When watching a baseball game, we normally see a starting pitcher being removed from the game after 100 pitches. 100-pitch usually is considered a limit. The 2020 season was a shortened season. There is something interesting about the 100-pitch limit.
When I was watching a baseball game, a broadcaster indicated that one player, who’s from Asia, had difficulties in hitting pitches at 95mph or higher. Well, that’s interesting. So I went to the statcast website to check something.
Merry Christmas. Wish everyone a wonderful holiday. It means that this year is coming to an end soon. There’s no baseball on Christmas Day, however, there’s still something interesting about baseball on Christmas Day.
Bowman has been a very popular brand to hunt for top prospects. Bowman chrome is one of the cool bowman products for collectors to search for top rookies and prospects. Meanwhile, there are on-card autographs and several inserts. It’s always exciting to see some prospects make it into the big league and even become stars. But it could take some time.
Topps stadium club offers top-level photography and even many of my friends, who are designers, are amazed by those photos. This year, I didn’t miss this product. It’s guaranteed two on-card autographs in each hobby box and there are also several inserts. However, there are only a few numbered cards. This time, I got a black and white card of Mike Yastrzemski. It’s my first time to find black and white card from the Topps stadium club.
Going to a sports card shop is surely an interesting thing to do. You can pull baseball cards that are newly released, at the same time, you can also find something that brings you back to the past. I found a topps league leaders card, on the front is the 1999 NL strikeout leader Randy Johnson, on the back is 1999 AL strikeout leader Pedro Martinez. Each threw more than 300 strikeouts in 1999 and both of them are Hall of Famers.
2020 is almost gone. It’s not the usual year as we know. Baseball season was shortened and MLB winter meetings became virtual meetings. But there is still something normal, we see there are free agent signings, trades and rule 5 draft. Of course, it’s too early to evaluate and say if a trade is good or bad. But, it’s worthwhile to take a close look at some trades.
Expected ERA (xERA) translates xwOBA into the ERA scale. It’s not necessarily predictive, but it helps us compare to the pitcher’s actual ERA. ERA has some flaws and many factors could affect a pitcher’s ERA. xERA can give us a different way to evaluate a pitcher’s performance since it’s a translation of xwOBA and the amount of contact and quality of contact are taken into consideration.
Home runs are important elements in today’s baseball. Fans love to watch home runs in games. However, pitchers definitely don’t like to give up any home runs. We always see pitchers frustrated after giving up a homer. In 2020, there were 2304 homers during the regular season. And I went to visit the statcast website.
There are several companies that produce baseball cards. However, MLB granted Topps an exclusive license in 2009 and the exclusive partnership between MLB and Topps will run through 2025. If they extend the deal before 2025, the long-term partnership will be even longer. Since it’s an exclusive license, Topps is the one and only manufacturer to produce MLB baseball cards. However, we can also see baseball cards from other manufacturers.
Curveball, a pitch that is thrown slower, is mainly used to keep hitters off-balance. It’s widely used throughout baseball history and many pitchers have it in their pitch arsenals. To know more about curveball usage in the 2020 season, I went to visit the statcast website.
Topps update series baseball is usually my favorite set. Normally, it wraps up the season with stars, All-Stars, rookie debuts and some inserts. In particular, you might get All-Star relic cards or All-Star autographs from that season’s All-Stars. However, 2020 is not normal. The MLB All-Star game was canceled this season and it’s a season with only 60 games. So, no 2020 All-Star relic cards in the set. Top rookies such as Jake Cronenworth and Cristian Javier aren’t in this set, either. For me, it’s not so attractive because I really like to collect baseball cards that highlight the All-Star game. But, I still bought some packs to see whether I can get some cool cards.
Some players and some teams already made some decisions. Kevin Gausman and Marcus Stroman accepted qualifying offers. Drew Smyly signed a one-year contract with the Braves. Josh Tomlin also signed a one-year contract with the Braves. Robbie Ray inked the deal with the Blue Jays. Players such as Jose Peraza and Mallex Smith each signed a minor league contract. Top free agents such as Trevor Bauer and DJ LeMahieu are still available. In the meantime, on the free agent market, besides these top players, there are several players worth watching.
Off-season. Waiting for news on the free agent market. I spent a few hours re-classifying my baseball cards and saw a 2010 Topps heritage then & now. On the front, we can see Yankees legend Mickey Mantle and Adrian Gonzalez in the Padres jersey. On the back, it indicated that Mantle was the 1961 bases on balls leader and Adrian Gonzalez the 2009 bases on balls leader.
Two first basemen won the MVP awards. Braves’ Freddie Freeman received 28 first-place votes in the NL MVP voting and Jose Abreu from the White Sox received 21 first-place votes in the AL MVP voting. Previously, Jose Abreu won the 2014 AL Rookie of the Year award and finished 4th in the 2014 MVP voting. Freddie Freeman finished 4th in the 2018 MVP voting. In the 2020 season, their outstanding performances convince the members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America.
The first time I heard of splitter was probably when former MLB pitcher Manny Hernandez played in Taiwan and the broadcaster indicated that splitter was his weapon. Back then, I was thinking that throwing a splitter was very common. Well, in the 2020 season, 17 pitchers threw at least 100 splitters.
It’s been almost two weeks since the last game of the 2020 season. Two weeks without baseball are boring, right? However, each team has its work to do this offseason. Some teams make some changes in the front office. Some teams are looking for a new manager. And one thing for sure, every team will try to sign free agents.
Kevin Cash’s decision to pull Blake Snell is probably going to be remembered and people will probably be discussed again and again. Making pitching changes is not an easy decision, particularly in the postseason. In the World Series, a pitching change might cause you to blow the whole series. In the 2020 World Series, we saw 28 pitchers pitch on the mound. Here is something interesting.
In the 2020, MLB instituted a universal DH for this season as part of its health and safety protocols during the COVID-19 pandemic. We don’t know whether the National League would convert to its traditional rules in 2021. Thus, we don’t know if we are going to see pitchers hit in 2021. But, before going to 2021, we can see how each teams’ DHs performed in the 2020 postseason.
A few days ago, I went to a card shop and grabbed some packs of Topps fire and Topps archive. I got an Ichiro’s card from Topps fire and a Tsutsugo’s rookie card from Topps archive. Back in Japan, they are both great hitters. Ichiro is a legend, no doubts. Tsutsugo already hit more than 200 homers in NPB, but he’s probably not satisfied with his first season, a 60-game regular season, in the Major League. As we have seen many Japanese hitters play in the majors, who did hit really well in their rookie seasons?
After a wild game 4 comeback, Rays tie the World Series at two games each. Thus, we will have at least 6 WS games and this series is going long. We will see Clayton Kershaw and Tyler Glasnow pitch in game 5 and try to help their teams to lead in the World Series. Since there will be at least 2 more games in the World Series, what should we expect in the upcoming games?
Shohei Ohtani made his MLB debut on March 29, 2018. It was the beginning of “Showtime”. I still remember that back in early 2018, lots of my friends were eager to collect Ohtani’s rookie cards and they bought several boxes of baseball cards once released. Ohtani did not let his fans down and collectors were extremely happy to see Ohtani hit pretty well in his rookie season. Even though Ohtani underwent Tommy John surgery, lots of fans were looking forward to seeing him come back stronger. He did come back on the mound, but it didn’t go well in this shortened season. In the meantime, his hitting also seemed to be discouraging.
League Championship Series already began. Four great teams are fighting for their tickets to the World Series. October baseball is not like the regular season. You are playing against a great team and there is not much room for mistakes. Meanwhile, you have to be patient to wait for your opponents to make mistakes.
The League Championship Series is about to start. Atlanta Braves, Houston Astros, Los Angeles Dodgers and Tampa Bay Rays are looking to advance to the World Series. Some players are truly on fire in the Division Series and it’s going to be extremely important to see whether they will stay hot to carry their teams or even better, to be League Championships Series MVP(s).
Bullpen usage has been extremely important to secure a win in modern baseball. We see many relievers are flamethrowers or they throw nasty pitches to cause swings and misses. I am curious about one thing. Which team’s relievers generate the most swings and misses?
Three outs, three outs, you need three outs to end an inning. Thus, a player can’t lose focus after two outs. Even if a player just loses a little bit of focus, there could be some damage.
1-run games are surely very intense and give fans excitement. Meanwhile, it’s also a test to see whether a team can perform well in a high-leverage situation. In this shortened season, which team had the slimmest-margin wins?
The 2020 season is indeed a very difficult and different season. The outbreak of COVID-19 caused the MLB to suspend the spring training and make several changes in the regular season and postseason. A major change is an extra-innings rule that begins each extra inning with a runner on second base.
Clayton Kershaw finished the 2020 season with an ERA of 2.16. Again, a season with an ERA below 3.00, in Kershaw’s 13 seasons with the Dodgers so far, he already finished eleven seasons with an ERA below 3.00. He’s probably not the most dominant pitcher, but he’s still one of the elite pitchers in the majors.
Topps Allen & Ginter is not only about baseball, but also about pop culture. Thus, you will not only find baseball players in the Topps A&G, but also “celebrities” such as soccer players, TV Hosts, actors and so on. Meanwhile, the most entertaining thing in Topps A&G is rip cards. "To rip or not to rip" is always the most difficult decision for card collectors. Also, mini cards are available in hobby packs.
It’s just a random idea. I was thinking of one thing. Which MLB player is the best fastball hitter? When I was searching on the statcast website, I thought that maybe I can try to find something more. Something even faster, thus, I did some search to see which player does hit really well when a pitch is at least 95mph.
We are heading into the final week of the 2020 regular season. Seven teams already clinched the playoffs. They are Tampa Bay Rays, New York Yankees, Chicago White Sox, Minnesota Twins, Oakland Athletics, Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres. In the final week, we are going to see several teams fight for their spots in the postseason. In particular, the National League playoff race could be really wild.
Topps fire is a brand with very “creative” design elements. It’s indeed different from other releases. Topps fire is very colorful and gives fans a very distinct design for MLB stars and top rookies. In 2019 Topps fire, there are 2 hits in a hobby box, one of which is an autograph. This year, each hobby box has 2 autographs. A few months ago, I opened a box of Topps fire 2019. Last week, I got a few packs of Topps fire 2020.
The 2020 playoff is scheduled to run from September 29. There are fewer games in the regular season, but the postseason has more games. It’s going to be a 16-team postseason tournament. An expanded playoff format means that there will be 3 more teams in the playoffs each league. If the postseason tournament starts tomorrow, many fans will be thrilled to see their favorite teams start the playoff journey after long playoff droughts.
It’s mid-September. The postseason is just two weeks away. The playoff race is really heating up. Bullpen has been more and more important in baseball. In this shortened schedule, MLB teams could add pitching depth in the bullpen because they are able to keep 28-player rosters through the end of the season. Do MLB teams use more relievers this season? Any changes in bullpen usage?
The universal Designated Hitter Rule is the new rule in the 2020 season. We have seen DHs at National League Ballparks for several weeks. After two-thirds of the season, which NL team does really enjoy having a DH in the lineup? Which team is relatively frustrated?
