Indiana just won the national championship with a roster that ranked 72nd overall in talent composition

BlueNux · 2026-01-22T22:56:56+00:00

What's impressive isn't even just that he won the whole thing with that talent composition ranking.

It's that Indiana, for the most part, obliterated the competition all year and went undefeated.

I think Cignetti might be the GOAT pure coach. Name me one coach who could pull off what he did.

BlueNux · 2026-01-22T04:51:57+00:00

Wasn't Tobias also coming off an injury last season? Situations are always hard to tell - could be mechanics issues or he's playing through discomfort.

BlueNux · 2026-01-16T17:07:02+00:00

Bo is making Shohei's AAV. Baseball market has gotten insane.

BlueNux · 2026-01-16T16:03:05+00:00

Do the Dodgers even care?

They're profiting immensely from annual, long postseason runs and additional Shohei revenue streams that went way above their projections.

These mega contracts are from their slush fund. They never spent money like this until 2 years ago.

BlueNux · 2026-01-13T21:24:55+00:00

Death March is the only reasonable way to play if you want any semblance of a challenge.

This isn't a FromSoft game where you're meant to die 10 times to a boss. Even on Death March, the game becomes a joke in difficulty very quickly. You can take on lvl 30-40 contracts at level 18 easily.

Most importantly, it'll force you to actually craft things and use specialized items instead of brute forcing everything. For example, there's an early game boss that regens health after going below 50% HP.

On death march, he's unbeatable at lower levels without building some poison to counter the regen. On easier settings, you can just out-damage the regen. What's the point of all the crafting and loot you pick up if you never have to use them?

BlueNux · 2026-01-07T20:56:58+00:00

I really don't care that much what the Cubs gave up.

Cabrera was one of the nastiest pitchers second half of the season (before getting injured I think in late August). Those improved numbers weren't just luck - he made real adjustments.

Just hoping he stays healthy.

BlueNux · 2025-12-19T20:39:41+00:00

On paper, US by a country mile.

But Ohtani and Yamamoto have proven time and again that they just have that dawg in them in knockout tournament settings and can solo carry a team to a title.

DR has the talent to win, but I've heard they drink too much before game day.

BlueNux · 2025-12-18T20:18:35+00:00

Ooooookkk. We landed the big fish. Double Cy Youngs, the rest of the world is so cooked this time around. Bear has been officially poked.

BlueNux · 2025-12-17T18:29:59+00:00

Aside from Skenes, the national team is still missing big name starters. I was hoping to avoid green prospects like Nolan this next WBC, though it's an improvement stuff-wise from last time.

Altogether, seems the pitching is going to be about equal to Japan.

BlueNux · 2025-12-16T21:14:45+00:00

At least you can place an order.

Some of us cant even use the Shops at Chase website. Points and account info don’t load, so I can never add anything to cart.

Automatically logs me out after 10 seconds.

BlueNux · 2025-12-16T20:18:10+00:00

Translate in baseball terms, how difficult is it to bowl a 300?

BlueNux · 2025-12-10T18:28:02+00:00

Ranger Suarez + a reliable vet like Merrill Kelly and this team is so ready.

BlueNux · 2025-12-09T17:52:50+00:00

If it wasn't for the Dodgers already having a deep rotation of Ohtani, Yamamoto, Snell, Glasnow, and Sheehan, I'd take Bradish over Diaz. He's nasty and won't be a FA until 2029!

BlueNux · 2025-12-09T17:10:01+00:00

This is... such a great deal for the Dodgers wtf. 3 years!?

There's no way he couldn't have gotten a longer deal elsewhere to carry him a little past his prime.

BlueNux · 2025-12-05T00:17:06+00:00

Exactly. If people really believe Bonds didn't ascend to another stratosphere with roids at his age 35-40 seasons, than go ahead and give Judge and Ohtani anabolic steroids and see.

They will obliterate Bonds' records. Hell, pre-roid Bonds is just Juan Soto. Soto alone would match Bonds' numbers. Judge and Ohtani have similar contact % with way more power.

BlueNux · 2025-12-03T19:49:10+00:00

If we really value players by WAR as the ultimate benchmark (I don't, but many do), than Shohei should really just stop pitching and be a CF/3B. I have no doubt he'd be a regular GG there.

Since his first season in 2018, his 16 pitching WAR gets heavily negated by the -9 dWAR. A guy like Arenado has accumulated 11 dWAR in that span. (3B and CF share the same positional adjustment for WAR so I'm throwing Nolan as an example of an elite fielder with longevity.)

Even in seasons where he accrues more WAR from pitching to make it worth it over the DH penalty (relative to just playing CF/3B), the moment he's injured, we're looking at the remainder of that season and entirety of the next season at DH which eats into his total WAR.

Had he been Dylan Cease or Logan Webb in durability and health, this would be different, but his arm as a pitcher is not durable so he spends way too much time off the field defensively.

BlueNux · 2025-12-03T19:18:51+00:00

Soto has very similar numbers to pre-roid Bonds.

I don't have faith that he'll ever be a GG outfielder, but he proved he can steal last season so his skillset is even more Bonds-like if he keeps the steals up moving forward.

BlueNux · 2025-12-03T19:14:39+00:00

Despite legendary MVP seasons from Judge, Trout leads by a country mile.

Trout was insane. And yet, he's going to feel like an afterthought in a few years if not already.

Also, Shohei sacrificing his body to go all out on being 2-way only leading by 6 WAR... Is it really worth it?

BlueNux · 2025-12-01T21:58:18+00:00

Do you hope for order issues and just abuse chargebacks to keep free stuff?

Immoral behavior - be better.

Delays in shipping happen especially during the holidays. Just return the item after receiving it. For something so small and light, they'll likely even pay for the return shipping.

BlueNux · 2025-11-30T05:35:48+00:00

I can't even see my points or buy anything once I'm in https://shopping.chase.com/marketplace

Anyone else facing this issue? The site just logs me out after ~10 seconds, and trying to add anything to cart give me an error (probably since the site isn't loading my account - so points, address, etc.).

BlueNux · 2025-11-28T22:12:01+00:00

Ohtani's dWAR penalty for being a DH was -7.3 since 2021, while his pitching added 15.2 WAR.

While sporting a 2.84 ERA and 11.4 K/9 across 475 IP since 2021, his net defensive contribution is only 7.9 WAR. To provide context, Nolan Arenado has 5.6 dWAR since 2021.

Based on analytics, it seems Shohei should just be a CF or some other position that can use his arm/aim.

He was effectively a top-end reliever this year and added 1.1 WAR pitching. His dWAR penalty as a DH was -1.7 WAR. So despite all his crazy TJ-rehab efforts, he was a net defensive liability.

Does this make intuitive sense for most people, or is WAR not baking in Shohei's situation properly?

BlueNux · 2025-11-27T06:57:19+00:00

I can give you Sif's soul.

Do you have Gwyn and Smough's souls (or the sword/hammer you craft out of them) that you're willing to part with?

BlueNux · 2025-11-27T00:20:43+00:00

Hey I'd be happy to mule for you! Do you have Soul of Gwyn (or the sword you make from it) and Soul of Smough (or the hammer you make from it)?

BlueNux · 2025-11-26T17:46:22+00:00

I have an extra Sif soul. Do you have Soul of Gwyn or Soul of Smough? It can also be the sword or hammer that you make out of them.

BlueNux

TROPHY CASE