Benjamin Grimm

I missed the bottom of the ninth because Extra Innings forgot to return from the commercial break. By the time I was able to get to another feed the inning was over. No big deal, I guess. All's well that ends well.

That was fun to see!

Actually, it's the third baseman.

I'm gonna guess that Betances will be the first new Met of 2020.

Scoreless after 6. We're potentially three innings away from the dreaded "international tiebreaker".

https://twitter.com/dobrienatl/status/1286689023663235072?s=21https://twitter.com/dobrienatl/status/1286689023663235072?s=21 Are they allowed to activate a catcher from their taxi squad? Or would they have to IL one of their sick catchers in order to do that?

Only if he makes the last out in the inning before. The runner isn't someone you can designate; it's whoever is in the lineup and would bat ninth in the current inning.

East Side, West Side, everybody's coming down...

I'll stick with 4-3 for my scorecard pick, but really, the overwhelming odds these days are that it will be K.

Well, this went awry immediately! Oh well.

Ex-Mets are allowed to wear 41? That seems wrong somehow.

EVERYBODY JOIN IN! Meet the Mets! Meet the Mets!

I guess it depends on his pitch count, but yeah, I'm thinking three to five.

National Weather Service wrote: Today: A 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly before 3pm. Cloudy, with a high near 86. East wind around 6 mph. Tonight: Mostly cloudy, then gradually becoming mostly clear, with a low around 74. Southeast wind around 5 mph becoming calm in the evening.

Tyler Kepner, The Thriving New York Times wrote: The new format — which covers only the 2020 season — will eliminate the wild-card play-in games, which had been held since 2012, when the playoff field was expanded to 10 teams from eight. Now, M.L.B. will begin the postseason with eight best-of-three matchups (four in each league), before the usual best-of-five division series and best-of-seven league championship and World Series rounds. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/23/sports/baseball/mlb-playoffs.htmlhttps://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/23/sports/baseball/mlb-playoffs.html So a team that runs away with the division could be eliminated from the postseason after two games. (I guess it's not that different from how it's been, where a dominating team can be eliminated in three games.) I hope this format doesn't stick. I'm okay with it for 2020 because this year is entirely screwy anyway. And it's still not nearly as bad as the "international tiebreaker" (the runner starting the inning on second base, thinking he hit a double.)

For the Mets, the current longest streak is TWO, shared by Nimmo (cf) and Rosario (ss)

https://twitter.com/jaysonst/status/1286394398767550466?s=21https://twitter.com/jaysonst/status/1286394398767550466?s=21 That's a good idea. https://twitter.com/buster_espn/status/1286397258666319872?s=21https://twitter.com/buster_espn/status/1286397258666319872?s=21 I suppose this is done so that it's more likely that a sub-.500 team will win the World Series??? This one is much less of a good idea. Looking at last year's standings, this formula would have given the Wild Card to the runners up with the best winning percentage, so the weird way would have had the same result as the logical way. The second-place teams that would have advanced would be the Rays (.593), Spiders (.574), Athletics (.599), Nationals (.574), Brewers (.549) and Diamondbacks (.525). The other four slots would all have gone to third-place teams: Red Sox (.519), Rangers (.481), Mets (.531) and Cubs (.519) So we'd have had one sub-.500 team, the Rangers. And the Mets would have been in as a third-place team (if it makes any practical difference) even though they had a better record than the second-place Diamondbacks.

I'm glad it's (seemingly) happening in 2020, and glad it's not happening in 2021.

I think they should get a virtual guest to virtually throw out the first pitch. It would be SO virtual!

CBS Sports wrote: Major League Baseball and the Players Association are having last-minute discussions about expanding the playoffs to 16 teams for the 2020 season, Jon Heyman reports. Included in those discussions is the idea that division winners will be able to choose their opponents during a televised selection show, according to ESPN's Buster Olney. The 2020 regular season begins Thursday night, and as Heyman reports, both sides would need to strike a deal before first pitch, which means there's little time to come to an agreement. The current playoff structure, which has been in place since 2012, features 10 playoff teams -- six division champions and two wild card entrants per league. A 16-team field would presumably add three more wild card teams per league and swell the playoffs to four full rounds. https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/mlb-mlbpa-discussing-16-team-expanded-playoffs-and-selection-show-to-pick-opponents-for-2020-per-reports/https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/mlb-mlbpa-discussing-16-team-expanded-playoffs-and-selection-show-to-pick-opponents-for-2020-per-reports/ I'm not so sure why the deal has to be struck before the first pitch. Are the teams or managers going to do anything differently on Opening Night if there are 16 teams in the postseason from what they would have done if there were 10?

I don't think it's Christ. Maybe it's Chasen Shreve, which is almost the same thing.

I think I'd rather be based at a Triple A ballpark than to be constantly on the road. Pittsburgh is better than Buffalo but Buffalo is better than the road warrior option

Usually you do this in March or April. What took so long this year? 1) Reach base safely by any means Conforto 2) Hit a single McNeil 3) Hit a double Alonso 4) Hit a triple Rosario 5) Hit a home run Davis 6) Draw a base on balls McNeil 7) Steal a base Rosario 8) Score a run Conforto 9) Drive in a run Alonso 10) Drive in multiple runs in a single PA Alonso 11) Strike out Cespedes 12) Hit into a double play Cano 13) Get caught stealing or picked off Rosario 14) Be pinch-hit for Nimmo 15) Be a pinch hitter Dom Smith 16) Get a walk-off RBI Conforto * (pitchers) 17) Be credited for a victory deGrom 18) appear as a relief pitcher Drew Smith 19) Hit a batter with a pitch Betances 20) Be credited with a "hold" Betances 21) Be credited with a "blown save" Diaz 22) Get a save Diaz * (fielders) 23) Make an error Davis 24) Bonus/tiebreaker> Scorecard the result of the first batter in the top of the first inning 4-3

I assume that the top-seeded wild card would join the division winners and get to skip the first round?

So... Five wild cards in each league? How would that work?