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MLB says Yankees’ new “torpedo bats” are legal and likely coming

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Re: MLB says Yankees’ new “torpedo bats” are legal and likely coming

#341

Post by CSMastermind »

poulsbohemian wrote: post #279
scoofy wrote: post #261

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't disagree with any of this, I'm just saying that we know where this goes. It's just an arms races if you let it become one. If the pitching is getting too good, make it harder to pitch. >In short, you would rather have a lower BA and a higher home run rate even if it means a higher K rate, since home runs (and 2Bs) are so significantly more valuable than singles, and fly outs are also much more valuable than g…

>The American sports system doesn't allow this because there is no relegation system A few years ago a friend of mine from the UK made the observation that American Football would benefit greatly from a relegation system... every season I have the same reaction. By about the 4th week of the season, the NFL bifurcates into legitimate contenders and everybody else. You end up with Thursday nights and late season games…

> so half the league has no reason to even play

Guys are always playing for their jobs if nothing else.

There are only a few games where you can put out tape and careers are short in the NFL. So even if you're on a completely losing team there's plenty to play for.

Re: MLB says Yankees’ new “torpedo bats” are legal and likely coming

#342

Post by xeromal »

gerdesj wrote: post #335
scoofy wrote: post #257

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are plenty of associations who do this: https://worldhickoryopen.com/ I still play with my grandfather's persimmon clubs about 25% of the time. It's just a coordination problem... but once the dominant professional association the game changes forever, because the vast majority of people just want to emulate the pros, because they grew up dreaming of becoming pro. Golf is finally trying to do something about th…

I am not a golfist at all and unfortunately I feel that I must instinctively hate the game - that is really my problem and not golf's. Golf is a decent sport and not deserving of my opprobrium. So why do I feel the need to dislike golf? I'm a white skinned, middle aged male and my job title is Managing Director. Obviously I should be a passionate small white ball smacker. No I'm not. I love the idea of golf but hate…

opprobrium - Now that's a 10$ word!

Re: MLB says Yankees’ new “torpedo bats” are legal and likely coming

#343

Post by xeromal »

Pet_Ant wrote: post #89
ARandumGuy wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While home runs are exciting, there are limits to that. For several years the MLB has been dealing with "three true outcomes", where a large percentage of at bats end in either a strikeout, walk, or home run. While this can be exciting for individual at bats, it becomes pretty boring if it's too common. This is because it invalidates every role except the pitcher and batter, and removes a lot of strategy from the gam…

I believe the opposite to that era is the "Dead-ball era" over a hundred years ago. > During the dead-ball era, baseball was much more of a strategy-driven game, using a style of play now known as small ball or inside baseball. It relied much more on plays such as stolen bases and hit-and-run than on home runs. This was likely caused by reusing baseballs more, so it should be easy to recreate, > Before 1921, it was c…

I dig it

Re: MLB says Yankees’ new “torpedo bats” are legal and likely coming

#344

Post by xeromal »

percentcer wrote: post #238
basisword wrote: post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It feels like one of those things where even though it’s within the limits of the rules, it just shows they need to tighten the rules. The end result is everyone having their own customised bat and it’s just a big waste of time. Better to tighten up the rules. If I had my way there would be one legal bat that everyone had to use. Sport should be about the athlete, not the tool.

Should everyone wear the same size shoes?

Next you'll tell me people should deadlift from different heights

Re: MLB says Yankees’ new “torpedo bats” are legal and likely coming

#345

Post by saghm »

jparishy wrote: post #14

I think it's quite cool (disclaimer: I am indeed a dirty Yankees fan) Hitting is really hard. If you feel up to it, and can find a public batting cage near you that has a fast pitch machine (usually maxes out 75-85mph which is 20+ mph less than your typical MLB fastball), give it a shot. When you hit the ball away from the sweet spot, especially on the parts closer to your hands, it really freaking hurts and throws o…

Even as a dirty Red Sox fan, I was quite amused at Judge's response when he was asked about it (quoting from a similar article on this from The Guardian):

> “The past couple of seasons kind of speak for itself,” Judge said a day after his third career three-homer game. “Why try to change something?”

He's certainly not wrong!

Re: MLB says Yankees’ new “torpedo bats” are legal and likely coming

#347

Post by no_wizard »

scoofy wrote: post #243
jparishy wrote: post #14

I think it's quite cool (disclaimer: I am indeed a dirty Yankees fan) Hitting is really hard. If you feel up to it, and can find a public batting cage near you that has a fast pitch machine (usually maxes out 75-85mph which is 20+ mph less than your typical MLB fastball), give it a shot. When you hit the ball away from the sweet spot, especially on the parts closer to your hands, it really freaking hurts and throws o…

I play golf. I write about golf. I genuinely love golf. Over the last 50 years, we have slowly broken the game of golf by allowing incremental technological advancements -- just like this -- that make it easier to do something that is hard, that is making it easier to hit the sweet spot. I am sending a grave warning to baseball fans here from the future that you will arrive at by following this road. Golf used to be…

I think everything you noted as a downside is why, in part, things like Pickleball and Disc Golf took off in the last 5 years.

They’re similar to things we know, but different enough that they haven’t been optimized out of reach by normals, or at least perceived as such, and both have a relatively cheap barrier of entry to get started.

I think we may find 20 years from now the dominate sports have changed up a bit. I have heard that the NFL and MLB for instance are worried about the incoming decline of their sports because they aren’t nearly as popular with people under 35 compared to basketball and other up snd coming sports

Re: MLB says Yankees’ new “torpedo bats” are legal and likely coming

#348

Post by makeitdouble »

scoofy wrote: post #261
szvsw wrote: post #255

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There’s some consensus though that currently, pitching has evolved much faster than batting due to advances like Trackman and deeper understanding of the relationship between biomechanics, pitch tunneling, spinrate/flight path/movement, and so on. In conjunction with that has been a shift towards “TTO” (three true outcomes - HR/BB/K) on the offensive side, which is a statistically motivated perspective that batting f…

I don't disagree with any of this, I'm just saying that we know where this goes. It's just an arms races if you let it become one. If the pitching is getting too good, make it harder to pitch. >In short, you would rather have a lower BA and a higher home run rate even if it means a higher K rate, since home runs (and 2Bs) are so significantly more valuable than singles, and fly outs are also much more valuable than g…

> If the pitching is getting too good, make it harder to pitch.

For ball games it sounds mostly fair.

There is a weird situation in cycling where any attempt at improvement (even in riding postures) getting banned by the UCI has become a meme and each year's announcement generates a fest of joke videos.

That would be the other end of the spectrum we're trying to avoid.

Re: MLB says Yankees’ new “torpedo bats” are legal and likely coming

#349

Post by hattmall »

scoofy wrote: post #285
DrFalkyn wrote: post #275

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There’s minor leagues all over the USA. It’s pretty cheap to go to a baseball game if it’s not MLB. And even MLB if your not picky on where you sit and the game time

I used to attend round rock express games a lot. The problem is because they are a minor league team, it doesn’t matter if they are good or bad. There is no one to root for because their best players are all just sent up to the majors. It lacks generational fandom, because there is no place for hope in farm teams.

In minor leagues you root for the players. At least when I was a kid I did. I knew them, had my favorites and they were accessible. I got lots of autographs of future stars and it was incredibly exciting to see them make it to the majors. As a kid anyway, which is who I feel baseball is for, it's weird to me for adults to care about baseball.

Re: MLB says Yankees’ new “torpedo bats” are legal and likely coming

#350

Post by eru »

rco8786 wrote: post #333
eru wrote: post #318

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Golf is essentially a single player game that you play against yourself. If you don't like a particular thing in golf, then don't use that particular thing. And if it destroys the entertainment value, then don't watch that. This is very similar to how speedruns for video games have multiple categories with different rulesets, and you pick whichever one you like best.

> Golf is essentially a single player game that you play against yourself. That is not at all how tournament/competitive golf works. And that's what sets the tone for the whole sport.

You don't have to let it set the tone for your golf.
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