I had to check my calendar a few weeks ago to make sure I wasn’t back in the year 2012 when I saw that Brandon(s) Belt and Crawford were still playing. Shit, why not get Scutaro and Romo to close while you’re at it, lol – wait, check that, maybe hold off on Romo. But Scutaro could still probably platoon once in a while.
Pretty amazing turn of events in the past couple weeks- Red Sox looked like they had the home field WC in hand but now they’re tied for the second WC. Yanks win 5 of 6 against other contenders on the road. Mariners come from nowhere to get in the conversation. Jays lose 2 of 3 critical games at home.
If I’m the Rays, I work my pitchers just enough to keep them sharp and rest my regulars as much as I can for the final series. If they get a chance to knock the Yankees out I’m sure they’d like to but this weekend series is unlikely to matter much unless Seattle and/or Boston sweep their last 3 games.
Over the last 10 games the Giants and Dodgers are both 8-2. As a Giants fan, I have to assume the Dodgers will sweep the Brewers so the Giants needs to take 2 out of 3 from the Padres, to clinch the division.
The Giants are doing weird shit, like leading MLB in home runs despite having no one who’s hit 30. They’re getting good starting pitching but also working the bullpen really hard. They also have a really deep bench (16 pinch hit HRs): the star is LaMonte Wade Jr. In the 9th inning he’s hitting .565 and 12 RBIs, earning the name “Late Night LaMonte”.
Toronto leads MLB in home runs. The Giants lead the NL though.
Very good pitching staff, top to bottom, but has there ever been a worse outfield on a 105 win team?
No, likely not.
Of course, there haven’t been very many 105 win teams. They are just the 28th such team and some of those 28 teams are basically the same team, like the 1969 and 1970 Orioles.
Baseball Reference says the 1907 Cubs had a worse outfield, but I’m not sure how much you can compare 1909 baseball to today, and analytical stats like WAR don’t mean a lot from back then.
I think the depth is a huge plus for the Giants. Kap also seems to have a really good feel for how to utilize that depth. He’s a really believer in analytics and out of all the managers headed for the postseason he might be the most adept at using them.
Toronto’s lineup is downright terrifying for opposing pitchers
The Giants have set a franchise record with their 106th win. But because the freakin Dodgers won’t freakin lose, they haven’t even clinched their division.
Yes they are, some of them (not the majority, I think) . But there is that group of whiny little bithces who love the players when they are doing well and boo them when they are not. They booed PIazza in his first two weeks as a Met. They booed Beltran, the best centerfileder they ever had, and IMO the best CF in baseball for a few years. They booed him so badly, that when he had a game wining hit (can’t remember the exact details of the game), he had to be draggeed out of the dugout for a curtain call. And this year they have booed Lindor and Baez, until they didn’t. And I love the defense of Mets (and Yankee) fans that always comes up - "They are passionate about their team! They have a right to boo! " As if fans of other teams don’t care. Yes, they have a right to boo. In this country, you have the right to be an asshole.
And the controversy a few weeks ago about Baez and Lindor, and Pillar, booing the fans was one of the more ridiculous things ever. The thumbs down gesture was never directed to the fans, it was to players in the dugout, as a motivating thing. Pillar, who took a baseball to his face and came back a few weeks later, did it. Baez, when asked about it, said a little too much, that is was inspired by the booing. But in that statemement, he said “I love the fans, I love playing for the fans.”
Not enough for the whiny little bitches. Ted Williams once famously spat in the direction of the fans. Ted Williamns was booed by the “passionate” Boston fans.
The Blue Jays won today, which means tomorrow’s game can still be meaningful… which I am very glad for because my daughter and I have tickets.
If they can win, they will play a tiebreaker on Monday if eitehr New York or Boston lose.
Well… at least one tiebreaker, because a 3-way tie remains a possibility.
If the Mariners win tonight they too are still alive (thus making a FOUR way tie possible) and all four teams start play tomorrow at 3. It might be, to use the technical term, utterly fucking bananas.
How crazy would it be if the Mariners choked against the Angels for three straight games?
They can really only choke for two. If they lose today, they’re dead, and tomorrow isn’t meaningful.
As a Jays fan, I actually want them to win. For Toronto, a four way tie is significantly better than a 3 way tie. In a four way tie, the Jays only have to win one game to make the Wild Card game, and that game would be in Toronto, where they’ve played really, really well.
someone said somewhere online (might of been here even ) that the WS was going to be rays/dodgers again
Has that ever happened before? even when a lot of teams were on the east coast I don’t thing that happened
The same teams meeting two years in a row? Sure, that’s happened lots of times.
The last time was 1977-1978, Yankees vs. Dodgers. The others:
1907-1908: Chicago Cubs vs. Detroit Tigers; Cubs won both
1921-1922-1923: New York Giants vs. Yankees; Giants won the first two, Yankees the third
1930-1931: Philadelphia A’s vs. St Louis Cardinals; A’s won the first, Cardinals the second
1936-1937: Yankees and Giants again. Yankees won both.
1942-1943: Yankees vs Cardinals. Cardinals won the first, Yankees the second.
1952-1953: Yankees vs. Dodgers. Yankees won both.
1955-1956: Yankees vs. Dodgers. Dodgers won the first, Yankees second.
1957-1958: Yankees vs. Milwaukee Braves. Braves won in 1957, Yankees in 1958.
wow thanks, I didn’t know that one…
You might notice the Yankees had a pretty good run in the 50s. 
The 1958 matchup between the Yankees and Braves was interesting. The Braves won in 1957 (the Braves have won the World Series three times… all in three different cities) and man, what a team. Hank Aaron, Eddie Mathews, Warren Spahn and a tremendous supporting cast. They were favorites in the 1958 World Series, and although they blew a 3-1 lead, I’d guess 90% of the baseball fans in the world would have told you the Braves were the team that would dominate going forward.
But… they didn’t. That team never won again. The Braves didn’t make the playoffs again for 11 years, at which point, except for Hank Aaron, it was a totally different team. The Braves after 1958 had as much talent as any team in baseball and they just always found a way to lose.
On the other hand, the Yankees kept winning, right up through 1964, despite considerable turnover at most positions. Even when they lost a Hall of Famer, they just kept finding exactly the right person to replace him.
As we come to the last day of the MLB regular season (maybe) I want to thank you owners and players for giving us one of the best seasons in memory. There were lots of great team moments: The Giants and Dodgers pennant race, the AL East and wild card chases. Great player moments: Ohtani, the young stars on the rise, even an old dinosaur or two like Joey Votto still bringing excellence.
Ill miss you as we slide into the icy darkness of winter. Hopefully we will meet again next spring and do it all over.
I have a lot of respect for players like Joey Votto: franchise players who have played all of their long careers for one team and, throughout that time, are “still bringing excellence.” I’ve been idly wondering how many such players are currently active in MLB. The Cardinals are fortunate enough to have two: Yadier Molina and Adam Wainwright, both of whom will be coming back for one more season next year.
Votto has really saved his career. Coming into 2021 it looked like he might be done, but a guy who hit 35 bombs and gets on base has a job for awhile.
Joey Votto is the third best Canadian major leaguer of all time, obviously behind Ferguson Jenkins and Larry Walker so far, but way ahead of anyone else.