caulfield12

(Jays' hitting coach) David Popkins previously served as the hitting coach for the Minnesota Twins in 2023. Under his philosophy, the Twins posted the seventh-best OPS in baseball at .754. They went on to beat the Blue Jays in the Wild Card series before losing to Houston in the ALDS. Popkins’ hitting philosophy? I’d call it “situational” and “simple.” “My philosophy is built off creativity,” he said, “trying to become the most creative lineup in scoring runs in baseball. And we do that by practicing all the different situations and clubs in the game.” Oh, and he also made it very clear: he loves damage. And damage is exactly what the Blue Jays have been doing. https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=popkin000dav UC Davis grad, highest level AA Springfield with the Cardinals...just 35 years old

Jerry Reinsdorf must be unhappy that the Jays are going to knock back the mid and small market owners' arguments against the Dodgers' "Evil Empire" ruining baseball. But legit rivalries are actually good for the sport.

Blue Jays likely wouldn't be where they are now without the trade of hometown kid Varland from Minnesota... https://www.mlb.com/news/why-the-twins-traded-louis-varland-to-the-blue-jays Then you have Andres Gimenez salary-dumped by the Guardians after he signed a long term extension and stopped producing offensively. Couldn't afford to overpay for a "defense first" guy.

https://www.minnesotasportsfan.com/minnesota-twins/joe-ryan-big-markets-trade-interest-red-sox-new-york-mets/ Twins looking to trade Ryan, possibly Pablo Lopez. Crickets in ticket sales. Buxton might soon be last one standing, and probably should deal him off a healthy/really productive season for him.

Alex Call getting the start over slumping Pages. No sign of Jameson Fisher.

Fire Katz and Themes thread...

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/celebrity/articles/sydney-sweeney-sparks-fury-among-122113378.html

Vegas odds now must be almost dead even...with Toronto maybe even a slight favorite. G5 feels like it will be the decider, but who the heck knows.

More ex-White Sox/Bassitt featuring in this post season. Not quite as bad as last year's parade of relievers, though.

Treinen has reached the end of his rope with Roberts at this point. Ofc with that double play call not reversed, it's still just 3-1. Couldn't have been any closer at first. Looks like Series is definitely going back to Toronto...good for baseball. Pressure switches back to Dodgers and Snell to win G5 or face a very challenging 3-2 deficit and racuous pro-Jays crowd.

Alex Vesia is at home dealing with personal matters. Kopech Tanner Scott Kirby Yates all on the shelf. B.Graterol as well.

Defining moment in this one... 2nd 3rd and no outs 15.15 million viewers LOS ANGELES -- The World Series is averaging 15.15 million viewers in Japan through two games. Japanese population just 38% of the US. 14.54 million in the US so far Ratings in Canada up 10x up so far compared to 2024. 6 million. 36 Million for those three countries combined. 2025 Game 7 was the most-watched NBA Finals game in six years, averaging 16.6 million viewers and peaking with 19.6 million viewers at 9:45 p.m. ET. The seven-game series accounted for the seven most-watched primetime television programs over the past two months.

Shane Bieber is increasing his FA value on his upcoming FA contract $10 million for every inning pitched without surrendering a run. Lol at organist playing Jesus Christ Superstar for Ohtani. play "Golden"/Kpop Demon Hunters!

We haven't seen the things that were promised -- but he has been good! By EPA per dropback, Williams is just about average for the season at 0.03. For perspective, Baker Mayfield -- whom some were calling an MVP candidate through September -- is at 0.05. Daniels is at 0.02, as is Jaxson Dart. Put another way: If Williams were performing last season as he is this season, Bears fans would likely feel encouraged and excited to see his development. Williams suffers a little in success rate -- 42.1%, below league average -- which is a good proxy for the down-to-down consistency of the passing game. But he excels in explosive pass rate at 17.8%, seventh highest among all quarterbacks. This is intuitive. The Bears' passing game has felt dangerous but highly volatile through eight weeks. Some of that belongs to Williams, who has had bad accuracy sprays on key downs targeting easy routes. The end-of-game miss to DJ Moore in the back of the end zone Sunday against the Ravens is a great example. https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/46739409/nfl-week-8-drake-maye-caleb-williams-sam-darnold-trade-deadline-offers#trades

That pitch was egregiously inside to Kirk. Completely changed the plate appearance. Dodgers=Chiefs?

Guess they're planning to draft a hitter 1-1... He might as well camp out in Birmingham/Charlotte as Braden's personal hitting coach until Montgomery is promoted. Can then work with Antonacci, Carlson, Fauske, Lodise, Bonemer and hopefully the next Sox impact bat from the draft.

Back to actual human status. Hung a slider up to Guerrero Jr., who's having an equivalent postseason to Ohtani. Batting average well over .400.

https://forum.orioleshangout.com/topic/58368-a-few-coaches-leaving-the-orioles/ The consensus is that the new manager is totally cleaning house and coaches are jumping for whatever they can get. Main hitting coach Asche is likely gone as well. See thread. iL BuonOPlus Member 3 hr “I’m so, so saddened by this news” said no one ever.

Pitt with the better overall stadium, SF with the better surrounding environment. Although it's hard to beat all the bridges in Pitt, especially the Clemente Bridge.

See 1968-1982 ('77 the exception)...1984-1989...1994-1999...2013-2019, 2022-2025. The culture wasn't one of losing until the last two decades. But now also identified with the very worst record, knocking off the 1962 expansion Mets. Somehow I have my doubts you're singlehandedly going to turn the tide back with your current crusade.

Already missed a bunch of ball/strike calls in just the first inning.

Wrong. The White Sox had a great run in the 50s and 60s, but just didn't have enough offense to compete with the Yankees during that stretch. 1959 the lone exception. https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/CHW/index.shtml See team records in 1963/64/65.

Randy Arozarena with the current record of 10 postseason hr's Shohei Ohtani 2025 Postseason AB AVG HR RBI SB OPS 53 .283 8 14 1 1.235

99% sure the other player with them celebrating together was Roki Sasaki. It's going to get increasingly harder for other teams to break that stranglehold on the Japanese and Korean markets if M.Murakami also signs with LA.

https://mykbostats.com/players/2281-Kim-Doyeong-Kia-Tigers Biggest rising star in Korea, 3B, but had a down/off year in 2025 after catching everyday never by surprise with his age 21 KBO season. https://worldbaseball.com/early-preview-south-koreas-potential-2026-wbc-lineup/