Just to set the record straight here in Toronto the excitement level is -3. Our GM is atrocious and the only thing that can raise the excitement level is to fire him.
Taking this too seriously… really? Cleveland fans are less excited about their team than Pittsburgh fans!? Come on, Joe! No freaking way.
I, for one, actually think there’s a lot of promise there in Cleveland. The starting rotation is five studs, they’ve got a solid bullpen and hopefully shored up their weakest pitching problem, the eighth inning. They have two Naylors, a Ramirez, a Gimenez, and a Kwan in the lineup every day. Defense, especially infield, is quite good. And they play in the very winnable AL Central where no team is distinguished.
As an O's fan, we're deeeefinitely at a 10. 9 at the very LEAST. We got out under the immense, hope-crippling weight of John effing Angelos, and a couple days later got CORBIN EFFING BURNES. Both of which seemed hard to even imagine in a dream, let alone reality. We won 101 games last season. This rebuild was everything we needed and then some, and there's so much young and exciting talent on this team, obviously. But most of us were still dreading what will happen when it's time to pay guys like Adley, Gunnar, etc, etc. Let alone if we'd ever be able to bring in a top notch, bonafide ace. Bradish was that last year, and I think will be ace-like going forward, but somebody like Burnes just didn't seem possible. He's the best pitcher we've had since Mussina, and it's probably not particularly close. We're in the AL East. It's gonna be brutal. But I imagine most of us Orioles fans are pretty easily at a 9.5 or 10 right now.
I was in KC a few years ago and thought the stadium was excellent as was the overall experience. The personnel (ushers and whatnot) were helpful and the fans were friendly. If any "problem" exists, it isn't the ballpark.
I have no idea what the Venn diagram of JoeBlogs readers and fans of the TV Show The Venture Bros. looks like, but any time Mr. Wendal is brought up, I have to immediately go and watch the Mr. Wendal/Baba Oje clip from the show:
Oh, Joe. This is an awful thing to say about Royals fans:
“We’ll see how the vote for a new downtown stadium goes in three or so weeks, that will tell you.”
Mark Donovan, President of the Chiefs, said something similar about them, about how if you’re a Chiefs fan, you’ll vote for the Arrowhead renovations.
Being a fan for the team and voting for a new stadium/renovations have nothing to do with each other. You can still be a fan of your even if you vote no.
I’m really disappointed you’re taking the same stance as Donovan. It was a crummy thing he said, and it stings a little more to see a former KC columnist say the same.
Joe isn’t taking the same stance as Donovan. Donovan’s stance was *advocating* for the Chief’s fans to vote for the renovations. Joe’s comment was that the vote may be a barometer for the excitement level of the Royals fans. He didn’t advocate either way. It’s not a subtle distinction.
I’ve already given up on the Angels this season, and I was trying to think of when was the earliest I’ve given up on them. Then I realized, I already gave up on this season before last season ended.
You and everyone else. The Angels have been the most overrated team for years. I have cashed 8 straight under bets on them. But with Shohei gone, and Trout getting old, everyone jumped off of their bandwagon at once and the numbers are almost too low to bet under on. (They are below the Royal) I think I have to though. I will ride the streak until it bucks me off.
Overrated enough that until this year, their preseason over/under was high enough that I scoffed at it for over a decade. They had names, but a pretty bad paper thin team. Apparently media and fans (and therefore Vegas) knew the names which propped that up. If you are a fan, then you know more about the team than the general public, and know they are not well run at all. So, probably, does your local bubble. They were picked by many "experts" (really just writers) to win the division or make the playoffs several of those years.
I have found that the Angels and the Chargers in the NFL (I don't know why for either) have often been dark horse candidates to win the division when it was absurd to think that. Over the last 14 years, the two teams combined have won a division once. (Angels in 2015), and over the last 8 years their both winning percentages are about .473. I have taken advantage of that.
Sadly I agree with you. I became a much more serious Angels fan when Mike Scioscia was hired. For a few years watching Tory and Vlad and Jared Weaver there was always hope. OTOH there have been SO many totally stupid signings of over the hill all stars. Too many to name and you know most of them already. And for a while we were teased by the idea of new ownership but that disappeared like every other hope with them.
Rangers fans still hold out hope for Jordan "2023 Hero" Montgomery to return. But the big excitement is not in the signings, but 22-year-old Wyatt Langford. Coupled with 20-year-old Wyatt Johnston of hockey's Dallas Stars (a) what is it with Wyatt from 20-ish years ago? and (b) relatedly, one might expect another set of baby Wyatts to be born to Dallas sports fans soon.
I’m a crazy old guy, so I’ve been a 10 for my Giants every year since 1958. Yes, I’ve been disappointed too often to count, so spring comes and the 10 emerges.
I cracked a smile reading this because we sorely needed to mix up the music at work the other day; for some reason, I thought to put on, of all things, "Mr. Wendal".
Thanks, Joe for the reminder that Dusty Baker retired. This means that the Astros will have to live by the sword or die by the sword. You might have guessed that Espada is Spanish for spade (the garden tool) or shovel, but that word is palo. By the way, Espada translates to Sword.
Just to set the record straight here in Toronto the excitement level is -3. Our GM is atrocious and the only thing that can raise the excitement level is to fire him.
Taking this too seriously… really? Cleveland fans are less excited about their team than Pittsburgh fans!? Come on, Joe! No freaking way.
I, for one, actually think there’s a lot of promise there in Cleveland. The starting rotation is five studs, they’ve got a solid bullpen and hopefully shored up their weakest pitching problem, the eighth inning. They have two Naylors, a Ramirez, a Gimenez, and a Kwan in the lineup every day. Defense, especially infield, is quite good. And they play in the very winnable AL Central where no team is distinguished.
That’s a 4 or 5 for sure.
Absolutely wild that the Giants won 3 titles in 5 years without a single hitter having 30 bombs in a season. Pretty baffling stat.
As an O's fan, we're deeeefinitely at a 10. 9 at the very LEAST. We got out under the immense, hope-crippling weight of John effing Angelos, and a couple days later got CORBIN EFFING BURNES. Both of which seemed hard to even imagine in a dream, let alone reality. We won 101 games last season. This rebuild was everything we needed and then some, and there's so much young and exciting talent on this team, obviously. But most of us were still dreading what will happen when it's time to pay guys like Adley, Gunnar, etc, etc. Let alone if we'd ever be able to bring in a top notch, bonafide ace. Bradish was that last year, and I think will be ace-like going forward, but somebody like Burnes just didn't seem possible. He's the best pitcher we've had since Mussina, and it's probably not particularly close. We're in the AL East. It's gonna be brutal. But I imagine most of us Orioles fans are pretty easily at a 9.5 or 10 right now.
Opposing team fans have said the same to us about the stadium, and national broadcasters always praise it.
I’m glad you enjoyed it!
You’re right about where the problem may be.
Bonds had only 30 dingers in 2004? Must have been off the clear by then.
Good quip. Bonds actually had 45 that year, but as Joe said no one has hit 30 since.
Keep Kauffman Stadium
Vote No April 2 Jackson County MO
I was in KC a few years ago and thought the stadium was excellent as was the overall experience. The personnel (ushers and whatnot) were helpful and the fans were friendly. If any "problem" exists, it isn't the ballpark.
I have no idea what the Venn diagram of JoeBlogs readers and fans of the TV Show The Venture Bros. looks like, but any time Mr. Wendal is brought up, I have to immediately go and watch the Mr. Wendal/Baba Oje clip from the show:
https://youtu.be/AU__7KM08EY?feature=shared
still hoping my Giants pick up Montgomery and/or Snell
Votto in his home town! I hope he comes back strong!
Oh, Joe. This is an awful thing to say about Royals fans:
“We’ll see how the vote for a new downtown stadium goes in three or so weeks, that will tell you.”
Mark Donovan, President of the Chiefs, said something similar about them, about how if you’re a Chiefs fan, you’ll vote for the Arrowhead renovations.
Being a fan for the team and voting for a new stadium/renovations have nothing to do with each other. You can still be a fan of your even if you vote no.
I’m really disappointed you’re taking the same stance as Donovan. It was a crummy thing he said, and it stings a little more to see a former KC columnist say the same.
Joe isn’t taking the same stance as Donovan. Donovan’s stance was *advocating* for the Chief’s fans to vote for the renovations. Joe’s comment was that the vote may be a barometer for the excitement level of the Royals fans. He didn’t advocate either way. It’s not a subtle distinction.
I’ve already given up on the Angels this season, and I was trying to think of when was the earliest I’ve given up on them. Then I realized, I already gave up on this season before last season ended.
You and everyone else. The Angels have been the most overrated team for years. I have cashed 8 straight under bets on them. But with Shohei gone, and Trout getting old, everyone jumped off of their bandwagon at once and the numbers are almost too low to bet under on. (They are below the Royal) I think I have to though. I will ride the streak until it bucks me off.
Gotta be the first time I’ve heard the Angels referred to as “overrated.”
Overrated enough that until this year, their preseason over/under was high enough that I scoffed at it for over a decade. They had names, but a pretty bad paper thin team. Apparently media and fans (and therefore Vegas) knew the names which propped that up. If you are a fan, then you know more about the team than the general public, and know they are not well run at all. So, probably, does your local bubble. They were picked by many "experts" (really just writers) to win the division or make the playoffs several of those years.
I have found that the Angels and the Chargers in the NFL (I don't know why for either) have often been dark horse candidates to win the division when it was absurd to think that. Over the last 14 years, the two teams combined have won a division once. (Angels in 2015), and over the last 8 years their both winning percentages are about .473. I have taken advantage of that.
Sadly I agree with you. I became a much more serious Angels fan when Mike Scioscia was hired. For a few years watching Tory and Vlad and Jared Weaver there was always hope. OTOH there have been SO many totally stupid signings of over the hill all stars. Too many to name and you know most of them already. And for a while we were teased by the idea of new ownership but that disappeared like every other hope with them.
Is there a negative number for this rating?
It does seem that the Angels were always on someone’s sleeper pick list for several recent seasons. Of course, reality always intervened.
This thread is making me queasy.
I need to go stare at Mike Trout’s B-Ref page, and dream, for a while.
Rangers fans still hold out hope for Jordan "2023 Hero" Montgomery to return. But the big excitement is not in the signings, but 22-year-old Wyatt Langford. Coupled with 20-year-old Wyatt Johnston of hockey's Dallas Stars (a) what is it with Wyatt from 20-ish years ago? and (b) relatedly, one might expect another set of baby Wyatts to be born to Dallas sports fans soon.
I’m a crazy old guy, so I’ve been a 10 for my Giants every year since 1958. Yes, I’ve been disappointed too often to count, so spring comes and the 10 emerges.
I cracked a smile reading this because we sorely needed to mix up the music at work the other day; for some reason, I thought to put on, of all things, "Mr. Wendal".
Here it is for anyone interested:
https://youtu.be/GfxvsHpTZWk?si=8P27wSfUlwzfKlVO
Thanks, Joe for the reminder that Dusty Baker retired. This means that the Astros will have to live by the sword or die by the sword. You might have guessed that Espada is Spanish for spade (the garden tool) or shovel, but that word is palo. By the way, Espada translates to Sword.