Dodgers @ Astros, May 6, 2026

GameZone
41

Might as well.

Also might as well start scouting the top pick in 2027.

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42

Itā€™s funny how my feelings on the draft lottery have changed this season.

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43

Heā€™ll fit right back in.

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44

Remember when we speculated heā€™d bounce for a giant deal of he dominates this season?

Not gonna be an issue.

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45

Now Iā€™m afraid heā€™ll hang around for the second year.

46

Said the same about Walker a year ago, right?

47

True enough, but at least Walker had a prior record of success in MLB and wasnā€™t facing a large cultural shift.

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48

Many seasons of eating at the ballpark will really give you a solid foundation, letā€™s face it.

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49

Imai is just a blip on the walk screen. Sugar Land pitchers walked 26 Dukes over the last 2 games. To be fair, one of the games went 10 innings.

50

Exactly. We suddenly have an organizational problem regarding walks. I think I have seen a few of you rule out the new strikezone as the issue but it has to be playing a large partā€¦has toā€¦timing canā€™t be a coincidence. Regardless, the organization must pinpoint the problem and figure out how to adapt.

51

Itā€™s gotta be ABS somehow*, just in a way that (a) the Astros are particularly susceptible to and (b) doesnā€™t necessarily show at the level of the individual pitch. I am not smart enough to figure out why the effect hits some teams harder than others or why it means the Astros are suddenly missing the plate by a mile. I think that may come across as sarcastic but I genuinely do think ABS must be part of the answer, itā€™s just hard to see exactly.

*unless itā€™s something like MLB messing with the ball again, intentionally or by accident

52

I would be willing to believe that ABS had an outsized effect on the Astros if they were still a ā€œhigh-spin, fastballs at the top of the zoneā€ kind of staff. But I donā€™t really think they are now, and they seem to miss literally all over the place. As much as it pains me to say this, I think the more likely explanation is that, for the most part, the pitchers (the available ones, anyway) just arenā€™t very good.

53

This discussion of some technological reason for not throwing strikes boggles my mind.

1 Like