MLB 2023

[whatwouldcooleydo?]

This is my oldest World Series memory.

mine is watching Yaz pop up to end the '75 series against the Reds.

He also popped up to end the Bucky Dent game

[tinnitus photography]

fuckin' Yaz.


THANKS FOR NUTTIN'

[beantownbubba]

My sympathies, clams. This one has gotta hurt.

[beantownbubba]

The baseball playoffs have pretty much always had this "issue." It's just been magnified by the three-game series. The point is to crown a champion, not to determine who the best team is. If that was the goal, the original playoff format is the best but that's never coming back. A lot of people don't realize how small of a sample a 3/5/7 game series is and how much variance there is in baseball in general. It is what it is.

Correct. If you wanted the champ to be the best team, you would simply hand the trophy to the team with the best record (a la Premier League)

I'm not so sure. Clearly correct that one solution is to give the trophy to the team that finishes first at the end of the season but isn't it equally consistent with "let's crown a champion, not determine who's best" theory to pick the playoff participants randomly out of a hat? So that theoretically only the worst teams might be participating? Is that a good way to determine a champion? Any system is going to have weaknesses (and the college football playoffs continuing search for a legit playoff format is further evidence of that) but I don't think the "crown a champion" theory solves any of them. It seems to me that at most, it would be justification for a smaller pool of playoff teams with the best records, but it's being used here to support, if not quite the opposite, something quite different. To me the questions of the best theory and the best structure remain very open.

The Athletic weighs in:

"I do hope we can fully abandon the push from earlier in the playoffs to change the format. Yes, both World Series participants are Wild Card teams, but this was tremendous baseball. Two league championship series going seven games. Two teams absolutely earning every win. Are the Diamondbacks and Rangers not deserving? Bollocks to anyone saying no."

[brettac1]

Agreed 100%. I'm super-excited for this series, though I thought the hand-wringing about the format was wrong to begin with (even as a fan of a team who was taken out in a three-game series).

[tinnitus photography]

i am just happy the Astros aren't in the WS.

[brettac1]

Livid that Raul Mondesi did not have a 6+ WAR season with the Dodgers and I ruined my grid today because of it. Too cute but that's the fun of the game (he did have a 5.7 season).

[Clams]

Still reeling from the Phillies failure to win games 6 and 7 (which I attended) at home and losing the NLCS to the DBacks. Oh the joys of being a lifelong Philly sports fan.

[brettac1]

Still reeling from the Phillies failure to win games 6 and 7 (which I attended) at home and losing the NLCS to the DBacks. Oh the joys of being a lifelong Philly sports fan.

If it makes you feel better, the Brewers have never made the World Series in my lifetime and didn't make the playoffs until I was 24. They were promptly dispatched by the 2008 World Series champion Phillies.

[chuckrh]

Still reeling from the Phillies failure to win games 6 and 7 (which I attended) at home and losing the NLCS to the DBacks. Oh the joys of being a lifelong Philly sports fan.

If it makes you feel better, the Brewers have never made the World Series in my lifetime and didn't make the playoffs until I was 24. They were promptly dispatched by the 2008 World Series champion Phillies.

I see your Brewers trauma & raise you a Mariners trauma. We've never even made the World Series & I'm pretty convinced I'll never live to see it happen. The franchise places making big profits over winning. Now they're doing their best to alienate the locker room. It's pretty fucking ugly.

[whatwouldcooleydo?]

Livid that Raul Mondesi did not have a 6+ WAR season with the Dodgers and I ruined my grid today because of it. Too cute but that's the fun of the game (he did have a 5.7 season).

I might as well quit playing because I’m not ever gonna top today’s performance- 9/9 with rarity score of 13

[beantownbubba]

Livid that Raul Mondesi did not have a 6+ WAR season with the Dodgers and I ruined my grid today because of it. Too cute but that's the fun of the game (he did have a 5.7 season).

I might as well quit playing because I’m not ever gonna top today’s performance- 9/9 with rarity score of 13

Heck yeah. Go out on top (and what a top that is). It's not like you need that last $30 million anyway.

[whatwouldcooleydo?]

Livid that Raul Mondesi did not have a 6+ WAR season with the Dodgers and I ruined my grid today because of it. Too cute but that's the fun of the game (he did have a 5.7 season).

I might as well quit playing because I’m not ever gonna top today’s performance- 9/9 with rarity score of 13

Heck yeah. Go out on top (and what a top that is). It's not like you need that last $30 million anyway.

[brettac1]

The award ones like that are great because so many people seem to just take the obvious players.

[whatwouldcooleydo?]

The award ones like that are great because so many people seem to just take the obvious players.

Yep

[Zip City]

The award ones like that are great because so many people seem to just take the obvious players.

NL MVP that I go to a lot is Terry Pendleton.

[whatwouldcooleydo?]

The award ones like that are great because so many people seem to just take the obvious players.

NL MVP that I go to a lot is Terry Pendleton.

Same, & a great AL option is Jeff Burroughs

[whatwouldcooleydo?]

Anyone else wanna draw & quarter Marlins Guy?

[whatwouldcooleydo?]

Seager has been like a rock all postseason & in the World Series he’s still the same

[whatwouldcooleydo?]

[beantownbubba]

Correct. If you wanted the champ to be the best team, you would simply hand the trophy to the team with the best record (a la Premier League)

I'm not so sure. Clearly correct that one solution is to give the trophy to the team that finishes first at the end of the season but isn't it equally consistent with "let's crown a champion, not determine who's best" theory to pick the playoff participants randomly out of a hat? So that theoretically only the worst teams might be participating? Is that a good way to determine a champion? Any system is going to have weaknesses (and the college football playoffs continuing search for a legit playoff format is further evidence of that) but I don't think the "crown a champion" theory solves any of them. It seems to me that at most, it would be justification for a smaller pool of playoff teams with the best records, but it's being used here to support, if not quite the opposite, something quite different. To me the questions of the best theory and the best structure remain very open.

The Athletic weighs in:

"I do hope we can fully abandon the push from earlier in the playoffs to change the format. Yes, both World Series participants are Wild Card teams, but this was tremendous baseball. Two league championship series going seven games. Two teams absolutely earning every and Rangers not deserving? Bollocks to anyone saying no."

Another perspective, better on identifying the problem(s) than proposing solutions. Not a great article but the author does raise a couple of poimts not mentioned here.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/11/01/ ... uthorQuery

[whatwouldcooleydo?]

And dude has a losing record overall

[whatwouldcooleydo?]

[whatwouldcooleydo?]

This is great, no idea how I’ve never seen this until now

[whatwouldcooleydo?]

Great article. Worked around the paywall so anyone should be able to read this

https://archive.ph/bDZBu

[beantownbubba]

Great article. Worked around the paywall so anyone should be able to read this

https://archive.ph/bDZBu

Excellent and a whole lot of fun.

[brettac1]

Brewers/Cubs will take on an added importance for the next little bit. I'm ready for the '24 season to get here.

Met a Mets fan in the merch line at Pappy + Harriets on Sunday night and he thanked me for Counsell. Whoops.

[whatwouldcooleydo?]

Brewers/Cubs will take on an added importance for the next little bit. I'm ready for the '24 season to get here.

Met a Mets fan in the merch line at Pappy + Harriets on Sunday night and he thanked me for Counsell. Whoops.

They stood there laughing, they’re not laughing anymore


My wife hates Counsell so much, mostly due to his batting stance but also because he looks a good bit like the Child Catcher from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

[whatwouldcooleydo?]

Livid that Raul Mondesi did not have a 6+ WAR season with the Dodgers and I ruined my grid today because of it. Too cute but that's the fun of the game (he did have a 5.7 season).

I might as well quit playing because I’m not ever gonna top today’s performance- 9/9 with rarity score of 13

Glad I didn’t quit playing- today Immaculate with rarity of 11

And just a day shy of achieving it on Nigel Tufnel Day, so close

[whatwouldcooleydo?]