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MLB 2021 Season Thread


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1 hour ago, BBTV said:

 

Did that apply to the Red Sox too? 

 

No, because they kept winning and basically became an Evil Empire that everyone loves to hate like the Yankees, so they definitely were able to make a new identity for themselves.

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If the Cubs have relinquished the loveable losers role, the Mariners can swoop in to fill thier place; a usually average-to-bad squad of pretty likeable guys and occasional stars who are champions of being trade bait for prospects and nothing else, and haven’t been in the playoffs since Savage Garden was still together. Also usually run by the lethal combination of cheap ownership and (recently) a GM who looooves to trade until the team actually has a shot to make a wild card run with the right moves, at which point the clock strikes the midnight before the trade deadline and he turns back into a pumpkin. 

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I really don't get the 'lovable losers' thing.  I know they were on national cable TV and obviously never won, but who really cared about that?  I never got any enjoyment out of watching them lose - did anyone outside of their or a rival's fanbase really care either way?  

 

They're just another team, albeit one that's know as much for the park they play in than anything else anymore.  I don't think the 'lovable losers' thing really meant anything, and I don't think losing that designation matters.  

 

Sports are supposed to be fun, and every fanbase deserves the fun of seeing their team win and having all the fun that goes along with that (especially the local fans who can be around other fans and go to the celebrations and have all the fun.)  No fanbase deserves decades (or a century!) without that, no matter how incompetent their team's ownership is, or how many laws their players break.

 

I understand bitterness against the teams that are always there, like the Yankees and the Red Sox (how the tables have turned!), but to have any bitterness that the Cubs won is just silly (unless you're a fan of a rival.)  I don't get how the White Sox futility seemed to mean nothing when they won, and everyone was still hung up about the Cubs, but I get that they were the more 'national' team between the two, so I guess there's that.

 

 

"The views expressed here are mine and do not reflect the official opinion of my employer or the organization through which the Internet was accessed."

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16 hours ago, SFGiants58 said:

The Guardians, Pirates, Orioles, Rangers, and Mariners can be our new lovable losers. The Guardians don’t have to worry about an off-putting name, while Nutting and Angelos keep the Bucs and the O’s irrelevant. The Rangers are the oldest expansion team without a title (and play in a tuff shed), while the Mariners have never won a pennant.  Granted, any of these teams could turn it around with new owners. 

 

You need the media machine behind you to reach Cubs and Sox level. None of these teams play in a market like Chicago or Boston. Well the Rangers kind of do, maybe if they start creeping up on 100 years it'll be similar.

 

Also the Cubs and Red Sox were certainly losers but I beg to differ on them being lovable.

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5 hours ago, ManillaToad said:

 

Also the Cubs and Red Sox were certainly losers but I beg to differ on them being lovable.

The Cubs were certainly lovable losers in the Harry Caray era. You went to Wrigley to drink, maybe stare at Marla Matthews, and take in some sun.  The outcome didn't really matter.

 

True story - my first visit to Wrigley was Opening Day, 1983. It began to rain as my brother and I went through the turnstile. The game never started.

 

While waiting for the rain to quit, I overheard this discussion in the men's room. Keep in mind that Mel Hall was the Cubs' next big thing at the time.

 

Guy 1 - how do you think the Cubs will do this year?

 

Guy 2 - well, if Mel Hall has a bad year, they'll probably finishe 5th

 

Guy 1 - yeah, that sounds about right 

 

Guy 2 - but if Mel Hall has a really good year (pauses for effect), they'll probably finish 5th.

 

That's what it was like to be a fan of the lovable losers.

It's where I sit.

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I'm not mourning the gutting of the Cubs.  It had to happen.

 

I know a lot of fans are crestfallen and will probably hate Jed Hoyer forever for selling off a lot of beloved players the other day, but the Cubs have not hit worth a damn for years now.  Rizzo has been pretty steady, but the Cubs offered him a 5-year $75 million extension that he declined.  Bryant has been up and down and nagged by injuries since his MVP season.  Javy Baez is a human highlight reel who also happens to bat .230 and swings at pitches in the dirt.

 

Kimbrel was having his best season, but it took him a couple years of pitching like absolute crap to rediscover his form.

 

The Cubs are underachieving yet again, getting older, and their stars are rejecting offers (the Rizzo one is the only one that's been released/leaked).  Their farm is suffering.  The future looks pretty bleak.

 

Best thing they could've done was recoup assets, and they did.  The Madrigal pickup is clearly the kind of player the team has needed for a long while now but could never acquire or develop, and if he and the other younger clutch of "hopefully-they-recover-from-their-injuries-and-aren't-completely-derailed" talent

 becomes something special.

 

Edit:  Hoyer wasn't BS-ing around answering questions.  This is a business.
 

 

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Gabe Kapler has done a fantastic job this year and Farhan has built the roster in such a way that they’re so deep the damn RiverCats looking like they could compete in the NL right now. I have no idea if they’re going to finish this off, and I have no idea what a potential post season run might look like (I’m still scared of the bullpen, but they’ve kinda found a way to turn it around to being an asset rather than a liability). But in the very least those two need some serious consideration for Manager/Executive of the year. 

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On 11/19/2012 at 7:23 PM, oldschoolvikings said:
She’s still half convinced “Chris Creamer” is a porn site.)
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7 hours ago, FiddySicks said:

Gabe Kapler has done a fantastic job this year and Farhan has built the roster in such a way that they’re so deep the damn RiverCats looking like they could compete in the NL right now. I have no idea if they’re going to finish this off, and I have no idea what a potential post season run might look like (I’m still scared of the bullpen, but they’ve kinda found a way to turn it around to being an asset rather than a liability). But in the very least those two need some serious consideration for Manager/Executive of the year. 

 

Gabe Kapler is a certified nut job (who literally talks about wanking it with coconut oil, spitting out ice cream before swallowing, and suntanning his balls to build testosterone) but I said at the time he was run out of Phila that he could end up like Terry Francona - a guy who got his first job with the Phillies, was run out of town, then turned into a good manager.

 

He did a lot of idiotic / analytics-driven dumb things here - and even one or two of the players laughed out loud when asked about what's driving some of his decisions - but he was right about a lot of things (like using your best relievers to get to a save situation, not holding them for a situation that may never come.)

 

I don't think I've seen a coach run out of town the way he was ganged up on by the media and fans, and I didn't think it was fair.  In fact, I stopped listening to a specific local sports-talk host because of how disrespectful he was to Gabe during an interview.

 

The Gabe Kapler situation made me despise the whole "he's not a Philly guy!" attidude that smooth-brained idiots have.  It's really what opened my eyes to how stupid the whole "he's not blue collar like us!" is (especially when said by an IT guy or someone working for a mutual fund company.)

 

So I'm rooting for him, as long as he doesn't run into the Phillies.  Not necessarily because I like him a lot - like I said, he's legit one-step away from being committed, and he has that whole black mark about how he handled that potential rape situation when he was with the Dodgers (I think) but I think that Gabe Kapler succeeding is a big FU to the portion of our fan base that I wish would die out, but is unfortunately propagating.

"The views expressed here are mine and do not reflect the official opinion of my employer or the organization through which the Internet was accessed."

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1 hour ago, Sport said:

How the hell do the 55-54 Atlanta Braves have a plus 61 run differential? How's that mathematically possible? Their expected win/loss is 61-48 LOL. 

The Braves' bullpen might have something to do with that lmao

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...nevermind...

"The views expressed here are mine and do not reflect the official opinion of my employer or the organization through which the Internet was accessed."

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7 hours ago, Sport said:

How the hell do the 55-54 Atlanta Braves have a plus 61 run differential? How's that mathematically possible? Their expected win/loss is 61-48 LOL. 

The Mariners have a better record,  58-52, with a MINUS 51 run differential 

I saw, I came, I left.

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