This is October: 2014 MLB Postseason Thread

[TheGiantsFan]

Honestly, it was very hard for me to root for only one team in this Wild Card Game. The A's are my secondary team and I do have quite numerous friends that are A's fans. As for the Royals, they haven't been in the playoffs in almost 3 decades, so that's that. Tough choice.

But congrats to the Royals for advancing to the ALDS!

(Now it's our turn tomorrow.)

[CS85]

Indeed. The long suffering Giants fans.

[Lights Out]

The A's are now 0-7 in winner-take-all games in the Beane era. For all the hype, the movies and books about him, etc., Beane seems to be the Don Nelson of baseball: a smart guy with lots of subversive and innovative ideas, but whose system just doesn't win when it counts.

Glad the Royals got it done! Team of destiny?

[The Six]

Indeed. The long suffering Giants fans.

Hey, there are toddlers out there who have never seen the Giants win a World Series.

[Angels]

Why is Beane not gone yet ? The Cespedes trade should have sealed his doom. And then they don´t use Dunn, how crappy can this whole thing get ?

[Still MIGHTY]

I think postseries champagne showers in baseball are silly when it's not the World Series. It's even sillier after these Wild Card games. You won one game (essentially a play-in game at that). Still plenty more to go.

[Angels]

"I guess the computer got me," Adam Dunn said, referring to the A's "Moneyball" tactics.

Oh man, real :censored:ty move by the A´s .

this comment is spot on : "Adam Dunn is one of the good guys. Here the A's make all these moves, and the one guy that deserved it most to at least get an AB rides pine. ....tired of the constant tweaking and "brains" behind the Oakland operation, 0-6 in winner take all games in Beane era."

.

[dbadefense1990]

Now watch tomorrow's Pirates/Giants game be a 13-1 Giants stomping with the closing shot of them celebrating in front of a barren PNC Park.

Indeed. The long suffering Giants fans.

Hey, there are toddlers out there who have never seen the Giants win a World Series.

The Giants are a half-house version of the Cardinals. They field dream-wrecking teams, are generally unlikeable nationwide for having a team full of homogenous, dull, "cream of mushroom" players, and are detested because of an arrogant, entitled, pretentious and spoiled fanbase, just like St. Louis. The only difference is the audacity for Cardinals fans to blatantly shove "The Right Cardinal Way" onto fans of all other teams, as if it's some Holy Trinity of Jesus Christ mission for the St. Louis Cardinals to win baseball games.

So you see, It was appropriate of me to group these two hated teams alongside Satan's ball clubs.

[DarkJourney]

Now watch tomorrow's Pirates/Giants game be a 13-1 Giants stomping with the closing shot of them celebrating in front of a barren PNC Park.

Indeed. The long suffering Giants fans.

Hey, there are toddlers out there who have never seen the Giants win a World Series.

The Giants are a half-house version of the Cardinals. They field dream-wrecking teams, are generally unlikeable nationwide for having a team full of homogenous, dull, "cream of mushroom" players, and are detested because of an arrogant, entitled, pretentious and spoiled fanbase, just like St. Louis. The only difference is the audacity for Cardinals fans to blatantly shove "The Right Cardinal Way" onto fans of all other teams, as if it's some Holy Trinity of Jesus Christ mission for the St. Louis Cardinals to win baseball games.

So you see, It was appropriate of me to group these two hated teams alongside Satan's ball clubs.

Do you think before you type. You are a complete idiot. I would rather be shot than root for Puig and the gang of "individuals" you call a ball club.

[FiddySicks]

Now watch tomorrow's Pirates/Giants game be a 13-1 Giants stomping with the closing shot of them celebrating in front of a barren PNC Park.

Indeed. The long suffering Giants fans.

Hey, there are toddlers out there who have never seen the Giants win a World Series.

The Giants are a half-house version of the Cardinals. They field dream-wrecking teams, are generally unlikeable nationwide for having a team full of homogenous, dull, "cream of mushroom" players, and are detested because of an arrogant, entitled, pretentious and spoiled fanbase, just like St. Louis. The only difference is the audacity for Cardinals fans to blatantly shove "The Right Cardinal Way" onto fans of all other teams, as if it's some Holy Trinity of Jesus Christ mission for the St. Louis Cardinals to win baseball games.

So you see, It was appropriate of me to group these two hated teams alongside Satan's ball clubs.

Only YOU feel that way. And more importantly, it's yet another INSANE comment from you because you spew this talk about other fans being entitled and pretentious, YET YOU ROOT FOR TEAMS FROM LOS ANGELES!!!!!!!!

Seriously, just stop already. You're embarrassing yourself.

[dbadefense1990]

I would rather be shot than root for Puig and the gang of "individuals" you call a ball club.

Cute. You probably find these as a sin against baseball:

Way to suck the fun out of the sport, Debbie Downer. Based on your logic, the Royals tonight were a sin against baseball because they showed too much emotion suitable for an "appropriate," Puritan-style baseball game.

But it's OK. Both the Giants and Dodgers are playing in October. We'll see which way wins out at the end.

[Phils Phan]

Who cares about last night's game Derek Jeter wasn't even in it

[OnWis97]

The A's are now 0-7 in winner-take-all games in the Beane era. For all the hype, the movies and books about him, etc., Beane seems to be the Don Nelson of baseball: a smart guy with lots of subversive and innovative ideas, but whose system just doesn't win when it counts.

Glad the Royals got it done! Team of destiny?

Probably not. I don't see them getting by Anaheim. But last night was fun and I am glad for the fanbase. I am old enough to remember the tail end of the good era for the Royals. But that seems like such a long time ago! It's good to see the longest playoff drought in sports snapped in that fashion. Good for them.

Yost would be getting roasted had they lost after pulling the starter for a rookie that promptly got shelled.

[leopard88]

The A's are now 0-7 in winner-take-all games in the Beane era. For all the hype, the movies and books about him, etc., Beane seems to be the Don Nelson of baseball: a smart guy with lots of subversive and innovative ideas, but whose system just doesn't win when it counts.

Glad the Royals got it done! Team of destiny?

Probably not. I don't see them getting by Anaheim. But last night was fun and I am glad for the fanbase. I am old enough to remember the tail end of the good era for the Royals. But that seems like such a long time ago! It's good to see the longest playoff drought in sports snapped in that fashion. Good for them.

Yost would be getting roasted had they lost after pulling the starter for a rookie that promptly got shelled.

From a few things I read this morning, he has been getting roasted anyway.

Case in point: http://espn.go.com/blog/sweetspot/post/_/id/52046/ned-yost-shows-why-hes-a-terrible-manager

Title of the linked article:

Ned Yost shows why he's a terrible manager

[infrared41]

First of all, free of my snark - congrats on making the playoffs, Royals.

Second - I was rooting for the A's tonight. By the time the game ended, I had basically forgotten all of that. It was kind of liberating, to be free from the shackles of fandom and just enjoy a high-stakes baseball game for what it was, a high-stakes baseball game.

Third - great way to summarize your entire season in 12 innings, Oakland. That was perfect.

Really it was a perfect microcosm of their year. Creepy.

It's obviously still fresh, but I'm already reading a lot in social media about this being one of the best games ever played. I'm a hot and cold baseball fan, so I don't feel inclined to answer, but what do some of you junkies think?

It's probably up there. The Royals winning this game adds a lot to it's...lore, I guess? If that exact game had been played by the Yankees and Red Sox, hell, even if the A's had won, I don't think we're feeling the same way about it.

[infrared41]

Now watch tomorrow's Pirates/Giants game be a 13-1 Giants stomping with the closing shot of them celebrating in front of a barren PNC Park.

That's pretty much how baseball works.

[leopard88]

First of all, free of my snark - congrats on making the playoffs, Royals.

Second - I was rooting for the A's tonight. By the time the game ended, I had basically forgotten all of that. It was kind of liberating, to be free from the shackles of fandom and just enjoy a high-stakes baseball game for what it was, a high-stakes baseball game.

Third - great way to summarize your entire season in 12 innings, Oakland. That was perfect.

Really it was a perfect microcosm of their year. Creepy.

It's obviously still fresh, but I'm already reading a lot in social media about this being one of the best games ever played. I'm a hot and cold baseball fan, so I don't feel inclined to answer, but what do some of you junkies think?

It's probably up there. The Royals winning this game adds a lot to it's...lore, I guess? If that exact game had been played by the Yankees and Red Sox,hell, even if the A's had won, I don't think we're feeling the same way about it.

If that exact game was played by the Yankees and Red Sox, ESPN would still be talking about it in February . . . regardless of which team won.

[crashcarson15]

That was... not the news I was expecting to wake up to after going to bed at 10:30. Goodness.

[Kramerica Industries]

If there was ever a manager who followed more bad processes in hopes of getting good results, well, that manager isn't currently honing his craft at the Major League level. I mean, we all do know why this guy is the only manager to ever get Lou Lamoriello'd in baseball, right? Since I have more time, I'll elaborate on just two games recently where Yost was acting in absurd stupidity.

9/14 vs. Boston: The Royals jumped out to a 4-0 lead. It was whittled down to 4-3 in the 6th inning where Boston had the bases loaded and one out. Aaron Crow proceeded to get a 3-2 strikeout against RHB Allen Craig. Fair enough. The criticism could start with using Crow in that spot anyway, but I'm being nice here (bad process/good result!). The next guy up was Daniel Nava. Here are a couple splits:

Nava vs. RHP: .293/.372/.397/.769

Nava vs. LHP: .159/.209/.190/.399

Crow vs. RHB: .215/.296/.397/.693

Crow vs. LHB: .271/.336/.469/.805

Yost had two choices here. He could've gone with his LHP Brandon Finnegan and switched Nava over to his weaker side. If he didn't feel like giving away a potential matchup for later on (disregarding that Herrera, Davis, and Holland are just fine vs. LHB), he could've gone to Herrera, who throws triple digits and holds LHB's to a low .600s OPS against.

He stuck with Crow.

Daniel Nava hit a grand slam.

Boston won 8-4. At the time, this could've been a hugely damaging loss for Kansas City. Fortunately for them, it wasn't.

9/20 vs. Detroit: Literally six days later, at home against the Tigers with the AL Central at stake, Nori Aoki (nominal #2 hitter) was on a torrid hot spurt that week. He had gone 13-16 over the prior four games.

In the first inning - Alcides Escobar led off with a base hit. Yost had Aoki sacrifice Escobar to second (in the first inning! SAC BUNTS!). The K-prone Josh Willingham struck out, and ultimately the Royals didn't score any runs.

Third inning - Jarrod Dyson AND Alcides Escobar lead off the inning with a pair of hits. Yost, once again, puts on the sacrifice for Aoki. Willingham popped out in foul territory. Alex Gordon struck out. Again, zero runs.

(Bonus one here)

Ninth inning - tying run at 3rd, winning run at 2nd with two outs. Yost has a choice of two pinch hitters:

Raul Ibanez - .167/.264/.285/.549

Billy Butler - .271/.323/.379/.702 -- this was a cruddy year for Butler

He elected to PH Willingham (.215/.346/.397/.743) with Ibanez. Raul's splits don't save him here; he had a .627 OPS vs. RHB this season, which still sucks. Butler was higher (.653). Willingham is better (.702). Both those guys have the added benefit of not being half-dead.

Ibanez grounded out. Royals lost 3-2.

I could go on, but I'm not getting paid to eviscerate Ned Yost, so this will have to suffice on my end.

[infrared41]

First of all, free of my snark - congrats on making the playoffs, Royals.

Second - I was rooting for the A's tonight. By the time the game ended, I had basically forgotten all of that. It was kind of liberating, to be free from the shackles of fandom and just enjoy a high-stakes baseball game for what it was, a high-stakes baseball game.

Third - great way to summarize your entire season in 12 innings, Oakland. That was perfect.

Really it was a perfect microcosm of their year. Creepy.

It's obviously still fresh, but I'm already reading a lot in social media about this being one of the best games ever played. I'm a hot and cold baseball fan, so I don't feel inclined to answer, but what do some of you junkies think?

It's probably up there. The Royals winning this game adds a lot to it's...lore, I guess? If that exact game had been played by the Yankees and Red Sox,hell, even if the A's had won, I don't think we're feeling the same way about it.

If that exact game was played by the Yankees and Red Sox, ESPN would still be talking about it in February . . . regardless of which team won.

True, but I was talking about us and this place.