2021 Olympics USA Men’s Baseball Team Thread

[failos]

That’s quite the group

[Lou]

34 minutes ago, failos said:

That’s quite the group

Ha. My first thought: we're going to get our asses kicked.

[failos]

1 minute ago, Lou said:

Ha. My first thought: we're going to get our asses kicked.

Sosh has his work cut out for him

[Lou]

Just now, failos said:

Sosh has his work cut out for him

Gold Medal is a lock. 

[mmc]

Game 1 vs Nicaragua will be at 4 PT/7 ET on ESPN+.  Sounds like Matthew Liberatore will be starting for us.

 

[mmc]

2 hours ago, mmc said:

Final roster for the qualifiers, which start tomorrow

Also forgot to mention the changes here are that Matt Wieters, Clayton Andrews, and Jonathan Bowlan are the players who were dropped from the camp roster, only addition being Anthony Carter

[mmc]

Starters for tomorrow's first game confirmed to be Liberatore for the US and Carlos Teller (former AAA player who was a Pirates prospect, never made the majors and is now playing in Mexico) for Nicaragua

 

[T.G.]

I'm sorry, but I have very little desire to watch this....

The World Baseball Classic is more interesting.

[HanfordGuy]

2 hours ago, mmc said:

Starters for tomorrow's first game confirmed to be Liberatore for the US and Carlos Teller (former AAA player who was a Pirates prospect, never made the majors and is now playing in Mexico) for Nicaragua

 

Teller never said he could pitch let alone that he was from Nicaragua.

[mmc]

24 minutes ago, True Grich said:

I'm sorry, but I have very little desire to watch this....

The World Baseball Classic is more interesting.

I'm a sucker for the Olympics, and baseball won't be back after this tournament, and who knows when it will again, so I'm just trying to enjoy for what it is, even though the rosters of the teams at least in the qualifier aren't really anything that's getting me too excited

[WicketMaiden]

Baseball isn't an Olympic sport and has no business being there in my view, similar to football (soccer), it is not a minority sport and generates enormous revenues globally. The winner of the gold medal won't have a valid claim for being the best country at baseball because so very many of the best players won't be there, so it will be the gold medal for having the best scrubs that aren't good enough to be top professionals at the time the tournament is played. Great, can't wait. 

If you are into that, great, good for you, I hope you enjoy it more than watching the Angels this year, but you'll probably find better players and better baseball in triple A. Just my view.

[failos]

What is a “minority sport” ?

[WicketMaiden]

30 minutes ago, failos said:

What is a “minority sport” ?

Sports played and enjoyed by a minority of fans / people. Things like rowing, gymnastics, track and field, indoor track cycling, etc maybe lacrosse in the US (?). Tiny sports that don't have enough pull or infrastructure to stand alone and draw a large crowd (and therefore funding) because of the other larger sports around them - I always thought the Olympics was their day in the sun so to speak, and also offered those sports the pinnacle of that particular sporting endeavour. 

I guess I believe that if the Olympics doesn't offer the pinnacle of any particular sport then that sport shouldn't be in it.

EDIT: Maybe 'minor sports' would have been a better phrase.

[failos]

1 minute ago, WicketMaiden said:

Sports played and enjoyed by a minority of fans / people. Things like rowing, gymnastics, track and field, indoor track cycling, etc maybe lacrosse in the US (?). Tiny sports that don't have enough pull or infrastructure to stand alone and draw a large crowd (and therefore funding) because of the other larger sports around them - I always thought the Olympics was their day in the sun so to speak, and also offered those sports the pinnacle of that particular sporting endeavour. 

I guess I believe that if the Olympics doesn't offer the pinnacle of any particular sport then that sport shouldn't be in it.

 

Gotcha. I usually refer to those sports as “individual sports,” but I don’t necessarily disagree with you

Anyways, I never watch the Olympics, but the basketball tournaments were fun back in the day.

Ultimately, I’ll just watch baseball this year because it’s the only sport I really care about—oh and Sosh.

[Chuck]

I'm actually looking forward to this, because it's baseball and it's Olympic style. 

I just wish every country was sending some of their best prospects and then fill in the gaps with the MLB free agents who weren't able to land a job with a major league team. 

That's kind of a bummer IMO. 

[Lou]

Jose Bautista and Melky Cabrera are starting for the DR. 

[Lou]

LOL

Turned on the Cuba/Venezuela game. They are using one camera view that is pointed on one single player at a time for the entire play. Venezuela had runners on 1st and 2nd and the batter hit a home run. At least that's what the announcer said. We got to see the runner on 2nd round 3rd and score.

Never saw the home run. 

The next batter we got to see the pitcher throw his pitches. Never once saw the batter.

What a shit show.

 

[Lou]

The DR/PR broadcast is better. 

[mmc]

Interesting story for the Sosh crowd

 

[mmc]

Dominican Republic gets the 5-2 win over Puerto Rico.  They will play the US tomorrow.

[mmc]

Starting lineup

 

[mmc]

Nicaragua’s lineup today vs the US
 

 

[mmc]

Did not watch the game due to Leafs/Habs game 7, but the US won 7-1.  Luke Williams went 3-3 with 2 walks, the US somehow had 14 hits with only 1 XBH, a home run for Mark Kolozsvary.  Liberatore pitched 5 innings with 5 hits, 1 ER, 1 walk and 4 strikeouts.  They play the Dominican Republic tomorrow.

[Taylor]

On 5/30/2021 at 1:05 PM, failos said:

That’s quite the group

I've heard of four of them.

[failos]

3 minutes ago, Taylor said:

I've heard of four of them.

you lack the knowledge of the sport