Yep
“Call it in the air!”
Adam Kilgore’s take on why WS home field should remain decided by the All Star Game: article link.
I heartily agree with Kilgore’s comments inb their entirety, except he leaves out the fact that this stops all the bitching, and there’s some utility in that.
I didn’t have strong feelings one way or the other about the ASG deciding WS home field. I actually forgot that it was odd/even year alternating before that. Best record is still not a perfect solution, so I’m guessing there will still be some complaining from somewhere come WS time.
And I always thought a 1st rounder was too steep just because a team made a token qualifying offer that everyone in the world knew would be rejected. So I can live with that change, too.
Bah! The change I would have applauded would have been the cancelling of the ASG completely. Between baseball packages on cable and the proliferation of interleague play, there is really no reason for it to exist.
If not being “gross” is now the standard, then non-stop spitting is out, too.
Well, it stops the bitching about using the ASG to decide. I believe the bitching has already begun about the new system, in the form of “you have to look at quality of competition” and “does it really mean anything if you win 95 and I win 94” and on like that. Hopefully there’ll be less of it under this format, but I ain’t holding my breath.
If a strong AL team next year coasts to a division title with 91 wins, say, and faces a lightly regarded wild card NL team that somehow squeaked its way to 92 wins in a lousy division, I guarantee there’ll be a lot of complaints.
That all-star game nonsense … good riddance.
WRT a tie for better record among the two world series teams, that’s happened exactly once since divisional play started (2013, when Boston and St. Louis also tied for the best record in baseball); there were two ties in pre-divisional years, plus 1951 when the Yankees and Giants had the same number of wins but the Giants had 3 more losses (that was the Bobby Thompson homer/3-game playoff year).
St Louis sends Jaime Garcia to Atlanta in exchange for John Gant, Chris Ellis, and Luke Dykstra.
Astros sign Carlos Beltran and have now patched three major holes in their lineup from last year. They’re still rumored to be trying to trade for either Chris Sale or Chris Archer.
Matt Holiday signs a one-year deal with the Yankees.
The Braves are trying to trade for Chris Sale, but refuse to part with Dansby Swanson.
I was disappointed the Royals weren’t able to get in on that.
The Blue Jays have signed the immortalk Steve Pearce.
Combining this with the Kendrys Morales signing it’s now obvious they never intended to bring Edwin Encarnacion back, so let the guessing begin as to where he’ll end up.
I’ve read two articles that said the Red Sox will not pursue Encarnacion despite the fact that Beltran is off the market. To that I say, good. I don’t really want EE at the exorbitant cost he’s sure to want. I really think they’ve already got the pieces to plug the hole at DH.
And it seems there are at least a half dozen teams interested in Chris Sale. Who wouldn’t be?
Mark Melancon is now a San Francisco Giant.
The Dodgers managed to hold on to Rich Hill for three years and $48 million. I assume there’s a player-friendly clause in the contract that allows him to decide if he gets to finish any perfect-game bids.
I approve.
So many teams are plugging their 1B/DH holes are bargain prices that I wonder if Encarnacion will get the payday he wanted.
Granted, you only have to find one team to pony it up.