baseballmom posted:hshuler posted:Don't count out the Astros just yet!
Yeah...but they're kinda behind the 8 ball...
They sure are, but any team can win two in a row at home, and they are not just any team.
Not tonight, Yankee fans. Not tonight.
JGC;
MLB desires the Yankee /Dodgers WS. Because the match of Tanaka [Goodwill Series alumni] and Davish will have 100 million TV audience from Japan.
Bob
Consultant posted:JGC;
MLB desires the Yankee /Dodgers WS. Because the match of Tanaka [Goodwill Series alumni] and Davish will have 100 million TV audience from Japan.
Bob
Also will have 2 of the largest markets playing. Lots of $$$$$$$$$.
Reminds me of the Twins world series when home team won every game as series went 7.
Verlander carrying the astros, what a great pick up.
Dominik85 posted:Verlander carrying the astros, what a great pick up.
Verlander may have done what Randy Johnson didn’t in 1998 when he took two losses to the Padres as the Astros went down in a five game series. Pitched well, but Kevin Brown pitched better.
Verlander is a stud. Local kid (Richmond, VA) who made it big. I saw the Astros announced Charlie Morton as the starter for game 7 at home. I thought Morton was pitching great the other day, but ran into a bad spot with some good pitches that ended up being better hits outside the zone. Sabathia has pitched in some big games, so I don;t think he;ll be as nervous. I'm really looking forward to this game tonight.
I'm not sure how Vegas sees any potential World Series, but the Dodgers have to be favored in either matchup..... especially if Danny Devito is managing from the stands. ;-)
Agreed on Verlander's studliness. I saw him pitch in 2014 in Anaheim. He was having a so so year, and he didn't pitch well in that game either. I thought his career was winding down based on that season. Statistically, ERA wise, it was easily the worst year of his career. He was injured with a sports hernia and a sore shoulder and his next season was his worst w/L year.
But the guy is 31-17 since then with an ERA south of 3.3. He's only given up 4 ER in 5 starts for the Astros. What a pick-up is right!
Weird fact: he gave up Alex Rodriguez' 3000th hit, a HR.
smokeminside posted:Agreed on Verlander's studliness. I saw him pitch in 2014 in Anaheim. He was having a so so year, and he didn't pitch well in that game either. I thought his career was winding down based on that season. Statistically, ERA wise, it was easily the worst year of his career. He was injured with a sports hernia and a sore shoulder and his next season was his worst w/L year.
But the guy is 31-17 since then with an ERA south of 3.3. He's only given up 4 ER in 5 starts for the Astros. What a pick-up is right!
Weird fact: he gave up Alex Rodriguez' 3000th hit, a HR.
If you include the post season, Verlander is 9-0 in 9 starts with the astros with 8 ER's in 58.2 innings.
For entertainment purposes only:
I’m going with the Astros at home tonight. They’ll knock C.C. around and chase him early.
What say you?
hshuler posted:For entertainment purposes only:
I’m going with the Astros at home tonight. They’ll knock C.C. around and chase him early.
What say you?
"Dear Jesus, please watch over the Astros bullpen. Please protect them from center cut fastballs lasered back up the middle."
I will be rooting for the Astros as I am genetically incapable of rooting for the Yankees. But I think we're going to see the big market WS. CC will do fine.
Pulling for the stros, but win or lose we’re going to the 4th with a great game... can’t ask for nothing more!
hshuler posted:For entertainment purposes only:
I’m going with the Astros at home tonight. They’ll knock C.C. around and chase him early.
What say you?
You called that one!
JCG posted:I will be rooting for the Astros as I am genetically incapable of rooting for the Yankees. But I think we're going to see the big market WS. CC will do fine.
The jinx worked!
TPM posted:hshuler posted:For entertainment purposes only:
I’m going with the Astros at home tonight. They’ll knock C.C. around and chase him early.
What say you?
You called that one!
Dumb luck!
As much as the powers that be wanted a series between the two largest media markets, I think these are the best two teams and should make for an outstanding WS.
Congrats to the Dodgers and Astros getting to the World Series. This is how I sized things up with potentially 4 games in LA and 3 games in Houston and the DH in potentially only 3 games:
Offense - Slight edge to Astros in reg season, Edge to Dodgers in the post season. However with Seger out got to lean to the Astros here.
Defense- Slight edge to Dodgers even without Seger.
Starting Pitching- Slight Edge to Dodgers
Bullpen - Toss Up
Manager - Even. Hinch more conservative. Roberts more aggressive. Neither has HC post season experience at this level. Bottom line is they are newbys.
Celebrity Presence - Astros. Nolan Ryan sitting behind home plate in Houston or Mary Hart sitting behind home plate in LA? Got to give it to the Astos and the Ryan legend.
Pick - Dodgers in 5
Prepare to have your mind blown.
fenwaysouth posted:Congrats to the Dodgers and Astros getting to the World Series. This is how I sized things up with potentially 4 games in LA and 3 games in Houston and the DH in potentially only 3 games:
Offense - Slight edge to Astros in reg season, Edge to Dodgers in the post season. However with Seger out got to lean to the Astros here.
Defense- Slight edge to Dodgers even without Seger.
Starting Pitching- Slight Edge to Dodgers
Bullpen - Toss Up
Manager - Even. Hinch more conservative. Roberts more aggressive. Neither has HC post season experience at this level. Bottom line is they are newbys.
Celebrity Presence - Astros. Nolan Ryan sitting behind home plate in Houston or Mary Hart sitting behind home plate in LA? Got to give it to the Astos and the Ryan legend.
Pick - Dodgers in 5
Glad your on the bandwagon Fenway! - but here is my take, unbiased as I can be.
Offense: Push - Both are good and both know how to grind. This will end up giving the Dodgers an advantage due to bullpen, as they will limit one of the Astro's advantages by getting to their weak pen. [see below]
Defense: Push - Both are solid.
Starting pitching: Advantage Astros - I think their starting pitching is better.
Bullpen: Strong edge to Dodgers and this could be deciding factor in the series together with their depth.
Depth/bench: Another strong edge to the Dodgers which give them the ability to adjust to opportunities, including the DH where they may be the first NL team to have a better DH. There is no other team that can move infield and outfield players around like the Dodgers. [I love Granderson as an individual, but he won't make the WS roster]
Manager: Hands down Dodgers - Robert's [together with analytics from front office] Dodgers are one of the first teams to map out scenarios ahead of the game and manage to those scenarios. Clear advantage to Dodgers, when you take into account their bullpen and bench.
The Dodgers should win because of the combination of their bullpen, bench and in game management.*
I think that this series goes 7 games. I don't think the Dodgers have been challenged like the Astro's have an advantage coming in and could steal an initial game and put the Dodgers on their heals a bit.
*Championship baseball is unpredictable which is why it is so fun. It also will give lots of armchair managers the opportunity to second guess both teams.
Finally both of these teams use analytics more than any others and will become a model for other teams in the future. Play Ball!
The astros pen is not bad (struggled in the postseason but that is SSS noise) but it is still quite a bit weaker. Bullpen and defense are biggest Dodgers edges, starters and hitting is similar.
Dominik85 posted:The astros pen is not bad (struggled in the postseason but that is SSS noise) but it is still quite a bit weaker. Bullpen and defense are biggest Dodgers edges, starters and hitting is similar.
The Astros blew 30% (21-69) of their save opportunities in 2017.
RJM posted:Dominik85 posted:The astros pen is not bad (struggled in the postseason but that is SSS noise) but it is still quite a bit weaker. Bullpen and defense are biggest Dodgers edges, starters and hitting is similar.
The Astros blew 30% (21-69) of their save opportunities in 2017.
Just got off phone w AJ. Astros going with all starters for WS. keuchel, verlander, then tandoms of morton/mccullers, mchugh/peacock.
Next time he calls, say hi for me.
RJM posted:Dominik85 posted:The astros pen is not bad (struggled in the postseason but that is SSS noise) but it is still quite a bit weaker. Bullpen and defense are biggest Dodgers edges, starters and hitting is similar.
The Astros blew 30% (21-69) of their save opportunities in 2017.
but they were somewhat unlucky especially at the start of the season (probably mostly bad sequencing). Overall the BP was pretty good (6th in the Majors in FIP but just 11th in ERA and 4th in K-BB).
smokeminside posted:Next time he calls, say hi for me.
I'll try. He just goes on and on sometimes. Stanford grad. I rarely have any idea what he is talking about.
yeah, I know what you mean. I ran into him at the Romanian Bat Festival a few years ago. Talked my ear off. He's a very enthusiastic guy. That's him on the left.
Ahh, to be young again.
Go44dad posted:smokeminside posted:Next time he calls, say hi for me.
I'll try. He just goes on and on sometimes. Stanford grad. I rarely have any idea what he is talking about.
You might wanna get Luhnow on the phone with him.
Maybe you can help them interpret stats.
smokeminside posted:Ahh, to be young again.
Rich helps too.
What happened in the regular season and previous postseason series won’t matter now. It’s sounds cliche but the team that executes better pitch to pitch will win.
I don’t have any numbers to back up why I’m picking the Astros in six, but I am.
Regardless of who wins, should be a very exciting series.
LETS GO!!!!!
This is one of the more interesting articles on the WS that I have read. Analytics about strike zone.
https://www.fangraphs.com/blog...o-favor-the-dodgers/
Astros all the way!!! It would be nice to see Hinch not panic so much and make knee jerk reactions like he's done the 1st 2 series. We should be able to at least split in LA and then finish at home. Once you get past Kershaw, I'm not too impressed with the rest of their starters.
I'm not seeing where the dodgers supposedly have a defense advantage. 3rd-Bregman over Turner, SS-Correa over Seager, 2nd-Altuve over either, 1st toss up between Gurriel and Bellinger, C-slight edge to Grandal, CF/RF both teams are very good, LF advantage Dodgers. I would say slight edge to Astros overall.
Texas 2 Sons posted:Astros all the way!!! It would be nice to see Hinch not panic so much and make knee jerk reactions like he's done the 1st 2 series. We should be able to at least split in LA and then finish at home. Once you get past Kershaw, I'm not too impressed with the rest of their starters.
I'm not seeing where the dodgers supposedly have a defense advantage. 3rd-Bregman over Turner, SS-Correa over Seager, 2nd-Altuve over either, 1st toss up between Gurriel and Bellinger, C-slight edge to Grandal, CF/RF both teams are very good, LF advantage Dodgers. I would say slight edge to Astros overall.
Maybe you’re not seeing through your bias. Fangraphs has the Dodgers rating 5th in fielding. The Astros are rated 29th. In just straight up fielding percentages the Dodgers are 12th. The Astros are 20th. Fangraphs has Gurriel, Springer, Gonzalez and Redddick in the top fifty of worst defensive players in baseball in 2017. The Dodgers have three in the top fifty of best defensive players. The Astros have none.
Astros need to steal a game in LA in the first two. They have home field advantage in Games 3-4-5.... Dodgers have a much better bullpen, which in recent history is extremely important in the postseason
this "feels" like the Dodger's year, but I'll be rooting for Houston.
Just because you guys keep saying that the Dodgers bullpen is better....watch what happens! LoL
hshuler posted:Just because you guys keep saying that the Dodgers bullpen is better....watch what happens! LoL
It’s more the Astros bullpen is worse.