MLB: October 2012

[DCnDC]

O’s have a date with Texas.

This is the one team I didn’t want them matched up with. The Rangers have their number. The only upside is the Rangers finished the season on bit of a slump, hopefully that will carry through, but it’s going to be a tough game. The O’s only slight advantage may be the bullpen, but their starter (whoever that ends up being) has to keep them in the game for that to matter.

[Tom_Scud]

So apparently now if an NL team loses 100 games two years in a row, they get relegated to the American League. Who knew?

[Acsenray]

@Tom_Scud

So apparently now if an NL team loses 100 games two years in a row, they get relegated to the American League. Who knew?

[RTFirefly]

@DCnDC

O’s have a date with Texas.

This is the one team I didn’t want them matched up with. The Rangers have their number. The only upside is the Rangers finished the season on bit of a slump,

‘A bit of a slump’ is a nice bit of understatement. They were 5 games up with 9 to go. By comparison, the 1964 Phillies were up 6.5 with 12 to go.

I think I’d rather play the Rangers right now, regardless of how the O’s did against them in the regular season (2-5).

So who IS going to start for the O’s on Friday? The pitchers they started Saturday and Sunday both have <45 IP this season. Looks like their options are (a) start Chen on only 3 days’ rest, or (b) start someone who’s not exactly ready for prime time, and hope it works out for the best.

[DCnDC]

@RTFirefly

So who IS going to start for the O’s on Friday? The pitchers they started Saturday and Sunday both have <45 IP this season. Looks like their options are (a) start Chen on only 3 days’ rest, or (b) start someone who’s not exactly ready for prime time, and hope it works out for the best.

Reports so far have been saying either Joe Saunders or Steve Johnson. The rookie or the guy with pretty horrific numbers vs Texas?

Whoever it is has to last at least 4 innings then the bullpen can take over.

[ElvisL1ves]

@RTFirefly

‘A bit of a slump’ is a nice bit of understatement. They were 5 games up with 9 to go.

“Momentum is your next day’s starting pitcher.”

[zamboniracer]

@Tom_Scud

So apparently now if an NL team loses 100 games two years in a row, they get relegated to the American League. Who knew?

We American Leaguers welcome the Astros, and thank the Good Lord for not sending us the Cubs.

[Mister_Rik]

@RickJay

The A’s are absolutely my #1 suprise team of the year. Never in a million years would have seen this coming.

@kevja

Oakland A’s - 2012 American League Western Division Champions.

Mariners announcer Rick Rizzs was congratulating the A’s on-air last night, expressing his admiration for what they’ve done in the face of his pre-season prediction that they would finish the season dead-last.

I offer my congrats as well. Oakland was my “most-hated” team in the early years of my M’s fandom, since they were the division team that always seemed to beat the M’s, even when the M’s were playing well and having winning seasons in the '90s, but more recently that “hate” has drifted toward the Angels, who I call “the West Coast Yankees”.

And speaking of my dead-last Mariners … I’m reasonably happy with our season. I’d hoped for better, but I’m pleased with a lot of what I saw this year. 75 wins, 8 more than last year. King Felix’s perfect game, a 6-pitcher combined no-hitter, very impressive work all season from the entire pitching staff.

I also saw positive signs for our beleaguered offense. Some of these young players — Smoak, Saunders, Seager, Ackley — are gonna be major contributors in coming years.

And the Mariners will be moving Safeco Field’s fences in a bit for next year. I believe this is a good thing. From the article:

The Mariners rank last in the American League in scoring (3.0 per game), home runs (0.68 per game) and batting average (.218) at home this season through 79 games. On the road, they are sixth in scoring (4.5), tied for sixth in home runs (1.15) and ninth in batting average (.247).

The same trend holds true for opposing hitters who have averaged a league-low 3.3 runs and .229 batting average at Safeco and the second-to-lowest home run production at 0.87 per game this season, compared to 4.8 runs, 1.31 home runs and a .266 batting average against Seattle’s pitching in their own parks.

and

Kingston said their studies of the previous several seasons indicated the new configuration would have led to 30-40 more home runs a season, for both clubs. He acknowledged that doubles and triples could actually go down, because of less outfield space, but more well-struck balls should carry over the fence instead of dying at the track.

“Ultimately, that’s what gets to hitters,” Kingston said. “If they square a ball up and don’t get rewarded, they start to change their swing and it wears on them mentally. Having come from San Diego, which is probably the most extreme pitching park, I saw it first-hand for years, especially with young hitters. It really wears on them mentally.”

In other news, the Mariners are not renewing the contract of hitting coach Chris Chambliss.

[RTFirefly]

Hey, there’s no baseball tonight! What’s with that?

[Mister_Rik]

@RTFirefly

Hey, there’s no baseball tonight! What’s with that?

ESPN needs an extra day to talk about nothing but football.

[Asimovian]

In today’s least-surprising news, Bobby Valentine has officially been sent on his way.

[What_Exit]

@Mister_Rik

In other news, the Mariners are not renewing the contract of hitting coach Chris Chambliss.

Shame for Chris. Hitting coach is a tough position. Like pitching coach it can easily be the “fall-guy” position on the staff.

As a Yankee fan I would like to thank the M’s for being very classy to their long time hero Ichiro and trading him to the Yanks. He has been nothing less then great for the Yanks and I love the way he plays. But besides how much he helped my team, it really was a classy move for a great playing completing his time.

[RickJay]

@RTFirefly

‘A bit of a slump’ is a nice bit of understatement. They were 5 games up with 9 to go. By comparison, the 1964 Phillies were up 6.5 with 12 to go.

I think I’d rather play the Rangers right now, regardless of how the O’s did against them in the regular season (2-5).

It doesn’t really matter. Baseball has a long, long tradition of teams that are hot in Game 162 going belly up in the postseason, and teams that back into the playoffs winning it all. The 2006 Cardinals did everything in their power to miss the playoffs, but their opponents foiled their plans, and then the Cards won the World Series. The Rays finished red hot last year and didn’t survive the first round.

As I recall, most studies on the issue show that how hot a team ends the season doesn’t have anything to do with how they do in the postseason.

One game’s one game. If the Rangers get a good start or a couple of homers from someone, they win. The series agains the A’s doesn’t matter now.

[Marley23]

@RickJay

As I recall, most studies on the issue show that how hot a team ends the season doesn’t have anything to do with how they do in the postseason.

Yup.

The data shows that from a predictive standpoint, a playoff spot is like a parking space: you can enter front first, or you can back into it, and in the grand scheme, it makes little difference. What I did in this 2009 study was examine the records of all playoff-bound teams from 1995-2008, searching for correlations between the records over their final seven, 14, 21 and 28 games — “weeks,” essentially, though the schedule didn’t always line up as such, and I wanted to ensure uniformity in my sample sizes. The correlations — which is to say, the predictive values — that I found between those segments and Division Series records were negligible and clustered around zero, ranging from .02 to -.04; keep in mind that a perfectly positive correlation is 1.0, a perfectly negative one is −1.0. Extending the latter to include the subsequent rounds, the largest correlation I found in either direction was -.12, between a team’s record over the final 21 games and their postseason won-loss record. Even then, the correlation was negative, which is to say that the ever-so-slight advantage was held by teams that actually fared slightly worse, perhaps because many had sewn up playoff berths and could afford to rest their regulars down the stretch.

[ElvisL1ves]

I suppose I ought to cheer for Josh Reddick, Coco Crisp, Brandon Moss, George Kottaras, Chris Carter, and Bartolo Colon this postseason - while pretending they’re still wearing Boston uniforms.

Go A’s.

[Mister_Rik]

@RickJay

It doesn’t really matter. Baseball has a long, long tradition of teams that are hot in Game 162 going belly up in the postseason

See: 1906 Cubs, 2001 Mariners

[Southern_Yankee]

Playoff thread here.

[RickJay]

@ElvisL1ves

I suppose I ought to cheer for Josh Reddick, Coco Crisp, Brandon Moss, George Kottaras, Chris Carter, and Bartolo Colon this postseason - while pretending they’re still wearing Boston uniforms.
.

At least for the first couple of rounds, if you want someone to come over and cheer with you, Bartolo Colon will be available.