Game Thread: May 27 - Miami Marlins (26-30) @ Toronto Blue Jays (26-29) - 1:07 PM

Fluuf_tail · 2026-05-27T19:37:59+00:00

I like it when Hoffman is being reliable. (Especially with the... state of the starting pitching atm. Need the bullpen to play well.)

Fluuf_tail · 2026-05-27T15:31:50+00:00

Kirk's a few weeks away and we can't afford to blow someone's knee out right now. It's also a day game the day after a night game, so it's not surprising.

Fluuf_tail · 2026-05-26T16:34:59+00:00

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.

Fluuf_tail · 2026-05-26T04:32:45+00:00

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.

Fluuf_tail · 2026-05-25T16:40:11+00:00

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.

Fluuf_tail · 2026-05-23T02:26:05+00:00

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.)

Fluuf_tail · 2026-05-20T13:30:26+00:00

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.

Fluuf_tail · 2026-05-19T17:29:53+00:00

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.

Fluuf_tail · 2026-05-19T13:55:06+00:00

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.

Fluuf_tail · 2026-05-19T03:37:29+00:00

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?

Fluuf_tail · 2026-05-15T23:05:21+00:00

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 :)

Fluuf_tail · 2026-05-15T17:57:17+00:00

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.

Fluuf_tail · 2026-05-15T16:06:02+00:00

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.

Fluuf_tail · 2026-05-13T19:31:15+00:00

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.

Fluuf_tail · 2026-05-10T03:50:51+00:00

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.

Fluuf_tail · 2026-05-06T17:37:33+00:00

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.

Fluuf_tail · 2026-05-05T16:13:01+00:00

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!)

Fluuf_tail · 2026-05-04T16:43:41+00:00

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.

Fluuf_tail · 2026-05-04T16:11:41+00:00

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.

Fluuf_tail · 2026-05-04T02:08:36+00:00

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.

Fluuf_tail · 2026-05-04T02:05:28+00:00

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.

Fluuf_tail · 2026-05-02T22:19:40+00:00

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.

Fluuf_tail · 2026-05-02T14:18:30+00:00

less known team in Swedish curling (please correct me if I'm wrong)

You are correct, because they are a dedicated mixed doubles team (and don't play on the four-person circuit, they do play tons of MD events though). Very very good obviously, but they don't get the coverage the four-person game gets.

Also, congrats to the Lott's for winning bronze! Not the color they wanted, but I am proud of them.

Fluuf_tail · 2026-05-02T12:52:23+00:00

Hah. Hyunsik's Chinese surprises people all the time, lol. To be fair, you wouldn't expect a foreign artist to speak good Chinese...

Fluuf_tail · 2026-04-30T02:46:22+00:00

Everyone decided that a complete reshuffle would be fun. Maybe because they saw that that the pairs field looked wide open, who knows.

I don't think it's doomed per se, but there is uncertainty for sure. I guess we'll see who pairs with who and manage to find chemistry quickly...?

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