MLB Players Will Compete in a “Show” Season, Behind the Scenes of ‘ROTY’, and Other Cubs Bullets

April 10, 2020, by Brett Taylor Chicago Cubs

The Little Boy got extremely into his feelings this morning about my old dogs that passed away – like, the ones from when I was a kid. He was very sad that I probably miss them and feel like I didn’t get enough time with them. It was the sweetest thing, but also always a challenging conversation.

It’s (kinda) competitive baseball featuring big league ballplayers:

MLB is launching a MLB: The Show Player's League featuring a player from every team. Season starts tonight on Twitch, scheduled through early May.

Discussions have taken place to broadcast some games on TV, sources tell ESPN. A full list of players: https://t.co/6fopwxSv1C

— joon (@joonlee) April 10, 2020

There’s a rep for every team, and Ian Happ is taking the honor for the Cubs. That’s pretty awesome. The games start tonight, and then the postseason begins on April 30. Details on how to watch – mostly streaming on Twitch, but I reckon replays and highlights will be available elsewhere later – are in the ESPN piece.
And, yes, if I can find box scores for Happ’s games, I’ll do some EBS’ing for fun.
OK, and the official announcement now mentions more locations for watching the streams (various social media for MLB, MLB The Show, and MLB.com):

MLB, @MLB_PLAYERS
& Sony Interactive Entertainment have announced the creation of the MLB The Show Players League, the first-ever competitive @MLBTheShow league solely featuring Major Leaguers.

Games start tonight. More details: https://t.co/pMXYrMqTAe

Here are the 30 players: pic.twitter.com/i2ISX393s6

— MLB Communications (@MLB_PR) April 10, 2020

Extremely fun diversion reading today if you’re a fan of – or even just watched – ‘Rookie of the Year’:

The secret of Henry Rowengartner's fastball, from @KentGarrison: https://t.co/n8BIv1MZ1d

— jon greenberg (@jon_greenberg) April 3, 2020

Love this anecdote from Thomas Ian Nicholas – you know, Henry Rowengartner – about the 15 minutes they got to shoot at Wrigley Field between games in a doubleheader with the full crowd in place: “I remember we got done up in our uniforms and stood at the bullpen and Danny got on a wireless handheld mic. He runs out to the outfield and he starts telling everybody in the stadium, ‘We’re going to shoot this movie in Chicago and it’s about the Cubs drafting this 12 year-old pitcher who has this magical hundred mile-an-hour fastball , and he’s going to take them to win the World Series,’ and the stadium went ballistic. He wanted them all to chant ‘Henry.’ So I’m walking to the mound and 35,000 people are chanting ‘Henry.’ I remember it vividly. It’s one of those things I could never forget. There’s no acting in that scene when 35,000 people are paying attention to you and chanting your character’s name so much that you start to believe it’s your real name.”
Bonus laugh via Daniel Stern, who directed and played the pitching coach, when asked about a future remake: “You know, I don’t know how to remake it. There’s no point in remaking it exactly the same. I didn’t get involved. Bob might be doing it, I don’t even know what they’re doing, but my pitch was all the great players are Latino in baseball these days and it should be a Latino kid from the city who, you know, who gets to play in the majors, you know, make it relevant. But baseball since ‘93 has really changed. It’ll be interesting to try to find the innocence of the game again, especially with these frigging Houston Astro despicable people. You know, how are you going to find that innocence of the game again?”
Wouldn’t be doing my job if I also didn’t note that ‘Rookie of the Year’ is on Disney+, which you can sign up for here and support BN.
A little trivia from the Cubs (answers here):

Time to put your trivia cap on!

Use the options on the right to match #Cubs players to their rookie accomplishments. @NewEraCap pic.twitter.com/7ML5sY84Re

— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) April 9, 2020

It’s crazy to think about how this wasn’t THAT long ago:

https://twitter.com/baseballandthe2/status/1248554949774098433?s=21

This is just fantastic:

Bartolo Colon, Mechanics (baseball card edition) pic.twitter.com/LZ2jdurX5h

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) April 9, 2020

Not to lose sight of this:

We join landmarks across the country to shine a light on those who are working tirelessly every day. To @advocatehealth, and all front line and essential workers, thank you for your continued efforts during this unprecedented time. #LightItBlue #MakeItBlue pic.twitter.com/VuyT3arKBF

— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) April 10, 2020