BCB After Dark: Take a position

Welcome back to BCB After Dark: The afterparty for night owls, early-risers, new parents and Cubs fans abroad. We’re at full capacity these days. Grab any table. There’s a two-drink minimum, but since it’s bring your own beverage, you’re on the honor system.

BCB After Dark is the place for you to talk baseball, music, movies, or anything else you need to get off your chest, as long as it is within the rules of the site. The late-nighters are encouraged to get the party started, but everyone else is invited to join in as you wake up the next morning and into the afternoon.

Tonight the Cubs finally got everything going in the right direction as they beat Cleveland, 7-1. Kyle Hendricks was looking like the unicorn that we are used to seeing. Kris Bryant, Willson Contreras and Patrick Wisdom all homered. About the only downside was that Ryan Tepera looked human.

If you want to continue to discuss tonight’s game here, you are free to do so.

Last night I asked you if you thought it was time to give Jake Arrieta a break from the starting rotation. The vote was extremely close, but 52% of you think that manager David Ross should still bring out Jake for his next turn in the rotation. The other 48% think it’s time to try someone else.

Tuesday nights are the shorter After Dark entries and I don’t bother trying to talk about movies. But I do try to find some jazz to either help you get to sleep, help you wake up or just give you something to listen to while you read. So here’s a performance from 2016 for Vermont Public Television starring the Christian McBride Trio. [VIDEO] It’s long and you don’t need to listen to all of it, but this is something that I’d listen to in order to calm down after a rough day.

Tonight’s poll question is a fun one, I hope. I also hope it’s one that will generate some discussion.

Most of us have played some baseball or softball at some point in our lives. Whether it was in a youth baseball league or a rec softball league, most of us have tried to hit, field and throw at some point in our lives. Most of us probably weren’t very good at it, but we had fun.

When I was a kid playing in youth leagues, I played where my coach told me to play. Most of the time that was either left field or first base. I did get to play some other positions from time to time, but the one that I always loved to play was second base. I knew I didn’t have the arm to play third or shortstop—the few times I did play there I had to bounce to ball to the first baseman. But I could make a good throw from second. And second base put me in the middle of the action. Playing left field, I could often go several innings without a ball being hit to me and I didn’t like that.

Is that the reason that my heroes have often been second basemen? I don’t know. Maybe it’s because that’s the position Ryne Sandberg played, although I loved playing second base when Sandberg was still in high school in Washington. But as an adult, back when I used to play in a slow-pitch softball league, I’d always ask if anyone minded if I played second base. I played in leagues that were more concerned about drinking beer than winning, so rarely did anyone object.

So my question to you tonight is if you were good enough to play baseball professionally, which position would you like to play? Yes, obviously if any of us were good enough to put on a professional uniform, we’d gladly play wherever the manager put us. But if you were given a choice, what would you say?

What position suits your personality best? Are you the type that is OK with only playing every fifth day as long as you were the most important person in the game? Then you want to be a starting pitcher. If you’re the type of person who always wants to be in critical situations, then you probably want to be a reliever.

If you a person who never wants to take a play off and considers yourself a leader, then you’re probably a catcher. If you think of yourself as fast (or you used to be fast when you were young), then maybe centerfield appeals to you. You get the idea.

So which baseball position speaks to you?

Thanks for stopping by. We’ll be back again tomorrow night with another edition of BCB After Dark.