Basically what the title says. I am from Denmark, know very little about baseball except the basic rules and that the Rockies are awesome.
In Denmark nobody cares about baseball, so I am looking for someone to talk too. Will you talk with me?
Basically what the title says. I am from Denmark, know very little about baseball except the basic rules and that the Rockies are awesome.
In Denmark nobody cares about baseball, so I am looking for someone to talk too. Will you talk with me?
Wow that seems … weird. One would think that wearing the same uniform would create some team cohesion :p btw speaking of Babe Ruth, why are so many MLB players so fat (compared to other athletes) ? I mean you see several players with a gut, that would never happen in most other sports.
And it really depends on the country you live in, how you root. Big nations like France, Italy, Netherlands etc would most certainly have nationally skewed teams, where ownership, management and most if not all riders are of the same nationality - in those cases you could root for nationality.
But far most cases it is individual cyclists - which then again probably would have more fans in their home country. It’s a bit weird :p
so right now the two best riders in the world is a Danish guy and a Slovenian Guy. Obviously I am not going to root against the Danish guy, but right now the Slovenian guy is the best and has the best team to support him. So I know the Danish cannot win the Tour de France, so I will not root for him against my knowledge that he cannot win. Does that make any kind of sense to you haha ?
What the heck is sign stealing and sticky stuff ? And do the fans not care as in they think they should just juice up or that it is probably not happening anymore so why care ?
Right!?
There are fat players in baseball bc mass = power. The heavier a guy, the more oomf he can put into his swing. There is also relatively little running in baseball, especially if you are a big guy swinging for home runs. Further, there are several positions big players can hold (catcher, DH, first base) without being a detriment to their team. The same applies to pitchers. Large pitchers can throw the ball harder (and they don’t have to run at all).
Ooo that is unique but interesting! I like that one just picks people they think are good and cool.
How much does the support staff affect things? Are they the people who train the cyclist or are they the folks that like keep him from keeling over during the race?
Sign stealing is when the pitcher’s planned pitch is conveyed to the batter. The legal way to do this is there is a man on second and thus gets a very clear view of the pitcher’s glove. The runner can notice when the pitcher has subtle differences in how he holds the ball or the glove or his body depending on the type of pitch he plans to throw (slider, curveball, fastball, etc…) and conveys the pitch type to the batter with signals.
A few years ago the Astros got caught for illegally stealing signs. At home, they were using a camera to look at the pitcher, analyze the footage behind the scenes, and convey to the batter the next pitch by banging on a trash can behind home base. They won the World Series…
Some people don’t like any sign stealing at all but I think it’s totally fair game if no outside tools are used. The pitcher and his presence on the mound are part of the game, you know? What are your thoughts?
Sticky stuff is exactly what it sounds like, sticky goo. It was used by pitchers to get a better grip on the ball and thus throw extra nasty stuff. They banned it a few years ago but sometimes fools still get caught. You’ll often see the ump touch the pitchers hand/glove after an inning, that is what his is checking for.
As for the doping, I think it’s mostly not happening anymore so the fans aren’t too worried about it. There is very rigorous testing and I can’t remember the last time anyone was caught positive. But that’s just my impression and definitely could be wrong.
Ah okay that makes sense. It just looks super weird when you see them next to top pumped dudes. But I guess you get to first base if you manage to put the ball into the outer field and if 1B gets it before it leaves the inner fields you are not making it anyway.
Well I guess many casuals will just root for Danes fx. But like baseball cycling is mindboggling nerdy with numbers and power output and gear choices and so on and so on. So the really hardcore fans are more into the sport than national allegiance.
And I would say the support crew/team affects basically everything. Three years ago the Slovene guy was still the best in the world - in my opinion , but the Dane had a better team. So they could basically tire out the other guys team, isolate him and attack when he was weak. The last two years though the Slovene has had an amazing team and they have been doing the exact thing back at the Dane. It is really fun to watch… it just takes three weeks to realize haha.
When it comes to food, gear, health etc I would say it is important, but not as important as the other guys in the bikes. Like many can make a good balanced diet regime, but not many can ride a 10% incline for 10 kilometers with 20 km/h.
So I guess reading the sign I am all for. That is just part of the game, but I agree that cameras and logbooks and whatever is too much. Kinda takes the thrill out of the pitch/batter drama imo. And sticky stuff makes sense now! I am amazed that all pitchers don’t get arthritis in their hands with those fucked up finger grabs they use.
Tell me something about the Red Sox. When was their last World Series win? Are they an old team/new team? Something like that. Or are they agressive attackers or are they a defensive team. Let it on me!
Exactly!
Ooo that’s very interesting! I had never thought of cycling as a team sport before lol.
The Red Sox are a young team rn. The majority of our players are rookies or have only been in the bigs for ~1/1.5 years. LF, CF, RF, 2nd, and 1st are all noobies. This means we are fast and athletic (no fat players on the Red Sox rn) going for more ‘small ball’ (stringing together multiple, smaller hits) than home runs. But holy heck do we commit errors. In 2025 we committed the most errors out of every team. We committed 116 with the next team (the Rockies lol) committing 110. Number wise, that’s about what we did in 2024, except — and this may be wishful thinking — I feel like the errors were less egregious this year if that makes any sense? We threw the ball away but it wasn’t like we chucked it to outer space just airmailed it a bit. Idk that could be total cap but I’m sticking with it.
But if nothing else, we never choked as hard as the Phillies https://www.instagram.com/reel/DPnGu2Mjvh-/?hl=en (this was to loose the World Series)
Bonus fact! The Red Sox, many eons ago, were the Boston Beaneaters! Which is a hilarious name that we never should have changed lol
Tell me something about the Rockies. They are in a different league than the Red Sox and we almost never play each other so I know very little about them. What’s the coolest fact you’ve learned about them so far?
Omg that is a hilarious name xD whoever decided to change that needs to be rehired so he can be fired !
I think I actually prefer “small ball” play. It has more action - or at least perceived action. I don’t know. That might be entirely based on me playing baseball games :p
And a regarding a cool fact, it is more of a very implied joke. I don’t know if you remember the South Park episode, where the boys play little league baseball and actively tries to loose, so they can spend the summer not playing? They end up playing a Denver team, that plays at Coors Field, that plays in purple and have made it into a strategy to loose. I guess you see where this is going ? It is never stated as such, but it is very much implied that they are based on the Rockies. Which cracked me up when I rewatched the episode.
If you want a more teamy fact, we ended the 2023 season with a on the road winning percentage of .296. Which is a MLB record!
And I’m sorry, I don’t have a Facebook/insta account. So can’t watch it :(
I totally prefer small ball too. Home run focused teams are exciting when they are on but it’s impossible to maintain a high enough rate of home runs . And there is nothing more exciting than the clutch hit imo! What would be your favorite play / sequence of plays? Last year one of the Sox hit a bomb of a triple and then immediately stole home! It was probably the most exiting play all year!
https://youtu.be/BAoVqA6cqPI
hahahahahahah that’s not blatant at all lol!
oh no lol… i guess good job being the most… something, team.
ugh so rude of facebook to not let you see posts in browser anymore. Here is a different video: https://youtube.com/shorts/TK-f7jQHdR8
Oh I have no idea what plays are called. But it’s hard not to get excited about that play wow, that Duran guy is cheeky af :p like what are some plays ? I am going to be super naive and ask if it isn’t just to get people on bases and then run them home :p ?
But I agree! Like a super late game clutch hit is super cool. I wish I get to experience it one day :p other than that just a nice clean smack down center field I also enjoy. There is something very clean and enjoyable about it.
Aaaand the YT short is not available outside of the US it seems :p and my vpn on my phone doesn’t do region confuscation properly :/
Haha totally fair and there are many plays, many of which are very similar. I am happy to make you a big list if you’d like, just say the word. But you’ll also definitely pick it up as you watch more. Yes it is get people on base and then get them home, it’s just nuance therein. Like the batter can just hit the ball for however many bases. But there is also a sac fly which is still an out but also advances a baserunner (it’s a fly out super super deep allowing a man on base to tag up which means they wait until the ball has been caught and then run to the next base and it’s a race between the outfielder’s arm and the runner). And you can of course steal a base (any base, including first under very specific circumstances lol).
🤞 for one day!
A clean smack is always great! I love when you can hear off the bat that it is going out. A home run hit has such a distinct sound!
Oh my goodness rude pt 2! lol I’ll just describe it to you. So it’s extras in the last game of the World Series with the home team Dodgers batting, 2 outs with a man on third. The dodgers only need one man to cross home to finished the game but the Phillies only need 1 out to stay in it. The batter hits the ball back to the pitcher on a bounce and instead of throwing to first where there is a force out and will end the inning before the guy on third can get home, he throws it away over the catchers head thus allowing the batter to get to first AND the runner to get home. Of course the man on first doesn’t matter bc the game is over and the Dodgers win the World Series the second their man crosses home. One of the greatest chokes of all time! I honestly feel pretty bad for the pitcher, it’s gotta suck knowing you messed up that bad.
I couldn’t find any World Series games matching your description, but I found this post season one, that shows what you described. And wow what a blunder. Glad I’m not that guy :p
https://youtube.com/shorts/C70C4beANyk
And that is very cool of you! But I don’t think a long list of plays would do me any good. I would on the other hand like to just look at clips or different plays and talk about them. If you were up for that ?
And now it makes sense why they sometimes run when it was an out.! I always wondered why sometimes they weren’t out themselves, but that makes total sense now.