35thstreetswarm

But in a good way ?

I can imagine you'd be sensitive about undeserved "mansplaining" accusations. If you need a witness that you just talk that way regardless of gender I'm sure plenty of posters on this board would vouch for you.

This is one of the most annoying things about the season. Too many in the media, and Sox haters writ large, are all too happy to jump on the anti-TLR train (which I'm onboard myself) to make him the focus of the season and distract from the team's success. That's why I keep my TLR-bashing "all in the family." TLR talk is for fellow Sox fans only. For everybody else it's "I haven't noticed -- since we're in first place" ?

Very true. I have to laugh at Zach Zaidman, who is like "this is how you know the Cubs are true champions: they've reached the stage of greatness where they don't feel the need to make the playoffs anymore"

https://deadspin.com/so-mariners-phenom-jarred-kelenic-is-having-some-troub-1847040526

Ah, now I get the weird glitching on this. Ok, Cub fan. Carry on.

Oh, well that settles it then. ? You’ve made clear that you’ve redefined “rival” to mean team you’re competing with for your divisional title. Went over this above, doesn’t actually capture the common English meaning of the word, but we get it. Anyway, I changed my mind and decided “rival” means your last playoff opponent. So it’s the A’s. End thread.

The question wasn’t “what team has the White Sox played the most?” or “what teams are in the White Sox division?” It was which team is our (yes our) biggest rival, a word that has has a more expansive definition than “most frequent opponent.” This debate always goes the same way. It’s a definitional problem. One group posits that the Cubs are a rival because they play a few miles away, compete for the same fans and same market, and have produced a decades-old feud memorialized in songs, folklore, and play games that fire the fans up more than any other team by far. Another group says “but they’re not in our division! Rivals are in the same division. So they’re not our rivals. Different division.” Never understood camp two, but sure, if you narrow your personal definition of “rivalry” to “teams we play the most games against head-to-head” then look at a list of the teams in our division at any given time and there’s your answer.

If he can "consistently beat the good teams" as well as the cellar dwellers...he'll be top 1 in baseball rather than top 27.

Why rely on easily obtainable, verified, broadly applicable data when you have meaningless anecdotes?

As I said in the other thread, if any of that Berkeley education sunk in he’s surely vaxxed. It’s probably a breakthrough or perhaps he’s just in protocol pre-testing.

Yes, that's pretty well-established. His being one of the 6% would nonetheless qualify as "weird."

Hope that's all it is. Specifying "asymptomatic," though, suggested to me that it may be a positive test.

Vaughn on COVID protocols? Weird. Have to think he was vaccinated if any of that Berkeley education sunk in...Disappointing. Hope he has a quick and full recovery.

Thanks. Thanks. Thanks a lot. Thanks.

No, it wasn't aimed at you, and I am in fact more pessimistic on Yermin than you are. I hope he figures it out but I'm surprised at how much rope this critical crowd is giving a career minor leaguer with a hot start that's fading rapidly into the rear-view mirror.

I'm both rooting for him and surprised it's taking Soxtalk so long to turn on him in earnest.

What happened to Louis?

Injuries, pregnancy, COVID, miscarriages -- all the elements of a hilarious story.

Nobody wins the trolling game

I understand the logic of favoring a bump to later in the season but damn, I was really feeling a win in this one with Lynn on the mound and some late-inning momentum from yesterday. Would have liked to salvage the split and leave town up 3.5. Oh well.

The Chicago Cubs for obvious geographic and historical reasons that some people make a sport out of denying and/or willfully ignoring. (And the volume of the protestations of those who claim they are *not* rivals -- from both sides of town, but particularly the Cubs fanbase -- only further proves the rivalry). IMO this is, and will always be, the Sox #1 rival. Every team in the AL Central for competitive reasons: I honestly think you just put whichever team is currently best at the top of the list, though there does seem to be a special history with the Twins.

It depends on whose "expectations," I suppose. PECOTA projections (which I recall you crediting more than most posters here) had us pegged at 83 wins and 3rd place when released in 2021, and 82.5 before the 2020 season (updated to 31 wins before shortened season).

Correct, and I suspect both ideas coexist in the minds of most reasonable fans, who realize: (1) the team is playing well, for which TLR deserves some credit; (2) TLR has made some very questionable in-game moves and created unnecessary controversy, which is concerning; (3) we hope the questionable decisionmaking improves or is eclipsed by the team's overall success and talent, and that we win the WS and are too overjoyed to concern ourselves with which of those things it was. There - come out of your trenches, maintain some flexibility and humility, and enjoy this great season.

Yes, I think this far more accurately captures the conventional wisdom coming into the season both on this board and off. I say that as someone who is terrified of TLR in the playoffs, but the team as a whole has exceeded expectations for a full roster, and far exceeded them for a team missing two core players.