Divisional Play In Baseball

Here are today's standings in the AL East: 

Baltimore Orioles (62-40) 
Tampa Bay Rays (62-43, 1.5 GB) 

Toronto Blue Jays (57-46, 5.5 GB) 

Boston Red Sox (55-47, 7.0 GB) 

New York Yankees (54-48, 8.0 GB) 

And here they are for the AL Central: 

Minnesota Twins (54-50) 

Cleveland Indians (51-51, 2.0 GB) 

Detroit Tigers (46-55, 6.5 GB) 

Chicago White Sox (41-62, 12.5 GB) 

Kansas City Royals (29-75, 25 GB) 

UGGGGGGGHHHHH.... 

The Yankees are a game better than the Twins. Why should the Twins have a distinctly better chance of making the postseason? It makes me want to throw something. 

Back before 1969 (a time when a lot of modernist and new age philosophy was being strewn about), pennant races were decided by who won the most games in each league. The two league winners would then play each other in the World Series. There wasn't any interleague play or any other related nonsense; each team would play every other team in the same league the same number of times, so that each World Series representative truly represented the top team in each league. That's the way it should be. 

Veganism

    Veganism is a dietary trend that has seen its popularity surge in recent years. Vegans allow themselves to consume foods containing only plant products - they do not eat meat, dairy, eggs, honey, or any other animal products. There are two main reasons why people become vegans: either because they think eating plants will benefit their health, or that morality inclines them not to eat animals. Let's explore each reason. 

    I will not deny that plants are an essential part of a healthy diet. Many greens are chock full of vitamins, nutrients, and other materials that help our body run smoothly. However, human beings are omnivorous. Unlike certain animals, whose diets require them to be vegan, humans can consume meat and animal products as well as plants. A well balanced diet consists of plants, but also of meat and dairy. A diet consisting only of plants makes it challenging for one to get all the vitamins and proteins that he needs. As omnivores, it only seems right to give the body everything that nature intended it to consume. 

    As for the second reason, morality, Christians should not have to worry about offending God by eating animal products. In Genesis 1:28, God tells Adam and Eve to "...Have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and all the living things that move on the Earth." Naturally, then, animals are not our equals. In Exodus 3:8, God confirms that not only are animals not our equals, but that it is okay to eat animal products, promising to lead the Israelites out of Egypt to a land flowing with milk and honey. Later, in Exodus 12, God commanded that the Israelites cook and eat an unblemished lamb (prepared in a very specific manner) in order to be spared from the Angel of Death. Based on the Scriptures, God does not mind us eating animals, and there is no moral obligation to be vegan. 

One more point: Doesn't chopped brisket taste so good? 

God Himself made garments of skins for Adam and Eve in Genesis 3:21 

College Baseball Should Outlaw Metal Bats

    College baseball should outlaw metal bats. Metal bats are designed to hit baseballs much harder than wood bats, which can pose serious safety risks at the higher levels. 

    For example, the average Major League fastball is about 95 miles per hour, and the average exit velocity is approximately 88.4 miles per hour (because a wood bat absorbs much of the energy of the pitch on contact, while a metal bat does not). There is a baseball statistic, called hard hit percentage, that measures how often a batter's exit velocity is over 95 miles per hour. The best sluggers in the game have had hard hit percentages north of 50% across an entire season. 

    On August 24, 2022, Pirates shortstop Oneil Cruz crushed a 122.4 mile per hour single off the rightfield wall at home against the Braves. 122.4 miles per hour? With a wood bat? As Braves manager Brian Snitker remarked, "It's probably good that ball hit a wall, because it might have hurt somebody if it had been up a little higher." And although Oneil Cruz is one of a kind, he was not the only player to hit a baseball over 120 mph; three others (Giancarlo Stanton, Aaron Judge, and Gary Sanchez) have done it at least once. 

    Now in college ball, the players are younger and less developed, and thus do not throw or hit as hard as the Major Leaguers do. However, giving them metal bats is a very bad idea. College pitchers are starting to routinely throw their fastballs in the 90's, while some approach 100. If a strong hitter barrels up a high 90's fastball with a metal bat, the exit velocity could be too much for fielders to handle. A ball struck at 100 miles per hour or more could seriously injure (or even kill) an infielder, 90 feet away, if he's struck cleanly. 

    I can't understand why college players are allowed to use metal bats in the first place. What's the point? Not only do they potentially endanger young infielders, but they also distort the image of a college player's success. Because they hit so much harder, the use of metal bats is a distinct advantage for hitters. Since the pros use wood bats, why not let the college kids use them? A scout who sees a college player hit a rocket with a metal bat cannot be certain that he could hit as hard with a wood bat. In order for scouts to provide more accurate data about college players, they should use the same faculties as the pros, if that's where they might be headed. 

Pitch Clock

In the 2022-23 offseason, MLB announced some new rule changes that would drastically affect the way the game was played. I've published about this subject before (https://thecooperstownadvocate.blogspot.com/2022/09/hes-complaining-again.html), and being a baseball purist, I can't say that I appreciate the new rules very much. However, out of all three major rule changes, one stands out as being the worst: the dreaded pitch clock. 

Now just in case anyone is unfamiliar with the rule, here's a brief explanation: 

   

The pitch clock allows for 15 seconds between pitches with no runners on base and 20 seconds with baserunners, and limits against how often a pitcher may step off the rubber. A ball will be called against a pitcher who takes longer than the allowed time, and a strike against any "offending" batter who takes "too long" to get himself ready. MLB also limited pitchers to two pickoff attempts per batter (or three if he succeeds the third time), with any violations counted as a balk. 

The whole point of the pitch clock is to speed up the game. A pitch clock violation, once called, will slow down the game because the umpire calls time. Often I've seen pitchers starting their windup as the pitch clock reaches zero, and while the batter is preparing to hit the pitch, the ump calls time, stopping the play. The pitcher then either throws the ball, which prevents a hazard, or forcibly stops his high powered throw, which can pose a serious risk to his deceleration muscles. If the umpire had waited one more second and let the pitch continue, it would have saved ten or fifteen seconds (and in rare cases, helped prevent an injury). In a perfect world there would be no pitch clock. 

The penalty for a pitch clock violation committed by the pitcher is an automatic ball. One pitch changes the dynamic of an at bat, which could affect the dynamic of an inning, which could decide the outcome of a game. While calling time out for a pitch clock violation is stupidly time inefficient, let's assume for some reason that there must be a pitch clock. Fine. Instead of an automatic ball, let's make the penalty a $1,000 fine. That way, the game wouldn't be tainted by artificial means. The fine could be effective because MLB players hate salary cuts, even if they don't need the extra money. Just seeing the money coming out of their check really ticks them off. And if a $1,000 fine seems insignificant, just imagine you getting fined $1,000 at work for taking one extra second to do a particular task. 

This would be a good solution. I should be the commissioner.