General Blue Jays Discussion Thread (2025)

[Laika]

There is no correct way to slide into a brick wall. 

[glory]

 

[Brownie19]

3 minutes ago, Laika said:

He got caught in between decisions I think

Went for a normal slide with left leg extended, but saw Wells moving to block the plate entirely and curled his left leg up defensively, on instinct 

It's was a horrible slide. Would have been better to just try to run through the plate and if you get tagged, whatever. 

Really, it's revolting that a catcher is even allowed to do that. Other than whiny Jays fans nobody complained about the plate block. It should not be part of the rules for a catcher to receive the ball and then block home plate - and if it is then they should be fair game again! 

100% - that's what I said right after it happened.  If you can't run the catcher, than the catcher can't block the plate at any point - he has to try and tag you like someone would at 2nd or 3rd base.  If the catcher can block the plate - then the runner should be allowed the run him over.  This shouldn't be difficult.

I also agree with your take on the slide.  The number of people calling him out like he intentionally slide like that is bizarre.

I'm glad you agree with me on the injury being a little bizarre too.  I actually think Bo put himself in a position to avoid injury - but somehow he still got hurt.  It certainly looked like it would be a bruise or at worst a broken bone to me.  I found it very odd it was a ligament strain.

[Stangstag]

17 minutes ago, Laika said:

He got caught in between decisions I think

Went for a normal slide with left leg extended, but saw Wells moving to block the plate entirely and curled his left leg up defensively, on instinct 

It's was a horrible slide. Would have been better to just try to run through the plate and if you get tagged, whatever. 

Really, it's revolting that a catcher is even allowed to do that. Other than whiny Jays fans nobody complained about the plate block. It should not be part of the rules for a catcher to receive the ball and then block home plate - and if it is then they should be fair game again! 

Yep, this is exactly why the new "blocking the plate" rule exists in the first place, to prevent injury. Yet apparently we don't care anymore?

[Stangstag]

13 minutes ago, glory said:

 

Funny that they have both scheduling scenarios laid out already lol

[Brownie19]

28 minutes ago, Stangstag said:

Yep, this is exactly why the new "blocking the plate" rule exists in the first place, to prevent injury. Yet apparently we don't care anymore?

Yeah - like blocking the plate without the ball = bad, but  blocking the plate with the ball = good?  That's stupid.

I fully expect the justification is there were too many old school people complaining that blocking the plate is an integral part of the game and it's history and thus they landed on a rule that makes them a little bit pregnant.  By only letting you block the plate once you get the ball, it reduces the number of collisions, but doesn't completely eliminate them.

I hate old school BS like this.

[hanton]

1 minute ago, Brownie19 said:

Yeah - like blocking the plate without the ball = bad, but  blocking the plate with the ball = good?  That's stupid.

I fully expect the justification is there were too many old school people complaining that blocking the plate is an integral part of the game and it's history and thus they landed on a rule that makes them a little bit pregnant.  By only letting you block the plate once you get the ball, it reduces the number of collisions, but doesn't completely eliminate them.

I hate old school BS like this.

this goes for any base actually, as longer as the fielder has the ball the player can stand anywhere to get the out

[Omar]

While doing a good job overall this season, Febles sending Bo on that play was a grand miscalculation.  

[Laika]

5 minutes ago, Brownie19 said:

Yeah - like blocking the plate without the ball = bad, but  blocking the plate with the ball = good?  That's stupid.

I fully expect the justification is there were too many old school people complaining that blocking the plate is an integral part of the game and it's history and thus they landed on a rule that makes them a little bit pregnant.  By only letting you block the plate once you get the ball, it reduces the number of collisions, but doesn't completely eliminate them.

I hate old school BS like this.

100% it was pandering to geezers

time to change it now. all fielders must provide a sliding lane to a runner at all times. with or without the ball. it can be beside your leg or between them, but there must be a lane you can shove a foot or hand in. 

[Terminator]

The most Ross Atkins quote I think I’ve ever read 

[AMS528]

15 minutes ago, Terminator said:

The most Ross Atkins quote I think I’ve ever read 

Yesavage as a late inning defensive replacement at SS. 

[Masterbather]

35 minutes ago, Laika said:

100% it was pandering to geezers

time to change it now. all fielders must provide a sliding lane to a runner at all times. with or without the ball. it can be beside your leg or between them, but there must be a lane you can shove a foot or hand in. 

I disagree completely. Once you have the ball you can go wherever the hell you want.

Why would you give the opponent an ability to beat you when you have them beat by a mile? 

I think that's the benefit of the ball beating the runner, you get to cut them off completely. You don't owe them the opportunity to score. 

I do agree you shouldn't be able to do this without the ball. I think the rule is perfect.

 

[Laika]

2 minutes ago, Masterbather said:

I disagree completely. Once you have the ball you can go wherever the hell you want.

Why would you give the opponent an ability to beat you when you have them beat by a mile? 

I think that's the benefit of the ball beating the runner, you get to cut them off completely. You don't owe them the opportunity to score. 

I do agree you shouldn't be able to do this without the ball. I think the rule is perfect.

 

Most plays that matter are bang-bang and it's hard to even figure out if the ball "beat the runner"

The benefit of the ball getting there sooner is the fielder has a much higher chance of making the tag. They don't need other perks. 

They don't need permission to turn into a brick wall or cement buddha statue on top of the plate just because the ball was early. That's absurd. And there are no positive results for the game for letting that happen. The results are just more injuries and lower scoring. 

[Masterbather]

5 minutes ago, Laika said:

Most plays that matter are bang-bang and it's hard to even figure out if the ball "beat the runner"

The benefit of the ball getting there sooner is the fielder has a much higher chance of making the tag. They don't need other perks. 

They don't need permission to turn into a brick wall or cement buddha statue on top of the plate just because the ball was early. That's absurd. And there are no positive results for the game for letting that happen. The results are just more injuries and lower scoring. 

The chances of making the tag decline significantly if you give them a lane. I don't see why you should be forced to do so if the ball gets there in time.

What about if it turns into a rundown then do you have to keep the run down to the sides of the baseline so you're not blocking the lane? If you're allowed to go right up to somebody in a rundown on the baseline then that should extend to any part of the baseline. You can go right up to them which means you're blocking the plate or the base.

[Laika]

1 minute ago, Masterbather said:

The chances of making the tag decline significantly if you give them a lane. I don't see why you should be forced to do so if the ball gets there in time.

What about if it turns into a rundown then do you have to keep the run down to the sides of the baseline so you're not blocking the lane? If you're allowed to go right up to somebody in a rundown on the baseline then that should extend to any part of the baseline. You can go right up to them which means you're blocking the plate or the base.

Baseline rules already exist, are not problematic, and have nothing to do with what we are talking about, which is plays around the plate / bases where a slide is happening or possible. 

Nice try

[Masterbather]

4 minutes ago, Laika said:

Baseline rules already exist, are not problematic, and have nothing to do with what we are talking about, which is plays around the plate / bases where a slide is happening or possible. 

Nice try

What was I trying? 

I simply argued that the baseline rules should extend right through the end of the baseline, which apparently it does. Because otherwise where do you draw the line between blocking the plate and meeting somebody on the line? If the ball beats the runner by a mile and the runner has come to a stop because of how badly they've been beat, then the catcher comes to meet the runner a few feet from the plate is that blocking the plate or is that a play on the line? 

If the ball beats the base runner enough so that the fielder has the ability to block off the plate or the base, the defense has earned that right in my opinion. A defender can come meet you as long as they have the ball even if they're just meeting you a foot from the plate on a bang/bang play.

[mphenhef]

First two games are scheduled, sort of.  Saturday is a 1:08 start time if Boston wins, 4:08 if Yankees win.  Sunday is 4:08 either way.

 

https://www.cbc.ca/sports/baseball/mlb/blue-jays-mlb-broadcast-schedule-announced-1.7648128

[Anal Hershiser]

30 minutes ago, Laika said:

Most plays that matter are bang-bang and it's hard to even figure out if the ball "beat the runner"

The benefit of the ball getting there sooner is the fielder has a much higher chance of making the tag. They don't need other perks. 

They don't need permission to turn into a brick wall or cement buddha statue on top of the plate just because the ball was early. That's absurd. And there are no positive results for the game for letting that happen. The results are just more injuries and lower scoring. 

Could make all plays forces once the runner has advanced 3/4 of the way to any base

[Brownie19]

47 minutes ago, Masterbather said:

I disagree completely. Once you have the ball you can go wherever the hell you want.

Why would you give the opponent an ability to beat you when you have them beat by a mile? 

I think that's the benefit of the ball beating the runner, you get to cut them off completely. You don't owe them the opportunity to score. 

I do agree you shouldn't be able to do this without the ball. I think the rule is perfect.

 

The part you missing is that the catcher is wearing armor.  A catcher getting the ball and throwing his armored body down in front of a sliding player to completely block the plate is stupid - especially when the runner can no longer force against the catcher.

None of this is necessary.  Players effectively tag players at 2nd and 3rd all the time.  They can do the same thing at home.  I think you're trying to claim that catchers may miss the tag sometimes under this scenario?   OK - get better at tagging people.  

[Laika]

12 minutes ago, Masterbather said:

What was I trying? 

I simply argued that the baseline rules should extend right through the end of the baseline, which apparently it does. Because otherwise where do you draw the line between blocking the plate and meeting somebody on the line? If the ball beats the runner by a mile and the runner has come to a stop because of how badly they've been beat, then the catcher comes to meet the runner a few feet from the plate is that blocking the plate or is that a play on the line? 

If the ball beats the base runner enough so that the fielder has the ability to block off the plate or the base, the defense has earned that right in my opinion. A defender can come meet you as long as they have the ball even if they're just meeting you a foot from the plate on a bang/bang play.

None of this is very relevant

It would be easy to keep all of the baseline obstruction rules as-is and simply add a new rule that for any plays at a base or homeplate the fielder cannot entirely obstruct the base or plate (unless necessary to field the ball, or some caveat like that) 

Where do you draw the line? The bases! It would be absurd to say that the fielder with ball needs to give the runner a sliding line if there is nothing to slide to. 

[Masterbather]

1 minute ago, Brownie19 said:

The part you missing is that the catcher is wearing armor.  If he's allowed to use that armor to protect the plate so you physically can't get to it is stupid, especially when the runner can no longer force to get to the plate.  

None of this is necessary.  Players effectively tag players at 2nd and 3rd all the time.  They can do the same thing at home.  I think you're trying to claim that catchers may miss the tag sometimes under this scenario?   OK - get better at tagging people.  

It's not a matter of getting better at tagging people, if you tag someone on the arm they can swim into the other arm, if you take someone on the body the arm might get there first, there's always a chance if you're tagging someone on top of the base that you're going to get beat no matter where you want to tag them.

What you see as blocking the plate I see as simply going to meet the runner with the tag, which I think are two different ideas. I don't see it as a football scrimmage, as a defender you shouldn't be trying to hit the guy and as a runner you shouldn't be trying to hit the defender. The defender should be trying to apply a tag and the offensive player should be trying to avoid it. If the path is cut off because you got beat by the ball then your chances of avoiding the tag are near zero, as they should be. 

What happened with Bo was a freak occurrence, he started sliding as the catcher got the ball moving towards him, leading with the glove, and it ended up in a collision. s*** happens, but you don't go and make the rules silly because s*** happens.

[Laika]

No, that's just silly. 

If Austin Wells got the ball so early he could run up the line and make it impossible through distance for Bo to go around or through him and touch the plate - fair game. 

But he got the ball and then immediately slid his entire body to block and cover the plate. There is nothing about that which stems from "meeting the runner with the tag". He sat down in front of homeplate. 

These are different tactics. A fielder could still benefit from getting the ball so early by just coming off the bag, removing the bag/plate from the equation. Pickle the runner. Indeed, this is what every fielder but the catcher seems to do, naturally. Because the game doesn't seem to permit blocking second base in the same way it permits blocking off homeplate. 

[Brownie19]

27 minutes ago, Masterbather said:

It's not a matter of getting better at tagging people, if you tag someone on the arm they can swim into the other arm, if you take someone on the body the arm might get there first, there's always a chance if you're tagging someone on top of the base that you're going to get beat no matter where you want to tag them.

What you see as blocking the plate I see as simply going to meet the runner with the tag, which I think are two different ideas. I don't see it as a football scrimmage, as a defender you shouldn't be trying to hit the guy and as a runner you shouldn't be trying to hit the defender. The defender should be trying to apply a tag and the offensive player should be trying to avoid it. If the path is cut off because you got beat by the ball then your chances of avoiding the tag are near zero, as they should be. 

What happened with Bo was a freak occurrence, he started sliding as the catcher got the ball moving towards him, leading with the glove, and it ended up in a collision. s*** happens, but you don't go and make the rules silly because s*** happens.

Sorry man - but that's really dumb.

[Jays24]

Guess who just got lucky with 6 standing tickets at regular price for Game 2 baby... THIS GUY!!!

[Masterbather]

34 minutes ago, Laika said:

No, that's just silly. 

If Austin Wells got the ball so early he could run up the line and make it impossible through distance for Bo to go around or through him and touch the plate - fair game. 

But he got the ball and then immediately slid his entire body to block and cover the plate. There is nothing about that which stems from "meeting the runner with the tag". He sat down in front of homeplate. 

These are different tactics. A fielder could still benefit from getting the ball so early by just coming off the bag, removing the bag/plate from the equation. Pickle the runner. Indeed, this is what every fielder but the catcher seems to do, naturally. Because the game doesn't seem to permit blocking second base in the same way it permits blocking off homeplate. 

In this case it was a bang bang play, but as long as Wells leads with his glove I have no issue, and he did lead with his glove. It results in a collision. s*** happens. But at the end of the day he was going to meet the runner with the tag. I'm okay with it. I think the alternative would be terrible and would reward an offense for no reason. Considering home plate is where the runs are scored that's especially problematic in my opinion.

 

[Masterbather]

28 minutes ago, Brownie19 said:

Sorry man - but that's really dumb.

Okay, in your opinion. That's fine. 

But I think the alternative of creating a lane when the ball beats you is also dumb. So we may be in agree to disagree territory.

[Laika]

12 minutes ago, Masterbather said:

In this case it was a bang bang play, but as long as Wells leads with his glove I have no issue, and he did lead with his glove. It results in a collision. s*** happens. But at the end of the day he was going to meet the runner with the tag. I'm okay with it. I think the alternative would be terrible and would reward an offense for no reason. Considering home plate is where the runs are scored that's especially problematic in my opinion.

 

But there would be no terrible alternative. If the rule were different Austin Wells would have just... not blocked the plate, and Bo is almost certainly out anyway, but nobody is hurt. 

[Spanky__99]

3 hours ago, Laika said:

He got caught in between decisions I think

Went for a normal slide with left leg extended, but saw Wells moving to block the plate entirely and curled his left leg up defensively, on instinct 

It's was a horrible slide. Would have been better to just try to run through the plate and if you get tagged, whatever. 

Really, it's revolting that a catcher is even allowed to do that. Other than whiny Jays fans nobody complained about the plate block. It should not be part of the rules for a catcher to receive the ball and then block home plate - and if it is then they should be fair game again! 

That's exactly what happened, he was caught in between.

 

[G-Snarls]

Runs are hard to come by

[Masterbather]

1 minute ago, Laika said:

But there would be no terrible alternative. If the rule were different Austin Wells would have just... not blocked the plate, and Bo is almost certainly out anyway, but nobody is hurt. 

The alternative is that you give him a lane to the plate. Any play that involves a tag on top of the base has a chance that a part of the guy's body will slip in under the tag. If he doesn't move his body there he's forced to reach, the moment you reach it decreases the chances of making the out. But because he had enough time to slide, block and throw his glove out in front, he did. 

If you want to argue that having the armour on makes catchers a little braver to do this type of thing, yeah I'll give you that. 

I'm still okay with it though, as long as the defensive player has the ball I think they should have the right to go wherever they want with it, as long as you lead with the glove. I would not be in favour of the catcher leaning in with a shoulder and then with the glove or something stupid like that.