2016 MLB Playoffs

FilmFan720
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Re: 2016 MLB Playoffs

Post by FilmFan720 »

Well, not danfrank, but it's enough to bring me into the conversation.

I must admit that a whirlwind of work and personal life has stopped me from paying much attention to anything baseball outside of my Cubbies. This town is electrified, as it has been all season, by this group, who you have to argue are really the best team in the mix. That said, they haven't looked their greatest this series (if it wasn't for their pitcher's bats, their offense would seem anemic) even if we have gotten some great moments already, most of all Arietta and Bryant's homers last night.

I didn't make it all the way through the game last night, but this should continue to be a postseason to remember. Hopefully.
"Go into the world and do well. But more importantly, go into the world and do good."
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Mister Tee
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Re: 2016 MLB Playoffs

Post by Mister Tee »

What's happened since last I posted:

Texas continued to wilt before Toronto, exiting on a miserable error. One wonders how Texas managed to secure the AL's best record.

Cleveland swept their series, which 1) kept alive my dream Series match-up of teams that haven't won in my now-lengthy lifetime and 2) gave the Red Sox as many post-season wins this year as my Yankees (yes, Boston losing is always a pleasure from my end). The TV announcing team, by the way, couldn't have more blatantly favored the Sox. When the game was over, they barely acknowledged Cleveland's win, devoting most of their time to tearful tributes to David Ortiz (a decent enough guy, but, Jesus, howcome his steroid use never gets mentioned?). Oh, and is it fitting that the Indians won on what people are now starting to call Indigenous Peoples' Day?

The NL, thankfully, are offering greater competition. The Dodgers are apparently risking a short-rest start for Kershaw today, to try and stave off elimination after losing by a big margin yesterday (though many of the Nationals' runs came in their last inning).

Two innings in last night, the Cubs were having champagne dreams, but the Giants rallied to keep in the Series. This was the best game of the post-season to date, with the Giant comeback in the 8th, the Cubs' re-tie in the 9th, the spectacular right-field catch in the 9th that turned a game winner into a double play, and then the late-in-the-night finish (in what would have been my last inning, win or not, given the time). I wonder if this win is enough to bring danfrank into the discussion?
Mister Tee
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Re: 2016 MLB Playoffs

Post by Mister Tee »

Brief update:

Thanks to Dodgers/Nationals for saving us from the dreariness of all match-ups starting 2-0.

I'm sure neither the Indians nor the Cubs are comfortable despite their 2-0 leads -- the Indians because they remember these Red Sox coming back on them in both '99 and '07; the Cubs because they remember the last century.

The Rangers, however, have to feel VERY nervous about their 0-2, given that Toronto (who came back from their own 0-2 last year) has now defeated them in five straight post-season games.

The best game so far was clearly the 1-0 Cubs/Giants game -- a pitchers' duel decided late and just the way such a game should be decided, with an epic (except for the wind) home run.
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2016 MLB Playoffs

Post by Mister Tee »

Late starting this -- two teams are already gone from the post-season -- but let's get it going.

As thread-parent, I invoke droit de seigneur and give a few moments to speak of My Team, despite their not being part of the playoffs. The Yankees have been clearly trending downward in recent years, and for most of this season they seesawed around the .500 mark. Given their extreme age and lack of offense, they clearly weren't going anywhere, so the front office (with my complete approval) traded away some top players for prospects. By all accounts, they got very solid value, players who might mark a mark within 2-3 years. This year, of course, was a total write-off... Or so we thought. Until the "new" team started winning at a crazy clip, and got to within a whisker of the wild card. They fell short, of course -- honestly, they had no business contending as long as they did -- but, considering what a lost season it was, they gave fans great entertainment value, and, with this kid Gary Sanchez (who had two months so hot it was almost scary), solid hope for even the near future.

Now, to the teams that actually qualified:

Boston continues a pattern of finishing either near the cellar or in first place. They have an explosive offense (boosted by Ortiz's amazing sign-off year) and the best run differential in the league.

Toronto for most of the season looked like Boston's equal or superior, but then stumbled mightily in the last couple of weeks, only barely securing the wild card slot.

It may be my cultural distance from the team, but it struck me Texas managed to get the league's best record almost anonymously. I have almost no idea what to expect of them.

Cleveland came from seemingly nowhere, and beat out the defending champ Royals as well as the ever-contending Tigers for the Central crown. There's concern, though, that they built up the lead early on, and are not as strong now, owing to key injuries.

Baltimore's already gone, and all most people will remember of them this year is Showalter somehow never getting to Zach Britton in an 11-inning elimination game.

In the NL:

If the Cubs don't go all the way this year, you have to figure they never will. Far and away the most impressive team, and baseball's best record.

Washington rebounds from its crushing collapse of last year to run away with their division.

The Dodgers are back, almost as usual. We'll see if they can achieve more than their standard early-round exit.

And the Giants attempt to prove this even-year trend is an actual thing. Winning one game against the Mets with Bumgarner on the mound is not yet indicative of how far they can go.

The Mets can take pride in even making the post-season, give how many key players they lost, and even for Syndergaard matching Bumgarner zero for zero deep into the night. But they might have to rethink Familia as their relief ace; he's starting to reek of Armando Benitez.

The best to be said of the action so far is, three of four games were tense, exciting, down to the last inning contests; Texas/Toronto we'll just forget about. If I had my choice for a Series match-up, Cleveland/Chicago would be the easy pick. If I had to guess, I'd think maybe Boston and again Chicago, unless their usual karma catches up with them.

But, honestly, the results of recent years have convinced me it's pretty random, so we'll just have to spin the wheel and see what happens.
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