独家优惠奖金 100% 高达 1 BTC + 180 免费旋转

19 Things to Watch for During the 2019 MLB Season

With Spring Training wrapping up, we’re taking a look at 19 things to look out for in 2019.

As Cactus and Grapefruit League play wraps up, teams are heading to their homes to open the 2019 season, marking the official return of the “Boys of Summer”. To get you ready for Opening Day this Thursday, here’s 19 things to watch for, in no specific order.

1 — Pace of Play Changes for 2019

As we’ve seen over the last couple of years, pace of play has been a talking point that just won’t go away, and no matter your feelings on it, Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association have agreed on the following changes to the game in 2019.

2 — A Single Trade Deadline

Major League Baseball has done away with the August 31 waiver deadline, making the traditional July 31 non-waiver deadline the end-all for player movement during the season.

I like this, as it will push teams to evaluate their standing heading into the stretch-run, and decide whether they fall into the “buyer” or “seller” category. After a gruesomely slow offseason, we could all use a more explosive trade deadline in 2019.

3 — Baseball Across the Pond

On July 29 and July 30, the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees will travel to London, to play a two-game series at London’s Olympic Stadium.

In the past, MLB has played games in Japan, Puerto Rico, Australia and Mexico, making London the fifth international venture (not counting Canada, which is home to an MLB franchise). Olympic Stadium will seat 57,000 fans, the games will be broadcast on FOX and ESPN, and be played in the early afternoon (depending on your time zone) on that Saturday and Sunday.

4 — Players Weekend

For the third consecutive season, Major League Baseball will hold it’s “Player’s Weekend,” when the Cubs take on the Pirates on August 18 in Williamsport, Pa., during the Little League World Series.

Players will don V-neck jerseys designed just for the weekend, sporting wonky nicknames in place of their last names, and have the opportunity to wear any equipment accessories that they’d like.

5 — Vladimir Guerrero, Jr.

While it won’t be on Opening Day, due to the Blue Jays sending the top-prospect down to Triple-A for service time reasoning, Vlad Jr will be up for the majority of the 2019 season.

In 2018, the 20-year old prodigy third-baseman hit .381 with 20 home runs and 78 RBI over the course of 95 games (across multiple levels).

Sitting atop the 2019 preseason prospect rankings, he’ll be a favorite of many for the 2019 American League Rookie of the Year Award.

6 — Eloy Jimenez

While Vlad Jr., may be the national favorite to win the AL Rookie of the Year, Eloy Jimenez is mine. The 22-year old White Sox top-prospect just signed a six-year, $43 million dollar deal with the Pale Hose with zero major league experience — because the dude straight RAKES!

The extension with the White Sox includes a pair of team options that can keep Eloy in Chicago for eight years, and earn him a total of $77.5 Million dollars when it’s all said and done.

I’m going with 27 home runs for Eloy in 2019, who unlike Vlad Jr., will be on the major league Opening Day roster due to the long-term deal last week. My lock for AL Rookie of the Year in 2019.

7 — Bullpenning

Baseball is changing more now than we’ve ever seen this century, or maybe even the last. One of the new trends that’s gaining steam is “bullpenning,” where teams open games with a dominant reliever, rather than a starting pitcher.

The theory behind the movement is, instead of overpaying for a replacement-level starter to just simply eat innings up, you could use a young and affordable reliever to get those outs.

In 2018, Kevin Cash and the Tampa Bay Rays employed this strategy quite frequently, and finished the season 90–72. In 2019, the Minnesota Twins and Toronto Blue Jays may be flirting with this as well after hiring Rocco Baldelli and Charlie Montoyo to be their managers, both of whom worked under Kevin Cash in Tampa Bay during the 2018 season.

8 — All-Star Game Voting

The 2019 ASG will have a new voting format, which will see fans vote on two rounds, as opposed to one. There will first be a “primary round” that will mirror the traditional voting style, followed by an “Election Day,” that will take place at the end of June or early in July.

The “Election Day” wave of voting will be limited to the top three vote-getters at each position during the primary round.

Also making its way into the 2019 ASG, is a change to the extra innings format. If the game goes into extra innings, a runner will be placed on second base to begin each half inning until a winner is decided.

9 — Home Run Derby

The HRD will also see a tweak, with the winner of the contest taking home a paltry $1 million dollars as their prize for out-slugging the field. The total prize field consisted of $525,000 in 2018, with 2019 jumping up to a grand total of $2.5 million to be awarded.

Thankfully, there will be no structural changes to the HRD contest, which in its current form, seems to finally be a competition worth tuning into again.

10 — Old Face, New Places

Two of baseball’s most talented and polarizing players have new homes this season. Manny Machado took his talents to San Diego after inking a 10-year, $300 million dollar deal last month, and Bryce Harper landed himself an even more impressive 13-year, $330 million dollar deal in Philadelphia.

Machado and (eventually) Fernando Tatis Jr., will make up one of the better left-side-of-the-infield’s in all of baseball, and the Western Metal Supply Co. should probably invest in some shatter-proof windows with Manny in town 81 times each year.

While the playoffs probably aren’t likely in 2019, the Padres’ aggressiveness in free-agency the last two years coupled with one of the best farms in baseball has the future looking bright in San Diego.

Harper joins new additions Jean Segura and J.T. Realmuto in Philly, making the Phils’ one of the scariest lineups in baseball. The Phillies are now real World Series contenders for the foreseeable future.

11 — Wild, Wild, (National League) East

As I just mentioned, the Phillies are primed for a World Series run with their massively successful offseason, but their path to the postseason will include an absolute dog fight to just make it out of their division.

The Braves are the defending champions, and the Nationals added Patrick Corbin to their rotation in the offseason after Harper departed D.C. for the city of brotherly love.

This division will be a three-team race down to the wire, and should provide some very exciting August — September baseball to get us through the dog days of the season.

12 — Dallas Keuchel Watch

On of the more intriguing developments of this winter, is that Dallas Keuchel remains unsigned as of today (March 25, 2019).

While we’ve seen free-agent negotiations take painstakingly slow routes to fruition in recent years, some all the way into mid-March, this one is now approaching uncharted territory.

The American League Cy Young Award winner in 2015, is 31-years old, and still unemployed with Opening Day just days away. To top that, (to the best of my knowledge) there hasn’t even been any real noise about a Keuchel suitor to date.

Maybe Keuchel signs a hefty one-year deal in the coming weeks somewhere, and tries the whole free-agency thing again next winter. Maybe a contender has an early season injury-blow, and ponies up what Keuchel is looking for.

Stay tuned.

13 —Superstars Staying Put

In the last month, we’ve seen teams spend massive amounts of money to lock-up their superstars for the long-term.

It started with Nolan Arenado inking an eight-year, $260 million dollar deal to stay in Colorado, and snowballed from there. Here’s a few superstars that won’t be testing the open market in the coming winters;

That’s over $1,174,000,000 in money allotted towards seven players! Play baseball kids, play baseball.

14 — Welcome to the Show

As mentioned earlier, baseball’s first and third ranked prospects respectively, in Vlad Guerrero Jr., and Eloy Jimenez will make their major league debuts in 2019, but they’re not the only highly coveted prospects that will make their way to the big show this season.

Here’s a few more top-prospects who will likely make the jump in 2019, and their ranking on MLB Pipeline’s latest preseason rankings;

15 — Hall of Fame, Class of 2019

The National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown will enshrine another class of baseball legends into its storied halls this summer, with Mariano Rivera leading the class as the first unanimous inductee ever.

Joining the legendary Yankees’ closer is former teammate, Mike Mussina, Mariners’ great Edgar Martinez, and the late Roy Halladay.

Joining those four, by way of the Veteran’s Committee, is a pair of Chicago baseball legends — Lee Smith of the Chicago Cubs, and Harold Baines of the Chicago White Sox (among other clubs).

16 — Social Media Usage

Major League Baseball’s swing and miss track record towards marketing their product is long-running and well documented, but they did get one right this season.

In 2019, Major League Baseball will make video highlights available for players to use and share on their own social media accounts. That seems minor, but it’s a page out of the NBA’s book, and a step in the right direction towards player marketability. So, Tweet on boys!

17 — The Pitching Ninja

Speaking of Twitter — here’s an absolute must watch (and follow) this season.

Rob Friedman, A.K.A., the “Pitching Ninja” spends countless hours digesting, analyzing and then GIF’ing the best pitching moments from all of baseball, all season long. With the blessing of Major League Baseball, Friedman teaches the art of pitching to fans of all knowledge levels by whipping up awesome stuff like this…

18 — Statcast Broadcasts

Though it hasn’t been announced to this point, one would have to imagine that “Statcast Broadcasts,” — like the ESPN version of the 2018 National League Wild Card game between the Chicago Cubs and Colorado Rockies — will become a thing after ESPN saw rave reviews this past October.

The alternate broadcast featured analytical stat-head Mike Petriello, White Sox play-by-play man Jason Benetti and former big-leaguer Eduardo Perez — and the broadcast brought fans a more forward-thinking, analytical presentation of the game.

Graphic overlays galore, stat-centric commentary and advanced statistics ruled the show, and I personally am all-in on these broadcasts moving forward.

19 — Managers on the Hot Seat

While we never like to advocate for anyone losing their job, this is a multi-billion dollar industry, and jobs are going to be lost if expectations aren’t met. Here’s a few managers on the hot seat in 2019.

That’s it — Play Ball!

Add a comment

What is your view?

Send

Related posts:

What Is Distributed Ledger Technology?

Before businesses relied on computers, they had to record monetary transactions, business news, and the prices of goods, commodities, and services on paper. Depending on the organization, these paper…

Some People Are Not Worth Your Attention

I saw three headlines pop up on my phone and computer within a five-minute span. They all had to do with anti-mask rallies and the movement against masks from people all over America. I saw them for…

Appreciation or Recognition?

Recognition is about giving positive feedback based on merits, results and/or performance. Appreciation is about acknowledging a person's inherent value, acknowledging who they are, and the value a person brings to the team, their vision and their tenacity.