Last Spring post, 2023

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No Dodger was seriously injured while playing in the World Baseball Classic. Freddie Freeman says his hamstring is okay, even when pushing it by running and cutting. That’s a relief.

In light of this season’s rules changes, here’s a primer from the likes of Bryan Cranston (Walter White to you), Joey Votto and Sebastian Maniscalco.

The Dodgers are 13-9 in Cactus League play with only a few games left. They open the season a week from tonight in Dodger Stadium against the Diamondbacks.

30 thoughts on “Last Spring post, 2023”

  3. Opening Day guide from MLB.

    That discusses (briefly) each upcoming game tomorrow. About the Dodgers – Diamondbacks it says

    Note to know: The Dodgers are 10-2 in their past 12 Opening Days, including 2-0 against Arizona. That fits with a period in which the team’s .597 winning percentage ranks 27 points ahead of the Yankees for the highest in the Majors.

  5. Tonight’s game against the Angels proves that not all games will take only a couple of hours…

  6. In about four hours I’ll be settling into my seat at the Blaisdell Center Concert Hall to see Bonnie Raitt play for a couple of hours. That should be fun.

  8. Anybody with a T-Mobile cell plan can now sign up for the full season of MLBTV free of charge. You must sign up by April 4th.

  9. Our colleague scooplew writes to say

    On Wednesday, the day before the season opens, Sandy, my bride of 43 years, and I are going on a two-week vacation. Because baseball occupies so much (too much) of my consciousness, I have decided to take a two-week hiatus from all things baseball. That means that I will not watch any baseball on TV or listen to any games, refrain from looking at the Internet, enter any restaurants or bars where games are being shown on TV, or not read any newspaper sports sections.

    So, I am asking you — and I am sending this to about 30 people — to kindly refrain from connecting me with anything having to do with the National Pastime through April 12, including texts, emails and telephone calls, or via any other means that you may consider, even hiring airplanes that fly banners.

    He doesn’t say where he and Sandy are going. Pity.

    • I heard the same from him when I asked about the storms that have hit the Monterey Bay area. Their house is fairly high above the Carmel River, so they avoided the worst.

  10. Hey, WBBsAs, the Commish agrees with you:

    Manfred told Kelly that baseball’s “business model is broken,” largely because of blackout rules that prevent fans without cable television from watching their local teams. Teams benefit from blackout rules through lucrative cable rights deals, but Manfred fears the long-term damage of future customers — that is, children — never getting hooked on the game.

    “None of it will happen if they don’t see it at home, and because it is so limited, we are missing that generation,” Manfred told Kelly. “We’re completely missing it.”

    When Kelly pointed out that the N.F.L. and the N.B.A. do a better job of reaching more fans, Manfred did not dispute it.

    “Their business is better,” he told him, “and we have to fix ours.”

    That’s from an NYT article about Joe Kelly’s interview of Manfred for Kelly’s new book “A Damn Near Perfect Game.”

  12. For anyone who hasn’t been paying attention, tonight’s game is free of charge on MLBTV.

  13. Kershaw on the Dodgers’ Opening Day starter:

    “I mean, he deserves it,” Clayton Kershaw said this week. “I’m happy for Julio. It’s a special thing to get to do. I think it should be whoever pitched the best the year before, and he did that. So he deserves it.”

  14. In Gonsolin’s absence Pepiot gets the fifth spot in the rotation. Between Grove and Pepiot,

    “They both earned that opportunity. Probably the toughest decision we had to think through,” Roberts said. “I guess, to put it more simply, we just felt Ryan outperformed Michael this spring. … We just felt it was the right decision at this point in time.”

    [snip]

    “He’s made huge strides,” Roberts said. “And I say that with the mechanics. The delivery is a lot more consistent. There just seems to be more clarity and things have slowed down for him. We just feel like his stuff plays at the Major League level.”

  19. Urias named opening day starter. He deserves it.
    May to start game 2.
    Kersh for game 3.
    Thor in game 4.
    Pepiot or Grove in game 5.

    • Five different Opening Day starters in the last five years:

      2019 * Hyun-jin Ryu W 12 –5 Arizona Diamondbacks Dodger Stadium [75]
      2020 † Dustin May ND (W) 8 –1 San Francisco Giants Dodger Stadium [76]
      2021 * Clayton Kershaw (9) L 5 –8 Colorado Rockies Coors Field [77]
      2022 * Walker Buehler W 5 –3 Colorado Rockies Coors Field [78]
      2023 Julio Urías Arizona Diamondbacks Dodger Stadium

  20. I’ll be pleased when we see no more of the outfielder whom Gnatfans called “Grave Duggar.”