# MLB Playoffs **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [October 5, 2012, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-playoffs/636791 "2012-10-05T11:22:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 11
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2012, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-playoffs/636791/201 "2012-10-12T00:21:41Z")
That was one great at-bat by Werth at the end, even before the HR. On at 13th pitch, I was thinking, /somebody/ is gonna get unlucky on this pitch. And then Werth got all of that pitch - but I still didn’t resume breathing until it cleared the fence. Baseball in D.C. tomorrow! ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2012, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-playoffs/636791/202 "2012-10-12T00:23:50Z")
I don’t know how Hughes got out of that one. And now Nix gets aggressive on the basepaths and winds up on second… ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2012, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-playoffs/636791/203 "2012-10-12T02:30:25Z")
I appreciate that Justin Verlander is a great pitcher but the outcomes of these games is being affected by the fact that the umps seem to be giving him a different strike zone than what his opponents enjoy. ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2012, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-playoffs/636791/204 "2012-10-12T04:22:11Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > I appreciate that Justin Verlander is a great pitcher but the outcomes of these games is being affected by the fact that the umps seem to be giving him a different strike zone than what his opponents enjoy. Part of that is that the TNT pitch-o-graph was badly aligned for the first 6 innings. Pitches on the right corner are showing 4 inches off, and pitches are the left corner are showing in the middle. But all that aside, I am so glad that the rest of the posse finally showed up when Sheriff Justin came in to lay down the law 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2012, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-playoffs/636791/205 "2012-10-12T04:42:54Z")
Looks like the AL West wasn’t so tough after all. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2012, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-playoffs/636791/206 "2012-10-12T04:43:57Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > I appreciate that Justin Verlander is a great pitcher but the outcomes of these games is being affected by the fact that the umps seem to be giving him a different strike zone than what his opponents enjoy. Seriously? You’re going with that? ---
**Author:** ![HoboStew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/f17d59/32.png) [@HoboStew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoboStew)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2012, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-playoffs/636791/207 "2012-10-12T05:41:24Z")
Well congrats to Detroit. Who would have guessed that spending 80 million on the 3 best players in the series would make the difference. No sour grapes here! I was at the game tonight so I couldnt see Verlander’s zone compared to everyone else so I can’t speak to that. But I remember the first game and it was a ludicrous cy young strike zone for him so I am not too surprised. But whatever, they won it fair and square. I am still proud of the A’s. They didnt have the resources Detroit had and it showed, but they played their asses off. Still one of my favorite teams. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2012, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-playoffs/636791/208 "2012-10-12T11:33:38Z")
Interesting that all four LDS have gone to Game 5. If I’m doing the arithmetic correctly, that should happen about once every 50 years. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2012, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-playoffs/636791/209 "2012-10-12T11:55:30Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > Seriously? You’re going with that? I’m not an A’s fan, and they didn’t do enoughto deserve to win last night as it turns out, but facts are facts. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2012, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-playoffs/636791/210 "2012-10-12T12:10:52Z")
Who “deserves” to win? ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2012, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-playoffs/636791/211 "2012-10-12T12:22:36Z")
I noticed that the normally empty upper deck in the Oakland Coliseum had some people sitting up there. Why don’t they sell the whole thing? And is that deck filled for Raider games? ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2012, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-playoffs/636791/212 "2012-10-12T12:43:22Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > I’m not an A’s fan, and they didn’t do enoughto deserve to win last night as it turns out, but facts are facts. The fact is that the outcome of the game was not being affected. A handful of borderline pitches, had they been called balls, wouldn’t have won this for the A’s. The outcome would have been the same. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2012, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-playoffs/636791/213 "2012-10-12T13:52:11Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > The fact is that the outcome of the game was not being affected. Bear in mind I said that in the fourth inning, before the thing was blown open. ---
**Author:** ![kevja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/aeb1de/32.png) [@kevja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kevja)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2012, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-playoffs/636791/214 "2012-10-12T13:52:41Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > Looks like the AL West wasn’t so tough after all. Oh yes. You go, Tiger. Are you guys going to beat up the AL East and NL? ---
**Author:** ![Jas09](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d07c76/32.png) [@Jas09](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jas09)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2012, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-playoffs/636791/215 "2012-10-12T13:58:08Z")
I didn’t see much of the Det/Oak game, but here is the strikezone plot - [http://www.brooksbaseball.net/pfxVB/zoneTrack.php?month=10&day=11&year=2012&game=gid\_2012\_10\_11\_detmlb\_oakmlb\_1%2F&prevGame=gid\_2012\_10\_08\_wasmlb\_slnmlb\_1%2F&prevDate=1011](http://www.brooksbaseball.net/pfxVB/zoneTrack.php?month=10&day=11&year=2012&game=gid_2012_10_11_detmlb_oakmlb_1%2F&prevGame=gid_2012_10_08_wasmlb_slnmlb_1%2F&prevDate=1011) I don’t see any particularly bad calls, to be honest. I’ve certainly seen WAY worse. ETA: As a comparison here’s the Stl/Was game from yetserday: [http://www.brooksbaseball.net/pfxVB/zoneTrack.php?month=10&day=11&year=2012&game=gid\_2012\_10\_11\_slnmlb\_wasmlb\_1%2F&prevGame=gid\_2012\_10\_11\_detmlb\_oakmlb\_1%2F&prevDate=1011](http://www.brooksbaseball.net/pfxVB/zoneTrack.php?month=10&day=11&year=2012&game=gid_2012_10_11_slnmlb_wasmlb_1%2F&prevGame=gid_2012_10_11_detmlb_oakmlb_1%2F&prevDate=1011) Now that’s some bad umping. Look at that called strike way off the plate for WAS. Or the entire slew of outside strikes to RHH that were actually balls (something very obvious even watching live). But then that random STL ball right in the cluster - inconsistency at it’s best. And those two called balls right down the middle for WAS against LHH. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2012, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-playoffs/636791/216 "2012-10-12T14:07:55Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > Bear in mind I said that in the fourth inning, before the thing was blown open. Well, with your use of “umps,” plural, I assumed you were including Game 1 in this. Still, there was nothing egregious or game-affecting about the handful of borderline calls. And the ump was consistent in his strike zone; the borderline called strikes were in the same location, so much so that Crisp finally figured out he should start swinging when the ball is headed there. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2012, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-playoffs/636791/217 "2012-10-12T14:12:48Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > I tip my hat to the Reds fans here. Your team is absolutely relentless. You didn’t lose that game; you just ran out of innings. It’s gracious of you to tip your hat, but I don’t understand the comment. The rules of the game say that the winner is the one with the most runs after nine innings. So, our team did actually lose the game. And not only that, they missed a lot of chances to score. The last three games were not a good showing. ---
**Author:** ![markdash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@markdash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markdash)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2012, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-playoffs/636791/218 "2012-10-12T15:17:07Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > Looks like the AL West wasn’t so tough after all. Yep, a 5 game series clearly shows who is good and who is not. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2012, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-playoffs/636791/219 "2012-10-12T15:35:19Z")
> [@markdash](#): > > Yep, a 5 game series clearly shows who is good and who is not. Well until MLB implements a 7-game DS, this is what we have. The Tigers were better than the A’s, despite many people claiming the AL Central was so inferior to the AL West. Oh, and sabermetrics. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2012, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-playoffs/636791/220 "2012-10-12T15:48:01Z")
My beloved Indians are in the AL Central and… yeah. The AL Central is inferior to the other two divisions. By a lot. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-playoffs/636791.md?page=10) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-playoffs/636791.md?page=12)