My predictions, which are probably wrong. It’s kind of hard because there is no clear cut dominant team.
NLWC: Braves over Cards
ALWC: O’s over Rangers
NLDS: Giants over Reds, Braves over Nats
ALDS: Yankess over O’s, A’s over Tigers
NLCS: Braves over Giants
ALCS: A’s over Yankees
WS: Braves over A’s
Alright…
AL WC : Rangers - I found out they’re throwing Joe Saunders out there for game 1. I can’t stand him
NLWC : Braves
ALDS: Tigers and Rangers
NLDS: Braves and Reds
ALCS: Rangers
NLCS: Braves
WS: Rangers over Braves
The problem with these 1 game playoffs is they are pretty close to being 50/50.
As far as predictions go, if you’re going to pick an upset, it should be in that round. Still, I couldn’t pick the O’s over the Rangers because of the O’s decision to start Joe Saunders.
I think I’ve chosen quite riskily picking the Reds over the Giants and the Rangers winning the ALDS even after burning their #1 started in the WC game.
So I said this at the beginning of the year"
"Ha! I expect the opposite… Bobby Valentine? Of all the managers, Valentine? Geez. They got rid of the winningest manager and GM in Red Sox history because of one bad month. I thought that was really stupid. I get there was a discipline issue going on in Boston, but I don’t think that was responsible for their collapse. In the Red Sox case, their issue it they thought they had it in the bag and they weren’t putting forth any effort.
Anyhow, I see Boston third in the AL East. Perhaps a hot start, but they will fade as they try to figure out what is going wrong. "
I was wrong… Last place, Valentine fired. Good. Fuck the Red Sox.
All I want is a Cardinal’s loss today! I fucking hate the Cards! GO REDSSSSSS!!! Votto for President!!
A lot of us all have different picks. The experts are struggling with the same thing as you can see. A lot of parity is a good thing.
Just read the Jays drafted failed prospect Chad Jenkins 5 spots earlier than Trout.
FML
[quote]therajraj wrote:
Just read the Jays drafted failed prospect Chad Jenkins 5 spots earlier than Trout.
FML[/quote]
Don’t worry, the Padres drafted Matt Bush over Justin Verlander. Although I think part of the issue was money.
[quote]strungoutboy21 wrote:
My predictions, which are probably wrong. It’s kind of hard because there is no clear cut dominant team.
NLWC: Braves over Cards
ALWC: O’s over Rangers
NLDS: Giants over Reds, Braves over Nats
ALDS: Yankess over O’s, A’s over Tigers
NLCS: Braves over Giants
ALCS: A’s over Yankees
WS: Braves over A’s
[/quote]
Rangers over O’s, over Yanks and over Nats in the WS.
Well looks like i’m going to lose my first prediction. The Braves are just choking with all of the errors. Too bad for Medlen, he pitched a pretty good game. Cardinals have six runs on four hits, ouch.
That was a great “infield fly” rule. Should have been a routine fly ball for the left fielder if he weren’t playing so deep.
[quote]strungoutboy21 wrote:
That was a great “infield fly” rule. Should have been a routine fly ball for the left fielder if he weren’t playing so deep.[/quote]
It was the correct call but he made it WAY too late. I’m almost positive that the umpire is supposed to have made the call right after the ball reaches the apex of its flight. If it isn’t clear at that point whether the INfielder can make the play with ordinary effort then he can’t call it.
I know that’s how it was when I was coaching Pony baseball because a similar issue came up in a game and I went nuts on the ump but the rulebook at the time explicitly stated as much and when I showed it to him he was forced to overrule his own call. I’m almost positive that league actually uses the exact same rules used in MLB.
At any rate, the guy fucking called it when it was about 20 feet over the infielder. The rule states that an infielder has to be able to make the play with ordinary effort, which excludes the outfielder. I can’t think of any time where I’ve seen an infield fly called and then the ball is caught by an outfielder instead. That could have easily happened here.
But technically, if the infielder can get all the way out to the warning track with “ordinary” effort, which basically means the ball is hit so fucking high that he can literally drift out to it, it can be called an infield fly. But the call has to be made much sooner than it was tonight because the runners can then advance at their own risk once the call is made. The way this call was made so late it’s like calling strike three half an hour after the pitch was thrown.
wait so if the Rangers lose they’re out of the playoffs? WTF…
[quote]DBCooper wrote:
[quote]strungoutboy21 wrote:
That was a great “infield fly” rule. Should have been a routine fly ball for the left fielder if he weren’t playing so deep.[/quote]
It was the correct call but he made it WAY too late. I’m almost positive that the umpire is supposed to have made the call right after the ball reaches the apex of its flight. If it isn’t clear at that point whether the INfielder can make the play with ordinary effort then he can’t call it.
I know that’s how it was when I was coaching Pony baseball because a similar issue came up in a game and I went nuts on the ump but the rulebook at the time explicitly stated as much and when I showed it to him he was forced to overrule his own call. I’m almost positive that league actually uses the exact same rules used in MLB.
At any rate, the guy fucking called it when it was about 20 feet over the infielder. The rule states that an infielder has to be able to make the play with ordinary effort, which excludes the outfielder. I can’t think of any time where I’ve seen an infield fly called and then the ball is caught by an outfielder instead. That could have easily happened here.
But technically, if the infielder can get all the way out to the warning track with “ordinary” effort, which basically means the ball is hit so fucking high that he can literally drift out to it, it can be called an infield fly. But the call has to be made much sooner than it was tonight because the runners can then advance at their own risk once the call is made. The way this call was made so late it’s like calling strike three half an hour after the pitch was thrown.[/quote]
It could have been called either way. If the ump never called it you would have never heard the Cardinals argue that he should have called it. Either way the Braves still had plenty of chances and blew them away.
Also, looks like i’m at least right about the O’s going to win! I wasn’t going to pick the Rangers because they looked so flat at the end of the season.
So I just read this whole win or go home rule was implemented this year. It is so ridiculous and unfair. I’ve kind of given up on baseball anyway so I’m not even going to be bothered in joining the probably growing campaign of people who are protesting this thing.
But really, why do baseball teams play 160 games? So we can differentiate the teams on performance and gauge where they rank relative to each other, right? How does it make sense then, that we just ignore the whole season and have two teams with virtually equal records decide which one is better in a single playoff elimination? Okay, Texas had the division lined up and they ‘choked’ in the last week of the season but again, why are we playing so many games in the regular season? What the fuck is so bad with making it a best of 3 Wildcard series, at least?
Selig and Major League Baseball just lost another fan today.
Well I guess I’ll rearrange my pics
O’s over Yankees
Cards over Nats.
Yankees have sucked basically since july. Had the O’s faced the Rangers in a 5 game series it wouldn’t’ve been close. The stealing of the AL West by the A’s might just end up being one of the most integral parts of the playoffs this year for the O’s.
Yankees look highly beatable, O’s look like the team of destiny, and anything can happen in a 1-game WC play-in.
[quote]therajraj wrote:
Yankees have sucked basically since july. Had the O’s faced the Rangers in a 5 game series it wouldn’t’ve been close. The stealing of the AL West by the A’s might just end up being one of the most integral parts of the playoffs this year for the O’s.
Yankees look highly beatable, O’s look like the team of destiny, and anything can happen in a 1-game WC play-in.
[/quote]
The only good thing coming out of the rangers loss for me will be this series. These two teams have battled it out all year and now they have five games to decide who goes on. Should be fun to watch. Rooting for the O’s.
I’m not suprised by the Rangers loss either. Just extremely dissapointed. Scoring only one run off Saunders was pretty sad. I don’t know if this was as big of a collapse as the Red Sox or Braves last year, but it’s pretty close. They had to win one of their last five games (counting the WC game) and couldn’t do it.
[quote]Gettnitdone wrote:
So I just read this whole win or go home rule was implemented this year. It is so ridiculous and unfair. I’ve kind of given up on baseball anyway so I’m not even going to be bothered in joining the probably growing campaign of people who are protesting this thing.
But really, why do baseball teams play 160 games? So we can differentiate the teams on performance and gauge where they rank relative to each other, right? How does it make sense then, that we just ignore the whole season and have two teams with virtually equal records decide which one is better in a single playoff elimination? Okay, Texas had the division lined up and they ‘choked’ in the last week of the season but again, why are we playing so many games in the regular season? What the fuck is so bad with making it a best of 3 Wildcard series, at least?
Selig and Major League Baseball just lost another fan today. [/quote]
I actually like it more today than I did when it was implemented, even after the Rangers loss. It gives division winners so much more of an advantage, which I think is good. How many Wild card team have limped into the postseason lately and won the Worled Series? Cardinals last year, Marlins in 03, Yankees in 96 off of the top of my head, which is quite a few. Why should a team that finished second in the division get the same shot at the playoffs as the team the finished ahead of them all year? I think having one game is important so it forces the teams to use their ace (or not depending on how gutsy they are) which put them at a disadvantage for the division series also. It SHOULD be harder for WC teams, and division winners SHOULD be rewarded for playing better over the coarse of 162 games imo.
Another reason I wouldn’t want to see the Giants sign Hamilton this offseason: four outs, two strikeouts, EIGHT total pitches seen. Last 9 games of the season: 10 for 39 with 17 strikeouts plus the back-breaking error on a routine flyball that he lost purely due to a lack of concentration.
The guy is a fucking head case, plain and simple. His mental approach is such that he shrinks up into a little ball down the stretch and his approach to hitting is such that he can easily be neutralized by good, smart pitching, which is what teams always have in the postseason, for the most part. Rangers fans sounded like they’d had enough of him after last night’s game.