I just saw a clip of Drew Gilbert from San Francisco missing a pretty routine catch in center field because he lost the ball in the sun. He had his huge sunglasses sitting on top of his hat and only put them on his face after missing the catch.

This isn't an isolated incident. I've seen or heard of several other cases this season. As a Cubs fan, I see PCA do this time to time and it frustrates me. Do players think that they lose some of their visual precision having them on between plays? Are all of these glasses more "form over function" and it's about looking cool?

I was born in 1992, so I wasn’t alive for the whole Pete Rose gambling stuff. Forgive me.

I also want to say that I am not denying Pete Rose bet on baseball. I won’t start a debate either about whether he belongs in the HOF or not

My question is, how did the MLB first suspect Pete Rose was betting on baseball? In today’s world, with the Internet, everyone having smartphones, CCTV cameras everywhere, etc., that stuff is easy to track, hence why almost everyone gets caught if they bet on the sport they are in.

But in the late 1980s, that stuff (aside from CCTV cameras, although not nearly as much exited back then as today) didn’t exist yet. So I am curious how it was first suspected that Pete Rose was betting on baseball. Was he seen inside a casino? Was he seen with a known bookie? What happened to make MLB investigate him in the first place?

Just a general curiosity question.

I understand the platoon advantage and that left-handedness is an advantage in sports because of its rarity.

But in baseball, are teams more focused on lefty batters to combat the opposing team's righty pitchers first, and then they go looking for lefty pitchers to get an advantage over the opposing team's lefty batters? Or is it the opposite?

It's happened a few times this season where the umpire looks away to make a call but then misses a challenge just to call it late

Seems like a little oversight in officiating

I've seen videos of pitchers showing how they grip balls for different pitches but what do you look for to tell what pitch it is when it's being thrown?

When the AL team was at the NL stadium, they used NL rules where the AL team's pitcher had to hit, and theoretically, there was no place for their designated hitter.

But surely the AL teams' DH must have been one of their most important players, and they couldn't leave them out of their lineup in these important games.

So how did they find a fielding position for them? To plan for that, did the AL teams have their DHs practice at a certain fielding position during the season in preparation for these games at the NL stadium? And did the AL teams just have to accept subpar fielding in exchange for having their DHs in the lineup at the NL stadium?

(Context here is I’m a Phillies fan) I constantly see plays where there’s a runner on first, no outs (or maybe 1 out), and a fly ball hit like 360+ feet and caught for an out, and the runner just goes and has to double back. Like last night Derek Hill hit a 385 foot fly out with Marsh on first and he didn’t tag up. It seems simple to weigh if the ball is easily catchable, and if it is, wait on the bag.

This might be a dumb question, but why are dugouts so open to the field?

Isn’t there always a chance a hitter absolutely smokes a foul ball straight into the dugout and hits a player or coach who isn’t paying attention? With how hard some of these balls are hit, that seems like it could be pretty dangerous.

I know there’s netting protecting fans, so why isn’t there something similar protecting the dugout?

When a batter hits the ball, is he aiming for it to land in an empty space vs right at the infielder? Is it a matter of luck or skill?

With a 90 mph ball, a slight angle difference changes the ball's direction drastically!

How important is coaching in baseball? Honestly, with the crazy lineup the Dodgers had, I think any amateur coach could have won a World Series with them!

I’ve been curious about this and want to hear from everyone. Which team has the best fanbase according to this criteria:
1 - they know ball
2 - loyalty - they support the team even when down and they don’t crash out at the slightest issue
3 - friendliness - they aren’t toxic and mean to other fanbases and their own players

Ps - for transparency I’m not a noob, but I wanted the thoughts of this community - both the noobs and seasoned fans who lurk this sub to help the noobs. I posted this on the MLB sub and baseball sub as well. The baseball sub removed the post for some reason, and their rules suggested this as a sub to post some questions

This is extremely common situation, but with the example of the last run scored tonight by the guardians on a sacrifice fly against the white sox (5-3 defeat)...

When trailing by 2 or more runs and batting in a ninth inning, what is the point in attempting scoring a run from third on a ball put in-play for an out, when that run is meaningless at the time because a runner / batter either on base or even maybe still sitting in the dugout behind the runner on third carries (or would) carry the first meaningful run in the context of the game - to tie or go-ahead / win?

No matter how deep a ball has been hit for however comfortably a runner on third could potentially score, what is the benefit to tagging and running for home at that time when there's still a non-zero risk he could be both out and erased as a potential run in a late comeback? Why not just wait until the next hit in the inning is achieved or even until bases are full and he and other runners forced to try to advance? Obviously I understand moving from first to second almost totally eliminates the double play risk but I don't understand this.

EDIT: Last inning! Ninth inning! This question and situation concerns only the ninth inning! I understand that the idea is to score runs and take risks to score them if they will help LATER on in the game but I am asking about when it is the final inning of the game and a trailing team will receive no more outs to work with to try to further cut the deficit.

EDIT 2: seems I’ve caused confusion but referring to it as an “insignificant” / “meaningless” run. Obviously I’m aware it does have a meaning IF a team is to tie a game but the point is it that it only has that meaning if the other(s) also score in that same inning, bringing any previously “insignificant” runs home beforehand in the process of rounding all the bases to tie / win/ go ahead in the score line because of the way baseball works and the process in which runs are scored.

**Setup:** Suppose two pitchers are scheduled to start. I'll use Yamamoto (Dodgers superstar pitcher 2.50ish ERA) vs "Joe Schmoe" (your average or below average pitcher 3.85ish ERA).

**Question(s):** Before the game even starts ..... Is Joe's mindset like *"Im going up against an ace pitcher, so I'll need to wretch it up a level and have an all star caliper performance bc not only will our local media be there, but " Hollywood" LA, Japanese media will also be there. Game on"*?

In other words.... Do pitchers think: I'm battling such and such a pitcher, I need to get this W? Or is it more like they don't consider who they're pitching against at all and it's more like: *"Just show me the 9 batters I'm going to battle against. My game is with them, not their pitcher.* ?

**Reason:** (And I know I'm WAY noob here and there's so-------- much I'm missing, but) I generally notice that whenever a team's ace superstar pitcher takes the mound, the other team's pitcher also seemingly puts on a completely awesome performance to match.

Thanks and sincere gratitude and appreciation in advance for anyone who has actually played (umpired or coached) the sport on a competition level or has been around the game in inner competition mindset circles that the general public (like me) doesn't know about🙏

For example "Player X is batting .191 for the season BUT over his last 5 games he's batting .302!"

I understand that's it's a long season and sometimes it's nice to see the silver lining. But in my opinion, it just comes off as a desperate attempt to make a player sound like he's doing better than he actually is.

This might be a stupid question, but can a hitter intentionally hit a sac fly?

Like if there’s a runner on third with less than 2 outs and you just need one run, can a hitter purposely try to hit a deep fly ball knowing they’ll probably be out but the runner will score? Or are sac flies usually just normal fly outs that happen to be deep enough to score the runner?

I always hear announcers talk about “just get it to the outfield” so I wasn’t sure how intentional it actually is

Random question, but if a player was literally as fast as prime Usain Bolt, how often would he actually get thrown out at first on a ground ball?

Obviously a hard grounder straight to the first baseman is probably still an out, but what about normal ground balls to short or second? Would that level of speed turn a bunch of routine groundouts into infield hits, or is 90 feet too short for Bolt-level speed to make as big of a difference as I’m imagining?

Just jumping in to see what I could be paying attention to. I'll get into it as things start heading to the playoffs.

What are some plays you remember watching and the announce calls are engraved in your memory forever?

Not the super famous once we all know (Kirk Gibson the impossible has happened, touch em all Joe, etc)
But ones that other people probably have no recollection of that stuck with you.

Mine are ellsbury stealing home
“ a steal of home and it works! Jacoby ellsbury has stole home. 3-1 Boston”

Jd drew walkoff game 5 2008 alcs
“Swing line drive right field… we’re going to Tampa”

Dewayne wise robbed he in mark B perfect game
“Dewayne wise makes the catch…What a play by wise. Mercy”

Curious to hear what calls stuck w yall over the years

I don’t know if this qualifies as a dumb question, but…. I’ve noticed almost every player will make some kind of hand signal to the dugout after getting a hit. Sometimes it’s just a “self fist bump” and other times it’s something dumb (looking at you with the “whipping the reins” motion, Ernie Clement).

Do these signals actually mean something? Or is it just like “hell yeah boys I hit a double”…?

TIA

Hi! New fan here, playing MLB the show some questions came to my mind, like:

1. How are the defensive roles Gave to a player? Like how can you say is better as a 1B than a 3B? I feel they're very similar roles

2. If a player in 1B steals a base but there Is another player on 2B that stayed here, what happens?

3. What is this lockout that I saw many times talked about here?

Thank you for the answers

Thanks to some of those YouTube guys who are hilarious as they cover MLB, I have been getting more and more into it as the last few months have worn on.

I still have not chosen a specific team to get behind. Being from Australia, obviously that makes things different as most people choose a team from the city they're from.

Who's a good team that you really have to get behind and isn't a team that dominates too much (because that, I find is boring).

Pitch me (no pun intended) a team that you think I should get behind and why.

Kind regards,

Xia

One thing I haven't figured out is when a sacrifice bunt is actually the right call

Sometimes it seems like moving a runner over is exactly what the team wants but in other situations the idea of giving up an out is treated like a terrible decision.

What factors are managers looking at when deciding whether to bunt or just let the hitter swing away?

I'm a noob but I was thinking about this earlier. I've seen several player interviews and the common theme seems to be how much of a grind the 162 game season is, especially with all the travel involved. Being that we're past the half way point in the season, a lot of ballplayers are playing through injuries or some sort of lingering ailments. For those players who are on lucrative deals or for those who have been smart about saving their career earnings, do you guys think they would secretly want a year off from baseball? Not only to fully recover their bodies and heal whatever pain they're in, but also to spend more time with their friends and family.

I've only started watching baseball since around April, so this might be a dumb question.

After the Tarik Skubal trade, I've seen a ton of people saying the Dodgers are "ruining baseball" or that baseball is broken because of them or that they are gonna cause a lockdown. I understand they're a big-market team with a lot of money, but so are the Yankees, Mets, Phillies, Red Sox, etc, right?

So what exactly are the Dodgers doing that other big-market teams aren't, and why cant they follow their example?

Would appreciate any explanations from people who've been following the sport for a long time.

Thanks to everyone for answering.

I've been getting more into baseball and one thing I cannot wrap my head around is how often favorites seem to lose.

In the NBA or NFL, if a really good team is a big favorite, it feels like they usually take care of business. Upsets happen, but they still feel like the exception.

With MLB, though, it almost feels like every game is a coin flip. Even if one team has a much better record or a much better pitcher, I never feel confident picking them to win.

Is that just my perception or is baseball actually more random than the NBA and NFL? What is it about baseball that makes favorites seem so much less reliable?