The-Kids' Real 2025 MLB/Baseball Thread *_*

[VonBonfire]

I was too young to really remember. But in retrospect, I do remember people being angry, and calling Kent Herbek a homosexual male.

Kirby Puckett was the man. A friend of my brother's tried to get Dan Gladden's autograph from him after the '87 series and Dan told him "no" and then stole his sharpie.

@The~Kid I haven't followed baseball since the Twins beat the Braves in '91. I can appreciate you enthusiasm for the sport, making this thread.

 

[japetus]

Kirby Puckett was the man. A friend of my brother's tried to get Dan Gladden's autograph from him after the '87 series and Dan told him "no" and then stole his sharpie.

@The~Kid I haven't followed baseball since the Twins beat the Braves in '91. I can appreciate you enthusiasm for the sport, making this thread.

Kirby Puckett was one of the best pure hitters of his era but the Cards still got shanghai'd that series and everyones knows it

 

[The~Kid]

Kirby Puckett was the man. A friend of my brother's tried to get Dan Gladden's autograph from him after the '87 series and Dan told him "no" and then stole his sharpie.

@The~Kid I haven't followed baseball since the Twins beat the Braves in '91. I can appreciate you enthusiasm for the sport, making this thread.

Will have to look up the players and before my time and well I like to look up older players to see what's up. I have to say whenever I do look up the old cats while some guys now are amazing some of the old cats are just pure legend.


For me I don't want to say it's hard to trust the team but given last season I won't count them completely out or for PostSeason straight up but I do believe they have a good chance at being a real contender. They have been there all off season long and look decent on paper.


Fangraphs has them taking the Division for example and well that's more than what I can say for other teams or my team and they aren't that bad.

 

[japetus]

Will have to look up the players and before my time and well I like to look up older players to see what's up. I have to say whenever I do look up the old cats while some guys now are amazing some of the old cats are just pure legend.


For me I don't want to say it's hard to trust the team but given last season I won't count them completely out or for PostSeason straight up but I do believe they have a good chance at being a real contender. They have been there all off season long and look decent on paper.


Fangraphs has them taking the Division for example and well that's more than what I can say for other teams or my team and they aren't that bad.



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I was reading Bill James 30 years ago. I know baseball. I am going to start a season thread. Can I ask you an honest, in faith question? I would love if you participated in the thread but I would prefer if you didn't spam it with stats..as to where it could be a more slow paced season discussion.

 

[The~Kid]

Sigh

Yeah I know...... you don't need me to yell you and well Cards fans bring a good culture to the sport and they have great culture but everything else aside that division has just gotten more competitive than ever especially with the new playoff format and all the stats/analytics now.


That wasn't always the case and I don't want to say it not being competitive was a main reason for their dominance but the NL Central is so damn competitive now probably more so than any other division right now.


It's hard to see them coming out on top being honest but in that Divsion it's anyones game right now really despite what projections say or what I have to say anything is possible....



As the old saying goes "it ain't over till it's over".

 

[VonBonfire]

Kirby Puckett was one of the best pure hitters of his era but the Cards still got shanghai'd that series and everyones knows it

Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.

Will have to look up the players and before my time and well I like to look up older players to see what's up. I have to say whenever I do look up the old cats while some guys now are amazing some of the old cats are just pure legend.

Kirby Puckett was one of the very best. As a ball fan I would at least take the time to watch a recap of Puckett's performance in the '81 series. It's the stuff those legends are made out of. He basically drove the entire team to win the '91 series. There is a great documentary on it somewhere.

 

[The~Kid]

I was reading Bill James 30 years ago. I know baseball. I am going to start a season thread. Can I ask you an honest, in faith question? I would love if you participated in the thread but I would prefer if you didn't spam it with stats..as to where it could be a more slow paced season discussion.

Maybe I didn't understand this or it's hard for me to understand growing up with Baseball as it is today but yeah I see even hard core baseball fans that probably don't want to see all the stats and stuff or that don't understand it all sometimes. Especially now in the StatCast era and more recently....... honestly just delved more into it 3 years ago and recently regarding stats and the numbers and that perspective where as before I never really thought about it.



Maybe the stats/analytics are too much for some and I get but IMO it really provides the best way to see the game now and gives more insight now into how the game works like it's never given before vs almost any other way of looking at the sport in an unbiased way.



I'm no Bill James but Billy Beane wasn't either or invented OBP and look at where he took that to build the game better, build better teams and take OPB and the game to new heights. I didn't invent WAR but yeah I do more with my WAR-Ratio than James ever did with WAR alone or anyone else did before me.



No problem with me and well I'm cool with that and understand yeah stats aren't for everyone and that's not what I'm about really and just trying to present and bring an understanding to the game in the most objective way I know how with numbers, maths and stats/analytics and other factors and considerations.

 

[japetus]

Maybe I didn't understand this or it's hard for me to understand growing up with Baseball as it is today but yeah I see even hard core baseball fans that probably don't want to see all the stats and stuff or that don't understand it all sometimes.


Maybe the stats/analytics are too much for some and I get but IMO it really provides the best way to see the game now and gives more insight now into how the game works like it's never given before vs almost any other way of looking at the sport in an unbiased way.



I'm no Bill James but Billy Beane wasn't either or invented OBP and look at were he took that to build the game better, build better teams and take OPB and the game to new heights. I didn't invent WAR but yeah I do more with my WAR-Ratio than James ever did with WAR alone or anyone else did before me.



No problem with me and well I'm cool with that and understand yeah stats aren't for everyone and that's not what I'm about really and just trying to present and bring an understanding to the game in the most objective way I know how with numbers, maths and stats/analytics and other factors and considerations.

When you around the game long enough, you will see it. It's intangibles. Stat guys scoff, but it's real.

 

[The~Kid]

When you around the game long enough, you will see it. It's intangibles. Stat guys scoff, but it's real.

Yeah there are some other stuff too and things too. Some stats break it down to luck such as BABIP pretty much even with parameters and well it's hard to explain the intangibles. It's not really luck but well intangibles we can't really quantify 100% or explain really in numbers.


Say the Twins right, all the numbers say they are an easy pick for the Division and to make postseason and I say they are a decent contender on paper...... but I see them as a possible Wild Card maybe or barely given intangibles alone so I don't base everything I do just based off the numbers/stats.


Tigers on the other hand we we see Skubal and Flaherty and tight top tier rotation feeding off each other competitively..... plus banging trash can former Astro Aj Hinch now Tigers Team Manager and the young talent he has around him there and what he did with them last season..... there is something there with a guy like Hinch, competitive vets like Skubal and Flaherty and fostering that youth there IMO that is pretty strong outside of what some projections may say.



Royals same deal, that is one hell of a deep team with Bobby Witt Jr and Cy Young contender in Cole Regans and the team built around Bobby..... you got Seth Lugo there too. For me that's the team to beat in the AL Central but the numbers won't tell you that straight up.

 

[The~Kid]

Some other intangibles that you can't explain that happen moment by moment.....



As they come in the game.....



And well yeah sometimes it's best to just forget about the stats/numbers and BS and just take in the moments and the game....



And just see some miracles on the field take place and be really amazed and some stuff that doesn't happen everyday.

 

[The~Kid]

Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.


Kirby Puckett was one of the very best. As a ball fan I would at least take the time to watch a recap of Puckett's performance in the '81 series. It's the stuff those legends are made out of. He basically drove the entire team to win the '91 series. There is a great documentary on it somewhere.

Will do and a quick look shows a very consistent player who played full seasons and did everything he could do be the next man up. Maybe not an MVP in a season but with those numbers and consistency definitely better and a step above your average guy.


Not a lot of guys bring that type of consistency nowadays or even back then and that is hard to come by and as valuable as anything else in the game or more so.


But that stuff and numbers and whatever........ compared to seeing the man in action is no substitute and thank you for sharing man and definitely will check this out.

 

[The~Kid]

1st Homer of Opening Day ^_^

 

[The~Kid]

Come on man....... can't throw inside towards the man don't throw inside......

 

[The~Kid]

Cam Smith...... in his 2025 Debut.... Welcome to the Show ^_^

 

[The~Kid]

This kid deserves this and expect more great things to come from Cam Smith ^_^

 

[The~Kid]

Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.


Kirby Puckett was one of the very best. As a ball fan I would at least take the time to watch a recap of Puckett's performance in the '81 series. It's the stuff those legends are made out of. He basically drove the entire team to win the '91 series. There is a great documentary on it somewhere.

And yeah that's one hell of a play in that first video.... you don't see a lot of those in a WS or postseason environment or guys that could do stuff like that in general. Friggin Pucket and good stuff.


Good stuff ^_^

 

[The~Kid]

One of the best plays I've seen in a game in person is from Tony Kemp....... I mean I have never seen anything like it and everyone at Angels Stadium stood up to tip their hat, bow and give a round of applause to Kemp. My Dad was there too and he sure thought it was something.

 

[70 Mach 1]

Mets offense once again non existent.

 

[VonBonfire]

And yeah that's one hell of a play in that first video.... you don't see a lot of those in a WS or postseason environment or guys that could do stuff like that in general. Friggin Pucket and good stuff.


Good stuff ^_^

He's wasn't a very tall guy, 5' 8" and still made that catch. He was kind of a stumpy little man but he always had .300+ batting average. Lifetime .318. Watch the '91 series documentary. Kirby told the team before one game "I'm gonna carry you guys on my back" and proceeded to kick some ass. It's almost like he willed them to win. Another thing that might be of interest to you is the metrodome at capacity was screaming loud, 125dB during the 87 series. A lot of teams had trouble functioning in that environment.

 

[The~Kid]

All I wanted to do is understand the game and understand the game better and it was just an idea....... but breaking down the math and really kind of breaking it down with stupid luck......


A bunch of formulas got worked out but to really break it there was something missing and a special number for a part of the basis for the WAR-Ratio.....



I was close but yeah something was missing..... And a magic number so to speak..... and that number was 162..... I was up for days trying to figure it out but my Dad said why don't you just divide everything by 162...... because there are 162 games in a season..... And that pretty much cracked the code.



162 unlocked a whole lot...... and it worked.



Pretty much going over a bunch of players WAR numbers and Stats overall I was able to figure out how to project players like a stock or identity undervalued players like a stock based on their WAR numbers and projected numbers to see if they were viable or not based on a chronological 5 season time span in relation to their projection. This way you look at players only based on production and return given opportunity cost and players with the highest return on WAR based on opportunity cost. This in turn also gave a better idea of what teams would make postseason based on the new playoff format based on probability and likelihood.


There are some tricky numbers here and there but pretty much only a player that averages 1.5 or higher WAR over 5 seasons with a projected 1.5 or higher WAR matters worth a damn or makes a difference on a team above a replacement or average player.


Using this I was able to identify Nathan Eovaldi for example for the 2023 seasons as a highly undervalued player and he went on to be a crucial part of the Rangers season that year and how I was able to identify Gerrit Cole as a top 3 pitcher in the AL in 2023 for example no other expert had Cole so high aside from Sarah Langs who had him as a top 8 overall pitcher....... and Sarah Langs is the best of the best.