Anyone Up? 3/18 Opening Day in Tokyo

[We Got The Whole 9]

The way they do this series is just so stupid but it's MLB

[Andy]

My local FOX inexplicably decided not to air this game, but given the performance I guess I should be thankful.

[Bertz]

24 minutes ago, We Got The Whole 9 said:

The way they do this series is just so stupid but it's MLB

It's a heck of a lot better than during the season like the London series IMO

[chibears55]

4 hours ago, Outshined_One said:

Ben Brown looks a bit rusty.

Not sure why he was Counsell first choice in that spot, weather it was going to be with 2 outs or not, Ohtani was coming up in a 1 run game.

Oh well, can't win if you can't get any offense, 1 for 7 with RISP.

Gotta be better tomorrow and they get Sasaki, hopefully he'll have first game nerves and being at home.

[NorthsideAvenger]

2 minutes ago, Bertz said:

It's a heck of a lot better than during the season like the London series IMO

I do not understand why theses two games against L.A. have to be real games. These games should be exhibition.

[Bertz]

2 minutes ago, NorthsideAvenger said:

I do not understand why theses two games against L.A. have to be real games. These games should be exhibition.

Because then far fewer people care.  Just look at how many people are posting about this game compared to Friday night or Sunday morning, and we're a community of diehards

[Irrelevant Dude]

Rather than 2 teams having to get ready to open the season 10 days ahead of the rest of the league, my idea (maybe a stupid one) is the entire MLB should have an "International Week" early in the season.  Pick 8 locations, send 4 teams to each one (except the 8th which would only have 2 teams).  Then, for 4 days, play 2 games at each site (2x 2-game series, or even something crazy like each team plays a 3 game series and then the winner of each series faces off in the 4th game for some type of trophy).  The logistics may be too difficult to have all 30 teams traveling overseas at the same time, but it would be really cool to have games on TV all day and night across the different time zones, and then at least everyone would be on the same schedule and all teams could open the season at the same time.

[chibears55]

5 minutes ago, NorthsideAvenger said:

I do not understand why theses two games against L.A. have to be real games. These games should be exhibition.

Exactly, they don't need to make these games count in mid March.

They can send 4 teams overseas to play preseason games every March and just have them play each other for 3 games apiece to provide exposure there.

Making 2 teams ramp up their ST in order to be ready for 2 meaningful games in mid March is dumb.

[Brian707]

45 minutes ago, NorthsideAvenger said:

I do not understand why theses two games against L.A. have to be real games. These games should be exhibition.

[NorthsideAvenger]

1 hour ago, Brian707 said:

I know but it is still stupid. 

[JHBulls]

Well, that sucked. I was looking up World Series tickets before Ben Brown came in and ruined everything. 😞

[JHBulls]

2 hours ago, NorthsideAvenger said:

I do not understand why theses two games against L.A. have to be real games. These games should be exhibition.

Not to mention the Tokyo Dome field looks like the darkest, grimmest, worst looking baseball field I have ever seen. It doesn’t hold a candle to any MLB ballpark.

[gflore34]

22 minutes ago, JHBulls said:

Well, that sucked. I was looking up World Series tickets before Ben Brown came in and ruined everything. 😞

I knew they were not going to win 1 - 0,  Berti's slick fielding directly lead to one unearned run and contributed greatly to another run.  If he had held the ball instead of trying to turn two, Cubs had a chance to get out of the inning down 2 - 1.

[Derwood]

34 minutes ago, JHBulls said:

Not to mention the Tokyo Dome field looks like the darkest, grimmest, worst looking baseball field I have ever seen. It doesn’t hold a candle to any MLB ballpark.

My kid played on better looking fields in travel ball

[Outshined_One]

Just now, Derwood said:

My kid

horsefeathers hell we're all old.

[gflore34]

I know it's primarily about money but, just curious, do the Cubs have the ability to opt out of the Toyko Series?

[Derwood]

25 minutes ago, Outshined_One said:

horsefeathers hell we're all old.

My kids are 22 and 19. Tell me about it. 

[Bertz]

14 minutes ago, gflore34 said:

I know it's primarily about money but, just curious, do the Cubs have the ability to opt out of the Toyko Series?

They would not want to from a business standpoint, and I'm not totally sure they'd want to from a baseball ops standpoint.

Two extra off days during the domestic regular season is a decent reward.  And assuming Jed gets extended he'd appreciate the leg up this type of thing likely gives in negotiations with future Japanese players.

[NorthsideAvenger]

54 minutes ago, Outshined_One said:

horsefeathers hell we're all old.

We are not old, we are just turning into our parents.

[Stratos]

Brown's control was all over the place.  Yamamoto split was nasty.  Start Turner next time vs Yamamoto because Busch had no chance.

[chibears55]

1 hour ago, Bertz said:

They would not want to from a business standpoint, and I'm not totally sure they'd want to from a baseball ops standpoint.

Two extra off days during the domestic regular season is a decent reward.  And assuming Jed gets extended he'd appreciate the leg up this type of thing likely gives in negotiations with future Japanese players.

I hope he spent some time with the kid pitcher from the first game, Keito Mombetsu 20 yo.,  he had some good looking stuff.

[thawv]

4 hours ago, Bertz said:

It's a heck of a lot better than during the season like the London series IMO

Or they can not do any of this crap. 

[Rob]

2 hours ago, Outshined_One said:

horsefeathers hell we're all old.

That photo of Roast doing karate moves is probably old enough to drive now. Maybe old enough to drink.

[Ding Dong Johnson]

4 minutes ago, Rob said:

That photo of Roast doing karate moves is probably old enough to drive now. Maybe old enough to drink.

That thing has 2 kids and just moved to Naperville

[Outshined_One]

43 minutes ago, Ding Dong Johnson said:

That thing has 2 kids and just moved to Naperville

And also happens to be next door neighbors with imb's jaw x-ray.