2016 MLB Season

[FGM13]

11 hours ago, Seadragon76 said:

I hope the Blue Jays choke in the playoffs...

 

Carry on.

You'll be lucky if we make it that far. This team is a bit of a hot mess at the moment 

[Dynasty]

BOS and CHC would be a dream match-up for the likes of ESPN.

[2001mark]

Cubs v Indians would be the best story.

 

Not least, one of them would have lost a WS to the other.

[Crabcake]

14 hours ago, Crabcake47 said:

I don't like Boston

 

[Sport]

Commence postseason kvetching: The Cardinals or Giants or both will be in the wildcard game. 0% chance one of them doesn't win. I'm fully prepared for a Cubs/Cardinals NLDS that the Cardinals win because everything about 2016 sucks. 

 

 

The Mariners are frustrating. Biggest series in 15 years and they lay an egg. At least they weren't swept. 

[2001mark]

Not gonna lie, a Jays-Tigers one game playoff would be pretty f'n sick.

 

Let's just say we have a history.

[Lights Out]

It's looking like another nauseating Red Sox/Patriots championship year. Even the Cardinals pulling another World Series out of their ass is more palatable than that.

 

At least the Warriors choked. Can't have everything, I guess.

[Seadragon76]

On 9/22/2016 at 6:09 AM, McCarthy said:

Commence postseason kvetching: The Cardinals or Giants or both will be in the wildcard game. 0% chance one of them doesn't win. I'm fully prepared for a Cubs/Cardinals NLDS that the Cardinals win because everything about 2016 sucks. 

 

 

The Mariners are frustrating. Biggest series in 15 years and they lay an egg. At least they weren't swept. 

 

You're telling me, McCarthy. Getting one win is nice and all, but in the grand scheme of things losing 2 out of 3 hurts a lot... now you throw in the added distraction of the backup catcher being a freaking dumb ass.

 

The good news is that Seattle has the easiest remaining schedule of the wild card contenders (Toronto has the toughest left, for what it's worth). If they can breeze past the crappy teams in front of them and watch as Toronto and Baltimore beat each other up, there is still a chance.

[dfwabel]

I admit it.

 

During Vin's speech, I got a little misty eyed as part of my youth (and I was born in the 70's) is going away.

[HedleyLamarr]

18 hours ago, dfwabel said:

I admit it.

 

During Vin's speech, I got a little misty eyed as part of my youth (and I was born in the 70's) is going away.

A lot of folks born from in the late-50's to today are saying this.

 

Scully's with the Dodgers so long that he was a part of the franchise BEFORE Los Angeles!  There's been generations of baseball fans that have never even seen a player that played for the Brooklyn Dodgers actually play the game.  So hard to imagine just how long he's been there.  When Scully first started Dodgers games, Jackie Robinson had just broken the color barrier three seasons before.

[Shumway]

There's a report going around that Jose Fernandez has died in a boating accident.

[HedleyLamarr]

25 minutes ago, Shumway said:

There's a report going around that Jose Fernandez has died in a boating accident.

Yep, multiple reports are coming out with this news.  The Braves' beat people are starting to confirm the news, as they're in Miami this weekend.  Today's game has been canceled.

 

Awful.  I just saw him pitch in Atlanta just 11 days ago.  He played the game on the edge, which I liked, even if it resulted in some dust-ups with the Braves.

 

Life is short.

[CS85]

Nobody should die at 24.

[FGM13]

This is awful. No one should die this early, and Jose Fernandez was one of the greatest pitchers in baseball. 

 

[GriffinM6]

This is so sad. Jose will go down as one of the best that never was. It was like a holiday every time he pitched. RIP.

[Crabcake]

Absolutely horrific. Terrible situation all around. As previously stated, 24 is far too young for anyone to go, much less arguably the game's best young pitcher. 

 

We live in a harsh world, folks. 

[FiddySicks]

Absolutely gut wrenching news. Has there ever been a death mid season of a bigger star than Fernandez? I can't think of one. I wanna say Thurmon Munson, but Fernandez was even better I think (that was before my time, so maybe my perception of Munson is wrong). Either way, this was absolutely terrible news to wake up to. 

[Wings]

Very tragic to die so young. Much like Oscar Tavares a few years ago. 

[The_Admiral]

1 hour ago, Bucfan56 said:

Absolutely gut wrenching news. Has there ever been a death mid season of a bigger star than Fernandez? I can't think of one. I wanna say Thurmon Munson, but Fernandez was even better I think (that was before my time, so maybe my perception of Munson is wrong).

Thurman Munson was the captain of the New York Yankees at a time before fantasy sports and the internet made mid-market superstars popular anywhere. Before my time, too, but I have to think that was bigger.

[pmoehrin]

Shades of Steve Olin and Tim Crews, but Jose Fernandez was younger than both and a better pitcher than Olin and Crews put together.

 

I know I'm stating the obvious, but the death of Jose Fernandez will go down as one of the saddest days and chapters in baseball history.

 

The Marlins have never been a great franchise but their farm system has produced some big time starters over the last two decades. Josh Johnson, Dontrelle Willis, Josh Beckett, A.J. Burnett, Anibal Sanchez. These are not nobodies. These are all former all-stars and Cy Young contenders and Jose Fernandez had the potential to be better than all of them.

 

It doesn't take a genius to see potential in a guy who can throw 98. It was just a matter of gaining experience and staying healthy and this was the first year where Fernandez went from showing flashes of greatness to being someone you could count on to show that greatness every fifth day for 162 games.

 

I would have expected 2017 to be the first year where there wouldn't be a discussion about Fernandez's potential, because now he's now a polished product ready to do dominate the league and contend for a Cy Young.

 

Instead of that we're left with a gigantic what if. He had already proven himself as one of the better starters in all of baseball, but the best was yet to come and that's a big part of what makes this so sad. Hearing that he was also looking to settle down and start a family makes it even worse. His daughter will never know him.

 

His personality was certainly a breath of fresh air especially in a league that like the NHL I think has struggled to find marketable personalities that appeal to casual or non-fans of the sport. Every time Fernandez took the mound, the interest meter moved and one would think once he got more established the meter would move even more. If nothing else I think the future Goose Gossage's or Jake Peavy's of the world could stand to learn a thing or two from someone like Fernandez and not take the game or themselves so seriously.

 

There's been deaths in baseball before, but I'm not sure there's been anything quite like this. At least with someone like Thurman Munson, you saw the finished product. Oscarr Tavares was only around for a cup of coffee. With Jose Fernandez we only have the opening act of what could have been a 10, 15, possibly even a 20+ year career. We saw enough to know that something special was there, but not enough to say how special.

 

All of this is nothing short of devastating. The Marlins are losing maybe the most talented pitcher the team has ever had, while his family is losing a 24 year old son and future father.