JotCast | Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat

Ben Clemens FanGraphs Chat - 3/16/20

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Ben Clemens

2:47

That's not what we usually do?

Pat's Bat

2:47

How late into November could the season feasibly be extended? Maybe MLB could move more games into domed stadiums or to cities with milder weather.

Ben Clemens

2:47

They're going to explore this option for sure.

2:48

I think you could feasibly have the season end at the end of November if the entirety of the playoffs was in neutral sites; Tampa, Miami, Houston, Arlington, Phoenix, SD, LA?

That's 8 parks worth of warm-weather postseason play if you use both LA stadiums

2:49

LA can be chilly, but it sure beats Wrigley in November.

Ryan

2:49

Have you played Wingspan? We are loving it!

Ben Clemens

2:49

It was sold out yesterday, Ryan!

The humanity

I was trying to buy it

2:50

Someone in a gaming group I'm a part of has a copy

So post-COVID, we are going to have a bunch of board game nights in a row, and we'll definitely play that.

2:50

About taking breaks from work when working from home..no different than when I'm in the office. I come here :)

Ben Clemens

2:51

Yeah, very true. I just think that some people are more set up to take those breaks at work because they know their rhythm.

Take yourself home, sit at the dining room table with a laptop or whatever, and you can feel very de-synchronized from your normal routine.

Next thing you know, you've been doing spreadsheet work for three hours.

Pong

2:51

What are the chances that a 70 game season ends up the most exciting season in MLB history?

Ben Clemens

2:52

Most exciting in history? I don't know, one in 40 or something? amking numbers up

But I think it will be very exciting

Way more exciting, in expectation, than a random season

on Dan's behalf

2:52

, I feel obliged to note that Dan doesn't contend that one cannot add beans to chili, but rather, once you do, it is merely no longer chili.

Ben Clemens

2:52

That's a fair counterpoint. I find it funny that Dan has a nuanced view on sandwich orthodoxy.

But he's a chili traditionalist.

2:53

I would say that I'm on the chaotic side of things. Call your food what you'd like. Bean soup with beef and veggies is delicious, whether it's chili or not.

Derek

2:53

I think it was Dan who at one point brought up the idea of a FanGraphs Discord server... Now seems like it might be a good time to start that up!

Ben Clemens

2:53

Discord usage is probably going through the roof.

2:54

I'm not sure what we have planned, but sometihng like that wouldn't be crazy with all of us cooped up.

Dan is the most technologically savvy of all of us, I think, so I just wait for him to say he's doing a thing and then also do it most of the time.

Rays fan in OH

2:55

With the amount of grief other teams' fans give the Rays for the Trop and our fans, I'd rather not share our stadium for non-Rays games.

Ben Clemens

2:55

I mean, it's kind of a greater good of baseball situation. I'd rather not sit at home for weeks eating canned and frozen food, but I'm definitely going to do just that if it's for the greater good.

Heck, the Rays might even end up with a home playoff game out of it.

2:56

I bet that would be a bigger sticking point than anything else.

Pong

2:57

How is that Mookie Betts trade looking if we don't have a season?

Innocent Team Owner

2:57

How happy are my friends, the Ricketts family, that Kris Bryant's age 28 is cut short? How happy are my other fellow owners that these greedy, spoiled players will all be losing precious time? Just wait until the NCAA pipeline is complete and we can fully control those already super cheap foreigners with a draft

Ben Clemens

2:57

Same general vibe, though Innocent Team Owner, as usual, goes a little further with the bit.

Yeah, uh, not really clear what service time implications are, but I don't think that's anyone's chief concern right now.

2:58

When this has blown over, I'm sure owners and players will both try to take what they can out of it, and they'll be at each other's throats again in no time.

But at the moment, they've got bigger fish to fry

Like paying minor leaguers

2:59

And seeking shelter.

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