Winner: Red Sox
Games: 7
MVP: Xander Bogaerts
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I'm calling for Red Sox in 6, at least 1 benches clearing brawl, and the MVP will be Betts
Mookie!
And David Price has a brand new flex
GaryMe posted:I'm calling for Red Sox in 6, at least 1 benches clearing brawl, and the MVP will be Betts
Will he play infield in LA?
It's hard to pick against a team that won 108 games. It's also hard to pick against a team with LA's combo of starting pitching and power.
I like Boston in 7, but I picked Atlanta and Houston to make the WS so obviously whatever I say is wrong.
Machado gets one in the ear hole?
Dodgers in 7. Machado is MVP and gets his 40 mil contract with the Yanks and he is a bigger PITA than ARoid followed by another decade of futility to the delight of all the yankee haters...I think the meds are wearing off.
Red Sox in 6. Bogaerts wins MVP. The Red Sox will ignore any of Machado’s behavior and past antics. They’re to focused on winning to be distracted by his BS.
I thought that Houston was the best team this year, and the Sox dismantled them. Think they keep it going and get it done quickly, 5 games. JBJ for MVP.
Red Sox in 5 (maybe 6).
Dodgers in 6
I was pretty surprised to see the Dodgers sit their top 4 HR hitters in game 2. Obviously analytics played a huge role in this decision, but two things come to mind:
1) You can't win with your best players on the bench. I can't imagine any coach at any level, in any sport, believing you can.
2) Data is data, and all data tells a story. I've come to believe that you can see anything you want in data, and the real magic of using it is seeing the right thing, interpreting it properly. IMO, the Dodgers are misusing the data and blowing it big time. It may cost Roberts his job, and perhaps it should.
Redsox in 5. But I'm not sure how much more of this I can watch with 4 minute commercials in between innings. Pitchers get 5 warmups in between, it can realistically take one minute to return to play. I think MLB is addressing the wrong topic when they say they're trying to improve the pace of play. While the pace is a little slower, it does not compare to how long the fans are sitting around twiddling their thumbs.
17 half innings. If they cut the commercials from 4 to 2 minutes:
17 half innings x 4 min = 1hr 8 minutes of commercials/extended game time
17 half innings x 2 minutes = 34 minutes of commercials/extended game time
I get it. Commercials make money. But 4 hours to watch a game that features 20 strikeouts is ridiculous. Even at the stadium I find myself looking around saying what is taking so long. This is a big obstacle for baseball
Smitty28 posted:I was pretty surprised to see the Dodgers sit their top 4 HR hitters in game 2. Obviously analytics played a huge role in this decision, but two things come to mind:
1) You can't win with your best players on the bench. I can't imagine any coach at any level, in any sport, believing you can.
2) Data is data, and all data tells a story. I've come to believe that you can see anything you want in data, and the real magic of using it is seeing the right thing, interpreting it properly. IMO, the Dodgers are misusing the data and blowing it big time. It may cost Roberts his job, and perhaps it should.
Pederson v. LHP .170 BA, .512 OPS
Grandal .202, .727
Bellinger .226, .681
Muncy .255, .891
The only one you could make an argument for is Muncy. But in his place ..
Freese, .321, .896 .... .387, 1.068 in the last month
DH Muncy over Kemp? Similar stats v. LHP over season
Kemp in the last month ... .339, .922
The players in the lineup are the right players who haven’t performed.
If you take the Yankees starts out of Porcello’s stats he’s had an awesome season. But, the Dodgers left handed lineup hits for a lot of power and Porcello sometimes gives up a lot of homers. Hopefully, if it happens they’re solo shots.
Does anyone feel like they’re watching a great game? I think I’m watching a pathetic example of what MLB has become. It’s two lineups trying to hit one out on every pitch. Instead they’re popping up and striking out. How can you have strategy if no one gets on? If it wasn’t my team I would have gone to bed three hours ago.
Has Ian Kinsler set himself up to join the Red Sox infamous lore of Johnny Pesky, Bill Buckner and Grady Little? He had plenty of time to reset his feet. Or he could have held the ball and the run wouldn’t have scored on the play.
My son was asking me the same thing about everyone swinging for the fence. Boston did try to bunt the runners over, but Maeda made a great play. MLB got the home run, and we get at least two more games.
#chicksdigthelongball
RJM posted:Does anyone feel like they’re watching a great game? I think I’m watching a pathetic example of what MLB has become. It’s two lineups trying to hit one out on every pitch. Instead they’re popping up and striking out. How can you have strategy if no one gets on? If it wasn’t my team I would have gone to bed three hours ago.
Has Ian Kinsler set himself up to join the Red Sox infamous lore of Johnny Pesky, Bill Buckner and Grady Little? He had plenty of time to reset his feet. Or he could have held the ball and the run wouldn’t have scored on the play.
I definitely think that if the Red Sox lose the series this could go down as the "Kinsler Game". In addition to the error he had that adventure on the bases: picked off first (ump got call wrong), over slid third and should have been out, and thrown out at home.
CmassRHPDad posted:Machado gets one in the ear hole?
And there comes the brawl!
RJM posted:Smitty28 posted:I was pretty surprised to see the Dodgers sit their top 4 HR hitters in game 2. Obviously analytics played a huge role in this decision, but two things come to mind:
1) You can't win with your best players on the bench. I can't imagine any coach at any level, in any sport, believing you can.
2) Data is data, and all data tells a story. I've come to believe that you can see anything you want in data, and the real magic of using it is seeing the right thing, interpreting it properly. IMO, the Dodgers are misusing the data and blowing it big time. It may cost Roberts his job, and perhaps it should.
Pederson v. LHP .170 BA, .512 OPS
Grandal .202, .727
Bellinger .226, .681
Muncy .255, .891
The only one you could make an argument for is Muncy. But in his place ..
Freese, .321, .896 .... .387, 1.068 in the last month
DH Muncy over Kemp? Similar stats v. LHP over season
Kemp in the last month ... .339, .922
The players in the lineup are the right players who haven’t performed.
If you take the Yankees starts out of Porcello’s stats he’s had an awesome season. But, the Dodgers left handed lineup hits for a lot of power and Porcello sometimes gives up a lot of homers. Hopefully, if it happens they’re solo shots.
Well it looks like a little crack in the analytics armor for game 4 - Bellinger and Muncy started against a lefty...
If I was the 1b and there is enough time I would lift my left just before manny arrives and make him fly. I'm not a fan of retaliation games but at some point it is enough...
YES!
Red Sox World Series parade information
Who: The Boston Red Sox, 2018 World Series champions.
Where: Boston, of course. Details on exact route and starting point to be updated as we have them.
When: Wednesday, October 31st at 11 am.
What: A big parade! The 11th since 2002 for the city.
How: DUCK BOATS. Duck booooooooats!!!
The are the best team and beat the best teams to get the chip. kudos to the sawx, still pains me to type it.
No skin but... Congrats to Bosox and fans... hard to think of any player who didn't contribute during the playoff run. So often, on the big stage, it's who chokes the least and which few guys step up. The whole team just flat out played. That was impressive.
I thought it was ironic. Last pitch that clinched WS2018 was Manny with a K swinging on a pitch in the dirt, that brought him to his knee. Congrats Boston, even from a die hard Dodger Blue. The better team definitely won!
Happy for the BoSox nation, but as I felt about SF Giants, I'd be happy to have other teams win it for the next 5-10 years. But they richly deserved to win.
cabbagedad posted:No skin but... Congrats to Bosox and fans... hard to think of any player who didn't contribute during the playoff run. So often, on the big stage, it's who chokes the least and which few guys step up. The whole team just flat out played. That was impressive.
Drew Pomerantz. Cora used starters in relief and went a long way with Eovaldi to avoid using him. In his defense Pomerantz had arm problems all year. Last year he won seventeen games, had great control and was top ten in ERA.
Swihart caught in game four. Just being an available switch hitter on the bench played with Roberts’ strategy without playing. The other twenty-three players all had significant moments in the post season.
Congrats BoSox, on to the offseason. Phillies the favorites to sign Harper and Machado:
https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/...r-and-manny-machado/
Though I have to think Machado cost himself some $$ over the last few weeks.
RJM posted:cabbagedad posted:No skin but... Congrats to Bosox and fans... hard to think of any player who didn't contribute during the playoff run. So often, on the big stage, it's who chokes the least and which few guys step up. The whole team just flat out played. That was impressive.
Drew Pomerantz. Cora used starters in relief and went a long way with Eovaldi to avoid using him. In his defense Pomerantz had arm problems all year. Last year he won seventeen games, had great control and was top ten in ERA.
Swihart caught in game four. Just being an available switch hitter on the bench played with Roberts’ strategy without playing. The other twenty-three players all had significant moments in the post season.
Yeah, didn't watch and hear everything but figured Pomerantz wasn't anywhere near 100% when they passed on him in the extra inning game and then didn't use him again early the next game. My only reason for any distant interest there is to keep track of what we Tribe fans lost in trades along the way.
cabbagedad posted:RJM posted:cabbagedad posted:No skin but... Congrats to Bosox and fans... hard to think of any player who didn't contribute during the playoff run. So often, on the big stage, it's who chokes the least and which few guys step up. The whole team just flat out played. That was impressive.
Drew Pomerantz. Cora used starters in relief and went a long way with Eovaldi to avoid using him. In his defense Pomerantz had arm problems all year. Last year he won seventeen games, had great control and was top ten in ERA.
Swihart caught in game four. Just being an available switch hitter on the bench played with Roberts’ strategy without playing. The other twenty-three players all had significant moments in the post season.
Yeah, didn't watch and hear everything but figured Pomerantz wasn't anywhere near 100% when they passed on him in the extra inning game and then didn't use him again early the next game. My only reason for any distant interest there is to keep track of what we Tribe fans lost in trades along the way.
Pomerantz wasn’t on the roster for the previous two series. Steven Wright has occasional post knee surgery (last off season) issues and couldn’t continue to play. Pomerantz’s veleocity and control have been down all year. Had he been used it would have been to get one left handed hitter out.