Playing Pepper 2018: When You Come to the Anniversary in the Road, Take It

This is the tenth year in a row that Daniel Shoptaw has coerced dozens of baseball bloggers to answer a series of preseason questions about the teams they follow.

He calls it “Playing Pepper”. I call it a fascinating idea that has grown some serious legs over the years and is celebrating a significant milestone.

The idea behind this series is, what insights can the scribes on the street bring to the discussion about their teams and the upcoming MLB season.

Daniel Shoptaw was born and raised in the home dugout of whatever ballpark was in St. Louis at the time. Or at least that’s my version of the story. Today he leads a ragtag group of St. Louis Cardinal bloggers called “The Cardinal Conclave”.

I believe they have a secret handshake and convene strange annual rituals somewhere in the woods.

Shoptaw boldly describes the Conclave has “a place for thoughtful and intelligent discussion of the St. Louis Cardinals.” Turns out he’s right about that– please check it out.

Here is the San Francisco Giants edition of Playing Pepper 2018.

Joining me this year in the Pepper-pot are Craig Vaughn of THE San Francisco Giants Blog and Doug Bruzzone of the McCovey Chronicles. Take the time to peruse those two excellent SF Giants blogs, and Craig and Doug’s writing.

Gotta go. It’s time for me to open up that bottle of Walmart’s March 2018 Vin de Merde to celebrate the glorious 10th anniversary of Playing Pepper!