2017 MLB Season

[Shumway]

 

On 9/24/2017 at 5:06 PM, Still MIGHTY said:

 

He turns 27 next season and has three-years left on his current deal.

 

The Angels under Arte Moreno have shown no real propensity to shore up the starting rotation or the bullpen or left field or catcher or second base. They don't inspire too much confidence. Yeah they hung around in the second wild card hunt for a while, but that was usually below or at .500 with people like me just waiting for the inevitable bottom falling out.

 

I'd love to be wrong. I'd love for the Angels to explode and run away with the West one of these next three years, but as I said, the team especially with Arte Moreno at the top being as meddlesome as he is doesn't inspire much confidence that they will. And if they don't, I also don't have too much confidence that Trout won't be a Yankee or something in 2021.

 

This year really seemed to be somewhat of a wash from the get go with essentially the entire rotation out for the season before it even began. The fact that this team has hung around in the hunt this long is honestly pretty impressive. They're not terribly far off from really contending, and a few big pieces could go a long way. Unfortunately, there's a really, really big financial and physical obstacle in old #5, but I still have some hope they can contend within the next few years before Trout's contract is up.

 

A lot of people think he'll end up in Philadelphia, which would be great for an Angels fan living near the city like me, but I really have mixed feelings about him winning a series here. I want him to win one, but I'd prefer it to be with the Angels.

[CS85]

The good ol' Cardinals faithful are chiming in on the kneeling during the anthem issue, and with vigor.

 

[Tracy Jordan]

30 minutes ago, CS85 said:

The good ol' Cardinals faithful are chiming in on the kneeling during the anthem issue, and with vigor.

 

 

Five bucks says this person thinks Mexico is in South America.

[JayMac]

40 minutes ago, Tracy Jordan said:

 

Five bucks says this person thinks Mexico is in South America.

Where is 'bush'?

[habsfan1]

So the Yankees have begun this "Thumbs Down" fad with the hashtag & selfies of the players/fans pointing their right thumb down.

 

Does anyone know the backstory of how it started and what they do it for?

[Brass]

2 hours ago, CS85 said:

The good ol' Cardinals faithful are chiming in on the kneeling during the anthem issue, and with vigor.

 

 

Best fans in the baesball.

[cmm]

When they played “road games” at Citi Field against the Rays, a Mets fan gave a thumbs down after a Yankees home run and it was caught on camera. The Yankees stole it because they like stealing from the Mets.

[chrysleraspen08]

1 hour ago, habsfan1 said:

So the Yankees have begun this "Thumbs Down" fad with the hashtag & selfies of the players/fans pointing their right thumb down.

 

Does anyone know the backstory of how it started and what they do it for?

 

It started because of this guy:

[The_Admiral]

I see that St. Louis, that race riot with a sewer system and answer to the question "what if Milwaukee sucked?', is lookin' good on and off the field.

[HedleyLamarr]

3 hours ago, jmac11281 said:

Where is 'bush'?

Anatomy class should have taught you this years ago....

[OnWis97]

The Twins have 82 wins.  They could lose out and would probably still make the playoffs, tying the mark for fewest wins to make the postseason in the 162-game era.  Then beat, by one game fewest wins to win the World Series...a record the 1987 Twins held until the 2006 Cardinals beat 'em out.  Of course, there's zero chance of the Twins winning the play-in game in New York...but it's amusing to think about.

 

http://m.mlb.com/news/article/81585680/playoff-teams-havent-always-been-dominant/

[Kramerica Industries]

I used to write long posts about how much I loathe MLB's postseason and the wild card game and all that stuff about three years ago. Wonderful to see that coming up roses in about one week's time when the AL wild card game is going to shatter its previous record for biggest disparity between team's wins and losses record.

 

(I see you too, Dbacks fans.) 

[JayMac]

8 hours ago, HedleyLamarr said:

Anatomy class should have taught you this years ago....

I set you up nicely for that one

[OnWis97]

7 hours ago, Kramerica Industries said:

I used to write long posts about how much I loathe MLB's postseason and the wild card game and all that stuff about three years ago. Wonderful to see that coming up roses in about one week's time when the AL wild card game is going to shatter its previous record for biggest disparity between team's wins and losses record.

 

(I see you too, Dbacks fans.) 

I was against it at first.  And I still am.  I say that as a fan of the team that is likely to secure that lower spot.  That said it's awesome to see the the Twins, losers of 103 games last year, get into the postseason.

 

Salary disparity is not as meaningful as it was 20 years ago but it still matters.  And I have viewed expanded playoffs as a bit of an equalizer.  That said, a one-game round is not the way.

 

Of course, I'll be cheering for the Twins and if they win it all (LOL) I'll feel just fine about it.  And maybe if the Yankees lose to an inferior Twins team, that will spark MLB to go back to the previous format.  That's a non-issue, though, as the Twins never win in New York.

[Sport]

The Twins don't have the troll DNA that the Cardinals and Giants do. They're a good story because they were supposed to be the worst team in baseball this year and they've made the playoffs, but they're LDS meat at best. 

 

Now, if the Cardinals get in the playoffs my preemptive condolences to Indians fans for your inexplicable World Series loss to that garbage baseball team. 

 

And this season right here is a good argument for not expanding the playoffs any further. If baseball used an 8 & 8 format like the NBA and NHL you'd have 3 sub 500 teams in the AL and the 74-82 Marlins in the NL. Yuck and no thank you. Those teams would all likely lose in the first round, but it's baseball so there would be at least one upset where a truly good team would get tripped up because Chris Archer gets hot and steals two games or whatever. Teams would start building themselves with the goal of winning 83 games just to crack the postseason, the regular season would matter even less than it already does. It would suck. 

[AnPheitseog]

I started as a fan of the system. 

 

It provides more meaning to winning the division, to not get into the crapshoot of the wild card game. 

 

I can't wait for expansion to 32, and then having four four team divisions where only the division winner makes it. 

[leopard88]

15 hours ago, chrysleraspen08 said:

 

It started because of this guy:

 

Tank's looking good these days.

[OnWis97]

Here's what I like about the old system: Division winners get in.  And if the second best team in the league happens to finish second, they get in, too.  That makes it pretty hard for any team to have a legitimate complaint. If you miss the playoffs, someone in your division had a better record than you and at least one non-division-champ did as well.

 

The current system was obviously designed to incentivize winning the division.  There's something to be said for that.  But if the current standings in the NL hold up, Arizona will finish with a better record than the Cubs and have to win a one-game playoff.  Under the old system, they'd get to the next round and a best of five.

 

If we had four divsions per league, the second-place problem rears its head.  The chances are the four best teams will not be the four division winners.  We've seen some pretty weak division champs since expanding to three divisions.  Four four-team divisions will probably provide the occasional sub-.500 playoff team.  

 

Of course, year by year the current system could work.  Suppose the Twins were one game behind the Yankees.  They play different schedules (The Yanks is probably tougher, but for the sake of discussion...) and one could argue they're about equally deserving.  I don't think too many people would consider it unjust if the Twins won the one-gamer (particularly when New York's record is inferior to the three division champs).  That game would make sense.  But with the Twins likely about five games behind the Yankees, it's tougher to make the case that the records are not sufficient enough to separate the teams. 

 

Another hypothetical...suppose the Yankees were closer in the standings to Boston.  They'd have incentive to win the division...maybe they'd be stuck with their 4th starter while the Twins get to set their rotation, giving an advantage to the lesser team (in theory; the Twins can't have an advantage over the Yankees).  That's a huge problem with a one-game format; the full rotation is ignored.

 

Therefore, I'd rather see nobody subjected to a one-game elimination, minimal opportunity for a second-place 100-win team to be left out, no increase in the likelyhood for mediocre teams to get in, and (most importantly) MLB playoff births to remain more special than in the other sports.  I think the previous format gets that done pretty well.

[Gary]

1 hour ago, leopard88 said:

 

Tank's looking good these days.

 

I thought that too.

[Kramerica Industries]

1 hour ago, OnWis97 said:

Another hypothetical...suppose the Yankees were closer in the standings to Boston.  They'd have incentive to win the division...maybe they'd be stuck with their 4th starter while the Twins get to set their rotation, giving an advantage to the lesser team (in theory; the Twins can't have an advantage over the Yankees).  That's a huge problem with a one-game format; the full rotation is ignored.

 

Talk about having a two-wild card format was already happening back in 2010, and that year provides a good example of this. The Rays and Yankees were in a tight division race (and both played poorly in September, but that notwithstanding...) while the Red Sox, way back in 3rd place, had more or less "wrapped up" the theoretical second wild card spot (you know, if it existed back then) and had for quite a while at that point. This meant that the Red Sox would've had the luxury of lining up Jon Lester to pitch in the wild card game, while the Yankees and Rays would've both probably had to burn their bullpen and use their top starters over the final weekend to try and avoid the wild card game. I might also mention at this point that the Yankees and Rays that season finished #1 and #2 in the overall AL standings. 

 

So the scenario where the second wild card team is able to line up their rotation while the top wild card team, with a discernibly better record*, is left to try and win the division and gets affected worse by it, is entirely plausible and could very easily happen. Fortunately...I guess...that's not gonna be the case in the AL this year. Twins very clearly have Ervin Santana lining up for that game on regular rest, and the Yankees have Luis Severino lining up for that game with one day of extra rest. I personally would prefer Sonny Gray start that game because he has playoff-type experience while Severino doesn't, and Gray would be on regular rest straight-up, but clearly that's the direction the Yankees are going in at this point. 

 

*in that 2010 hypothetical, the Yankees finished 95-67, while the Red Sox finished 90-72