14 minutes ago, Columbo said:

Very entertaining NL Wild-Card game last night between the Milwaukee Brewers and Washington Nationals.

 

I love this one-game wild-card format that acts as a de facto play-in game to the "full" playoffs.  It gives winning the regular-season division more weight - and it sets up this win-or-go-home matchup.  Which gives this wild-card game also something that MLB sorely lacks during the regular-season: Urgency.

Severely disagree. A one game playoff may seem fair to the second wild card team that didn't exist before, but to the first wild card team it's a horrendous set up. Six wild card teams won the World Series when there were just two MLB-wide (1994-2011). Who knows if any of those teams would have won it all if they faced a one-game playoff against a team who might only be there because they have one stud of a starting pitcher? Then if they do get through that they lost their best pitcher for the Divisional Series game one. Or the team with just the one stud pitcher wins the one-game playoff, and gets handled easily in the Divisional Series, because their ace started only one game. There is absolutely no good reason why the wild card series shouldn't be three games.

 

ETA: the reason we're given the MLB season is so long is because of the variability of baseball. That is absolutely true. Then why a one-game playoff? Just asinine that they didn't make it a best of three series like every regular season series.

Edited October 2, 20195 yr by aderwent

3 hours ago, aderwent said:

Six wild card teams won the World Series when there were just two MLB-wide (1994-2011).

 

That's why having the two wild-card teams face a play-in game is a better playoff set-up.  Previously a wild-card team didn't need to win their own division to gain the benefits of a division winner.

 

With the current wild-card setup, there is a huge incentive to win the division during the lengthy regular season, instead of getting in via the wild-card.

2 minutes ago, Columbo said:

 

That's why having the two wild-card teams face a play-in game is a better playoff set-up.  Previously a wild-card team didn't need to win their own division to gain the benefits of a division winner.

 

With the current wild-card setup, there is a huge incentive to win the division during the lengthy regular season, instead of getting in via the wild-card.

If that's the goal just get rid of the wild card.

Also, why should division winners matter? Is it more impressive that the Twins won the Central or that Tampa won 96 games in the East and Oakland won 97 in the West?

1 minute ago, aderwent said:

If that's the goal just get rid of the wild card.

 

It might make sense to do so.  But MLB wants the extra playoff games for revenue/attention, plus having more teams "in the mix" for the wild-card spots also generates fan interest for more teams late in the season.

 

Before the 1961 expansion, the NL and AL winners just went directly to the World Series.  No playoffs, no nothing.  If you won 102 games but another team won 103, it was "too bad - no pennant, no playoffs, no World Series for you".  But maybe that's a fairer way to do it.  (Heck, international soccer leagues just declares a winner after their lengthy season.  No playoffs period.)

 

After the 1961 expansion, MLB went to a divisional setup and started the playoffs format we use today to determine which teams appear in the World Series.  Then, as you said, MLB added a wild-card spot in 1994 - which was okay but somewhat flawed.  Then added a second wild-card spot in 2012 - which tried to address those flaws.

 

Ultimately, playoffs after a lengthy regular-season have become a distinct part of North American sports leagues.  And these short playoff series (or game) are inherently unfair to some degree, depending on the particular sport.  But there's no way MLB (or any other league) is going to reduce their playoffs - as those playoff games are just so lucrative.  So I think MLB is just trying their best to find the right balance between the regular-season results and the "fairest" playoff format.

They should reduce the number of teams back to 28 or fewer, reduce the number of regular-season games by at least 10, and go back to two divisions per league with a single 7-game playoff before a 7-game world series.  They also need to address inequity between teams so smaller market teams have a better chance at being competitive.  

 

The way it was in the past with a single round of playoffs was awesome.  The whole damn country paid attention.  

I’d keep the 30 teams, nothing to be gained from shrinking the footprint, but lop a week off each end of the season and have a 150 game regular season. Oh and dial back the inter-league. The fact that we had to close the season, while still in the hunt, playing NL rules, was ridiculous. 

8 minutes ago, roman totale XVII said:

I’d keep the 30 teams, nothing to be gained from shrinking the footprint, but lop a week off each end of the season and have a 150 game regular season. Oh and dial back the inter-league. The fact that we had to close the season, while still in the hunt, playing NL rules, was ridiculous. 

Yeah, if winning your division is supposed to be important your last four series should be against each division foe.

32 minutes ago, jmecklenborg said:

They should reduce the number of teams back to 28 or fewer, reduce the number of regular-season games by at least 10, and go back to two divisions per league with a single 7-game playoff before a 7-game world series.  They also need to address inequity between teams so smaller market teams have a better chance at being competitive.  

 

The way it was in the past with a single round of playoffs was awesome.  The whole damn country paid attention.  

That will never happen because of $$$. It's been proven, I'd say, that the optimal number of teams in US professional sports is 32. They all remain profitable at that scale, and are reasonably popular; with caveats to both of those metrics, of course.

 

MLB will move to 32 teams, and then go back to two weeks of middle of the season interleague with an even number of teams in each league. Playoffs will more than likely remain as they are, but moving the wild card to a three game series. It may even happen as soon as next year. You're going to have a 96 or 97 win team be out of the "playoffs" after one loss. Ludicrous.

Interleague should go away completely.  The cross-city and cross-state rivalries aren't a big deal anymore.  They can't return to being a big deal until they're rare, as-in they only occur at the apex of the season.  

It wasn't as thrilling as the Nats win over the Brewers - but TB went into Oakland and defeated the A's pretty handily to advance in the AL Playoffs.

 

Props to Oakland for turning out 54,000 last night in a stadium with an official capacity of 46,847.  How?  They took the tarps off Mount Davis in centerfield.  Mount Davis is a section of seats that Raiders owner Al Davis forced the City of Oakland to build before the then-L.A. Raiders would return to Oakland.  Those seats are truly awful for baseball games and almost equally awful for football games.  As a result, Mount Davis has been tarped off by the A's since 2006 and by the Raiders since 2013.

 

Props to the Tampa Bay Rays for reaching the playoffs and winning despite having the lowest payroll in MLB.  (Yes, even smaller than the Miami Marlins!)  More about how TB won this year with a league lowest payroll at https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/27756245/how-tampa-bay-rays-just-surviving-thriving-mlb-smallest-payroll

So, with TB's win, the rest of 2019 MLB playoffs are set:

 

NLDS: (Best of Five)

-- Washington Nationals at L.A. Dodgers tonight

-- St. Louis Cardinals at Atlanta Braves tonight

 

ALDS: (Best of Five)

-- Tampa Bay Rays at Houston Astros on Friday

-- Minnesota Twins at New York Yankees on Friday

The Yanks dispatched the Twins in 3 and await tomorrow's winner between the Rays/Astros.  The Rays forced a Game 5 in Houston with two wins in TB after Houston won their first two at home.

 

Both NL series' are going to a deciding Game 5 - and are both being played tonight.

 

However, STL scored 10 runs(!) in the top of the 1st against ATL.  That's right, 10 runs!  This sets a new record for most runs in the first inning of a post-season game.  And it tied the record for most runs in any inning of a post-season game. --- (STL just added another run to go up 11-0 after 2 innings.  So maybe pencil them in to face the Nats/Dodgers winner tonight.)

STL crushed ATL 13-1 to advance to the NLCS.

 

And then the Nats crushed the post-season dreams of the 106-win Dodgers (reg season franchise record BTW) with a come-from-behind Game 5 win in Dodger Stadium.  LA built a 3-1 lead going into the 8th inning.  They bring in ace starter Kershaw to close out the game - and he gives up back-to-back HR's to start the 8th(!)  Game tied 3-3 and Kershaw blows another post-season chance(!)  The Nats load the bases in the top of the 10th - and Howie Kendrick blasts a GRAND SLAM(!) for a 7-3 win.

 

So its the Nats and the Cards in the NLCS.  These Nats become the first Washington team to advance this far since the 1924 Senators won the World Series with Walter 'The Big Train' Johnson as their ace(!)

 

Tonight's Rays/Astros winner will face the Yanks in the ALCS.

The mighty Astros defeated those plucky Rays last night to advance to the ALCS.

 

ALCS:  107-win Houston Astos will host the 103-win New York Yankees

 

NLCS:  91-win central division winning St. Louis Cardinals will host the 93-win wild-card Washington Nationals

30yrs ago today -- 5:04pm -- game 3 -- the world series sf earthquake --

 

and you will note the world series was already going on as god intended and not drawn out into freakin november like today:

 

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/27637121/the-sound-fear-thirty-years-ago-loma-prieta-earthquake-shook-world-series-world

19 minutes ago, mrnyc said:

30yrs ago today -- 5:04pm -- game 3 -- the world series sf earthquake --

 

and you will note the world series was already going on as god intended and not drawn out into freakin november like today:

 

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/27637121/the-sound-fear-thirty-years-ago-loma-prieta-earthquake-shook-world-series-world

 

I was watching it live.  I started telling my mom they were having an earthquake and she didn't care until she remembered that her friend lived out there.  Turned out she was riding her bike when it happened and she didn't feel it at all. 

 

 

 

i remember i was out there not long after and talked to some guys who worked at fog city diner. they said it was frightening. plates went flying, shelves tipping, you basic earthquake terror scene. 

 

thx california, but no thx.

The collapse of the bay bridge and Embarcadero freeways were iconic and really frightening to my little 11-year mind.  I felt betrayed by engineers!  It was also one of those few examples when we saw a "snuff film" on TV.  

It was one of the first live-feed large-scaled disasters in the US.  Insane that it was 30 years ago.

On 10/17/2019 at 11:03 AM, mrnyc said:

 

and you will note the world series was already going on as god intended and not drawn out into freakin november like today:

 

 

Well, the Washington Nationals have done their part.  They swept the Cards - convincingly so.  In the process breaking the longest World Series drought in MLB*.  (*Depending on how you define "World Series drought")

 

Washington D.C. hasn't been to the World Series since 1933 and last won the World Series in 1924.  However, that was the previous DC franchise, the Washington Senators.  Those Senators played in DC from 1901-1960 then left in 1961 to become the Minnesota Twins.  An expansion Senators team formed in 1961 and played until 1971 - when they also left to become the Texas Rangers in 1972.  This current DC franchise started in 1969 as the Montreal Expos, then left to begin play in 2005 as the Washington Nationals.

 

Now if your Yankees team would kindly lose tonight to Houston, the World Series can begin(!) ⚾??

2019 World Series begins tomorrow:

 

The Houston Astros advanced to the WS saturday night on a José Altuve walk-off HR in the bottom of the 9th off Yankees closer Aroldis Chapman(!)

ASTROS 6, YANKEES 4 | HOUSTON WINS SERIES, 4-2

Altuve’s Homer Stuns Yankees and Sends Astros to World Series -- Minutes after D.J. LeMahieu tied the game in the top of the ninth, Jose Altuve hit a game-winning home run in the bottom half to send the Astros to the World Series and end the Yankees’ season

I’m rooting for the Nationals, but I’m ok with the Astros winning too, even though I can’t stand Houston as a city. So glad they beat the Yankees. 

Either way, be great to see Gomes or Brantley get a ring. 

i would always go for the american league team normally, but definitely the nationals this time.

 

no way i want a team that beat the yanks to win it and let those fans off the hook even a little bit lol.

Game 6 is tonight in Houston -- with the Astros up 3-2.

 

The Astros lost game 1 & 2 in Houston to start the series -- but then the Nats lost games 3, 4 & 5 in Washington.  Yes, all five World Series games have been won by the road team(!)  So much for the importance of the home field advantage?

The road team won again in Game 6.  So it sets up a Game 7 tonight in Houston.  All hands on deck:

 

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/27960985/everything-need-know-be-epic-game-7-showdown

NATS in 7

• The road team won all seven of the World Series games.

• This is the first WS win for the Nationals (nee Expos-1969) franchise.

• This is the first WS win for D.C. since the Senators won it all in 1924.

https://www.espn.com/mlb/boxscore?gameId=401169115

 

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/27972251/all-living-dream-nationals-astonishing-world-series-run

28 minutes ago, Columbo said:

NATS in 7

• The road team won all seven of the World Series games.

• This is the first WS win for the Nationals (nee Expos-1969) franchise.

• This is the first WS win for D.C. since the Senators won it all in 1924.

https://www.espn.com/mlb/boxscore?gameId=401169115

 

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/27972251/all-living-dream-nationals-astonishing-world-series-run

 

Happy to see Yan get a ring! Wrong team, same energy.

 

this is nice off season fun — esquire runs down standout mlb uniforms over the years —

 

— and the indians go 2-0 for good with the 1920’s worlds champions uni’s and the 1970’s flintstones uni’s. 

 

very oddly, they have no cinci tho.

 

https://www.esquire.com/style/mens-fashion/g12810061/baseball-uniforms-history-best-worst/

 

 

1 hour ago, mrnyc said:

this is nice off season fun — esquire runs down standout mlb uniforms over the years —

 

— and the indians go 2-0 for good with the 1920’s worlds champions uni’s and the 1970’s flintstones uni’s. 

 

very oddly, they have no cinci tho.

 

https://www.esquire.com/style/mens-fashion/g12810061/baseball-uniforms-history-best-worst/

 

 

 

That 1989 Pirates photo reminded me of the time when a kid on my baseball team hit Andy Van Slyke between the shoulders with a paper airplane down at Riverfront Stadium.  I can still see that thing drifting lazily out of the center field green seats with no particular target...then its sudden dive for Van Slyke.  

 

 

 

The 1956 Reds should have been included. The classic sleeveless Kluszewski.

 

Original:

 

 

2019 Throwback Version:

 

^ Good grief! Those are really...something. Also the guy is totally wrong about those all blue Philly uniforms. Those are amazing. 

The MLB hot stove is boiling over in Houston:

• It started right after the Astros won the 2019 AL title.  During the locker room celebration, an assistant GM harassed a group of female reporters by loudly bragging "how great it was to trade for their closer" (who had been suspended by MLB during the first half of 2019 for domestic violence).  That assistant GM was later fired.
• Then the Astros lose the 2019 World Series.
• Then in the off-season, a former Astro player tells MLB that the Astros were using video technology to steal pitching signs during their 2017 World Series championship season.  MLB investigates and finds this to be true.
• Yesterday, MLB levies a $5 million fine, loss of 1st and 2nd-round draft picks for 2020 and 2021, and a one-year suspension of their manager and general manager to the Astros.  Shortly afterward, the Astros' owner fires both of them.

But wait, it gets better:

• Alex Cora was a bench coach for the 2017 Astros and became manager of the 2018 Boston Red Sox.  Then the Red Sox win the 2018 World Series.  MLB named Cora as a central figure in Houston's illegal video sign stealing scheme.  Now, there is reporting that the Red Sox used the same sign stealing technology during that championship season and that MLB is also investigating.

But wait, it gets better:

• The LA Dodgers lost the 2017 World Series to the Astros and the 2018 World Series to the Red Sox - both teams now implicated in this illegal video sign stealing scandal(!)

Now Cora is out as Red Sox manager following the sign stealing scandals:

 

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/28485788/alex-cora-red-sox-manager-following-sign-stealing-scandals

This is garbage. Those were good years wasted away... the fans were cheated the most here... strip the titles from anyone caught cheating.. ohio state had a season vacated, why cant they?

Loving the Trevor Bauer Twitter account these days! ? 

20 hours ago, Columbo said:

The MLB hot stove is boiling over in Houston:

• It started right after the Astros won the 2019 AL title.  During the locker room celebration, an assistant GM harassed a group of female reporters by loudly bragging "how great it was to trade for their closer" (who had been suspended by MLB during the first half of 2019 for domestic violence).  That assistant GM was later fired.
• Then the Astros lose the 2019 World Series.
• Then in the off-season, a former Astro player tells MLB that the Astros were using video technology to steal pitching signs during their 2017 World Series championship season.  MLB investigates and finds this to be true.
• Yesterday, MLB levies a $5 million fine, loss of 1st and 2nd-round draft picks for 2020 and 2021, and a one-year suspension of their manager and general manager to the Astros.  Shortly afterward, the Astros' owner fires both of them.

But wait, it gets better:

• Alex Cora was a bench coach for the 2017 Astros and became manager of the 2018 Boston Red Sox.  Then the Red Sox win the 2018 World Series.  MLB named Cora as a central figure in Houston's illegal video sign stealing scheme.  Now, there is reporting that the Red Sox used the same sign stealing technology during that championship season and that MLB is also investigating.

But wait, it gets better:

• The LA Dodgers lost the 2017 World Series to the Astros and the 2018 World Series to the Red Sox - both teams now implicated in this illegal video sign stealing scandal(!)

 

 

cora is doneski, which is fine, nobody likes him.

 

now the spotlight is turning to beltran and the mets.

 

and on to the yankees when he was there (which i love because they were starting to whine like they were aggrieved lol).

 

the poor mets, they just cant do anything right. 

And now Beltran is out as the Mets manager.  He's the third manager to lose his job in the fallout of MLB's sign stealing scandal:

 

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/28496773/mets-agree-part-ways-manager-carlos-beltran

I had pretty much given up on baseball prior to this scandal. The fact that Houston cheated and still keeps their World Series title pushes me even further away from the sport.

You guys seeing these vids of Altuve asking his teammates not to rip his jersey? Rosenthal asked him about it on live TV!

a fan researched proof of the astros cheating:

 

https://nypost.com/2020/01/30/one-astros-fan-gathered-the-sign-stealing-data-its-undeniable/

The Dodgers pulled out a big "win-now" trade with the Red Sox:  https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/28636934/red-sox-agree-trade-mookie-betts-david-price-dodgers-3-team-deal

 

Red Sox agreed to trade Mookie Betts, David Price to Dodgers in 3-team deal that included the Twins.  The Red Sox got a prospect from the Dodgers and a prospect from the Twins, after the Dodgers sent a starting pitcher to the Twins.

 

The 27-year-old Betts is coming off a season in which he hit .295/.391/.524 and finished eighth in American League MVP voting.  He won the 2018 MVP, hitting .346/.438/.640 during the Red Sox's World Series winning season.  Betts will make $27 million this year and will be a free-agent after this season.

 

The 34-year-old Price was 7-5 with a 4.28 ERA in 107.1 innings last year, with two stints on the DL.  Price also has three more years and $96 million remaining on his contract.

 

Throughout the winter, Boston entertained offers for Betts, whose free-agent haul following the 2020 season could exceed $400 million.  And as Boston tries to dip beneath the $208 million luxury-tax threshold, clearing its books of Betts and Price will go a long way toward reaching that goal.  Meanwhile, the Dodgers are going all-in to win their first World Series since 1988, and possibly to wipe the memory of losing the 2017 and 2018 World Series to two teams found guilty of illegal pitch sign stealing.

i wouldn’t mind this new playoff format as long as they shorten up the regular season to accommodate the extra games:

 

 

https://nypost.com/2020/02/10/mlb-plotting-playoff-expansion-with-reality-tv-twist/

Spring Training opened this week in MLB.  Which usually is a glorious sign that spring (and the next baseball season) is on its way.  But it wasn't glorious for the Houston Astros.

 

Fresh off MLB's confirmation and punishments for their sign stealing scandal, this week was the first time for national media to directly ask questions of the Astros owner and Astros players in the mandatory Spring Training opening day press availability.  And it did not go down well - especially for the Astros owner - who started with an apology - then said it really didn't effect any game outcomes or taint the 2017 World Series title - then when pressed why he was apologizing if it didn't effect the game, said he was sorry that they "broke the rules".

 

And now the Astros are getting ripped from all sides:

 

https://sports.yahoo.com/baseball-fans-you-must-boo-the-astros-143310009.html

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/28693762/what-make-houston-astros-owner-jim-crane-public-non-apology

https://sports.yahoo.com/cody-bellinger-astros-stole-a-ring-from-dodgers-and-an-mvp-from-aaron-judge-174528694.html

This Astros cheating scandal has been blowing up since the start of Spring Training.  With reporters now able to talk to MLB players, players from other teams are unloading on the Astros players.

 

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/28711606/astros-rivals-wage-cheating-scandal-war-words-end-soon -- Now it is certainly understandable why Dodgers players would be salty about the Astros cheating a World Series title away from their team.

 

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/28717080/ex-dodgers-pitcher-yu-darvish-astros-stripped-title -- And it is certainly understandable why former Dodger pitcher Yu Darvish would rip the Astros.  Darvish was probably the individual most harmed financially by the Astros cheating.  He was a trade deadline pickup by the Dodgers in 2017 and got hammered in two WS starts against the Astros.  So much so that people thought Darvish was "tipping his pitches"(!)  And when Darvish went to free-agency in the off-season, his value was greatly diminished.

 

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/28728594/braves-nick-markakis-says-every-astro-needs-beating-sign-stealing -- But then players from teams not directly harmed by the Astros started speaking up.  Atlanta's Nick Markakis going the furthest, telling reporters "every single guy over there needs a beating".

 

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/28723423/angels-star-mike-trout-rips-astros-calls-more-punishment -- Even Mike Trout, the normally silent star of the Angels, had lots of negative things to say about the Astros.

 

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/28708747/carlos-correa-says-astros-won-world-series-fair-square -- Then Astros player Carlos Correa, who had career highs in batting average, RBI and OPS in 2017, said the Astros won the World Series "fair and square" and told Dodgers Cody Bellinger to "shut the f up".

 

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/28723815/dodgers-justin-turner-irate-touch-commissioner-rob-manfred -- Then MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred stepped in it.  While reacting to questions about the possibility of stripping the Astros of their 2017 title, he referred to the World Series trophy as just a "piece of metal".  Something he later apologized for.

 

So now Vegas is taking bets on how many Astros hitters will get beaned this season.

 

And that's not even taking into account how many Astros might get beaned during Spring Training games.

 

And MLB's report on sign stealing done by the 2018 World Series winning Boston Red Sox is due next week(!)

Someone needs to remake that retro 1960s Astros jersey in jailhouse stripes.  

Even the little leaguers are dropping the Astros name(!)

 

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/28709104/two-california-little-leagues-ban-use-astros

 

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/28742555/pennsylvania-little-league-district-drop-astros

Who says that MLB doesn't like irony?  In the Astros first spring training game, fans with signs heckling the Astros got their signs stolen(!) - well confiscated - by stadium personnel:

 

2 hours ago, Columbo said:

Who says that MLB doesn't like irony?  In the Astros first spring training game, fans with signs heckling the Astros got their signs stolen(!) - well confiscated - by stadium personnel:

 

 

MLB better get used to it.  This will be happening all summer long wherever the *'s go!     I may even have to take in a game at Progressive to see it first hand ? 

anyone know wassup with baseball and the corona?

 

can fans still attend spring training games?