Spin

So this year our colors are dark dark blue and white? But the schedule has dark blue and old gold. It's like a perpetual identity crisis.

Chris played the Tribe strong, after giving up a homer to Bradley Zimmer on the first pitch. He went 7 innings striking out 8 and giving up two more earned runs on 6 hits. Of course with the A's batting prowess, that resulted in a loss. I shot a couple graphics that were shown in the game.... What that kid could accomplish on a team that can hit itself out of a wet paper bag...

Q

He sure knows how to say a lot of stuff and sounding good, without saying anything.

“At my direction, I asked our championship staff to create models of how we could return our postseason events,” said MAC Commissioner Jon Steinbrecher in a press release. “Conference tournaments are pinnacle events that provide lifetime memories for those involved. I am pleased we are able to reinstate these events for the student-athletes.” "The MAC is one of the only Division I conferences in the nation that's not hosting baseball and softball tournaments in 2021." Huh???

Sounds great in theory. It works so well in the pro leagues, "On any given Sunday..." Problem is in college the networks makes most of their money off of the legacy schools. Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State in football. Throw in Oklahoma, Notre Dame, wash rinse repeat. Put any of those teams in a game, the house is packed and the ratings skyrocket. We can all name the college basketball programs that are the money makers. The NCAA gets their payday from the basketball tournament and the football playoffs.

Apparently the powers-that-be agree…

Bowden also did a crappy job recruiting/transfering his last couple years and left the closet bare. This is not going to be a quick rebuild. IMO.

The term “Game changer” is probably the most overused cliche over the past couple years. But it’s not in this case. At least for the top 30 or 40 schools. It remains to be seen how it will effect mid-majors. Will it draw more mid-major talent to the big programs than the transfer portal already does? I’m not so sure.

I can see this coming into play where a major corporation in say, Columbus would make it known they will sponsor the Buckeyes starting QB for say half a million a year. Will a successful alum like Matt Kaulig put something together like that for a key Zips starter in a sport? Not on the same level of course, (except maybe soccer). Basketball and football would be on a much lower level. But then we don’t recruit the same players in those sports as the top 30 or 40 programs anyway. Would, say, Pepsi sponsor the Zips Striker or goalie? This is a game changer…

Fantasy Baseball Takeaways: Chris Bassitt rolling along Chris Bassitt has to be the best pitcher hardly anyone talks about, so let's talk about him. Bassitt threw seven bagels at the Rangers on Wednesday (3 H, 1 BB, 7 K), scoring his ninth win and taking his ERA down to 3.04. His WHIP is a tidy 1.03. If you rank all starting pitchers in banked 5x5 value, Bassitt comes in at 14th. Bassitt’s stuff doesn’t blow anyone away. His average fastball is a modest 93.2 mph. But he’s pushed his strikeout clip over one per inning, he still has elite control (2.28 BB/9), and he’s been pretty good at keeping the ball in the park. (If you subscribe to xFIP — and I don’t — he’s been too lucky with the homers. The xFIP stat says Bassitt should have a 3.89 ERA. Bassitt’s Savant-suggested ERA is more in line with my thinking, 3.20.) As you’d expect, Bassitt’s best foot comes at home, in roomy Oakland — 2.55 ERA, 0.93 WHIP. The ERA jumps almost a run on the road. The division probably turns into a wash; the Astros and Angels score plenty of runs, the Mariners and Rangers don’t. I suspect many fantasy managers drafted Bassitt as a support arm, but he’s a fantasy No. 3 at worst going forward.

Baby steps... 😭

They all lose money except MAYBE 2-4. But the difference in budgets is incredible. TV revenue, ad revenue, ticket sales, radio broadcast fees, memorabilia, hell tOSU probably makes more from signage at the Shoe than a MAC school’s football budget.

An exaggeration of the difference between the budget of major college football programs compared to mid-majors. But you knew that.

So you're an AD at a mid-major, think of what a resume builder like "I signed Eastern Northern State to an ESPN contract" would do for you. Never mind how bad the weather is on a Tuesday night in November, or that students and alumni (outside of Can't State) have to get up in the morning to go to work. So what there's more players than fans. That part doesn't matter in the job interview with Billiondollar State.

Well now we know why JT has such good numbers, but a bad W-L record. Pittsburgh is horrible. The sad part is they almost swept the Tribe.

JT is scheduled to start against the Tribe Sunday at 12:30 pm. He’s facing Sam Hentges 1-1 7.86.The game is on Bally Sports Great Lakes.

We had one sport left that didn’t expand the playoffs beyond the top teams, and it just cashed in. The rich get richer, the mediocre get paid, and the mid-majors fall further behind.

Nobody is talking about what caused this event in the first place. I've seen a lot worse done to motivate malcontents to get with the program. One of the things scholastic sports does (allegedly) is to teach hard work and teamwork and commitment. Those are severely lacking with the snowflake generation. Nobody brings this up, the lazyass is made the victim. JMHO YMMV.

Alumni watch Chris Bassett (OAK) is 6-2 3.44 with 86 K's in 81 IP and a 1.01 WHIP JT Brubaker (PIT) is 4-5 3.90 with 62 K's in 60 IP and a 1.00 WHIP

Well high grades are going to be a lot tougher to get from me as time goes on. Now if he's the equivalent of 1-17 this time next year...

Well lets fire the coach every year for not being able to recruit underclassmen, bring in a couple upperclassmen transfers, and win the CWS the first year. Ted? Stepien?? Is that you???

I give him/them some leeway for being basically a first year team. Compare that to the 100+ year old football program that has given us 1-17 the past two years, and most fans give Tom Arth a pass and hope like hell he stays. We lost talent and a good coach (when he’s not dipping in the funds) to Oakland. So, yeah, I look at Sabo on the context of what’s happened here the last 6 years to the program. Yeah we do need to play more regional D1 schools in non-con, those prospects should improve as the team does. Without moving to the sunbelt or out west for a month, you’re pretty limited in who you can play (after you clear the snow off the field). Thats the context I look at the program with. If you want instant wins and MAC tournament runs, you’re going to be disappointed for awhile.

The Zips closed out an interesting season with a 9-6 win at Kent State. Like the cherry on top of the sundae lol. They finished 15-36, winning 29% of their games. Which is roughly like winning 3 football games. "He went there". That includes two wins against Kent, going 3-1 against the Bobkitties and splitting a 4 game series with EMU. Coach Sabo gets an A- from me on building the team. Maybe a strong A. The former coach who went rogue and took several key players with him didn't help a whole lot. Let's just say I doubt we'll be playing Oakland U in the near future... I'm looking forward to see how, with a full season of data and observation, Spuds continues to build the team.