dodgers

A Modest Proposal

~ latskojerry ~ Leave a comment

The Ohtani Rule, which isn’t called that, needs to be altered or else dropped. It’s unfair. Designated hitters and pitchers have never previously been the same player during the fifty plus years history of the worst rule change in baseball history, This Not Ohtani rule says that , while designated hitters and pitchers who are replaced during a game are done for the day, there is one exception. The Not Ohtani Rule allows that if a pitcher starts a game, he can continue to take his turn in the batting order if he is replaced as a pitcher. Shohei Ohtani is the only player out of nearly 800 major league players who gets to do this. Rafael Devers doesn’t pitch. Logan Webb doesn’t bat. The Los Angeles Dodgers really did get a lot for their money.

Now, if the accommodation made for just one player is quickly improved by the addition of at least 15 more teams signing players who hit well and also are starting pitchers (which not so long ago was not out of the question) it would become fair. But that’s not going to happen. Babe Ruth had to quit pitching when he became an outfielder. Madison Bumgarner, Don Newcombe, Warren Spahn, Tim Hudson, Jack Harshman, Rick Wise, and Carlos Zambrano are just a few of the good hitting pitchers who would be denied at bats with today’s rules unless they were designated hitters on their off days from pitching. This change was approved not to improve the game but to increase the “M” word which is usually represented by dollar signs. Rule changes should benefit all teams or else be subject to the accusation of being too much like the way Congress acts (or doesn’t).

Therefore, MLB has only two options that could remove the unfair stigma: 1) Eliminate the designated hitter position or 2)Eliminate the Not Ohtani Rule. Too many good hitting players who also pitch are being forced to choose what they would rather do at far too young an age. Choose option one and make baseball (eventually) more fun again.

A Sad But Great World Series

~ latskojerry ~ Leave a comment

Yoshinobu Yamamoto was absolutely the most valuable player of the 2025 World Series with his difficult to believe performances, but this series will forever be remembered for so many remarkable things that we are almost too weary to list them.

Regular readers are well aware that while I was once a Dodgers fan (1955-’73). I have become a bit of a Dodgers hater as they gradually displaced the Yankees as the richest of the rich franchises in baseball and attained the ability to outspend the Pentagon while acquiring the best available talent in order to humble all opponents. Nevertheless, it has always been possible to like the players, at least the ones not named Steve Garvey. One has to appreciate the talent of Blake Snell, Freddie Freeman, Andy Pages, Miguel Rojas and others while simultaneously wishing ownership to move to some place like Saudi Arabia.

The Toronto Blue Jays were nothing short of magnificent. Three sons of former major leaguers all improved greatly over their 2024 season. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. makes money now like he’s in the Trump family but earns it. Bo Bichette was making everyone forget about his awful, injury filled ’24 season when he hit the injured list again in September. He missed the playoffs until the World Series and came back at second base rather than his usual shortstop position because his injured knee still limited his range and running ability and performed admirably. His three run home run in game seven had Jays fans thinking championship. That followed an intentional walk to Guerrero, who was a Canadian hero with a fabulous post season in all aspects of the game. Daulton Varsho was a standout, particularly on defense. And we all know who Trey Yesavage is now. Hitting coach Dave Popkins scored big points with this reporter for the intelligent, relentless attack that kept the Jays in just about every game they played throughout the playoffs. Their fourth run in game seven was an example. After the Dodgers cut Toronto’s lead to 3-2 in the sixth inning, Ernie Clement led off the bottom of the inning with a single. Andres Gimenez plainly intended to sacrifice bunt him forward. Gimenez took three pitches that were all called balls. The fourth pitch was a strike which probably nullified the bunt call, but Clement stole second base, and then Gimenez ripped a double to make it 4-2.

Were the Dodgers finished? What probably was finished was the experts grousing about how solo home runs don’t beat you in, as John Smoltz would say, the post season. Max Muncy in the 8th, 4-3. Miguel Rojas in the 9th, while everyone worried about him walking ahead of Shohei Ohtani, 4-4. Will Smith in the 11th, ballgame.

How does Major League Baseball address the lack of parity that makes it so hard to topple the New York teams and the Dodgers. It’s not as though the other teams are losing money. But the disparity is great. The rule now is that, if a team exceeds a certain amount of money, say 44 trillion dollars, in salaries, it is fined another chunk of money. That doesn’t work. If you fine a corporation like Lockheed Martin or Google money for polluting rivers or minds , they just make more money. So, the answer has two parts. First, outlaw deferred money. Pay these players up front and they can figure out their own investment strategy. Then, instead of making them pay money, make them pay players. Thus, if I sign Bo Bichette to a contract this winter that puts my team over the limit, the last place team in my division or league gets one of my top ten players rated by an independent agency based on last season’s performance. And don’t let Rob Manfred explain it.

Summer Is Gone

~ latskojerry ~ Leave a comment

Yes, it’s sad and sobering to see another major league baseball season completing its final week of the regular season schedule. If that’s not true for you I sincerely hope that you have something similar to enjoy although I have no idea what that might be. The idea that the New York Mets, the team that just about everybody agreed, at least before the games started being played, had assured themselves another World Series with the acquisition of Juan Soto and a couple of pitchers we can’t remember are possibly going to miss the post season altogether. That possibility makes it possible to believe that Elon Musk and Bill Gates could both go broke during our lifetime.

The Phillies, despite serious injury losses, look solid. Toronto is so far overcoming the loss of Bo Bichette. The Reds are a heartwarming late addition to the final scenes. Likewise, their Ohio friends in Cleveland will be welcome.

What a long strange trip it has been for San Francisco. The entire Bay Area has been crying in their espressos all year over the loss of the Oakland Athletics and the accompanying shameful behavior of team owners and their toad licking commissioner . The Giants have a very likeable roster and their fans may be hoping that outstanding additions like Justin Verlander, Willy Adames and Rafael Devers can be retained while Buster Posey and the office posse can show respect for Wilmer Flores, Casey Schmitt and Patrick Bailey by developing and finding young starting pitchers that can hurl more than a hundred innings without requiring major surgery. That last item appears to be true throughout the major leagues.

Milwaukee, despite last night’s tough loss in 11 innings to San Diego, remains very capable of success if the loss of Brandon Woodruff can be overcome. The Padres seem to have a better chance to advance than the Dodgers but look at what wealth has done for Pete Hegseth.

The who wants it? you take it between Cleveland and Detroit has been fascinating all season unless you have been rooting for either one of them. Two great managers are dualing here. A.J. Hinch and Stephen Vogt. The Yankees are like their 2024 World Series opponent, the Dodgers. They can buy whatever they want but there is no guarantee that it will work. I’m happy for Trent Grisham but I’m really hoping Toronto endures. Houston has been having age related injury problems but should not lose hope no matter what occurs.

Texas is among the probably majority of teams that have faced numerous serious injuries this season. This is not, and should not be, war. It’s a game that should remain fun for all concerned. The health of the players is important to the health of the game. To fellow old farts out there, I would say that you don’t want a ticket to a Credence Clearwater concert if John Fogerty can’t play, dig? Two years ago, Arizona went to the World Series on a late season surge. This year, the Diamondbacks appeared to surrender at the trade deadline and, partly as a result of that, a very strong Seattle Mariners team with Josh Naylor and Eugenio Suarez might do the same thing. And look! Arizona is still alive. The expansion of the post season has been good. Teams don’t have to surrender before the season is half gone. There is a certain weirdness about this change, but it’s better for the fans and the game. You can’t say that about the “ghost runner” in extra innings or the acceptance of gambling as if it’s a good thing but I’ll shut up about that for now. This is fun.

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Baseball and Mathematics

~ latskojerry ~ Leave a comment

As sure as Samuel Scudder is the dean of eighteenth century lepidopterists, we are at the All Star break. This, 2025, is being a pretty damned interesting season. Are the Dodgers in first place? Yes, dweeb, just like we told you they’d be. Still and yet, they are not 26 games ahead in their division like we thought they might be. Plus, the surest way in baseball to get injured is to pitch for the Dodgers.

Scientists trying to convince the world about global warming should just analyze home run totals at Dodger Stadium and that place in Anaheim. There are significant changes since the days of Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale, Dean Chance and Bo Belinsky. Upward bound. They call it the marine layer but I ‘m not very knowledgeable about weather. Those totals, however, have more than doubled over the last five or six decades.

The Mets clinched by signing Juan Soto, right? Some of us still favored the Braves in that division but did we forget about the Phillies? Forget about that, pal.

Anyone who tells you that this was the first half is a remedial math student. Ninety seven has never been half of 162.

Will I welcome the ABS system that was showcased at the All Star game in Atlanta? Yes and no. Human beings should remain part of baseball as much as possible now and forever. Videotape and cameras have had a somewhat positive effect insofar as “getting it right” and have proven more than a few perhaps pot bellied humans as being, well, human. One of the best aspects of good sportsmanship has always been the recognition that we’re all trying our best. The helmet tap will be good. Technology, however, is not perfect either. It’s developed by humans.

No, I never could have predicted the fall of the Orioles. I’m sure they’ll be back. I doubt that it was the manager, Brandon Hyde, that deserved blame. Middle management looks for scapegoats who aren’t so highly paid. The Red Sox are in a drive that I hope will be successful to save Alex Cora‘s job. Toronto has become a serious contender. The second surest way to get injured in baseball is to pitch for the Yankees. Given time, Aaron Judge could cure cancer. Aaron Boone still believes.

I decided a while back that the Astros were finished and then they took off. Texas, Seattle, attention please! The Angels are befuddling. The Pirates (organization, not players) are showing how much they don’t care. Cincinnati, however, is caring. St. Louis is still hard for me to figure but Milwaukee has new life. I’m learning a bit late what a good job A.J. Hinch and the Tigers are doing. Quite impressive it is. Here comes the fun!

Back to the Fifties?

~ latskojerry ~ 2 Comments

February has traditionally been the time of year when the winter thaw begins to hint that it might be starting. Let’s not start playing catch yet, but in a couple of weeks the pitchers and catchers will start showing up in the warmer portions of the country where “spring training” takes place. Sports pages and other media outlets begin to pry themselves away from football obsessions (hoping here that it includes Taylor Swift) and allow what used to be called the “National Pastime” some space. The mood has generally been warm, even optimistic. This year it seems a bit different. The great game is looking a bit shoddy and decadent.

The World Champion Los Angeles Dodgers, despite having a horrific bolt of reality dealt to the community in which they operate by the stupendous loss of people, living space,wildlife, and morale, apparently decided to keep on spending money like everything was going to be okay. Kirby Yates, Roki Sasaki, everybody, come on down. Sign up. The sun will still shine behind all the smoke there in fantasy land and we’ve got a great television contract. We survivors are all still rich, right? I’m not sure that that is what is meant by resilience.The Oakland A’s are gone to a minor league yard but who needs Oakland, right? It’s just working class people without the glitter of Las Vegas and the glitter of gambling (now a proud partner of Major League Baseball) or the glitter of over rated show business has beens.You may or may not agree with me that there is no place in organized baseball for glitter. Sacramento will be the so called temporary home for the A’s as they share a field there with the Triple A team that the San Francisco Giants are affiliated with, the River Cats. Sacramento deserves better than the ignorant slobs running that franchise.

Rob Cumberworld Manfred is the perfect commissioner in the Trump II era who doesn’t have a clue what the product he’s selling is all about. Just take their money and feed them bullcrap. Honor the billionaires and laugh at the peasants.

Eventually the athletes will help us to feel better. That’s what I’m hoping. I’m glad that Juan Soto is a New York Met, not a Yankee. I’m glad Justin Verlander is still going to work. Here’s hoping, but it looks like 1954.

The New York Yankees string of five consecutive pennants was broken that year by a remarkable Cleveland team that won 111 games against 43 losses but the Yanks won 103 . The big weapon the Yankees had, and still have, was cash. Cleveland was greatly aided that year by their “acqusition” of slugger Vic Wertz from the Baltimore Orioles, formerly the sad sack St. Louis Browns. Baltimore finished seventh in the eight team American League that year by losing 100 games. They were outdone in losing by the Philadelphia A’s, who were 51-103. Fourth place Boston finished 44 games behind Cleveland. Third place Chicago won 94 games. So money talked big back in the day. The National League came closer to parity. Eighth place Pittsburgh finished 44 games behind the pennant winning New York Giants with a 53-101 record. Steps were eventually taken to even things out somewhat. The amateur draft began in 1965 and the expansion drafts led to creation of divisions within each league so that more teams qualified for the post season. Obviously, the independence of players increased tremendously when free agency was fought for and won in the 70s.

The big enemy of parity is the capability of team owners to sign players to contracts with payment deferred for years and years. This helps teams get around being financially punished for spending too much on salaries in any given year. The Dodgers have done this, most notably with the massive contract they have with Shohei Ohtani. The idea is to spend into the future in order to sell tickets and television rights today. This is what needs to be banished if true parity is ever to exist. The big problem is that the players don’t seem to mind and the fans don’t get a vote. Okay, let’s all go shovel the snow or whatever. We”ll feel better in the Spring. Won’t we?