MLB Post Season Thread

Boiling mad. Comcast is my cable tv provider, and MLB is not allowing me to stream the game on any devices. I can only watch it on tv on MLB Network. 

Cubs and Indians rematch

Dark horse picks - Diamondbacks and Astros

Astros won 101 games.  I wouldn't call them a dark horse. 

I have Cleveland beating the Nationals in 6.

MidAtlanticDad posted:

Boiling mad. Comcast is my cable tv provider, and MLB is not allowing me to stream the game on any devices. I can only watch it on tv on MLB Network. 

No, xfinity is not allowing you to view it.   

 Download the ESPN app..... Nope that doesn't work either.

Here it is on MLB and Later game FSN. I have xfinity to.

I am going with the Astros and Verlander for AL and the Cubs for NL.

Wow!

JGC

did you know Two Cubs coaches are from SRJC. One Cleveland Indians coach from our Goodwill Series in Korea. 

Bob

Astros 2017 World Series Winners

Stick a fork in the Red Sox. They’re done. The advantage the Red Sox had was to play even late into the game and let the bullpen take over.

Chris Sale had to be on his game, win two and hope someone else (Pomeranz?) could win one. Sale was the mediocre pitcher he was in his last eleven season starts (4-4, 4.04)

Jim Kaat did a good job of explaining what’s wrong with Sale. Due to fatigue he has dropped his elbow and his hand flattening out his pitches.

i predicted on July 1 the Sox would win their division and get flattened in the playoffs. I’m not rooting for it. But it was easy to see very early.

The upside to getting flattened could be maybe Farrell gets fired. He’s never been a good in game manager. I figured he was a player’s manager. But with so many players finishing below their abilities he’s either lost them, can’t motivate them or both.

JCG posted:

Astros won 101 games.  I wouldn't call them a dark horse. 

I have Cleveland beating the Nationals in 6.

That is my prediction as well. But you know who really has this prediction thing down? 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7NWPP3w8-I&t=0s

Don't be semipro. 

The Red Sox are an interesting team.  They have zigged a bit when others have zagged.  Their outfielders are all very athletic high contact athletes in an era when teams are stacking their lineups with elevate and celebrate  dudes swinging up and swinging for the fences.   It is clear that Boston over pitched Sale down the stretch and that will be their undoing.  Dombroswki is the one who should be fired, in my opinion. He seems relatively clueless.

if it turns out to be Astros-Indians in the ALCS, that could be on heckuva series.

I have no idea what to think about the NL.  Cubs might surprise people.  Nationals on paper look like the strongest team but Baseball isn't won on paper.

RS never adjusted to Verlander, he was consistantly high in the zone and he just dominated.

A couple random, post season thoughts on a crazy Friday with 4 Division Series games.  

1) My dream of a Red Sox vs Nationals World Series is not going to happen this year.  I'm not feeling it.

2) Cleveland vs Diamondbacks World Series.  Picking the Indians.  I have a man crush on Tito Francona.

3) Gary Sanchez has no business pretending to be a catcher in the post season.  Yankees need to DH him if he is in the lineup.

3and2Fastball posted:

The Red Sox are an interesting team.  They have zigged a bit when others have zagged.  Their outfielders are all very athletic high contact athletes in an era when teams are stacking their lineups with elevate and celebrate  dudes swinging up and swinging for the fences.   It is clear that Boston over pitched Sale down the stretch and that will be their undoing.  Dombroswki is the one who should be fired, in my opinion. He seems relatively clueless.

if it turns out to be Astros-Indians in the ALCS, that could be on heckuva series.

I have no idea what to think about the NL.  Cubs might surprise people.  Nationals on paper look like the strongest team but Baseball isn't won on paper.

Dombrowski is OK. Farrell should be fired. He’s a former pitcher who overuses pitchers. He’s a terrible in game manager. He seems to lack the ability to motivate. Too many players underperformed this year. 

fenwaysouth posted:

A couple random, post season thoughts on a crazy Friday with 4 Division Series games.  

1) My dream of a Red Sox vs Nationals World Series is not going to happen this year.  I'm not feeling it.

2) Cleveland vs Diamondbacks World Series.  Picking the Indians.  I have a man crush on Tito Francona.

3) Gary Sanchez has no business pretending to be a catcher in the post season.  Yankees need to DH him if he is in the lineup.

Geez, no kidding with Sanchez.  I don't think I've seen a worse performance defensively by a MLB catcher.  He couldn't handle any of the P's they rolled out.  There were a couple strange kicks and really bad pitches but still..

Maybe everyone can switch managers.

Who wants Matheny? Talk about using pitchers incorrectly! Maybe teams can switch GMs while they are at it. Moz for Dombrowsi?

MLB lacks the lure it used to have. Hoping this off season helps the sport.   

I'm jealous.  Games are over by the time I get home from work--late meetings all week.

TPM posted:

Maybe everyone can switch managers.

Who wants Matheny? Talk about using pitchers incorrectly! Maybe teams can switch GMs while they are at it. Moz for Dombrowsi?

MLB lacks the lure it used to have. Hoping this off season helps the sport.   

I'll keep Francona.  Sure had doubts about the Bauer decision but he is obviously a lot smarter than me.  My only complaint is continued use of Shaw.  I really hope I'm not being a prophet right now.

My takeaways from watching the games thus far are mainly these.

#1: The players are just soooo much better now on average than ever in the past.

#2: The game is faster now (not pace of play, obviously) but mound velo & exit velocity of balls in play, arm strength, athleticism & speed of position players.

#3: You had numerous pitchers run out there bumping high 90's / 100 who could get virtually nobody out while throwing strikes. This would not have happened 20-30 years ago. That velo alone would have translated into a degree of success.

$4: Command of the fastball, movement & secondary pitches are more relevant than ever & velocity is diminishing in effect.

All true. 

It's hard not to wonder if stealth juicing technology has improved of late.

Might want to think twice about pitching lefties vs the Astros...

With the recent trending of bigger/stronger, who would have thought a guy about 5'5", a buck and a half would be the power hitter that needs to be worked around?

cabbagedad posted:

With the recent trending of bigger/stronger, who would have thought a guy about 5'5", a buck and a half would be the power hitter that needs to be worked around?

Yeah, to a degree... Altuve runs a 6.5 sixty though and has tremendous first step quickness.  It is clear he has plenty of explosiveness

I hear ya though!  Reminds me of Joe Morgan a bit...

cabbagedad posted:

With the recent trending of bigger/stronger, who would have thought a guy about 5'5", a buck and a half would be the power hitter that needs to be worked around?

Houston guy and big Altuve fan.  A time will come shortly when the national media will stop referring to his size, making jokes, puns etc.  It has already happened in Houston.

He is as big as any player in the game.

Go44dad posted:

cabbagedad posted:

With the recent trending of bigger/stronger, who would have thought a guy about 5'5", a buck and a half would be the power hitter that needs to be worked around?

Houston guy and big Altuve fan.  A time will come shortly when the national media will stop referring to his size, making jokes, puns etc.  It has already happened in Houston.

He is as big as any player in the game.

On top of all that Altuve couldn't be a nicer guy.  A few years ago (before the Astros were any good) me and my son were down on the field at Minute Maid Park during pre-game BP.  Astro players were milling around behind the batting cage right where we were standing.  We kept to ourselves and some players spoke to us and some didn't. But Altuve walked straight over to my son (who even at 14 was bigger than Altuve) and struck up a conversation that lasted 10 minutes and ended with photos. He made 2 fans for life that day. 

Go44dad posted:

cabbagedad posted:

With the recent trending of bigger/stronger, who would have thought a guy about 5'5", a buck and a half would be the power hitter that needs to be worked around?

Houston guy and big Altuve fan.  A time will come shortly when the national media will stop referring to his size, making jokes, puns etc.  It has already happened in Houston.

He is as big as any player in the game.

Oh, heck yeah, love the guy.  He's probably going to be largely responsible for keeping my team from winning a series for the first time in my lifetime and I still love him.  

I will still continue to use the size angle though.  He is an instant go-to when any of my small players start "going there" with "wish I was" BS.

smokeminside posted:

I'm jealous.  Games are over by the time I get home from work--late meetings all week.

 

I live in the eastern time Zone go in a little early so I can see the game. Best laid plans and all that. I walk in the door just after the Cleveland walk off. 

Ouch.  There was a walk off? 

Thirteenth inning baby, my wife was cheering when I pulled in the driveway. Heard her before my feet hit the pavement, of our driveway.

I got to see Altuva in single A. We sat 1st row behind the dugout and I couldn't believe how small he was. Then he went to bat and stroked 1 to the left center wall. The next year was when he got brought up. Been a huge fan ever since! 

As for the games, what's happened to all these starting pitchers. Half of them can't make it to the 3rd inning...crazy  

The Cubs looked like they flipped on a switch and became a different team in the postseason after fumbling and stumbling a bit through the 2017 season.  I'll be fascinated to see if that continues in Game 2 today, or if it was mostly just Hendricks looking unhittable...

Harper & Zimmerman launch HR's and suddenly that series got real interesting

It sure did. Until that inning it looked like the Nats were done.

I had them getting to the WS to lose to the Indians, so that was good to see. But dunno how the Indians or anybody else are going to beat Houston, the way they're going.

Adam Lind started that rally and Harper and Zimmerman finished it.  A tip of the cap to Dusty Baker for being patient and not sending Robles (pinch runner) who is very, very fast.  Nats fans were screaming at my TV last night to try to get Robles to 2nd base, and  Dusty ignored them.   It paid off in a big way.   Watch out....the Nats offensive genie is out of the bottle.  

Nats Park was dead going into the Bot 8th, typical whenever the team is behind.  Then the usual explosion. 

And as usual, we're always thankful that any game ends before Metro closes for the night (dopes!).

Looks like the Nats, Cubs and Dodgers all woke up at the right time. Took the Nats a little longer than their fans wanted I think.   I have been watching the Dodgers this year more and after seeing the game without Joe Davis announcing I just realized how good he is. I saw the Astro's game he did and he was just as prepared as he is for Dodger games. The clowns TBS have in the booth are beyond bad, not prepared at all. 

Today's Red Sox-Astros game has been extremely entertaining.

Altuve needs to pick it up. He only batted .727 in the series. What a slacker!

In all seriousness, I don't think I remember any everyday player hitting for that high of an average in any postseason series. 

If you're not watching the Cubs-Nats game, you might want to check in. No score after 5, and Mr Scherzer is at it again.

Yes, none of her teammates are sitting by him or talking to him in the dugout. :-)