# MLB Playoffs

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-playoffs/636791>\
**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:** 14

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**Author:** ![Carmady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f04885/32.png) [@Carmady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carmady)\
**Post date:** [October 13, 2012, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-playoffs/636791/261 "2012-10-13T05:25:14Z")

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Jesus that was cruel. Absolutely unreal the way the Cardinals got down to their final strike multiple times, multiple pitches missed the strike zone by a razor thin margin, and then bam. I don’t think there will ever be another divisional round as ridiculous as this one.

I could have handled losing to the Nationals, but losing to the Cardinals would just be unacceptable. Double plus must win series Giants. Better stock up on horseshoes, rabbit feet, 4 leaf clovers, and pixie dust because this series is going to take all of it.

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**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\
**Post date:** [October 13, 2012, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-playoffs/636791/262 "2012-10-13T05:41:02Z")

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> [@Carmady](#):
>
> Jesus that was cruel. Absolutely unreal the way the Cardinals got down to their final strike multiple times, multiple pitches missed the strike zone by a razor thin margin, and then bam. I don’t think there will ever be another divisional round as ridiculous as this one.

Yup. Not a lot of division series had gone the distance in recent years, then all of a sudden it happened four times in one year. And a lot of the individual games were very, very good. There were two walk-off hits in the Detroit-Oakland series, St. Louis-Washington had Werth’s home run yesterday and that crazy comeback tonight, every games in the Yankees-Orioles series was tight (the Yanks broke open game 1 in the ninth inning), game three ended with a 12th-inning walkoff and game four went 13 innings, and there were a couple of routs in the SF-Cincinnati series but it was a good one just the same. The scheduling is just a clusterfuck right now (the ALDS starts TOMORROW!) but it’s been a great playoff season so far.

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**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\
**Post date:** [October 13, 2012, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-playoffs/636791/263 "2012-10-13T05:46:08Z")

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Damn. Glad the Yankees won, but am pissed about the Nationals (since I lived in DC for 5 years). That was excruciating to watch.

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**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\
**Post date:** [October 13, 2012, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-playoffs/636791/264 "2012-10-13T08:23:10Z")

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It _was_ excruciating to watch. As a sports fan I’d probably have to go back to the Colts/Saints Super Bowl (in which I was rooting for the Colts) to think of a bigger disappointment. Especially after being up 6-0! Damn!

But I bear no ill will towards the Cardinals. _At the moment._ And I hope they win it all, 'cuz I don’t like the other three teams.

You’ve got to lose to know how to win. Here’s to a Nats title victory in 2013.

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**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\
**Post date:** [October 13, 2012, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-playoffs/636791/265 "2012-10-13T11:16:12Z")

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Ouch. Just ouch.

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**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\
**Post date:** [October 13, 2012, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-playoffs/636791/266 "2012-10-13T12:14:24Z")

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> [@RTFirefly](#):
>
> Ouch. Just ouch.

Can we get a Reds v Nationals consolation prize series? 'Cuz I’m not ready for baseball to be over!

☹

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**Author:** ![Southern\_Yankee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/southern_yankee/32/2800_2.png) [@Southern\_Yankee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Southern_Yankee)\
**Post date:** [October 13, 2012, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-playoffs/636791/267 "2012-10-13T12:36:52Z")

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What a great postseason so far.

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**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\
**Post date:** [October 13, 2012, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-playoffs/636791/268 "2012-10-13T13:43:34Z")

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That was a great game yesterday, but it is the smallest crowd I have ever seen at Yankee Stadium playoff game. Early on it looked more like Atlanta.

CC was awesome and the Captain led the offense.

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**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\
**Post date:** [October 13, 2012, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-playoffs/636791/269 "2012-10-13T14:40:28Z")

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Wow, Just saw the news. I turned off the STL - Wash game last night when it was what, 6-0 in the 8th? STL came back and won? I guess I missed a great game.  
Poor Washington, those guys will have nightmares about blowing that lead.

I’m still backing SF for the NL win. Yankees for the AL win.

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**Author:** ![kevja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/aeb1de/32.png) [@kevja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kevja)\
**Post date:** [October 13, 2012, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-playoffs/636791/270 "2012-10-13T14:53:03Z")

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When has this ever happened?

The past three World Championship teams are three of the four teams in the League Championship Series. And the Tigers are in the ACLS for the second year in a row.

OK, the A’s in 1975 and the Yankees in 2001 covered that as threepeapers, but three different teams?

I should look it up. Someone is going to come by and list out several years.

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**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\
**Post date:** [October 13, 2012, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-playoffs/636791/271 "2012-10-13T15:57:34Z")

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Holy shit I love baseball. What an amazing bunch of ballgames we’ve had already. You just don’t have that kind of stuff happen in a sport with a clock. As Earl Weaver put it,

[QUOTE=Earl Weaver]  
You can’t sit on a lead and run a few plays into the line and just kill the clock. You’ve got to throw the ball over the damn plate and give the other man his chance. That’s why baseball is the greatest game of them all.  
[/QUOTE]

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**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\
**Post date:** [October 13, 2012, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-playoffs/636791/272 "2012-10-13T16:04:22Z")

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> [@RTFirefly](#):
>
> Ouch. Just ouch.

As a Cardinals fan I am of course ecstatic that the Cards came back and won last night, and I hope they go on to take #12 in '12.

If I were being impartial, I probably would have been just as happy to see the Nationals (or the Reds) as World Champions this year, but I still wouldn’t have wanted St. Louis to lose that way, with Adam Wainwright (who had to sit out last year’s amazing run) costing his team the series with his disappointing performance and having to feel miserable about it all winter.

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**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\
**Post date:** [October 13, 2012, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-playoffs/636791/273 "2012-10-13T16:23:04Z")

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Between last year’s World Series and this Division Series, how many times have the Cardinals been one strike from elimination? Surely they’ve set some kind of record.

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**Author:** ![Pixiesnix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/898d66/32.png) [@Pixiesnix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pixiesnix)\
**Post date:** [October 13, 2012, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-playoffs/636791/274 "2012-10-13T17:27:57Z")

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I’m so angry I went to bed early last night.

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**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\
**Post date:** [October 13, 2012, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-playoffs/636791/275 "2012-10-13T20:16:40Z")

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> [@Colibri](#):
>
> Between last year’s World Series and this Division Series, how many times have the Cardinals been one strike from elimination? Surely they’ve set some kind of record.

They certainly have moxie, I will give them that. This twice now in as many years that they barely get into the playoffs and blow up once there.

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**Author:** ![Jimmy\_Chitwood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jimmy\_Chitwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jimmy_Chitwood)\
**Post date:** [October 13, 2012, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-playoffs/636791/276 "2012-10-13T20:24:38Z")

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> [@Acsenray](#):
>
> My understanding is that the knock-out tournament cup in English football is very popular, much more so than the league title.

Yes, it is very popular. But when people talk about who the best team in the league is, which was what **Yookeroo** was doing, they talk about the team who wins the Premiership. The two ideas aren’t mutually exclusive exactly, but generally speaking more exciting means more popular, and less exciting means more reliable. Over time, the best teams win; it’s the prospect of a single win against the odds that makes knockout play exciting.

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**Author:** ![cutman74](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f04885/32.png) [@cutman74](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cutman74)\
**Post date:** [October 13, 2012, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-playoffs/636791/277 "2012-10-13T21:03:58Z")

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:smack:yes, I gave up to early. I couldn’t stop watching though. Just unbelievable. Now if I could just get over my hangover from the celebration.😃

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**Author:** ![Yookeroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yookeroo/32/323_2.png) [@Yookeroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yookeroo)\
**Post date:** [October 13, 2012, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-playoffs/636791/278 "2012-10-13T22:31:14Z")

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> [@Acsenray](#):
>
> My understanding is that the knock-out tournament cup in English football is very popular, much more so than the league title.

The league title is definitely more prestigious. League cups are definitely entertaining…precisely because a poor team can get lucky/hot and make a run at the cup. It sure isn’t a good way to determine the best team.

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**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\
**Post date:** [October 14, 2012, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-playoffs/636791/279 "2012-10-14T00:41:58Z")

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A-Rod is driving me nuts. Fister was struggling with the strike zone in the first but A-Rod of course swings at the first pitch with the bases loaded.

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**Author:** ![Implicit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Implicit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Implicit)\
**Post date:** [October 14, 2012, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-playoffs/636791/280 "2012-10-14T00:47:42Z")

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Wow! Second great inning ending play by Detroit, who aren’t exactly known for defence.

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