The baseball thread

[Rewind]

The Mariners just beat the Royals, 7-6. Looky at the AL West standings now:

Mariners...........13-2 .867
Astros................8-5 .615
Angels...............7-6 .538
Athletics.............9-8 .529
Rangers.............6-6 .500

This is the Mariners' 43rd season and they've never made it to the World Series, not even in 2001 when they tied the 1906 Cubs for most wins in a season (116). Could this finally be the Mariners' year? Right now they lead the major leagues in hits, home runs, doubles, RBIs and runs scored.

[Rewind]

After that 13-2 start, the Mariners lost 32 of their next 45 games and are now in last place in the AL West, 15 games behind the Astros. *Sigh*

Regarding the following story, either baseballs are now made with Flubber, batters are getting stronger or pitchers are getting weaker.

MLB set record in May for most home runs in any month

https://www.latimes.com/sports/mlb/l...601-story.html

[Rewind]

These hateful, hot-headed Hartford heathens need to be reminded that "it's only a game."

Yankees' minor leaguer Matt Lipka gets death threats after ninth-inning bunt ends Hartford's no-hitter

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/...ends-no-hitter

[Rewind]

Skaggs pitched for the Diamondbacks in 2012-13 and the Angels in 2014 and 2016-19. He was scheduled to pitch July 4 against the Rangers. Following his death, tonight's Rangers-Angels game has been postponed until August. Skaggs' mother was a softball coach at Santa Monica High School.

Angels pitcher Tyler Skaggs dies at age 27; Texas police say no foul play is suspected

https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/a...-is-suspected/

[Penguin]

This is like when Darryl Kile of the Cardinals was found dead in a hotel room. That was in 2002. He had a heart attack. Maybe that is what happened to Tyler Skaggs. On the news tonight they're showing where fans have started a memorial at Angel Stadium with flowers and cards and helmets and other things.

[Rewind]

Until tonight, I was unaware a batter could steal first base. That's probably because no one had ever done it until tonight.

Atlantic League batter steals first base for first time in pro baseball history

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/mlb...ory/ar-AAEhOut

[Rewind]

If anyone has ever accomplished this feat prior to tonight, I'm not aware of it. This is truly impressive.

Yankees' Edwin Encarnación hits grand slam with one-handed swing

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/mlb...ing/ar-AAEA1uw

[Penguin]

A lot of players such as Mike Trout take batting practice one-handed because it strengthens their right wrist and hand, or left wrist and hand if they bat left-handed. But in batting practice the balls are not thrown very fast. I have never heard of anyone batting one-handed in a game.

[Penguin]

The Astros just traded for Zack Greinke and now they are favored to win the AL and co-favorites to win the World Series.

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/...s-co-favorites

[Penguin]

A temporary ballpark is being built in Iowa where the "Field of Dreams" movie was filmed and a MLB game will be played there next year. I think this sounds fun and I hope they will decide to use it for more games.

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/...y-field-dreams