opening day games supposed to be divisional??? oh well, we beat the hell outta them, notched 20 strikeouts which is apparently tied for a Brewer record

15 teams in each league means at least one game has to be intraleague, I guess

A lot of solid debuts today… Wetherholt, McGonigle, Benge & DeLauter

Just watched Jeff Kent chatting it up with Kruk and Kuip in the broadcast booth, he was smiling his head off and in great form, which I gather is not vmic for him

are the giants going to score this year

Nope

hell yeah

Reid Detmers again, last ten starts - 59 1/3 IP, 1.58 ERA, 0.86 WHIP. Closing in on 200 Ks for the year.

Fantastic Phils-Braves finish. I have no idea what to think about HS Kim now -- I'm suspicious of this late redemption tour. I hope he succeeds wildly for some other team next year or whenever.

Brewers win 20-0 :)

in the correct thread:

advanced stachetistics

https://stachecast.lol

The Astros and White Sox are trending toward .500 records. I just realized that there's a real possibility of not only a sub-.500 team winning both division, but also getting a *first round bye* with a sub-.500 record (ahead of two or possibly three other playoff teams).

Winkler Manitoba's Tristan Peters just had a 18 pitch at bat (ended in a walk)

longest ab since 2020

i see only 11 manitoban-born MLB players

russ ford (b. 1883) the only pitcher

dude put up 11.4 bWAR for the yankees in 1910! (26-6, 1.65, 29 CG, 8 SHO)

did not realize pca was only 24 - that should be illegal

Marlins ace Sandy Alcantara, the Major League leader in innings pitched who just two days ago threw 101 pitches in the series opener, was coming on for his first career save opportunity with Miami protecting a one-run lead over Arizona.

It was a road game, so we can forgive the Diamondbacks' faithful for not registering the significance, but the Marlins' dugout was electric.

The Marlins are 7.5 games back from the 3rd wild card at 76-77 (lol NL, if this was the AL they’d still have a chance), what are they doing with this? It’s not exactly game 7 of the World SeriesSeries.

seems like they are having a good time and the team is pumped up, i don’t knock that.

Posnanski has a piece today on how much pitchers are dominating right now; first time since 1971 that 6 of the 10 fWAR leaders across MLB are pitchers (which was the first time since 1890). The weird difference is that the guys who started then--Jenkins, Carlton, Wood, etc.--threw twice as many innings.

Padres four runs on Yamamoto last night including an RBI single from the kid Salas, who also three successful challenges behind the plate. Wonder if he’ll make the playoff roster.

Salas also clowned Ohtani who had taken off all his gear and was already on first by the time the ABS challenge came back in the Padres favor.

100 wins for the Brewers; always an impressive number.

impressive to see the white sox be good for a few years, then completely shit the bed for a few years, and then make the playoffs while all along several other teams were muttering 'trust the process'

i mean yeah the AL is dogshit, but still

current ESPN headline for the White Sox had me chuckle:

"White Sox clinch AL playoff berth after 324 losses over previous 3 seasons"

Maybe you had to be there.

I saw that the Pope was given a fancier version of the White Sox Pope hats, and when it was presented to him he said “it’s too bad they lost (the Pope hat game)” so you know he’s overjoyed by this.

white sox could still win the division, they're only a game back and they're playing the rockies. unfortunately the guardians are playing the royals.

i'm wondering if the cubs would be in a better position if they tanked the rest of the regular season to face the braves and the dodgers in the playoffs instead of the padres and the brewers. this seems crazy but the padres are hot right now and i'm always worried about the brewers, even if they usually crumble in the postseason.

brewcrew feel like a team of destiny this year idk

Rangers v Astros and they both liase tonight. Both records are 79 - 81.

The Dbacks closing in on the Phillies for the last wild card with 2 games left. Had not realised what a good season Arenado has had.

CHICAGO -- White Sox infielder Colson Montgomery set the record for most strikeouts in a season Friday after taking a third strike against Colorado Rockies pitcher Tomoyuki Sugano for Montgomery's 224th of the season.

It breaks the mark set by former Diamondbacks infielder Mark Reynolds, who struck out 223 times in 2009.

Montgomery, 24, worked a full count before taking a fastball over the heart of the plate for the record-setting strikeout. He has a 35.5% strikeout rate this season, second worst among qualified hitters, just behind teammate Munetaka Murakami (35.6%).

Montgomery reached the dubious mark in his in his 631st plate appearance and 561st at-bat of his second season.

Similar to Reynolds, who hit 44 home runs that season, Montgomery has made good contact when he has connected. He has 31 home runs and 87 RBIs while contributing to a playoff team. But his chase and strikeout rates have gone up compared with his rookie year last season.

In his last 21 games, Montgomery is batting .085 with 37 strikeouts in 83 plate appearances to drop his season average to .199. He has six hits, including two homers and two doubles, in that span, along with eight RBIs and eight walks.

it should be noted, Mark Reynolds in 2009 - 44 hr/102 RBI/98 runs/76 BB, .260/.349/.543...he even stole 24 bases. a far cry from .199/.285/.407 etc

I’m watching Pirates Tigers. Kirby Yates is retiring too today. Pirates gave him the start, his teammates all came to the blind to hug him when they took him out. The fans at Comerica cheered for him too. Really sweet to see.

Aaron Nola is pitching on 2 days rest. Phillies are desperate.

Rangers are doing their part but, I think, the Astros have the tie breaker. About to start against the A's.

And unexpectedly the Rays score, at least, two in the first inning.

The Phillies, lol

DBacks are fighting but happened to be playing the hottest team in baseball, the Padres.

both the phillies and dback games start at the same time today 😈

Phillies up 7-2; I hope they hang on, just because I've been saying they're going to win everything and I want to at least give myself a chance to look really smart.

Yordan is not letting the Astros waste this season on 162

Yeah, Astros are about to punch their ticket. Phillies are also in.

masterful managing job by donnie baseball

feel like the dbacks have been eliminated on the final day in each of the last three years? they’re so cusp-y!

Thankfully they didn’t lose a couple of games around the time of the Ketel Marte shitshow that might have proved impactful later on…ah.

Holy cow--Gabriel Moreno won the batting title. Must be about six catchers that have done that.

(Only the fifth, actually.)

oh wow! was so distracted by Yordan (and, like, the general day-to-day horrors) that i wasn't even paying attention to the NL batting crown.

now to do the catcher batting crown trivia in my head

I think he was kind of lurking on the edges and then just took over the last week.

Lots of second-guessing on the trade now, obviously. I don't know...when healthy, Kirk's pretty good. They got a couple of GG-level seasons out of Varsho, with some timely HR. (And his mystifying inability to launch a fly-ball in two or three AB in the WS last year.) Moreno looks a perennial MVP candidate at the moment; long-term, who knows? Right now, the trade definitely looks like a bad one.

spotted a key error in this ESPN story on Verlander's final game, see if you can find it in the sidebar "accomplishments" list under his photo

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/50035748/tigers-emotional-justin-verlander-leaves-final-career-start-hugs

I scanned the list and nothing jumped out at me.

One of 11 pitchers all time to win at least three Cy Young Awards; one of seven to win Cy Young in both leagues.

(someone at ESPN thinks the Astros are still in the NL)

Good catch...Perry, Max, Pedro, off to tennis.

(Figured out the other three in the car, or so I thought: Clemens, Halladay, and Fergie Jenkins. But Jenkins was wrong--when he won 25 for the Rangers in '74, Catfish Hunter won the Cy. It was Randy Johnson.)

too soon for a hot stove thread?

phils sign mattingly to a two year deal

Lukewarm stove this year