Boston is as good as their record suggests; they’re an absolutely awesome team. The Yankees don’t have one chance in ten of catching them, but surely they can win one lousy Wild Card game. Then it’s a short series against Boston and anything can happen. If they pass Boston they will still probably play them in that same series.
MLB.com ran an article today asking if Boston can surpass the record of 116 games. As they’re on pace for 113, I think it extremely unlikely they won’t. I would not want to bet on any team playing .755 ball for any extended period of time, which is what they’d have to do.
Why don’t the Angels just put Trout on the DL? I know, this is me fantasy whining, but it seems to be a no brainer for the real baseball world. Barring a miracle run, the Angels aren’t a playoff team.
So I’m 40 years old, which means I’ve been a Mets fan for… wow, my god, it’s been 30 years. So I’ve seen some shit, is what I’m saying, and most of it has sucked. But I was thinking to myself today - is this season, this one right now, the most depressing moment of those 30 years? Consider: The Mets are in fourth place and are one of the worst teams in baseball. They are absolutely burning the primes of two genuinely special pitchers; the odds of either of them still being both Mets and good by the time this roster can compete again are limited. They mismanaged a third special pitcher into the ground before his 30th birthday and sent him to Cincinnati. They opened the season with not one but two players on their roster previously suspended for domestic abuse. One of the two is still on the team as of August 7, soaking up at bats every day as the worst position player in the major league. Their two top prospects right now are a 19-year-old infielder with no power and a pitcher with an ERA over 6 in high A. The three teams Mets fans hate the most - the Phillies, Braves, and Yankees - are all riding high.
And the Mets are, of course, Still Paying Bobby Bonilla.
Absolutely agreed, baseball suffers from its refusal to implement serious revenue sharing and salary caps, like the other leagues. Yes, the luxury tax is a start, but it’s pitiful. Yes, it’s wrong for both the game and the business to have some teams handicapped by a small market, able to compete for championships only sporadically, while a few can pretty much always buy what they need. That doesn’t explain the Mets, admittedly.
But as long as my team is one of the Haves, I’m gonna enjoy it, suckahs.
In the past two games, Giants starters have pitched 14 innings, with 14 Ks, 3 walks, and given up 1 unearned run. So, of course, they lost 3-1 and 2-1.
I’m starting to get the feeling that they might not win it all this season…
Boy, I can think of worse teams to cheer for. In my memory the Mets have been in the World Series three times and won it once. (I am not old enough for 1969 or 1973.)
The Mariners have still NEVER been in a World Series, nor have the Nationals, and you must be bummed if you were an Expos fan. The Padres and Brewers have been around since before I was born and still haven’t won one.
The thing is, if your team blows, it makes it so much sweeter when they win. Do Yankees fans fondly remember the 2009 World Series winners the way White Sox fans remember 2005, or Angels fans 2002? Did winning the 2009 World Series mean to New York what winning the 2016 World Series meant to Cubs fans? Hell no.
Rick Ankiel is such a fascinating story. He hasn’t played in MLB since 2013 and hasn’t pitched since 2004. Have we ever seen a career fall apart all at once like Ankiel’s in the 2000 playoffs? And he was only 21 years old. He threw 5 wild pitches in one inning and just could not get it together after that. The next year, he was sent to the minors to figure it out but in 4.1 innings he walked 17 batters and threw 12 wild pitches. And that appeared to be all she wrote for Ankiel.
That alone is a hell of a story, but then the fact that he came back as a position player after a couple years of injuries is nothing short of amazing. And he played outfield for 6 or 7 years in MLB. I hope he does mount a comeback, but it seems highly unlikely as he’ll be 40 next year.
I always say that when I go to Wrigley Field and somebody gets a hit in the top of the first inning.
