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Rascally Badger

El Capitan de la outro espacio
(He/Him)
The regular season of this weird 2020 mini-season ends this weekend. Every team with a winning record will receive a free trip to the playoffs. I am sure people care about who will win the World Series.

I started this thread because today Alex Gordon announced that he will be retiring at the end of the season. He is one of my favorite players and I am going to miss him. He is a huge part of most of my favorite Royals memories: his home run in the bottom of the 9th in the 2015 World Series, his game 7 bloop single turned triple that brought the Royals within ninety feet of tying the game, numerous, numerous catches and throws in the outfield. He was very good.
 

Adrenaline

Post Reader
(He/Him)
If MLB keeps this expanded playoff format when we return to regular non-COVID play, then I don't see the point in watching much of the regular season.
 
Even with the expanded playoffs, the Ms are still out. They were eliminated on a day they didn't even play. Nothing is more Mariners than that.
 
If MLB keeps this expanded playoff format when we return to regular non-COVID play, then I don't see the point in watching much of the regular season.
On the flip side, I usually check out of baseball really quickly when it becomes apparent that my team isn't obviously one of the 4 best in their side of the league. Like, I don't need 160 games to tell me if the Giants suck ass, but at least here they had a shot up through the end.
 

Adrenaline

Post Reader
(He/Him)
Sure, but the Giants are not a good team. If 8 teams from each league make it, the incentive for teams to actually build a great roster is diminished. Two teams made the playoffs with losing records, and it could have been more. The 1 seeds have at best a two-thirds chance to advance to the second round because a best of 3 series just does not mean much in baseball. If baseball chooses this system going forward, they'll have chosen the celebration of mediocrity.
 

Mokrap of Croton

(he/him/his)
Atlanta fan checking in to say that I am SO GODDAMN PUMPED right now and am ready for some A+ high quality heartbreak! It's gonna hurt so good when we implode! Our bats are on fire! Our pitching is terrible! I want to launch Luke Jackson into the sun! LET'S GOOOOO
 

Juno

The DRKest Roe
(He, Him)
Honestly the more time goes on, I'm bothered less by the actual cheating and more by how they tried to turn it around as if they were the victims, like it was some dumb motivational bullshit to prove everybody wrong. And how there were excuses about how they tried to do the trash cans in the actual WS but it didn't work, so they didn't benefit from it then (as if getting to the WS via cheating is completely acceptable as long as you cheat in the actual WS). Like it's clear the players deluded themselves into believing that the hatred was simply about them winning a WS people believed they couldn't have won legitimately, when the problem is much more than that.

It's been discussed whether their whole scheme actually did improve their hitting, and some research suggests it didn't do much to help, but honestly I don't care if their bullshit scheme actually did improve things for them or not. Morally, there's no difference from when you cheat and benefit from it, and when you try to cheat and it doesn't help you. Intent matters, not just results.

Anyway, assuming there's a point next year where stadiums can safely have fans, I hope they get booed relentlessly during their road games in 2021. It was an injustice that they got exposed on this the same year Covid cleared out stadiums.
 
It's been discussed whether their whole scheme actually did improve their hitting, and some research suggests it didn't do much to help
their actual results on batted balls didn't improve, but they improved on all discipline metrics (swinging strikes, and percentages for swings in and out zone), and they way improved on runs added by balls taken. It might still be overstated and baseball stats across a team are a lot of noise, but it seems like it probably helped in some aspect.

but congrats tampa anyway and please go back in time and trade for lane thomas or tyler o'neill or any other OF rather than arozarena
 
yea it seems like Atlanta will be good for a very long time. Young talent all over the field, and they got this far dealing with multiple pitching injuries.

Gonna be a great series too. I'm assuming Dodgers finally pull it out this year until the Rays have more than one hitter, but it is and feels like the best two teams in baseball this year.
 
I would have rooted for the Braves had Felix not opted out. It sucks, his first actual shot at pitching in the playoffs and Covid happens.

Hope the Dodgers finally get one or we're looking at early 90s Bills levels of futility.
 

Falselogic

Lapsed Threadcromancer
(they/them)
I'm excited about the Dodgers winning a World Series. Only wish my uncle had lived long enough to see another one...
 
Raised a Giants fan, so the Dodgers are literally satan worshipers. But if I had to pick a team from California or a team from Florida to win it all, I guess go Dodgers.
 
So AJ Hinch and Alex Cora are both managers again and Justin Turner will face no discipline for returning to the field after testing positive for COVID, because consequences are a fake idea.

Fuck the MLB, the league is dead to me until Manfred is gone at the very least.
 
On the one hand, so glad Kim Ng is finally getting her shot.

On the other, it's the Marlins - I expect they only made the call because they figured she'd cost less.
 
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it's potentially some mix of price/good press/and whatever else, but she is without a doubt qualified, and it's a pretty attractive job for the time being (except every other team in the division likely being competitive for the foreseeable future). They have some good controllable pieces at least.
 

ShakeWell

Slam Master
(he, etc.)
Devin Williams nabbing both NL Reliever of the Year and NL Rookie of the Year is PRETTY GOODDAMN RAD.
 
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