Let's start with the Opener.

***MLB held the 2024 All-Star game this week in Arlington.  “Yawn,” said the national audience.  It happened to be the second lowest-rated All-Star game by viewers watching the mid-summer “classic.” Although I generally don’t put much stock into these numbers, it begs the question: What can MLB do to make this a “must-watch” event?  The Savannah Bananas seems to attract a much more vivacious crowd wherever they play.  Could fans catching foul pops for recorded outs actually help MLB here?  What would it take for you to watch? What do you think?

Now to the Set Up Man.

***Former setup man, turned closer, Devin Williams, returns from injury in the second half and can be a difference maker in Milwaukee.  The first-place Beer Brewers can use Williams as a setup man again while he regains form.  Williams had 36 saves with a 0.92 WHIP in 2023, but Trevor Megill has 18 saves with a 1.01 WHIP this season in his stead.  With a decent lead over the second-place Cardinals, the Brew Crew is looking to be locked into a playoff spot in a weak NL Central race.

Now the Closer.

MLB is proposing an automated strike-zone during spring training next season. Rob Manfred, MLB commissioner, has stated that human umpires typically maintain an oval strike zone and the automated version would be more of a rectangle. His logic of testing it out is sound by getting feedback from players, and to a lesser degree, MLB fans. I’m intrigued to see how this unfolds.  I would recommend two weeks of automated strike zones followed by two with human umpires moving into the regular season.  I wouldn’t want MLB players calibrated differently going into the season if a pre-season field test would occur.  How about it?

Former MLB umpire once declared, “It ain’t nothin’ till I call it.”