Blackout rules are antiquated and stupid as fuck for an organization that purports to be focused on “growing the game”
The fact that most people pay $150 for mlb tv and their in-market games are blacked out is ludicrous. I paid the money, give me the damn games
Yeah I’m getting really tired of having to drive 2 hours there and back to watch the games because I’m in the blackout zone. Also someone who is good at the economy please help me with my budget.
I’ll be the first to say it. If he gets 5 hits every 14 ABs over the course of his career as a Brave then he will be a HOFer. Heard it her first, folks.
With Cease going to SD, does this mean Soroka gets bumped up in the WS rotation and will miss our trip up there? I hope so, because I have no interest in shelling him or getting beat by him imo
pretty sure he’s slated to start Friday vs the Tigers. sorta hoped he’d start one against us going six scoreless on his way to a no decision.
That's actually the only one I've been too. Menu was small but burger and fries were great. Cool spot.
I think if we tweet photos of the bar dressed up like a golf course for the Masters in the replies we might get a stew going.
ohtani wrote an article for the players tribune titled “my coors light cold hard prop locks” and it comes out tomorrow
CC: Swanson, Dansby and Freeman, Freddie "Our vets don’t intimidate the young players, they lift us up. They make sure we’re doing things right, of course, but it’s always done in a supportive way. They want us to be as great as we can be. All of us."
little disappointed that ronnie said he dreams of fans storming the field to celebrate the world series....jay bilas will have his ass in gitmo for that statement
Can someone post this article? https://theathletic.com/5370249/202...cerStrider:Dominant,smart,funny,‘kindofweird’
Spoiler NORTH PORT, Fla. — Spencer Strider dove headlong into biomechanics, diet and strength and conditioning while rehabbing from Tommy John elbow surgery in college. He honed his delivery to better fit his physique and adopted a vegan diet that reduced inflammation and made him feel better physically and ethically. If you’re an Atlanta Braves fan, maybe you know all that. But there’s so much more. ADVERTISEMENT The 2023 major-league strikeouts and wins leader took a similarly well-researched, exhaustive approach to developing a new curveball this winter, a pitch to better complement his fastball and slider than his changeup did last season. The Braves ace deployed the curve with impressive results at spring training — an 0.79 ERA and 35 strikeouts; no other MLB pitcher had 30 Ks — and will unveil it to a wider audience Thursday when he starts Opening Day against the Phillies in Philadelphia. And here’s the thing about Strider, who on the mound is all mustache, expressionless glare, massive thighs and perfectly repeated movements, piling up strikeouts while looking like the Most Serious Man in Baseball. Off the field, he is entirely different. Strider, 25, doesn’t just immerse himself in the observational humor of irreverent Larry David-created sitcoms “Seinfeld” and “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” he keeps a document in his phone to log his thoughts on things he notices throughout the day — at home, driving to the ballpark, on the team bus, walking around another city, wherever. “I keep all kinds of comedic observations,” Strider said, smiling before adding, “Working towards my second career as a stand-up. So I’m always trying to play little bits out in the open and see what works, see who laughs. Charlie’s a good barometer for that. If he doesn’t find it funny, he’ll stare right through me and then look away. But he gives you a good laugh if he thinks it’s funny.” That’s fellow Braves starting pitcher Charlie Morton, a 40-year-old father of four who is 15 years Strider’s senior and is one of his closest friends on the team. Morton always thinks for a moment and provides thoughtful responses to questions from reporters. When the subject is Strider, he pauses a little longer. It’s one of his favorite topics. ADVERTISEMENT “He thinks a lot,” Morton said with a tone of approval. “He challenges things, from himself and other people and just things in life. Common sense things. I think he likes things to make sense. And if they don’t, he’ll break it down. And then, he’ll let it out sometimes. He needs, like, an outlet every now and then.” Spencer Strider enlivens the Braves clubhouse with his boundless array of discussion topics. (Brett Davis / USA Today) Teammates say Strider is one of the funniest and most informed players in the Braves clubhouse, and that he doesn’t hesitate to offer his opinion on any subject from pop culture to politics, and everything in between. “Everything,” Braves catcher Travis d’Arnaud said. “And everything’s so well thought out. Like, if he has an answer for something, there’s a reason behind it. He’s done his homework. He has great answers, and he’s willing to discuss any topic.” Morton pauses, trying to describe exactly what kinds of things lead Strider to come to him and wonder aloud, “Why?” “I don’t know, just something that somebody does, whether it’s on the road or wherever and he sees something,” Morton said. “And he’s just like, ‘Man, I just don’t understand why that is.’ He’s just … he’s always going.” Told what Morton said about him, Strider laughed and said, “It’s a curse more than a gift, I’m afraid. I think that’s the Larry David influence. I don’t know how that came about. I don’t know if it’s the chicken or the egg, really, but, yeah, I’ve certainly watched enough ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’ to just embody Larry David, I think.” Strider is well-versed in sarcasm, but he’s serious about trying to do stand-up comedy someday. “I’d love to,” he said. “I think the art of comedy is something that’s very technical. I think it comes across as natural, but there’s really a process behind it that’s fascinating to me. And I’ve enjoyed listening to, like, Jerry Seinfeld talk about it, somebody who views it that way. I could see myself just pulling up to a comedy club randomly under a fake name, trying out some material. But I don’t know that that would go over very well with the organization.” ADVERTISEMENT D’Arnaud said of Strider doing stand-up, “I think he could do it. Because his impersonations are really funny, too.” When Morton was entering his age-25 season — like Strider is now — he had pitched part of just one MLB season and was 4-8 with a 6.15 ERA in 16 games. That was in 2008 with the Braves, who traded the former third-round draft pick to the Pittsburgh Pirates the following year before Morton pitched in another MLB game. In Strider, Morton sees a young man with enormous talent to go with an analytical mind, and the confidence and aggressiveness that Morton sorely lacked at that age. Morton, whose career blossomed in his mid-30s, offers advice from experience whenever Strider asks about anything in baseball, but the two talk a lot more about other subjects. They have long discussions about current events, comedy, TV, movies, music — Strider has far-ranging tastes but loves progressive acts like The Strokes and Wye Oak; Morton is into Americana artists such as Jason Isbell and Tyler Childers — along with the older pitcher’s obsession with the making and consumption of high-quality coffee. The latter interest has infiltrated the clubhouse. At spring training last week, d’Arnaud sat at his locker stall in North Port, opening a new digital coffee scale and French press coffee brewing device, on the advice of Morton, who favors espresso, and Strider. “This is a fallacy that’s existed as long as I’ve been in pro ball — people try to do what I do and think they’ll throw 100 (mph),” Strider said in a droll tone. “Doesn’t work that way. But no, I think it’s great. We’ve got a bunch of guys making their own coffee. We’ve got different brewing methods now. We’ve added a brew method (French press). “The most interesting clubhouse in baseball, for sure. We’re holding out for a backup plan in case we’ve all got to go to Starbucks, I guess.” ADVERTISEMENT When asked why the team’s coffee enthusiasts don’t just ask the Braves to install a high-end espresso machine and coffee maker, Strider said, “Well, we’re trying to pressure them in an indirect way. See, this is how Larry David would do it. He would take on more strain of his own to try to get something that’s really not that hard to acquire.” A few lockers from d’Arnaud, Strider meticulously prepared a hot cup of java with a travel pour-over coffee set on the lower shelf of his locker stall while simultaneously doing this interview. He had a bag of coffee beans that Morton brought for him, beans roasted in Virginia Beach within the past 14 days — the outside limit for optimum consumption, as Morton informed him. All spring, Strider did this procedure in his locker each morning, because he now fully appreciates good coffee done the right way. But he doesn’t plan to take the pour-over set on the road this season. “I don’t think I’ll need to, because one of my favorite things to do on the road during the season is to just go out and find good coffee,” he said. “And now that I’ve had a couple of years, I’ve found a lot of them. So I’ve got my ones I’ll revisit and then some places I’ll venture out. So this is just for spring training. It’s been a fun little project in the morning.” And at home? “At home, I’ve got an espresso machine,” Strider said. “I’ve also got a pour-over and a French press, but I’ll mostly make espresso. Here and there, I’ll do the pour-over, depending on what beans I get. Some beans are better brewed certain ways, as you know.” Well, of course. Morton has turned the young man into a coffee connoisseur, but the breadth and depth of their conversation topics go far beyond caffeinated beverages. “Oh, yeah. Charlie’s fascinating,” Strider said. “Maybe the most fascinating person in baseball. One of the most fascinating people I’ve ever met. Extremely educated as well. There is so much depth to him. The things that he’s involved in, I mean, he’s involved. Like, we both have this love for Porsche, and he’s a wizard of cars — vintage cars, vintage 911s. I mean, he’s like my database for that information. So, it’s been fun to talk to him. He’s got a few nice cars I love. I’ll let him tell you that information.” ADVERTISEMENT Strider can’t resist when asked if Morton has a four-door Porsche to haul his kids around. “He does, actually,” Strider said. “He’s got the electric Taycan, the Sport Turismo. So it’s the hatchback. Which, it’s a supercar almost. And he’s driving the kids around. So that’s one of his concerns, making sure he can get enough into the back seat, that he can put the kids back there.” And Strider? Has he taken the plunge and bought a Porsche? “Certainly not,” Strider said, as if he forgot that he signed a six-year, $75 million contract with the Braves after his sensational 2022 rookie season. It’s easily the largest deal that Braves general manager and president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos has ever given a pitcher with just one year of MLB service at the time. “Well, I could, yeah,” Strider said of purchasing such a car. “But I’m a little more … well, I’m very painfully cheap. Until I break that trait, I’m going to be hopping around in my hybrid.” Spencer Strider was hardly a popular kid in high school. But now? “I’m the cool one,” he says. (John Adams / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) Here’s something else you probably wouldn’t expect would be the case with Strider. He is married to Maggie, his high school sweetheart from Christian Academy of Knoxville, Tenn., where they were raised and still have a home along with one they bought last year in Atlanta. But when they started dating in high school, Strider says he had to really work to make it happen. “It’s a good story I like to tell, because she big-leagued me for a long time,” said Strider, who, back then, was not an overwhelming athlete with swagger. “She was the cool kid. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’m kind of weird. And so I was not a popular kid. Consequently, we didn’t interact a ton in our high school of 100 people in our graduating class. Until she was forced to interact with me in a class that we had in our senior year, we hadn’t met, hadn’t spoken.” ADVERTISEMENT They met in a Bible studies class. “She was trying to set me up with one of her friends who I had a crush on, and I was trying to do the same for her,” Strider said, who is going now, involved in telling the story. “And we went on the date, the four of us. And she and I spent the whole time talking rather than the person we were pursuing. And then it became just a messy attempt by me to court her, ultimately, for months. And then finally, I made a last-ditch effort in the spring of our senior year, and she agreed. And then here we are.” So, Strider was not the homecoming king or anything like that? Even in a small class of about 100? “Certainly not,” he said. “Didn’t go (to homecoming).” They continued their relationship while he was at Clemson. “She did not go to Clemson, but we did date throughout college,” he said. “She went to Tennessee. Wrong color orange. She surely had to think I was nuts.” But now? Strider jokes that the tables have turned. “She’ll admit it; she knows,” he said, grinning. “And I make sure that she doesn’t forget her elitism at the time. But, yeah, the dynamic has changed for sure. Now I’m the cool one.” While he wasn’t the most popular kid in his high school, Strider said that’s where the foundation for his success began. He credits his high school coach, Tommy Pharr, whom he loves to see at occasional Braves games in Atlanta. “I could talk for hours about my high school experience, and specifically the baseball program, and start getting into my high school coach, who I’m still very close with,” Strider said. “He is one of the best people I’ve ever known. Phenomenal leader, really a mentor. I’m the only person (from the high school) still playing baseball, but all the guys that I played with are extremely successful in their own right. And, you know, very purposeful and organized people, just true adults. ADVERTISEMENT “And I don’t think you can say the same necessarily for everybody I went to high school with. And that’s true of any place. But it’s a trend that starts there.” His admiration for Pharr is evident the second he starts talking about his former coach. Strider is serious, no joking, when discussing the coach and how relatively advanced his methods were — pitchers there used weighted balls before that was a trend at the high school level — and how good the equipment and facilities were for a small school. “He was always at the forefront of the industry, despite being a high school coach, and now an older coach,” Strider said. “He’s very well-informed and wants to learn and get better. That trait is passed down to his players, and I think that’s a useful thing regardless of whether you play baseball or not.” Well-informed? Wants to learn and get better? That sounds like his Braves teammates and manager when they’re discussing Strider. “I tell you what’s been fun, is watching the development of this guy,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “From the first time we saw him in an inning or so (Strider’s debut on the final weekend of the 2021 season), and then the next year, what he worked on over the winter and how he came back and where he’s put himself now. It’s been really, really impressive.” Morton compares Strider to two-time Cy Young Award winner Justin Verlander, Morton’s teammate with the 2017 World Series champion Houston Astros. Verlander, who led the majors in strikeouts three times after turning 30, is still pitching at 41. He might not seem an obvious comparison, given that he’s 6-foot-5 and Strider is undersized at 5-11 (rather than his listed 6 feet). “I just remember thinking, man, that’s a special fastball,” Morton said of first seeing Verlander. “And you watch kind of the way that Spence’s heater plays and how he uses it. Even their deliveries, to me, are kind of similar. The difference is that JV’s longer, the levers are longer. I think JV had a little more natural ability to spin the ball; he’s actually got a really good breaking ball that he didn’t use that much. But I think the two of them are kind of similar.” ADVERTISEMENT “I think the struggle for Spence, if anything, is going to be when you get in the dog days a little bit and you’re trying to draw something out of that delivery. JV has physics on his side, he has geometry on his side.” That’s why Morton thinks Strider has a real chance to be an exception, a hard-throwing pitcher who is under 6 feet and has a long career. Morton points to one notable example — Tim Lincecum, the 5-foot-11 former San Francisco Giants pitcher known as “The Freak,” who won back-to-back Cy Young Awards at ages 24-25 and had four seasons with 220 or more strikeouts. But Lincecum lasted only eight full seasons before injuries forced him to retire. “And you saw how strange his delivery was,” Morton said of Lincecum’s distinct over-the-top motion. “But the thing about Tim and Spence is that Spencer is stacked over the rubber. He’s stacked into his drive, and when he lands, he’s timed up. His strength is that his legs are strong, his core is strong. He’s got really good control of his core and his legs and the timing of that. … I think that as long as Spence can stay dialed in and strong, he’s going to have a really good opportunity to get into those fourth, fifth and sixth years of his career. “And that’s my hope for him. Because he’s a real pro. For how young he is, it’s special.” And whenever the day comes that Strider is no longer able to pitch, he’s got stand-up comedy to fall back on. Just a different sort of delivery to hone. (Top photo of Spencer Strider: Kevin C. Cox / Getty Images)