2023 MLB Season Thread

[McCall]

51 minutes ago, BrySmalls said:

 

As a Nats fan, yes, I would be pleased to see Bryce win the World Series despite being in a Phillies jersey.

I would assume the Nats winning the World Series the first year after Harper went to Philly would've sufficed any lingering feelings of wanting him to fail at winning a World Series, himself.

[BrySmalls]

13 minutes ago, McCall said:

I would assume the Nats winning the World Series the first year after Harper went to Philly would've sufficed any lingering feelings of wanting him to fail at winning a World Series, himself.

 

Absolutely! 

[TrueYankee26]

And I will not be surprised if Phillies win.

 

My gut says Rangers vs Phillies WS and Phils win in 6

[Sport]

 

 

 

16 hours ago, the admiral said:

Be that as it may, decoupling seeding from the actual winning and losing of games all but defeats the point of playing the games. Besides, incongruities between record and run differential are where lots of upsets come from (that and exploiting mismatches, but that's more so in hockey), and upsets are supposed to be the fun of it all.

 

I only use run-differential as one part of a whole evaluation of a team. Wins and losses are most important and finishing games is a skill good teams have to have otherwise you're this year's Padres. Also some managers bail on regular season games earlier if things get out of hand so they don't burn pitchers in a lost cause and their RD can get goofy in a hurry. 

 

But over a full season it's useful. I only brought it up because people acted like the bye killed the Orioles when the Rangers had a significantly better regular season run differential so it wasn't the monumental upset it may have appeared to be. 

 

On 10/14/2023 at 5:43 PM, GDAWG said:

Do we want to see Bryce Harper get a World Series Ring?  Remember he left Washington after the 2018 season, and in 2019, the Nationals won the World Series.  

 

Sure. I've grown to appreciate Harper as a player just because he had so much hype coming out of high school and he's actually surpassed even the most optimistic projections. I'm always very impressed by him. Also I liked when he did the throat slash gesture and it pissed me off the fanbase who does the axe chop gesture. "NOOO only we're allowed to pantomime fake violence with fake weapons"

[Cujo]

Rangers are up 2-0.

 

GOOD.

 

Maybe I can watch the World Series this year.

[Dynasty]

I'm thinking that last year wasn't much of a fluke. This Phillies team is really good.

[TBGKon]

On 10/14/2023 at 12:23 PM, Cujo said:

#6 Diamondbacks

#5 Rangers

#4 Phillies

 

The Astros have a clear path to the 2023 Piece of Metal.

The Astros and Rangers could easily have been flipped, since that division wasnt decided until the final day.

[LMU]

Fitting that the team named after an actual law enforcement agency is this year's Team Justice™.

[Sport]

12 hours ago, Dynasty said:

I'm thinking that last year wasn't much of a fluke. This Phillies team is really good.

 

They and the Astros along with a few other teams in the past (namely the stupid Cardinals and stupid Giants of the early 2010's) have me convinced that some teams are just better at playoff baseball. People say this is luck and there is an element of BABIP at play and there is, but I also don't see why it couldn't be a skill that some teams have and some teams don't (the Dodgers, for example)

[LMU]

1 hour ago, Sport said:

 

They and the Astros along with a few other teams in the past (namely the stupid Cardinals and stupid Giants of the early 2010's) have me convinced that some teams are just better at playoff baseball. People say this is luck and there is an element of BABIP at play and there is, but I also don't see why it couldn't be a skill that some teams have and some teams don't (the Dodgers, for example)

From years of watching the Dodgers lay eggs, I think for the most part playoff baseball requires an ability to harness and channel emotion. The Dodgers, for example, are a team full of talent but at the same time is a team too stoic and professional. You need more Schwarbers and Harpers out there throwing their bats 30 feet as opposed to the Dodgers only bringing themselves to do the Freddie flailing arm dance.

[BBTV]

1 hour ago, Sport said:

 

They and the Astros along with a few other teams in the past (namely the stupid Cardinals and stupid Giants of the early 2010's) have me convinced that some teams are just better at playoff baseball. People say this is luck and there is an element of BABIP at play and there is, but I also don't see why it couldn't be a skill that some teams have and some teams don't (the Dodgers, for example)

Dave Dombrowski has literally said that they build the team to win series’, and manage the team in the regular season with that in mind (and if they happen to win a division then that’s cool, but not their goal). 
 

obviously non-local fans don’t watch too many regular-season Phillies games, but if you pick a sample of June, July, August, and September games, you’ll see some of the tinkering and experiments that lead to the way the postseason roster is constructed and how games are managed.*
 

*not that everyone doesn’t manage a little differently in the playoffs, I just think the lineups, roster management, and pitching management is dramatically different with this team. 
 

TL;DR

they are better at playoff baseball, and it’s by design. The crowd helps a little bit too. 

[GDAWG]

15 hours ago, Cujo said:

Rangers are up 2-0.

 

GOOD.

 

Maybe I can watch the World Series this year.

 

The MLB Script Writers are working feverishly to figure out how the Astros will win 4 straight.  

[Cujo]

1 minute ago, GDAWG said:

The MLB Script Writers are working feverishly to figure out how the Astros will win 4 straight.  

 

I hate that you're probably right.

[floydnimrod]

I've come around on the Phillies. Outside of the Dodgers and Astros (their only redeeming quality is Dusty Baker) they were the only other playoff team I didn't want to win. Their uniforms are so blah and I find their ballpark boring visually. I routinely forget they even exist.

 

But I've always liked Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber. As someone who wanted the Braves to win the last series, it all flipped when Bryce Harper did the stare down. That was pure magic.

[Sport]

3 hours ago, LMU said:

From years of watching the Dodgers lay eggs, I think for the most part playoff baseball requires an ability to harness and channel emotion. The Dodgers, for example, are a team full of talent but at the same time is a team too stoic and professional. You need more Schwarbers and Harpers out there throwing their bats 30 feet as opposed to the Dodgers only bringing themselves to do the Freddie flailing arm dance.

 

I totally get that with the Dodgers. The calm, chill, business-like demeanor works over the course of a long season when you're in game 11 of a 12 game road trip to get through and you're looking at the Pirates' 4th best starter, but the playoffs are a completely different animal . The Dodgers feel like a lot of guys who don't really mind that it's the offseason right now while the Phillies feel like a lot of guys who get into street fights for fun*.

 

The exception to that is the late 90's Yankees were a bunch of boring c-suite suits and they won a lot of games and a lot of championships so I guess it's just about how teams funnel the thing that works for them into a positive output. 

 

 

*Except for Trea Turner who looks like your fifth best friend from middle school that you don't talk to anymore. 

 

 

 

[Kramerica Industries]

I'm firmly on board for a Phillies-Rangers World Series at this point because, even though there's zero history between those teams in MLB, the rivalry between the fanbases thanks to the NFL would be absolutely chaotic and toxic and I'm here for that.

[FiddySicks]

Lol, yeah, this is the D Backs team I saw last month vs Houston. There they are. I’m was wondering where they went. Super rad of them to take out the Dodgers, but they aren’t winning this series. 
 

Oh, also add me to the list of people who have come around on the Phillies (and rather, Philly sports as a whole). When they were rivals with the Giants, I couldn’t stand those dirt balls. But now? Philly is still full of dirt balls, but I kind of love them all? My kinda dirt balls, I guess. 

[BBTV]

They're not even a competitive ballclub.  Things can change once they get back into their quiet warehouse, but they're not winning a game in this stadium.  Even if they take all three in their place, they're not going to be able to win a game here.  I was definitely not looking past them, but it's really hard not to at this point.  

 

At least tonight's starter was better than last night's, who couldn't handle 46,000 chanting his name, like they do for every starter.  And he was from here! 

 

EDIT:

Why does MLB hate their fans?  Thursday's game is 2:00 local time?  Half of my friend group will be there since it was cheaper to fly Frontier and buy a ticket than to go to a game here, but I imagine for anyone local that blows.  It blows for us just to watch it while either in rush hour or on transit after work, but for AZ locals to have to use PTO just to go to a game in the penultimate series of the year is just not fair.

[Unocal]

36 minutes ago, BBTV said:

They're not even a competitive ballclub.  Things can change once they get back into their quiet warehouse, but they're not winning a game in this stadium.  Even if they take all three in their place, they're not going to be able to win a game here.  I was definitely not looking past them, but it's really hard not to at this point.  

 

At least tonight's starter was better than last night's, who couldn't handle 46,000 chanting his name, like they do for every starter.  And he was from here! 

 

Even Strider held up well in comparison despite 46,000 chanting HIS name

[floydnimrod]

9 hours ago, BBTV said:

EDIT:

Why does MLB hate their fans?  Thursday's game is 2:00 local time?  Half of my friend group will be there since it was cheaper to fly Frontier and buy a ticket than to go to a game here, but I imagine for anyone local that blows.  It blows for us just to watch it while either in rush hour or on transit after work, but for AZ locals to have to use PTO just to go to a game in the penultimate series of the year is just not fair.

While I agree with all of this, as someone who is likely never attending an MLB playoff game, I do love meaningful afternoon baseball in the middle of the week. Makes the work day easier. The only half decent thing about the Covid sports schedule to me was that there were NASCAR races on Wednesday afternoons. It was great.

 

More weekday afternoon sporting events*

 

*as someone who's watching from home