MLB

[mikey]

For the guys that follow baseball closely...any place I should be putting my money this playoffs...? Individual games, series, for the World Series, etc.?

I lost on the Cubs last night (Jon Lester is a mule...I would have left him in in a one run game), so no where to go but up...

[Troy Loney]

Yeah, I grew up liking the Cubs. They were always my team along with the Buccos. But over the last few years, and especially this year, they just have become unlikable.

In 2015 this happened.

https://www.mlb.com/news/pirates-jung-h ... -150117808

Kang was the Pirates second best hitter that year. Eternal scrub Chris Coghlan breaks his leg on a dirty take-out slide. Madden goes on to mock Kang when asked about the incident after the game. Then the Cubs go on to beat the Pirates in the WC game as the offense is anemic against other noted prick Jake Arrieta.

That was when I learned Madded was a **** head, and have despised the Cubs since then. Fast forward to this year, Rizzo again tries to break a Pirates leg off, and Madden responds the same way. They are all scum.

[Troy Loney]

For the guys that follow baseball closely...any place I should be putting my money this playoffs...? Individual games, series, for the World Series, etc.?

I lost on the Cubs last night (Jon Lester is a mule...I would have left him in in a one run game), so no where to go but up...

The Dodgers and Brewers both enter the playoffs on a roll. I expect the Dodgers to beat the Braves, but am not sure about how the Brewers and Rockies match up.

The Red Sox should advance against the Yankees or A's. The Indians and Astros is the prime matchup in the first round, I would bet on Houston.

[mikey]

Thank you sir

[willeyeam]

The A's too. Forgot about them. Though the last thing us Pirate fan need is an A's world series win after the front office comments yesterday

What did the Bucco front office say yesterday.

Coonelly pointed at the A's as evidence that spending money doesn't mean success.

One might even go as far as to say he pointed at the A's as evidence not spending means success

[Dickie Dunn]

The A's are bullpenning tonight.

The Athletics’ full plan for tonight’s AL wild card game was revealed not when Bob Melvin named reliever Liam Hendriks the starter—though Hendriks prefers the term “opener”—but when Mike Fiers, one of two true starters, was left off the roster for this game. That leaves only Edwin Jackson, and he’s there in case of extra innings. The A’s are bullpenning.

Hendriks, a 29-year-old Australian righty, was DFAed in June and cleared waivers and sent down to Triple A, only being called back up when rosters expanded in September. His overall numbers haven’t been good this year, but he’s been successful as an opener: in eight “starts” he’s gone 8.2 innings with a 2.02 ERA. Opening against the Yankees on Sept. 4, he threw a 1-2-3 first inning.

So what should we expect from this game? Hendriks will take the mound first because three of the Yankees’ expected first four hitters—Andrew McCutchen, Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton—are righties, and the fourth, Aaron Hicks, a switch-hitter.

At the back end of the game, if things go according to plan, the sixth through ninth innings will belong to setup men Fernando Rodney and Jeurys Familia, and all-star closer Blake Treinen, who will probably go multiple innings. That leaves four innings in between, for some combination of Ryan Buchter, Shawn Kelley, Yusmeiro Petit, and Lou Trivino.

[MWB]

I assume the Yankees will do something similar. Unless Severino is lights out, which is unlikely given his second half, he'll be out early and it's a bullpen battle.

[Troy Loney]

I just saw graphic that overlaid all the fly ball outs for Oakland within the Yankee stadium dimensions. yikes.

[shafnutz05]

I just saw graphic that overlaid all the fly ball outs for Oakland within the Yankee stadium dimensions. yikes.

I just saw that too....I thought the MLB minimum was 325 feet in the corners?

[mikey]

So Oakland will hit 8,000 homeruns...?

[llipgh2]

I wouldn't mind the Yankees winning solely for the fact Cutch would have his World Series victory.

If not Cutch, the Rockies or Cleveland. Ever other team, meh.

[iamjs]

Rockies and tribe.

This is my rooting interest now.

If I had to list WS rooting interest:

Rockies
Brewers
Indians
A's
Dodgers
Braves
Astros
Red Sox
Yankees

I can't believe I'm gonna say this, but move the Yankees up a few spots and move the Dodgers down to the bottom.

Rockies - it's the least of all evils, plus they've never won one
Stros - I'm ok with them repeating, plus they developed a lot of their own talent and weren't afraid to spend when needed.

A's - small market team like the Pirates, sure why not? If they want to be the model for the Pirates, then the Pirates better have an answer if the A's win.
Braves - meh, whatever.
Indians - I'm also indifferent to them also, but they go further down the list because it's Cleveland

Yankees - Cutch, Walker. I can look past them being the Yankees for a year
Brewers - never liked them, never liked Braun.
Red Sox/Dodgers - can't think of any reason to root for either team

[MWB]

I just saw graphic that overlaid all the fly ball outs for Oakland within the Yankee stadium dimensions. yikes.

I just saw that too....I thought the MLB minimum was 325 feet in the corners?

Wonder how that compares to other teams. It actually doesn't seem that extreme, and you pitchers will pitch players differently because of the short right porch.

I've never heard anything about a minimum... a few parks have short corners, especially the older ones.

[MrKennethTKangaroo]

yankee stadium probably is granfathered in

[Orlando Penguin]

Order of preference for me...

Rockies
Brewers
Braves
Astros
Dodgers


A's

Red Sox






Indians






















Yankees

[MWB]

yankee stadium probably is granfathered in

The current Yankee Stadium opened in 2009, but maybe the old dimensions were grandfathered in. Obviously Fenway has lesser dimensions. I think some of the newer ones are less than 325. I've just never heard of a minimum.

[shafnutz05]

FYI, this is where I pulled the 325 number from:

http://m.mlb.com/glossary/rules/field-dimensions

[MWB]

Severino off to a good start.

[Troy Loney]

I thought there was a chance the A's could sneak through a one-game series with the no-starter thing. But that strategy wouldn't be able to hold in a series against any of these remaining lineups.

The Yankees have a decided BP edge in this series, I think that gives them an interesting path here, especially with Sale being less than 100%.

[iamjs]

FYI, this is where I pulled the 325 number from:

http://m.mlb.com/glossary/rules/field-dimensions

Were the Pirates allowed to do the 320 ft right field because of the Clemente Wall?

[MWB]

I assume any short distance needs to have some sort of high wall to offset, and that Yankee Stadium was allowed because it's the same dimensions as the original.

[Troy Loney]

LA is going to just coast through the NL here. They had to do a lot of piecing together this season and are coming together at the right time.

[shafnutz05]

Gerrit Cole becomes the second player in MLB history to record 12 strikeouts and no walks in a postseason game, the first being Tom Seaver.

[MR25]

That's an oddly specific stat

[Orlando Penguin]

The Brewers unconventional pitching gameplan of the starter going 4 or maybe 5 innings and then leaving it to the bullpen has worked out pretty well with Milwaukee now winning 12 in a row and advancing to the NLCS.