The 2010 Major League Baseball season has an NBA aura about it this year.
In the NBA, they played a whole season, and have begun their two months of playoffs, basically to determine who will face the Lakers in the finals. It has this interminable air of inevitability.
The MLB season feels the same way. Just 1/8th of the way through the schedule, the season feels like an exercise in determining whom the Yankees will oppose in the World Series. They've got the best hitting, starting pitching, bench, relief pitching, depth, resources and organization in baseball. They've added speed and defense to a championship club this year. They have no David Ortiz-sized question marks.
What don't they have? Matt Kemp is the best-looking player in baseball. So that's one for the Dodgers. Pittsburgh, Baltimore and Anaheim have the nicest stadiums. The Phillies may clinch by Flag Day. After that, it's the English Premier League -- Manchester United vying with whoever else might be hot this year.
Sigh.
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Correct me if I'm wrong, but it's 2010, right? MLB includes OPS in its summaries. ESPN lists on-base percentage on its broadcasts. Does everyone at Fox live in a cave and watch only reality shows?
Comparing Mark Teixeira to Kendry Morales, the player who replaced him in Anaheim, Joe Buck and Eric Karros noted that the latter was a perfect generic knock-off at a GDP-sized discount. It's a valid point and a worthwhile discussion. (To his credit, Karros added that Teixeira is a more accomplished fielder.)
Buck pointed out that Morales "hit better" because Morales hit .306, Teixeira, .292. Tex also coaxed 40 more walks and posted a .383 OBP compared to .355 for Morales. Their power numbers were nearly identical, which is to say, Tex "hit better."
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It's a small point in this discussion and doesn't change the underlying theme, but isn't it time that people paid millions of dollars to talk about baseball get within a generation of the times? I mean, where's the beef?
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