Daily MLB Banter

[NashvilleHoosier]

1 hour ago, Brass Cannon said:

Yep. I hate single elimination baseball.  

I love it and hate it at the same time. The win or go home baseball game is the best and most interesting baseball game. But when everything else about baseball is based on a series, it doesn't make much sense to have a one game elimination with such high stakes. A 3 game WC series would still be great. That said, the Cards were a week plus removed from the win streak. Given the choice of trying to beat the Dodgers in a 3 game series on the road, or 1 game w/ Waino on the mound, I'm taking the chance at the single elimination. 

Other things I'm pouting about: Reyes was the absolute last pitcher I wanted to see on the mound in a high leverage situation. 0-11 w/ RISP.....oof. Nearly 4.5 hours for a 9 inning game that produced 2 runs until the last swing of the bat is entirely unacceptable. 

[Hovadipo]

53 minutes ago, NashvilleHoosier said:

I love it and hate it at the same time. The win or go home baseball game is the best and most interesting baseball game. But when everything else about baseball is based on a series, it doesn't make much sense to have a one game elimination with such high stakes. A 3 game WC series would still be great. That said, the Cards were a week plus removed from the win streak. Given the choice of trying to beat the Dodgers in a 3 game series on the road, or 1 game w/ Waino on the mound, I'm taking the chance at the single elimination. 

Other things I'm pouting about: Reyes was the absolute last pitcher I wanted to see on the mound in a high leverage situation. 0-11 w/ RISP.....oof. Nearly 4.5 hours for a 9 inning game that produced 2 runs until the last swing of the bat is entirely unacceptable. 

I switched away from the game to watch a DVR’d, 90-minute show we watch every week. I missed 2 innings.

[NashvilleHoosier]

9 minutes ago, Hovadipo said:

I switched away from the game to watch a DVR’d, 90-minute show we watch every week. I missed 2 innings.

One of the best things about soccer is knowing exactly how much time you'll need to dedicate. Speaking of DVRing, now that I think about it, I set the game to record last night but only put an hour extension on it. I would have gotten 4 hours in only to realize it didn't capture the last inning. I would understand that if it were a 13 inning game. 

[Brass Cannon]

4 hours ago, NashvilleHoosier said:

I love it and hate it at the same time. The win or go home baseball game is the best and most interesting baseball game. But when everything else about baseball is based on a series, it doesn't make much sense to have a one game elimination with such high stakes. A 3 game WC series would still be great. That said, the Cards were a week plus removed from the win streak. Given the choice of trying to beat the Dodgers in a 3 game series on the road, or 1 game w/ Waino on the mound, I'm taking the chance at the single elimination. 

Other things I'm pouting about: Reyes was the absolute last pitcher I wanted to see on the mound in a high leverage situation. 0-11 w/ RISP.....oof. Nearly 4.5 hours for a 9 inning game that produced 2 runs until the last swing of the bat is entirely unacceptable. 

I would like them to guarantee the division winners a spot in the playoffs.  Then next two best records.  But reseed with the worst two records in WC. So would have been Cards and Braves.  That would be minimum for me.  Ideally you would have a 3 game series.  And maybe even be ready for games 2 and 3 to be a doubleheader if need be 

[NashvilleHoosier]

1 hour ago, Brass Cannon said:

I would like them to guarantee the division winners a spot in the playoffs.  Then next two best records.  But reseed with the worst two records in WC. So would have been Cards and Braves.  That would be minimum for me.  Ideally you would have a 3 game series.  And maybe even be ready for games 2 and 3 to be a doubleheader if need be 

I say make it a 3 game series over 2 days but day 1 is a two 7 inning game double header. You get to carry 1 extra pitcher and 1 extra position player that day. If game 3 is necessary it’s winner take all the following day. It could be fascinating to see how day 1 plays out, matchups managers go for, etc. And regardless it’s either 14 innings of teams deciding who is better or a draw that leads to the winner take all game. 
 

And I also agree on reseeding. No way the Dodgers should have had to play in that game last night. The biggest problem in doing that is there will inevitably be teams who get rewarded by having a slightly better record playing in a weak division over a better team who plays in a tough division but finished a game or two worse record-wise.

[kreigh8]

13 minutes ago, NashvilleHoosier said:

I say make it a 3 game series over 2 days but day 1 is a two 7 inning game double header. You get to carry 1 extra pitcher and 1 extra position player that day. If game 3 is necessary it’s winner take all the following day. It could be fascinating to see how day 1 plays out, matchups managers go for, etc. And regardless it’s either 14 innings of teams deciding who is better or a draw that leads to the winner take all game. 
 

And I also agree on reseeding. No way the Dodgers should have had to play in that game last night. The biggest problem in doing that is there will inevitably be teams who get rewarded by having a slightly better record playing in a weak division over a better team who plays in a tough division but finished a game or two worse record-wise.

No! No! No! Baseball is 9 innings. The wildcard should most likely be a 3 game series, as I hated how Chipper's career ended on a awful infield fly call in the 1 game elimination, but the format of division winners guaranteed a playoff spot rewards the regular season. 162 game regular season is a marathon so it makes sense to reward teams for their success. I don't want baseball to move in the direction of the NBA and NFL where half the teams make the post season. Stepping off the soapbox now.

[LamarCheeks]

This year is just a bit of an anomaly because the Dodgers won 106 games and ended up in the winner-take-all wild-card game. It's pretty rare for that to happen. I could see possibly making the WC a best-of-three series, but for the most part, I say leave the playoffs alone. 

They go on long enough as it is. I've got a great solution for the Dodgers to avoid the WC game -- win your division. If you don't, you go to the wild-card game. That's just the way it is. Otherwise, let's get rid of divisions -- just take the top four teams in each league. In football, we've seen 8-8 division winners host 11-5 WC teams in the playoffs. It sucks for the 11-5 team, but that's the way it goes. 

John Smoltz is arguing that the second wild-card winner should have to beat the top WC twice. That's ludicrous. What if the top WC team won 95 games and the second WC team won 94? Should the 94-win team have to win twice? Or what if they had the same number of wins? Who has to beat whom twice? C'mon -- that makes no sense. I can't think of any other playoff system that works that way.

In 2015, the Cubs had 97 wins. They had the third-best record in their division -- and in the NL as it turned out. They were five games ahead of the second-best division winner. Yet they were the No. 2 wild-card and had to play one game at Pittsburgh. And I was fine with that. It's just the way it is. They made it to the NLCS against the Mets. New York got home field despite finishing seven games behind the Cubs. I didn't like it, but that's the way it is. The Cubs didn't win their division; the Mets did. 

In the NCAA tournament, say a No. 16 seed is 16-15 and plays in the worst conference and the No. 1 seed is 30-4 and plays in the best Power 5 conference. Should the No. 16 seed have to win twice to advance? No. That's silly. 

The baseball playoffs have just enough teams and last long enough. If anything, I'd argue to go back to one wild-card and have the three division winners and one WC advance. 
 
Just my 2 cents' worth -- which with inflation, is worth zero. 


 

[NashvilleHoosier]

1 hour ago, kreigh8 said:

No! No! No! Baseball is 9 innings. The wildcard should most likely be a 3 game series, as I hated how Chipper's career ended on a awful infield fly call in the 1 game elimination, but the format of division winners guaranteed a playoff spot rewards the regular season. 162 game regular season is a marathon so it makes sense to reward teams for their success. I don't want baseball to move in the direction of the NBA and NFL where half the teams make the post season. Stepping off the soapbox now.

I get that. It’s a 9 inning game not a 7 inning game. But back to a previous point, it’s a series based game, not a winner take all based game, yet we have the 1 game WC. But it’s also a very slow paced game, which in this day and age is a huge turn off. In my opinion MLB could benefit from adding more 2 game 7 inning double headers to the schedule. I thought they were fantastic last season, and much easier to keep someone’s attention for that amount of time. Keep the same number of games but shorten the season by a week or more. Expand the playoffs to 8 teams, division winners are top 3 seeds w/ next 5 best records filling out the bracket. Sure some pretty mediocre teams are going to make the playoffs. But if the season calendar is shortened b/c of the double headers, it would simply replace the last week or more of mediocre or bad teams playing meaningless games (or the best teams who have already clinched playing meaningless games) with another week or more of high stakes and meaningful baseball games. And you still get end of season playoff chases. Overall, more time for fans to watch meaningful baseball. Please, don’t everyone recommend me for commissioner at once. 

This is the part where I don’t comment on chipper’s career most definitely not ending b/c of that call. And I also don’t say that it was indeed a poor decision to call an infield fly there but if he doesn’t call it, Kozma just catches the ball b/c the umpire making the call is what Kozma thought was Holiday calling him off. If he doesn’t hear that (I.e. if the call isn’t made) he doesn’t back off, catch made. :-)

[Rico]

I say expand the playoffs to 8 teams per league.  1st round games are 3 game series with the higher seed getting all 3 games(if necessary) at home.  And if they are worried about extending the season then schedule regular season DHs to account for a longer playoff season.

[LIHoosier]

I say expand the playoffs to 8 teams per league.  1st round games are 3 game series with the higher seed getting all 3 games(if necessary) at home.  And if they are worried about extending the season then schedule regular season DHs to account for a longer playoff season.

They can also(won't likely) pare off a couple divisional regular season games per team and get the total down to 150 or so and save a couple weeks so that you're not having WS games in 30 degree weather.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

[Rico]

27 minutes ago, LIHoosier said:

They can also(won't likely) pare off a couple divisional regular season games per team and get the total down to 150 or so and save a couple weeks so that you're not having WS games in 30 degree weather.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk
 

Yeah, it won't happen.  The owners want everyone of those 162 games WITHOUT doubleheaders so they can pile up more cash.

[LIHoosier]

Nice catch, Larry

 

[johnsoniu]

Dear Natty,

Once a cheater, always a cheater


Sent from my iPhone using BtownBanners

[Naturalhoosier]

37 minutes ago, johnsoniu said:

Dear Natty,

Once a cheater, always a cheater


Sent from my iPhone using BtownBanners

#salty #5thstraight #thisteamisgood #GoAstros

 Maybe the White Sox purposefully lost the series.  I mean, it wouldn’t be the first time. 

[Stuhoo]

12 minutes ago, Naturalhoosier said:

#salty #5thstraight #thisteamisgood #GoAstros

 Maybe the White Sox purposefully lost the series.  I mean, it wouldn’t be the first time. 

I didn’t see Chick Gandil or Eddie Cicotte in the Sox lineup this week.

 

https://images.app.goo.gl/4pxmHZNZa9LXmoMv5

[Naturalhoosier]

1 hour ago, Stuhoo said:

I didn’t see Chick Gandil or Eddie Cicotte in the Sox lineup this week.

 

https://images.app.goo.gl/4pxmHZNZa9LXmoMv5

No. But I saw Grandal playing. Wasn’t he suspended 50 games for PEDs?!  Once a cheater always a cheater. 

[Stuhoo]

17 minutes ago, Naturalhoosier said:

No. But I saw Grandal playing. Wasn’t he suspended 50 games for PEDs?!  Once a cheater always a cheater. 

Grandal is suspiciously close to Gandil!

You may be on to something.   :)

[Stuhoo]

Personally?

I’m just pissed that the White Sox lost and I WILL NOT BE A RATIONAL LOSER DAMMMMIT

 

[kreigh8]

Astros are just a superior run organization.

White Sox clearly are a step below the other playoff teams and need to supplement the roster in various ways. Need to find a solution in RF as that’s been a huge hole since Dye left. Need to decide what they are going to do at 2B, whether that’s Cesar, make a run at Semien which I doubt Jerry would pony up for, or some other outside solution. Then decide whether or not to deal with Boras and attempt to resign Rodon or return Kopech to the rotation and find a 5th starter as Keuchel is toast and will cost a guaranteed $18.5M if he reaches 160 innings.

Without a complete overhaul of the roster construction the Sox will continue to be a swing and miss club with bad defense, but Astros this series put up tough at bat after tough at bat. Something I wish the Sox could emulate. Tucker is a monster.

Sox need to get healthy next year and fill those holes and it should be a fun 2022 but man a disappointing finish to a fun 2021 season. Leury Garcia can’t be a starter in a playoff game for a World Series contender. Hahn has another interesting offseason ahead of him.

This White Sox fan’s season is over and am now ready for IU bball season. Can’t wait to watch

[johnsoniu]

21 hours ago, Naturalhoosier said:

#salty #5thstraight #thisteamisgood #GoAstros

 Maybe the White Sox purposefully lost the series.  I mean, it wouldn’t be the first time. 

Ouch, that hurts. Almost as much as a Scott Podsednik walk off :)