caulfield12

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.

Finally, Padres guaranteed at least two and as many as four more home games after going 24 years since last winning a home playoff game. AL team unless CLE is going to be a massive favorite in the WS.

8~15 the final head to head season record between the two teams... Overexposure of the Goose mascot from earlier in the series will get annoying.

El Paso? West Texas?

Melvin will send Hader out, but would be tempting to leave Suarez in against Betts...until he gives up a base runner. Then again, probably not even considering it.

El Nino.

Time for a rain delay and Freddie Freeman inspirational speech.

Have to go with the hot hand there and not pull Almonte after two huge outs. Suarez can be wild from time to time and will be super amped up. In theory, Hader will get the last four outs, although all the evidence in the world says to start him with just one clean inning.

Two former Sox properties this inning.

Lol. But not that easy to get the go ahead RBI.

Roberts would be 12-5 in elimination games after starting out 4-4. Pretty incredible to get 8 out of 9 when 55-60% would seem a lot more realistic, at best.

Trayce Thompson throwing some leather. Tyler Anderson cruising so far. Crazy day in baseball and NCAAF Top 10 upsets, at least four teams go down.

https://theathletic.com/3571844/2022/09/08/guardians-oscar-gonzalez-wason-brazoban/ Scouted by a famous Dominican singer who opened a baseball academy. "Of course, this organization also left Gonzalez unprotected from the Rule 5 draft last winter. Had the lockout not spurred the cancellation of the annual event, Gonzalez would likely be hacking away in another uniform. Gonzalez insists he wasn’t concerned about that, nor was he re-evaluating his future when he became a minor-league free agent for a week after the 2021 season ended. None of that matters now, anyway."

Both post season heroes this year with multiple game winners weren't wanted by their original teams. Alvarez traded by the Dodgers for a reliever and anyone could have claimed Oscar Gonzalez last year.

No longer an Astros' fan?

Remember when Luis Robert could make a play like that? Guardians continue to peck away. But tough to imagine going to Clase again after yesterday.

That was huge for the Yankees. This one is going to come down to the bullpens again in all likelihood.