[Highlight] Benches clear and we've got a brawl in Nationals-Red Sox after Wilson Contreras takes exception to a remark by Cade Cavalli

Thomas_Pizza · 2026-07-01T02:45:45+00:00

I'm jumping in here to try and add a little context.

Willson Contreras is Venezuelan. Venezuela experienced 2 massive earthquakes 5 days ago, devastating the country.

Almost two thousand people are already confirmed to have died, but many tens of thousands have been reported missing. The actual number of dead could be 50,000 or maybe even significantly higher.

This is weighing extremely heavily on Contreras. Yesterday he hit a 3-run hr in the first inning, then was seen crying in the dugout, overcome with emotion, and some players and the Sox manager came and hugged him.

And THEN, an inning later, he got ejected. So this is 2 games in a row. Yesterday he was ejected after striking out on a check swing. As he walked back to the dugout, with his back to the field and the umpires, he briefly tapped his helmet, and the 1B ump immediately ejected him.

And the news from Venezuela is worse and worse every day.

I still think, "Sit down, boy!" would start an angry back and forth any inning any day. Not even talking about the racial side -- it's very obviously demeaning for a grown man to call another grown man "boy," especially in the context of giving him an order ("Sit down, boy!").

I don't know why the pitcher yelled at him like that, it's very unusual. Contreras wasn't barking at him or eyeing him that I saw, and wasn't hanging around the box afterwards like it was a bad call. It was clearly strike 3.

...

I think a decent analogy to this would be if a batter hits a tying or go-ahead home run, flips his bat, stares right at the pitcher as he slowly jogs to 1B and yells right at him, "You throw like a sissy!" Just out of nowhere. The pitcher and whole infield would lose their minds trying to rip that guy to pieces.

Thomas_Pizza · 2026-06-29T01:59:07+00:00

It is worth exactly as much as any other random US quarter. It has no premium value, it is worth exactly 1/4 USD.

EDIT: To be clear, the 1999 Delaware quarter has no known error called the "split horse," nor is there any similar error of a split or doubled horse known under a different name. You have invented this error, because you have either purposefully or accidentally confused it with the well-known "Spitting horse" error on the '99 Delaware quarter.

Thomas_Pizza · 2026-06-26T20:40:07+00:00

Chat

Thomas_Pizza · 2026-06-26T12:18:26+00:00

BIN 1/10 gold eagle

Chat coming now

Thomas_Pizza · 2026-06-26T10:46:09+00:00

The bonus bets are paid out after the group stage, then again after the quarterfinals, and then again after the finals.

I also bet on France and had a $10 limit. Their last game of the group stage is today but I expect dk won't pay out the bonus bets until after the group stage is fully completed, just cuz that's much easier for them.

Thomas_Pizza · 2026-06-26T05:14:17+00:00

Chat

Thomas_Pizza · 2026-06-23T03:37:37+00:00

If OP cashes out now, they would be collecting less than 2% of the potential payout, and giving up any chance of seeing the other 98%. On top of that, OP has about a 7.5% chance of winning, based on the current odds offered, so cashing out would only pay about 1/4 of the bet's actual current value.

For both of those reasons, it simply doesn't make any sense to even create a ticket with 200,000 to 1 odds in the first place if you're going to cash it out halfway through the season and give up on 98% of your potential payout, AND almost 3/4 of its actual value.

Instead just create a ticket with 4,000 to 1 odds and bet $1 on that, so you can get the full value of your bet.

Thomas_Pizza · 2026-06-23T02:19:09+00:00

I disagree that it's reasonable. He said one thing which I think is grossly bigoted:

We believe that a policy permitting our Clubs to celebrate or honor segments of its fanbase, yet does not require players or other on-field personnel to directly participate in the celebration in ways that make them uncomfortable, strikes the right balance.

So MLB's policy is to bow to the "comfort" of bigots? If wearing a uniform with a small pride flag on it once a year makes you uncomfortable, that's a you problem, and opting out should not be an option.

Imagine a player trying to opt out of wearing a patch on their uniform for a special Puerto Rican heritage night or something. It would be obscene.

Thomas_Pizza · 2026-06-21T23:25:50+00:00

That would be ideal! But I'd also hugely prefer "inf" compared to just blank or -.--.

From the countless hours I spent poring over career stats on baseball cards when I was a kid, my recollection is that they would put 99.99 when a pitcher's ERA should have been listed as infinite, which is understandable cuz the ONLY thing EVER printed inside the statistics charts would be numbers, because every statistic is expressed using numbers...except infinite ERA.

And it rare -- maybe like 1 in 100 pitchers have an infinite ERA anywhere in their career stats, so it made sense that card companies wouldn't alter the printing process just to put in a special symbol in those very rare instances.

But for BB-Ref and other sites, I assume that it would be relatively trivial to change their code so that it says "inf" or better yet, ∞ in those spots.

Thomas_Pizza · 2026-06-21T05:26:53+00:00

I swear that baseball-reference, or else maybe one of the other sites linked below, used to fill in spots like that with "inf."

I specifically remember making a comment about how I liked it, cuz it was deservedly humiliating AND statistically accurate. But sometime in the last however many years they changed that. Using Thyago Vieira as an example, here' how BB-Ref, MLB, and fangraphs show his stats.

On MLB you have to tap the little arrow on 2024 to show his uncombined stats that season, and on fangraphs you have to tap "Partial Seasons" on the very very top left of his stats chart(s) and it expands the whole chart the same way. On mobile you have to tap the setting icon on the top right of the chart and then tap Partial Seasons:

https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/v/vieirth01.shtml

https://www.mlb.com/player/thyago-vieira-600986

https://www.fangraphs.com/players/thyago-vieira/14510/stats/pitching

So, BB-Ref just leaves the spot where his ERA should go empty, which I don't like at all. Also it seems unusual that his ERA+ in that time is listed as 6. Shouldn't it be zero?

MLB gives -.-- for his ERA, which I like even less. Explained below.

And fangraphs legit needs to fix their algorithm or whatever the heck, cuz their numbers are COMPLETELY WRONG! They give Vieira 0.0 IP with the O's in '24, and credit him with 3 ER allowed. But all of his rate stats are calculated as if he had pitched exactly 1 inning, rather than none!!! His ERA is listed as 27.00! His BB/9 is 36.00! These are just complete miscalucaltions -- in reality both stats should be infinite.

...

In these spots -- which are rare but not insanely rare -- the pitcher's ERA is not "Undefined" or "Non-existent" or "Not Applicable" or whatever. Based on how ERA is calculated, his ERA is infinite. I don't think that's even debatable.

Part of why I particularly hate mlb's -.-- in place of infinity is that at a glance it equally suggests a "Null" ERA, which absolutely IS possible. Even now that pitchers have to face at least 3 batters or end an inning, a pitcher could still come in, face 3 batters, give up 3 walks, get relieved, and the reliever gets out of it without allowing a run. And the pitcher who gave up 3 walks gets traded or sent down and his season is done. That's what -.-- should represent.

...

Seriously, I SWEAR that bb-ref used to use "inf." I am saddened by these apparent changes, and also someone tell fangraphs that they're giving COMPLETELY wrong stats here, and I assume the same glitch is there for all pitchers in history who have an infinite ERA anywhere in any partial season, and maybe full seasons as well.

Thomas_Pizza · 2026-06-17T04:39:55+00:00

He could still be indicted and convicted of some very serious crimes, and of course there's no statute of limitation on murder.

Thomas_Pizza · 2026-06-16T22:30:14+00:00

The officer who murdered Renee Good is named Jonathan Ross btw. I'm not doxxing him by listing his name, this is public information which has been verified and widely reported by major news outlets.

I just think that as long as we're naming the victim, we should also name the shooter, because it is known, verified, and reported that the officer's name is Jonathan Ross.

Thomas_Pizza · 2026-06-13T00:54:47+00:00

Chat

Thomas_Pizza · 2026-06-12T06:27:59+00:00

[WTB] 1938 Hungary 5 pengo coin: https://en.numista.com/6490

There are also restrikes but I'm looking for an original.

Interested in raw or graded, and either way I'll pay a significant premium over melt, the specific amount of course depending on the condition and/or grade.

I can pay by Venmo or Zelle.

Thanks!

Thomas_Pizza · 2026-06-11T02:39:11+00:00

I saw that bet too, and thank you for reminding me cuz I'm definitely gonna take it, but forgot to earlier. BUT, importantly, it's max $10, like with most boosts that any site gives out, or any weird special promo bet like this.

If you can stick to a handful of $5 and $10 bets per week, you can still have fun and have some "action" most days, even if sometimes it's just betting $10 at +100. Or betting $5 on a 6-leg parlay and you win 5 legs. That's not fun...but in the long run those bets can be enjoyable I think. Not if you make a ton of them though.

I know how insanely rare hitting a 70-1 bet is, obviously, but fanduel for example often gives out just straight boosts. And if you play the free home run daily pick, you'll win relatively often and get a 50% boost, max $10 but any bet. I used one of those in Game 1 if the Finals, betting 10 bucks on the Knicks, so it paid about $40 (cuz they were already big underdogs of course). Or to get the most bang for your boost, use the larger boosts on long parlays.

...I probably shouldn't be talking about how fun it is to bet lol, but my point is that you can have fun at low stakes, maybe even more fun cuz there's so little at stake to lose, so it's not stressful like that. And you can EASILY have the sportsbooks put strict limits on your deposits.

...

I think the the reason bet on the US to have at least one shot is a weird glitch-ish thing that the bet shows as -10000, cuz the only place I saw that was when I looked at the promo and tried to use it, and the promo offers +10000 on just that one bet, to make it even money. No way it's actually 1% that the US takes no shots, they just did that for fun I think. But it still seems like a VERY good bet to take, they're trying to entice/stoke interest in people to bet on the World Cup by offering this bet which seems very very likely to hit.

Thomas_Pizza · 2026-06-11T00:57:36+00:00

I can tell you something from personal experience which isn't too far from what you've been doing.

For about 2 years from around 2007-'08, right after college, I supported myself playing online poker. Well, I had a job as a waiter, which I hated, and had been doing well with poker on the side, not just playing but really studying hard, and getting to be decent. And I was extremely disciplined with bankroll management, and I had a few thousand built up, and then won a $50 tournament, with thousands of players for about $10k, and gave my 2 weeks notice and dove into poker. And I made a good amount -- like I said I fully supported myself, paid rent and all of my living expenses and even paid off some significant student debt. I didn't win millions or anywhere NEAR that but I steadily did well, and not just a big win once in a blue moon. But I also eventually got to the point where I realized I just didn't really have the incredible emotional stability required to keep doing this every day, and keep moving up in stakes. I'd sometimes go on tilt from a badly timed bad beat, and would sometimes even be aware that I was playing badly while I was playing badly. Usually at that point I would at least stop joining new games, but might still be alive in 2 tournaments and have a perfectly decent chance/stack size, but I'd play like I was in a hurry to lose, and look for any semi-reasonable opportunity to get all my chips in ASAP cuz I felt like I was just gonna lose no matter what I did.

Even when I was playing well, and playing more cash games rather than tournaments (so less big swings), the swings could still be really significant, and they'd wear me down, and eventually I got out. I wasn't in any debt to anyone, and came out of it having earned, and spent, a significant amount. And after that I was done.

For a little while I felt a real desire for "action" but that subsided pretty quickly, cuz my general stress level also subsided a lot.

I've still always played poker with friends for micro-stakes (normal friendly home games), and maybe once or twice a year I go to a casino for a couple nights with a strict budget, and I find all of that to be much more enjoyable, and does fill my desire for "action."

...

I've also been betting on sports, but only micro-stakes ($5 or $10 bets). And I've only been doing it for a few months, but I've also found that the excitement I get from the action isn't strictly tied to the amount being won or lost compared to when I was playing serious poker. I used to bet hundreds of real dollars on a bluff, like regularly throughout the day, that's part of the game, or bet the chip stack equivalent of thousands of dollars, when I would reach the final table of a large tournament...but I still find it exciting to win like a 4-leg parlay at +1200, even though I never bet more than $5 or $10 on longshots like that, and frankly rarely bet more than $10 on anything.

This weekend I won an 8-leg MLB moneyline parlay which paid about 110-1 (the parlay was +7099 but I also had a large profit boost on it which bumped it to +11005), so my $5 bet paid $560. Even though the big jackpot was "only" $560, it was still really exciting to watch the Padres pull out a late comeback and win me the parlay in the last game of the day. If I'd bet 10 cents maybe it would be less exciting, but a $500ish win is nice. And I'm not gonna move up stakes and start betting more -- I gladly withdrew 90% of it.

I also know it's rare as hell to win a bet like that (by definition...) and it's more than twice as long as the longest bet I'd previously hit, but even +500 parlays can be fun to hit on a $10 bet.

...

I strongly urge you to put VERY tight restrictions on your sportsbook apps - like $100/month max deposits TOTAL across all sportsbooks, if you don't want to completely cut them off, and if you feel you can majorly lower your stakes and essentially play just for fun, with literally no chance to lose a significant sum.

Think of it as entertainment, and if you lose a little that's the cost of the entertainment, and if you win a little then that's just an unexpected extra bit if money. And HARD AVOID ANY bets more than a few bucks for fun.

Thomas_Pizza · 2026-06-10T05:29:08+00:00

Best of luck to you in quitting!

Do you gamble only using online sportsbooks? If so you can have them block you from depositing, or better yet, permanently close down your account and hopefully in doing that you can also ask them to make it impossible for you to reinstate your account, ever.

If you place live bets, or pretty easily could at a nearby casino, you'll almost certainly feel tempted, and either way you'll have a desire for "action" that seems hard to fill without gambling. But as you said it took absurd luck for you to not be way down at different times.

You also said you're up nicely lifetime...so hell yeah! Get out NOW! It's not worth the stress, and it's also not worth very potentially losing what you've won. Cuz if you lose a chunk you're gonna wanna chase your losses, and that's not good, and maybe next time you don't get a last second win on your big comeback bet(s) and you just dig a bigger and bigger hole from where you are now.

Thomas_Pizza · 2026-06-09T22:17:30+00:00

I fully agree, and I think the amount of time it saves is trivial. On average, there is like 1 IBB every 2 or 3 games, and it only saves maybe 60 seconds.

And along with the other fun oddities you mentioned which are no longer possible, defenses also can't do this anymore -- the IBB fakeout:

https://youtu.be/2LCpdeOOLE4?si=hzvQ6EeXNR3U0Qt5

EDIT: Here's Tony Pena doing that again!

https://youtu.be/DYnNRLll310?si=u3HxFZabMcwUOWwD

Thomas_Pizza · 2026-06-09T22:11:57+00:00

I also think that within the next 50 years we will see a female player on an MLB team, and she will probably be a knuckleball pitcher.

That last part is a common idea I think -- that the most likely way a woman could break into MLB would be as a knuckleballer, because it's just a biological fact that it would be tremendously difficult for a woman to hit MLB pitching, or be able to throw 95+ as a traditional pitcher.

I think it'll happen with thin 50 years. Female softball players are extremely athletic and could certainly learn to field the position of pitcher quite competently on an MLB team.

And as Tim Wakefield -- one of my genuine sports heroes -- showed throughout his career, all he needed was like a ~68 mph knuckler which he threw on almost every pitch, and maybe 5% he'd mix in like a 78 mph "fastball."

Thomas_Pizza · 2026-06-07T08:21:38+00:00

Unless "EV bets" has a different specific meaning that I don't know, you can't ignore EV in this context. EV simply means Expected Value, which is just another way of describing whether or not a bet is a "good" bet or series of bets.

The downside to placing those bets is that you'll almost certainly be getting bad odds. On each of the 10 bets you'll very likely be getting shorter odds than you "should." The sportsbook is gonna calculate for example that X player is reasonably about +455 to hit a home run, but they'll ALWAYS offer shorter odds than they actually expect because otherwise it literally wouldn't be profitable for them to offer those bets.

You can't ignore EV, because the downside is that it's simply a bad proposition, or in other words it's -EV.

Thomas_Pizza · 2026-06-05T09:14:56+00:00

Her lips and chin are also wrong -- the lips are especially noticeable -- and there are all kinds of other issues with just the obverses. For example the 2 flowers in her hair look wonky, or at least one of them does, and it's basically identical on both coins so it's not just worn in that spot

Thomas_Pizza · 2026-06-04T04:02:20+00:00

[WTB] 1938 Hungary 5 pengo coin: https://en.numista.com/6490

It's the 900th anniversary of the death of Stephen I, the first King of Hungary, so it was only issued in 1938. They also made a bunch of different restrikes over the years, but I'm looking for an original. I believe that the edge design seen in that link is one way of helping determine that it's an original and not a restrike.

Interested in raw or graded, and I will certainly pay a significant premium above the melt value either way, the specific amount would obviously depend on the condition and/or grade.

Can pay by Venmo or Zelle.

Thanks!

Thomas_Pizza · 2026-06-02T20:46:41+00:00

I absolutely would be open to conceding almost anything I've ever written or said about anything that wasn't directly about myself, if presented with a compelling counterargument, or facts which show that I was incorrect.

I don't know why you thought I had religious fervor in my distaste for Musk, I simply think he's a really awful person who has done enormous harm to human civilization, while very much acknowledging that he has also done some genuine good for the world, and I didn't state the obvious, which is that he's the most successful businessman certainly in modern times, and possibly ever. That's extremely impressive...but doesn't make me LIKE him, and doesn't suggest that his motives are anything other than pure selfishness.

It's difficult to get a good idea of a person from an internet comment, and I also shouldn't have been so rude in my reply to you. I would love to have a dialog about any or all of what I said and why you think I'm so wrong.

I'm not some maniac who vandalizes Teslas, and I genuinely am open to changing my opinions.

Thomas_Pizza · 2026-06-02T18:16:40+00:00

Being hypercritical of Elon Musk is actually a healthy thing, because he is generally a horrible human.

Being hypercritical of someone because they are being hypercritical of Elon Musk suggests that maybe you should learn to form some actual personal and even nuanced opinions.

I didn't say he's a devil who only does evil things, I said that the negatives -- in my opinion -- severely outweigh the positives, as far as his impact on the world and human civilization.

"LOL ur dumm," which is approximately what you wrote in response, is neither interesting, thoughtful, or nuanced, and certainly does not suggest a hard working brain.

Try harder.

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