Avory

I'm mainly talking about the best of three playoff series where the Sox can more or less line up very good pitching to match up with the Tribe's top guys. Let me put it another way: Sox pitching against the Tribe lineup easily makes Sox pitchers as good as the Tribe's. That doesn't leave Cleveland much room for error, especially if Moncada and Robert wake up at all.

In case you missed it, Cleveland has stopped "pitching out its mind" and all it takes is three runs, four max, to beat the Tribe. Yes, Bieber is scary, but he, like all good pitchers, is still susceptible to the long ball (as is Plesac and Carrasco the #2 and #3) so I see the Sox scratching out enough runs as long as the Sox pitching staff holds down the few decent hitters in the Tribe lineup. If you commit to not letting Jose Ramirez beat you who's left? Tribe can't do that with the Sox lineup. They pretty much have to go at everyone.

Curious how most Sox fans feel about this. Tribe fans are conflicted; don't know whether the Rays or Sox would be the better match-up...haven't really been considering the A's. (Tribe doesn't have much of an incentive to move up; who wants to play the Yankees?) But never figured Sox fan might want Houston instead of Cleveland. Tribe lineup is SO bad and the Sox is so good, it's difficult to imagine Cleveland hitting enough even with all their pitching. That would argue CLE fan should hope they get the Rays, but Indians never play well in Tampa, and the Rays are loaded on the mound and are well-managed. It is a quandary! It's hard to see why Chicago should fear Cleveland unless the Tribe pitches out of its mind.

Jack, this has been a pet peeve of mine since the replay started, and this very issue has been heavily discussed in baseball circles since. There was never any intention for replay to change the very nature of the game, and as you so accurately point out, the game has changed because of replay in this instance. We no longer see cool snap tags because of the need to hold the glove on the runner in case he microscopically detaches from the base. But most importantly, runners dare not run aggressively anymore or use pop up slides because for one infinitesimal fraction of a second--while still in possession of the bag!--they come off of it. I have no problem with these replay calls; they are just following the rule book. But I propose, if you are safe when you first touch the bag and your body remains over the bag, you remain safe. If you overslide the base (and this can easily be defined) you can be tagged out. That way the spirit of the game as it has always been played can be maintained.

Hey, William, Tribe fan here who lurks at this forum because of the clever and consistently sardonic dark humor that is often on display here. Despite how much I wanted the Twins to drop tonight's game, the Sox played hard and you guys had me in tears laughing at your comments as the inevitable occurred. We are brethren, you know, charter members of the American League, and with team histories that are largely dismal despite bright patches here and there. I would acknowledge that our "best of times" have been longer stretches than yours, but our troughs have been just as bad and probably worse (particularly the 30-year bleakness between 1963 and 1993, which I lived through). As far as "hating the Sox" for losing this one tonight, nah, we weren't going to run down Minnesota anyway, so no need to feel bad. Frankly, the Sox are singularly responsible for us not staying in the AL Central race longer; we won the season series against the Twins, but the Sox have had our number this year. And to be honest, as far as guilt goes, I still suffer it greatly, feeling the Tribe let down not only all of our fans, but all the South Side for allowing the Cubs off the hook in 2016. We should never have done that to a fellow AL Charter member club...I know how much easier it would have been on all of you if you retained the most recent baseball championship in your fine city. And for that, you should always hate us. I hate us. We've lost the World Series twice in my lifetime in extra innings in game seven, and I never had a chance to celebrate a World Series victory with my Dad, which we would have done had we hung on in 2016. Best of luck to you guys...I think we'll be competing quite a bit in the AL Central over the next decade, but I wouldn't mind if the freakin' Twins were left out of it. Speaking of whom, can anyone explain to me why there aren't more national whispers about how a guy at 39 years of age is having the best year of his career and is creating exit velocities that are superman-like at a time of year most guys are wearing down? I really don't understand why there aren't more eyebrows raised, if only for the implication that masking agents must be working real well right now. Nelson Cruz is flat out ridiculous, and not in a good way.