2021 Blue Jays Season Thread

[GreenLantern2814]

Originally Posted by Ducay

Whats wrong with the shift? Its a risk/reward move, and forcing the 3B and SS to be right of 2nd base would really impact the game by unnecessarily handicapping (generally) only one of LHB/RHB hitters.

Because it makes the game unwatchable. They spent two weeks hyping Shohei and how he was going to pitch and hit in the All Star game, and what does he do?

He grounds into a shift. A shift. In the All Star game.

#### off.

It’s one thing to have shifts when you have a vague idea of a guy’s tendencies.

When you have spray charts accurate to the millimeter featuring every ball the guy has hit as a pro, to the point where you know exactly where he’s hitting it if he doesn’t park the damn thing, it’s awful.

And it’s a very simple fix - two guys have to be on each side of 2nd base.

I want to see base runners, I want to see balls in play, I want to see diving stabs.

What I don’t want to see is Shohei Ohtani grounding out to 3B Manny Machado in shallow right field on a ball that Manny has to move 18 inches to collect.

Call me an old man.

[flamingred89]

Yep the shift can #### right off.

If a player can turn on a fastball and hit it 100mph through the hole on the infield they deserve that hit. Same can be said about hitting it up the middle. If you get it by the pitcher you should be rewarded with a base hit. Not directly at a shortstop playing behind the bag, or the aforementioned 3rd baseman playing in what can only be described as no mans land.

There's still going to be the freak athletes that are gonna pick some of those balls regardless but that's also super dope and what separates the big leaguers from the plebs.

I wish I could find it now, but Bob Costa's had a rant about this same thing and it was more eloquent than I ever could ever put into words. Just a shame the Joe Madden got a ring after introducing this garbage to the game.

[Jeff Lebowski]

I post these not as a defence of shifts or and advocate of them but to add what others are saying:

When asked about Major League Baseball’s interest in restricting defensive shifts, Pirates manager Clint Hurdle recalled that when he was growing up in Merritt Island, Florida, they were often short on players for neighborhood games. Hurdle said they would arbitrarily cut the field in half to solve the problem. “Sometimes we’d shut down the pull field. … We just would do it to change the game and realized we learned how to hit the ball the other way,” said Hurdle. “What the shifts are telling hitters is, ‘Here’s what you do. Where is your counterpunch? Where is your answer?’”

But in all the hand-wringing over the shift, one detail has been overlooked: Batters have adjusted, and they’ve done it without league intervention or legislation. What’s more, there’s reason to believe shifts are actually encouraging increasingly efficient offensive behavior.

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features...-on-their-own/

Jay Bruce retired Sunday after a 14-year career. His problem was not when his career ended but when it began. As a left-handed pull hitter without much speed, Bruce came along at the wrong time. If you want an example of how the growth of defensive shifts has harmed careers, Bruce is as blatant an example as any.

Since 2015, the use of shifts has more than tripled, from 9.6% of all pitches to 32.1% this year. Over that time, left-handed hitters such as Bruce, Brian McCann, Anthony Rizzo, Matt Carpenter and Kyle Seager have seen their careers turn for the worse because of the shifts they face in which one or two infielders position themselves on the outfield grass to their pull side.

https://www.si.com/mlb/2021/04/22/ja...ift-the-opener

Extra tough on lefties.

[mrkajz44]

Shifts get a bad rap, but they are really not a problem at all. There are many articles out there (like the 538 one above) that show that hitters have adapted to the shift, and pitchers actually walk guys more when the shift is one which negate the positive effects of the shift.

I think it's just a fun part of the evolution of the game. Teams figured out they could be much better on ground ball defense, so they made a change. The batters are starting to fight back by hitting more fly balls and taking more walks. It's just part of the ebb and flow of the game over time.

[carmenshoes]

Where is this game being played?

[flamingred89]

Originally Posted by mrkajz44

Shifts get a bad rap, but they are really not a problem at all. There are many articles out there (like the 538 one above) that show that hitters have adapted to the shift, and pitchers actually walk guys more when the shift is one which negate the positive effects of the shift.

I think it's just a fun part of the evolution of the game. Teams figured out they could be much better on ground ball defense, so they made a change. The batters are starting to fight back by hitting more fly balls and taking more walks. It's just part of the ebb and flow of the game over time.

But from an average fans perspective they'd probably rather see hits than walks. Walks slow the game down and generally don't illicit a response like a hit does. Unless it's Reese McGuire setting up Springer for a game winning bomb. But that's beside the point . It's no secret at baseballs move toward the 3 true outcomes(HR, Walk, Strikeout) in recent years. In part to the shift, Sticky stuff, metrics, you name it. But that's not exactly the best brand of baseball.

It's also interesting that it's the hitters that are expected to adjust. They already have rules for where they can stand, run, and swing. And yet the defenders can do whatever they please. Seems a little unfair.

[flamingred89]

Originally Posted by carmenshoes

Where is this game being played?

Los Angeles. It's a make up game so the first game of the double header is a Jays "home" game.

[flamingred89]

Man. Semien with a brain fart and a double play turns into nobody out and the Angels primed for a big inning.

[chummer]

Redemption!

[flamingred89]

They got the sound cranked way up on the field. Every bit of contact sounds like a 450' bomb.

[activeStick]

Bases loaded for Springer

[flamingred89]

Damn.

This Angels pitcher is absolutely filthy. The movement on his pitches is crazy. If he can locate they might have a good one in this kid.

[CedarMeter]

Edit

[flamingred89]

Gross. Lost it in the sun.

Oh well.

Have to win game 2 now.

[chummer]

Well that's unfortunate

[Skaloper]

Tough break that it happened with 2 outs. Just need to shake it off and put some good bats together in last two innings.

[GreenLantern2814]

Pitchman Mats Sundin: “I was the captain of one of the greatest hockey teams of all time.”

The #### you were.

[activeStick]

The bats sound great in that ballpark

[Matty81]

Thought they were get all the runs back and tie it up there until I saw grichuk coming up... maybe harsh but he never looks like he has a gameplan to me at the plate.

[Patek23]

I’m not as hard as some here on Dolis. But ya just knew he was gunna blow that lol