Any baseball fans out there?

[deadmoscow]

Our long national nightmare is coming to an end - opening day is upon us, and baseball is a month away from happening again!  In the last couple of years, my sports allegiance has slowly been shifting from football to baseball.  I found that watching football was literally bad for my blood pressure, and I started to get a bad taste in my mouth from all of the concussion / safety issues.  A while back, I binge-watched the entire Ken Burns Baseball documentary on Netflix, and after going to a couple of local minor league games I was completely hooked.  You've got the excitement of big plays and stuff, but I've found a calm, meditative quality to the sport.  I like how every pitcher and batter have their own little rituals to be completed before every pitch, I like sitting in the stands and filling out a scorecard and drinking a beer, and I like listening to the games on the radio on a warm summer evening.

 

Is there any contingency of baseball fans on Idle Thumbs?  Who are you rooting for? (I'm an Orioles fan, personally)

[Bjorn]

I'm a Royals fan, so at least the tickets are really cheap! 

 

I love going to live baseball games with a group of people.  It's an interesting social experience that's quite a bit different for me than anything else.  It's relaxing, but with the chance of something incredible happening at any moment. 

[Squid Division]

My family is from Kansas, I grew up in DC, and I live in Seattle, so let me tell you about mediocre baseball!

 

On the bright side, I've gotten more interested in baseball as it's headed more towards defense and away from the homerun races.

[tabacco]

Spring Training is upon us, even. Got my Gameday Audio subscription yesterday, so I'm ready for one of the Giants-A's game today  (split-squad games today, so that's always fun).

 

By the way, if anyone's interested, I picked this up and read it a few weeks ago: http://www.amazon.com/Baseball-Field-Guide-In-Depth-Illustrated/dp/0306816539/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1393612214&sr=8-1&tag=idlthu-20

 

Even though I know the rules of the game, it was still an interesting read, since it gets into some weird corner cases that you don't often see (all the kinds of balks, uncaught third strikes, etc.).

[deadmoscow]

That looks like an interesting book!  I've got a pretty good understanding of the mechanics of the game but yeah, balks and weird situations tend to confuse me a little.  I've only recently been able to decipher what is meant by a "6-4-3 double play" or something like that.

 

I did the entire MLB.tv package this year, it's such an incredible service.  Having the Gameday Audio stuff is the cherry on top - I'm listening to the first O's spring training game right now.  This should be an interesting season with the additions of Cruz and Jimenez - if the rest of the team keeps up to the same standard as last year I think there could be a legit playoff shot.  

[tabacco]

That looks like an interesting book!  I've got a pretty good understanding of the mechanics of the game but yeah, balks and weird situations tend to confuse me a little.  I've only recently been able to decipher what is meant by a "6-4-3 double play" or something like that.

 

I did the entire MLB.tv package this year, it's such an incredible service.  Having the Gameday Audio stuff is the cherry on top - I'm listening to the first O's spring training game right now.  This should be an interesting season with the additions of Cruz and Jimenez - if the rest of the team keeps up to the same standard as last year I think there could be a legit playoff shot.  

 

Yeah, that's why I picked it up.

 

I'd buy mlb.tv in a second if I didn't have to deal with blackout restrictions to watch Giants or A's games. I know you can work around it with a vpn, but it's a lot of money to pay for a thing that's also a hassle to use. Honestly I sort of prefer the radio anyway, so it works out in the end.