2025-2026 ENSO

[LibertyBell]

2 minutes ago, LibertyBell said:

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/death-diamond-how-analytics-destroying-baseball-from-inside-kelly-qfepe

Exit Velocity? Great—it went 112 MPH off the bat. But was it a hit or a loud out? That’s the part they skip.

Launch Angle? That’s cute. Let’s just ignore the fact that launch angle obsession has turned 180 hitters into all-or-nothing flyball machines—producing three true outcomes: walk, strikeout, or home run. Welcome to baseball’s version of roulette.

Spin Rate? That’s the holy grail now, right? So pitchers blow out elbows trying to increase RPMs instead of learning to pitch. What happened to command? What happened to working backwards? Analytics made pitchability a dirty word.

 Metrics Replacing Men

They sold us wRC+, xFIP, and CSW%—metrics that tell us what should have happened instead of what did. That’s not baseball. That’s fantasy. Real players fail and fight through it. Real scouts see beyond the stat line.

 

[40/70 Benchmark]

1 hour ago, LibertyBell said:

Exit Velocity? Great—it went 112 MPH off the bat. But was it a hit or a loud out? That’s the part they skip.

Launch Angle? That’s cute. Let’s just ignore the fact that launch angle obsession has turned 180 hitters into all-or-nothing flyball machines—producing three true outcomes: walk, strikeout, or home run. Welcome to baseball’s version of roulette.

Spin Rate? That’s the holy grail now, right? So pitchers blow out elbows trying to increase RPMs instead of learning to pitch. What happened to command? What happened to working backwards? Analytics made pitchability a dirty word.

 Metrics Replacing Men

They sold us wRC+, xFIP, and CSW%—metrics that tell us what should have happened instead of what did. That’s not baseball. That’s fantasy. Real players fail and fight through it. Real scouts see beyond the stat line.

 

Well, there is always going to be some level of BABIP luck involved...you can't eliminate that. However, harder hit balls of a higher BABIP....ie greater chance of being a hit.

[LibertyBell]

8 minutes ago, 40/70 Benchmark said:

Well, there is always going to be some level of BABIP luck involved...you can't eliminate that. However, harder hit balls of a higher BABIP....ie greater chance of being a hit.

Yes, I'd like to return to the era of the Mattinglies and Boggs, when we had the top hitters hitting over .350 and not striking out much.

That actually might be happening now with Judge and Freeman.

[TheClimateChanger]

25 minutes ago, LibertyBell said:

Yes, I'd like to return to the era of the Mattinglies and Boggs, when we had the top hitters hitting over .350 and not striking out much.

That actually might be happening now with Judge and Freeman.

I think the pitching is too good these days. The MLB keeps changing the game to drum up offense to make it more exciting, missing the fact that baseball is a 3-2 type game like they play in Japan. Now, they have pitch clocks, National League Designated Hitters, shortened strike zones, no infield shifts, extra innings ghost runners, shorter fields, enforcement of the prohibition on the "sticky stuff". They already lowered the mounds in the past; now, they are talking about lowering them more or moving them back. No care for the integrity of the game, only serving to drum up offense for the fans.

I am sure Ty Cobb would not be hitting .400 today - especially if they still had the same high mound and none of these other modern inventions. 

[LibertyBell]

20 minutes ago, TheClimateChanger said:

I think the pitching is too good these days. The MLB keeps changing the game to drum up offense to make it more exciting, missing the fact that baseball is a 3-2 type game like they play in Japan. Now, they have pitch clocks, National League Designated Hitters, shortened strike zones, no infield shifts, extra innings ghost runners, shorter fields, enforcement of the prohibition on the "sticky stuff". They already lowered the mounds in the past; now, they are talking about lowering them more or moving them back. No care for the integrity of the game, only serving to drum up offense for the fans.

I am sure Ty Cobb would not be hitting .400 today - especially if they still had the same high mound and none of these other modern inventions. 

I'd like to limit games to three pitchers per game per team and limit rosters to 10 pitchers, the bullpens have become way too dominant and take up most of the team.

[mitchnick]

Cfs2 pretty consistent (2+ weeks) with around normal temps to below in the east for the rest of the summer, with at or above rainfall. Basically, a continuation of what we've been seeing. This is fairly different from recent summers, so I wonder whether it's a "hint" for a change in the winter Niña winter pattern.