Sunday Morning Coffee Thoughts
Edition: 58 The Pesky Podcast preview show, Celts, Bruins and Ohtani and more....
Happy Sunday everyone. This week I talk about last night’s Season Prediction Show on the Pesky Podcast and Celts. I will address the Ohtani situation and the season opening series in Korea with the Padres and the Dodgers. I’ve got my favorite mug filled with some strong black coffee, so grab your coffee, pull up a chair and enjoy my weekly missive.
The Pesky Podcast Prediction Show
Making predictions about the upcoming season in baseball is fun. Everyone’s record is 0-0 and we all have opinions about team record, pitchers, hitters and surprise performers. Last night we were live with the Pesky Podcast annual prediction show (Episode: 77) can be found on the BSEN YouTube page and on your favorite podcast app. The crew has an incredible amount of fun doing this and it is a must see Episode!
Celtics and Prepping for the Playoffs
Now that the team has officially punched it’s ticket to the post season, the goal is and should be the health of the starters and finalizing the bench rotation for the playoff run. Given he commanding lead that the team has in the Eastern Conference and is a few more games short of clinching the best overall record in the NBA, a little bit of rest for the starters and major bench contributors is in order.
By this time of year every player is banged up to some extent. The position the team finds itself in is extremely conducive to healing of some of the bump and bruise of a long season. It also gives bench players one last chance to move up or down in the rotation as the playoffs loom based on the play during the final games of the season.
My outlook for the team has drastically improved over last season. I think that Tatum has finally realized that he needs to be a leader and has figured out what that means. He knows that it is no longer all about him and that his job is to play at a high level and make everyone around him better. With his natural ability and now a new maturity, this team is more than ready to be talked about in terms of being NBA champions.
Dodgers - Padres Far East Opening series
Seoul Korea played host to the 2024 season opener between the Dodgers and Padres. The two games were quite eye opening for different reasons. In the opener, the Dodgers topped the Padres 5-2 with a mediocre pitching effort from starter Tyler Glasnow and solid relief performances from old friends Ryan Braiser and Joe Kelly. This game featured timely hitting late in the game by the Dodgers to get the win. It reminded me of a mid-season game and was entertaining.
In stark contrast to that, was game two, won by the Padres 15-11. The Dodgers prized young Japanese starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto got lit up. In his major league debut the 25-year-old right-hander pitched only one inning, gave up five runs, all earned on four hits, walking one and striking out 2 and a 45.0 ERA. Certainly not what the Dodgers expected when they signed him back in December. In general, this game was an old fashioned slugfest and it was not a great day to take the mound for either team.
But….. this biggest story of the week was not this game but what follows…..
Ohtani - Gambling Story
What a mess!
The best player in baseball, Shohei Ohtani, has been sucked into a gambling scandal, courtesy of his friend and former translator, Ippei Mizuhari. While we wait for the complete story to surface, the speculation machine is running rampant.
First, it was reported that Ohtani paid for Mizuhari’s gambling debts to the tune of $4.5 million. Then Ohtani was the victim and the money was stolen from him. Probably the best noted reactions came in the person of Jon Heyman, a veteran MLB writer…
Heyman tweeting on Thursday:
Then on Friday….
So what is it? Is this crisis management in overdrive? Is Ohtani just too trusting? Why weren't his financial people paying closer attention? What exactly Ohtani know about the situation, when did he know about it? Did he authorize the payment?
Right now, there are way too many unanswered questions. We know that law enforcement, the IRS and MLB are all investigating what actually transpired. There is a white hot spotlight on the star player, but an even brighter and hotter one on MLB. Given the history of gambling issues that have cropped up over the history of the game, dating back to the Black Sox scandal and most recently Pete Rose, MLB must do a complete and thorough investigation that is transparent and does not appear to be a farce or cover-up. Anything less could cause irreputable harm to the game. It would not surprise me if Commissioner Rob Manfred’s job could be on the line if this blows up.
In the meantime, we have to wait and let this play out. It’s tough because we want answers and expect them in minutes, if not seconds. Too much is at stake for the game and wild speculation doesn’t help. Like all of us, I am going to stay glued to the coverage and hope to glean enough information to make an informed decision.
This is not how anyone envisioned the 2024 season starting and certainly is a distraction. Let’s hope it resolved properly and with as little damage to the game and the player.