2011 MLB Season Thread

[The Six]

Typical Giants game: get shut out for half the game, rally and have Schierholtz tie it in the 8th, win in extra innings. Either those bats take a long time to warm up, or they just like to destroy bullpens.

[dfwabel]

Since March, the Rangers have fired their CEO, their TV PBP man, and now their hitting coach who was just hired in November.

Yet 3B coach Dave Anderson somehow survives.

[Cujo]

The Oakland has fired Bob Geren and named ex M's and D-backs skipper Bob Melvin as interim manager.

Good move my the A's. I always thought Melvin got a raw deal in Arizona after what he did for them in 2007. Oakland would be smart to keep "The Mad Scientist" on full-time.

[DarkJourney]

The Oakland has fired Bob Geren and named ex M's and D-backs skipper Bob Melvin as interim manager.

Good move my the A's. I always thought Melvin got a raw deal in Arizona after what he did for them in 2007. Oakland would be smart to keep "The Mad Scientist" on full-time.

They also need a new stadium really bad. Either in Jack London Square or down in San Jose. Something has to happen. I agree Melvin is a good hire hopefully they keep him on full time but the stadium issue has to be resolved in the next 5 years.

[ninersdd]

The Oakland has fired Bob Geren and named ex M's and D-backs skipper Bob Melvin as interim manager.

Good move my the A's. I always thought Melvin got a raw deal in Arizona after what he did for them in 2007. Oakland would be smart to keep "The Mad Scientist" on full-time.

They also need a new stadium really bad. Either in Jack London Square or down in San Jose. Something has to happen. I agree Melvin is a good hire hopefully they keep

him on full time but the stadium issue has to be resolved in the next 5 years.

Yeah, they could soon be the Sacramento Kings of the MLB, in serious danger of relocation unless a stadium is built.

[pmoehrin]

Yeah I'd say the A's are in desperate need of a stadium and even more in need of leaving Oakland. They've never drawn there. Even in the early 70's when they were the best team in baseball they were at the bottom of the attendance standings. Its just not a baseball town.

San Jose would probably be the best option even though the Giants are fighting it tooth and nail. Fremont would be even better although from what I can tell that seems to be off the table entirely now.

I don't know where else they could move to though. No city out there has an MLB ready stadium that doesen't already have a team. In that case I'd just move to Sacramento. I know Raley Field wasn't built with expansion in mind, but I think you could pull it off. At least you have a foundation to work with. Kind of surprised it hasn't been talked about more, but it could because its the A's fail safe option.

[FiddySicks]

I've been pushing the A's to Sacramento for YEARS. It's a perfect move IMO.

And yeah, Geren had to go. Even Brian Fuentes was dogging on him. That's a really bad sign.

[MC2]

The Yankee game just started after it was supposed to end. lmfao

[AnythingChicago]

I'll be in Philly tonight for Game 2 of Cubs vs. Phillies. I got lucky to get such a good pitching match-up (Halladay vs. Zambrano), and it should be an exciting game considering last night's extra-inning thriller.

Go, Cubs, Go!

[FiddySicks]

Nate Schierholtz, you are the F'ing MAN!!! 9 Walk off wins for the Giants now. This team reminds me of myself in high school. Just sliding by, but it get's it done.

I just hope Freddie Sanchez isn't out for too long. How many All Stars* can this team lose? Why can't this crap happen to Miguel Tejada instead?

* Potential

[ninersdd]

If the Giants make the playoffs, then they will win it all again. I can't believe the roll that these guys continue to be on, despite the injured players. Expect the unexpected.

[TBGKon]

Strange rumblings in MLB. Looks like someone gets moved to the AL possibly...

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=6651634

According to a highly ranked executive, one consideration that has been raised in ownership committee meetings is eliminating the divisions altogether, so that 15 AL and 15 NL teams would vie for five playoff spots within each league. Currently, Major League Baseball has six divisions.

Two highly ranked executives believe the Houston Astros would be a possibility, because a switch to the AL for Houston would foster a rivalry between the Astros and the Texas Rangers.

[njmeadowlanders]

Since Interleague Play is here to stay (I don't like it for the record) you may as well just go to 15/15 and do what the NFL used to do when at least 1 team had to have a bye every week, even weeks 1 and 17: The worst teams from each league that are scheduled to have interleague series have to play those series at the very beginning or ends of the season. If a team vastly improves from one year to the next oh well. It's probably the best way to do it at this point.

Also, Arizona would be my choice to move to the AL West with the Astros shifting to the Western Division of the NL. Of course they'd run into the same problems that the Rangers do with division road games. The Astros have a long National League tradition that should give them a right of refusal over the likes of the Diamondbacks.

And I'd go back to a balanced schedule if they want to scrap divisions, or perhaps a "semi-unbalanced" schedule where instead of 18 games against current division opponents maybe you have "divisions" for scheduling purposes where you play 12 games against those teams every season no matter what.

[TBGKon]

You could schedule interleague series throughout the season, rather than all lumped together. If I am counting correctly, most MLB team play a maximum of 6 interleague series. That ends up beings roughly once a month of the season. Also think that just because there's 1 guaranteed matchup going on at a time, doesn't mean its the only one in the time span.

As for who gets shifted, it really doesn't matter as from what I'm reading, the NL and AL would essentially be a 15-team division of its own with the top 5 qualifying for the playoffs.

[RyanMcD29]

Strange rumblings in MLB. Looks like someone gets moved to the AL possibly...

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=6651634

According to a highly ranked executive, one consideration that has been raised in ownership committee meetings is eliminating the divisions altogether, so that 15 AL and 15 NL teams would vie for five playoff spots within each league. Currently, Major League Baseball has six divisions.

Two highly ranked executives believe the Houston Astros would be a possibility, because a switch to the AL for Houston would foster a rivalry between the Astros and the Texas Rangers.

Haven't broke this out in a while, but I feel that proposal calls for this (:20)

[Firefly]

Oh yeah, this'll be great for rivalries. Imagine the the great A's/ Astros match-upzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz... sorry, I just fell asleep. The local paper put this up for discussion and claimed that being able to draw crowds for Yankess and Red Sox games would make up for being in the AL West. Ugh. Just ugh. Houston was born a NL town and it'll die as a NL town.

Why not send the Rockies to the AL? I wouldn't mind the Astros taking their place in the NL West.

[Dexter Morgan]

Don't the Brewers want to return to the AL?

Brewers-Twins Rivalry. (Packers-Vikings)

Here is what I would do.

AL East:

Boston

New York

Orioles

Rays

Blue Jays

Indians

Tigers

AL West:

White Sox

Brewers

Twins

Royals

Rangers

Angels

Athletics

Mariners

NL East:

Mets

Phillies

Nationals

Marlins

Braves

Pirates

Reds

NL West:

Cubs

Cardinals

Astros

Rockies

Diamondbakcs

Padres

Dodgers

Giants

[njmeadowlanders]

Do you think an NBA/NHL style is inevitable at this point?

Shorten the season back to 154, seed 'em 1-8, 3 game series quarterfinals, 5 game series divisional round, 7 game series ALCS/NLCS & World Series.

[Dexter Morgan]

Do you think an NBA/NHL style is inevitable at this point?

Shorten the season back to 154, seed 'em 1-8, 3 game series quarterfinals, 5 game series divisional round, 7 game series ALCS/NLCS & World Series.

No thanks. 3 series. That's it. 2 Wild Card teams can have a short series, but the other 3 teams should only have 3 series. DS, CS, WS.

[Don]

Oh yeah, this'll be great for rivalries. Imagine the the great A's/ Astros match-upzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz... sorry, I just fell asleep. The local paper put this up for discussion and claimed that being able to draw crowds for Yankess and Red Sox games would make up for being in the AL West. Ugh. Just ugh. Houston was born a NL town and it'll die as a NL town.

Why not send the Rockies to the AL? I wouldn't mind the Astros taking their place in the NL West.

If they sent the Rockies to the AL they could stop putting those balls in the humidor.