28 minutes ago, asindc said:

As far as preferred 1st opponents—-

1) Houston: I think some of them have already mentally checked out.

2) Toronto: Young and inexperienced, like we are.

3) Oakland: Yeah, we struggle against them, but their lineup does not scare me.  Plus, LH starters.

4) Minny: For some reason, I think we match up well against them.

5) NYY: Still rather face them than...

6) Cleveland: As we know, their pitching gives us fits.

This is how I rank it.

On 9/26/2020 at 5:05 AM, Dominikk85 said:

It will be either be the As, yankees or astros.

 

1.  Astros; 2.  Oakland; 3. Yankees.  I'm cool with Oakland.

I also would not want to face Cleveland. The weakness of the sox hitters is plate discipline (both lots of Ks and not a lot of walks) and the indians are the kind of pitchers who can abuse that. 

Sox hitters need pitchers who make mistakes so their power plays and the indians pitchers just don't make many of those.

 

Putting aside seeding: 

1) Toronto

2) Oakland 

3) Houston

4) Twins

5) Rays

6) Indians 

7) Yankees 

honestly with the way they're playing I dont think it matters tbh

22 hours ago, joesaiditstrue said:

honestly with the way they're playing I dont think it matters tbh

That's right...we can beat any of them.  Just play as we did a week ago.

Edited September 28, 20205 yr by poppysox

4 hours ago, joesaiditstrue said:

honestly with the way they're playing I dont think it matters tbh

Agreed.  They can beat anyone.

From a game theory standpoint, isn’t it best to play the best possible team in the first round as opposed to the third?

I don't recall seeing this mentioned here, but I like the fact the White Sox will avoid Tampa, New York and Cleveland until the ALCS, due to the fact there is no reseeding. It's a tournament style bracket this season.

Tampa has a hard second round match-up guaranteed, and the Dodgers have no picnic with San Diego looming. The Cubs' pod is the worst of the four.

 

 

16 hours ago, mqr said:

From a game theory standpoint, isn’t it best to play the best possible team in the first round as opposed to the third?

That would only be if you are guaranteed to face one of the best teams at some point. Here, with how random playoffs can be, I think you would rather take your chances that you don't have to play them at all.

15 hours ago, South Side Hit Men said:

I don't recall seeing this mentioned here, but I like the fact the White Sox will avoid Tampa, New York and Cleveland until the ALCS, due to the fact there is no reseeding. It's a tournament style bracket this season.

Tampa has a hard second round match-up guaranteed, and the Dodgers have no picnic with San Diego looming. The Cubs' pod is the worst of the four.

 

 

I think the Sox is worse.  If Fried is back for Atlanta they are tough.

Reds can beat anyone.

17 hours ago, mqr said:

From a game theory standpoint, isn’t it best to play the best possible team in the first round as opposed to the third?

Nope. You want to stave off the beast until the end. At that point you just hope momentum and law of random teams getting to World Series works in your favor. You also want other teams to weaken or expose the best. 

7 minutes ago, Harry Chappas said:

I think the Sox is worse.  If Fried is back for Atlanta they are tough.

Reds can beat anyone.

Could be (Sox pod worst). If betting, I would take the Reds of the four on the other side. They are playing the best right now, and have the best starting pitching in the pod. Marlins gave good young starters, Cubs could be in trouble there. I expect Houston to beat the Twins.

No excuse not to reseed (vs. set brackets). The other three sports reseed. Now the best team has an additional hurdle, possibly playing the best remaining team in Round Two.

Is Manfred MLB expecting massive interest due to office bracket pools? Note to Manfred, nobody is working in offices these days.

Baseball is treating this bracket like the NCAA tournament. Smart marketing on their part.