StarTopic Famiboards Baseball Crew 2023

[big lantern ghost]

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Hello, sports fans! The 2023 Major League Baseball season starts on March 30th and ends on October 1st, with playoffs and the World Series to follow. This is the first time in 55 years that every major league team is playing on Opening Day, so be sure to check your team’s time for Thursday!

Other Notable Events & Dates

• April 29-30 — MLB World Tour: Giants play the Padres in Mexico City
• June 24-25 — MLB World Tour: Cardinals play the Cubs in London
• July 11 — All-Star Game
• October 3 — Playoffs begin

Stuff to know

• A pitch clock has been introduced. A pitcher has 15 seconds to choose and throw a pitch with no runners on base, and 20 seconds with at least one runner on. If the pitching motion hasn’t begun by the time the timer runs out, it’s an automatic ball.
• Bases are increasing in size from 15” to 18”
• Extra innings will begin with a runner in scoring position.
• There will be no Field of Dreams game this year due to construction of a kids’ baseball complex next to the MLB field in Iowa.

Where to watch
It depends on where you are and who you’re trying to watch, but all of the usual suspects are still broadcasting this year — FOX, TBS, ESPN, MLB Network. The league’s own premium streaming app, MLB.TV, will give you access to virtually every game…except for the Blue Jays’. They’re owned by Canadian telecom who maintain their own broadcasting rights. You can stream Jays games from anywhere with Sportsnet NOW. Apple TV+ is continuing their Friday Night Baseball promotion this year.

Interleague matchups
The number of interleague games has more than doubled for 2023, and changed over to a more balanced and varied approach. For the first time in modern baseball, everyone is going to play everyone over the course of the season.

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So! Do you watch baseball? Have you been meaning to try and watch baseball? Do you yell at your television when your team makes a groin-grabbingly good catch? Make sure to swing by and post, then! Or else this thread is exclusively going to be a lot of rambling about the Blue Jays. And nobody wants that.

I’ll update the OP throughout the season as things / schedules / scandals develop. Play ball!

(Shoutout to @EvilChameleon for kickstarting this thread)

 

[WestEgg]

Love seeing sports threads on here. Go Cubs!

 

[EvilChameleon]

Hell yeah, and let's start it off with a Guards contract extension!


Hope we win the division again!

 

[Red Monster]

GO GUARDS!

 

[ngpdrew]

Very excited for all of the changes.

Go Cubs! Be less bad!

 

[EvilChameleon]

Already too many Cubs fans here. Shut this thread down.

 

[big lantern ghost]

It’s nice enough for me to grill dinner outside tonight, and baseball starts in just a few days. Fuck. Yes.

 

[Josh5890]

Already too many Cubs fans here. Shut this thread down.

You want that ban now?

 

[EvilChameleon]

You want that ban now?

Breaking my heart in 2016 wasn't enough, now you're gonna ban me? Shameless.

 

[ngpdrew]

Breaking my heart in 2016 wasn't enough, now you're gonna ban me? Shameless.

If it makes you feel any better, I did feel kind of bad that it was Cleveland we beat...

 

[Josh5890]

Breaking my heart in 2016 wasn't enough, now you're gonna ban me? Shameless.

What @ngpdrew said. It was just a little bittersweet.

 

[EvilChameleon]

If it makes you feel any better, I did feel kind of bad that it was Cleveland we beat...

What @ngpdrew said. It was just a little bittersweet.

It's my fault, really. After the Cavs won the title I immediately went on a Cubs blog and said "you guys are next to break a curse", and, well, a couple months later, whoops!

 

[ngpdrew]

It's my fault, really. After the Cavs won the title I immediately went on a Cubs blog and said "you guys are next to break a curse", and, well, a couple months later, whoops!

Hah! I had the same whoopsie daisy with football. I congratulated my Patriots fan friend in advance on winning the Super Bowl in 2019 after losing to the Eagles in 2018; I didn't think that a year later it would be my team that the Patriots were beating on the biggest stage!

Best of luck to the Guardians! I always root for them to emerge from the AL.

 

[SlumWolf]

life-long yankees fan here, apologies in advance

 

[EvilChameleon]

Okay now we really gotta shut the thread down.

 

[WestEgg]

I was way older when I learned this song was a parody.

 

[big lantern ghost]

life-long yankees fan here, apologies in advance

I'm going to let this slide, but only because the Yankees have probably the best baseball song ever written:

 

[ngpdrew]

I'm going to let this slide, but only because the Yankees have probably the best baseball song ever written:

ahem

 

[SlumWolf]

I do think the best baseball song ever written is about the Cubs (although the central metaphor is about the doomed optimism of rooting for them)

 

[EvilChameleon]

See, for me it's...

 

[big lantern ghost]

It’s opening day! Hope everyone will be able to catch their team's first game. My wife is working late tonight, and she'll be streaming the game. You can only have one person logged into Sportsnet at a time, so I'm gonna be listening on motherfucking AM radio. I'm not even gonna use my phone. Real-deal AM radio! Excited

 

[EvilChameleon]

You can only have one person logged into Sportsnet at a time, so I'm gonna be listening on motherfucking AM radio. I'm not even gonna use my phone. Real-deal AM radio! Excited

I have listened to every Guardians game for years on the radio. Mute the TV, crank the radio. Tradition.

 

[Josh5890]

I'm keeping tabs at work

 

[ngpdrew]

I taught one class and the game is almost over. Pitch clock is a gift.

 

[Red Monster]

The Guards aren't on until 10PM tonight. Why open the season on the west coast? Jeezalou.

Not that it matters anyway because the only way I have to legally follow the game is to listen to it on my car radio.

 

[WestEgg]

Anyone follow college baseball? (Yes, surprise, WestEgg is talking about college sports)

I’m thinking about going to a few games this spring since it’s decently cheap. I also typically go see the minor league South Bend Cubs once a year.

 

[Josh5890]

Cubs win! 1-0

Game only took 2:23 to play.

 

[big lantern ghost]

Jays up 3-0 after a single inning. I'll take it!

I don't follow college baseball, but there is the Intercounty Baseball League -- or IBL -- in my area! My city's ballpark is less than 10 minutes from my house, so I'll definitely be catching a few of those games over the summer.

EDIT: Holy crap this is brutal lol. 9-9

EDIT 2: 10-9 Jays..!

EDIT 3: Cinched it! Jays won! And with the new pitch clock it only took…the better part of four hours!

 

[ngpdrew]

The pitch clock is already amazing.

 

[EvilChameleon]

Pitch clock helps these 10PM starts be more tolerable.
Yet the monkey paw curls, as it looks like this one might go a million extra innings.

 

[Phosphorescent Skeleton]

This is the year I'm finally going to get into baseball, specifically Japanese baseball. Let's go Marines!

 

[EvilChameleon]

Yeah, dunno why we decided to keep Karencheck, since he always took two hours between pitches.

 

[Red Monster]

Starting the season off strong I see! Nothing like being shut out to really get the good vibes going! Cleveland baseball and anemic offense - name a more iconic duo.

 

[Josh5890]

I always hate the day after opening day. Only four games tonight

 

[EvilChameleon]

Good win last night. There was nothing the pitch clock could do to speed that one up!

 

[big lantern ghost]

Good win last night. There was nothing the pitch clock could do to speed that one up!

Jays play their second game today. The first one was 3h50m long lmao. Gotta be daunting to finish and think, “Only 161 more of those to go!”

This is the year I'm finally going to get into baseball, specifically Japanese baseball. Let's go Marines!

Do they occasionally stream any free games or anything like that? I have never seen a NPB game and would love to check one out!

 

[Phosphorescent Skeleton]

Do they occasionally stream any free games or anything like that? I have never seen a NPB game and would love to check one out!

I live in Japan so its easy for me to stream games, but I'm not sure about overseas.

 

[big lantern ghost]

Cardinals filling their bases up with Jays via walks to start us off 🤙

EDIT: Whoops we shit it

 

[EvilChameleon]

Hell yeah, win #2, and got it done before midnight! Pitching staff reigned supreme tonight.

 

[EvilChameleon]

3-1 to start the season, on the road, in tough to play Seattle has me like...

 

[Red Monster]

3-1 to start the season, on the road, in tough to play Seattle has me like...

this is probably the best use of a gif i’ve ever seen

 

[big lantern ghost]

Fact: referring to a loss as a “drubbing” is the best and the funniest way to do so.

Two drubbings in the books for the Jays already. Obviously a lotta baseball left to go! But it does sort of feel like they didn’t really learn much from last year / are already falling into the same pitfalls.

Royals up next for us

 

[SammyJ9]

I'll jump in as a completely irrelevant Rockies fan! Let's uhhhh... not suck as much as last year?

Best we can hope for is to screw over the Dodgers as much as humanly possible.

 

[Josh5890]

Cubs starting out hot tonight.

Edit: and they gave it up right away.

 

[EvilChameleon]

Hell yeah, classy fans in Oakland.

 

[big lantern ghost]

Another L! Dang.

 

[EvilChameleon]

Things got dicey, but the Guards got the job done! Bring on the home opener!

 

[Josh5890]

Can anyone recommend a baseball podcast? Ideally something that airs daily to listen to at work.

 

[1upmuffin]

I just got into baseball last year, it's so much fun! My family was never much into sports, but I've grown to really appreciate them.

Sad the Phillies are off to a bad start so far.

 

[Red Monster]

Playing The Show has got me wishing I had a way to (legally and conveniently) actually watch baseball games. Without cable it seems the only option is MLB TV, but the blackouts make that a nonstarter.