MLB 2023 Season

Carolina Speed

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The MLB Home Run Title is very exciting this year and we still got a ways to go. As of today here are the current leaders:

Matt Olson 42 Home Runs

Shohei Ohtani 41 Home Runs

Pete Alonso 35 Home Runs


It's gonna probably go down to the wire. All 3 of these guys are having amazing seasons so far!
Olson: 43 home runs and 107 RBI, both lead the league. He's also leading the league in SLG. and total bases.

Freddie Freeman, LAD: .339, 43 D, 23 HR's and 83 RBI'S and leading the league in Doubles and OPS.. 1.005 and OPS+ 167, yet despite the numbers from these two men, Mookie Betts is getting much MVP hype? Not leading the league in any stat.
Freeman, the SLOW 1B, even has twice as many stolen bases than the SPEEDY Betts!!! Freeman; 16 SB's caught once. Betts; 8 SB's caught 3 times! Just more insanity.
 

Leonardfan

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Olson: 43 home runs and 107 RBI, both lead the league. He's also leading the league in SLG. and total bases.

Freddie Freeman, LAD: .339, 43 D, 23 HR's and 83 RBI'S and leading the league in Doubles and OPS.. 1.005 and OPS+ 167, yet despite the numbers from these two men, Mookie Betts is getting much MVP hype? Not leading the league in any stat.
Freeman, the SLOW 1B, even has twice as many stolen bases than the SPEEDY Betts!!! Freeman; 16 SB's caught once. Betts; 8 SB's caught 3 times! Just more insanity.
Quite a few White players are in the upper level for stats. Bellinger is having a real nice bounce back year for the Cubs, Lane Thomas is quietly having a great year as well for Washington.
 

Carolina Speed

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Quite a few White players are in the upper level for stats. Bellinger is having a real nice bounce back year for the Cubs, Lane Thomas is quietly having a great year as well for Washington.
TEXAS' Corey Seager as well. Despite playing only 75 games so far, is hitting .348, .407 OBP, .649 SLG., 1056 OPS., 20 HR's and 68 RBI.
 

Freethinker

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Bobby Witt Jr with an inside-the-park homerun yesterday. Now up to 22 HRs and 34 SBs. Will be tracking him closely to see if he can get to 30-40 which would put him in elite territory.

Another fun young star is Corbin Carroll (part Asian?) who’s at 21 HRs and 36 SBs. Even if he’s not 100% White, he looks it and I root for him as such.
 

FootballDad

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Bobby Witt Jr with an inside-the-park homerun yesterday. Now up to 22 HRs and 34 SBs. Will be tracking him closely to see if he can get to 30-40 which would put him in elite territory.

Another fun young star is Corbin Carroll (part Asian?) who’s at 21 HRs and 36 SBs. Even if he’s not 100% White, he looks it and I root for him as such.
Here's a link to a video on X (twitter). Some people say it should have been ruled an error on the right fielder, maybe so, but it was still mighty impressive.
 

Carolina Speed

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Bobby Witt Jr with an inside-the-park homerun yesterday. Now up to 22 HRs and 34 SBs. Will be tracking him closely to see if he can get to 30-40 which would put him in elite territory.
Witt with his second grand slam this season last night for his 23rd HR. He's on pace for 30.
 

Freethinker

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Witt with his second grand slam this season last night for his 23rd HR. He's on pace for 30.
Up to 24 after today with 78 RBI.

What will the critics say is he hits 30 homers, 100 RBI and 40 SBs in only his 2nd season? He’s elite already, with my only critic being he needs to be more patient and raise his OBP.
 

Carolina Speed

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Another one to watch could be Detroit Tiger OF Parker Meadows. In 4 games since being called out the 23 year old is 4-13 with a HR and a triple. The 6'5 205 lb CF showed his elite speed by hitting a triple in his second game.
 

white lightning

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Move over, Mike Trout. Say hi, Shohei. Bryce Harper is right there with you.​

Story by David Murphy, The Philadelphia Inquirer • 3h

AA1g0Obd.img
 

Freethinker

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Move over, Mike Trout. Say hi, Shohei. Bryce Harper is right there with you.​

Story by David Murphy, The Philadelphia Inquirer • 3h

AA1g0Obd.img
300 homers by age 30 is pretty incredible! He’s the hottest hitter in baseball over the last 2 weeks and he’s finally getting his strength back after the surgery with his August homerun bonanza. I expect him to continue strong into his 30s. 500 homeruns or more should be in reach.
 

Carolina Speed

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MLB HR Leaders:
1. M. Olson: ATL-50. He also leads in RBI-127
2. Ohtanis: LAA-44
3. P. Alonso: NYM- 43 103 RBI
3. K Schwarber: PHi-43

Hits
2. F. Freeman: ATL-190

Stolen Bases
3. C. Carrol: ARI- 47
4. B Witt Jr.: KC- 41: Witt, 28 HR's needs 2 HR's to join the exclusive 30/40 club

Wins
1. S. Strider: ATL-16 Strider also leads the league in strike outs
2. J. Steele CHC-16
3. Z Gallen ARI-15
4. T. Walker PHI-15
5. C. Bassitt TOR-14
 

Carolina Speed

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Atlanta Braves pitcher Spencer Strider won his league leading 17th game last night. In doing so he had 9 strikeouts giving him 424 k's in his first 50 starts. The most since 1893, yes, 1893! An average of 8.5 strikeout per start.
Strider is 29-10 in his first two seasons in MLB.
 

white lightning

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Atlanta Braves pitcher Spencer Strider won his league leading 17th game last night. In doing so he had 9 strikeouts giving him 424 k's in his first 50 starts. The most since 1893, yes, 1893! An average of 8.5 strikeout per start.
Strider is 29-10 in his first two seasons in MLB.

In an era of the Major League Baseball doing everything they can to help up the runs scored per game it makes these stats even more
phenomenal. He reminds me a little bit of "Louisiana Lightning" Ron Guidry of the New York Yankees back in the 1970's to 1980's. Guidry
won 25 games one year and was frequently among the best pitchers with the most strikeouts. What Spencer Strider has done in an era
with smaller parks, and lower pitcher mounds is incredible. What an epic season he has had. Over a century since anyone did that. Wow!
 
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Matt Olson ties Braves franchise record with 51st home run Matt Olson extends his MLB lead with his 51st home run of the season, and ties Andruw Jones for most long balls in a season for the Braves.

 

Freethinker

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white lightning

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Congrats to Corbin Carrol. He averaged almost 1 steal every 3 games. You have to get on base first so this proves he is a good hitter
to go along with nice power. Great talent for the future going forward and hopefully the Dbacks and put better guys around him.
 

Don Wassall

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Sad to learn that Tim Wakefield died from brain cancer at the age of just 57. He was one of the best knuckleballers of the past 30 years, maybe the best, winning over 200 games with the Pirates and Red Sox and helping Boston finally end the "Babe Ruth jinx" when they won the World Series in 2004. RIP
 

Freethinker

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Sad to learn that Tim Wakefield died from brain cancer at the age of just 57. He was one of the best knuckleballers of the past 30 years, maybe the best, winning over 200 games with the Pirates and Red Sox and helping Boston finally end the "Babe Ruth jinx" when they won the World Series in 2004. RIP
I just heard this too. RIP.

He might be the last great knuckleballer, as no one other than a brief run from RA Dickey, throws the pitch anymore. To my knowledge, there isn't even 1 pitcher who throws a knuckleball in the MLB right now.
 
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Bucky

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RIP to Wakefield! Inspired millions of kids to throw knucklers on the sandlot!
 

Don Wassall

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It's odd that the knuckleball has become all but extinct at the major league level, as those pitchers who mastered it had amazingly long careers. The Niekro brothers, Wakefield, and Hoyt Wilhelm come quickly to mind. Phil Niekro and Wilhelm nearly pitched into their 50s.

The only exception I can think of is Wilbur Wood, whose last season was when he was 37. But after initially being a reliever Wood became a starter and a workhorse unlike no one since the early 1900s when Cy Young and Jack Chesbro were compiling stats that will never be surpassed. Wood pitched 376 innings in 1972 and 359 innings in 1973. In '73 he won and lost 20 games, finishing 24-20!

With that kind of endurance and with the amount of money baseball players make now, there should be lots of aspiring pitchers trying to master the knuckleball.
 
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