Congrats to the Twins on a pretty decent season of baseball. Even without the playoffs, it's been an enjoyable year.
54 thoughts on “October 2, 2023: Irregular”
I'm good with playing Toronto. Game 1 Framber was not something I was anxious to experience (an elite lefty makes Julien into a poor fielding, worse hitting Pedro Florimon and Wallner into a Drew Butera who happens to play the outfield).
The Twins hit Gausman pretty well both this year and last. Berrios is gettable, and Bassitt has such bad splits against lefties that it would be reasonable to expect that they might skip his turn in the rotation entirely.
Meanwhile, their lineup only has Belt as a notable lefty.
I think this matches up well for the Twins. God, I hope it does.
For the very very very little it's worth, the Twins open the series as the betting favorites. At the least, Vegas doesn't believe that the streak will hold then back.
Since early in the season I’ve had it in my head that this is going to be a deeper run. Even with a team outstripped in talent by several since 2004, I’ve had a…spooky feeling. Of course, now that the moment is here it’s hard not to let pessimism take over.
You can't announce a spooky before the fact. It's simply not done.
Ben mentions that the Twins got to face the AL Central, and the Blue Jays had to face the AL East...but the schedule was balanced this year, no?
I don't think the balanced schedule was truly balanced. Played division opponents 13 times instead of 19.
I mean, it was more balanced, but teams only played 6 or 7 games against non-division league opponents, and 13 against division league opponents. So there's still some truth to it.
Thanks guys
The schedules may have been more balanced, but the payrolls have not.
I’m seeing Nick Cave tonight. I slept horribly and I’m off to work soon, so I look forward to looking like a real old guy in a room full of old guys.
I'll be adding to the old guy attendees as well!
I read that as Jake Cave and was wondering WTF.
Twins led the AL in homers with 233 despite having no player over 24. That's something
I was going to say, almost everyone is over 24, but then you weren't talking about age...
feet
I am unhappy with the first round playoff schedule. The AL gets stuck with the early games, and the NL gets all the prime time. That means I don't get to work any of the Wild Card round games because full-time job. So if I'm going to get to work any playoff games this year, the Twins need to win their WC series. On the other hand, I picked up a nasty cold over the weekend so I probably would have ended up not working any of the games anyway, I don't want to be spreading this crud around to anyone.
I’d much rather they just use the game times they would use in the regular season. Catering to people watching 5+ hours of baseball in a day seems like the worst way to make your product available to most of your core fans.
Yeah, it doesn't make sense to me. Oh, you watched your team 140 times this season, but sorry, you don't get to watch the playoffs because suddenly all of the games are now while you're working is ridiculous.
I hit the jackpot as i have a “weekend” every two weeks on Wednesday-Thursday, and this is it. Otherwise I’d miss most of the wild card round. I’m guessing I’ll get my comeuppance in the ALDS.
We leave for Italy on Friday, so I'm hoping I'll have lots of frustrating mornings waking up and opening up the app to see the box score from the day before.
It seems MLB didn't want to give any team a day game after a night game. I do wish they shuffled things a little bit though. On the other hand, Milwaukee gets a primetime game, albeit on ESPN2.
It was harder for MLB to schedule it this year, because they didn't have the Yankees to give the automatic prime-time game to.
Seems like young fans in every market should get to see one game outside of their school hours. If you want young fans to embrace the game…
Miami @ Philadelphia totally makes sense for at least one 3:08 Eastern start. But they get all three of the latest games?
Counterpoint: now when they lose the early game it can ruin my whole evening, instead of just the short while before I go to bed!
Has anyone seen the videos/photos of the U2 shows at The Sphere? Holy cow.
Two couples down the hall from me went to Saturday's show and I have another good friend going to this coming Saturday's. Talking to all of them last week, I started to get FOMO so I ended up scrounging up a GA ticket for a mid-week show later in October. Then got a good deal on a flight and hotel on the Strip. So I'll be in Vegas for about 30 hours or so total but should be a blast. Now I have three other friends hearing that I was able to make arrangements for a relatively decent price and seeing the photos/videos from the weekend and are now seriously looking at doing the same.
I’ve seen some clips. It’s amazing enough that I would consider seeing a U2 concert!
I'm going Oct 28.
Still bummed about missing the Joshua tree tour s couple years ago.
A friend went recently and said it was worth every penny.
I have a concert buddy and I was telling her about my getting tix, cost, etc. and she responded that she was excited for me but wasn't a big U2 fan. This was Friday before the first show. She texted me on Sunday that she was seriously looking into how to get tickets. Definitely people going just for the spectacle. Glad I got my Stub Hub tix before the first show, prices have increased since the reviews have come out.
I've heard some Tool fans (including me) clamoring for them to play there. I've never seen them live, but I've heard their visuals are amazing, and I can only imagine what they could do with the Sphere.
I saw Tool at the Xcel when they were supporting 10,000 Days. It was indeed a visual feast, which is a good idea with Maynard being so shy and singing in a dim pin spot way up on stage.
(The stage shyness may well be a curated persona, but the point would still stand)
announcing crew for the WC series.
we got the crew I dont want to listen to
ESPN has unveiled the announcing teams for the MLB Wild Card Series which begin tomorrow afternoon. ABC, ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN Radio will carry the games. pic.twitter.com/5JXV8xWroT
— Ken Fang -- Very Asian With a Blue Checkmark (@fangsbites) October 2, 2023
On the one hand: that's a brutal crew.
On the other hand: there could be potential for comedy with respect to A-Rod's new relationship to St. Paul.
I was going to say I think we're going to see A-Rod showing up in our booths more and more due to the MN connection.
Haven't we suffered enough?!? Think of the children!!
I fully expected we'd get Michael Kay and Alex Rodriguez. I was going to ask for the over/under on how many times they talk about the Yankees always beating the Twins, but a smaller number will be the number of times they don't talk about that.
And that's another foul ball back here to the booth. It's almost like they're trying to hit us up here!
Foo Fighters are playing Target Field next July. That should be a fun one to work.
Presale tomorrow. Code: TEACHER
I'm hearing scary things about the ticket prices. $500??
I'm on the floor for $240 after fees
So the $500 (plus fees) is for the GA right in front of stage. Some really good seats close by in the $180 range plus fees.
Mine were $180. $60 in fees!
I'm in F9 by the sound guys.
I might have an extra or two.
Another friend has some extras in section 4, row 5.
Unfortunately I think you can assume 30-33 percent on fees these days.
Yes
There's no reason that it shouldn't be a flat fee.
Ceremonial first pitches:
G1: Tom Kelly to Kent Hrbek G2: Justin Morneau to Ron Gardenhire
TK better be wearing Zubaz with a cigar in his mouth
That would be awesome.
Leaving the concert now. It was just Nick Cave on piano and Collin Greenwood (of Radiohead) on bass. Excellent. Cave is back with The Bad Seeds next year and I’ll be hard pressed not to go.
I'm good with playing Toronto. Game 1 Framber was not something I was anxious to experience (an elite lefty makes Julien into a poor fielding, worse hitting Pedro Florimon and Wallner into a Drew Butera who happens to play the outfield).
The Twins hit Gausman pretty well both this year and last. Berrios is gettable, and Bassitt has such bad splits against lefties that it would be reasonable to expect that they might skip his turn in the rotation entirely.
Meanwhile, their lineup only has Belt as a notable lefty.
I think this matches up well for the Twins. God, I hope it does.
For the very very very little it's worth, the Twins open the series as the betting favorites. At the least, Vegas doesn't believe that the streak will hold then back.
Since early in the season I’ve had it in my head that this is going to be a deeper run. Even with a team outstripped in talent by several since 2004, I’ve had a…spooky feeling. Of course, now that the moment is here it’s hard not to let pessimism take over.
You can't announce a spooky before the fact. It's simply not done.
I of all people should know the rules by now.
I totally called that he was gonna say this.
I knew you'd say that.
Ben Clemens previews the Jays-Twins series.
Ben mentions that the Twins got to face the AL Central, and the Blue Jays had to face the AL East...but the schedule was balanced this year, no?
I don't think the balanced schedule was truly balanced. Played division opponents 13 times instead of 19.
I mean, it was more balanced, but teams only played 6 or 7 games against non-division league opponents, and 13 against division league opponents. So there's still some truth to it.
Thanks guys
The schedules may have been more balanced, but the payrolls have not.
I’m seeing Nick Cave tonight. I slept horribly and I’m off to work soon, so I look forward to looking like a real old guy in a room full of old guys.
I'll be adding to the old guy attendees as well!
I read that as Jake Cave and was wondering WTF.
Twins led the AL in homers with 233 despite having no player over 24. That's something
I was going to say, almost everyone is over 24, but then you weren't talking about age...
feet
I am unhappy with the first round playoff schedule. The AL gets stuck with the early games, and the NL gets all the prime time. That means I don't get to work any of the Wild Card round games because full-time job. So if I'm going to get to work any playoff games this year, the Twins need to win their WC series. On the other hand, I picked up a nasty cold over the weekend so I probably would have ended up not working any of the games anyway, I don't want to be spreading this crud around to anyone.
I’d much rather they just use the game times they would use in the regular season. Catering to people watching 5+ hours of baseball in a day seems like the worst way to make your product available to most of your core fans.
Yeah, it doesn't make sense to me. Oh, you watched your team 140 times this season, but sorry, you don't get to watch the playoffs because suddenly all of the games are now while you're working is ridiculous.
I hit the jackpot as i have a “weekend” every two weeks on Wednesday-Thursday, and this is it. Otherwise I’d miss most of the wild card round. I’m guessing I’ll get my comeuppance in the ALDS.
We leave for Italy on Friday, so I'm hoping I'll have lots of frustrating mornings waking up and opening up the app to see the box score from the day before.
It seems MLB didn't want to give any team a day game after a night game. I do wish they shuffled things a little bit though. On the other hand, Milwaukee gets a primetime game, albeit on ESPN2.
It was harder for MLB to schedule it this year, because they didn't have the Yankees to give the automatic prime-time game to.
Seems like young fans in every market should get to see one game outside of their school hours. If you want young fans to embrace the game…
Miami @ Philadelphia totally makes sense for at least one 3:08 Eastern start. But they get all three of the latest games?
Counterpoint: now when they lose the early game it can ruin my whole evening, instead of just the short while before I go to bed!
Has anyone seen the videos/photos of the U2 shows at The Sphere? Holy cow.
Two couples down the hall from me went to Saturday's show and I have another good friend going to this coming Saturday's. Talking to all of them last week, I started to get FOMO so I ended up scrounging up a GA ticket for a mid-week show later in October. Then got a good deal on a flight and hotel on the Strip. So I'll be in Vegas for about 30 hours or so total but should be a blast. Now I have three other friends hearing that I was able to make arrangements for a relatively decent price and seeing the photos/videos from the weekend and are now seriously looking at doing the same.
I’ve seen some clips. It’s amazing enough that I would consider seeing a U2 concert!
I'm going Oct 28.
Still bummed about missing the Joshua tree tour s couple years ago.
A friend went recently and said it was worth every penny.
I have a concert buddy and I was telling her about my getting tix, cost, etc. and she responded that she was excited for me but wasn't a big U2 fan. This was Friday before the first show. She texted me on Sunday that she was seriously looking into how to get tickets. Definitely people going just for the spectacle. Glad I got my Stub Hub tix before the first show, prices have increased since the reviews have come out.
I've heard some Tool fans (including me) clamoring for them to play there. I've never seen them live, but I've heard their visuals are amazing, and I can only imagine what they could do with the Sphere.
I saw Tool at the Xcel when they were supporting 10,000 Days. It was indeed a visual feast, which is a good idea with Maynard being so shy and singing in a dim pin spot way up on stage.
(The stage shyness may well be a curated persona, but the point would still stand)
announcing crew for the WC series.
we got the crew I dont want to listen to
On the one hand: that's a brutal crew.
On the other hand: there could be potential for comedy with respect to A-Rod's new relationship to St. Paul.
I was going to say I think we're going to see A-Rod showing up in our booths more and more due to the MN connection.
Haven't we suffered enough?!? Think of the children!!
I fully expected we'd get Michael Kay and Alex Rodriguez. I was going to ask for the over/under on how many times they talk about the Yankees always beating the Twins, but a smaller number will be the number of times they don't talk about that.
And that's another foul ball back here to the booth. It's almost like they're trying to hit us up here!
Foo Fighters are playing Target Field next July. That should be a fun one to work.
Presale tomorrow. Code: TEACHER
I'm hearing scary things about the ticket prices. $500??
I'm on the floor for $240 after fees
So the $500 (plus fees) is for the GA right in front of stage. Some really good seats close by in the $180 range plus fees.
Mine were $180. $60 in fees!
I'm in F9 by the sound guys.
I might have an extra or two.
Another friend has some extras in section 4, row 5.
Unfortunately I think you can assume 30-33 percent on fees these days.
Yes
There's no reason that it shouldn't be a flat fee.
TK better be wearing Zubaz with a cigar in his mouth
That would be awesome.
Leaving the concert now. It was just Nick Cave on piano and Collin Greenwood (of Radiohead) on bass. Excellent. Cave is back with The Bad Seeds next year and I’ll be hard pressed not to go.
It was exquisite and profane. Poignant and grim.