MLB 2018 & 2019?

On the basis that:

a) there hasn't been a post on this forum for over two weeks, and

b) all the US sports have threads devoted to them apart from the one that is actually interesting,

I thought I'd start a baseball one as the season has just started.

I see 'my' team the Mariners head the AL West with two wins out of two. This is, of course, quite usual and we can probably expect another couple of wins in the next two games before the slump starts. Expect to be below .500 before the month is out and to stay that way for the rest of the season.

Wow you sounded very Americanised there Mr Bara.

Just waiting for someone to say its just rounders.

It's going as predicted. After a good start in which they topped the division for a few days it seems to be at the stage where if they win one they can be expected to lose the next and they are already 2.5 games behind. Within the next couple of weeks they should be in 'if they lose one will they lose the next?' territory and set for a fourth place 20+ games behind finish.

In fact the prediction turned out to be over-optimistic. The Mariners are on a 7-game losing streak and are on .368 and 6 games behind already. Season over and it's not even May.

Whisper it, but the Mariners are in with a serious chance of a Wild Card spot this year. That should put the mockers on it.

One game to go. Possibly. A win today and a loss for Oakland and the Mariners go into a play-off. A play-off for a place in the play-offs

Right winner ?

Dunno really. Baseball hasn't been on proper telly for ages so I haven't seen any for years. Given that the Giants are, presumably, a 'big' club, I would probably have been rooting for the Royals, despite my republican (not Republican) leanings.

What's the story behind you picking The Mariners, Capy?

Nothing more interesting than that I went there. I found myself in Seattle for two nights in 1995 and the Mariners were playing Detroit Tigers. A couple of friends were interested in baseball so I went along to see what it was all about. A brewpub over the road helped. I went back the following year and saw five games. Ken Griffey Jr, Alex Rodriguez, Jay Buhner, Dan Wilson et al though I didn't get to see Randy Johnson pitch. I was interviewed on live local TV queuing for tickets and was recognised by a local in a store later the same day. There's more left of Ayresome Park than the Kingdome these days.

Off and running again and the Mariners have started with their traditional first-day win. To be followed by the usual slump no doubt.

Still can't get into it, but it's ahead of Basketball in my preferred US sports.

I'll be with you once Le Tour has finished. Even I can't manage two five-hour events per day.

You see I'm that interested that I've missed the end of the regular season and most of the playoffs. Let's hope the eventual winners come from the American League, that's all I can say.

And they did. And not a mention, that I've heard, on normal TV and wireless. It got a mention last year on Radio Five, but not even that this year. It's like the game no longer exists.

I binned BT Sport when they started charging for it. Which provided a similarly interesting insight into how visible baseball is in this country if you're not looking for it.

In fact, although I saw a few tweets this morning about the end of the WS, I'm still not totally sure who won (or who was in it). If pushed without checking I'd say Kansas City Royals.

Edit. Checked. Must have seeped in somehow. One better than last year.

So the Mariners have broken with tradition by losing their first game. What can this mean? At least they haven't peaked early. Will they peak at all?

A brief table-topping peak last week, followed by the inevitable downward slide, with a sweep by the eternally-errantly-apostrophised Athletics.

West W L PCT GB WCGB L10 STRK
Seattle 16 11 .593 - - 8-2 W3
Texas 15 13 .536 1.5 - 5-5 L2
LA Angels 13 15 .464 3.5 2.0 5-5 W1
Oakland 13 16 .448 4.0 2.5 3-7 L4
Houston 10 18 .357 6.5 5.0 4-6 W2

What can possibly go wrong?

Quite a lot I guess ...

Well, predictably they went on a losing run and dropped down the standings. But then a strong run towards the end of the season put them in with a chance of a wild card place. They were still in with an outside chance going into the last weekend of the regular season but the results went against them and they ended a game short. Best season for a long while.

Right on cue I heard the first bit of news on the 2016 season on Radio Five this morning. That the World Series is going into a decider.

And it made BBC telly this morning, with a couple of still photos.

I look forward to the BBC's next MLB update some time in November 2017.

The Mariners have lost their first game again, to Houston Astros. I can't get my head around things really since they shuffled the AL/NL pack.

Mariners 6 and 9. Considering it was 1 and 7 the last time I looked that's quite an improvement.

My (almost) annual post of the first sighting of MLB on the BBC this season. It's early this year. They reported this morning that the World Series is tied at 1-1. Must be a slow sports news day.

So the Houston Astros win the World Series. A win for the AL but I always associate them with the NL. The Mariners are one of only two teams never to have appeared in a World Series. Can't see that changing soon.

Dunno about this. I don't care for one team and positively dislike the other:

MLB in London?

There's the playing-games-overseas issue as well, which anyone with any sense is against in our football, though with the number of games they play in baseball it's much less of an issue.

A first-day loss for the third year in a row. There's probably 'meaningful' stats about that somewhere. Though having seen something once that they only 'thought' was a first, I'm not always convinced they have stats on everything. Or, at least, the actually interesting stuff. Anyroad, they've recovered to 2 and 1 now. Prediction: a season marginally above .500 with a brief false hope of the playoffs around August before falling away to a third place finish. Based on nothing whatsoever.

The reason for games being overseas is money.

There are 4+ NFL games a year in London and Mexico (used to be in Canada as well) that make the teams a fortune. NBA have also played regular games here.

Indeed. So I wonder if they'll charge sky-high prices for games here in 2019. As I remember (and it's over 20 years since I was there), baseball was pretty cheap to get in. It would be good if it gets telly exposure.

I don't think they will over-price it as that would be a foolish move.

They definitely havent overpriced the NFL ....