Guide to the World Baseball Classic

[notin]

2 hours ago, jad said:

I assure you, I don't have a lot of money and what I have in retirement is in the hands of a broker I've never met.  I have never ONCE checked out any charges in my account in 30 years.   Not once.  He could have been spending my money on coke and hookers and I would never have known.   Maybe you check your account activity on a daily basis.  Most of us don't.

Also, I understand completely that MLB has a stake in this and I woouldn't put a lot of stock in their findings.  But you have to explain what stake the fed government would have in protecting a non-citizen from a scandal like this.  I mean, it's not like he was in the Epstein files or  ...

You also don’t have an interpreter.

By the way, where did you say these accounts were again? 😉

[mvp 78]

3 minutes ago, notin said:

You also don’t have an interpreter.

By the way, where did you say these accounts were again? 😉

Sometimes I wonder why I went into accounting instead of finance. 

[jad]

12 minutes ago, notin said:

You also don’t have an interpreter.

By the way, where did you say these accounts were again? 😉

Not sure,  Lemme just have my personal assistant pass on my account numbers for you.  She speaks English (sort of).

[notin]

15 minutes ago, jad said:

Not sure,  Lemme just have my personal assistant pass on my account numbers for you.  She speaks English (sort of).

That works.  And the English won’t be necesssary for my hacke…. Err.. software personnel..  How is her Russian?

[notin]

2 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

Sometimes I wonder why I went into accounting instead of finance. 

I always assumed it was because you couldn’t handle the fast-paced action in the hardcore world of notary publicking…

[JoeBrady]

3 hours ago, jad said:

I have never ONCE checked out any charges in my account in 30 years.   Not once.  He could have been spending my money on coke and hookers and I would never have known.   Maybe you check your account activity on a daily basis.  Most of us don't.

You haven't checked your account in 30 years?  Just imho, that's not something I'd recommend.  I don't check my account every day, but I update my spreadsheets once a week.  It keeps me apprised of how I'm doing, as well giving me a chance of catch anything unusual.  How do you even know how much you have in the account?  Or what you are invested in?

[jad]

отличный

[jad]

3 minutes ago, JoeBrady said:

You haven't checked your account in 30 years?  Just imho, that's not something I'd recommend.  I don't check my account every day, but I update my spreadsheets once a week.  It keeps me apprised of how I'm doing, as well giving me a chance of catch anything unusual.  How do you even know how much you have in the account?  Or what you are invested in?

I don't.  I check the 'big number' then if 'the guy' ever calls with advice I just tell him 'whatever.'  Since I'm not an accountant, it hardly pays to 'play' one.   I have no idea what I'm invested in and wouldn't know a spreadsheet if it bit me in the a**.

[JoeBrady]

2 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

The feds have a stake in shielding a rich and powerful business like MLB. 

From The Rolling Stone

Yet perhaps most remarkable was the speed at which the matter was seemingly resolved. Acting with uncharacteristic swiftness, the federal government issued a scathing criminal complaint against Mizuhara just three weeks later — on April 11 — that supported Ohtani’s narrative.

The Feds usually move at a snails pace.

[JoeBrady]

38 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

Sometimes I wonder why I went into accounting instead of finance. 

One of my co-workers told me his brother use to prepare accounting reports for someone in the Forex department.  They got along well, so the forex guy asked him if he wanted to change jobs.  He went from being an $80k accountant to being a $300k currency trader.  Back when that was real money.

[UtahSox]

11 hours ago, Yaz Fan Since 67 said:

Yeah that was my understanding as well.  I'm not sure where these comments about Ohtani are coming from, he appeared to be the victim.  

Yep, Ohtani is definitely the victim.……. In fact, I’ve been wiring money to a few Nigerian princesses who keep calling me for $500 when they’re “temporarily stranded.” They swear they’ll pay me $1,000 next Monday when their bank reopens. Seems legit. You and Jad need to send me your #’s I’ll get you guys hooked up with these princesses good ROI

[JoeBrady]

1 hour ago, UtahSox said:

Yep, Ohtani is definitely the victim.……. In fact, I’ve been wiring money to a few Nigerian princesses who keep calling me for $500 when they’re “temporarily stranded.” They swear they’ll pay me $1,000 next Monday when their bank reopens. Seems legit. You and Jad need to send me your #’s I’ll get you guys hooked up with these princesses good ROI

You're being conned.  I have a Nigerian prince that's going to pay me $52M (in gold), as soon as I send him $100 for customs.  Hard to believe that people fall for these things.  In the old days, when we had fax machines, a group of us would grab the scam E-mails on Monday morning to read them over coffee.

[jad]

Meanwhile, looks like the usOFa got cheated out of a win last night by Italy,  As Venus Williams said two days ago when provided water between sets that wasn't cold enough:  "It's COMPLETELY unfair!  I'm calling the referee!"

[mvp 78]

1 hour ago, jad said:

Meanwhile, looks like the usOFa got cheated out of a win last night by Italy,  As Venus Williams said two days ago when provided water between sets that wasn't cold enough:  "It's COMPLETELY unfair!  I'm calling the referee!"

If they lose, it's because of the very light starting pitching group. Skenes could throw twice, but Skubal only was going to throw once. Everyone else on that stuff is rough. 

[mvp 78]

If you're wondering about the Italy/Mexico game that determines USA's fate:

if Mexico wins while scoring four or fewer runs, Team USA is out. If Mexico wins while scoring five or more runs, Italy is eliminated. If Italy wins, Mexico is out no matter the score.

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

19 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

If you're wondering about the Italy/Mexico game that determines USA's fate:

if Mexico wins while scoring four or fewer runs, Team USA is out. If Mexico wins while scoring five or more runs, Italy is eliminated. If Italy wins, Mexico is out no matter the score.

This is like the average argument whether the Red Sox' offense is good enough or bad enough.

This decade Boston's runs scored per game has fluctuated in between a high of 5.12 in 2021 and 4.54 in 2022 (Schwarber-influenced and immediately post-Schwarber).

My dinero is on Duran... despite the fact that Schwarber has hit 201 homers since the Sox let him leave, compared to Duran, Story, Abreu, Rafaela and Yoshida -- who combined to hit 198 HRs in that same span.

Now all a deflated Kyle can do is sit and watch, along with the victorious Kyle Teel and his lame hammy. Ok, who here had Goombah Greg Weissert striking out Judge for the last out last night?

[Kimmi]

7 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

If they lose, it's because of the very light starting pitching group. Skenes could throw twice, but Skubal only was going to throw once. Everyone else on that stuff is rough. 

They also have Logan Webb.  He pitched well against Brazil.  The pitch limits are so strict, though, that I don't know if he would have been able to make the start last night. 

I am surprised that DeRosa was not aware that the USA had not clinched.  I'm not sure that it would have made any difference, but that's inexcusable.

[Kimmi]

7 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

If you're wondering about the Italy/Mexico game that determines USA's fate:

if Mexico wins while scoring four or fewer runs, Team USA is out. If Mexico wins while scoring five or more runs, Italy is eliminated. If Italy wins, Mexico is out no matter the score.

I am wondering how they decided on runs allowed being the second tie breaker.

[Kimmi]

6 hours ago, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

This is like the average argument whether the Red Sox' offense is good enough or bad enough.

This decade Boston's runs scored per game has fluctuated in between a high of 5.12 in 2021 and 4.54 in 2022 (Schwarber-influenced and immediately post-Schwarber).

My dinero is on Duran... despite the fact that Schwarber has hit 201 homers since the Sox let him leave, compared to Duran, Story, Abreu, Rafaela and Yoshida -- who combined to hit 198 HRs in that same span.

Now all a deflated Kyle can do is sit and watch, along with the victorious Kyle Teel and his lame hammy. Ok, who here had Goombah Greg Weissert striking out Judge for the last out last night?

1.  I hope that Kyle Teel's injury is not serious.

2.  One of the bright spots of last night's game for me was Weissert.  At least we have that.

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

1 hour ago, Kimmi said:

I am wondering how they decided on runs allowed being the second tie breaker.

I'm confused about the tiebreaker of "the lowest quotient of runs allowed divided by defensive outs recorded," and welcome any math whiz on the forum to correct me -- because I hope I'm wrong.

That tiebreaker could penalize any team that won by a mercy score -- which makes zero sense to me...

Ex: two winners allow 4 runs each. Team 1 wins 5-4 in 9 innings. Team 2 wins by mercy, 14-4, in 7.

Team 1's quotient of 4 divided by 27 outs is 0.148.

Team 2's quotient of 4 divided by 21 outs is 0.190. 

So Team 2 -- so dominant they only had to play 7 -- gets eliminated because they were better?

 

[jad]

1 hour ago, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

I'm confused about the tiebreaker of "the lowest quotient of runs allowed divided by defensive outs recorded," and welcome any math whiz on the forum to correct me -- because I hope I'm wrong.

That tiebreaker could penalize any team that won by a mercy score -- which makes zero sense to me...

Ex: two winners allow 4 runs each. Team 1 wins 5-4 in 9 innings. Team 2 wins by mercy, 14-4, in 7.

Team 1's quotient of 4 divided by 27 outs is 0.148.

Team 2's quotient of 4 divided by 21 outs is 0.190. 

So Team 2 -- so dominant they only had to play 7 -- gets eliminated because they were better?

 

Fortunately, it's just an exhibition, so it doesn't matter all that much.  And it's given us great games in March.  I'm sorta hoping the usOa loses on this unintelligible technicality, just because of the theatrical wrath it will generate on sports media.

[moonslav59]

On 3/10/2026 at 9:46 AM, JoeBrady said:

You haven't checked your account in 30 years?  Just imho, that's not something I'd recommend.  I don't check my account every day, but I update my spreadsheets once a week.  It keeps me apprised of how I'm doing, as well giving me a chance of catch anything unusual.  How do you even know how much you have in the account?  Or what you are invested in?

I track my accounts every 3 months, but I don't really look real closely at fees, I'm paying, since the investment balance keeps doing pretty well vs the stock market, in general.

[JoeBrady]

2 hours ago, jad said:

Fortunately, it's just an exhibition, so it doesn't matter all that much.  And it's given us great games in March.  I'm sorta hoping the usOa loses on this unintelligible technicality, just because of the theatrical wrath it will generate on sports media.

I wouldn't mind at all.  Having Italy and Mexico move on is good for the sport overall.

[JoeBrady]

1 hour ago, moonslav59 said:

I track my accounts every 3 months, but I don't really look real closely at fees, I'm paying, since the investment balance keeps doing pretty well vs the stock market, in general.

So, just using random numbers, if you thought you had $16,000,000 in your account, and you signed on and saw -0-, that would likely raise some issues for you?

[moonslav59]

35 minutes ago, JoeBrady said:

So, just using random numbers, if you thought you had $16,000,000 in your account, and you signed on and saw -0-, that would likely raise some issues for you?

What do you think? LOL.

I know my money is in good hands.

I do know some fees are taken, but I don't watch very penny. As long as the balance is ridsing significantly, I'm fine.

[jad]

10 hours ago, JoeBrady said:

So, just using random numbers, if you thought you had $16,000,000 in your account, and you signed on and saw -0-, that would likely raise some issues for you?

What I've learned to say/think on many occasions following retirement -- something that has brought me great and unexpected peace-- "It's only a number."

[notin]

On 3/11/2026 at 5:23 AM, jad said:

Meanwhile, looks like the usOFa got cheated out of a win last night by Italy,  As Venus Williams said two days ago when provided water between sets that wasn't cold enough:  "It's COMPLETELY unfair!  I'm calling the referee!"

We’re not out.

Team Italy is basically the JV Team USA…

[notin]

10 minutes ago, jad said:

What I've learned to say/think on many occasions following retirement -- something that has brought me great and unexpected peace-- "It's only a number."

So are your pulse snd blood pressure.  But if they get to 0, it will be a whole new level of unexpected peace…

[mvp 78]

4 minutes ago, notin said:

We’re not out.

Team Italy is basically the JV Team USA…

Watch out, you're going to get called out for that kind of language. 👮‍♂️

[notin]

30 minutes ago, mvp 78 said:

Watch out, you're going to get called out for that kind of language. 👮‍♂️

I’m just saying that Team Italy roster looks more American than apple pie and obesity.  Clearly being from Italy or ever visiting Italy or even visiting New York’s Little Italy was not a requirement.  Now I don’t care about player origins, but I do think to represent the country of Italy, you clearly only had to meet one of the following:

1. Familial history tracing back to Italy in a minimum of the last 500 years.  Or more.

2. Last name ending in a vowel.

3. The ability to find Italy on a map.  Or, just find a map.

4. Ever eaten spaghetti or similar.  And yes, they are willing to accept the space age polymers from Chef Boy-Ar-Dee.  Reluctantly.

5. Sign up to play for Italy.