April 2019

Spring and it’s time for baseball

Are you ready for the 2019 Baseball season to start, hopefully yes, since it has already started with the Los Angeles Dodgers playing the Arizona Diamond Backs at the Home Opener March 28, which by the way the Dodgers won with the score of 12 to 5. The Dodgers looked sharp and played with all the excitement of it being Opening Day at home.

However, the second game in the series against the D-Backs, once again the Dodger relief pitchers did not look sharp. In fact, they sent the game into overtime, which eventually ended with the Dodger’s first loss of the new season. www.Dodgers.com

The opening game for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim was also played March 28 against the Oakland A’s with the Oakland A’s winning with the score of 4 to 0.  The Angels were simply outplayed, hopefully it was just due to opening day jitters and a new manager.

At first, the second game the Angels played against the Oakland A’s did not look promising, the Angels had difficulty getting any hits. However, against the relief pitchers from the Oakland A’s, the Angels bats woke up in the eighth inning for the win. www.LAAngels.com

Both of our home teams went through a whole re-mixing of their teams.  The Dodgers traded Puig, Kemp and a few others to the Cincinnati Reds in a 7 player deal, and they will be missed. What the Dodgers got in exchange was a few new rookies and a few fairly good pitchers.

www.ocregister.com

Manny Machado also left the Dodger organization, he went over to the San Diego Padres with a over the top long term contract and a very large sum of money.

Apparently the owners of the Dodgers have come to realize that just because you have one of the largest payrolls in baseball (even higher than the New York Yankees) it doesn’t necessary mean you are going to win the ‘World Series’. So after two attempts to win the Worlds Series and two losses to show for it, they have cut their payroll by trading the players with a cash incentive to the Cincinnati Reds and did not even attempt to keep Machado with a new contract.

www.nypost.com

The Angels not only had to deal with trading a few good players, but will also have to deal with the team having a new manager this year.  After being the manager of the Angels since 1999 Mike Scioscia retired and this will be Brad Ausms very first year as the new manager of the Angels.  Hopefully Brad will be able to get the Angels back into the playoffs and maybe even the ‘World Series’.

Now on to some exciting news, the baseball commissioner, Bob Manfred, is definitely looking into expanding the number of baseball teams.  There are now 30 teams and he would like to expand from 30 to 32.

The article reads in part – A whole lot of time has passed since the Montreal Expos packed their bags and moved to Washington, D.C. The Twins and the Marlins have come up with long-sought-after new ballparks while the Oakland A’s and the Tampa Bay Rays continue to try to grind ones out.

Along the way, Bud Selig stepped down, and Rob Manfred ascended into the role of commissioner of Major League Baseball. The media rights explosion took hold, and the league’s coffers have overflowed.

One of the things that Manfred would like to see as part of his legacy as the 10th commissioner is expansion to 32 clubs, from the 30 we have now.

Commissioner Manfred has said that he envisions eight divisions of four teams. The regular season would likely be shortened, and the postseason expanded with additional teams. Click on the link below to read the full article

www.forbes.com

It is not just about Major League Baseball starting their season, but there is also College Baseball, which has started as well, as well as most high school baseball games and all the way down to Little League Baseball.

It’s Springtime and that means “It’s time for Baseball”.

Good luck to our Los Angeles Dodgers and our Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

www.sportstalk4dummies.com