Baseball ... it's a numbers game

"Babe" Ruth wore #3 because he was #3 in the Yankee batting order

   

Baseball is about numbers ... lots of numbers.

And, I don't mean Billy Beane/"Moneyball".

Batting averages and OPS were invented so the announcers would have something to discuss because the game takes so long to play. It's 3 strikes and 4 balls and the hurler has to throw it 60'6" from a mound that's 10 1/2' inches high and, it's 90 feet from one base to the others.

There are lots of examples of how numbers fit into the 162 regular season games of MLB that make up America's national pastime. 

Now, new numbers ... a 30-second timer between pitchers and batters and a 15-second timer in place with the bases empty and a 20-second timer with runners on base.

That rule came about because, in the past, pitchers took too much time fondling the ball, bouncing the resin bag, grabbing their crotch, spitting, toeing the rubber, grabbing their crotch again and getting a pitch signal from the catcher, which they'd ignore and then start the process all over again. MLB has been around since 1903. It's taken them a while to realize the game is slow and add some new rules to get it to move along. 

Fans celebrate when a game is played in less than 3 hours.

But, for me, only one number really counts ... how many games out of first place is my home team.

Actually, everything you need to know about your team, whether it's baseball or hockey, can be found in the standings. Today, my Blue Jays are close to dead last in their division. How can that be?

Following training camp, every Jay fan agreed ... this year, "We'd have all the pieces in place to be division leaders and legitimate World Series contenders".

Today's "league standings," tell a different story. On May 23, we saw a little of what we were expecting from the beginning of the season ... a 20 - 1 drubbing of the Tampa Rays. Fans like me assumed that with my team's firepower, this sort of outcome would be an everyday occurrence.

In reality, by the end of May, the Jays had already been crushed by the Yankees, rolled over by the Orioles and clobbered by the league-leading Tampa Bay Rays. On the last day of the month, they'd limped and crawled to second last place - 10 games out of first place. That's a disaster in the high-octane AL East division.

"Everything you need to know about a team is in the standings"! 

Here's another number: the fabulous, entertaining Rays, who are in first place, can only manage to attract 12,000 fans per game. Maybe Tampa is just a hockey town? 

The struggling Blue Jays just announced ticket prices for next season -- allow me to give you the numbers. 2 seats in the lower bowl behind home plate currently cost $15,000. for 81 home games. For next year, the same seats will be reclassified as "premium" and offer "free" food and drink but the cost is $137,000. 

No, it's not a typo, that's the number.

Clearly, the organization has put the cost of renovating the ballyard on the backs of the fans. Ownership thinks more bars will help to distract them from what's going on in the game.

At the end of last season, I wrote a blog essay claiming the Jays have nice hair but no clutch.

Nothing's changed. Maybe it's worse. The Jays' "Ace" is doing commercials and designing T-shirts and is featured in a documentary where he claims he and his brother are super competitive but when he's in an actual game, he can't seem to find the plate. Tonight, May 31, he was lifted after 4 innings and the Jays were only down by 2 runs - even coach confidence has gone south. The sports pages are kind when they declare, last year's Cy Young candidate is "struggling".

My Jays need help.

And, in the midst of this disastrous season when the team has to focus on an end game of at least 95 wins, just yesterday, a pitcher decided to share his inflammatory views on social media about the LGBTQ community.

MLB and the Blue Jays and every other team are committed to being inclusive and this knucklehead, underachieving support pitcher, who should concentrate on being quiet and performing, has now drawn attention away from winning a game and put pressure on his teammates and Jay management to answer media questions about him and his opinion.

In the 1960s, former Canadian prime minister, Pierre Trudeau, taught me that another person's lifestyle is none of my or anyone else's business. I'm all for "free speech" but it does have consequences. I think they should bounce this guy quickly.

But, back to numbers. In hockey, a coach can march down the bench and demand his tough guys get tough. He can order his scorers to unload shots on the goalie -- if they don't comply, they know they'll "sit".

But, a baseball coach can't say to his slugger ... "Ok, buddy ...  go get us a home run" ... he can't say to his pitching ace "It's just 3 pitches ... strike 'em out!" 

In 1992, Cito Gaston coached a group of 40 gigantic Blue Jay egos. I have no idea if any of them were LGBTQ but they went on to earn the first-ever World Series won by a team outside the USA -- gawd we loved that team, connected with all of them, and had our favourites ... we knew what they had for lunch. 

You remember.

Toronto media claimed a million people went onto city streets to peacefully celebrate following the win in Atlanta, versus former Blue Jay skipper, Bobby Cox's Braves. And, to prove the win wasn't a fluke, Cito did it again in 1993 with only 19 players from the 1992 team. 

Can the Jays fix things?

July may be too late.

Does anyone have Cito Gaston's phone number?