BASE-BALL

[ET21]

Giolito was only the 5th pitcher to be perfect through 6 innings in a postseason appearance yesterday

[triplemultiplex]

DH sucks.
If they're gonna do that, then why not replace other position players with another DH?  Most catchers suck at hitting.  DH for them.  And there's always one guy on every team with a good glove but can't hit their way out of a paper bag.  (That's why we have the "Mendoza Line" after all.). Another DH!
In fact, let's just have a whole team of DH's and leave the fielding to a whole different set of 9 dudes.
And you know, while we're at it, since most of baseball has devolved into nothing but strike outs and home runs, let's shit-can the defense entirely and just put some targets out on the field and if the DH's hit the ball there, they get bases and drive in runs.  Baseball becomes friggin' "Top Golf".  Remove the defense entirely from consideration because that's what all the impatient rubes out there want: nothing but goddamn home runs!!

[SEWIGuy]

DH sucks.
If they're gonna do that, then why not replace other position players with another DH?  Most catchers suck at hitting.  DH for them.  And there's always one guy on every team with a good glove but can't hit their way out of a paper bag.  (That's why we have the "Mendoza Line" after all.). Another DH!
In fact, let's just have a whole team of DH's and leave the fielding to a whole different set of 9 dudes.
And you know, while we're at it, since most of baseball has devolved into nothing but strike outs and home runs, let's shit-can the defense entirely and just put some targets out on the field and if the DH's hit the ball there, they get bases and drive in runs.  Baseball becomes friggin' "Top Golf".  Remove the defense entirely from consideration because that's what all the impatient rubes out there want: nothing but goddamn home runs!!

Engaging in a reductio ad absurdum argument is rather poor way of making your point.

[triplemultiplex]

Engaging in a reductio ad absurdum argument is rather poor way of making your point.

But it's way funnier.

[CoreySamson]

Well, the Twins got knocked out by the Astros in the wild card, marking their 18th straight postseason loss.

Now I'm rooting for the White Sox to finish off the A's so the Astros don't play them again. 

[ilpt4u]

Cubbies were eliminated by the Marlins this afternoon

So far, we have an All NL East NLDS, an All AL East ALDS, and an All AL West ALDS, and we may have an All NL West NLDS, pending the result of tonight's Redbirds/Friars tilt

The AL and NL Central teams so far have not fared well in this Playoff format

[triplemultiplex]

I hope MLB takes heed from these extra wild card games and leaves them in this pandemic season where they belong.

No one wants to see two more games between sub-500 teams and the contenders before the real meat and potatoes of the playoffs.

The extra wild card team is enough of a stretch.

I do like that the teams with best respective league records don't automatically go to the World Series like in the long-long ago.  That might have flown when there were 10 fewer teams, but not today.  Some teams have years where, in their division, they are a big fish in a small pond and have a lot of powder puff match-ups while another division is more competitive.  They gotta prove their mettle.

[SEWIGuy]

Agreed.  There weren't many people watching these games either.

The one-game Wild Card is fun because it's instant drama.  A good introduction to the playoffs.  But this format is a little too much, and the drama gets lost in the shuffle.  Lack of fans doesn't help.

A think the ratings for the rest of the playoffs are going to be miserable as well.  Neutral sites games between division opponents.  There just doesn't feel to be much "momentum" heading into the post season.

[thspfc]

The two best teams in the NL as of right now, the Dodgers and Padres, could very well face each other in the Dvisional series.

Got em

[kurumi]

DH sucks.
If they're gonna do that, then why not replace other position players with another DH?  Most catchers suck at hitting.  DH for them.  And there's always one guy on every team with a good glove but can't hit their way out of a paper bag.  (That's why we have the "Mendoza Line" after all.). Another DH!
In fact, let's just have a whole team of DH's and leave the fielding to a whole different set of 9 dudes.
And you know, while we're at it, since most of baseball has devolved into nothing but strike outs and home runs, let's shit-can the defense entirely and just put some targets out on the field and if the DH's hit the ball there, they get bases and drive in runs.  Baseball becomes friggin' "Top Golf".  Remove the defense entirely from consideration because that's what all the impatient rubes out there want: nothing but goddamn home runs!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTmLz9B8wls

[Desert Man]

I want the Dodgers in the world series and they may defeat the Padres to advance to the NLCS vs the "bad news" Braves. I'm glad the Yankees (the team everyone loves to hate) were eliminated by the #1 AL team, the Tampa Bay Rays who will face the current AL champs the Houston Astros in the ALCS. I understand the Marlins were expected to dominate the shortened 2020 MLB season, but half the 30-man roster contracted COVID-19 in a state with a huge load of virus this summer and they were falling in the standings. Hats off to the Marlins: team of the year, and sadly, the Oakland A's couldn't land in an all-CA world series dream. In 1974, the A's won their 3-peat vs the Dodgers and 14 years later (1988), the Dodgers beaten the A's. 

[Desert Man]

I think are the Brewers are the worst team to make the playoffs in MLB history.

The Brewers and Astros both finished 29-31, but the Astros are seeded 6th in the AL due to being a 2nd place team.

LOL, the teams were in opposite leagues when I was a 80s-90s kid: the NL Brewers in the AL and the AL Astros in the NL.

Ironically, the triple-A Pacific Coast League Fresno Grizzlies were Astros and Nationals farm teams in the last 4 years, they played a role in supplying world series experience, and I hope they return playing in the 2021 season. About 40? 42? 44? Minor League baseball teams are to be eliminated. The COVID pandemic along with the Great Recession and the internet today was like television in the 1950s-60s-70s reduced the presence of the minors, which had a comeback in the 1980s-90s-2000s, now many teams and (esp. independent) leagues are folding up everywhere.

In 1963, there were Open class, AAA, AA, A-1, A, B, C, D and non-affiliated E and F, only the As survived the 1963 reorganization, now it's going to eliminate short-season A and Advanced Rookie...and 6 out of 8 teams in the California League (Class A-Advanced) except for the state's 3rd largest city San Jose and in Southern Cal, Lake Elsinore are in financial difficulties, the worst cases are Lancaster within a hour from Los Angeles in the namesake county and Visalia (current league champs) in a 2,500-seat ballpark (it may be compliant in Cal League standards).

[Takumi]

I'm glad the Yankees (the team everyone loves to hate) were eliminated by the #1 AL team, the Tampa Bay Rays

Except they weren't. They won last night to force a game 5. Unless you're a day ahead of us.

[Henry]

I'm so glad that the Braves knocked the Marlins out. Ever since the Marlins came from behind to defeat my beloved Cubs in that controversial NLCS back in '03, I've grown to hate them, and I'm forever grateful to Atlanta for dealing them their first postseason series loss after sweeping the Cubs in the Wild Card round. Not only that, I'm also happy that the Braves got revenge for their upset loss in the '97 NLCS (I'm sure that memory still stings, 23 years later).

[NWI_Irish96]

I'm so glad that the Braves knocked the Marlins out. Ever since the Marlins came from behind to defeat my beloved Cubs in that controversial NLCS back in '03, I've grown to hate them, and I'm forever grateful to Atlanta for dealing them their first postseason series loss after sweeping the Cubs in the Wild Card round. Not only that, I'm also happy that the Braves got revenge for their upset loss in the '97 NLCS (I'm sure that memory still stings, 23 years later).

The Cubs got swept by a team that got swept in the next round. Now we need the Braves to get swept by the Dodgers and the Dodgers by the AL Champs and the Cubs can be statistically the worst playoff team ever.

[Alps]

I'm glad the Yankees (the team everyone loves to hate) were eliminated by the #1 AL team, the Tampa Bay Rays

Except they weren't. They won last night to force a game 5. Unless you're a day ahead of us.

I'm excited for a Yankees (the team everyone loves) victory tonight.

[Takumi]

I'm glad the Yankees (the team everyone loves to hate) were eliminated by the #1 AL team, the Tampa Bay Rays

Except they weren't. They won last night to force a game 5. Unless you're a day ahead of us.

I'm excited for a Yankees (the team everyone loves) victory tonight.

Well, at least one of you was right.

* Takumi drinks in Orioles fan

[Desert Man]

I'm glad the Yankees (the team everyone loves to hate) were eliminated by the #1 AL team, the Tampa Bay Rays

Except they weren't. They won last night to force a game 5. Unless you're a day ahead of us.

I'm excited for a Yankees (the team everyone loves) victory tonight.

Well, at least one of you was right.

* Takumi drinks in Orioles fan

I thought the Rays won last night, but on game 5, the Rays won anyway 2-1. Despite the Yankees are held as the best team in MLB history, this wasn't the case in 2020. It took a single homer by Brousseau to take the Rays to their first ALCS since 2008.

[Alps]

I'm glad the Yankees (the team everyone loves to hate) were eliminated by the #1 AL team, the Tampa Bay Rays

Except they weren't. They won last night to force a game 5. Unless you're a day ahead of us.

I'm excited for a Yankees (the team everyone loves) victory tonight.

Well, at least one of you was right.

* Takumi drinks in Orioles fan

I'm sad, but I'm now a Rays fan for the rest of the playoffs. I want them to squash the other guys completely flat and stand up for the Yankees that should have been there in 2017 and 2019.

[Takumi]

I'm glad the Yankees (the team everyone loves to hate) were eliminated by the #1 AL team, the Tampa Bay Rays

Except they weren't. They won last night to force a game 5. Unless you're a day ahead of us.

I'm excited for a Yankees (the team everyone loves) victory tonight.

Well, at least one of you was right.

* Takumi drinks in Orioles fan

I'm sad, but I'm now a Rays fan for the rest of the playoffs. I want them to squash the other guys completely flat and stand up for the Yankees that should have been there in 2017 and 2019.

That's a fair take. I think they'll have more of a chance beating the Dodgers (or Braves, for that matter) than the Astros do without Verlander anyway.

[NWI_Irish96]

For all the moaning and complaining about this playoff format making it harder for the best teams, the LCS will feature both #1 seeds and one #2 seed.

[ilpt4u]

For all the moaning and complaining about this playoff format making it harder for the best teams, the LCS will feature both #1 seeds and one #2 seed.

If anything, I think this format (and season) shows MLB could go back to 2 Divisions per league and just take the Top 2 teams by record from each Division. Then expand the DS round to 7 games to make up for the lost WC games, for game inventory for the networks

Of course, with unified rules, there may be a time that MLB scraps the whole AL/NL anyway, then there could simple be the North, South, East, and West Divisions (or however MLB would carve up the 30 teams into 4 MLB-Wide Divisions)

[jeffandnicole]

For all the moaning and complaining about this playoff format making it harder for the best teams, the LCS will feature both #1 seeds and one #2 seed.

If anything, I think this format (and season) shows MLB could go back to 2 Divisions per league and just take the Top 2 teams by record from each Division. Then expand the DS round to 7 games to make up for the lost WC games, for game inventory for the networks

Of course, with unified rules, there may be a time that MLB scraps the whole AL/NL anyway, then there could simple be the North, South, East, and West Divisions (or however MLB would carve up the 30 teams into 4 MLB-Wide Divisions)

One of the positives of smaller divisions is more chances of division leaders.  There's not much fun in baseball when your team is in 3rd place with a good record.  And while Wild Card spots help add games to the playoffs, not many teams enjoy celebrating "Hey, we made it in as a Wild Card".

[Desert Man]

I see a reorganized profile of the Minors whenever they can play seasons again after the COVID pandemic is over.

Pacific Coast League (AAA):
Tacoma (Mariners), Portland (independent-the "Mavericks" debut in 2022), San Jose (A's-probable), Sacramento (Giants), Reno (possibly Padres, like the Class-A team they had in the 1970s-80s), Las Vegas (currently A's-could go to D'backs being close to Arizona), maybe Fresno (Nationals), Rancho Cucamonga (class-A Cal League could move up), El Paso (Padres-could become independent or co-op with Latin American pro teams), Salt Lake (Angels), Albuquerque (Rockies), Round Rock (Astros), San Antonio (Brewers), Oklahoma City demoted to double-A in Texas League with a new rival team in Lubbock in Texas, Wichita (Marlins), Omaha (Royals) and Iowa (Cubs).

Geographically, Memphis and Nashville would fare better in the current 14-team International League.

California League (class A):
Inland Empire (Angels), Lake Elsinore (Padres), High Desert (Rockies) the area had a Cal League team before 1991-2016, Lancaster (Dodgers) to replace contracted JetHawks, Visalia (D'backs), Modesto (Mariners), Stockton (A's) and San Jose could move to Santa Clara (Giants) with its history of Cal League teams before.

Western (Pecos) League (class A-AA level):
Bakersfield, California City, Wasco, Hollywood-L.A., Salinas, Monterey, Santa Cruz, Martinez, San Rafael and River Islands (Lathrop). Teams tend to fold or suspend operations.

Pacific Association (class Rookie-A level):
Sonoma, Napa, Vallejo, Pittsburg, California (Solano County) and Contra Costa County - not sure what city.

And the MiLB Dream League proposal, they acquired control of the St. Paul Saints and Sugar Land Skeeters. 3 cities in CA want a minor league team: Chico, Escondido and Ventura County. The league is unaffiliated and has prospect players who are not yet signed up to the majors. On TV news reports, Aberdeen MD, Burlington IO, Lowell MA and New York City's Brooklyn teams could be spared from contraction and join the MiLB Dream League. The Carolina, Eastern and Southern Leagues may expand to 2 teams each in order for each 30 major league teams have a class AAA, class AA and 2 class A farm teams each.

[Alps]

For all the moaning and complaining about this playoff format making it harder for the best teams, the LCS will feature both #1 seeds and one #2 seed.

If anything, I think this format (and season) shows MLB could go back to 2 Divisions per league and just take the Top 2 teams by record from each Division. Then expand the DS round to 7 games to make up for the lost WC games, for game inventory for the networks

Of course, with unified rules, there may be a time that MLB scraps the whole AL/NL anyway, then there could simple be the North, South, East, and West Divisions (or however MLB would carve up the 30 teams into 4 MLB-Wide Divisions)

They're gonna want to go to 32 teams someday, and I think it'll be like the other 32 team leagues: 8 divisions, one winner from each, 3 playoff rounds.