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Post by rgs318 on Sept 21, 2018 8:44:42 GMT -5
Congratulations to the Sox and their devoted fans. Now on to the "new season" of the playoffs.
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Post by WCHC Sports on Oct 1, 2018 12:16:57 GMT -5
Kind of crazy, but it's entirely possible that the Marlins traded 2017's and 2018's MVPs away in the same offseason. I wonder if that's ever happened before?
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Post by timholycross on Oct 1, 2018 13:11:11 GMT -5
Using the end of July as my cutoff point (not sure exactly when trades got made, but that's the trading deadline), the Orioles played better ball (.319) after they got rid of everyone than they did before (.299). What a terrible season. 15 or so games worse than the Marlins, who tanked from the get-go.
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Post by Tom on Oct 1, 2018 14:48:55 GMT -5
How wild is it that there are two extra regular season games this year? NL central and NL west both need to go to 163 to decide.
I think I missed the memo, but in the early days of wild cards, the one game play-off was only used to decide if a team stayed home - not seedings in the play-offs. Back in 2005, the Sox and the Yankees tied in the regular season. However since the runner up was going to be the wild card, they didn't play an extra game. The Yankees were awarded the division title based on head to head vs the Sox.
The difference being back in those days, there was only one wild card per league and the Sox went immediately to a best of 5 ALDS same as the Yankees. There was no wild card game or effective bye for the division champ. I assume the change in tie breaking procedures came with the extra wild card and with it a meaningful disadvantage to the wild card
Another difference from those days. The Astros went on to win the pennant in 2005. The National League Pennant
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Post by alum on Oct 4, 2018 12:25:09 GMT -5
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Post by KY Crusader 75 on Oct 4, 2018 14:30:09 GMT -5
This is a fantastic piece of pop culture scholarship. As a native New Englander who later spent years in Saint Louis and Chicago, the Yankees/Red Sox; Cubs/White Sox, and Cardinals/Cubs maps are most interesting. Note that the Cubs own Downstate Illinois, not the Southside White Sox, until they run into Cardinals territory somewhere north of Springfield.
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Post by rgs318 on Oct 4, 2018 15:42:02 GMT -5
I always look forward to seeing Sox/Yanks match-ups. It is a great rivalry. Even when one team down (or both teams are) down it is typically a great game/series to watch. Of course, if the Sox never won, I could deal with that.
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Post by rgs318 on Oct 6, 2018 10:58:23 GMT -5
Not likely. They almost blew a 5-0 lead last night so we'll see. However, by taking game #1 in a five game series, the Sox are clearly in the driver's seat and it is now their series to lose...if the Yanks are to have a chance.
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Post by timholycross on Oct 6, 2018 11:14:09 GMT -5
After the 7th inning, they said that the Sox relievers had thrown two more strikes than balls..and somehow the Yankees only had scored 3 runs (with 2 guys on base when the first reliever came in). That's not going to end well most of the time.
Plus, Leon who's hitting .177 and went 0-3; made up for his poor hitting by saving the arsonists 2 or 3 wild pitches.
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Post by HCFC45 on Oct 10, 2018 0:14:24 GMT -5
Sox win the ALEast at Yankee Stadium on 9/20... Celebrating on "hallowed" soil... ! Sox win the ALDS at Yankee Stadium on 10/09... Celebrating on "hallowed" soil... ! A while back NAD expressed concern that the Sox might be blowing a 9 game lead and he was having trouble sleeping... ! Sleep well tonight NAD as the Sox are headed to the Division Series with the 'Stros! ! For those that think the Manager does not make a difference,look no further than Alex Cora! ! All in all: PRICELESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ! ! !
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Post by HCFC45 on Oct 10, 2018 6:59:15 GMT -5
Congratulations, to the Red Sox... Clearly, they were the better team. No great surprise among the Yankees faithful as many in Yankees fandom had serious misgivings about the Yankees line-up which was based on the home run or nothing at all, no true contact hitters. The starting pitching was suspect and the defense was poor. Boone made some very poor choices and was in over his head. Yankees management kept touting "analytics"/metrics in defense of their reliance purely on the home run and most people did not buy into it. We were right,Yankees management was wrong! Fortunately, the Yankees have a fulsome income stream and are quite a bit under the salary cap and thus should be able to improve their starting pitching and make the necessary adjustments to the line-up. On the other hand the Red Sox were a joy to watch in almost all phases of the game but their relief pitching does remain suspect. Cora did a great job. Red Sox vs. Astros, wow. LoveHC Very complimentary classmate and thank you for your kind words! If anybody had said to me at the beginning of the season that the Yankees will win 100 games and finish 8 games out to the Sox, I would have questioned what that person was smoking! The one thing that the Sox have is a mix of very good young players and a few good older ones! I agree with you that our bullpen is suspect! Kimbrell scares the heck out of me at times, but he usually gets the job done! In the meantime, life is good here since my wife is a Yankee fan; guess it is payback for all the years we suffered losing to the Yanks! Well done Yanks, we look forward to more battles next year!
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Post by Tom on Oct 10, 2018 8:30:21 GMT -5
Congratulations, to the Red Sox... Clearly, they were the better team. No great surprise among the Yankees faithful as many in Yankees fandom had serious misgivings about the Yankees line-up which was based on the home run or nothing at all, no true contact hitters. The starting pitching was suspect and the defense was poor. Boone made some very poor choices and was in over his head. Yankees management kept touting "analytics"/metrics in defense of their reliance purely on the home run and most people did not buy into it. We were right,Yankees management was wrong! Fortunately, the Yankees have a fulsome income stream and are quite a bit under the salary cap and thus should be able to improve their starting pitching and make the necessary adjustments to the line-up. On the other hand the Red Sox were a joy to watch in almost all phases of the game but their relief pitching does remain suspect. Cora did a great job. Red Sox vs. Astros, wow. LoveHC Funny season with AL have's and have nots. 3 teams with 100 wins and 3 teams with 100 losses. This has to be unprecedented. You wonder to some degree if win totals were inflated by playing some horrible teams. Still, the Yankees were a darn good team that won 100 games with some serious star time lost to injury. Obviously, I am always happy when the Sox win and I'm also happy when the Yankees lose. At the risk of sounding like a poor winner - special call out to HC92
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Post by hchoops on Oct 10, 2018 8:34:57 GMT -5
92 either has overslept or is still trying to get to sleep
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Post by sader1970 on Oct 10, 2018 8:44:33 GMT -5
Are they STILL playing baseball? Shouldn’t the World Series have been over by now?😂
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Post by Tom on Oct 10, 2018 10:07:59 GMT -5
Are they STILL playing baseball? Shouldn’t the World Series have been over by now?😂 In Ted Williams' only World Series, today would have been game 4
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Post by sader1970 on Oct 10, 2018 10:26:21 GMT -5
If he was a Yankee, he would have played in lot more World Series.
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Post by timholycross on Oct 10, 2018 13:01:52 GMT -5
The 1967 series, 7 games, got over on October 12. This year it's possible the season would end on Halloween or November 1 even.
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Post by hchoops on Oct 10, 2018 13:05:22 GMT -5
At least it won’t be in Denver
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Post by Tom on Oct 10, 2018 14:13:17 GMT -5
Game 7 is scheduled for Oct 31 this year - although a rainout on the 30th or 31st could push it back
As long as I can remember the season ended around the end of September. They used to just move to the World Series. Then with expansion, they split leagues into divisions and added a best 3 of 5 championship series for the pennant in 1969. In the mid 80's they stretched things out again changing it to 4 of 7. Ten years later they stretched again breaking into 3 divisions and a wildcard and adding a 3 of 5 division series. A few years ago they added a wild card and a one game wild card game. They haven't changed the season but just keep adding layers to the play-offs. I get the fact that in the olden days, the best of eight teams went to the play-offs. but now there are 15 teams in each league and one in 15 is a little tough. On the other hand we're down to having two teams who were the second best of 5.
There is some push to add play-off games and turn the wild card game into a best of 3 series. Could get mighty cold in Fenway
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Post by timholycross on Oct 11, 2018 12:41:16 GMT -5
Game 7 is scheduled for Oct 31 this year - although a rainout on the 30th or 31st could push it back As long as I can remember the season ended around the end of September. They used to just move to the World Series. Then with expansion, they split leagues into divisions and added a best 3 of 5 championship series for the pennant in 1969. In the mid 80's they stretched things out again changing it to 4 of 7. Ten years later they stretched again breaking into 3 divisions and a wildcard and adding a 3 of 5 division series. A few years ago they added a wild card and a one game wild card game. They haven't changed the season but just keep adding layers to the play-offs. I get the fact that in the olden days, the best of eight teams went to the play-offs. but now there are 15 teams in each league and one in 15 is a little tough. On the other hand we're down to having two teams who were the second best of 5. There is some push to add play-off games and turn the wild card game into a best of 3 series. Could get mighty cold in Fenway I don't know why they are married to 162 games. Cutting a divisional game off would make it 158 and there would still be 18 X 4 divisional games.
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Post by hchoops on Oct 11, 2018 13:02:52 GMT -5
Maybe to keep the record book uniform, at least since the end of 154 The memory of the furor over the HR record remains
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Post by Tom on Oct 11, 2018 13:05:49 GMT -5
They seem more inclined to push the start forward and reduce Spring training. At the request of the union to have more scheduled days off, this season started in March already. 158 would make more sense
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Post by hchoops on Oct 11, 2018 13:15:20 GMT -5
Will not happen for the reasons I have stated in my prior post
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Post by CHC8485 on Oct 11, 2018 13:56:42 GMT -5
Used to love the schedule when there were 4 divisions. You used to play 18 games against each team your division (90 games) and 12 against the other division (72 games). But more than that, it went in a symmetrical pattern. Season started with ~30 games against your division (generally 5 Home and Home 3 games series) Next 36 games against the oterh division (generally 6 Home and Home 3 games series) ~30 against your division ~36 against the otehr division ~30 games against your division to finish the year When only the division winners made the playoffs, unless you were the equivalent of this years Orioles, that final month always had some juice - and worst case if you were the 1978 Mets, you at least had the opportunity throw a wrench into a division post season outlook when you brought up some kids from the AAA. With 30 teams, 6 divisions, interleague games, and 10 playoff teams - I would say scheduling like that is impossible. Time for a re-organization. Anyone for 10, three team divisions???
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Post by JRGNYR on Oct 11, 2018 14:10:55 GMT -5
I don't think we'll ever see a reduction in regular-season games at this point. Owners won't go for it because fewer home games means fewer revenue opportunities.
Speaking of reorg, I think it was bandied about maybe 15-20 years ago to completely blow up the current divisional/league setup and go to conferences similar to the other pro sports. Divisions would essentially merge, so you could potentially see an Eastern division with the Red Sox, Yankees, Mets, Phillies, Orioles and Nationals. Ultimately that idea was shelved. I don't know how serious it was being discussed, but I'm sure the idea of jettisoning the AL and NL setup caused quite a stir among the traditionalists in the room.
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