MLB Thread

[Damian Rey 2.0]

Now the ex players trying to protect Buck. How can you defend Showalter there? Even Droford couldn't.

[Lock Jaw]

Beer all over the mic..... ugggghhhhhhh

[RP]

I think Buck Showalter may have just threw the fucking game. I'm being serious right now.

[RP]

Full discloser. I have a great DK lineup going. And i have Encarnacion. I'm currently winning $5 dollars with a backloaded lineup full of Mets.

I want to state that because i still for fucking Lord, dont understand why Zach Britton didnt get a single pitch in that fucking game. Buck Showalter may very well have thrown that fucking game. LOL I'm not even joking. i'm fucking stunned and i'm 100% sure he wont have a job next season.

WOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

[Damian Rey 2.0]

Nah. He has no reason to throw the game. He just made a dumb decision (over and over and over again).

[RP]

LOL no.

He threw that game.

[RP]

There needs to be a huge investigation started now

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

lol RP my fb status is "Thank you Mr. Showalter, you'll be getting your cheque from Mark Shapiro in the mail"

I honestly think Showalter "managed for the sake of managing". Along the lines of psyching himself out.

[Emperor Smeat]

Maybe Buck forgot the Os didn't suddenly inherit the Tigers 2 chances at a Wild Card spot when the 3-way tie didn't occur.

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

lol RP my fb status is "Thank you Mr. Showalter, you'll be getting your cheque from Mark Shapiro in the mail"

I honestly think Showalter "managed for the sake of managing". Along the lines of psyching himself out.

[RP]

You dont win that type of game without the " Cy Young candidate " not getting off one fucking pitch.

Showalter had the fix. INVESTIGATE!!!

[RP]

IT WAS EXTRA FUCKING INNINGS TOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

LOLOLOLOLOLOL

[RP]

This is epic bad

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

man, poor Droford.

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

Givens was electric.

[RP]

I leave you with this. Britton face 3x as many Right hand batter. Gave up a .151 average compatred to .185 to lefties.

Encanacion was a right hand batter.

Buck Showalter just threw a fucking playoff game. Launch an investigation right now.

[RP]

http://www.espn.com/mlb/player/splits/_/id/31054/zach-britton\\

BOOOM


Buck Showcheater!

[RP]

http://www.espn.com/mlb/player/splits/_/id/28625/ubaldo-jimenez

Jimenz vs Righties lol

I'm crying right now.

I cant wait for Droford posts.

[Damian Rey 2.0]

To make things worse, Showalter had Dylan Bundy, who was better than Jimenez. If he gets brought in, easier pill to swallow. At least you could say Showalter went with a guy who's been good.

[Damian Rey 2.0]

Droford will prob be gone until the offseason.

[Droford]

I'm still here

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

lol it is what it is though. 2 evenly matched teams, came down to a weird decision by the manager. One of the few nights where the Jays bullpen matched up well with Baltimore's.

[Nicky Fives]

I understand wanting to save your closer for when you get a lead, but runners on the corners, less than 2 out and one of you opposition's best hitters at the plate seems like the best time to bring in your best pitcher, considering the game is on the line right then and there it should force your hand.

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

the 11th inning in an away 1 game knockout all or nothing game seems the time to bring him in.

[Droford]

Ubaldo only has one year left on his contract there's Zero chance they resign him. Maybe if he repeats August/September for 3 months he could be a trade deadline deal.
Full season of Gausman and Bundy in the rotstiob will be good.
Trumbo is gone like Cruz...I'm 50/50 on Wieters coming back..probably not but they don't have a better option ready next year
Kim gets a full year playing hopefully not pulled against lefties.

Ultimately the biggest difference from this year for 2017 will be replacing Trumbo. Proven they can hit the jackpot in 1 year reclamation projects so I'm sure they can find someone to play RF.

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

Ubaldo getting put into the game not loosened up was not his fault.

[Droford]

I'm pretty sure he was warmed up..that was just sucky Ubaldo making an appearance after two months of being in hiding. It was due to happen.

[Damian Rey 2.0]

Bundy wilted down the stretch, as I had predicted. You can't count on him long term. Maybe they sign Trumbo. He's smart to start there. Should prob dh tho because he's fucking awful on defense.

[RP]

/sigh

No good team leaves there Cy Young caliber closer on the bench in hopes that they get a lead. Thats, in fact, a bad team. A very bad managed team.

[RP]

If you're going to tell me that Britton, a guy who was a starter and switched to a closer, cant come in and give a optimal performance in a tie game... YOU ARE A FUCKING MORON.

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

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Zach Britton trying to keep classy

[RP]

In fact.. You keep Britton in there for atleast 2 innings if you need him in this situation. The whole point in a one game playoff that is tied in extra innings it to give your batters a chance to get ahead. Britton is you best chance in INNing 10 and 11. You bring Ubaldo in 12 or 13 if you have to. I mean, Buck really mismanaged the living shit out of this game.

[Droford]

Bundy wilted down the stretch, as I had predicted. You can't count on him long term. Maybe they sign Trumbo. He's smart to start there. Should prob dh tho because he's fucking awful on defense.

He's going to leave for a long term bigger deal just like Cruz did . Theoretically he's younger than Cruz and a long term deal is less risky BUT I doubt they'll pay him big money off a career year especially when I think they might finally target a decent starting pitcher instead.

[Damian Rey 2.0]

You're over estimating his value. Cruz had shown to be a great hitter before. Trumbo was and still is a mediocre hitter who hits the ball over a fence every now and then. But he's never as good a hitter as Nelson Cruz.

I'd be stunned if a team gives him more than 3 years.

[Evil Vito]

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Zach Britton trying to keep classy

What wasn't shown was Britton spitting in Showalter's face and spelling "NPB" in the air with his finger.

[Ruien]

Maaan, can't wait to see Baltimore in the world series. Going to be amazing.

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

#1 team of all times.

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

Woulda been better if Eddie hit the homerun off of Britton to shut Droford the fuck up.

But now MLB fans have much more of a reason to hate Toronto fans after that bullshit beer can incident. Typical desperate, pathetic Toronto bullshit. Though the general consensus amongst Jays fans is that guy is a fucking asshole.

Having been at the Rogers Center though, Jays fans are a bunch of fucking crybabies.... does make it a crazy place to play though.

[Ruien]

Who was the oldest MLB player ever? Feel like Ichiro will beat it with his full head of gray hair.

[Sepholio]

Easy one there. Julio Franco. He's like 55 now and could still play. as a utility guy. He was 49 or 50 when he retired. Some pitcher retired a few years ago that was in his upper 40's as well, Jamie Mauer or something, can't remember his name.

[Frank Drebin]

lots o names of old players (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_oldest_Major_League_Baseball_players)

[Ruien]

Damn. 59 by some guy with the last name Paige.

[Frank Drebin]

Wonder if he had an "Alberto" tattoo

[Frank Drebin]

Cubs are saying rotation is gonna go Lester, Hendricks, Arrieta and Lackey. No surprise but I wonder if they give Lackey the Ted Lilly treatment and bump him for Lester if game 4 is a must win.

[Frank Drebin]

Wondering who the hell the Mets are gonna start if they win. Nats are broken but they'll throw Scherzer, Gio and Roark. I can't name a Mets starter other than Synderguard and Bart.

[Frank Drebin]

Adam and Drake Laroche are going to throw out the first pitch before game 2 of the NLDS. Lollllllllllllll

[RP]

Adam and Drake Laroche are going to throw out the first pitch before game 2 of the NLDS. Lollllllllllllll

Ya the Cubs organization and the city for that matter seem hell bent on jinx this team again.

Giordano's pizza has some new box with the Cubs W on it or something

This is bad.

[Evil Vito]

Wondering who the hell the Mets are gonna start if they win. Nats are broken but they'll throw Scherzer, Gio and Roark. I can't name a Mets starter other than Synderguard and Bart.

If they advance rookies Robert Gsellman and Seth Lugo will be their other two starters to go along with Thor and Bart. They were both unbelievable down the stretch replacing deGrom and Matz, they team couldn't have gone on a run without them.

I think Gsellman and Bart would get the first 2 games of the NLDS, then Thor in Game 3 and Lugo Game 4 if needed.

[Frank Drebin]

Ya the Cubs organization and the city for that matter seem hell bent on jinx this team again.

Giordano's pizza has some new box with the Cubs W on it or something

This is bad.

Good thing Bernie Mack is dead

[RP]

I think the Mets will win, but i rather the Giants win matchup wise.

[Evil Vito]

The Giants reporters are saying that, as expected, want nothing to do with their bullpen tonight. If Bumgarner needs to be replaced at any point, it's likely to be Cueto coming in. Even if they have the lead and he's just serving as the closer.

Runs will be hard to come by for the Mets.

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

I think day baseball should be a part of the playoffs. Baseball is meant to be played in the sun.

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

Enzo Pence popped out, sawft.

[Frank Drebin]

I think day baseball should be a part of the playoffs. Baseball is meant to be played in the sun.

no. ratings.

[Frank Drebin]

Shocked that the Mets are starting all of Bruce, Grandy and Loney against Mad Bum. Might as well just call it 0-9 right now.

[RP]

I've watched 5 to 6 Thor starts this year. I've not seen him this locked in. He's slaying all of Azgard right now.

[Frank Drebin]

As good a Thor has been, Ill take MAd Bum's 21 pitches thru 3 innings.

[Evil Vito]

Shocked that the Mets are starting all of Bruce, Grandy and Loney against Mad Bum. Might as well just call it 0-9 right now.

They have no choice. Flores would be at 1B and Ruggiano in CF but both are out for the year.

[Evil Vito]

Anyway this is what I was afraid of. Just hacking early in the count. It's tough for me to see Bumgarner not going 9 with ease.

[Frank Drebin]

Marlins Man must be a hell of a lawyer to be able to afford all these plane and premium game tix.

[Evil Vito]

Flores was slugging .710 with 11 dingers against lefties this year :( god he would have been huge to have available for this game.

[Frank Drebin]

Thanks for the info, Vito. Was wondering what the deal was.

[Evil Vito]

Aaaaand there's the Giants' fastest runner on against Thor. Fuck.

[Frank Drebin]

At least he can throw to first. Ask Jon Lester about that.

[Frank Drebin]

Giants hitters look terrible for the most part. That swing by Belt on the 0-1 pitch looked bad.

[Frank Drebin]

Thought he was safe.

[Evil Vito]

Yeah that's gonna get overturned.

Thor needs to clamp down here. I feel like 1 run will be all Bum needs tonight.

[Evil Vito]

OH WOW. Giants got fucked but I'll take it!

[Frank Drebin]

Ill never understand Baseball replay.....

[RP]

Span was safe there.. come on.

[McLegend]

It does seem like replay in baseball is extremely dumb.

[RP]

I have 5 mets including Thor going in my DFS and i could make some cash.. i'm at $5 atm.

Lets not do that bullshit. Span was safe. Come on.

[Emperor Smeat]

:lol: MLB Network trying to goad Adrian Beltre to trash talk the Jays because of the feud those two teams have recently.

[Evil Vito]

Looks like Thor got a few makeup calls after the ump's strike zone had earlier been tighter than a nun's cunt.

[Ruien]

Granderson is about to knock one out of the park.

[Frank Drebin]

He'll be lucky to make contact

[Ruien]

He was only like 30 feet short. Nice at bat though.

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

Seemed Span came off the bag after the initial tag. Also slowmo seemed to look like he was got in the face by the glove too.

[RP]

Granderson giving it all up wowwww

[Ruien]

My man Granderson!

[Evil Vito]

My balls just retracted into my body

[Frank Drebin]

Nice catch. Thought it was over his head.

[Nicky Fives]

First thing I see as I open my stream at work is Belt lace a shot to CF and immediately think "Great, I didn't miss a thing and get to see the first runs of the game".... Nope, Hell of a catch....

[Damian Rey 2.0]

Just got home. Holy shit another duel.

[Evil Vito]

Welp, Thor did his job. Too bad this only chance this Mets offense has at scoring a run is connecting with a longball. They haven't been able to string together rallies all year. It's not about to start now.

[RP]

Mike Piazza sighting with a glass of wine. That guy is not gay.

[RP]

Here is the point where i think Managers have no fucking clue what they are doing.

Why is Thor out of the game going into the 8th?

If Maddon does that shit, i'll call him for it. I want answers.

[RP]

Thor is dominating !

[RP]

was

[RP]

Vito...

Who is the better option than Thor right now?? Answer that one honestly and i stfu.

[RP]

Removing Thor before the 8th Inning just shows me Terry Collins is managing this game to make sure no matter what happens, he gets another year of job security.

SHAME

[RP]

https://media.tenor.co/images/92c9776381398a3d14f101202b86bf50/raw

SHAME TERRY COLLINS!

[RP]

Terry Collins may have went to the Buck Showalter class of Throwing Playoff Baseball games.

https://media.tenor.co/images/92c9776381398a3d14f101202b86bf50/raw

[Damian Rey 2.0]

Wish they'd throw this fucking lady out of the booth. Not sure why she's there.

[Damian Rey 2.0]

This umpire is fucking blind. Russell has thrown 3 of last 4 pitches for strikes.

#RobotUmps

[Damian Rey 2.0]

Former Tony Gwynn protege Addison Reed gassed Pence.

[RP]

Probs Reed

Look i have a whole theory about starting pitching in the postseason that someday I might go in on, but not now.

[Emperor Smeat]

Maybe its the way the beard looks but Giants' Pence looks like Daniel Bryan.

[RP]

Wish they'd throw this fucking lady out of the booth. Not sure why she's there.

She's there because Schilling went politcal jackass.

And she's not that bad.

[Damian Rey 2.0]

Find her annoying for some reason. Feel like she doesn't add anything to the broadcast.

Clutch time for the Mets here.

[Damian Rey 2.0]

C'mon Ass dribble.

[RP]

OK i'll eat shit here in this thread. Mets Bullpen is a lot better than i knew.

[Emperor Smeat]

Mets giving up another base or two might end up being very lucky for them if the Giants really are forced to take Bumgarner out.

[Evil Vito]

And there's the season. Thanks for nothing Familia.

[Triple A]

damn

[Damian Rey 2.0]

Connor Gillespie with the biggest hit of his career.

[Evil Vito]

Familia has 51 saves but he's completely shat the bed in the really big games (see: Game 1 of last year's World Series)

[Evil Vito]

Hope the Giants win the whole thing now so we got beat by the best and everyone else can be miserable with the Even Year Giants crap continuing.

[screech]

Is this the wrong time to say how much I enjoy listening to Schulmann and Herschiser call games? No? Great!

[Evil Vito]

All things considered, I'm not that upset. I really didn't think this team was going to win this game against the best playoff pitcher of all time.

[Nicky Fives]

Bumgarner is a motherfucking post-season machine. 0 ER in elimination games in his entire career.... that is nuts.

[Nicky Fives]

Find her annoying for some reason. Feel like she doesn't add anything to the broadcast.

Clutch time for the Mets here.

Same here.... I am full aware a batter is trying to foul off pitches when he's got 2 strikes on him and a runner in scoring position. I don't need to be told that every second pitch, ma'am....

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

Kind of a lame duck ball game even though the starting pitching was fantastic.

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

lame duck finish*

[Emperor Smeat]

Didn't take ESPN long to start cracking jokes about closer decisions. Very first line going into Sportscenter after the game was the closer dilemma joke.

[Damian Rey 2.0]

The team that wins the world series isn't always the best team. Hopefully the Cubs steam till the Giants and that'll be that.

[DaveWadding]

going to throw up.

[Evil Vito]

I don't even think I'd put this in my top 5 worst Mets playoff losses, tbh.

Game 7 of the 2006 NLCS is probably always going to be my #1. Doing the job to Yadier Molina and the 83 win Cardinals hurt so badly. I was 100% all in on that '06 Mets team.

Games 1, 4, and 5 of last year's World Series have to be there - ESPECIALLY Game 1.

And of course you have Kenny Rogers walking in the winning run to end the 1999 NLCS.

This loss sucked of course, but it was still a team lucky to even be in the playoffs losing to a guy who is unhittable in October. There's just not much you can do about that.

[Evil Vito]

Now in Metland, all eyes turn to the front office. The big question is whether or not they will re-sign Cespedes.

Said it a few months ago and I'll say it now - you won't hear me talking Mets baseball on here again if they let him go. He had a bad September but he's still the heart of this team. I can't support this team any longer if they cheap out on keeping him.

Also, all 5 starting pitchers are going to be coming off of surgery heading into Spring Training (including Thor who has been pitching through bone spurs). Guys like Gsellman and Lugo are going to be important, and they might even bring back Big Bart for extra insurance.

[Damian Rey 2.0]

They should being Bart back. As for Cespedes, if he opts out, I'm not sure they have a chance to sign him considering how terrible the market will be for talent this off season.

They also have 3 corner outfielders already. Conforto is the future and needs to play everyday. Maybe they can move Granderson or even Bruce. But if they keep Cespedes they need to move both. You can't have them going into the year with 4 corner outfielders.

Also time to address third base. Can't count on David Wright anymore. I love the guy. One of my favorite players to watch. But he might be done as a long term option.

[Frank Drebin]

This game sums up how to beat the Cubs if it wasn't already evident in the NLCS last year and as recently as against the Brewers last week.

Take away their hitting advantage is easy. They like to work the count. The starter piles up pitches and before you know it, you're into middle relief in the 6th inning at the beginning of a series. That may work in the regular season, but not in the playoffs. If you have a starter who is confident in his stuff, and he pounds the strike zone, the Cubs are in trouble.

Look at this game so far tonight. Mad Bum throws 28 pitches in the 1st inning and loads the bases with 2 outs. Cubs don't come through, but that won't always be the case. You have to give yourself the opportunity before you can take it. The rest of the way? 6.2+ only 87 pitches. 0 runs and no real opportunities. Yes, its Madison Bumgarner. But who do you think they face in the playoffs? You can do that during a 162 game season when you face a teams 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th best starters, but doing that against a series of front line starters.....guys getting Cy Young votes? Good luck.

Cubs are going to have the best record in Baseball, but the Giants and Mets would beat them in October with the way things stand now.

The Cubs problem? I'm trying to wrap my head around it because I can't believe this could be true: they have too many good hitters.

[Evil Vito]

Vito...

Who is the better option than Thor right now?? Answer that one honestly and i stfu.

Probs Reed

Look i have a whole theory about starting pitching in the postseason that someday I might go in on, but not now.

Didn't even see these last night but yeah...Reed's been money. The gameplan for the Mets last night was always to hope Thor can get you through 7 and then go to Reed and Fam. I think most Met fans would have signed up for a shutout going into the 9th because it would have meant Bumgarner was nearly done and we could get to the bullpen.

But of course Fam fucked that all up anyway.

[Evil Vito]

I don't want to be too hard on Fam but at times it's been really hard to trust him. Going to him last night was the right call. But he's got 51 saves on the year yet so few of them were clean 1-2-3 innings. He's always at minimum allowing the tying run to get on base. It's like watching vintage K-Rod.

[Evil Vito]

They should being Bart back. As for Cespedes, if he opts out, I'm not sure they have a chance to sign him considering how terrible the market will be for talent this off season.

They also have 3 corner outfielders already. Conforto is the future and needs to play everyday. Maybe they can move Granderson or even Bruce. But if they keep Cespedes they need to move both. You can't have them going into the year with 4 corner outfielders.

Also time to address third base. Can't count on David Wright anymore. I love the guy. One of my favorite players to watch. But he might be done as a long term option.

Ces/Grandy/Conforto would be my choice. Fuck Jay Bruce. He started to heat up in the last week of the season but that didn't change the fact that he was useless up until then. He also killed the Mets yesterday by striking out after a leadoff TJ Rivera double instead of at least moving the runner over.

But Ces has to stick around in any circumstance. Has to. It is not optional. Give him what he wants or this team will fall apart.

As for 3B, Wright's gonna understandably try to keep going rather than retire and forfeit his huge contract. I'm less worried about it for 2017 though because they're still gonna have Reyes for league minimum, Reyes might start at 2B next year but he's shown he can handle 3B if/when Wright gets his next injury.

I gotta say I also really love TJ Rivera. Hell of a story. Remains to be seen if he can be an everyday 2B or not but at minimum he looks like he'd be a quality bench piece. He's done nothing but hit at every level.

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

I don't want to be too hard on Fam but at times it's been really hard to trust him. Going to him last night was the right call. But he's got 51 saves on the year yet so few of them were clean 1-2-3 innings. He's always at minimum allowing the tying run to get on base. It's like watching vintage K-Rod.

I feel like there are very few super trustworthy closers. I think Roberto Osuna is a great pitcher and a wonderful closer, but he's not beyond blowing saves in big situations.... it's simply the nature of the position. Even Duane Ward in the best season of his career and as the Jay's primary closer after Tom Henke left, blew 6 saves and his era was only 2.13. He gave up about a million runs against Chicago White Sox in the last game of the ALCS in 1993 but was able to get them out before they could tie it.

All you can ask from your closer is that he goes out there and competes and can recover from those tough blown saves. If only everyone could be Rivera, Hoffman or in the case of this year, Zach Britton. Even look at Craig Kimbrall though, he's nowhere near as reliable as he used to be, but still I wouldn't want anyone else closing a game for me.

[RP]

Hate to break it to you Vito, but Grandy, Bruce, Reyes, Asdrubal ( bum knee ) are junk. Grandy is 35 dont steal bases ( nor do any Mets for that matter) anymore, hitting .235 with 30 HR's.. but. 235. Bruce is the polar opposite of clutch. If you need a big hit and Bruce is due up next inning, ship it the other way. You're done. Reyes dont steal bases anymore. Defense is declining. Barely hitting for average but ya, he's affordable. Conforto seems more and more like he's an average player. I go back and forth on whether Cespedes is a superstar or a borderline All-star. When he was first getting talked about before he was signed, I watched all these Youtube videos of him working out. He looked like one heck of an athlete and i was hoping the Cubbies got to sign him. Fast forward now and he doesnt steal bases. Ya he has a rocket arm, but he plays the easiest of outfield positions. He only hits .280, and gives you 30 HR's, but only what.. 88 RBI's this season? That dont seem to add up. Ya i think the Mets should keep him because well.. because. Thats all i can give ya.

The biggest thing the Mets need to do and i know all Met's fans will roll there eyes at this... They gotta trade Thor, DeGrom or Harvey. It's the only way to get an influx of true talent and avoid slipping to a mediocre team for the next 5 seasons. Ironically, Harvey was the guy you would have gotten the most for a year and half ago and now he's the guy of those 3 you would get the least for. Thor is a fucking stud man. In my opinion, he's the untouchable here. Which leaves DeGrom. I think the Mets could get a serious offering for DeGrom.

And no. Matz is not an option. And dont you have Wheeler still in the system ?

Trade DeGrom. Get some serious up and coming bats.

[Evil Vito]

I actually was pretty clear in this thread that I'd have been fine if they decided to move on from Harvey a year ago. The guy was a huge diva last year, came to spring this year sporting a double chin, and we all know that he's leaving after 2018. Like...it's not avoidable. The other pitchers may have interest in staying with the Mets when their deals are up but Harvey has only seemed to give a fuck about himself, so his partnership with Boras makes all the sense in the world for him.

I'm sure the Mets will explore trades but it's hard to see anything huge going down with the pitchers because every single one of them was hurt this year, even Thor. It could hurt all of their trade values (except Thor who they are obviously keeping). Sandy's hope is probably for next year's Opening Day rotation to feature Thor, deGrom, Harvey, Matz, and Wheeler with Colon in the pen for spot starts/to fill in for injury and Gsellman/Lugo in AAA as the next line of defense. They need to retain their pitching depth because every one of these guys is an injury question mark now.

As for your assessments on the current Mets hitters...I do want to get rid of Bruce, he's been useless outside of the last week of the regular season. Grandy has never hit for a high average but I doubt they'll get anything for him - he does have some pop and is a great clubhouse guy, I'm fine with him being on the team next year so long as they're willing to bite the bullet and plug in a guy like Brandon Nimmo if Grandy struggles. Ces needs to come back, forget the 88 RBIs - you can't get RBIs if there's nobody to drive in, and there wasn't for much of the first half when he was their only source of offense.

AssMan is not junk, he's had knee issues this year but he was their MVP down the stretch of the season. They wouldn't have made the Wild Card without him. Besides, he has one year left on his deal and was only ever supposed to be a stop gap. You want young up and coming bats? Well the Mets have one of those in Amed Rosario, who should be the SS in 2018. Cabrera is fine to keep for next year to bridge the gap.

Dom Smith, their other stud hitting prospect. should be taking over at 1B in 2018 as well, Lucas Duda is a better player than James Loney but I'm not a big fan of either of them.

And Reyes would make little sense to drop because he's gonna be playing for free next year. The Rockies are paying his salary with the Mets only paying league minimum. Reyes may not be the same player he was in his first Mets run but he still was good for them down the stretch and can adequately fill in at 3 infield spots, important considering Wright's injury history. You have to have a Wright backup plan ready at all times so Reyes can do that in 2017.

But yeah, Rosario and Smith in 2018 (maybe even sometime next year depending on how Cabrera/Duda play) will be sexy as hell. TJ Rivera and Gavin Cecchini could also be in the mix for 2B reps. Sandy spent his first several drafts taking high school bats, so it's not much of a surprise that it's taken years for them to get to the bigs. Not everybody is Bryce Harper.

It does suck that the team has no speed but that's not going to change with Alderson at the helm. He genuinely doesn't think speed on the basepaths is important because he prefers his teams to be built on the longball, it's a Moneyball thing.

[Evil Vito]

TJ Rivera looks like A-Rod's long lost son, and his wife is a BABE.

http://scoooops.com/images/b0764-16667-ashton-rose-rivera-real-mvp-original.jpg

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

look at the bod on him though. Dude's in good shape.

[Evil Vito]

He's been a great story. Pretty sure he was eligible for minor league free agency this offseason, so if the Mets didn't add him to their 40 man roster and give him a shot he might have wound up going to another team.

Local kid too. Always a sucker for those.

[RP]

Ya i would eat my food off TJ Rivera's groin lines.

[Lock Jaw]

Yyyeeeeahh yyyyeeeahhhh yyyyyyyeeeeeeahhhh @ this third inning

[Lock Jaw]

And Texas keeps Hamels in and he gives up a home run right away.

[Bad News Gertner]

Jays murder lefties.

[Lock Jaw]

The Cerebral Estrassin strikes again

[Bad News Gertner]

Mans game bitch! I love Bautista lol what a douche.

[Emperor Smeat]

:| Porcello giving up 3 HRs in the 3rd and its only 1 out so far.

[Damian Rey 2.0]

Woo hoo Toronto!

[Evil Vito]

Hell of a game.

[Emperor Smeat]

Red Sox kept getting fooled a lot with the low pitches Indians were throwing tonight. Bunch of ugly strike outs by Sox hitters.

Already worried about Price for tomorrow considering the ease Cleveland had with the HR ball tonight.

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

Cleveland Rocks? Cleveland gonna get rocked in three straight.

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

really good game tonight.

[Damian Rey 2.0]

Francona showing how to use your best relievers. Miller and Allen combined for 80 plus pitches. Love it.

[Droford]

Well at least I'm going to be right about the Red Sox getting swept. Small consolation prize.

[Ruien]

Droford, can you please shut the fuck up about your nonsense now? Your team lost and no one in this thread wants you here.

[YOUR Hero]

Red Sox kept getting fooled a lot with the low pitches Indians were throwing tonight. Bunch of ugly strike outs by Sox hitters.

Already worried about Price for tomorrow considering the ease Cleveland had with the HR ball tonight.

they're too anxious.

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

Well at least I'm going to be right about the Red Sox getting swept. Small consolation prize.

How is the red sox losing 1 game an indicator that they're getting swept?

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

.... you fucking idiot.

[Evil Vito]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ct23ISbWEAEiZzu.jpg

god I hope this doesn't mean they're actually going to put a fucking 2016 Wild Card banner up at Citi Field......especially now when they didn't even win the game. The 1999 banner being hung up is embarrassing enough as is.

It should be Division Champions, League Champions, or World Champions. That's it. They're called championship banners for a reason.

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

Winning the wild card is an accomplishment and deserving of a banner.

[Evil Vito]

I just can't get on board with that. Making the playoffs is nice, I'm glad they did it. But they weren't champions of anything. There is no such thing as a Wild Card Champion.

If you want to do something to commemorate non-championship playoff years, list your playoff appearances on one flag or something. Between that and the artifacts they have in the team museum, that's more than enough. But don't put it on the same level of actual championship teams.

[Evil Vito]

The Pirates don't have anything for their 3 straight Wild Card appearances, and that's a team that otherwise hadn't made the playoffs since 1992.

[Bad News Gertner]

TuloWindowwwwww TuloWall!

[Bad News Gertner]

Winning the wild card is an accomplishment and deserving of a banner.

Lol its like winning the play-in game at March Madness

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

that inning on Darvish came outta nowhere.

[McLegend]

Wild card banner is lame.

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

typical Blue Jays game.

[Bad News Gertner]

WHATCHA KNOW ABOUT THAT NIGGA!!!!

[Ruien]

Blue Jays make the game seem fun. Hoping they get to the World Series against the Nationals. Would make for one exciting/fun series.

[Damian Rey 2.0]

Blue Jays Cubbies please

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

I wouldn't count Texas out yet. 13 hits today, couldn't bring out the hammer, but all they need is a sniff and they'll be right back in this thing.

[Bad News Gertner]

Osuna ma tah tah. It means no worries.

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

"No Panic" on his shoes. Awesome.

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

I'm sensing a good David Price start, mainly to spite Droford

[Evil Vito]

It's like the Rangers know they will never win the World Series, so this year they decided to not even bother getting their fans' hopes up.

[Droford]

I'm sensing a good David Price start, mainly to spite Droford

4 runs in 3 innings is good..for him..in the playoffs..lol

[Droford]

How is the red sox losing 1 game an indicator that they're getting swept?

.... you fucking idiot.

They're on thier way to grind down 0-2 in a best of 5..and I said at worst theyd lose in 4 but hopefully be swept
.and so far I'm right

[Droford]

Droford, can you please shut the fuck up about your nonsense now? Your team lost and no one in this thread wants you here.

Yeah when I'm actually right can't handle it lol

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

so the closest thing to the Orioles succeeding is the Boston losing in the ALDS

[Droford]

Blue Jays make the game seem fun. Hoping they get to the World Series against the Nationals. Would make for one exciting/fun series.

No one wants to see that. Plus the Nationals will choke on the playoffs as usual

[Evil Vito]

God dammit Droford, you're usually wrong about everything. Don't reverse jinx the Nationals into the World Series. My heart can't take that.

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

Droford, I post on forums where "bashing" of athletes is actually banned. You are the perfect illustration as to why.

You literally add nothing of value to this thread.

[Droford]

so the closest thing to the Orioles succeeding is the Boston losing in the ALDS

I'm being objective regarding the Red Sox. They lost 6 of 7 going in..but no one cares oh they can flip a switch ..blah blah

It will be nice to see Ortiz strike out to end game 3 in Boston and send Cleveland to the ALCS though..

[Droford]

God dammit Droford, you're usually wrong about everything. Don't reverse jinx the Nationals into the World Series. My heart can't take that.

The Nationals are on MASN I practically have to follow them if there's a team I know as much about as the Orioles it's the Nats

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

I'm being objective regarding the Red Sox. They lost 6 of 7 going in..but no one cares oh they can flip a switch ..blah blah

It will be nice to see Ortiz strike out to end game 3 in Boston and send Cleveland to the ALCS though..

at the end of the day Cleveland is great, and if you mis step against them they'll put the screws to you. Your "analysis" is pathetic.

[Emperor Smeat]

Going to agree a bit with Droford in regards to the Sox's struggles with Cleveland.

Hitting has been fine but they had no real pitching momentum going into the playoffs and are just repeating the same woes against the Indians. Doesn't help that Price still hasn't conquered his playoff demons which the Sox were hoping wouldn't show up.

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

It's obvious stuff, but Droford's way of interacting takes away his credibility. Plus the fact that he still thinks Baltimore deserves a spot in the world series.

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

Damn it day baseball sucks. Gotta be in prime time or nothing!

[Lock Jaw]

Didn't see the Jays game, watching highlights now..... damn that hit on Liriano...... Hope he is ok..... would not be good to lose him now......

[Frank Drebin]

Every Cubs fan in this city is nervous af

[Frank Drebin]

Also, city officials get first crack at face value Cubs playoff tickets and 70% of them bought. Probably so they could just flip them for more cash or favors. Got to love pay to play.

[Emperor Smeat]

Seems really dumb to do but then again all teams probably do similar things with sponsors, celebs, and people they favor getting special status for tickets.

[Lock Jaw]

Fatcats

[Ruien]

Also, city officials get first crack at face value Cubs playoff tickets and 70% of them bought. Probably so they could just flip them for more cash or favors. Got to love pay to play.

Heard about that today. Complete bullshit.

[Frank Drebin]

Seems really dumb to do but then again all teams probably do similar things with sponsors, celebs, and people they favor getting special status for tickets.

I'm sure, but it's painfully obvious here where the Cubs have to have everything they do voted on by city counsel.

Want to buy that property and turn it into a hotel? Want to buy this property and turn it into parking? Want to block off city streets to have vendors outside? Want to to any sort or reconstruction or remodeling on your own stadium? So many palms to grease. Still better than what the Marlins, Braves or Nationals did to their city and counties though.

[Frank Drebin]

Heard about that today. Complete bullshit.

Mayor Emmanuel was like "I paid OUT OF MY OWN POCKET" like thats something to tout and be proud of. Where else would you pay from, pal? Your campaign fund?

[YOUR Hero]

I had such a shitty crapping work day. Thank goodness for the Jays game. Only way I survived the day.

[Bad News Gertner]

I hear ya. It definitely diverted my attention.

[Damian Rey 2.0]

Fucking stellar snap throw from David Ross

[Frank Drebin]

Wow. Buster fell asleep on the basepath. Thought for sure he would've scored. Giants running themselves out of this game.

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

on another note, why is Dennis Eckersley allowed to call baseball games? The man is a blithering idiot.

[Emperor Smeat]

He's much better as an analyst or at least he is on NESN.

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

He knows what he's talking about (after all he's Dennis fucking Eckersley) he's just not eloquent and it's really fucking grating. I heard him call Boston "us" or "we" one game which is just such a no no as a commentator. He sounds more like an ex ball player shooting the shit than a guy doing colour, it's really annoying.

He's also such a dick to the pitchers. WE GET IT DENNIS, YOU WERE THE BEST.

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

"Cole Hamels with the single worst pitch in the history of baseball"

[Emperor Smeat]

He knows what he's talking about (after all he's Dennis fucking Eckersley) he's just not eloquent and it's really fucking grating. I heard him call Boston "us" or "we" one game which is just such a no no as a commentator. He sounds more like an ex ball player shooting the shit than a guy doing colour, it's really annoying.

He's also such a dick to the pitchers. WE GET IT DENNIS, YOU WERE THE BEST.

Pretty much the same on NESN whenever he has to fill in for Jerry Remy.

He's even worse to pitchers as an analyst for post-game stuff if they had a terrible game or innings.

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

Greg Zaun is our guy for that, but he doesn't call games. I don't mind it as an analyst as it's your job, but during the game I think it best to show some fucking professionalism and call the game without the histrionics. Just my personal taste.

[Emperor Smeat]

The way that Cubs HR went sort of reminded me of the one from Phillies-Rays World Series.

Huge bomb blast but hit it right where the wind was the strongest dragging it way down. Big difference was the Rays attempt got caught and the Cubs attempt had a few extra feet left in it.

[DaveWadding]

Every Cubs fan in this city is nervous af

Only in that city???????

[Droford]

Going to agree a bit with Droford in regards to the Sox's struggles with Cleveland.

Hitting has been fine but they had no real pitching momentum going into the playoffs and are just repeating the same woes against the Indians. Doesn't help that Price still hasn't conquered his playoff demons which the Sox were hoping wouldn't show up.
Saw the stat that Price was 2-8 with a 5+ ERA in re post season and to make it worse the 2 wins were out of the bullpen.
200 million doesn't buy what it used to lol

[Droford]

At this point if the WS isn't Cubs/Indians I think it'll be a letdown. That would be the most intriguing WS in a while I think..

[Droford]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Bill at Wrigley tonight. Lol <a href="https://t.co/siittrLCUk">pic.twitter.com/siittrLCUk</a></p>&mdash; James Carroll (@643equals2) <a href="https://twitter.com/643equals2/status/784571861938077696">October 8, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Lol. "I ain't afraid of no goat"

Goatbusters?

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

At this point if the WS isn't Cubs/Indians I think it'll be a letdown. That would be the most intriguing WS in a while I think..

MOst people here seem to be okay with the idea of the Jays making it to the world series because they aren't a bunch of whiney Os fans.

[Ruien]

Honestly, anyone besides for Boston would be a fresh team in the WS. No Giants from the NL too please.

[Bad News Gertner]

With the first pitch of the 2016 season tomorrow night, it’s time to go ahead and post my annual predictions. Last season I had four of the five NL playoff teams correct (albeit I had my Mets as a wild card, not winning the division) but Toronto were the only AL playoff team I guessed correctly. My Freeway World Series prediction of course did not come to fruition with the Angels narrowly missing out on a Wild Card berth, and the eventual world champion Royals I had finishing in fourth place. Let’s see how I fare this year:


Regular Season Standings

American League East
1. New York Yankees
2. Toronto Blue Jays (Wild Card 1)
3. Boston Red Sox
4. Tampa Bay Rays
5. Baltimore Orioles

The AL East is habitually one of the hardest divisions to pick. But in the end I’m going to go with the old guard in the Yankees, quite literally in this case as they have the oldest roster in the entire league. They are far from a perfect team; their aging position players seemed to fade in the dog days of summer last year and their rotation is questionable especially with the ever-looming concern about Tanaka’s elbow. But that back-end of the bullpen is absurd and they should be able to win just about any game that they’re winning after six innings, maybe even earlier. They could just be following the Royals model in terms of allowing your incredible bullpen to offset a less than stellar group of starting position players. The Yankees stave off a late charge from Toronto to win their first division title in four years.

I’m not willing to write Toronto out of the postseason entirely, they should still be able to tear the cover off of the ball although Tulowitzki is always an injury risk and who knows if Bautista and Encarnacion’s contract situations become a distraction. Stroman is really good but the real X factor for them will be if Aaron Sanchez can solidify himself as a legitimate #2 starter. Boston will be improved over a year ago and Price is a Cy Young frontrunner but I still think they’re going to need to swing a trade for another starter and I have no idea if Hanley will rebound to be a force in the lineup. Tampa Bay seems solid overall and have a good front three but I can’t really find any reason to put them into October this year. The Orioles just seem to be all over the place. Machado is one of the best players in baseball but I still think they overpaid spectacularly for Davis and that rotation leaves a lot to be desired.


American League Central
1. Kansas City Royals
2. Cleveland Indians (Wild Card 2)
3. Detroit Tigers
4. Minnesota Twins
5. Chicago White Sox

As mentioned I left the Royals out of the playoffs altogether last year, I’m not about to make that mistake again. While they did lose Ben Zobrist they still kept their lineup mostly intact, and they are capable of just grinding out one quality at-bat after another along with playing nearly flawless defense. Their bread and butter is still the bullpen, with Greg Holland this year being replaced by Joakim Soria. As in year’s past this group of hard-throwing relievers should help take some of the burden off of what looks to be a less than stellar starting rotation. However just like last year, the opportunity is very much in play for them to try to swing a deadline deal for a starting pitcher. Either way I still feel this is a very well-rounded ball club and I have no hesitation with picking them to repeat as division champions.

Cleveland had high hopes for the Indians last year but a bad start really put them behind the 8-ball right out of the gate. I am bullish on their collection of young, hard-throwing starters though and feel their lineup is even better than it was a year ago. It’s a mostly young team that now has had some extra seasoning, and in a competitive AL I think enough of them to give them the other Wild Card spot. I really liked the moves the Tigers made this offseason and think they should be in Wild Card contention for much of the year, my main concern is whether or not Cabrera or V-Mart can stay on the field all year. The Twins caught everybody by surprise last year and feature two players who should be exciting to watch for years to come in Buxton and Sano, by next year they could be a division threat. I feel that the off-field LaRoche drama set a bad tone for the White Sox, although I’m expecting a typically stellar year from Chris Sale.

American League West
1. Houston Astros
2. Seattle Mariners
3. Texas Rangers
4. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
5. Oakland Athletics

Years of tanking appeared to finally pay dividends for the Astros last season, and I expect them to take another step further this year. For starters you have three dynamic young players anchoring the lineup in Correa, Altuve, and Springer. Then on the mound you’ve got a trio of young guys who sound like they’d make for a good law firm: Keuchel, McHugh, and McCullers. And then they pounced on what appeared to be their biggest deficiency last season in the bullpen and helped to shore that up by bringing in a hard-throwing stopper in Ken Giles along with re-signing one of their good returning pitchers in Tony Sipp. I just love the look of this team altogether, and perhaps there is no division winner I’m more confident in picking that the Astros winning their first AL West title.

The Mariners had high expectations last year and they under-achieved big time. But I’m thinking bigger years for Cano and Felix (who had “down years” in 2015 despite still being pretty good) and the nice bullpen additions of Cishek and Benoit could lead to meaningful games in September. The Rangers should theoretically be good but without knowing how Yu Darvish is going to fare when he makes his eventual return or knowing whether or not Josh Hamilton can turn back the clocks to 2012 it’s tough for me to pick them over the Astros. Mike Trout is still the best overall player in baseball in my opinion but I just see too many question marks surrounding the Angels this year. The A’s have one of the best pitchers in the league in Sonny Gray but they still are filled with defensive butchers and it’s tough to win in a ballpark that big when Moneyball has decided that defense is unimportant.


National League East
1. New York Mets
2. Washington Nationals (Wild Card 2)
3. Miami Marlins
4. Philadelphia Phillies
5. Atlanta Braves

First off any discussion about the Mets’ chances has to begin with the Four Horsemen in the rotation, with Zack Wheeler hopeful to join them in July. As long as they can stay healthy it’s scary to imagine them being even better this year. The lineup is very similar in depth to the one they had down the stretch last year except with Walker/Cabrera replacing Murphy/Flores in the middle infield, which looks like a lateral at worst and slight upgrade at best. Wilmer “Tears of Joy” Flores is still there to anchor a pretty deep looking bench that appears poised to be able to withstand injuries that might come up. I do still have some concerns about the bullpen and some of the defensive woes the team suffered last year could still be there (particularly Cespedes in center) but at the end of the day I still really like the look of this team. Yes, they are my favorite team. Yes, this is the first time I’ve ever picked the Mets to win the division since I started doing real predictions. Yes, I’m slightly terrified that if things go off the rails somehow it will be all my fault for jinxing them. But this appears to be the deepest team the Mets have assembled heading into an opener since at least 2006. If you’re a Mets fan and can’t shake your paranoia long enough to pick the Mets to win the division this year, you’ll never pick them.

I shamelessly wrote more about the Mets than any other team because they’re my favorites, but it’s still no given that they win the division. The Nationals had a ton of pressure on them last year, and this year the target is off their backs. They suffered a ton of bad luck last year with injuries to key players such as Rendon and Werth, I can only assume that kind of bad luck is unsustainable. They still have the reigning MVP in Harper, Scherzer to head up their rotation, and they added a ton of bullpen help. I could easily see the division not being decided until the final weekend of the season. The Marlins are a team I could see being around .500 but that comes with the big caveat that Stanton and Fernandez stay on the field. The team will go as far as those two take them. I really don’t know what to say about the Phillies and Braves, I gave a Wild Card spot to the NL East in part because they get to play these two doormats so many times. Neither of those clubs seems interested in contending in 2016.


National League Central
1. Chicago Cubs
2. St. Louis Cardinals (Wild Card 1)
3. Pittsburgh Pirates
4. Cincinnati Reds
5. Milwaukee Brewers

Even though the NL Central has three bona fide contenders in it, the Cubs seem to be a near-unanimous pick to win it. As much as I would like to find a reason to be a contrarian, I can’t. They haven’t lost any key players from their stellar 2015 team, added a versatile guy in Zobrist who Maddon will be able to utilize to the best of his abilities, and took Heyward and Lackey from their archrival in the division. They still have the reigning Cy Young Winner in Arrieta, a really good #2 in Lester who most thought would be the ace of the staff, and a small army of young power hitters who should send balls flying over the ivy with regularity in Rizzo, Bryant, and Schwarber. Add all of that up and what you have is a team that seems more than poised to make this a really fun year on the North Side.

I’ve often said that the Cardinals need to be picked to make the playoffs every year until they don’t actually make it. In fairness though, they should still be excellent. Look for Grichuk and Piscotty to start to really establish themselves as big league starting outfielders, and of course they’ve still got Molina behind the plate to guide the pitching staff. Truthfully it doesn’t seem to matter much who gets injured for them during the year, they always find a way. I feel bad leaving the Pirates out as I think they are really good and think the world of McCutchen, they should be in the race right to the bitter end and at the end of the day the difference is going to come down to who can manhandle the division jesters the most. The Reds and Brewers don’t appear to be Phillies and Braves bad, but they’re still quite dreadful.


National League West

1. San Francisco Giants
2. Los Angeles Dodgers
3. Arizona Diamondbacks
4. San Diego Padres
5. Colorado Rockies

The Dodgers have been labeled as the prohibitive favorites in most of the betting lines but I’m giving the West to the Giants this year. First off I thought Cueto and Samardzija were really good additions for them and adding them to Bumgarner, Peavy, and Cain gives them a stable of experienced, quality starters. The bullpen is filled with veteran arms who have been through the rigors of a pennant chase before. Aside from Posey there may not be another player in the lineup that totally blows you away but they have guys who look like they could put up All Star quality campaigns pretty much all around the diamond, and I think getting Hunter Pence back will be huge for them as he was sorely missed for a large chunk of last season. Overall they just look like a really well-rounded team.

I’m definitely going against the grain by picking the Dodgers to not even make the playoffs at all, even Baseball Prospectus gave them a 75% chance of making it – higher than any other team. I’m not sure I understand the hype. Kershaw is obviously amazing but there is no way of knowing if the rest of the rotation will stay healthy or how Maeda will do in his first foray into the big leagues. Puig should be a perennial MVP candidate but I question if he’s ever going to get his head straight, he seems like a loose cannon. So yeah, I’m leaving them out of the playoffs which of course means they’ll go on to win the World Series a year after I actually picked them to do so. Arizona should be competitive and very much in the Wild Card fight but I must admit this late spring injury to Pollock could be devastating. The Padres were possibly baseball’s biggest disappointment last year and may continue to even further strip down their roster after last offseason’s spending spree. Colorado looks like it will have a typical Rockies year – amazing offensive numbers from a few guys (especially Arenado) but just not enough pitching to make a serious run to October yet.


Awards

American League
MVP: Carlos Correa, Houston Astros
Cy Young: Chris Sale, Chicago White Sox
Rookie of the Year: Byung-Ho Park, Minnesota Twins
Comeback Player of the Year: Jacoby Ellsbury, New York Yankees
Manager of the Year: A.J. Hinch, Houston Astros

While I still think Mike Trout is the best player in baseball, he’d need to absolutely blow away the competition to win MVP on a fourth place team. Therefore I’m giving the nod to Correa who can not only put up big numbers but do so at a premium position. MVP numbers from Correa would go a long way towards getting Hinch an award too. I was thinking of going with Buxton for Rookie of the Year but then shifted course to the Korean import Park, who could put up big power numbers for Minnesota. I’ll go with Sale winning an award in an otherwise bleak year on the South Side. It’s always tough to guess the Comeback award – it’s either a guy coming back from a prolonged injury and playing well or a guy strongly rebounding from a crappy season. I’ll go with the latter and say Ellsbury redeems himself after winding up on the pine down the stretch for the Yankees last year.


National League
MVP: Bryce Harper, Washington Nationals
Cy Young: Clayton Kershaw, Los Angeles Dodgers
Rookie of the Year: Corey Seager, Los Angeles Dodgers
Comeback Player of the Year: Adam Wainwright, St. Louis Cardinals
Manager of the Year: Dusty Baker, Washington Nationals

Well, I’ve gone to Chalk City with these picks. Harper coming anywhere close to his 2015 numbers should trump anything else if Washington does indeed make the playoffs. I also considered Rizzo and Bryant but they might cancel each other out to a degree. Kershaw is amazing enough that you can practically guarantee he’ll be a finalist at bare minimum, so him winning the award is a safe bet. Seager is the runaway favorite for Rookie of the Year. I make no shortage of jokes about Baker but the old school voters love him and besides it’d be tougher for a guy like Maddon to win the award when everybody already has huge expectations for the Cubs. Wainwright missed basically all of last season to injury but even though he got back in time for the playoffs I’d have to think that him staying on the mound and delivering anything close to a typical Wainwright year would make him a strong contender for the Comeback award.


Playoffs

Wild Card Games
Indians over Blue Jays
Cardinals over Nationals

I’ll probably whiff on half of my playoff teams, so trying to pick two individual games is lunacy. Literally anything can happen in a single game. Anyway, let’s just say the Toronto offense picks a bad time to have an off-day as Kluber keeps them off balance. Meanwhile the battle-tested Cardinals pull out a win over the Nationals following some really questionable decisions from Dusty Baker (see? I told you there would be no shortage of jokes).


Division Series
Royals over Indians
Astros over Yankees
Cubs over Cardinals
Giants over Mets

A best-of-three series really isn’t all that much less random than a one game series. It’s all about who gets hot at the right time. Let’s say the Cubs handle the Cardinals in the NLDS again, while the Royals also dispose of their divisional foes. The Astros and Yankees also meet in a rematch from last year’s playoffs and the Astros prevail once again. I obviously love the Mets rotation but I also said some very nice things about the Giants’ as well. Putting my personal preferences aside, history says that the safer bet the Even Year Giants ©.


Championship Series
Astros over Royals
Giants over Cubs

I have to imagine that the Astros still have some open wounds from last year’s ALDS. They came so close to knocking off the Royals only to pretty much choke it away and then have to watch the Royals go on to win the whole thing. But I think they’re good enough to head into a series of like this and try to eradicate the demons from the year before. Astros go on to knock off the division champs in a fun series. The Giants’ rotation is good but they don’t have the kind of power arms that typically give the Cubs trouble. Unfortunately though baseball is a weird game and the playoffs, as mentioned, are about who gets hot at the right time, and no team eems to get hotter than the Even Year Giants ©.


World Series
Giants over Astros

This is Houston’s fourth year in the AL and I’m still not used to it. Just imagining them representing the Junior Circuit in the World Series feels weird to me. But anyway, this series would almost resemble the 2014 one a bit. You’d have a team with no shortage of recent success going up against a team that nobody could have imagined would be a World Series team just two years earlier. By this point I’d have to assume that Houston would be the sentimental favorites and that just about everybody outside of San Francisco would want them to win. But sentiments only get you so far in baseball, and that means the 2016 World Series will be won by, let’s say it one more time: the Even Year Giants ©. As for a MVP pick, it seldom seems to be the clear-cut best bat in the lineup and it’s tough to imagine Bumgarner replicating his ridiculous 2014 showing, so let’s go ahead and take a flyer on a guy who could contend for Comeback Player of the Year: Hunter Pence.

Doing better this year

[Evil Vito]

Getting 5 out of 6 division winners wrong is pretty bad...also only 6 of 10 playoff teams.

Feel like I'm wrong on the Rangers and Orioles every single year. And the Dodgers have now moved into the "can't pick against 'em" category that the Cardinals were in.

[RP]

I dont even know if i made predictions. I cant be bothered to go searching through a 200 page thread. What asshole decided to just add the 2016 season onto the 2014 seasons? That dudes a twat.

[RP]

Just rewatched the game last night. The entire Baez at bat was so great. THey talked about him cutting his strikeout percentage by about 20 percent and changing his stance and Maddon putting him in great positions to be successful and then the last 20 seconds, count goes 3-2 and the camera shows all of Wrigley standing up and cheering and begging for Baez to do something great and it shows Bill Murray just being a fucking pro fan and just living in that moment and then BOOOOOOOM! Baez bomb!

And that things a bomb. I know i just snuck out, but it was 107mph off his bat and he hit it right into the fucking wind. If you dont know a about the Wrigley left field wind, look it up. I'm sure there are stories written about it. That was a fucking missile Baez launched last night and it was one of the best Cub moments i've ever seen.

[RP]

Vito, funny enough. I dont know if i made this post or not, but i was going to tell you that i thought the Mets should shop DeGrom to the Cubs and see if they could pry Baez and Schwarber and if they did, it would be a monster trade for both teams and the Mets fans would be so fucking happy going forward.

I've changed my mind. Gonna need more than DeGrom.

[Evil Vito]

I wouldn't trade deGrom anyway. The dude is incredible. He's also the most likely one the Mets could lock up long-term at a reasonable price if they wanted to as he's not scheduled for free agency until he's 32.

I don't think the Mets are all that strapped for position players. Amed Rosario and Dom Smith should both be up by 2018.

[Evil Vito]

Said the same thing earlier in this thread but I wouldn't mind the Jays winning it all just so R.A. Dickey can get a ring despite him not being on the postseason roster.

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Thanks for being amazing from 2010-12, winning the Cy Young with a ridiculous knuckler and getting us Thor, you glorious bastard :heart:

[Frank Drebin]

Re: imaginary cubs Mets trade

The teams have matched up really well for a hitter and pitcher swap for a while. Cubs have been trying not to go down that road since that would be the route to a young controllable arm that would cost the most in terms of prospects. Right now, they're hoping Montgomery can be that guy and with the rotation set (I think Hammel is signed for next year, I'll have to look) with the emergence of Hendricks, they'll wait it out for now.

On another note, a pitching for hitting swap is very interesting now. A year ago I would have said the hitter is more valuable since we were at record low run production. Now with this odd as fuck spike in home runs, you wonder if a pitcher who can induce fewer fly balls and more ks is the better option .

[DaveWadding]

they have a $10 mil option on Hammel for next year

[RP]

Might not be sweating this one tonight.

[Evil Vito]

This game has been a case study in why the NL should never get a DH.

[RP]

Ya. You cant rob the fans of that moment the opposing teams manager is getting interviewed on live TV while a middle reliever goes up and hits a home run. I thought Botche was about to lose his shit.

[RP]

Ya i just thought about it. If the Cubs face the Indians in the World Series, the Midwest may cave in on its self.

[Evil Vito]

Big win for the Cubs. Now even if October Bumgarner does October Bumgarner things they'll still have 2 more chances to close it out.

[Frank Drebin]

Ballgame, Maggle

[Damian Rey 2.0]

This game has been a case study in why the NL should never get a DH.

No it's not. It's a rare occurrence that you try to use as justification as to why pitchers should waste time hitting. Dh please.

[Frank Drebin]

No DH. NL ball is so much more fun for the strategy

[DaveWadding]

Joe Maddon is the most NL manager ever. Why would you rob yourself of such joy?

[Evil Vito]

Damian Rey hates fun

[Evil Vito]

Also he's probably still butthurt about this

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[Damian Rey 2.0]

I actually hated James Shields and loved that Bart finally got a homer. I'm not the fun police. I can take joy in those kinds of moments.

I just don't find any fun in watching a pitcher flail. Maddon's style hasn't changed. He's just had to learn to manage around an automatic out. There's no strategy in bunting and giving up an out every time you hit the 9spot.

Doesn't effect pitching changes either. Starting pitchers in each league average roughly the same innings. I just don't find it fun and the occasional pitcher dumping a duck fart single in on national television isn't going to change the fact that pitchers can't hit and I find it dire watching them try.

[Frank Drebin]

There's no strategy in bunting?? It's a strategy in and of itself. Some great conversation can be had over when to use it and when it's stupid to, especially in situations we normally would just assume a bunt HAS to be put down.

There will be more conversation about adding the DH to the NL when a pitcher of elite status gets hurt batting or on the bases (think the Buster Posey injury and subsequent rule change of blocking the plate), but ultimately Baseball is a game that is standardized but with quirks all over the place that make it unique. The DH in the AL and not in the NL is one of the things that make the game fun.

[Ol Dirty Dastard]

yeah putting the dh in the NL would just make me sad.

[Damian Rey 2.0]

Bunting reduces the chances of scoring a run and those who delved into it concluded that is a futile strategy that doesn't work. The only real time therec should be a bunt is with the pitcher up. No excitement there and no thanks. I'd rather see a fringe major league hitter batting 9th than a useless pitcher who's just going to employ an archaic strategy.

Not saying anyone is wrong here. If you like the pitcher hitting great. I don't.

[Damian Rey 2.0]

Hell, mr nl manager Joe Maddon has gone on record saying the bunt is overrated. If the strategy behind bunting and having the pitcher hit is to willingly surrender any of your finite number of outs in which you have to score a run, then I'd question your strategy.

[DaveWadding]

I'm not talking about bunts, I'm talking about shit like putting Travis Wood in left for a batter so he can shift back to the mound for the next lefty.

[DaveWadding]

Nevermind, I'm in favor of the NL DH just so I can see Kyle Schwarber make sure that everyone knows that it's SCHWARBERIN TIME every day.

[Droford]

I'd only bunt if I was being shifted with no one playing 3rd. Bunt it hard enough and its almost a guaranteed hit

[Damian Rey 2.0]

Edwin and Martin with first inning dingers. 3-1 good guys.

[Lock Jaw]

I propose they pay Edwin all the money to stay

[Damian Rey 2.0]

I think they'll try and keep him. But the window is now. Donaldson is probably gone after next year I think.

[Lock Jaw]

Slightly worried about Sanchez in this game...... seems to not be too in control thus far......

[Bad News Gertner]

Edwin is fucking God

[Damian Rey 2.0]

Sanchez' biggest knock as a prospect was his short stride to the plate would hinder him from throwing strikes. The few times I've seen him throw I can see what they mean.

[Lock Jaw]

Yeah, def worried about Sanchez

[Damian Rey 2.0]

Being up 2, I wonder how conservative Gibbons manages his pen. If Sanchez keeps struggling I'm bringing in Liriano or Stroman if I need middle innings to get it to the 8th.

[Lock Jaw]

Liriano out with concussion

[Lock Jaw]

Sanchez strikes out the side..... could be hitting his stride......

[Damian Rey 2.0]

Ohhhh anyone take his spot? And nice play there LJ.

He does have electric stuff when on.

[Lock Jaw]

Some dude took his spot, but forget who..... can't be bothered to look it up.....

[Lock Jaw]

6-6 back to square one heading into the 7th

Stressful

[Lock Jaw]

Bottom of the ninth, still tied..... here we go

[Lock Jaw]

And we're going to extras

[Bad News Gertner]

The Rangers have played 27 innings of post season ball and have not led for 1 of them

[Bad News Gertner]

Donaldson, E5 and Bautista. Probably our best chance of winning it

[Bad News Gertner]

Donaldson leads off with a double!

And Bautista crap the bed

[Lock Jaw]

JJJJJJJJAAAAAAAAYYYYYYSSSSS