jaysblue

Stroman was a big game pitcher for the Jays. I'm not a fan of his antics sometimes, but he pitched in some big games in 2015 and worked his way back to make 4 important September starts that season. Talk about motivation and urgency. Have all the respect for Stroman. Would be nice to see him retire as a Jay down the road.

Bills are 1.74 and the Jets are 2.15 for Money line.

Angels in the Outfield All-star Hollywood cast. Definitely a lot of laughs and a feel good movie overall.

Once the offseason begins, will be looking to move multiple positional players for an arm or an offensive upgrade.

I made a bet on Bet365 for Tampa to finish with the best record in baseball at 201 to 1. Just put $1 haha. I think Tampa could surpass Baltimore for the division and who knows if the Braves start resting guys.

Bills or Jets tomorrow? Tough call.

Bears suck, but what a huge win geez.

Vikings suck and are overrated. I actually think the Bucs can be decent this year with Baker as QB. Correct on my upsets this week - Browns, Dolphins and Rams. Heck I even liked the Raiders against the Broncos. Don't understand how the Seahawks and Broncos were heavy favourites. They suck! 49ers were the pick of the week IMO. They were 1.80 Money Line against the Steelers. Wish I put $100 down on them damn.

Big sweep by the Jays this weekend! Gotta like their chances! They control their own destiny!

Sunday Night Football - Giants vs. Cowboys haha (awful game)

If Gausman wins the Cy Young this season, that's two Cy Young winners (Ray and Gausman) in three years. Huge props to Atkins on that. Don't think any GM has brought in two Cy Young arms like that over a short timespan!

There really isn't a clear front runner for the AL Cy Young, though Gausman does deserve it. According to fWAR, Gausman has been the best pitcher in the AL with a 5.2 WAR. Gray is second at 4.6 with Eflin (4.1) and Kirby (4.0). Cole and Framber at 3.9 WAR. If Gausman has a big September, pads up his win total and keeps his ERA in the low 3's/high 2's, I think he should be a lock. Cole is really the only competition given his 13-4 record which looks sexy to some voters and his sub 3 ERA at 2.90. Cole also has more innings 180 vs. 167 and will also have over 200K's. Hope Gausman gets it and he's more deserving than Cole IMO.

Yeah I want to avoid getting political on here, but there is clearly an agenda behind it. While it seems more convenient paying with a credit card or app, it's not because of convenience. More about control and the banks/tech companies making money off of us IMO. A lot of it is to gather info on your spending habits and what you like. For example, Google or Apple Pay know where you shop and what you spend your money on, therefore they know which ads to send you. When you purchase something on the McDonalds or Tim Horton's app, it's easier to keep track to know which menu items are popular and personally what you like. As for credit cards/banks, they offer rewards or points for money you spend, which is a good thing, though obviously it's to avoid having you paying cash and instead benefits them every time you swipe or tap your card at a store. The credit card companies and banks are the ones making more money if people are using cards instead of cash on everyday purchases. They collect a % from the stores and they also will collect money when people have an outstanding balance on their cards. The banks are definitely behind it and want a cashless society. The banks also benefit off your debt. I get offers every month to increase my credit limit. Imagine people who accept those increases to lets say 25-30K and then spend that money they don't have? Lastly, what I'm more worried about is the control and accessibility part. Only relying on debit/credit cards limits your purchasing power and access to your money. What happens if your account gets locked and you can't buy groceries, medicines, pay heating bills, etc. We saw that happen in Canada for a couple of days in February 2022 which was scary. What happens if there is a system-wide outage where payment machines and debit machines are down? Heck we saw that last summer with the Rogers outage where you couldn't even use an ATM or pay using a card. Also, pretty easy to track someone's carbon footprint with what purchases are made on a credit card - for example gas, meats, products, air travel, hydro, heating etc. What happens if we get to that point where limits are set on how much carbon we generate? Have to ask these questions. Regardless, society should continue to allow both cash and credit cards to be used and not completely eliminate cash. I mean it's been working for the last 50-60 years or more geez, so I don't see what the issue is.

Yeah for the Jays just need to win games right now and worry about the Wildcard seeding when they clinch. To be honest, doesn't matter if they play the Twins or Rays in the WC rounds. Tampa isn't as strong as they were in May/June, so I'm not too worried about them. Would like to have home field in WC1 but we saw how that went last season against the Mariners. Maybe playing away for the WC round won't be a bad thing. Less pressure from the home crowd.

Yeah when people use the excuse that "the Orioles are only good is because they had 5 losing seasons" really need to give their head a shake. What have the Jays done since 2017, during the same period? Yes the Orioles were able to draft high and stockpile their farm system for those years from losing season, but more should be attributed to their scouting & player development over the years. The Rays operated on a low payroll and were a losing team for many seasons before 2008, though there were some posters on this board who praised and were obsessed with their organization. The big question mark for the Orioles will be what they do with this talent over the next several years and how do they complement it? If they just stand pat and not add to the roster like adding quality start pitching, then yes they're wasting these prime years by cheaping out. As well, their window isn't going to be 10 years. We've seen time and time again how things in baseball could change quickly. Right now their prime window is for the next 3-4 years with their young core. Jays had losing seasons in 2017, 2018 and 2019. They were 32-28 in a shortened 2020 season. Winning seasons in 2021, 2022, and 2023. Orioles had losing seasons in 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021. Winning seasons in 2022 with an 83-79 record and in 2023 with 90 wins thus far. Jays were competitive for only 1.5 more seasons than the Orioles since 2017. Overall, like you pointed out both the Jays and Orioles have won 0 postseason games from 2017. The Jays, while they've been solid over the last couple of seasons, haven't won in the Postseason yet and their window is closing quicker than the Orioles. Results have been mediocre thus far given the expectations this team has had.

Yeah those are excellent points. Even for tickets to enter a sporting event or anything now, you need a cell phone and the Ticketmaster App in order to attend. No more hard copy tickets at all as everything is electronic. Not everyone has a cell phone or data plans. It's a small percentage of people likely but still. Cash should be accepted everywhere regardless. I understand the convenience of using a credit card or Google Pay, but not everyone can have access to one like you mentioned.

3 bats on the bench? I didn't have any bats on the bench Thursday haha.

Yup, it's become apparent. They either want you to pay with your credit cards or phones now at most places with Google Pay and Apple Pay. Even companies like Tim Hortons and McDonald's have apps that you order and pay from. I was at Earls the other day for Happy Hour and their pay machine system went down, so anyone who ordered anything before, management came around to tell them their bills were on the house. They had to put a sign in the window after that they were only able to accept cash until the issue was resolved. Managed to have a couple free beers haha. Shows you that cash is still important though and we can't solely rely on credit cards and phone apps.

Yeah gotta hope one of the vets like Gausman, Bassitt or Springer can take Manoah aside this offseason to talk some sense into him. Struggles are a part of the game. Heck even look at Gausman earlier in his career when he struggled for a couple seasons. Manoah needs to grow up and work harder to help this team in 2024. What sucks is that this drama is all happening during a Postseason race. Hopefully it doesn't become a distraction.

Trade Manoah for Kirby.

Sucks now at a lot of places you can't use cash. Not just a Rogers Centre thing, but most sporting venues and theme parks etc. are like that now.

John Schneider: "You wouldn't have been out there for the 6th if I was managing!"

Nah, that's really light. If Ryu came back and had a 5 something ERA, probably would get a 1 year deal at that amount. Kyle Gibson got $10M and he sucks. Ryu has actually pitched well since coming back and has the pedigree of years where he has been solid. He'll get above $10M easily in this market. $15M being the max but probably see him settling for something more around $12M.

Haha you just said $15-18M for one season. Stop changing your words around you dingleberry haha.

Was tempted to put a couple of bucks on the Lions haha. Didn't want to touch this game at all though. Got a $20 parlay yesterday with the Braves run line and Coco Gauff winning her match, so I'm happy.