The world according to Jim:
• Baseball’s All-Star Game is historically the best of its genre, mainly because it’s the closest to real competition of any of sports’ All-Star events. And the Home Run Derby the night before has become its own entertainment vehicle.
So why did both earlier this week seem – well, not a letdown, but not what we’re used to? …
• First, Netflix and the Derby.
Even beyond the complaints from those (yes, of a certain generation) who feel abused by the continuing migration of sports events to streaming services, Netflix’s second attempt at baseball coverage – after way too self-referential Opening Day coverage of the Giants and Yankees in San Francisco – still seemed uneven.
The format was better – no more pumping pitch after pitch to meet a time limit, reducing the impact of each homer – but the camera work was shoddy, a smidgen of Will Ferrell on a sports broadcast is way too much (no offense, Will), and it took the drama of the final round and especially the ending to save the night. …
• By the way, if it’s on a streaming service, is it still considered a “broadcast?” The Merriam-Webster dictionary says so: “(To) send out or transmit (something, such as a program) by means of radio or television or by streaming over the Internet.” …
• In another way, the game and the Derby suffered from the same maladies: The game’s biggest superstars weren’t all there.
Some of those absences were unavoidable – Shohei Ohtani (knee) and Aaron Judge (ribs), to start with. But the Derby, in particular, increasingly mirrors the NBA Slam Dunk contest in the lack of interest from the guys you would really like to see. In this case, hitters who were healthy might also have been wary that tailoring their swings to meet the Derby’s demands might foul them up for the second half. …
• Exhibit A: Joc Pederson cracked the Dodgers’ lineup as a rookie in 2015 and not only was selected for the Home Run Derby in Cincinnati that year but reached the final against the Reds’ Todd Frazier, slugging 39 homers in three rounds and falling just one short of winning, in the first year in which rounds were timed.
Cause and effect? You tell me. Before the All-Star break that year Pederson had a .230 average .851 OPS, 20 home runs, 40 RBIs and 15 doubles in 89 games. Post-Derby, his numbers in 62 games: .178 average, .617 OPS, six homers, 14 RBIs and four doubles. …
• Then again, Pederson participated in the 2019 Derby in Cleveland, hit 60 homers all told and still was eliminated by Toronto’s Vladimir Guerrero Jr., but his post All-Star splits (.906 OPS, 16 homers, 32 RBIs, nine doubles in 67 games) were more comparable with those in the first half (.855, 20 homers, 42 RBIs, seven doubles in 82 games). …
• There’s also a sense that pitchers and their teams are manipulating the system. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, again leading the National League squad, was informed before Tuesday night’s game that the Braves and Giants were requesting that their All-Star pitchers, Chris Sale and Logan Webb, not pitch. His own All-Star, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, was held out as well. But all three occupied roster spots, which meant Roberts had only nine pitchers at his disposal and had to use Justin Wrobleski for two innings. …
• I’ve heard this suggested, and maybe this is the best idea: Move the game back a day, making Monday a day off and moving the Derby and day-before commitments to Tuesday and playing the game on Wednesday. Everyone but the Mets and Phillies, who played Thursday night, had four days off, so why not make that a full four-day break for everybody? …
• This brings us to Rob Manfred’s saber-rattling regarding 2028 Olympics baseball during his annual Monday session with baseball writers at the midseason BBWAA meeting. If you were asked to play in the L.A. Games and bowed out without being hurt – or opted to play in the All-Star Game immediately beforehand and then opted out of Olympic participation – you would be placed on the restricted list without pay or service time for more than three weeks, the commissioner proposed.
As expected, Players Association director Bruce Mayer called that “extreme” during his session with the BBWAA membership. I suspect this will be one more thing added to the laundry list of what will certainly be contentious negotiations over a new collective bargaining agreement.
Meanwhile, here’s the working definition of optimism: MLB teams announced their 2027 schedules on Thursday, with the Dodgers and Angels scheduled to open on March 25. I’m not nearly that confident. …
• The following stat, unearthed by baseball journalist Molly Knight and passed along by Joe Posnanski via his “JoeBlogs” Substack, hits differently here than anyplace else: Through the All-Star break, Mookie Betts had played more games for the Dodgers than he had with the Red Sox, 797-794.
Thanks, Boston! …
• I realize that any time someone from the New World makes a suggestion about the sport that we call soccer and they call football, we’re treated as apostates. Or heathens. But wouldn’t it make the game better, or at least drive its followers less crazy, to at least liberalize the offside rule so that goals aren’t disallowed if an attacking player was a hair or a toe behind a defender before the ball was passed?
Maybe try this: Offside infractions would no longer be subject to VAR review unless blatantly bad. …
• But I think we can all agree: Whether it’s the kind of “football” played on these shores or the type played everywhere else in the world, the old adage remains true: Prevent defense often prevents you from winning. England’s fans learned that the hard way on Wednesday, and I’d guess they’re still fuming. …
• So here’s today’s reader participation segment (i.e., you provide the punch line): The expression here for the English defensive shell that fueled Argentina’s late comeback is “parking the bus.” And in England, buses are known as coaches.
I’ll let you figure out that one-liner. …
• Meanwhile, I believe we’ve found our Cinderella team in this expanded World Cup, the world’s counterpart to March Madness’ Loyola Chicago, Saint Peter’s or Florida Gulf Coast. Cape Verde, population 530,000, played both finalists even in regulation, tying Spain 0-0 in group play and losing, 3-2, to Argentina in extra time on an own-goal by Diney in the 111th minute. …
• So Gianni Infantino wants to expand the World Cup field again in 2030, to 64 teams. What’s next, bracketology?
jalexander@scng.com