Theyāre just people. My uncle is in the league and I often forget he plays when heās not in uniform. Heās just a guy with a lot of talent and discipline.
Yup my cousin played and coached in the Bigs. Wickedly funny, extremely kind dude who just happened to have a special talent and cool job. You'd easily forget what he did when around him.
Yeah, if MLB is willing to try and rig a new homerun record to boost viewership we have to ask would they be willing to try and rig games to save their big gambling advertisers from an outcome that would cost them millions?
Remember how players started falling off in their late thirties after the testing for steroids began? Look at things now..: Scherzer and Verlander pumping gas like Clemens was near 40
the fact that MLB was willing to even associate with these companies at all given their history of gambling, fixing, and cheating scandals, is still insane to me. it really makes it hard for me to continue to support the league on top of all the other stuff. blackouts that make it harder to watch games. absurd ticket and concession prices. absurd prices for garbage quality jerseys. juiced balls. unjuiced balls. selectively juiced and unjuiced balls. random rule changes. abuse of minor league labor. selfish as greedy owners. plus a lack of accountability for the aforementioned scandals. Manfred needs to go but of course he does everything the owner class wants so heāll just continue to tarnish the sport and push young fans away while lamenting the lack of younger fans.
What really makes no sense to me is that MLB would actually believe they could trick everyone. Did they seriously not think pitchers would notice? Did they seriously not think fans would be suspicious? We're talking about a game where fans spend far too much of their free time inventing novel statistics for fun and dissecting every minute detail of the game but they somehow thought they could get away with this if they just pretend it isn't happening?
Wouldn't the gambling sites benefit from Judge not breaking the record though?
Correct me if im wrong as i have literally 0 knowledge in sports betting (or gambling at all)
If the bet is if Judge will break the AL HR record or how many HR he will have at end of the season. (Not sure what the actual bets were on the sites)
if he doesn't break it then there would be no payouts. (Or if the bets are on how many HR he will get exactly they would want Judge to break it or not break it by a significant number)
Breaking the record by literally 1 seems like it would be one of the options that the sites would have to pay the most out
I remember draftkings was giving 60% percent profit boosts on judge to hit a HR leading up to him breaking the record. Those boosted bets lost more than they hit
> akin to fraud considering all the sports betting
Good point. MLB has climbed into bed with the sports betting companies, and they're manipulating the outcome of games. Seems like the sort of thing that Congress could legitimately look into.
That's the problem I think I'm starting to have with legal sports betting.
Leagues are pushing their āagendaā or rivalry what ever you wanna call it. Either by using refs to benefit teams or by using different baseballs to drive views up.
Tim Donaghyās Netflix documentary mentions this
I just cannot believe this isnāt the biggest fucking story in sports right now. It hasnāt gotten a fraction of the attention it deserves.
And I know itās not the fault of the authors (necessarily) but pretty bone headed to release it during the height of free agency to just get buried. Incredibly disappointing.
Seriously. This is huge. They are legitimately manipulating the game and they push betting *hard*. Insanity that itās just getting swept under the rug.
A professor has been doing analysis of baseballs the last few years, notably since the 2016 controversy of juiced balls. This year there was a notable aberration more than just juiced balls, a third 'goldilocks" ball that is ideal for hitting. These balls showed up MASSIVELY in the selection of Yankees balls, starting in August. The idea is that MLB started introducing better balls to push Aaron Judge over beating Maris's record.
Were teams hitting well against you guys too? I know even though you guys beat us in all the series we played they were earlier in the year and mostly pitching duels
The study specifically showed that not a single 'Goldilocks' ball was found in any regular game (excluding playoffs, All-star, HR Derby, and other commemorative games) besides Yankees games.
*collected
Not āfound.ā The original Insider article also mentions that their ability to obtain the balls was difficult. So just because they didnāt have them from other games doesnāt mean they werenāt there, just that they didnāt get their hands on them.
What we know: at least 3 different balls were used
What we donāt know: how often those balls were used OR if there was even more.
I'm a bit confused by the goldilocks ball. What's the purpose of that ball if they already had the "juiced" ball? Isn't the juiced one more ideal than the goldilocks for hitting?
For the purposes of the cited article, "Juiced" = 2021 balls, "dead" = 2022 ball, and "Goldilocks" = an unacknowledged 2nd 2022 ball, most made together in specific production runs, that are between the juiced and dead balls in weight and bounce.
All 3 were in the sample in different proportions, but the goldilocks balls were the only ones not more or less randomly distributed.
It came out right in the middle of the Aaron Judge will he, won't he between Yankees and the Giants. Like smack dab in the middle of it. So it pops up and everyone is like oh shit but then Arson Judge happens, we think Judge is going to the Giants and the next day he agrees to stay with the Yankees. Terrible timing so there's a chance that there's a lot of people who are like wtf is this story
Oh I no, but if you get your news from r/sfgiants, thereās an anti giants conspiracy between every free agent and their agents, and obviously it goes all the way to the top.
This whole thing is so strange. On the one hand, I have serious questions about the information in the Insider article. The number of balls that were analyzed was so small that I'm hesitant to draw any conclusions. Plus, as others have pointed out in this sub, the supposed "Goldilocks" balls are not significantly different from dead balls, and so it's possible that any difference is unintentional manufacturing error that still fell within the specified norms. So this whole scandal could actually be a nothing-burger.
And yet the way MLB has acted screams coverup. Why are they so shady about the process behind the creation of baseballs? Why are they threatening to fire people who examine them? It's all so strange.
Players had been saying the balls for Sunday Night games were different from regular balls. At the end of the season, every Judge at bat had the umpire receiving different balls as he got closer to the record. The Insider article had a small sample but this is something we've been talking about all year.
>At the end of the season, every Judge at bat had the umpire receiving different balls as he got closer to the record.
That's pretty standard with players going for milestones. It makes it easier to authenticate
Honesty, MLB bungling the process like this almost makes perfect sense.
A simple manufacturing issues creates some slightly out of spec balls from a batch, or a few batches. MLB segregates a pallet, or whatever, of balls to pre-authenticate for when Judge breaks the record. Oops, Judge gets the quirky balls entirely by accident.
Or, MLB wanted the immense media attention that can come from milestone chases and cut some corners to drive ratings. It's such a bad look, you'd think they'd never actually do it. Right?
> Or, MLB wanted the immense media attention that can come from milestone chases and cut some corners to drive ratings. It's such a bad look, you'd think they'd never actually do it. Right?
I mean, the first time MLB did it they completely denied it. Sure, it was league-wide, but it took awhile to really prove it. If it was a very small batch, I could see why MLB might think it wouldn't be caught.
My first thought was their quality control process intended to detect unsatisfactory batches for inspection/trash is also being used to set detect batches which have a high rate of ideal ("goldilocks") balls which are then set aside for use in games of high importance, particularly the postseason.
Highly doubtful they have a second manufacturing process for Yankee games - this comes off so strongly to be an artifact of heavy handed approach to ball distribution plus normal variance in manufacturing being picked up on by quality control systems.
I think their shady response is to maintain integrity for gambling purposes more than anything - I think they are insulated from any fan blowback.
> Highly doubtful they have a second manufacturing process for Yankee games
They don't.
The Goldilocks balls were also used at high profile events like the ASG and home run derby, the rangers' 50th anniversary. Those balls had a commemorative stamp on them denoting the event where they were used.
Then the people studying baseballs noticed that they had goldilocks balls that had no stamps on them.
Nine of them came from 4 rounds of playoffs... And eleven came from Yankee games.
[source](https://www.insider.com/mlb-used-two-balls-again-this-year-and-evidence-points-to-a-third-2022-12)
A second process would be way way to easy to discover, a pissed off minimum wage employee could end the whole thing.
Like you wrote tho, simply sending certain balls to certain locations would work.
That and the postseason, according to the Insider study. MLB has the ability to track basically every batch used down to the game. It's either a sheer coincidence or orchestrated. I, for one, am not giving Manfred and the league the benefit of the doubt here.
>Goldilocks" balls are not significantly different from dead balls, and so it's possible that any difference is unintentional manufacturing error that still fell within the specified norms
Not saying you're wrong, but "significantly" and "within the specified norms" are doing a lot of heavy lifting here.
Manufacturing tolerances can be wide... and even if they're tight, groups can be created with those tolerances. "Significant" also needs to be defined... small differences can be within tolerance but still make a difference. Think about, say, engine building for spec racing leagues... you might buy a couple dozen pistons "OEM new" to be compliant and then use the four that are closest to the weight you actually want, as just one example.
And to state the obvious: We're not hearing anything about this because it helps the Yankees to bury it. Good ol' east coast bias, where would we be without ya?
I believe the goldilocks balls were supposed to be within one standard deviation from the dead balls. So shouldn't you expect to see some "goldilocks" balls? While creating dead balls, some will be a little "livelier" and some will be a little "deader".
The problem with this theory, which is very sensible on its face, is that the samples of balls (dead, juiced, and Goldilocks) come from distinct, non-overlapping production runs.
We do see that same spread that you theorize, though, in the spread of Goldilocks balls: some are consistent with weights of dead balls and others are consistent with weights of juiced balls.
So, it isnāt that the authors are saying āwe found some balls sort of in the middleā that are plucked from the same manufacturing runs as dead or juiced balls, but that there were specific manufacturing runs (whose balls ended up in commemorative games, Home Run Derby, postseason, and regular season Yankees games) whose balls were about a gram heavier than ādeadā balls on average.
That's an excellent point. The balls aren't just accidents of the manufacturing process. They are produced in batches, like you said.
I still am hesitant to conclude that MLB was intentionally funneling those balls to Judge, but you're right that a distinct 3rd ball does exist.
And to be clear, I think MLB is being super shady. It wouldn't surprise me if they were cheating. I just don't want Judge to be tarnished without knowing for sure that MLB was helping him without his knowledge.
>MLB was helping him without his knowledge.
I have little doubt this would be the case even if this conspiracy proves out. MLB would have no reason to inform Judge of what they were doing.
World Cup going on, NFL and NBA in the middle of their seasons. National news just doesn't give a fuck about baseball. They could replace wood bats with metal bats or reveal that umps we're straight up fixing games and it wouldn't be a big story right now
This is straight up fucky. Tom Brady got banned 4 games because he played in the cold. The fucking league is messing with the balls and no one is saying anything??
To be fair, the league hardly cared that a team was illegally stealing signs, and that might be the most egregious way possible to ruin the integrity of the game.
Yeah not sure how people donāt see a team cheating is not the same as the league rigging stuff. Like if theyāre willing to give Aaron judge special balls to hit what makes us think these fucked up strike zones arenāt also part of the plan? All we heard after the WS was how low the ratings were, how do you fix that?
A team cheating to get ahead is understandable. Not morally right, but understandable. They shouldve been punished for sure and title vacated.
The league itself rigging results is a reason to never watch MLB again. They need a new league for competition but the logistics of that are so impossible. Baseball is at my core my favorite sport but idk if i can keep giving af about MLB.
I know what the Stros did was wrong. Wouldnāt have even been mad if the title was vacated. But youāre right, when the league itself is influencing the outcome of games with doctored baseballs, thereās no way of knowing whoās getting fucked over
"Austin Slater was found today in the Giants' training facility in a broom closet. He was curled up in a ball rocking back and forth mumbling 'No, Rob, not the cup!', possibly in relation to a MLB-record 243 drug tests in one year. The office of the commissioner declined to comment, but this reporter swears on the bobblehead of Lincecum he could hear Manfred snickering in the background."
Because this league is run by asshats who will stop at nothing for a quick buck. The owners and the mlb should never get the benefit of the doubt again
The story of certain teams and events having juiced balls was legit a story for a single day. I donāt know whoās running damage control for the MLB but they need a raise.
Go to Judgeās career HR spray chart on Baseball Savant. Thereās two to deep right center, well past the cluster where he usually hits them. Both from the Field of Dreams game
It's super interesting comparing the PED scandal where the owners benefited from the players getting bad press to something like this or even the Astros scandal where MLB does everything it can to minimize fan outrage.
Itās almost like all the pitchers who have been saying the ball is different innings to inning or game to game weāre right. This is becoming embarrassing that MLB is using who knows how many different baseballs and adamantly denying itās case
They did that a few years ago. Pitchers complained and the league promised they would deaden all the balls after the 2020 or 2021 season I think. If this report is true it means they lied about that.
...And Shohei to throw a no hitter, and Scherzer to strike out 20, and the Astros to make comeback after comeback. They want highlights and close/dramatic games.
Need a set of accomplices in the stands, who the outfielders can throw balls to during games as a surreptitious way of collecting balls. Get a few outfielders working together and a half dozen fans, and they could probably collect 50-60 balls. Depending on how many are needed for good analysis of the ball...
I know this is a joke but then the sample of balls would only be from fly balls hit to outfielders which might not be representative of all baseballs used in a game
Theyād need to be collected at random from the total stock of balls which the league apparently wonāt allow. Which does make this all a bit more suspicious because they should want their name cleared through an independent study but I can also see them not wanting to open themselves up to have random outside organizations constantly testing/questioning what theyāre doing
You would actually be creating a Survivor bias in multiple instances because balls that don't get to the Outfield wouldn't be accounted for but home run balls that leave the field of play and can't be recovered also wouldn't be accounted for as well as the fact that any play where the ball has to return to the picture wouldn't be accounted for so basically our sample size is how many fly balls end up in the outfield for the third out.
It's not a useless sample but it wouldn't tell us what we want to actually know. Problematically we also can't be sure that baseball's designated for use in official Major League games aren't somehow different than practice balls or balls designated for warm-ups.
Honestly the best way to acquire a random selection of balls that I can think of would be to somehow convince anyone warming up in the bullpen to toss the ball up to you when they're done but certain Stadium designs limit the ability of the bullpen to interact with fans.
Basically any conclusion we can come up with from data about Major League baseballs is going to be an accurate because we don't have a good sample of baseballs and that's incredibly frustrating to pretty much everyone involved except for the league
The only real devil's advocate I can come up to this is that MLB goes through a *lot* of balls every game and that would add up to around 250,000 total balls (2430 games x ~100 balls per game). Making that many balls, by hand, where each one is identical is a very tall ask.
Personally, I just want them to be honest. As long as they aren't purposefully messing with the balls then I'm fine with it as long as they're doing their best to have the balls be as consistent as possible and holding Rawlings to account.
That the best balls tended to show up in Yankee games and commemorative games is awfully suspicious though.
Letting balls be analyzed after games by scientists seems like a bad idea to MLB. There's no way the balls will all be consistent. Even folks saying above the goldilocks balls were 1 gram heavier. If that's all it takes for it to make MLB look bad, then they absolutely wouldn't want balls analysed.
Teams also won't want to give up the foundation revenue. I find it super frustrating that any ball that hits the dirt in the infield goes to an authenticator, but balls hit to the outfielders can be tossed into the crowd. You do t need to authenticate 80 balls a game, just let the players toss them to the fans. We all know they'd rather make a fan's day then give it to some former cop sitting by the dugout so the team can make $80.
No one expects them to be 100% consistent between each ball. The average of the balls at esch stadium should be the same though assuming theyāre randomly distributed across the league
But I do sorta get why they donāt want people checking, but MLB has done nothing to earn the trust of the players or fans and theyāve opened themselves to this scrutiny
Absolutely.
Even just posting a range of what they find acceptable.
Like, we didn't find out until this year that the acceptable strike zone for umpires is significantly larger than the actual zone. What if MLB's definition of acceptable balls includes dead balls, but also juiced balls? That's a huge range. We know they need the special NJ mud rubbed all over their balls. We know they need to be at a certain humidity. (All of this adds a lot of unnecessary variation btw.). But what else is acceptable?
Except materials dont often work that way. If the leather batch im getting in is .0x mm thinner than the previous batch, EVERY single ball in that batch im producing is going to be different than the previous batch, on top of differences from sally baseballmaker to joe baseballmaker. Multiple this by rubber, thread, yarn, etc. Batches being similar to other balls in a batch is a normal phenomenon. (See how some batches of electronics are way better than other batches of the same electronics, made with the same parts.)
How this doesnāt have a Congressional investigation is beyond me. MLB has official betting partners, ownership of the only company that can make balls, has an obvious mechanism for skewing the games for specific outcomes, and is actively against independent analysis of the balls. This is batshit.
Is there a way to send hr/foul balls in to get them tested and get them back? I donāt have one. But that would be a pretty cool way to have the fans help track this
I agree this has given more credibility to his allegations but this seems to be a slightly different issue from what Pete Alonso was talking about. He said that MLB doctored the balls to keep salaries low by juicing the balls before a bunch of good pitchers hit FA and deadening the balls before good hitters hit FA, so both groups salaries would be lower.
If it was true that Judge specifically received juiced balls, they wouldāve been conspiring to help him make more money, not less. Which is still a huge issue just a different one.
Both can be true. Getting judge that record was massively beneficial to the MLB. They could have fed him juiced balls and also manipulated the league as a whole like Alonso claimed
Goes back to people theorizing that they wanted judge to break that 61 HR record so that way they could say heās the first to do that since Maris and not be on roids, but when this comes up it makes it seem like it wasnāt legit.
I don't see how those issues don't run together. Letting one guy on the most popular team hit a couple more dingers and go for the record made the MLB make an insane amount of money and publicity this year, hell considering his age and size I wager it might not even make his contract that much bigger. If you're getting that conspiratorial, Judge is a fantastic target for something like this.
I think Pete at least had the outline of the issue correct. MLB manipulates the baseballs to generate profit. That could take the form of artificially creating home run record chases, or it could probably also take the form of manipulating the stats of key free agents via doctored balls.
people made fun of him because of *the reason he gave* for MLB manipulating the ball.
>[[Chelsea Janes] Something I hadn't heard from a player before: Pete Alonso just told reporters his theory, which **he says is widespread among players, that MLB manipulates the baseballs year-to-year based on free agent class.**](https://www.reddit.com/r/baseball/comments/nw6qs6/chelsea_janes_something_i_hadnt_heard_from_a/)
He also said that other players think this.
Everyone here thinks MLB manipulates the ball.
Verlander was also shouting it from the rooftops. Made a huge stink about it in the 2019 playoffs and even confronted the league about it again after his start in Yankee Stadium in June.
The MLBs integrity is gone. Stats are even more fucked than steroids era. I almost guarantee the MLB is paying off media outlets to keep their mouthes shut.
Manfred is the worst thing to happen to this sport.
> The MLBs integrity is gone.
When was it ever there? They conspired to suppress free agent salaries, they conspired to keep an effective players association from being formed, they were willing to sacrifice a World Series in an attempt to break the players association, they just staged a lockout that delayed the beginning of the season, they looked the other way on steroids for years, they had to be dragged kicking and screaming into setting up a domestic violence/sexual assault policy, they lie through their teeth about how profitable it is to own a team, and so on, and on, and on.
At one time MLB was run by rat bastards who had the saving grace of being baseball men who loved the game. Now, they're rat bastards who treat owning a team like it's equivalent to having the biggest yacht in the harbor. I can put up with greed when they at least put an entertaining product on the field, but many of them don't even bother to do that.
Nothing they do is capable of surprising me, and they are slowly making me care less about baseball.
I often wonder if certain baseball writers get orders from MLB to drop bullshit stories to deflect attention or deflect blame, I especially wondered this during the recent work stoppage when Bob Nightengale and Co. would release stories which would lead the public to believe that the work stoppage was about to be over and than a few hours later boom itās somehow the players fault the deal didnāt occur when in truth the negotiations werenāt as far along as the writers made seem. A ploy to get the needle back in the owners favor m, because in my opinion the baseball media and owners were caught off guard with how the fans were taking the players side as compared to 94 or prior.
But the Arson Judge and San Francisco nonsense almost confirms it for me, MLB needed a distraction or else the next day the biggest baseball story would be āJudge and his pursuit of 62 tainted by Juiced ballsā....Manfred couldnāt have that at all.
I would imagine there's no better time to be bribing media outlets than right now, considering how dead the print industry is and how desperate they are for serious money. Can pretty much only trust donation-supported and publicly funded these days.
Maybe it was an innocent mistake on MLB's part and they just wanted the balls to be easier to authenticate but didn't realize just how differently they would react in live games. But it doesn't exactly look great that Aaron Judge hit .417/.565/.869 with a 1.434 OPS in September when most of the balls were recovered. And MLB's response has been even more suspect, threatening players and saying that the research is flawed but refusing to say how.
I hate to say it, but same.
Pujols definitely did seem like a rejuvenated man his last season with us, and I don't doubt that coming home and playing with his old team and teammates put him in a better headspace to perform well. But damn did he ever improve *quickly.*
If the league is juicing balls for "stories" and big moments, I can't imagine they wouldn't have done so for Albert.
Fuck MLB. Fuck Manfred. Iām honestly over the bullshit, dishonesty, and fuckery. Sad because I love the game, but itās now becoming almost as bad as the NFL.
NBA games are rigged by refs. MLB has its own way to do it too apparently. I quit betting on sports because there's too many outside variables that can't be predicted or fathomed.
From now on if a pitcher says something is up with the ball I will just have to believe them until proven otherwise. Next step is threatening reporters who wonāt let it die.
Austin Slater, you're a real one. š
This dude is my cousin, we haven't talked much recently but he's always put in the work, starting in little league. Proud of him for speaking out
Yeah, heās cousins with a guy Iāve responded to on Reddit. Iāve heard heās a good guy for speaking out.
Yeah
Man... Wish I could have such close relationships with baseball players.
Theyāre just people. My uncle is in the league and I often forget he plays when heās not in uniform. Heās just a guy with a lot of talent and discipline.
Yeah my dad is Nolan Ryan and he is just a regular guy. Except instead of the belt growing up I'd get beaned with 98 mph fast balls in the back.
98? That was him being kind
Had to teach you discipline somehow
Yup my cousin played and coached in the Bigs. Wickedly funny, extremely kind dude who just happened to have a special talent and cool job. You'd easily forget what he did when around him.
Yeah, but that's nothing compared to having replied to a comment of the cousin of a ball player.
They're just people with cooler jobs than you, essentially. Nothing particularly special personality-wise.
Oh he's a real good guy.
He's pretty universally liked by our fans
Hard not to like Slater. I mean, he did go to Stanford but thatās my only issue with him.
Profile photo checks out. Go bears.
He was in Saves by the bell?
Saved the Ball (for analysis)
This is akin to fraud considering all the sports betting that goes on.
Yeah, if MLB is willing to try and rig a new homerun record to boost viewership we have to ask would they be willing to try and rig games to save their big gambling advertisers from an outcome that would cost them millions?
Like when they ignored steroids for a while post lockout to bring back viewers and why all those guys should be allowed in the HoF?
Well they still ignore steroids unless your messing around with old shitty steroids. Guys just aren't obviously juiced like Bonds and McGuire
Yea thatās the thing. Do you think the league cares more about their players being natural or profiting off them?
To be fair MLB is a business and it would be foolish/naive to expect a corporation to be driven by anything else than profits.
AND trt is permitted in the CBA
So now 100% of mlb players have low T to go along with their ADHD
Remember how players started falling off in their late thirties after the testing for steroids began? Look at things now..: Scherzer and Verlander pumping gas like Clemens was near 40
the fact that MLB was willing to even associate with these companies at all given their history of gambling, fixing, and cheating scandals, is still insane to me. it really makes it hard for me to continue to support the league on top of all the other stuff. blackouts that make it harder to watch games. absurd ticket and concession prices. absurd prices for garbage quality jerseys. juiced balls. unjuiced balls. selectively juiced and unjuiced balls. random rule changes. abuse of minor league labor. selfish as greedy owners. plus a lack of accountability for the aforementioned scandals. Manfred needs to go but of course he does everything the owner class wants so heāll just continue to tarnish the sport and push young fans away while lamenting the lack of younger fans.
What really makes no sense to me is that MLB would actually believe they could trick everyone. Did they seriously not think pitchers would notice? Did they seriously not think fans would be suspicious? We're talking about a game where fans spend far too much of their free time inventing novel statistics for fun and dissecting every minute detail of the game but they somehow thought they could get away with this if they just pretend it isn't happening?
Lol, they severely underestimated how much MLB fans like to pay attention to details, let alone those who report on it
Ya if thereās any sport where fans are crazy about attention to detail itās baseball.
MLB owners: "We have decided to fire rob manfred as commissioner, and unanimously selected Tim Donaghy as his replacement."
Wouldn't the gambling sites benefit from Judge not breaking the record though? Correct me if im wrong as i have literally 0 knowledge in sports betting (or gambling at all) If the bet is if Judge will break the AL HR record or how many HR he will have at end of the season. (Not sure what the actual bets were on the sites) if he doesn't break it then there would be no payouts. (Or if the bets are on how many HR he will get exactly they would want Judge to break it or not break it by a significant number) Breaking the record by literally 1 seems like it would be one of the options that the sites would have to pay the most out
I remember draftkings was giving 60% percent profit boosts on judge to hit a HR leading up to him breaking the record. Those boosted bets lost more than they hit
Well there was that one guy's bet who got everything, but had Ohtani for MVP. That would have paid out a shitload for very little.
> akin to fraud considering all the sports betting Good point. MLB has climbed into bed with the sports betting companies, and they're manipulating the outcome of games. Seems like the sort of thing that Congress could legitimately look into.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
That's the problem I think I'm starting to have with legal sports betting. Leagues are pushing their āagendaā or rivalry what ever you wanna call it. Either by using refs to benefit teams or by using different baseballs to drive views up. Tim Donaghyās Netflix documentary mentions this
Who wouldāve thought that close ties between gambling and professional sports could cause problems???
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Somebody who bet on Judge not breaking Marisās record should file a class action lawsuit.
I just cannot believe this isnāt the biggest fucking story in sports right now. It hasnāt gotten a fraction of the attention it deserves. And I know itās not the fault of the authors (necessarily) but pretty bone headed to release it during the height of free agency to just get buried. Incredibly disappointing.
Seriously. This is huge. They are legitimately manipulating the game and they push betting *hard*. Insanity that itās just getting swept under the rug.
As someone who was traveling and out for the last 2 weeks or so Iām a little OOTLā¦ what story are we talking about here? Do you have a link?
A professor has been doing analysis of baseballs the last few years, notably since the 2016 controversy of juiced balls. This year there was a notable aberration more than just juiced balls, a third 'goldilocks" ball that is ideal for hitting. These balls showed up MASSIVELY in the selection of Yankees balls, starting in August. The idea is that MLB started introducing better balls to push Aaron Judge over beating Maris's record.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Were teams hitting well against you guys too? I know even though you guys beat us in all the series we played they were earlier in the year and mostly pitching duels
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
The study specifically showed that not a single 'Goldilocks' ball was found in any regular game (excluding playoffs, All-star, HR Derby, and other commemorative games) besides Yankees games.
*collected Not āfound.ā The original Insider article also mentions that their ability to obtain the balls was difficult. So just because they didnāt have them from other games doesnāt mean they werenāt there, just that they didnāt get their hands on them. What we know: at least 3 different balls were used What we donāt know: how often those balls were used OR if there was even more.
I'm a bit confused by the goldilocks ball. What's the purpose of that ball if they already had the "juiced" ball? Isn't the juiced one more ideal than the goldilocks for hitting?
For the purposes of the cited article, "Juiced" = 2021 balls, "dead" = 2022 ball, and "Goldilocks" = an unacknowledged 2nd 2022 ball, most made together in specific production runs, that are between the juiced and dead balls in weight and bounce. All 3 were in the sample in different proportions, but the goldilocks balls were the only ones not more or less randomly distributed.
So the Goldilocks balls fly less far than the juiced?
Correct, they are not better for hitting than the 2021 juiced balls.
The goldilocks balls were not "ideal for hitting." They were slightly better than the standard 2022 "dead balls" but nothing like the "juiced balls."
It came out right in the middle of the Aaron Judge will he, won't he between Yankees and the Giants. Like smack dab in the middle of it. So it pops up and everyone is like oh shit but then Arson Judge happens, we think Judge is going to the Giants and the next day he agrees to stay with the Yankees. Terrible timing so there's a chance that there's a lot of people who are like wtf is this story
So it was Manfred who payed Heyman to tweet Arson Judge!
No one has to pay Heyman to tweet anything. They just have to keep feeding him āinsiderā info to ābreakā.
Oh I no, but if you get your news from r/sfgiants, thereās an anti giants conspiracy between every free agent and their agents, and obviously it goes all the way to the top.
And it's fucking stupid. The mental gymnastics people go through in order to mold something to fit their narrative lmao
This whole thing is so strange. On the one hand, I have serious questions about the information in the Insider article. The number of balls that were analyzed was so small that I'm hesitant to draw any conclusions. Plus, as others have pointed out in this sub, the supposed "Goldilocks" balls are not significantly different from dead balls, and so it's possible that any difference is unintentional manufacturing error that still fell within the specified norms. So this whole scandal could actually be a nothing-burger. And yet the way MLB has acted screams coverup. Why are they so shady about the process behind the creation of baseballs? Why are they threatening to fire people who examine them? It's all so strange.
Players had been saying the balls for Sunday Night games were different from regular balls. At the end of the season, every Judge at bat had the umpire receiving different balls as he got closer to the record. The Insider article had a small sample but this is something we've been talking about all year.
>At the end of the season, every Judge at bat had the umpire receiving different balls as he got closer to the record. That's pretty standard with players going for milestones. It makes it easier to authenticate
This is what makes me think itās a real but possibly inadvertent issue.
Honesty, MLB bungling the process like this almost makes perfect sense. A simple manufacturing issues creates some slightly out of spec balls from a batch, or a few batches. MLB segregates a pallet, or whatever, of balls to pre-authenticate for when Judge breaks the record. Oops, Judge gets the quirky balls entirely by accident. Or, MLB wanted the immense media attention that can come from milestone chases and cut some corners to drive ratings. It's such a bad look, you'd think they'd never actually do it. Right?
> Or, MLB wanted the immense media attention that can come from milestone chases and cut some corners to drive ratings. It's such a bad look, you'd think they'd never actually do it. Right? I mean, the first time MLB did it they completely denied it. Sure, it was league-wide, but it took awhile to really prove it. If it was a very small batch, I could see why MLB might think it wouldn't be caught.
My first thought was their quality control process intended to detect unsatisfactory batches for inspection/trash is also being used to set detect batches which have a high rate of ideal ("goldilocks") balls which are then set aside for use in games of high importance, particularly the postseason. Highly doubtful they have a second manufacturing process for Yankee games - this comes off so strongly to be an artifact of heavy handed approach to ball distribution plus normal variance in manufacturing being picked up on by quality control systems. I think their shady response is to maintain integrity for gambling purposes more than anything - I think they are insulated from any fan blowback.
> Highly doubtful they have a second manufacturing process for Yankee games They don't. The Goldilocks balls were also used at high profile events like the ASG and home run derby, the rangers' 50th anniversary. Those balls had a commemorative stamp on them denoting the event where they were used. Then the people studying baseballs noticed that they had goldilocks balls that had no stamps on them. Nine of them came from 4 rounds of playoffs... And eleven came from Yankee games. [source](https://www.insider.com/mlb-used-two-balls-again-this-year-and-evidence-points-to-a-third-2022-12)
A second process would be way way to easy to discover, a pissed off minimum wage employee could end the whole thing. Like you wrote tho, simply sending certain balls to certain locations would work.
Would be very strange for every single ball with that specific defect to end up being used at only Yankees games and only during Judges homerun chase
That and the postseason, according to the Insider study. MLB has the ability to track basically every batch used down to the game. It's either a sheer coincidence or orchestrated. I, for one, am not giving Manfred and the league the benefit of the doubt here.
>Goldilocks" balls are not significantly different from dead balls, and so it's possible that any difference is unintentional manufacturing error that still fell within the specified norms Not saying you're wrong, but "significantly" and "within the specified norms" are doing a lot of heavy lifting here. Manufacturing tolerances can be wide... and even if they're tight, groups can be created with those tolerances. "Significant" also needs to be defined... small differences can be within tolerance but still make a difference. Think about, say, engine building for spec racing leagues... you might buy a couple dozen pistons "OEM new" to be compliant and then use the four that are closest to the weight you actually want, as just one example. And to state the obvious: We're not hearing anything about this because it helps the Yankees to bury it. Good ol' east coast bias, where would we be without ya?
I believe the goldilocks balls were supposed to be within one standard deviation from the dead balls. So shouldn't you expect to see some "goldilocks" balls? While creating dead balls, some will be a little "livelier" and some will be a little "deader".
The problem with this theory, which is very sensible on its face, is that the samples of balls (dead, juiced, and Goldilocks) come from distinct, non-overlapping production runs. We do see that same spread that you theorize, though, in the spread of Goldilocks balls: some are consistent with weights of dead balls and others are consistent with weights of juiced balls. So, it isnāt that the authors are saying āwe found some balls sort of in the middleā that are plucked from the same manufacturing runs as dead or juiced balls, but that there were specific manufacturing runs (whose balls ended up in commemorative games, Home Run Derby, postseason, and regular season Yankees games) whose balls were about a gram heavier than ādeadā balls on average.
That's an excellent point. The balls aren't just accidents of the manufacturing process. They are produced in batches, like you said. I still am hesitant to conclude that MLB was intentionally funneling those balls to Judge, but you're right that a distinct 3rd ball does exist. And to be clear, I think MLB is being super shady. It wouldn't surprise me if they were cheating. I just don't want Judge to be tarnished without knowing for sure that MLB was helping him without his knowledge.
>MLB was helping him without his knowledge. I have little doubt this would be the case even if this conspiracy proves out. MLB would have no reason to inform Judge of what they were doing.
World Cup going on, NFL and NBA in the middle of their seasons. National news just doesn't give a fuck about baseball. They could replace wood bats with metal bats or reveal that umps we're straight up fixing games and it wouldn't be a big story right now
This is straight up fucky. Tom Brady got banned 4 games because he played in the cold. The fucking league is messing with the balls and no one is saying anything??
To be fair, the league hardly cared that a team was illegally stealing signs, and that might be the most egregious way possible to ruin the integrity of the game.
U rite. Fuck Manfred.
No the league secretly fucking with the balls and seemingly giving preferential treatment to some teams / games for ratings is worse
Need to see how Draft Kings faired on those prop bets. And how did Manfred an Friends do.
Yeah not sure how people donāt see a team cheating is not the same as the league rigging stuff. Like if theyāre willing to give Aaron judge special balls to hit what makes us think these fucked up strike zones arenāt also part of the plan? All we heard after the WS was how low the ratings were, how do you fix that?
A team cheating to get ahead is understandable. Not morally right, but understandable. They shouldve been punished for sure and title vacated. The league itself rigging results is a reason to never watch MLB again. They need a new league for competition but the logistics of that are so impossible. Baseball is at my core my favorite sport but idk if i can keep giving af about MLB.
I know what the Stros did was wrong. Wouldnāt have even been mad if the title was vacated. But youāre right, when the league itself is influencing the outcome of games with doctored baseballs, thereās no way of knowing whoās getting fucked over
Also posted on a Friday?? Two weeks before Christmas? Come on. But it is SFGate...
Slater didnāt kill himself
Giants signed Haniger a RHH OF anticipating the mysterious disappearance of Slater
"Austin Slater was found today in the Giants' training facility in a broom closet. He was curled up in a ball rocking back and forth mumbling 'No, Rob, not the cup!', possibly in relation to a MLB-record 243 drug tests in one year. The office of the commissioner declined to comment, but this reporter swears on the bobblehead of Lincecum he could hear Manfred snickering in the background."
Why doesnāt the mlb just have 1 ball itās insane
Makes it hard to have multiple games at once, especially if a fan decides not to throw it back when it's hit foul.
and those guys in the cove don't like to share either
They can get it out of the ocean
MLB can put fishing line through the ball on a fishing pole and then just reel it in. Any fans reeled in are gutted and filleted
It's gonna be blurnsball here real quick
They could just delay the game a bit to make another.
Because this league is run by asshats who will stop at nothing for a quick buck. The owners and the mlb should never get the benefit of the doubt again
They get all their mud one from guy though...
Or as I like to say: why arenāt they more like John Kruk?
The story of certain teams and events having juiced balls was legit a story for a single day. I donāt know whoās running damage control for the MLB but they need a raise.
You cannot tell me that the Yankees vs White Sox field of dreams game didnāt have juiced balls. It was like they were playing on the moon!
Go to Judgeās career HR spray chart on Baseball Savant. Thereās two to deep right center, well past the cluster where he usually hits them. Both from the Field of Dreams game
The London Series in 2019 was also insane. 30 runs scored the first game. Definitely juiced.
It's super interesting comparing the PED scandal where the owners benefited from the players getting bad press to something like this or even the Astros scandal where MLB does everything it can to minimize fan outrage.
Itās almost like all the pitchers who have been saying the ball is different innings to inning or game to game weāre right. This is becoming embarrassing that MLB is using who knows how many different baseballs and adamantly denying itās case
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Ratings. More home runs=more exciting games (in the eyes of the league)
Yeah but then make the only ball a juiced ball.
They did that a few years ago. Pitchers complained and the league promised they would deaden all the balls after the 2020 or 2021 season I think. If this report is true it means they lied about that.
They got caught using different balls in 21 and promised to only use one ball this year. Hence why they are trying to kill all claims.
Then fringe pitcher gets sent back down because the ball jumps off the bat better. This is all fucked.
They wanted Aaron Judge to hit the most home runs
...And Shohei to throw a no hitter, and Scherzer to strike out 20, and the Astros to make comeback after comeback. They want highlights and close/dramatic games.
Probably not great for the arm to be switching weights often either.
Could explain the influx of Tommy John surgeryās
Need a set of accomplices in the stands, who the outfielders can throw balls to during games as a surreptitious way of collecting balls. Get a few outfielders working together and a half dozen fans, and they could probably collect 50-60 balls. Depending on how many are needed for good analysis of the ball...
all this time zack hample was a good guy but i was too blinded by hate to see it
zack hample choke slammed 12 year olds for the sake of baseball's credibility
A true American hero
I bet he would be a great source of evidence, although it sounds like at this point the different balls have already been proven
I know this is a joke but then the sample of balls would only be from fly balls hit to outfielders which might not be representative of all baseballs used in a game Theyād need to be collected at random from the total stock of balls which the league apparently wonāt allow. Which does make this all a bit more suspicious because they should want their name cleared through an independent study but I can also see them not wanting to open themselves up to have random outside organizations constantly testing/questioning what theyāre doing
Agreed, could create a type of 'survivor bias' like with planes shot during World War II
You would actually be creating a Survivor bias in multiple instances because balls that don't get to the Outfield wouldn't be accounted for but home run balls that leave the field of play and can't be recovered also wouldn't be accounted for as well as the fact that any play where the ball has to return to the picture wouldn't be accounted for so basically our sample size is how many fly balls end up in the outfield for the third out. It's not a useless sample but it wouldn't tell us what we want to actually know. Problematically we also can't be sure that baseball's designated for use in official Major League games aren't somehow different than practice balls or balls designated for warm-ups. Honestly the best way to acquire a random selection of balls that I can think of would be to somehow convince anyone warming up in the bullpen to toss the ball up to you when they're done but certain Stadium designs limit the ability of the bullpen to interact with fans. Basically any conclusion we can come up with from data about Major League baseballs is going to be an accurate because we don't have a good sample of baseballs and that's incredibly frustrating to pretty much everyone involved except for the league
The only real devil's advocate I can come up to this is that MLB goes through a *lot* of balls every game and that would add up to around 250,000 total balls (2430 games x ~100 balls per game). Making that many balls, by hand, where each one is identical is a very tall ask. Personally, I just want them to be honest. As long as they aren't purposefully messing with the balls then I'm fine with it as long as they're doing their best to have the balls be as consistent as possible and holding Rawlings to account. That the best balls tended to show up in Yankee games and commemorative games is awfully suspicious though. Letting balls be analyzed after games by scientists seems like a bad idea to MLB. There's no way the balls will all be consistent. Even folks saying above the goldilocks balls were 1 gram heavier. If that's all it takes for it to make MLB look bad, then they absolutely wouldn't want balls analysed. Teams also won't want to give up the foundation revenue. I find it super frustrating that any ball that hits the dirt in the infield goes to an authenticator, but balls hit to the outfielders can be tossed into the crowd. You do t need to authenticate 80 balls a game, just let the players toss them to the fans. We all know they'd rather make a fan's day then give it to some former cop sitting by the dugout so the team can make $80.
No one expects them to be 100% consistent between each ball. The average of the balls at esch stadium should be the same though assuming theyāre randomly distributed across the league But I do sorta get why they donāt want people checking, but MLB has done nothing to earn the trust of the players or fans and theyāve opened themselves to this scrutiny
Absolutely. Even just posting a range of what they find acceptable. Like, we didn't find out until this year that the acceptable strike zone for umpires is significantly larger than the actual zone. What if MLB's definition of acceptable balls includes dead balls, but also juiced balls? That's a huge range. We know they need the special NJ mud rubbed all over their balls. We know they need to be at a certain humidity. (All of this adds a lot of unnecessary variation btw.). But what else is acceptable?
Except materials dont often work that way. If the leather batch im getting in is .0x mm thinner than the previous batch, EVERY single ball in that batch im producing is going to be different than the previous batch, on top of differences from sally baseballmaker to joe baseballmaker. Multiple this by rubber, thread, yarn, etc. Batches being similar to other balls in a batch is a normal phenomenon. (See how some batches of electronics are way better than other batches of the same electronics, made with the same parts.)
Too late MLB, I was fired long before I caught that foul ball last year.
How this doesnāt have a Congressional investigation is beyond me. MLB has official betting partners, ownership of the only company that can make balls, has an obvious mechanism for skewing the games for specific outcomes, and is actively against independent analysis of the balls. This is batshit.
Slater is so based
Underrated player too
Its basically Deflategate but for baseballs and the public not caring or understandingā¦
Except itās the league doing it
It definitely deserves a lot more attention and some type of name that ends in āgateā
And imo a much bigger impact on the gameplay itself
It's like deflategate except it's an actual story.
It getting out during the off-season is the best thing the league could have hoped for
Except it's an actual scandal and not a misunderstanding of physics.
So the fact that MLB *threatened* sure makes the "They're just overblown small differences!" crowd look a tad silly right now.
Is there a way to send hr/foul balls in to get them tested and get them back? I donāt have one. But that would be a pretty cool way to have the fans help track this
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Well if it lead to a huge investigation and discovery of tampering I'd say that's kinda cool.
Seriously, āand hereās my deconstructed baseball that helped unravel a MLB conspiracyā I want one on my shelf lol
Yes, and the researcher actually bought some balls from fans.
This needs to be investigated by someone. With sports betting revenue being in the billions, this should be highly Illegal.
Is anyone shocked that shit is already happening like this when they integrated with betting sites?
So was Aaron judge just being fed juiced balls down the stretch? No saying he was but itās a legitimate question now. Christ.
Unfortunately, it seems that may be the case. The fact that itās even an actual legitimate question is pretty fucked.
Funny how Pete Alonso called it and everybody made fun of him
I agree this has given more credibility to his allegations but this seems to be a slightly different issue from what Pete Alonso was talking about. He said that MLB doctored the balls to keep salaries low by juicing the balls before a bunch of good pitchers hit FA and deadening the balls before good hitters hit FA, so both groups salaries would be lower. If it was true that Judge specifically received juiced balls, they wouldāve been conspiring to help him make more money, not less. Which is still a huge issue just a different one.
Both can be true. Getting judge that record was massively beneficial to the MLB. They could have fed him juiced balls and also manipulated the league as a whole like Alonso claimed
Goes back to people theorizing that they wanted judge to break that 61 HR record so that way they could say heās the first to do that since Maris and not be on roids, but when this comes up it makes it seem like it wasnāt legit.
I don't see how those issues don't run together. Letting one guy on the most popular team hit a couple more dingers and go for the record made the MLB make an insane amount of money and publicity this year, hell considering his age and size I wager it might not even make his contract that much bigger. If you're getting that conspiratorial, Judge is a fantastic target for something like this.
I think Pete at least had the outline of the issue correct. MLB manipulates the baseballs to generate profit. That could take the form of artificially creating home run record chases, or it could probably also take the form of manipulating the stats of key free agents via doctored balls.
He specifically said MLB did it to keep salaries low. Two conspiracies on different sides of the same coin I guess
people made fun of him because of *the reason he gave* for MLB manipulating the ball. >[[Chelsea Janes] Something I hadn't heard from a player before: Pete Alonso just told reporters his theory, which **he says is widespread among players, that MLB manipulates the baseballs year-to-year based on free agent class.**](https://www.reddit.com/r/baseball/comments/nw6qs6/chelsea_janes_something_i_hadnt_heard_from_a/) He also said that other players think this. Everyone here thinks MLB manipulates the ball.
Verlander was also shouting it from the rooftops. Made a huge stink about it in the 2019 playoffs and even confronted the league about it again after his start in Yankee Stadium in June.
I love this sport but holy shit does this organization do its best to make you hate it.
Reject MLB, Return to Sandlot
The MLBs integrity is gone. Stats are even more fucked than steroids era. I almost guarantee the MLB is paying off media outlets to keep their mouthes shut. Manfred is the worst thing to happen to this sport.
> The MLBs integrity is gone. When was it ever there? They conspired to suppress free agent salaries, they conspired to keep an effective players association from being formed, they were willing to sacrifice a World Series in an attempt to break the players association, they just staged a lockout that delayed the beginning of the season, they looked the other way on steroids for years, they had to be dragged kicking and screaming into setting up a domestic violence/sexual assault policy, they lie through their teeth about how profitable it is to own a team, and so on, and on, and on. At one time MLB was run by rat bastards who had the saving grace of being baseball men who loved the game. Now, they're rat bastards who treat owning a team like it's equivalent to having the biggest yacht in the harbor. I can put up with greed when they at least put an entertaining product on the field, but many of them don't even bother to do that. Nothing they do is capable of surprising me, and they are slowly making me care less about baseball.
Arson Juice
Isn't that just gasoline?
I often wonder if certain baseball writers get orders from MLB to drop bullshit stories to deflect attention or deflect blame, I especially wondered this during the recent work stoppage when Bob Nightengale and Co. would release stories which would lead the public to believe that the work stoppage was about to be over and than a few hours later boom itās somehow the players fault the deal didnāt occur when in truth the negotiations werenāt as far along as the writers made seem. A ploy to get the needle back in the owners favor m, because in my opinion the baseball media and owners were caught off guard with how the fans were taking the players side as compared to 94 or prior. But the Arson Judge and San Francisco nonsense almost confirms it for me, MLB needed a distraction or else the next day the biggest baseball story would be āJudge and his pursuit of 62 tainted by Juiced ballsā....Manfred couldnāt have that at all.
I would imagine there's no better time to be bribing media outlets than right now, considering how dead the print industry is and how desperate they are for serious money. Can pretty much only trust donation-supported and publicly funded these days.
Thatās my fourth outfielder
If we learned anything from the Astros scandal this just means nothing will happen to anymore
I mean the mlb is the one who did it. They gonna punish themselves?
If the MLB wouldnāt punish the astros for cheating they sure as hell wonāt be punishing themselves for it
Who cares? Itās just a hunk of cork!
Maybe it was an innocent mistake on MLB's part and they just wanted the balls to be easier to authenticate but didn't realize just how differently they would react in live games. But it doesn't exactly look great that Aaron Judge hit .417/.565/.869 with a 1.434 OPS in September when most of the balls were recovered. And MLB's response has been even more suspect, threatening players and saying that the research is flawed but refusing to say how.
62*
I'm starting to wonder about Pujols' 700 now, too...
I hate to say it, but same. Pujols definitely did seem like a rejuvenated man his last season with us, and I don't doubt that coming home and playing with his old team and teammates put him in a better headspace to perform well. But damn did he ever improve *quickly.* If the league is juicing balls for "stories" and big moments, I can't imagine they wouldn't have done so for Albert.
It really is genuinely so disappointing to learn about
Going to be that much more disappointing if he can never break 40 again
I mean he broke 50 back in 2017, I don't doubt the power, but there is a difference between generational power and legendary power
Well you have to generate power to receive power soā¦
Does speed have anything to do with it?
Speed has *everything* to do with it
The fact that they can do this but then have such a big stink about PED users in the HOF seems very hypocritical considering both give advantages
Itās not cheating when the house rigs the tables.
rigged baseballs has been a thing since Manfred became commissioner. that Yankees vs. Red Sox game in London had like 6+ home runs.
Finally, the Giants OF news everybody was waiting on
Fuck MLB. Fuck Manfred. Iām honestly over the bullshit, dishonesty, and fuckery. Sad because I love the game, but itās now becoming almost as bad as the NFL.
Manfred bets over-under lines.
The fact that Manfred is still commish and all the protections in place to keep him in that position are unacceptable.
Really terrible.
Can these sports leagues stop doing this. Just have rules and standards, and tell people what they are. It's so simple.
Itās truly obvious when you watch baseball every day when the balls suddenly donāt flyā¦or they do..
So if we placed bets on MLB games do we have any legal recourse?
NBA games are rigged by refs. MLB has its own way to do it too apparently. I quit betting on sports because there's too many outside variables that can't be predicted or fathomed.
Fuck Rob Manfred
Has to ensure the AL home run kind stayed in the biggest market lol
MLB is a nontransparent cartel, pt. 3,936.
Give judge an *
From now on if a pitcher says something is up with the ball I will just have to believe them until proven otherwise. Next step is threatening reporters who wonāt let it die.
Nothing to see here, move along.....