2019 MLB Thread

[pg1067]

MLB "lets do a players only weekend where the players can put nicknames on their jerseys!"

MLB "lets make the uniforms white with white lettering!"

Fans "I can't read the names or see the logos"

MLB "isn't this great!"

Absolutely stupid.  At least last year, you could read the names.  Plus, when watching highlights, it's almost impossible to tell which teams are playing.  Every home team in white (with indiscernible logo) and ever road team in black -- except the pitchers on the home team seem to be wearing black hats but the pitchers on the road team aren't wearing white hats.  WTF?

Also, the Dodgers posted their starting lineup on Facebook and used the nicknames instead of the actual names.  I now have no idea who's starting at left field and first base.

[snapple]

Apparently, the Yankees and Dodgers asked to use their normal jerseys for the weekend given the matchup. MLB declined. Morans.

[dparrott]

Dodgers clinch their 7th division championship in a row!!!    With their pitching, I doubt they'll make the WS again.

[T-ski]

Brewers have won 5 straight, have gotten to within 1 game of the Cubs for the Wild Card, and Christian Yelich was just lost for the season with a fractured knee cap.

Life as a Brewers fan.

[pg1067]

Christian Yelich was just lost for the season with a fractured knee cap.

I just saw the report on that on MLB Network this morning.  The amount of young talent floating around the National League right now is incredible.  Yelich is right at or near the top of the list and, while he's not on my team, he's awfully fun to watch, seems to play the game "the right way" in all respects and seems to be a good dude, so this really sucks.  I'm looking forward to watching Bellinger, Yelich, Acuna, etc. slug it out for the next decade-plus.

Dodgers clinch their 7th division championship in a row!!!    With their pitching, I doubt they'll make the WS again.

Who'da thunk that STARTING pitching would be a question mark for the Dodgers?  Yesterday was the first strong start by a Dodgers pitcher in a while.  I sure hope the staff gets it together before the playoffs start.  Keep in mind that, in 2017, the Dodgers had that really crappy run in August/September and then tore it up in the playoffs and played the Astros even through the first six games of the WS.

[T-ski]

Brewers have made up 5 games in 6 days and have tied the Cubs for the second wild card.  I know they don't have much of a chance to advance if they make the playoffs, but keeping the Cubs out is almost as good.

[Dream Team]

Christian Yelich was just lost for the season with a fractured knee cap.

I just saw the report on that on MLB Network this morning.  The amount of young talent floating around the National League right now is incredible.  Yelich is right at or near the top of the list and, while he's not on my team, he's awfully fun to watch, seems to play the game "the right way" in all respects and seems to be a good dude, so this really sucks.  I'm looking forward to watching Bellinger, Yelich, Acuna, etc. slug it out for the next decade-plus.

Dodgers clinch their 7th division championship in a row!!!    With their pitching, I doubt they'll make the WS again.

Who'da thunk that STARTING pitching would be a question mark for the Dodgers?  Yesterday was the first strong start by a Dodgers pitcher in a while.  I sure hope the staff gets it together before the playoffs start.  Keep in mind that, in 2017, the Dodgers had that really crappy run in August/September and then tore it up in the playoffs and played the Astros even through the first six games of the WS.

Don't forget Soto, an amazing hitter for such a young age.

[T-ski]

Week and a half to go and the NL Central and Wild Card will most likely come down to the last day.

Go Brewers!

[pg1067]

Seems pretty clear that the Yankees will win the AL East and the Astros will win the West.  Twins will probably win the Central.  It's possible for Cleveland to make it, but the Twins blowing a 5 game lead with only 11 games remaining would be a pretty monumental collapse.  A's probably get the first wild card, and the Rays and Indians are separated by only half a game for the second wild card.  Red Sox tragic number looks to be 1, so they're cooked.

In the NL, the Dodgers have clinched and are one game back of the Yankees and Astros for the best record in baseball and 5 games up on the Braves for the best record in the NL.  Hard to make much of how they've played since clinching since they're "auditioning" for the last few postseason roster spots.

The Braves will win the East, so the NL Central is the only division that's still in doubt.  Cards are up by 2 on both the Cubs and Brewers.  Cards have a home game against Washington and 3 games at Arizona and SEVEN against the Cubs (4 in Wrigley and three in Busch to finish the season).  The Cubs remaining games are today at home against the Reds and 3 in Pittsburgh.  The Brewers have the most advantageous remaining schedule, with 11 against teams that have long been eliminated (2 at home against the Padres, 3 at home against the Pirates, 3 in Cincinnati and 3 in Colorado).

The wild card is completely up for grabs among the Nats and the two teams that don't win the Central.  I'm gonna say that the Brewers win the Central and the Nats and Cards make the wild card.

The Felipe Vasquez story is UGLY!  I wasn't an advocate for the trade, but I'm now damn glad the Dodgers didn't give up Gavin Lux to get Vasquez.

[T-ski]

Brewers officially in the playoffs!

Most likely going to have to face Washington and Max Scherzer in the one game wild card. 

Can't win it if you're not in it.

[SystematicThought]

Congrats to the Brewers, but also congrats to Washington. I didn't follow the whole Bryce Harper thing closely, but didn't he not have much faith in the direction of the team? Well, now his season is almost over and Washington gets at least one more game. The grass isn't always greener on the other side.

As for me, waiting patiently to see if the Indians lose tonight. Excited if the Twins make it. This has been such a fun summer watching baseball and the Twins play well.

[pg1067]

Everything is clinched, except:

1. Whether the Brewers or Cards win the NL Central.
2. The host of the NL wild card game.
3. Which two teams of the A's, Rays and Indians make the wild card game and who hosts the game.
4. Best record in the AL (between the Yankees and Astros).
5. Best record in baseball (between the Dodgers, Yankees and Astros).

The Cards have 3 home games remaining against the eliminated Cubs, and the Brewers have 4 road games against the Reds (1 game) and Rockies.  If the Cubs go 1-2 and the Brewers go 3-1, they'll tie and play a one game playoff, which would really hurt the loser in the wild card game.

The A's have 4 games remaining at Seattle.  The Rays have 3 games remaining at Toronto and are hot, having won 6 of 8 against the Dodgers, Red Sox and Yankees).  The Indians have 1 game at the White Sox and 3 at Washington.  The Indians basically need to win out and hope one of the other teams completely collapses.


The Dodgers broadcasters noted the other day that all of the big free agent signings before this season will be missing the playoffs (Harper, et al. in Philly; Machado in San Diego; Trout in Anaheim).  If the Dodgers win the Series, Machado will never hear the end of it at Dodger Stadium.

[pg1067]

Interesting article about the situation with the Rays.

https://www.tampabay.com/sports/rays/2019/09/24/rays-fans-what-a-shame-that-you-arent-supporting-this-team/

Fewer than 9,000 for a late season game against a division rival for a team that will end up with somewhere between 95-98 wins?!  Kinda sad for those who do support the team.  Going back to 2008 (the year they won the AL pennant), the Rays have only had two sub-80 win seasons.  It's a team that deserves a fan base that will support it.

[TAC]

Maddon gone in Chicago!

[pg1067]

Maddon gone in Chicago!

I was really surprised to see that.  Craig Counsel is now the longest tenured manager in the NL (followed by Dave Roberts and Don Mattingly)!

My picks for the wildcard games:  A's over Rays and Brewers over Nationals.

[T-ski]

Maddon gone in Chicago!

I was really surprised to see that.  Craig Counsel is now the longest tenured manager in the NL (followed by Dave Roberts and Don Mattingly)!

My picks for the wildcard games:  A's over Rays and Brewers over Nationals.

I like the way you think, unfortunately the Brewers are really beat up.  Ryan Braun strained a calf over the weekend, Lorenzo Cain can barely walk with the multitude of injuries he has, and Mike Moustakas has a bad elbow.  Will need a great pitching performance to move on for sure.

[pg1067]

Maddon gone in Chicago!

I was really surprised to see that.  Craig Counsel is now the longest tenured manager in the NL (followed by Dave Roberts and Don Mattingly)!

My picks for the wildcard games:  A's over Rays and Brewers over Nationals.

I like the way you think, unfortunately the Brewers are really beat up.  Ryan Braun strained a calf over the weekend, Lorenzo Cain can barely walk with the multitude of injuries he has, and Mike Moustakas has a bad elbow.  Will need a great pitching performance to move on for sure.

Maybe it's just wishful thinking that I'd prefer the Dodgers to draw the Brewers in the NLDS rather than the Nats.

[snapple]

Scherzer 7IP 11k's tonight. Nats win 3-1. You saw it here.

[T-ski]

that is one of the worst way to lose a game.  just brutal.

[Cool Chris]

The Seattle Mariners went through the first 18 years of their existence not making the postseason (including 1994). Then they made the playoffs 4 of the next 7 years, never making it to the World Series. If they don't make the playoffs next year (they won't) that will be another 18 year stretch without making the postseason.

But a previous owner has gone on record as saying their goal is not to win World Series. "The goal of the Mariners is not to win a World Series — it is to field a competitive team year after year.” All those teams and their lofty goals of winning championships. Pfft!

[dparrott]

I don't know about this.  The Nats have a history of falling apart in the playoffs, but the Dodgers have inconsistent pitching with their closer being tied for the most blown saves and one of the highest ERA's in baseball. 

[pg1067]

that is one of the worst way to lose a game.  just brutal.

That must have been so painful for Brewers fans!

The game was 3-1 when I got home, so I watched from the 7th inning on.  Once Hader hit Taylor, that inning spiraled out of control.  The bloop single by Zimmerman was a complete fluke.  Rendon's plate appearance that resulted in the walk was masterful.  Soto got good wood on the ball, but I'm not sure how the right fielder missed it.  It looked like something from one of my kid's PONY ball games (although I think Ron Darling was right that the ball either took a bad hop or had some wacky spin on it).

I was hoping the Dodgers would face the Brewers in the NLDS, but I don't see Scherzer or Strasburg staring either of the first to games of the series.  I also thought it was interesting that the Nats used a scrub to close the game instead of Sean Doolittle.  I now feel much better about facing the Nats.

Also, Jansen's ERA is nowhere near one of the highest in baseball (maybe you meant among closers?).  Interestingly, the ERAs of the closers of the four remaining NL teams are all pretty mediocre:  3.71 (Jansen), 4.05 (Doolittle), 3.17 (Martinez) and 3.84 (Jackson).  By contrast, of the five remaining AL teams, the worst closer ERA is Roberto Osuna's 2.63

[dparrott]

Also, Jansen's ERA is nowhere near one of the highest in baseball (maybe you meant among closers?).

Yes I did mean that, my bad.

[pg1067]

What an absolute nightmare for the Braves yesterday!  When I left my office yesterday, the Cards had tied the game and then went up 5-3.  At some point on the drive home, I heard it was up to 7-3.  After I got home and turned on the Dodgers game the announcer said that the final in Atlanta was Cards 7, Braves 6.  My son was up in arms that Albies was safe at first and that, if they had gotten the call right, Acuna's HR would have tied the game.  Apparently, however, the Braves didn't even challenge the call, and I couldn't tell from the one replay I saw on the highlights.  Losing game 1 at home in that fashion does not bode well for the rest of the series.

Dodgers looked REALLY good.  They came out a bit slow and got a lot of help from the Nats' wild starter in the first inning.  Being able to get the Nats' starters out of the game early is going to be key in this series.  Also, I REALLY, REALLY, REALLY want to slap Fernando Rodney and make him straighten out his hat.

[KevShmev]

Carlos Martinez sucks swamp water.  Cardinals fans are not going to forget him blowing a gem that Waino threw today.

[pg1067]

Carlos Martinez sucks swamp water.  Cardinals fans are not going to forget him blowing a gem that Waino threw today.

I enjoyed that one quite a bit (although I don't have the same level of disdain for the Cards that I did 3-5 years ago).  I was really hoping that he and Acuna would throw down there.  Nice of Bengie to give Acuna an escort to 1B.

Twins and Rays simply aren't showing up in those series, which is too bad.

Dodgers laid an egg against Strasburg in game 2, but he was straight dealing, and I ultimately have to give him more credit than I give the Dodgers blame.  Also didn't help that Kershaw yacked up 3 runs int he first 2 innings.  Last night was much better, and I'm hoping we can get to Scherzer today and close out the series.

[pg1067]

Hey...the Rays made an appearance in the ALDS!  Hope they learned something they can use to their advantage tomorrow and push the Asstros to game 5.

[dparrott]

  Also, I REALLY, REALLY, REALLY want to slap Fernando Rodney and make him straighten out his hat.

My father in law kinda said the same thing! 

The last couple of games are a perfect example of what I've been bitching about.  Thankfully the Dodgers lit them up last night, but if it wasn't for that it would be over right now.  If it's not Kelly, it's Baez.  Game 5 will probably be Jansen to lose it all.

[TAC]

Also, I REALLY, REALLY, REALLY want to slap Fernando Rodney and make him straighten out his hat.

NO shit. What a douche.

[pg1067]

  Also, I REALLY, REALLY, REALLY want to slap Fernando Rodney and make him straighten out his hat.

My father in law kinda said the same thing! 

The last couple of games are a perfect example of what I've been bitching about.  Thankfully the Dodgers lit them up last night, but if it wasn't for that it would be over right now.  If it's not Kelly, it's Baez.  Game 5 will probably be Jansen to lose it all.

It's a small sample size, but the Dodgers have thus far demonstrated a near complete inability to succeed against quality pitching, and tomorrow's game is against a guy who almost completely shut them down in game 2.  Even if they get past the Nats, they aren't going to go far unless they get back to the style of hitting from the first half of the season.  Grip it and rip it and hope for the best doesn't work in the playoffs.

Speaking of which...nice of the Twins to serve up a three game batting practice session for the Yankees.  That was just awful.

[TAC]

Verlander (who I really like) is having another rough post season outing.

[pg1067]

Verlander (who I really like) is having another rough post season outing.

Love it.  Gives me a modicum of hope that the Dodgers can figure out Strasburg tonight.

[T-ski]

Cards put up a 10 spot in the first and the Braves go home.

[KevShmev]

I was at work during the 1st inning and missed it, but it sure was hilarious getting updates every two minutes about how the Cardinals had scored again.

[TAC]

Verlander (who I really like) is having another rough post season outing.

Love it.  Gives me a modicum of hope that the Dodgers can figure out Strasburg tonight.

So long as Kershaw isn't pitching... I see Bueller is pitching. That's good.