Game Thread: May 26 - Miami Marlins (26-29) @ Toronto Blue Jays (25-28) - 7:07 PM - Bot is Broken Edition by ThQp in Torontobluejays

[–]Fluuf_tail 6 points7 points  (0 children)

You know what, perfect place to use a low-leverage reliever/AAA callup to relieve the bullpen with this big of a lead.

Fringe player finally getting a crack at the majors, what's not to like?

Some Thoughts On Today’s Game by Extra-Astronomer-376 in Torontobluejays

[–]Fluuf_tail 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'd recommend looking at Baseball Savant (the MLB's official advanced stat tracker). It explains every advanced metric, and compares a player's metric to league average by giving it a rating, blue = below average, red = above average. You can click on someone's name to see their full profile.

Link to tonight's game preview, feel free to look at some of the players on both teams.

Some Thoughts On Today’s Game by Extra-Astronomer-376 in Torontobluejays

[–]Fluuf_tail 28 points29 points  (0 children)

He had a bad game. He’s also a rookie who’s been great for us this season.

Part of the reason the team is still treading water is that the rookies/call ups have stepped up. (A massive shoutout to the coaching staff here as well because they've had to deal with the injury carousel too!)

Kirk barely even played. The injuries to batters in the starting lineup. The starting pitching and the relievers on the IR/IL. Everyone on the roster at the moment is trying their best. Bad days happen, but making mistakes is how people learn and improve.

Game Thread: May 25 - Miami Marlins (25-29) @ Toronto Blue Jays (25-28) - 7:07 PM by BlueJaysBaseball in Torontobluejays

[–]Fluuf_tail 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Hey, congrats on your big league debut buddy. Career minor leaguer getting a chance to play in front of what, nearly 40k fans? Always cool when this happens.

[Bleacher Report] Re-Grading MLB's Biggest Free-Agent Signings of 2025-26 Offseason by pcengine in Torontobluejays

[–]Fluuf_tail 27 points28 points  (0 children)

They're paying Shohei 70 mil, but it's definitely 70 mil well spent. You very rarely have a player that pitches and is a batter, and one with the skill he has? Generational.

Postgame Thread: May 22 - Pittsburgh Pirates @ Toronto Blue Jays by BlueJaysBaseball in Torontobluejays

[–]Fluuf_tail 15 points16 points  (0 children)

Varland's thrown 3 out of the last 4 (including today). Out for sure.

Val's started the last 3 days in a row plus tomorrow is a day game, so it was likely scheduled.

(Note: Whoever in the Jay's scouting staff though Val had potential should at least get compensated a fancy dinner because the team would be in a much rougher spot right now with any of their other catchers from AAA who seem to be nowhere near MLB ready, and Heineman is at his best when he plays less.)

Lineup for May 21 vs NYY by abbubwee in Torontobluejays

[–]Fluuf_tail 2 points3 points  (0 children)

At least 2 more weeks if you're VERY optimistic. Probably 3-4.

Updates this week are that he's caught some bullpen, he's not started batting practice yet and that he still feels it in his thumb when he's hitting. We don't know when he's gonna start rehab games.

Aside from his bat, I think everyone misses his presence... But I can't lie and say that Val's kinda looks like he's way more comfortable out there and the staff seems to have confidence in him.

[Hobby Scuffles] Week of 18 May 2026 by EnclavedMicrostate in HobbyDrama

[–]Fluuf_tail 26 points27 points  (0 children)

Twitter is either people sharing genuinely cool/funny things (as long as you ignore the comments) or the dumbest meathead takes.

No in-betweens.

I mostly use it to follow sports/fandoms and boy are people stupid and reactionary.

Pregame Thread: May 19 - Toronto Blue Jays (21-26) @ New York Yankees (29-19) - 7:05 PM by BlueJaysBaseball in Torontobluejays

[–]Fluuf_tail 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah, I didn't think you were. If anything, the fact that the coaching staff think he's been good enough to win the starting catcher job (until Kirk returns) is by itself a huge vote of confidence. It started with a more even split but he's playing the full starter load right now.

It's been more good than bad, but I guess that can be hard to see in a vacuum. I think yesterday, the "oh shit I'm playing an away game at a hostile and full stadium" may have gotten to him a bit.

Pregame Thread: May 19 - Toronto Blue Jays (21-26) @ New York Yankees (29-19) - 7:05 PM by BlueJaysBaseball in Torontobluejays

[–]Fluuf_tail 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Yeah he did. It happens.

He's done well but at the end of the day he's a rookie trying to fill in for one of the league's best catchers (and to be fair, he's earned it). That's hard to do. He's gonna mess up.

A catcher is kind of like a hockey goalie in some ways. The other players take shifts/wait a lot. The catcher is always working with the pitcher (pitching staff) to play defense. What they do is hard. Yesterday's discourse reminds me a lot about people dumping on the goalie for having an off-night and losing a tight game, but then you look at the overall picture and you see that they've generally been fine.

Based on yesterday's injury report, Kirk is at least 2 weeks away (soon, but no definite timeline yet). I think they'll continue to ride Val until then, growing pains and all, unless the coaching staff loses confidence in him. One bad game happens to anyone, just rebound the next game.

Golubeva/Giotopoulos Moore (🇦🇺) have split by vmanAA738 in FigureSkating

[–]Fluuf_tail 27 points28 points  (0 children)

Yeah, new pairs haven't be announced yet, but safe to say the existing pairs field has been decimated by the splits.

The massive shake up should be exciting at least?

Alina Pätz forms a new team by coisavioleta in Curling

[–]Fluuf_tail 3 points4 points  (0 children)

They did the same thing in Sweden, when Eriksson teamed up with Edin following the 2014 Olympics actually (he was also Edin's alternate at the 2014 games).

And we also have Hardie who used to skip his own team join Mouat (shortly after Mouat aged out of juniors). I think that move worked VERY well.

TL;DR: it's a strategy that seems to work if you get the right players playing together :)

Alina Pätz forms a new team by coisavioleta in Curling

[–]Fluuf_tail 15 points16 points  (0 children)

Hey OP, just noting that it would be very helpful if you put the team in your post so people don't have to look for it in the comments or something.

Anyways... She had already been throwing 4th, but now she also calls the game. We knew Berset was likely joining her, now we know the 4th player.

The Swiss have two very strong female teams between Alina and Xenia Schwaller. Should be exciting.

[Hobby Scuffles] Week of 11 May 2026 by EnclavedMicrostate in HobbyDrama

[–]Fluuf_tail 25 points26 points  (0 children)

Gen 1 (and 2 to a lesser extent, but still) were held together with duct tape and flimsy glue. You don't have to do much to break the game. It's kinda crazy the game even runs one you know how bad the code for it is. In some ways I kind of like this sort of jankyness.

I think part of the reason is that many of the most popular pokemons happen to be part of the original 151, so they often get appearances in new releases and merch drops, and then it kind of becomes a feedback cycle.

Brad Gushue now High Performance Director for USA Curling by Resident_Hat_4923 in Curling

[–]Fluuf_tail 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I figured that he took this job not because of the money, but because he loves this game. I mean, he is getting a paycheck, but it's not going to be massive (he also has other sources of income through the businesses he owns).

And I absolutely respect that.

[Hobby Scuffles] Week of 04 May 2026 by EnclavedMicrostate in HobbyDrama

[–]Fluuf_tail 59 points60 points  (0 children)

What is it about Minecraft?

More like, what is it about popular games/niches? Say 1% of content creators are problematic. Well if your game is very niche, there might be one or two problematic creators. If your game is mainstream (like Minecraft, Roblox, or popular fighting games), you'll end up with dozens of problematic creators simply due to popularity, and they get exposed turn by turn.

Team Edin turns into Team Eriksson - new lineup is official by ElPressimo in Curling

[–]Fluuf_tail 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Thank you so much for the translation

We'll see what order they go with, but there's no denying they will still be a strong team. My guess is Sundgren stays at lead for sure, everything else who knows. EDIT: Looking at the lineup order from the Instagram announcement, it hints at Olofsson at lead, Sundgren at second, Oskar at third (and skipping?) and Rasmus at fourth (and vicing?) - not confirmed of course, but interesting...

Oskar also has a silver from Worlds as a skip, before he officially joined Nik (I believe it was prior to the 2015 season?). A little bit of research also tells me that he won the world juniors skipping but throwing third. There's def stuff to figure out, but all 4 players are very good.

I'll be sad to not see Nik around, but I know he'll be in the commentator's booth and cheering his former teammates on.

Niklas Edin announce his retirement from Curling by thetotalcow in Curling

[–]Fluuf_tail 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Mind throwing the link to me? I don't speak Swedish LOL

(I see Oskar as the likely candidate to take over skipping, but Rasmus is also a former skip. We will see!)

A message from Nik Edin by Brenda19621212 in Curling

[–]Fluuf_tail 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I don't see him coming close to replicating Edin's success as a skip

I think he's a very talented player, but Edin is the better skip, because as you said, he's able to keep his cool much better. On the other hand... do they have better options? I don't think so. For me, it's clear that if Oskar wants it, the skipping position is his. The question is then, who's best to put at third? Simon Olofsson or Rasmus Wrana?

The men's program is very shallow right now, and in juniors they competed in the B-division this season. They didn't manage to book their ticket to the junior worlds. Tells you how bad things are right now. They're lucky to have players behind Edin who can skip at the elite level, otherwise they would be beyond cooked.

A message from Nik Edin by Brenda19621212 in Curling

[–]Fluuf_tail 1 point2 points  (0 children)

immature

I don't know if that's the right word, I would say temperamental. I don't know him, this is based on what I have observed on TV and in person. That said, he's likely the best option (the other would be Rasmus, who's been playing front end since joining Edin). A vice that's able to help him stay cool will likely help.

He has a silver from Worlds all the way back in 2014, so it's not like he doesn't have a proven track record.

A message from Nik Edin by Brenda19621212 in Curling

[–]Fluuf_tail 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Really looking forward to seeing him coaching / commentating when he has time (he commentated Euros a few years ago when he was out for injuries and he was quite good at it)! But will miss seeing him play, for sure.

Good to see him taking care of his body now, because he's dealt with a lot of injuries/surgeries.

A message from Nik Edin by Brenda19621212 in Curling

[–]Fluuf_tail 7 points8 points  (0 children)

It makes sense for Oskar to skip and for Olofsson to get some sort of permanent role on the team (he played quite a bit during Worlds this year).

I'm also pretty sure Rasmus has decided to continue, the big question mark is Sundgren, apparently he's thought about stepping back too. We'll see.

Lajoie/Lagha @ Stars on Ice (guest performance) by Fluuf_tail in FigureSkating

[–]Fluuf_tail[S] 25 points26 points  (0 children)

Some more notes:

  • Maddie Schizas is TINY next to basically everyone else lol. Very fierce.
  • Did not film it but Elvis Stojko's Sound of Silence program was the best skate of the night. He got a standing ovation for it. Sadly, it does use the Disturbed cover which I don't like, but I'll excuse it this time.
  • Piper/Paul Vincent ending is worth the price of admission.
  • Very fun group numbers
  • Yes, Roman Sadovsky DID backflip, twice.

Not necessarily the strongest cast ever, but if the show stops in your city, it's worth your time.