caulfield12

I'm getting a feeling that just getting past the Mets and Dodgers (two 100+ win teams) is going to be moral victory enough for the Padres. This has never felt like a championship-caliber team all season. That said, I would have sworn about ten days before the end of the season when the Phillies were struggling mightily with teams like the Nationals that they were absolutely dead in the water and that the Brewers were going to overtake them down the stretch.

This game is pretty much an Exhibit A "tour de force" of players NOT signed by the Sox...yes, I replied to myself lol. This editing button still takes some getting used to. (At least Gen X is relatively closer to retirement. Not ready for the meta verse yet. Neither is FB. At least Netflix got their act in gear.)

Will Jared Kelenic equal Schwarber's homers this year...in his entire MLB career?

Or Castellanos, although he had an "unFathomably" poor season this year...

Yankees vs. Phillies would be a dream matchup from a media perspective...two toughest markets in the US, along with Boston, arguably.

Harper 1, Machado 0

https://www.espn.com/mlb/player/batvspitch/_/id/40934/aaron-civale Yankees' hitters 20/76 and 725 ops against Civale coming in. Still, you have to figure out a way to get your best pitcher on the mound instead of your fourth or fifth starter. Between that, on the road, and Naylor, felt like a loss from the get go. Still not over with a very shaky Yankees' but close.

Why would Correa take a $5 million pay cut unless he's getting a ten year deal for $300 million guaranteed?

Will add Nick Martinez back in the rotation with Pomeranz returning to pen...Morejon, Baez or Weathers #5 now but will undoubtedly add 1-2 FA's. Rodon wouldn't be a shocker here.

"Manager Terry Francona told reporters on Monday afternoon that Bieber would not be available out of the bullpen when Game 5 was scheduled to be played Monday night. He added that Bieber wouldn’t start on short rest Tuesday because he was throwing a bullpen session on Monday. That line of thinking is not likely to change. Minutes before the game was postponed, Civale played catch in left field, which is good indication that he wanted to do some light throwing preparation for Tuesday’s start. During the regular season the Guardians were forced to play 12 doubleheaders -- 11 because of weather and another because of COVID." Cleveland.com/sports

Since 1995, when a fourth team was added to each league’s playoff field, 40 teams have won 100 games. Of the 39 whose seasons have concluded (this season’s Astros are plugging right along, unfazed by the supposed favorite-killing new format), here’s how far they got: Champions: 5 Lost in World Series: 6 Lost in Championship Series: 8 Lost in Division Series: 19 Lost in wild-card round: 1 (Sorry, Mets fans) Almost half of them have gone down in the ALDS or NLDS! Out of those, 17 lost to teams with worse records — the vanquishing upstarts came in with 8.47 fewer regular season wins, on average. Among the 57 teams since 1995 that finished the regular season atop the AL or NL heap (including teams that tied for the honor), it’s a similar story. Champions: 11 Lost in World Series: 9 Lost in Championship Series: 13 Lost in Division Series: 24 The Padres, winners of 89 games, are not even particularly notable as underdogs go. Last year’s Braves — remember them? — eliminated a 106-win Dodgers team en route to their World Series title after winning 88 games. The 116-win 2001 Seattle Mariners famously lost to a 95-win Yankees team in the ALCS. https://sports.yahoo.com/mlb-new-playoff-format-didnt-bounce-dodgers-braves-playoff-baseball-has-been-knocking-out-top-teams-for-years-051246936.html

Cortes on three days' rest vs. Civale still. Bieber likely the first one in relief. Curious decision not to start him here.

https://theathletic.com/3697701/2022/10/16/mlb-playoff-format-upsets/?source=freedailyemail&campaign=601983 Too early to blame playoff format for upsets Rosenthal

Lance Lynn?

When have they ever paid attention to a single Pacific Rim scouting report since Takatsu and Iguchi? Not even sure who authorized the Tanaka offer. Never seemed to be close to a seat at the table for Ohtani. Mostly were in on Colas in Japan due to the Cuban Connection.

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/mlb-revamped-playoffs-made-baseball-080059843.html Have the revamped MLB playoffs made the regular season meaningless?

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/17/sports/baseball/division-series-upsets.html The chaos of the Division Series upsets is actually the system working

The Marlins, by that measure, outperformed the Dodgers since the 1997 season...especially since 2020, LA's one WS year, was not even 40% of a full season, and playing opponents were intentionally limited.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/shaikin-many-reasons-explain-dodgers-021456487.html The postseason is about determining a champion, in the process enlivening and exciting an ever-growing number of fan bases by sending more invitations to a tournament. This is not about extending the first round to a best-of-seven. If Major League Baseball really wanted the best team to advance 80% of the time, according to one study, the series would have to extend to a best-of-75. Over the years, MLB has expanded the playoffs from two teams to four, then eight, then 10, and now to 12. The owners, remember, wanted 14: more games, more money. Home field is a marginal advantage in baseball, and two or three of the four teams earning a first-round bye losing in the division series means the extra days off might be a marginal advantage as well. If the league wanted to bestow a truly significant advantage upon the best teams, it would spot the Dodgers and other teams that earn a bye one victory — that is, the Dodgers would have started the division series with a 1-0 lead on the Padres. They would have needed to win two games to win the series; the Padres would have needed to win three. (Spoiler alert: That’s not happening.)

https://www.espn.com/mlb/insider/story/_/id/34754086/2022-mlb-playoffs-ranking-teams-8-key-categories

Better than Sharknado.

Really does seem like shutting things down that time of the year isn’t that beneficial for hitters’ timing…unless your pitching staff is really beaten up and needs some rest, there’s no advantage, except for the unflappable Astros’ machine.

Fatal flaw in Andrew Friedman strategy…saw it with the Rays as well, with starting pitchers famously limited (see Blake Snell in 2000) and bullpens exposed. https://www.yahoo.com/news/hern-ndez-blame-andrew-friedmans-064220812.html With Buehler, May, Treinen and Kimbrel sidelined or ineffective…a lot of the weaknesses were exposed when you lack the set 7-8-9 lineup of relievers like the Padres now have going with Garcia, Suarez and Hader. The Rays, for their part, have famously been unable to spend money for elite closers, having to rely almost completely on their farm system and reclamation projects.

Jayce Tingler might enjoy it at least. No Bo Mel mentions for 2022.