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If you believe in the Better Angels societal evolutionary and/or the Arc of the Moral Universe theories, it should happen eventually, because as long as there is an active, collective effort to do so, we will get there. The only way that can be reversed is to exterminate the intelligentsia and their educated acolytes, outlaw free education altogether, and remake society into a replication of the serfdom era.

I think one day it will be, but a lot of terrible ****, and then defeat and truth and reconciliation, is going to have to happen first, because we are nowhere near the level of peak fascism the country has to experience to finally wake the **** up. You and I won't live to see that entire cycle, probably, but if I were a bettor, I would bet that sometime in the next 25 to 75 years, the outlawing of gerrymandering will happen.

Either the name Orban is the Hungarian equivalent of Smith, or that woman is related to Viktor, and then I wonder what the family dynamics at Christmas dinner must be like.

Being unhinged and knowing what he's doing are not mutually exclusive states for him.

Change the ball to deaden it so as make contact less damaging than it is now?

I feel differently about the Tigers giving him #99: I don't think it's a lack of organizational confidence thing as much as it is a style thing, because uniform number 99 has a unique history in sports, much in the way the number 00 does. Gage might have even asked for it. But I think if the Tigers truly wanted communicate the ephemeral nature of his tenure with us with a spring training numbers, I think it would be more like #74 or #87 than #99. I have a feeling someone like McCoskey or Beck is going to write a feature piece contemplating Gage's uniform number 99. Who knows, they might be working on it this very minute.

The Tigers' training staff compound:

No, that was the Twins.

He is so ****ing unhinged and so many people are just eating it all up. I’ll never understand it.

I really liked when the camera showed the top of the Royals dugouts where they had emblazoned pennants with the year they made the playoffs, and 1984 was prominently there.

I like how the NBC guy asked Gage Workman, “how did you get here?”, apparently expecting a different, more metaphorical answer than the dry explanation Gage gave him.

Tigers week-by-week* team wRC+: Week 1: 99 Week 2: 96 Week 3: 102 Week 4: 146 Week 5: 97 Week 6 (thru Sat): 44 Skubal injury: Day one of Week 6. Coincidence? 🤷🏼‍♂️ I report. You decide. * - Weeks runs Monday to Sunday except Week 1 (March 26 through April 5, 11 days total),

If there have to be billionaires at all, Ted Turner was everything one could hope a billionaire can be.

CJ was the guy who was supposed to be on the mound when the Cubs won Game 7 of the 2016 World Series, and he did get the first two outs of the inning in tough hitters Mike Napoli and Jose Ramirez. But then he gave up a walk to Brandon Guyer and a run-scoring single to Rajai Davis, bringing the Series-winning run to the plate in the person of worst-hitter-on-the-team Michael Martinez. Maddon trusted CJ so little to convert that out that he replaced him with Mike Montgomery, who induced the famous slipping groundout to end the 108-year drought.

He has been given to that problem his entire career. I think Tork might be one of those guys who come into the majors expecting to excel on the sheer force of his innate talent—an easy psychological trap to fall into for a #1 overall pick—such that they don't work so hard to maximize it. Miggy was that way, too, but then, Miggy was innately otherwordly talented in a way Tork could never even dream of working his way to be.

I don't know whether we come back this year, but I agree that the Tigers are at the core a good team and getting better overall, but that the pile-up of injuries—which no team, except maybe only the Dodgers, has the depth to overcome—is on the verge of ruining our chances this year.

I think this is related to the (probably false flag) assassination threats against Putin, as if anyone outside the vetted inner circle could get anywhere near him.

Pre-2025: Career-ender. 2025-26: Just another Tuesday.

The simplistic basis of the post overall, but beyond that, the meme was in response to the sneeringly dismissive second sentence and its reductive tropes, which can't be reasoned with.

Hard for me to feel bad for fans of a team that’s 26-13.

I will fly that flag high on that point.

I think any drag on his electability will have less to do with the "establishment" part, since he has done some fairly progressive things for Illinoisans, like the Reproductive Health Act, the SAFE-T Act, the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act, the $15 minimum wage when it was more controversial, banning the sale and distribution of assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, legislation protecting LGBTQ+ rights and transgender students, and legislation that forbids "book bans" in public libraries. practically all the criticism he gets is from the right. I do think his being Jewish is a legitimate drag on his electability, as there will always be a marginal but measurable number of normally Democrat-leaning voters who won't vote for anyone who is that.

Yes, right now, in his third year, at age 24, he is pretty far from that class of player. There is also a chance he will never be in that class of player. I hope he will become that. But even if he doesn't, we are almost certain to get him at a bargain. or, at least, if he ends up not being a bargain, then something has gone horribly wrong, because even as a 1 WAR player each season from now through 2029, he is a bargain, and the team totally controls whether he sticks around after that. He would have to collapse to below replacement level or have a career-ending injury for this to be a net loss for the team. I have wondered whether he ever experiences seller's remorse for signing that contract for such a low amount of money for so long. Seeing what he will be giving up in arb pay starting next year, I don't see how he could never have.