With the first Wildcard game now on the books, The Boston Red Sox advance to the next round, and the New York Yankees go home and begin planning for next year.

https://i.imgur.com/rAiZoj2.png

I didn't have a feeling one way or the other with the Yankees/Red Sox game, Boston ended up winning and advances to play vs. Tampa Bay.

I do have a feeling about the Cardinals/Dodgers game and I think the Cardinals can pull off the upset so I'm choosing St. Louis for the win, will see what happens.

I've been involved with several discussions with other fans lately, who feel as you do. Without their own team involved they claim to have little interest.

I'm a little different. I'll always be a Tigers fan first and foremost, but perhaps because I've lived in so many other cities that have their own baseball teams (before every team owned their own sportsnet with national distribution) as a fan of the game I had to learn to enjoy other teams, or otherwise see only 6 games per year when my Tigers came visiting.

So, even though I don't have the heavy emotional investment that I would have if the Tiger's were playing, I can still enjoy a good baseball game, with other teams playing. I just have particular aspects of gameplay that appeal to me most.

When they tagged out Judge at home plate last night, I was ecstatic....because I knew that play was ripping the guts out of Yankee fans everywhere.

Or, like when a batter barrels-up squarely on a pitch and you hear that unmistakable "thonk" that tells you that ball ain't coming back...I love the expression on pitchers faces before they even bother to turn around to witness the inhumanity. Or watching an entire stadium of rowdy poor-winner fans suddenly fall silent as they witness a bases loaded double turn their worlds upside down.

You can't find theater any better than that, IMO. Like last night after the final out was recorded, the Yankee players still standing like statues in their dugout, struggling to process that it was all over.....

What could possibly be better than that?

That's how it always is with these baseball playoffs, the players on the losing teams with blank stares on their faces as they come to terms with the fact that their season is over.

With the A's not in the playoffs this year, I'm not watching the games on TV but I follow the results on the internet.

My American League pick to play in the world series this year is Tampa Bay.

My National League pick to play in the world series this year is the winner of tonight's wild card game, so it's either the Cardinals or Dodgers.

Of course, these picks could turn out to be incorrect but it's just for the fun of it and I have no money riding on any of this.

Right here is my favorite play of last night's AL wild card game. Insane that he tried to go all the way to score

https://i.imgur.com/BkeVfov.gif

And here it is from another angle, it looks as though even the umpire is enjoying himself?

https://i.imgur.com/myW9wBQ.gif

^That replay from last nights game sort of looks like Karma coming back to bite the Yankees 20 years later with reference to Derek Jeter's famous flip to home plate vs. Oakland in 2001.

Here's another one from last night's game. Typical Yankee arrogance. Giancarlo Stanton in the first inning, he think's it's gone, stands at home plate to admire his work, goes into his trot....and then about at 29 seconds on the clock realizes he's hit what could have been a double, except now he's turned that into a single.
https://i.imgur.com/z74IFxC.gif

^I'm assuming that Stanton misjudged it, he thought he had hit a homer but the ball bounced off that tall left field wall and he ended up with a single.

Yeah, but his hubris cost him an extra base.

Self confidence is nice, but when it starts costing your team production, I think it deserves scrutiny.
One of the things that historically has impressed me about the Yankees, is the way they run-out routine grounders in the infield, putting pressure on their opponents fielders to execute flawlessly. Some times the added pressure pays off.
The tigers have a couple sluggers who, if the ball they hit is not over the heads of the infielders, they go into this trot that assumes they are already out, and the execution is a mere formality.

Miguel Cabrera, everyone knows that he is no speedster, but in one of the last few games of the season, he hit a hot grounder to third base, went into his death trot, and the third baseman bobbled the ball, and despite the trot, the throw only beat the runner to first base by a step. It's especially vexxing when your team is behind by a run or two, there are other runners on base, but due to the lackadaisical effort by the batter...inning over!

An additional behavior I find humorous, so long as it's not my team doing it, is the "bat flip" on long fly outs. Over confidence is toxic, IMO.

One of the basic rules of baseball is to hustle and run full speed to 1st base on infield grounders because it does put a little extra pressure on the defense and there's always a chance the opponent can err or misplay. A player who lazily runs to 1st base should be fined for lack of hustle.

Something that really irks me is when a batter swings at a pitch that's way out of the strike zone. While it's true that once the baseball leaves the pitchers hand, the batter has only a split second to decide whether to swing or not, but some guys are just undisciplined or don't have a good eye at the plate and will swing and miss at pitches that are not in the strike zone.

Welp, the National League wild card game is on the books, Dodgers with with a walk-off in the bottom of the 9th.

So far I'm 2 for 2 with my picks

https://i.imgur.com/Cqs9dCw.png

I guess the Dodgers showed last night why they won 106 games, St. Louis put up a good fight but were kept scoreless after scoring a run in the 1st inning.

Dodgers vs. Giants should prove to be quite the series.

Blake Treinen pitched for the A's a few years ago, he was actually their closer but of course the cheapskate A's didn't keep him and allowed him to leave and now he's having success with the Dodgers.

Max Muncy is currently injured but he also was with the A's previously. His stats with the A's weren't impressive but since joining the Dodgers and in the LA/Hollywood spotlight he's become a star player. :rolleyes:

Well, as the divisional series unfurls, the White sox appear to have serious malfunction, the Giants appear to be who we thought they were, the Red Sox have demonstrated that they do not intend to go quietly into that good night, and the Brewers have thus far contained the Braves in a way that I didn't expect.

With the divisional series almost concluded, my only miscue thus far was in picking Tampa Bay over Boston. Tampa let too much proven talent get away over the past 12 months and was relying too much on "up and comers"... I should have known better.

But the Astros and Braves delivered pretty much exactly what I expected out of them.

Interesting side story with the White Sox being so sure that their opponents are intentionally throwing at their first baseman Jose Abreu. This was a big deal in the final regular season series against my Tigers, that almost erupted into a war at that point. Now White Sox manager continues his accusations on the national stage.

Funny thing was, the White Sox having already hit Astros' Jose Altuve earlier in the game, by the time the White Sox 8th inning came around...there were 2 outs, no one on base, Abreu at bat..and knowing first hand Abreu's hot-headed temperament....the thought occurred to me "Why not plink him?".....and 2 pitches later, they did!! LOL. Seemed almost poetic to me.

As the post season currently stands:
https://i.imgur.com/P30wj2K.png

Go Giants!!

That wasn’t a swing.

That wasn’t a swing.


1448871584383442944?

Astros take game one of the ALCS (American League Cheaters Series)

Of the four teams that remain in the playoffs, I dislike all of them so I have no desire to watch the games. My basic opinion is this, if the A's aren't playing, I don't give a crap. :lol:

https://i.imgur.com/ieqM2Rz.png

Well, two of my four picks are out of it. So I guess it's no secret why I never became a gambling mogul.

Still hoping for an Atlanta-Houston world series. I always enjoy listening to the sour grapes from the big coast teams lamenting how low the TV ratings were for any series not "blessed" with their team's presence.

Houston will probably be in the world series, I'm not so sure about Atlanta but I imagine it's possible they could get in there.

Besides the A's, the only other MLB team I like is the Padres, so my dream world series would be A's vs. Padres, with the A's being my main preference to win the series and the Padres as the alternate preference.

I used to be as strongly biased for one team only, much as you are. But I've mellowed out some.

I used to loath Earl Weaver's Baltimore Orioles, as well as Sparky Anderson's Cincinnati Reds.

But in retrospect I realize it's mostly because those two teams had the media spotlight when My team did not. So, I try to be a little generous, trying to appreciate talent where it exists. Plus, if one of these secondary teams that I root for when the Tigers are not in contention, fall flat on their faces, it's not near the gut wrenching agony as when my Tigers do.

It's amazing how bad the Orioles are these days. Back in the 1970's when the Orioles had winning teams year after year and Earl Weaver was their manager, the thought of the Orioles losing over 100 games was inconceivable.

1448871584383442944?

Maybe that umpire is a Dodgers fan. I agree the batter didn't offer at the pitch and checked his swing in time.

Still hoping for an Atlanta-Houston world series.

You might just be correct, Atlanta and Houston are looking pretty good right now.

A couple weeks ago when I first started making my picks known, I endured quite a bit of ridicule for my pick of the Braves, especially from the sabremetric folks.

Challenged to support my "foolishness", I countered that human spirit was hard to measure on a spreadsheet, and that likely some "nobody" we've heard about for years will rise to the occasion and become our hero.
Enter Eddie Rosario....LOL!

It's amazing how empty Dodger Stadium was becoming as early as the 8th inning.

With the Braves up 2 games to none going in to LA, I decided that I'd be happy if they could win at least one in LA, needing only a split after returning to Atlanta.....so for the time being I have my way.

Pretty entertaining how subdued Fenway park was yesterday, after the Astros seized momentum

Well, here were my original picks:

https://i.imgur.com/BXBlvkG.png



And here is the way it ultimately came down (winning teams highlighted with green backgrounds)

https://i.imgur.com/fLbcpsJ.png

So, I was wrong about Tampa Bay and the Giants. BUT, I picked the world series finalists accurately,before the first playoff pitch. I can live with that.

I can be happy with either team winning the world series, I have reasons to support both.

I think Houston will win it all, but I would also enjoy seeing baseball commissioner Manfred forced to present the trophy to the Braves....after taking the all star game away from Atlanta over petty politics

Especially if he has to come to Atlanta to do so.

SO? ...."Braves in 5"? Man that seems like a mighty tall order...but it would be nice.

Bob Melvin has left the A's to manage the San Diego Padres, I am not surprised this happened and this is probably the first of several changes for the A's during the off season and I expect the A's team to have a much different look in 2022. Could be a few losing seasons looming ahead now for the A's while they are once again in tank/rebuild mode and waiting for a new stadium, whether it's in Oakland or someplace else. Progress is supposedly being made on a stadium deal in Oakland but it's not yet a done deal.

I imagine Padres fans are all excited that Bo Mel is their new manager, will see how he does there but I'm glad that he's gone from the A's, I've thought for a while now that it's time for a change. Maybe some A's players who end up leaving the team during the off season will sign with San Diego and join up with Melvin there. Melvin is not a bad manager but I didn't always agree with how he handled the A's pitching staff. Will be interesting to see who the A's choose as their new manager, I think Coco Crisp would be a good choice but as far as I know he's not a candidate for the job. Mark Kotsay is one of the names that's being tossed around.

Well, a shame the Braves were unable to wrap it up in Atlanta. Seeing Manfred present the Commissioner's Trophy to them in their home ballpark would have been great.

So will Atlanta finish it off tonight or will Houston force a 7th game?

Atlanta has the luxury of needing to win only one of the remaining two, and I keep hearing about Dusty Baker's depleted pitching staff. Seems like Atlanta's pitching staff was running on fumes Sunday, as well.

What my gut is telling me, if Atlanta can't win tonight, they likely lose the series. We'll see.

Braves reel it in, in six.....Mighty Manfred must now humble himself....

In defense of World Series games regularly finishing around midnight on the East Coast (https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/11/almost-all-the-complaints-about-the-world-series-are-wrong.html)

"Look: I’m tired, you’re tired, we’re all tired," says Will Leitch. "These games are regularly going past midnight — only two of the five have finished the same day they started so far — and it’s certainly keeping everyone who stays up until the last out groggy the next morning (on the East Coast, anyway). My 9-year-old baseball-obsessed son hasn’t gotten to watch a whole game yet, and he’s plenty irritated at me about it. This also makes him like every 9-year-old baseball-obsessed kid over the last 50 years. As pointed out by baseball writer Joe Sheehan in his newsletter, nearly every World Series game since 1971 has ended between 11 p.m. ET and midnight … and yet baseball has somehow survived. Complaints about the lateness of have been around just as long. One reason they’re so ever-present? Many of the loudest voices, in the media and in the larger populace, live in the Eastern Time Zone. If you live in California—and, you know, a lot of people do, as it turns out — the games are done in time for a late dinner. The World Series has been starting at 8 p.m. ET (or later) for as long as most of us watching it have been alive. The only difference now is that we can hear people grousing about it more. Sure, I’d love afternoon World Series games too. But they’ve been televising these things for seven decades now. If it made sense to play the games at 3 p.m., it would have happened by now. And then I’m sure we’d all complain about not being able to get off work in time to watch."

I was just thinking about this today, remembering how our elementary school teachers would bring in a portable TV and we'd watch the world series day games, and the Gemini rocket launches too.

The Braves had the lowest number of regular season wins (88) of all the playoff teams, but yet they go on to win the world series. Sort of reminds me of the 1987 Twins who won their division with only 85 wins but went on to win the world series.

This is what aggravates me about the A's. In recent history, some A's teams have won over 100 games but have nothing to show for it because they failed in the playoffs. 1989 was the only championship year when that A's team won 99 games during the season and then won the world series.

Looking back to the 1988 and 1990 world series, the A's won over 100 games in both of those years but had to start off the world series on the road in the National League ball park. I think that might have messed them up a little, I don't know, just speculation.

While I am not averse to statistical analysis, I do tend to believe they (stats) are often abused by people who overestimate, or misinterpret their significance.

I know several people who are sabermetric-obsessed, who are insistent that the Braves winning can ONLY be explained as a fluke. And I disagree. The Braves have a well balanced ball club, that was able to realize key contributions from a number of players, as opposed to being dependent upon numerous contributions from key players.

When Acuna became disabled, and the Braves organization went out and obtained FOUR players, they displayed the kinda ballz that few team owners seem to be willing to admit owning.

I think that just about everyone realized when the Cubs signed Joc Pederson last offseason, that he was gonna be trade bait at the deadline....and the Braves managed to be first in line when the window opened.

Who would have ever expected the Royals would be willing to part with Jorge Soler? I thought he was pegged as the future of that franchise.

And Eddie Rosario? Braves got a steal when they got him. Of course they had to bribe Cleveland by picking up most of Sandoval's contract.....they did what had to be done.

And I think that is where a lot of teams fail, by being unwilling to use their wealth to acquire the talent needed.

No disrespect to the A's, but I think their thrift is what kills them. They are able to engineer a team that can win a lot of games against other weak teams during the regular season, but once they are in the playoffs with top tier opponents, they are handed their heads

Bottom line, while fans seem to value winning ballgames foremost, I believe most owners value "cheap and controllable" player contracts above all else.

Perhaps Atlanta fans are more beholding to Commissioner Manfred than they realize? Perhaps his pulling the all star game from Atlanta provoked a little "revenge spending" by the Braves organization? Got them out of character...

Bottom line, while fans seem to value winning ballgames foremost, I believe most owners value "cheap and controllable" player contracts above all else.

Perhaps Atlanta fans are more beholding to Commissioner Manfred than they realize? Perhaps his pulling the all star game from Atlanta provoked a little "revenge spending" by the Braves organization? Got them out of character...

No disrespect to the A's, but I think their thrift is what kills them. They are able to engineer a team that can win a lot of games against other weak teams during the regular season, but once they are in the playoffs with top tier opponents, they are handed their heads

The A's ownership is cheap, there's no denying that, but since the year 2000 they have been to the playoffs about half of the time, and in my opinion several of those teams had sufficient talent to win it all, but for whatever uncanny reason they have had incredibly bad luck in the playoffs combined with poor play and choking away their opportunities which is why I call them the Chokeland A's. :mad:

Will be interesting to see what the A's roster will look like in 2022. I'm not sure if they're going to mostly tear apart the current team and start over again, or try to keep it mostly together with minimal changes. Since they let Bob Melvin leave so easily and there is going to be a new manager, my feeling is that several players from this past season won't be on the team next year either and the roster will be quite different, I suspect they will go into rebuild mode again but time will tell.

The problem with the A's is, being as low budget as they are, with the good teams they have assembled during the past 20 or so years, they have about a 3 or 4 year window to win a championship with each particular group before the players start commanding higher salaries and get too expensive to keep around, so then the tear apart/rebuild process starts all over again.

Congrats to the Braves on winning the World Series last night

It was great to see the Braves win their first World Series since 1995. There have been many playoff disappointments for Atlanta sports fans. It was nice to see Brian Snitker and Ron Washington finally win one.

They are going to be good for many years with their young core. Hopefully they can re-sign Freddie Freeman.