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The home opener is today! Can you believe we've been waiting for baseball to come back since Sunday? How have we managed?
Umpires Show Bias for Stars and Strikes
This is exactly the kind of thing that I wish I'd thought to study, so that when I didn't, I could wait a few years and see this and say "Yeah, that was something I thought of" and feel smart. As it is, all I can do it say "Oh, that was an interesting result and I'm glad someone studied it," which doesn't really give me the same kind of ego boost. I wish, for once, scientists would take these important considerations into account instead of blindly charging forward for "knowledge" or whatever.
Béisbol Prospectus
SI takes a look at the burgeoning sabermetric movement in Cuba, and how they've got at least one manager listening to them. They also claim clutchness is a skill, but aren't ready to show their work on that one, so feel free to haughtily dismiss their work while sipping cognac and practicing your best scoff.
The United States through presidential first pitches (and vice-versa)
There was a time the Rally Harding was a thing here. I don't know if it still is because GameThreads frighten me, with all the comments and memes and stuff, but back in the day there was this picture of President Harding, and sometimes people would post a Photoshopped picture with a Giants hat on him...we used to get pretty wild around here.
This is a link to pictures of presidents throwing the first pitches at baseball games, starting with Taft, and ending with Roosevelt. If you have to ask which Roosevelt, HOW DARE YOU NOT KNOW THE ORDER IN WHICH PRESIDENTS SERVED HOW DARE YOU.
TOOTBLAN Tracker!
Did you know this existed? I didn't! The Giants haven't TOOTBLANed yet this year, but that can't last forever. I mean, Brandon Belt has to walk sometime, right?
RBI Baseball 14 appeals to both nostalgia and fun.
THE NEW RBI BASEBALLS ARE HERE! THE NEW RBI BASEBALLS ARE HERE!
Obviously, the main worry is that this new game would be an objectively good baseball game, with dumb things like statistics or players who look like themselves or fielders who can't play every position equally well. This seems to not be the case, which is unequivocally Good; that's not really what RBI Baseball is about. It's about simplicity and dingers, and according to this article, those are plentiful.