# MLB: The Playoffs **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Tags:** baseball-mlb\ **Created:** [October 2, 2023, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-the-playoffs/990989 "2023-10-02T04:45:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 15
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2023, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-the-playoffs/990989/281 "2023-11-02T12:23:35Z")
This link should go to the final pitch, for the curious: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/1lDMPHlNlmQ/maxresdefault.jpg "FULL FINAL INNING: The Rangers win their first-ever World Series!") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lDMPHlNlmQ&t=245) ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2023, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-the-playoffs/990989/282 "2023-11-02T12:53:10Z")
Will Smith (Rangers reliever) has won 3 straight World Series titles with 3 different teams. > **[Rangers reliever Will Smith makes history with third World Series win with...](https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/rangers-reliever-will-smith-makes-history-with-third-world-series-win-with-third-different-team-in-three-years/)** > > The veteran reliever's ring collection keeps growing ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2023, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-the-playoffs/990989/283 "2023-11-02T13:05:33Z")
He’s got time to pick up a couple more with different teams still. Maybe he’ll do it for the Phillies next time. Could barely keep a straight face typing that. Even if the Phillies make it that far they’ll just blow it again. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2023, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-the-playoffs/990989/284 "2023-11-02T13:09:09Z")
Ouch, 4 out of 5! I congratulate the Rangers on their first series ever! As a long suffering Chicago fan, I know the joy they must be feeling for having finally made it! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2023, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-the-playoffs/990989/285 "2023-11-02T16:50:29Z")
As a Braves fan, I just want to note that we’re still not out of it… if Mike Pence has the courage, that is. ---
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2023, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-the-playoffs/990989/286 "2023-11-02T18:18:03Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > The World Series is part of the playoffs. I have never before this thread heard anyone refer to it as “post-Playoffs.” (And there actually were a few World Series that were best-of-nine about a hundred years ago.) When the ALCS and NLCS started in 1969, they were pretty much universally called “the playoffs,” although there were “playoffs to get into the playoffs” when a division ended up tied after 162 games. I have never heard the World Series being included in “the playoffs” until your post - the combination of the two has always been “the postseason.” ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2023, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-the-playoffs/990989/287 "2023-11-02T18:23:23Z")
You know, now that I think more about it, I am conflating “postseason” and “playoffs.” ---
**Author:** ![SwissMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e79b87/32.png) [@SwissMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SwissMan)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2023, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-the-playoffs/990989/288 "2023-11-02T19:02:45Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > As a Braves fan, I just want to note that we’re still not out of it… if Mike Pence has the courage, that is. “Look, we just need to find 11,780 runs…” ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2023, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-the-playoffs/990989/289 "2023-11-02T19:55:46Z")
Probably belongs in a hot stove league thread, but Nelson Cruz announced his retirement today. > **[Slugger Nelson Cruz announces retirement after 19-year MLB career](https://uk.sports.yahoo.com/news/slugger-nelson-cruz-announces-retirement-after-19-year-mlb-career-194227918.html)** > > Cruz is calling it a career after 19 years, eight teams, and 464 home runs. Not a hall of famer in my opinion, classic example of the Hall of Very Good. ---
**Author:** ![SwissMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e79b87/32.png) [@SwissMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SwissMan)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2023, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-the-playoffs/990989/290 "2023-11-02T19:57:47Z")
Fitting that he waits until the day after the Rangers win the World Series to do so. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2023, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-the-playoffs/990989/291 "2023-11-02T20:02:33Z")
I’ll always remember Cruz in an early game in 2021, my first post Covid live baseball game. Twins were playing the White Sox, we had very good seats and had to tease Cruz while wearing masks sitting near behind home plate. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2023, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-the-playoffs/990989/292 "2023-11-02T22:17:23Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > The problem in baseball is the success of those other sports, largely I believe because those other sports emphasize action in play. Even the ridiculously low scoring game of soccer at least keeps the teams moving unlike baseball where most of the players could eat lunch while playing the game, and I don’t mean only in the dugout. Football has just as few minutes of action in a game that takes a bit longer to play. > [@Munch](#): > > MLB postseason likely has better attendance than the regular season Well of course it does. It’s quite unusual for playoff games to not be sellouts, and that generally only happens in markets with problems, like Tampa Bay. In most places they triple the ticket prices and sell out. I don’t really grasp this side conversation about baseball having attendance problems when they had a huge attendance increase this year. MLB has never made more money. > [@TriPolar](#): > > He’s got time to pick up a couple more with different teams still. Maybe he’ll do it for the Phillies next time. No player has ever won a World Series with four different franchises. Smith is 34 and didn’t really pitch all that well this year so he’s got to get moving on that. Seager won MVP, joining Reggie Jackson as having won it with two different teams. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2023, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-the-playoffs/990989/293 "2023-11-02T23:01:15Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > Seager won MVP, joining Reggie Jackson as having won it with two different teams. Both did it in a 4 year span as well. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2023, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-the-playoffs/990989/294 "2023-11-03T00:15:07Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > I don’t really grasp this side conversation about baseball having attendance problems when they had a huge attendance increase this year. MLB has never made more money. I don’t think the side conversation is about attendance but about viewership, especially IRT to the World Series. It’s looking like this was the worst World Series in history in terms of viewership, which is sad. The regional channels are (with some notable exceptions) doing gangbusters, but the national numbers are what make the news. MLB is asleep at the wheel. They do an absolutely piss poor job marketing the sport nationally when the game is on an awesome upswing in terms of both watchability and marketability ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2023, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-the-playoffs/990989/295 "2023-11-03T00:41:16Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > Football has just as few minutes of action in a game that takes a bit longer to play. There’s way more action in each of those football minutes than in any baseball minute. Football action is 22 men in motion at once. Baseball action is mostly one guy throwing a ball, or one guy running after a ball, and maybe at the same time one guy running towards a base. Games can end with no more than that at any time. ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2023, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-the-playoffs/990989/296 "2023-11-03T02:03:21Z")
22 men in motion and 20 of them are doing nothing more than pushing each other. Exciting! ---
**Author:** ![Locrian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/locrian/32/14146_2.png) [@Locrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Locrian)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2023, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-the-playoffs/990989/297 "2023-11-03T03:17:46Z")
Kudos to the Rangers! All around awesome team. As a Cubs fan, I fully understand the fans’ relief after finally getting the WS WIN. 😁 Probably going nuts in Arlington. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2023, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-the-playoffs/990989/298 "2023-11-03T03:43:47Z")
He was a rookie on that 2010 World Series team. An up and coming star talent. He had a very good career. A fitting timing, with Texas’s World Series Championship. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2023, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-the-playoffs/990989/299 "2023-11-03T06:39:49Z")
More exciting than 16 men doing nothing at all. As I said, they could be eating lunch. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2023, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-the-playoffs/990989/300 "2023-11-04T19:42:07Z")
Given that the Rangers went 11-0 on the road but only 2-4 at home, I’d be curious to hear an explanation of why teams play better on the road. There is less psychological pressure, but the unfamiliar venue, hassle of travel, hostile away crowd, etc. all ought to outweigh it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-the-playoffs/990989.md?page=14) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-the-playoffs/990989.md?page=16)