Washington Wizards
fromThe New Yorker
17 hours agoThe N.B.A. Has a Tanking Problem
Tanking remains a strong incentive for teams, despite league efforts to combat it.
"That's just how I was raised. I feel like Northwood, the basketball gym felt like my home since I'm there so much, before, during and after school... I just wanted to help out. That was really it."
During Saturday's game between the Red Sox and the Reds, Eugenio Suarez challenged Bucknor on back-to-back strike three calls and successfully had them overturned by the robo ump. It doesn't matter that Suarez ultimately grounded out. What matters is that, in a game where the Reds hit two home runs, the loudest cheers came for a pair of successful ABS challenges.
"We try to put ourselves in situations every day in practice where we're facing adversity, where we're being pushed to our edge, and that's where you're forced to grow and feel forced to make decisions."
The idea that the Automated Balls and Strikes challenge system is going to constantly humiliate umpires is, to me, a ridiculous concern. We're talking about hundreds of calls in a game, with upwards of 100 games per week, and 99.9% of the time, ABS doesn't even factor into a pitch at all.
Stacking refers to the practice of loading your lineup with multiple players from the same game or the same team. It is a widely used strategy, and most major DFS platforms allow it.