It’s hard to say it’s anything other than randomness. Even if every single game was literally decided by a coin flip, then a quarter of the time a five game series would get swept by one team or the other. In other words, even if the teams were all perfectly equal, we’d still expect about one sweep in the divisional series per year.
For a seven game series, it’s one in eight for a sweep, if outcomes are 50/50 random. So, again with perfect balance, we’d get a sweep in the LCS or World Series every 2-3 years.
And Cleveland has an early 2-0 lead today. They decided to go with the rookie, Merritt, who pitched all of 11 major league innings in the regular season. I wonder how much Francona will try to get out of Miller today if they can hold the lead.
Good job, Cleveland. A well-deserved pennant, and entry into the World Series.
It’s something of a shame, i think, that they won the ALCS wearing their rather offensive team logo. They basically admitted, earlier in the season, that Chief Stereotype was insulting, and while they refused to drop him altogether, they claimed to be moving away from him and towards the capital-C logo on their caps.
And they did that for quite a lot of the year. And yet, when the really big national stage rolls around, they play basically every game wearing the retrograde logo. Nice one, assholes.
One wonders if we’re going to see a movement towards managers using their best relievers as true aces, not closers. Francona’s use of Miller was brilliant, and we’ve seen what happens when you DON’T use your best man when the game is on a line (e.g. Bucky Showalter.)
Agreed. I want that logo gone, and I want a new name. I hope like hell that they feel embarrassed when the conversation goes that way on the big stage and that will spur the team to make a change.
For what it’s worth, the pitcher chooses the uniforms. Bauer usually chooses the Wahoo-less grays when he pitches but he wanted to be able to hide his blood if needed so they ended up wearing the Wahoo-patched dark blues on Tuesday.
I totally agree that Wahoo needs to go, though. And I am a lifetime diehard fan of the team.
I ended up watching the debate and following the game on my phone. Despite the Dodgers getting spanked I’m not sure I made the right choice. I guess the Dodgers will just get to celebrate in the windy city.
I recognize that Chief Wahoo is pretty damn awful, and I’ll be happy when the team finally gets rid of him. Of course, at that same time, I’ll be buying a spare cap with Wahoo before they’re all gone, because I like him even if I know he’s awful.
I think my attitude is not unique amongst Tribe fans, and that’s a big part of why he isn’t entirely gone.
