{"id":152855,"date":"2022-04-05T03:42:36","date_gmt":"2022-04-05T08:42:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=152855"},"modified":"2022-04-05T03:43:27","modified_gmt":"2022-04-05T08:43:27","slug":"random-thoughts-hardball-hoops-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2022\/04\/05\/random-thoughts-hardball-hoops-more\/","title":{"rendered":"Random Thoughts: hardball, hoops, more"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

SCOTT TRUXELL\/<\/strong>independent editor<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The latest edition of Random Thoughts centers around early spring weather and spring sports, this week\u2019s baseball poll, Ohio\u2019s Major League Baseball teams, Guardians\/Indians, the Tin Caps, and Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rain rain go away\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mother Nature really needs to stop with the rain, the cold, the wind, the snow, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes, it\u2019s still early spring but enough with the cold and wet conditions\u2026it\u2019s time to let spring sports get into rhythm or in some cases, get started altogether. Unfortunately, this week seems like it will be hit-or-miss but maybe next week will bring better conditions for high school baseball, softball, tennis and track and field.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Baseball poll<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This week\u2019s Ohio High School Baseball Coaches Association poll is out and Van Wert has appeared in the Division II poll at No. 23, while Lincolnview has dropped from No. 1 to No. 16 in Division IV.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to Van Wert, two other Western Buckeye League schools are ranked in Division II \u2013 Defiance is No. 2 and Wapakoneta is No. 12.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two other area schools are highly ranked \u2013 Coldwater is No. 2 in Division III and Antwerp is No. 5 in Division IV.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ohio MLB teams<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 2022 Major League Baseball season finally gets underway later this week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the lockout, it\u2019s nice to have baseball back but if you\u2019re a fan of the Reds or Indians, it could be a long season. Both teams seem to be in cost-cutting mode and have made some moves, or some cases didn\u2019t make moves, that haven\u2019t exactly excited their respective fan bases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Right now, which team has the best chance of winning 81 games? Your guess is as good as mine as it appears to be a dead heat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s hoping both teams can surprise some people this season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Guardians\/Indians<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was announced last week that actor Tom Hanks (one of the greats, at least in my mind) will throw out the ceremonial first pitch at Cleveland\u2019s April 15 home opener.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ve had Guardians fever since 1977 when I caught my first game in Section 19 of Cleveland\u2019s Lakefront Municipal Stadium,\u201d Hanks in a press release from the team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ugh. No sir, with all due respect, you haven\u2019t had Guardians fever since 1977. The Guardians didn\u2019t exist in 1977. The team was known as the Indians then and nothing will change that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tin Caps<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not to be lost in the baseball shuffle, the Tin Caps will open their season this Friday at Dayton, then will open the home portion of the schedule next Tuesday against South Bend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s hoping the Tin Caps do well this season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mike Krzyzewski<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I feel like I was one of very few people who wasn\u2019t rooting against Duke head basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski during Saturday\u2019s Final Four game against rival North Carolina.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I wasn\u2019t really rooting for him and\/or Duke either, I just wanted a good game, it didn\u2019t matter to me who won. It just proves that if it\u2019s not your coach or team, most people don\u2019t like a consistent winner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As always, if you have thoughts on any of the above subjects, feel free to email me at sports@thevwindependent.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SCOTT TRUXELL\/independent editor The latest edition of Random Thoughts centers around early spring weather and spring sports, this week\u2019s baseball poll, Ohio\u2019s Major League Baseball teams, Guardians\/Indians, the Tin Caps, and Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski. Rain rain go away\u2026 Mother Nature really needs to stop with the rain, the cold, the wind, the snow, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-152855","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-03 17:27:04","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152855","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=152855"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152855\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=152855"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=152855"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=152855"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}