Author Archives: michele

Major League Baseball – Things to Know to Follow the Game Properly

Baseball is now played across the globe. Coming to the rules and styles, you may find it being played in a myriad of variations by children, teens, and the elite professionals. The ultimate dream of any aspiring baseball player is to enter into the Major League Baseball (MLB). In this article, we will have a closer look into MLB on how it works, and you can watch the game and evaluate it at a professional level.

Two leagues

MLB consists of two major leagues as:

There are 15 teams in each league and three sub-divisions. The in-charge of the league is a commissioner elected by the holders of all 30 teams.

Each team in the leagues has a farm system. There are a series of minor teams with players of different stages of development. These minor series are the breeding ground of the MLB players. There are scouts present at the minor leagues to assess the talent of the players. They also evaluate the high school and college players as well as from Latin America and Asia.

MLB season

A regular MLB season consists of 162 games. Most of these matches are played within a given league. However, there are inter-league plays too. Inter-league plays have teams from American League playing against the teams of National League.

Wager Bop says that, at the early years of MLB, teams of each division used to play against teams of the same division in the other league. Back by 2002, MLB changed the format in which there was a rotation schedule for inter-league games played against a team of various divisions. However, there were exceptions too for the hometown rivalries. The divisional winners advance to the championship playoff along with the wild card entry team, which has the best record amongst non-division winners.

Viewing the game

Each team in MLB will have 25 players on the active roster. There are four on-field umpires for each MLB game. One is positioned behind the plate to call balls and strikes and one each at the first, second, and third base.

At the baseball stadium, the best location to view the match will be based on your personal preferences. For example, if you want to witness the chess game held between the pitcher and hitter, it is ideal to choose a seat directly behind the home plate, which also will give you an entire field view.

Player statistics

Player statistics basically focus on the points they accumulate during the season. Some key statistics are:

  • Batting average: The percentage of at-bats of a player resulting in base hits.
  • RBI (Runs Batted In): Total runs hitter gets from at-bats except the runs scored through fielding errors. The batter gets an RBI when he gets a hit, sacrifice bunt, infield out, sacrifice fly, or fielder’s choice which ends in runners scoring. Also, if a batter is walked, hit by a pitch, or gets interfered, batter receives an RBI.
  • Home run: Batter reaches to home safely with one swing of the bat. Most of the home runs are hit above the outfield fence but sometimes may get an inside-the-park home run too when batter hits a ball onto the field but still can round all bases safely without getting tagged out.

Another measure is OBP (on-base percentage) counting how often a batter reaches to his base, and the slugging average is the number of bases divided by the number of at-bats.

Author Bio: Sujain Thomas is a freelance content writer. He has written a unique and very interesting article on various categories and currently associated as a blogger with

https://www.wagerbop.com/

 

Is Scooter a Sport?

Walking alongside the busy roads you may find people riding a two-wheeled scooter. That’s where a question comes in your mind, is scooter a sport? Well, scooter riding is kind of like an extreme sport nowadays. Scooters are gaining popularity as they are easy to carry, and you don’t need to worry about parking the vehicle. It’s a great vehicle for speeding up short trips and completing daily errands. But day by day scooter riding is gaining popularity as a sport.

Well, is scooter a sport? Just like skateboarding, scooter riding involves various tricks, techniques. But unlike skateboarding scooter riding is not a mainstream sport. Scooters started as kids’ toys at first. But after a while, teenagers found a way to ride scooters and perform cool tricks.

Scooters were first seen in Japan. When the manufacturer saw that it has become a great transportation tool, they had to adjust the toy into a vehicle. But after a few years, they began to understand that this could become a new action sport. So, they invested to build up a scooter rider community. As I have said earlier, just like skateboarding scooter riding became a new cool action sport.

But scooter riding is not a mainstream sport and not recognized by x games. Scootering is a sport that gained popularity through the internet. Maybe the reason for scootering to become very popular is it takes only a little time to learn the tricks.

You can learn some of the cool tricks within a day or two. Besides scooters are much easier to control than skateboards. When someone starts skating, he needs at least five months to perfect his ollie. But in terms of a scooter, you can learn the basics within a day.

One of the most common and entertaining things about scooters are street jamming. Thousands and thousands of scooter riders jam in the streets. People taking photos, enjoying their performance. Even the police are helpless to do anything and have nothing to do but watch. So, when someone asks is scooter a sport? Then the answer is, yes, it’s an action sport.  

Things to Consider Before Buying a Scooter

When you found the answer to your question, is scooter a sport? And thinking about owning one for yourself. But before buying anything you need to know about the product. There are a lot of products out there on the market. But which one is suitable for you. Before buying a scooter, you need to consider some features of the scooter.

But at first, you need to decide what purpose you want to own one. You need special types of scooters to perform stunts. Besides size, build quality, weight is an important thing to consider before buying a scooter. But at first, you need to decide what purpose you want to own one. You need special types of scooters to perform stunts. Besides size, build quality, weight is an important thing to consider before buying a scooter. Even I also kept these things on my mind when I decided to pick my scooter.

Do I need Special Type of Scooter to Perform Stunts?

Yes. You need a special type of scooter to perform stunts. A typical scooter offers two wheels and is a great companion for speeding up short trips. Kids kick scooters have more than two wheels. But to perform various stunts you need to own a dirt scooter.

Fantasy Life

Watching sports is a way to escape reality if only for a short time. In those blissful few hours, we get to imagine ourselves pitching a no-hitter, hitting a grand slam, or stealing home in a tie game. We ourselves may not have the strength to arm-wrestle a kitten, but we can appreciate a great throw from the outfield. We may not be able to sprint 60.5 inches, let alone feet, but we applaud when the runner beats the throw to first.

But when the lights are off at the stadium and the tarp is on the field, we are forced to return to our regular lives until the next game starts. At least we were, until the advent of Fantasy Baseball. Now, when our favorite club is idle in reality, we can make up our own team of the best players available. We can bench the guy who got the golden sombrero in the big game yesterday. We can pick up some no-name free agent who hit the walk-off grand slam off an acclaimed closer. We sit in our cubicles while pretending there’s a sign that reads “General Manager” on our door.

To select a Fantasy Baseball team, some people put in hours of careful research. Others just go with their guts when draft time rolls around. I myself do a little research but mostly go by feel. I only have one rule: I never draft Yankees or Rays and rarely draft Angels. (Ok, maybe that’s three rules.) I don’t draft players from “enemy” teams because it just doesn’t feel right to benefit from their success. As if losing to the Yankees on Saturday night weren’t bad enough, gaining ground in my fantasy league because Teixeira hit three home runs would be like lemon juice in a paper cut.

When drafting, I debate long and hard with myself before selecting a Red Sox player. I hesitate to pick Sox because if they are struggling in “real life” it is like rubbing salt in the wound to have to bench or drop them. Owners of Ortiz and Beckett have a tough decision ahead of them.

 

When your favorite baseball team is not hitting it out of the park in real life, managing your fantasy team is at least a small distraction. And if you’re fortunate enough to be in a league with some friends, a nice round of smack talk can also take your mind off the standings.

Following a sports team is fantasy as it is. Following a Fantasy team is like fantasizing about a fantasy. We can all use a little more fantasy in our lives.

Hope Springs Eternal

It’s not April anymore. That was the go-to explanation/justification for the struggles of the Red Sox. Now that the calendar has turned, many feel it’s open season on the Sox. I say that as long as it is spring, we’ve got some time. The baseball season is long. There will be ups and downs. Problems in summer will sink you. Problems in spring aren’t fun, but you can recover.

As a fan, it is ok to whine a little. To worry and to wonder are just a part of the whole experience of supporting a team from the stands. There is no need to belittle, to boo, or to bash, however. Let the competition trash us and the “analysts” pick us apart. Let Francona whip the boys into shape and let Epstein make any necessary transactions. Our job as fans is simply to “root, root, root” for the Red Sox!

We fans may be frustrated, but think how the players must feel? Of course, they have millions of dollars to comfort them, but they don’t play only for the salary. They play for pride and honor as well. Our players who are struggling right now don’t want to be in hitting slumps, missing the plate, or committing errors. And I’m sure hearing angry and critical comments from the people who support them doesn’t make it any better.

I once got a fortune cookie that read “Be an optimist. There isn’t much use in being any thing else.” That may be too naive for “real life,” but in the world of sports fanhood, those are words to live by.

Go Red Sox!

A Win is a Win?

The Red Sox have won six out of their last eight games. Even if the way some of these games have been won doesn’t instill the fans with a lot of confidence, it’s never a bad thing to add another “W.”

Each one of the last six victories has been by only one run. Twice that one run was caused by a bases-loaded walk. So far this year, all but one series victory has been over a team in last place in their division. The Red Sox starters have an average 5.23 ERA. Despite defensive up-grades in the off season, the team has committed a shocking 14 errors.

That’s a lot of negatives. But it is April. If there ever was a time to make mistakes and work out line-up kinks and tweak the rotation, it is now!

Besides, it hasn’t been all bad so far. Winning a 13-12 slug-fest like the April 26 game in Toronto shows that the offense (not predicted to be the team’s strong point) can step up when needed. Winning two games because of walks seems to point to good decision making at the plate.

Even if the present seems slightly cloudy, the future does look bright. How much will the team improve with Matsuzaka out to redeem himself, Wakefield’s knuckle ball dancing out of the pen, and Lester’s typical post-April success? Not to mention the return of Mike Cameron and Jacoby Ellsbury to the line-up!

Let’s play ball!