Baseball regular season

Just watched 'Catching Hell', about Steve Bartman and the Chicago Cubs in 2003. Fantastic. Impossible not to feel sorry for Bartman, but at the same time I also understand the fans' reaction. It's crazy. A lot of football clubs claim to be 'cursed' - in Brazil, Botafogo fans always explain their failures with the classic line "there are things that only happen to Botafogo" -, but nothing come even close to the 'defeatism' (not sure if that's the right word) of the Cubs fans (or the Red Sox fans, before the end of the Bambino curse)

One of the weirdest nights of my life. Watched it on TV when it happened (Marlins fan), and felt so bad for the guy. Most of my grandparents are from Chicago, and their defeatist attitude is just ridiculous.

Lucky for Alex Gonzalez, too, because they still could have won. Don't think they matched up that well with the Yankees in that World Series like the Marlins did, though. They probably would have choked in that series instead

I'm very interested to see what happens to Cubs now with Epstein, maybe another curse could be near its end?

As much as I hate defeatism - it's one of the things I find most pathetic in Botafogo fans -, when it's so extreme as with the Cubs, I actually kinda like it. The problem about Botafogo fans is that they think their club is huge, but at the same time try to justify their failures with superstition or conspiracy theories. But not the Cubs fans... they don't try to compare themselves to the bigger teams (or so it seems to me). They're just lovable, totally paranoiac losers. It's amazing how many enthusiastic fans a team can have even without any success. I once read an article about it, stating how supporting a team that is famous for its failures reveals a profile of low risk takers - expect for the worse, and anything better is a bonus.

Diego,

The Chicago Cubs are a HUGE team in the US. The biggest baseball teams, I feel, are the Yankees, Red Sox, Dodgers, Cardinals and the Braves (in the South mostly as they were all there was East of the Missisippi for such a long time, and because of TBS/TNT).

There are so many transplants across the country who originated from the Midwest. My family is a good example: all four of my grandparents are from Illinois (actually all eight if you count who my parents remarried after their divorce), and they all ended up elsewhere across the country. My step-grandfather is the biggest Cubs fan I knew, and he lived in Florida from his 20s on up. I think the Cubs are the biggest draw (along with the Cardinals, who are in a similar part of the country) on the road in the National League. Where I live (San Diego), Cubs games sell out no sweat. Most of the other games don't

The only thing stopping them from being the biggest team in the US is the Yankees, and the Cubs' inability to win jack sh*t. They regularly have a HUGE payroll, and can always get a marquee player (Soriano, Derek Lee for example) no matter how bad they've been. If Mark Prior and Kerry Wood both hadn't flopped harder than a beached whale, they'd have a world series title on the North Side right now.

I'm very interested to see what happens to Cubs now with Epstein, maybe another curse could be near its end?

As much as I hate defeatism - it's one of the things I find most pathetic in Botafogo fans -, when it's so extreme as with the Cubs, I actually kinda like it. The problem about Botafogo fans is that they think their club is huge, but at the same time try to justify their failures with superstition or conspiracy theories. But not the Cubs fans... they don't try to compare themselves to the bigger teams (or so it seems to me). They're just lovable, totally paranoiac losers. It's amazing how many enthusiastic fans a team can have even without any success. I once read an article about it, stating how supporting a team that is famous for its failures reveals a profile of low risk takers - expect for the worse, and anything better is a bonus.

I lived in Chicago when I was a kid. I went to Wrigley Field a dozen times and It was awesome. Me and my Dad would go and get $5 bleacher seats and just watch the game. If you ever want to see a Baseball Game then you have got to go to Wrigley and sit in the Bleachers.  The Bleachers are the KOP of Wrigley Field. During the summer its loaded with gorgeous women wearing bikini's, you drink beer all day, get a tan and watch the Cubs. It doesnt matter if the Cubs are in 1st place or last place, its great.

Diego,

The Chicago Cubs are a HUGE team in the US. The biggest baseball teams, I feel, are the Yankees, Red Sox, Dodgers, Cardinals and the Braves (in the South mostly as they were all there was East of the Missisippi for such a long time, and because of TBS/TNT).

There are so many transplants across the country who originated from the Midwest. My family is a good example: all four of my grandparents are from Illinois (actually all eight if you count who my parents remarried after their divorce), and they all ended up elsewhere across the country. My step-grandfather is the biggest Cubs fan I knew, and he lived in Florida from his 20s on up. I think the Cubs are the biggest draw (along with the Cardinals, who are in a similar part of the country) on the road in the National League. Where I live (San Diego), Cubs games sell out no sweat. Most of the other games don't

The only thing stopping them from being the biggest team in the US is the Yankees, and the Cubs' inability to win jack sh*t. They regularly have a HUGE payroll, and can always get a marquee player (Soriano, Derek Lee for example) no matter how bad they've been. If Mark Prior and Kerry Wood both hadn't flopped harder than a beached whale, they'd have a world series title on the North Side right now.

Thanks for all the info, I didn't know that. They're bigger than I thought they were, same with their fan base. But when I spoke of the club's size, I meant in terms of trophies and all that. I mean, Botafogo is obviously a smaller club than Flamengo, in just every aspect you can think of (trophies, fan base, etc), but their fans will never admit that. I don't see such debate as being even possible in baseball, since the Yankees have so many titles more than them. Also, aren't the Cubs local rivals - the White Sox - more succesfull?

I lived in Chicago when I was a kid. I went to Wrigley Field a dozen times and It was awesome. Me and my Dad would go and get $5 bleacher seats and just watch the game. If you ever want to see a Baseball Game then you have got to go to Wrigley and sit in the Bleachers.  The Bleachers are the KOP of Wrigley Field. During the summer its loaded with gorgeous women wearing bikini's, you drink beer all day, get a tan and watch the Cubs. It doesnt matter if the Cubs are in 1st place or last place, its great.

Sounds amazing, just put Wringley Field in my already huge sports stadiums I must visit before I die list

Thanks for all the info, I didn't know that. They're bigger than I thought they were, same with their fan base. But when I spoke of the club's size, I meant in terms of trophies and all that. I mean, Botafogo is obviously a smaller club than Flamengo, in just every aspect you can think of (trophies, fan base, etc), but their fans will never admit that. I don't see such debate as being even possible in baseball, since the Yankees have so many titles more than them. Also, aren't the Cubs local rivals - the White Sox - more succesfull?

The White Sox are more successful in the past hundred years, that's for sure , but they aren't true local rivals since they don't play each other much. I think the Cards' real rivals are the St. Louis Cardinals, who have been far more successful.

I will say that baseball is a tad bit different in that there's really only one trophy to win every year. In futbol, there's multiples up, hence why bigger teams can rack them up and separate from others. One could argue, with the trophies logic, that Liverpool isn't a "big" club in comparison to others in the past decade. When I think big, I think fanbase, history, and then trophies, personally (that's a big part of history too ).

I've never been to Chicago but I've always wanted to go, especially to Wrigley.

I'm still in my honey moon with baseball, got addicted near the end of the season so it's a long wait until the new season. In the mean time, I've downloaded some classic games to watch. I got game 6 of the American League finals of 2004, Red Sox @ Yankees. Watched the first 25 mins of it last night before going to bed, will continue to watch it tonight.

I also watched game 1 of the 2011 College World Series, Florida vs South Carolina. Enjoyed watching it, too very good defenses and I thought Florida's pitcher Hudson Randall was really impressive.

Are there any good books, websites and blogs about baseball you guys could recommend me? I'm so addicted to that game, been reading a lot about it But I still feel so dumb, there's a lot to learn.

espn.com/mlb has a lot of information (obviously), and you've already read Moneyball which is one of the quintessential books for understanding the modern game.

This book is along those lines, and I've heard great things. http://www.amazon.com/Extra-2%25-Street-Strategies-Baseball/dp/0345517652/ref=sr_1_19?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1326471421&sr=1-19

Jonah Keri also writes on Grantland.com, which is one of the best sports sites around. It's run by Bill Simmons, ESPN's most popular writer, who is absolutely hilarious, even if he is a Boston homer

http://www.grantland.com/search/_/query/jonah-keri

Thanks! I heard a lot about the Rays being the "new" Oakland A's with their low payroll and great results, but didn't know there was a book about them. I've already subscribed to RSS feed (easier to read at work) from Baseball Nation website, Joe Posnanski (whoever he is) blog and a few other websites (Baseball Prospectus requires payment to read the full articles though ). Gonna subscribe to Jonah Keri's too!

I read Moneyball before actually watching a game, so I could understand the general idea of it but didn't really know what he was talking about while mentioning some specific stats. I'm thinking of reading it again now I know a lot better what is a walk, a strikeout, a bunt, a stolen base, etc.

Any decent forums too?

I think the most popular baseball forum is SoSH. It's Boston Red Sox-based, but it's known across the country. http://sonsofsamhorn.net/

Are you going to support a baseball team in particular?

I've already picked the A's after reading Moneyball It's the reason I started watching baseball after all. Sometimes I regret it though, especially seeing them trading all their good players and analysts saying the A's might only be able to compete in a few years time and IF a new ballpark is built (probably in San Jose).

I haven't watched them play yet though (apart from the classic games I downloaded)... from the teams I actually watched so far, I preferred the Rangers. I like the Cubs cause of Catching Hell. Baseball is all about tradition so I like the fact they're such an old club too.

Having never watched most of the MLB teams, there are some franchises I like for no particular reason - maybe the name or its age. Example: Los Angeles Dodgers and the Minnesota Twins When I start to know teams better it'll probably change.

You're a Marlins fan, right?

Marlins fan sure, but I've lived out in San Diego since I was 11, so I've been a Padres follower for 14 years (although I still follow the Fish too, but I'm not as big in to baseball as I used to be). I stopped loving baseball after the Marlins won the World Series again in 2003 and then gutted their team for the second time. I was devastated in 1997, especially since that was the year we left Miami ( ), but 2003 was the last straw for me.

Now that some small market teams are becoming competitive again, I'm interested, but it's still a Yankees/Red Sox league, unfortunately, which annoys me. I'm hoping Oakland can stay up in that area too. They're a historically successful team with some interesting moments in their history (The Bash Brothers, the '89 World Series, those teams with Mulder-Hudson-Zito, Rickey Henderson).

Problem about Oakland is that, judging by what I've read, they really need a ballpark but it won't be built in Oakland. San Jose want them and are supposedly a better, bigger market for them to generate more revenue.

I hate it. I hate it how the solution in American sports is often to F**k off and leave fans behind.

Just ordered "The Book: Playing the Percentages in Baseball" on amazon, it takes a while to get delivered here but I look forward to reading it. I love how nerd this sport can be!

It is the nerdiest sport by far and I love it just for that. Boring as F**k to watch though

The game is just a little detail in baseball

Prince Fielder signed for the Tigers! Now they got two great hitters on him and Cabrera, don't they

A very good friend of mine is a Tigers fan so I kinda have a soft spot for them. Also with Verlander and some other very good players, he's looking forward to the season

I still cant believe they signed him to a 9 year deal.  9 Years?  IMO no team should lock themselves in to anything over 5 years or 3 for a Pitcher. I think they went after Fielder when they found out Martinez blew his ACL which could mean Martinez will be traded next year.

Prince Fielder signed for the Tigers! Now they got two great hitters on him and Cabrera, don't they

Yes, and poster boys for physical fitness too

Think he'll do well at their park too. I miss Cabrera on the Marlins

I'm going to love going to the games this year.  Hurt us in the playoffs when you could pitch around cabrera.  Good luck now with prince behind him.

Yes, and poster boys for physical fitness too

Think he'll do well at their park too. I miss Cabrera on the Marlins

They got V. Martinez too. He hit 330 last season and he will be finishing rehab in August/September which is just before the playoffs.  I was surprised they signed Fielder, they certainly didnt lack offense. If anything I thought they would go for another arm after Verlander. They dont have a very good bullpen and that hurt them last year.

If the last 5 years has shown us anything, its that a team needs a full bullpen. You need at minimum 3 starters and 1 lights out reliever. They should of gone after Oswalt or Carpenter. Especially if they need to beat the Yankees, Red Sox, Texas and the Angels.

They got V. Martinez too. He hit 330 last season and he will be finishing rehab in August/September which is just before the playoffs.  I was surprised they signed Fielder, they certainly didnt lack offense. If anything I thought they would go for another arm after Verlander. They dont have a very good bullpen and that hurt them last year.

If the last 5 years has shown us anything, its that a team needs a full bullpen. You need at minimum 3 starters and 1 lights out reliever. They should of gone after Oswalt or Carpenter. Especially if they need to beat the Yankees, Red Sox, Texas and the Angels.

Fister ended up a good #2, scherzer had his up and downs but still had about 14 wins.  Brad penny was just horrible.  And they have one of the best set up men in the league in benoit.  Took him some time but he settled down.  And closers, well he was perfect for the season.