2018 MLB Postseason: The Hunt for <insert team color here> October

[The_Admiral]

43 minutes ago, Kramerica Industries said:

I mean, launch angles and the whole "flyball revolution" thing. You know, flyballs, the only way to hit home runs. Home runs, of course, are a good thing. I'm glad it took baseball players 115 years to figure that one out. And I guess I actually mean that in a non-sarcastic way too, because there have still been people in the sport who talk about home runs as being "rally killers" and generally trying to find ways to make it sound like being a home run hitter is Actually Bad.

Home runs are great, but trying to turn everyone into a 3TO hitter makes the game dull at best and painful at worst. I just watched the Cubs swing for the fences over and over on a 55-degree night. Even the designated pinch-runner took a home-run hack on a two-strike count. What exactly did they think was going to happen? There are times and places for station-to-station ball, and Wrigley Field on a cool night is among them.

[MilSox]

2 hours ago, dfwabel said:

Has the "Milwaukee cleavage woman" been doxxed yet?

This woman?


That's "Front Row Amy." She's a bit of a local celebrity and info about her is pretty out in the open.

http://archive.jsonline.com/news/milwaukee/front-row-amy-is-center-of-attention-at-brewers-games-u865fge-162805176.html

[IceCap]

6 hours ago, Kramerica Industries said:

Home runs, of course, are a good thing.

As someone who adores the Dead Ball Era I wanna make an argument to the contrary but I can’t think of one I can trick myself into believing long enough to make a full post. 

 

Anyway I know I’m a bit late, but can we contract the Athletics? You don’t get to exist anymore if all you’re good for is losing to the Yankees in the fall. 

[Kramerica Industries]

6 hours ago, the admiral said:

Home runs are great, but trying to turn everyone into a 3TO hitter makes the game dull at best and painful at worst. I just watched the Cubs swing for the fences over and over on a 55-degree night. Even the designated pinch-runner took a home-run hack on a two-strike count. What exactly did they think was going to happen? There are times and places for station-to-station ball, and Wrigley Field on a cool night is among them.

 

There are, of course, multiple ways to play the game, and there is the whole idea of "playing to your strengths" and if being a home run hitter isn't one of them then you shouldn't do it. Obviously I wouldn't disagree with that. I was taking the piss on baseball players and analysts alike taking a very simple method and making it sound like some incredible scientific discovery.

 

Truthfully, and I'll actually kinda tack-on to what Ice Cap said above me, but I would've loved to see the game as it was played when stolen bases, hit-and-runs, and just generally base running supremacy was a more prominent aspect of the game. They say everything is cyclical and what was once popular and has died down will come back into fashion eventually, but I can't be sure to what degree these ever will anymore, especially the first thing I said there. We're seeing more home runs hit than ever before from more players than ever before, and I can tell you just from personal experience that I know I get annoyed when someone gets thrown out at second base trying to steal when Stanton is at the plate because, well, actually because of two things now that I think about it; 1) anyone on base is obstensibly "in scoring position" when Stanton is at the plate and 2) it opens up first base. Which is something I've always thought was kinda silly; you were perfectly willing to pitch to this guy beforehand, but now that someone has gotten further along on the bases, you'll put an extra person instead. I mean, beforehand second base was conceivably the "open" base. 

 

I'll say this much - the Astros last season were a home run hitting team much like anyone else, but from their 2015 playoff team to their 2017 World Series team, something they had also managed was cutting their team strikeout rate down considerably. Home runs are on the rise but so are strikeouts, and I can understand the drag it can put on the sport when you're seeing relatively so few balls in play. The Astros being able to buck the trend was one of the reasons they were such a good offensive team last year. I don't know what their team strikeout rate was this year and how it stacked up compared to the rest of league, maybe I should check. (ESPN didn't have strikeout percentage but Houston was #29 overall in team strikeouts this year. #30? Cleveland. Hmm.) 

 

In any case, would there be parts of this game that I kinda wish weren't so numbers-driven? Probably, yeah. But once something becomes "by the numbers" there's really no going back on it. Everyone, in baseball or just life in general, wants to be as efficient as they reasonably can be. Quantifying information in baseball helps produce more efficient ideas and outcomes. The key word is "reasonably", because not everything that sounds good as a theory works out well in practice, at least, not when done in massive samples. I've learned that just from my own ideas and things I try. It's no secret anymore that MLB juices their baseballs, so being such a homerun-driven league really isn't going to change anytime soon. If MLB were to take a more radical step of deadening their baseballs, maybe some of the more now-archaic aspects of the game have a chance to see a bit of a revival. I'm not sure I would count either of those happening anytime soon, though.

[FiddySicks]

12 hours ago, the admiral said:

Home runs are great, but trying to turn everyone into a 3TO hitter makes the game dull at best and painful at worst. I just watched the Cubs swing for the fences over and over on a 55-degree night. Even the designated pinch-runner took a home-run hack on a two-strike count. What exactly did they think was going to happen? There are times and places for station-to-station ball, and Wrigley Field on a cool night is among them.

 

I feel like basketball is going trough a bit of this same transition with the three point shot. It’s like oh, look at that! The three is actually worth MORE than any other shot! Duh! And it works for the Warriors, no doubt. But the game gets bogged down a bit when you’ve got guys like Hassan Whiteside chucking up threes for the sake of “strategy”. And you even see teams who are traditionally considered “good” three point shooters struggle with this, too. That’s how you end up with the Rockets going like 0-97 in a winner take all game.

 

It’s like hey strategy is good and important here, but could you maybe try to use some common sense and context for this current situation? 

[MilSox]

9 hours ago, Ice_Cap said:

As someone who adores the Dead Ball Era I wanna make an argument to the contrary but I can’t think of one I can trick myself into believing long enough to make a full post. 

 

Anyway I know I’m a bit late, but can we contract the Athletics? You don’t get to exist anymore if all you’re good for is losing to the Yankees in the fall. 

Not until we contract the Florida teams.

[DG_ThenNowForever]

3 hours ago, Bucfan56 said:

 

I feel like basketball is going trough a bit of this same transition with the three point shot. It’s like oh, look at that! The three is actually worth MORE than any other shot! Duh! And it works for the Warriors, no doubt. But the game gets bogged down a bit when you’ve got guys like Hassan Whiteside chucking up threes for the sake of “strategy”. And you even see teams who are traditionally considered “good” three point shooters struggle with this, too. That’s how you end up with the Rockets going like 0-97 in a winner take all game. 

  

It’s like hey strategy is good and important here, but could you maybe try to use some common sense and context for this current situation?  

 

The NBA changed the clear-path rules this year in an effort to encourage more slashing and scoring. They're doing this by calling the hell out of ticky-tack fouls and it's driving players crazy. Preseason basketball has been a slog as a result. However, if it makes NBA less a game of chucking threes and easy layups (which is a dumbed-down version of what the Warriors do, but absolutely what the Rockets do), and encourages a greater variety of skills, then maybe it's a good thing. Bad for defenders though.

 

I don't know how baseball can penalize defense to encourage more varied offensive play the way the NBA and NFL do. Moving the outfields back is probably the easiest solution to discourage home run hitting, but that isn't happening. So then what?

[The_Admiral]

NBA officiating initiatives always regress to the mean after preseason, like when every year David Stern tried to make it a technical foul for glaring. 

[LMU]

13 minutes ago, DG_Now said:

 

The NBA changed the clear-path rules this year in an effort to encourage more slashing and scoring. They're doing this by calling the hell out of ticky-tack fouls and it's driving players crazy. Preseason basketball has been a slog as a result. However, if it makes NBA less a game of chucking threes and easy layups (which is a dumbed-down version of what the Warriors do, but absolutely what the Rockets do), and encourages a greater variety of skills, then maybe it's a good thing. Bad for defenders though.

 

I don't know how baseball can penalize defense to encourage more varied offensive play the way the NBA and NFL do. Moving the outfields back is probably the easiest solution to discourage home run hitting, but that isn't happening. So then what?

Ban the shift.

[DG_ThenNowForever]

8 minutes ago, the admiral said:

NBA officiating initiatives always regress to the mean after preseason, like when every year David Stern tried to make it a technical foul for glaring. 

 

If not the regular season then at least the playoffs. Which brings us full circle. Sorry

[MilSox]

After leaving entire villages on the bases, it's about damn time the Brewers broke one open.

 

Hopefully they can wrap the series up Sunday.

[Kaz]

6 hours ago, DG_Now said:

The NBA changed the clear-path rules this year in an effort to encourage more slashing and scoring. They're doing this by calling the hell out of ticky-tack fouls and it's driving players crazy. Preseason basketball has been a slog as a result. However, if it makes NBA less a game of chucking threes and easy layups (which is a dumbed-down version of what the Warriors do, but absolutely what the Rockets do), and encourages a greater variety of skills, then maybe it's a good thing. Bad for defenders though.

I don't think anyone wants to watch a freethrow shooting contest, which is what such a rule change actually results in if implemented throughout the season.

[Brass]

Oh my god the Red Sox bullpen is such horse :censored:.

[RockyTopper]

43 minutes ago, Brass said:

Oh my god the Red Sox bullpen is such horse :censored:.

Points in tonight's game make me feel a little better about Atlanta's, at least with the Braves you can just tell they're a green squad who exceeded expectations this year but have a lot to learn and places to grow and they don't have all eyes on them and a 108-win season to their back and a 100-win rival coming after them.

[Kramerica Industries]

2 hours ago, Brass said:

Oh my god the Red Sox bullpen is such horse :censored:.

 

Thankfully, for your sake, Giancarlo Stanton is now a Yankee and primed to make ARod's worst postseasons look like amateur work once he's done swinging at breaking balls and missing them by three feet. 

 

I'm actually a bit sick at how the game ended, because I made a prediction once Kimbrel entered the game that, if McCutchen reached base, Judge was going to hit a home run. McCutchen didn't reach, and then Judge homered anyway. Obviously, that home run was pretty much useless by that point. Go figure.

[Unocal]

Is the Dodger rotation this good or do they just benefit from playing in a pitcher friendly stadium?

[Gary]

On 10/5/2018 at 3:08 AM, Ice_Cap said:

As someone who adores the Dead Ball Era I wanna make an argument to the contrary but I can’t think of one I can trick myself into believing long enough to make a full post. 

 

Anyway I know I’m a bit late, but can we contract the Athletics? You don’t get to exist anymore if all you’re good for is losing to the Yankees in the fall. 

I’ll root for the Red Sox to do the job. Another Yankees World Series is going to make me throw something 

[Crabcake]

Has there ever been another pitcher in history that has been so good in the regular season and so atrocious in the postseason as David Price?

[kroywen]

9 hours ago, Gary. said:

I’ll root for the Red Sox to do the job. Another Yankees World Series is going to make me throw something 

 

In fairness, the Red Sox have been in the World Series far more recently than the Yankees, and have won three World Series to the Yankees' one so far this century. The "Yankees win all the time" trope hasn't really been accurate since the mid-2000s, which (hate to say) is a long, long time ago now.

[Brass]

2 hours ago, Crabcake47 said:

Has there ever been another pitcher in history that has been so good in the regular season and so atrocious in the postseason as David Price?

 

Their entire rotation. Last night was the first playoff win by anybody in the Red Sox rotation. Their combined playoff record is now something like 1-16 with. 6.00+ ERA.