MLB Playoffs Thread

[Sketcher]

The AL has better talent, which means that they will under most conditions beat the other team most of the time regardless of who is telling them to play where. It's like the Padres versus the Phillies. The Padres are better managed and have more "intangibles" that can give them many victories, but the Phillies simply have better players and therefore will still beat them most of the time. It's just how it is.

The AL has better players not by necessity but because it has the money to do so. The payrolls tip toward the Junior Circuit, so the talent often goes that way as well.

It is by necessity, because if you're going to compete in that league, you need to have that extra free agent, who will be expensive because he's a veteran hitter. So the owners have to open the pocketbooks a little bit more. Necessity breeds the extra money. These owners have more business ventures than just baseball, so they have the money. It's like any other business, if you're going to compete, you have to invest.

DHing actually simplifies the process. You only have to do one thing, and you do it every day. Pinch hitting requires you to basically come out of the stands and make a hit at the most important times. DHs just keep hitting, 3-4 times a day, every day of the week. It's just you're not fielding.

DHing is very hard mentally. You're in the game, but you're not. You're going up to bat, but you're not going out to field. It's a real mental adjustment, and combined with age, it's a hard one to make. Pinch hitting is the hardest for a hitter, but DHing is the second hardest.

 

[CrusaderKing]

I have no doubt that the DH will come to the NL with the next collective bargaining agreement. It'll be way past time.

 

[broken_one]

TBH I'll probably stop following baseball. It was bad before now that all records basically mean nothing, this will be my final straw.

 

[Deacon]

The AL has better talent, which means that they will under most conditions beat the other team most of the time regardless of who is telling them to play where. It's like the Padres versus the Phillies. The Padres are better managed and have more "intangibles" that can give them many victories, but the Phillies simply have better players and therefore will still beat them most of the time. It's just how it is.

The AL has better players not by necessity but because it has the money to do so. The payrolls tip toward the Junior Circuit, so the talent often goes that way as well.

DHing actually simplifies the process. You only have to do one thing, and you do it every day. Pinch hitting requires you to basically come out of the stands and make a hit at the most important times. DHs just keep hitting, 3-4 times a day, every day of the week. It's just you're not fielding.

You know people say that they have better talent in the AL but that's not entirely true...I mean sure if you look at the Yankee's they have better talent but they also spend 200 million dollars a year in payroll.

But I see teams like the Phillies, the Cardinals (Pujols and Holliday the best 3-4 hitters in the league), the Brewers with Fielder and Braun, also you said that AL has better pitching...no...not really....more no hitters/perfect games in the NL then the AL this year. The suicide squeeze is one of the most exciting plays in baseball because when you're down a run, and it's the bottom of the 9th with 2 outs and bases loaded it never gets any better than that, unless your name is Albert Pujols and you hit a grand slam...

 

[Im_A]

TBH I'll probably stop following baseball. It was bad before now that all records basically mean nothing, this will be my final straw.

I think of it like this.

Roids is dark topic that will never leave the shadow of the game.

BUT NOW the pitching game will be coming back.

I love that hopeful thought.

 

[Deacon]

Pitching is back, that's why there were 3 no-no's and 2 perfect games

 

[Im_A]

also broken_one:

I gave up paying attention to baseball after the first strike.

Here my Reds were number in their division. Finally got done beating the filthy Houston Astros.

Then the strike, when just 4 years ago, I was cutting clips out of the newspaper with my grandmother and being glued to the television set as I watched my Reds sweep the A's in the 1990 World Series. Lou Piniella shut down Tony La Larussa and my favorite players were the ones to actually do it as he the coach led the way and Cincinnati was in celebration. The team was welcomed back to Cincy big time and I still know have that picture of Jose Rijo smiling in the parade in the newspaper clipping that I have kept all these years.

The strike happened and my love for the game. The roids issue came and I lost so much respect for the greats. Barry Bonds and all of them should have every record stripped of them and the years that have gone on with their legacy should wiped clean and give the records to the players that were right below them who did not use roids get the records and the recognition. That's an impossible thing to have happened, just as it impossible that Pete Rose will ever get into the Baseball Hall of Fame for most people don't remember how GREAT of a player he was, they just remember his faults.

So from around 94ish, till either one, this last year, this year, or maybe starting very briefly and vaguely 2 years, has my love for the game came back. Can't give up on baseball.

OH BTW---

GO REDS!!!

 

[Sketcher]

But I see teams like the Phillies, the Cardinals (Pujols and Holliday the best 3-4 hitters in the league), the Brewers with Fielder and Braun, also you said that AL has better pitching...no...not really....more no hitters/perfect games in the NL then the AL this year.

You have two pitchers who were in the AL the for most if not all of their careers who went into the NL this year to thank for that: Edwin Jackson and Roy Halliday. Even if you could rightly judge a league's pitching talent by the number of no-hitters (which you can't since a no-hitter is an oddity), it would strengthen the case for the designated hitter rule producing better pitchers, since they crossed over.

 

[Deacon]

Ok, the DH is for pansies...I like real baseball, also I would rather see No-No's and perfect games...because those are rare feats...even the scrawniest guy can hit a homerun...not only that...the DH takes so much away from the game...the game is about being an all around player, not a fat David Ortiz type player that could never hack it in the NL.

That's why you'll never see Albert Pujols in an American league jersey...he is too good of an all around player...even when he gets up to the 36-40 year range, he'll still be the greatest player in baseball, because of his work ethic. He is becoming the greatest baseball player to ever face the earth, and that's saying something with Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio, Micky Mantel, Stan Musial all coming before him.

 

[CrusaderKing]

I'm not in favor of athletes being treated with kids gloves, but I can see the benefits of the DH from a business perspective. I can understand why AL owners and GMs would get nervous going into interleague play at an NL park. Their big investment is also going to have to have at bats, and, if he does get a hit, he'll have to run the bases. I know how weak that sounds, but from a business perspective, it's a genuine fear. Chin-Ming Wong is probably the poster child for this sort of nightmare scenario for an owner and a GM. Carlos Zambrano also missed time due to a pulled hamstring while running out a bunt.

I'm looking at it from a business perspective. You pay big money for pitchers these days as you do other position players. It's fairly easy to replace position players in your lineup when they get injured, even though production will likely drop. If you lose a good pitcher, it hurts your bottom line a lot more than if you lost someone like Ryan Howard. As strange as it sounds, it's true. The Phillies survived losing Ryan Howard for a while with an ankle injury this season. If they'd lost Roy Halladay due to a similar injury...

It's the same reason I can understand QBs being treated with kid gloves from a business perspective, even though I don't necessarily like how it's muzzled defensive play in the NFL. People want to see big offensive games and a QB on the caliber of Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, or Drew Brees honestly can't be replaced very easily. From a business perspective, it absolutely makes perfect sense. You just see quite a few 4,000 yard passing seasons as a result.

It's important to remember that this is all a business. That's how I'm looking at it.

 

[CrusaderKing]

What a playoff debut for Roy Halladay. He pitched the first postseason no-hitter since 1956 tonight.

 

[Im_A]

What a playoff debut for Roy Halladay. He pitched the first postseason no-hitter since 1956 tonight.

Whatever






Him doing a really good job is an under statement.

 

[Gwenyfur]

What a playoff debut for Roy Halladay. He pitched the first postseason no-hitter since 1956 tonight.

I don't care what team ya play for...that's a big accomplishment

 

[HotRhymez]

Come on Twins...let's win this game.

 

[broken_one]

Yanks are cruuusin.

 

[Deacon]

That just proved that the Reds don't deserve to be in the playoff's

 

[Sketcher]

Good for Halliday. Good to see the Twins go down.

 

[CrusaderKing]

That just proved that the Reds don't deserve to be in the playoff's

Winning their division proved they deserved to be there.

 

[crishmael]

WOO-HOO! 2-0 Rangers!

 

[Im_A]

That just proved that the Reds don't deserve to be in the playoff's

Well a no-hitter game is hard to use as a reason to say they don't deserve to be in the playoff's...unless you forgot that Halladay is one of the best pitchers in the league on the best ranked team in the National League.

To say that one bad loss out of a really good year for the Reds means they don't deserve to be in the playoffs is a bit absurd.

We are playing the best team in the NL right now. The best of the best in our league...anything can happen to big blow outs, to extremely close games. You forget that in the regular season, the Phillies lost 2x out of a triple header against the reads back in June.

While this amazing feat of Halladay's is a major blow for the Reds, the regular season and the way the Reds played this year, should stop statements like that if one really thinks about it.

I just hope this charges to Red to do better. If we lose, at least we are losing to a GREAT team. I'm not throwing in my cards yet though.