then coronavirus happened, 2020 baseball

Quasi update on “The Chop”: This wood sculpture outside the Braves’ stadium near the third base entrance has been removed. I asked the Braves about it but they have chosen not to respond to requests for comment. ⁦@TheAthleticATL⁩ ⁦@TheAthleticMLB⁩ pic.twitter.com/ZdqKUP91um

— Jeff Schultz (@JeffSchultzATL) July 19, 2020

i haven't watched a game with the piped-in crowd noise yet. is that what's happening in this clip (wait til after the injury report)?

The Kraken Strikes. pic.twitter.com/5OYrYhFw6z

— New York Yankees (@Yankees) July 20, 2020

Piped in noise is annoying. I watched a couple innings of a Reds inter-squad game and it was just weird.

seeing rumors that the blue jays could play in pittsburgh? apparently their schedules do not overlap much

How bad is the ‘vid in Pittsburg?

same as the situation anywhere else in the united states - there is a wall of protection and antagonization along our political borders that prevents making any effort to improve testing turnaround times, rendering contact tracing completely useless. recognizing this, the white house has decided to try to prevent funding for contact tracing. because contact tracing is bad, and impossible. *SHRIEKS IN PARALYZING HORROR*

well upper NY state doesn't sound too terrible; whereas anywhere in florida sounds like a nightmare deathtrap. wasn't sure where Pittsburg fell on that scale

i'm afraid you can't come if you keep misspelling it

22 of the bridges tested positive

Thermo thinking of Pittsburg CA

Pittown.

P-burgh

As #BlueJays/MLB look at ballparks like PNC Park in Pitt as @longleysunsport first reported, a source says Jays operations people have arrived in Buffalo to assess Sahlen Field.

Hearing work to upgrade lighting, turn suites into extra clubhouse type areas would take about a week

— Scott Mitchell (@ScottyMitchTSN) July 20, 2020

Fucking idiots should have been doing this weeks ago.

who could have predicted that a national government would prioritize the health of its citizens over the requirements of major league baseball

is there any treaty with canada we can break? america needs a W

several border disputes we could go to war over

ok toronto: get courageous and let our infected baseball men run around your stadium, or you're all gonna fuckin die

Give us the panhandle back and we’ll think about it.

*immediately cedes Florida panhandle to canada*

btw is contact tracing allowed in Canada? that whole fucking panhandle could use some. it's banned here and highly frowned on

OTHER PANHANDLE! OTHER PANHANDLE!

Ontario isn't doing tracing because reasons; but i think some of the smaller provinces with lower numbers are.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EdZUmMAXsAMLT_U?format=png&name=small

Thermo thinking of Pittsburg CA

― brooklyn suicide cult (Dr Morbius), Monday, July 20, 2020 9:26 AM (five hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

rip the jacka

nats w/ the sick burn

lol

New MLB sign-stealing, video rules not yet finalized with season near https://t.co/6TwoASC3Yb

— Evan Drellich (@EvanDrellich) July 21, 2020

aw man, no around the horn? :(

"The spitting is going to be tough."

As the Giants approach opening day, they're rushing to break lifelong habits. No spitting, no seeds, showers are discouraged, there's no throwing it around the horn. A story on baseball in 2020: https://t.co/nmd0YmXWdu

— Alex Pavlovic (@PavlovicNBCS) July 21, 2020

wait is the MLB the first American sports league (besides the WNBA maybe?) to explicitly *endorse* kneeling? pretty cool

Members of the @SFGiants kneel during the National Anthem. #BlackLivesMatter pic.twitter.com/QbvAvCZiEs

— MLB (@MLB) July 21, 2020

watched one inning of cubs-sox last night and did notice a catcher start/stop throwing down to third after a K -- figured it was just some scrub playing out of position at 3B and not paying attention

vary proud of my Giants for how they handled kneeling and Farhan Zaidi put the whole thing best:

"We support those who knelt peacefully to protest racial injustice and those who stood to express love of country. We do not see these as mutually exclusive sentiments and believe the freedom to express both is what our country is about," the statement said. "As an organization, we reaffirm our denouncement of acts of discrimination and violence against members of the Black community and our pledge to work together with those who seek to end racial justice in America."

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/san-francisco-giants-manager-several-team-members-take-knee-during-n1234447

not only that, they also made MLB history with a women coach at first base:

https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/21/us/woman-coach-san-francisco-giants-spt-trnd/index.html

"A woman made Major League Baseball history Monday by coaching first base for the San Francisco Giants during an exhibition game Monday.

Alyssa Nakken, the first female coach on a Major League Baseball staff in league history, became the first woman to coach on the field during a major league game on Monday."

The Dodgers are going to be good, but if Seager goes back to his pre-TJ surgery self... oh dear.

assuming the quote there was “ending racial injustice” c’mon editors

Should we just use this thread to throw down some predictions? I feel like short season predictions will be fun.

the Astros trash can scheme is gonna be real fuckin' obvious this year

Since they hit off BAL, TOR, and BOS for half their games, I suspect NYY will win at least 40.

Hey no talkin' bad 'bout.... Dylan Covey, proud owner of a 6.54 ERA in the bigs

OK, talk away

wait, isn't that the guy the Brewers drafted a decade ago, only to drop out because he discovered he had diabetes? good for him

this is not a very hot take but i expect a strong white sox performance, especially bc they play the royals and tigers a lot. gonna predict a wild card spot for them.

i could see them finishing above the Twins for sure.

dodgers 'closing in on extension' with mookie

Hunter Dozier is confirmed covid. He is symptomatic and was playing against the Astros on Monday.

I prefer the now-with-Donaldson Twins, but I can see the White Sox finish above the Cleveland Naps. I think the Rays have one WC spot taken.

A lot of their players last year had outlier-ish good seasons. And Even if their starting staff wasn’t a fluke, three of them are gone - tho the guys replacing them are ok, there’s no way their starting staff is as good this year.

The outlier-good season applies to a lot of the hitters too.

pending approval of the stae of PA, hohoho

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/29515522/sources-blue-jays-expected-play-home-games-pnc-park-pittsburgh

HARRISBURG, Pa. (@AP) _ Pennsylvania Department of Health won't allow Toronto Blue Jays to play at PNC Park in Pittsburgh amid pandemic.

— Marc Levy (@timelywriter) July 22, 2020

well that i did not expect

i'm sure having the pirates and phillies play at home is much safer

rip PJays

I get why the Canadian government didn’t want a bunch of dudes from a country with out of control covid rates flying in on a weekly basis.
I don’t understand what Pennsylvania thinks would be happening with the Jays that already isn’t happening there.