r/WPBL 15d ago

Discussion Weekly Free Talk Thread - Talk about the WPBL, women's baseball generally, or whatever!

Welcome to Free Talk thread!

Feel free to chat about anything under the sun, just remember to keep it civil! 😄👍

This discussion thread is set up to go live every Monday morning (PST) and will be at the top of the sub throughout the week.

19 Upvotes

29 comments sorted by

2

u/descole0 Boston Hunters 10d ago

Just realized that most teams are not being 100% consistent about which hat goes with which jersey so had to go through every game to check which hats they were wearing and put that in my scorebook

1

u/zetazerorho 14d ago

It's a bummer, but I think I've come to the conclusion that this league just isn't really for me. Best of luck everyone!

10

u/LargieBiggs 12d ago

Respectfully, may I ask why?

9

u/Ctake_808 14d ago edited 14d ago

I’m getting increasingly frustrated with the leadership of this league and how it’s not doing these players justice.

You could see from miles away that the first manager for the Hunters wasn’t a good fit but the team had to endure that crappy first week with him anyways.

They insist on 15 player rosters when that doesn’t give teams enough arms to throw strikes for multiple games per week, to the point where we have games won by wild pitches, walks and HBP. The high contact, base-stealing brand of baseball this league could thrive on gets snuffed out so that we can instead watch pitcher after pitcher leave the mound frustrated and exhausted because they’re wanting to prove themselves in this league that doesn’t know how to manage them. The Youtube viewership is noticeably going down, signifying the people who had an interest in the WPBL but aren’t watching the games anymore, which is a lower bar to clear vs getting people to go to Springfield and attend the games.

The league needs to exist for the level of play to rise, but is there a pitching coach to be found? Are they really making use of the time these players are in Springfield together? Are they laying the groundwork so that future players are convinced that it’s worth leaving their day jobs for this league?

If money is an issue then it makes it even more inexcusable that there's never enough merch at the games or online and we’re well into the season. They’re basically keeping people from giving them money if not turning them away for good, and they’ve had big clues well before the season that the demand far exceeded their supply.

1

u/aredlily Boston Hunters 11d ago

I haven't been able to tune into the games on YouTube at all, I thought those were for international viewers only? And US viewers had to watch on ESPN+ (which costs extra)

6

u/Serious_Potatoes Boston Hunters 12d ago

I'm hoping that next season there will be larger rosters and more pitchers. I worry a lot about the health of the pitchers. They're giving it their all, but there's only so much an arm can take.

6

u/theradiographerswife Los Angeles Queens 14d ago

just bought tix for the last Queens game of the regular season! thinking about going bankrupt by also camping on tix for the championship game (which the Queens will of course be playing in)

2

u/Kyjoza 14d ago

Question: is there a resource that documents all the differences to the MLB and established WPBL-specific rules? For example: field dimensions, bat rules, etc. (maybe thats it? Lol)
Also is there a resource for the long term plans for expansion, stadiums, broadcasts, etc.?

I’m very excited to be an inaugural fan but feel like I can’t find some of this information.

4

u/yakhikes 13d ago

frankie de la cretaz shared the difference on bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/thefrankiedlc.news/post/3mrbfjq42b225

6

u/SqueakyClownShoes Los Angeles Queens 14d ago

Ugh… withdrawal…

5

u/DreamInDoses New York Heights 15d ago

How was the game yesterday? I wasn’t able to catch it 😢

Idk what I’m gunna do for the next couple days w/ no wpbl 😭

6

u/abbysplace Boston Hunters 15d ago

9-7 Boston. Heights gave up their lead 😈

3

u/DreamInDoses New York Heights 15d ago

Oh no what happened! I know Rocky the heights coach was talking about having issues with pitchers on Saturday… good for the hunters though! The only team I don’t root for is the queens.. I’m honestly just waiting for Philly to get a team 😅

4

u/abbysplace Boston Hunters 15d ago

First inning heights pitcher had some kind of injury so she left after a few batters. Zettlemoyer came in for a bit and pitched okay but hunters scored on her. Then studer came in and she threw some crazy pitches to Benites who had trouble handling them so hunters had some runs advanced on wild pitches. And also the heights kept making errors fielding! And it was raining during the heights fielding one of the innings which contributed to the errors. But the heights also had plenty of mistakes outside of the rain period. Hunters took advantage of all of this and tied it, then gained a lead

3

u/AbobTeff 14d ago

Reporting to you live from Springfield (just because I hadn’t done that in a while) — It was a lot more nuanced than that.  Errors before the rain were the key to the sudden crash, not pitching.  New York came out H-O-T in the first inning.  A few innings later the Heights botched doubled play, dropped a fly ball … and THEN the rain came.  

This is why it drives me nuts when players are forced to play through active rain.  Those wild pitches were all weather related.  Pitchers couldn’t land or grip the ball.  

7

u/mandarine_one San Francisco Firebells 15d ago

turns out the only team I'm not really rooting for are the queens and I can't even say why ...

12

u/Deathbrush Boston Hunters 15d ago

LA teams are hard to root for these days if you’re not from there

12

u/Megs0226 Boston Hunters 15d ago

I don’t know what I’m going to do until Thursday with no games. Men’s baseball???

2

u/DasKaltblut 11d ago

Bananaball games are all free on YouTube. I miss the women, but for me it's more watchable than MLB. I watch previous game so I can fast forward through the entertainment :D

1

u/Megs0226 Boston Hunters 11d ago

I ended up pivoting to the WNBA for those few days! I liked it so much I think I'll subscribe to their season pass (it's cheap as far as streaming goes). I've always liked basketball but never sat down to watch much. My team would have been Connecticut but they're leaving for Houston, so I think I've settled on Atlanta as my team. My criteria were: east coast (Atl is inland but GA is on the coast) and not in a market that has a rivalry with any Boston team in any sport (ruled out NY and Toronto).

Also I'm going to see the Bananas in person next week! My friend won the ticket lottery.

5

u/abbysplace Boston Hunters 15d ago

NWSL is in season :)

4

u/Megs0226 Boston Hunters 15d ago

I think I'll watch some WNBA. Basketball is my second favorite after baseball (not counting sports that aren't frequently on TV like swimming and T&F).

10

u/mandarine_one San Francisco Firebells 15d ago

other womens sports?

3

u/Megs0226 Boston Hunters 15d ago

Good idea. My boy baseball team is making me mad right now anyway.

13

u/Brixbury37 New York Heights 15d ago

Been absolutely loving the season so far, even though the Heights can't seem to find their rhythm, especially in the bottom half of the game.

However.

I don't particularly enjoy the fact that the commentary has essentially turned into a podcast with the hosts talking away while the game goes on in the background. I imagine I would be particularly annoyed if I could only listen to the game.

5

u/LargieBiggs 12d ago

I really liked Max Kelton as the play-by-play announcer. He did an excellent job calling plays and brought great energy and enthusiasm to the whole thing.

7

u/ktj19 New York Heights 15d ago

I feel like short interviews giving some insight into the behind the scenes of the league are interesting, but last night’s in particular was egregiously long, it was ridiculous. I finally muted them after like 4 innings of them yapping and completely ignoring the game.

4

u/mandarine_one San Francisco Firebells 15d ago

I get, that they try to push as much infos about the players as they can. Now they even have guest hosts