Random Baseball Observations

[Dread Aidan 8]

Game 7 was kind of a letdown. Just lol at having the 2nd batter of the game bunt. And walk a few more guys, Rangers pitchers. Maybe you're just not doing it enough.

[Dread Aidan 8]

Flabbergasting:@darrenrovell darren rovellIf Cards win, don't expect anyone to sell a team signed ball. Told Pujols alone wants $350/signature.@darrenrovell darren rovellBecause Rolen & Pujols were asking for too much money, there was never a 2006 Cards team signed ball sold. Some players were angry.@darrenrovell darren rovellGuy holding up Giants team signed ball last year was Tim Lincecum. If 1 star wants too much, it becomes cost prohibitive.

[timwakefield 69]

I dunno, I can understand it. Pujols is only gonna get like a $250 million contract this offseason. How's he supposed to provide for his family on just that??

[Dread Aidan 8]

Top 5 Web Gems of the YearI thought the Brandon Phillips one was kind of weak until I saw that he went between his legs, not behind them.

[CaneBrain 97]

Also: Great fucking series. Cane, how can you watch the end of one game, call in "scintillating," and then say you have no interest in the follow-up game or two?

I only enjoy baseball when it's scintillating. I'm not trying to take shots at people who do or anything. I happened to be flipping channels and that game went all crazy and I enjoyed watching it. But, baseball is rarely that entertaining and for whatever reason I am just not into it anymore. It basically got replaced by soccer of all things. I watched a tiny bit of game 7 at a bar.

[Dread Aidan 8]

Apparently baseball is going to realign so there are 15 teams in each league (instead of 16/14 currently). This means that there will be interleague play throughout the year, which I have zero issue with. Are the Brewers just going to move back to the AL? And which Central team will move to the AL West?They're also adding a wild card team for each league, which I don't have any use for, but I'll wait to complain until I actually have some details about how that's going to work.

[BillyPilgrim 1]

looks like the ASTROS are goiong to the AL. espn article says it was a condition of the sale.and i had read before that the extra wild card team would mean a one game play-off between the two wild card teams. but i dont know if that is official.

[timwakefield 69]

and i had read before that the extra wild card team would mean a one game play-off between the two wild card teams. but i dont know if that is official.

That was what I remember too. So the 2 Wild Cards in each league would have a 1-game playoff for the opportunity to play in the LDS. So is that being instituted for next season already? Same question regarding the 15/15 change.

[Dread Aidan 8]

That was what I remember too. So the 2 Wild Cards in each league would have a 1-game playoff for the opportunity to play in the LDS. So is that being instituted for next season already? Same question regarding the 15/15 change.

I think the wild card change would happen right away, but the earliest for realignment would be 2013.

[timwakefield 69]

The double-wild card is certainly not great for the Red Sox, who have won the AL wild card 7 times since it was instituted in 1995. Interestingly the Yankees have won it 4 times, and no other AL team has won it more than once each.

[mrdannyg 274]

Apparently baseball is going to realign so there are 15 teams in each league (instead of 16/14 currently). This means that there will be interleague play throughout the year, which I have zero issue with. Are the Brewers just going to move back to the AL? And which Central team will move to the AL West?They're also adding a wild card team for each league, which I don't have any use for, but I'll wait to complain until I actually have some details about how that's going to work.

Yeah, Astros in 2013. Mathly, I love the 15/15 split - having a division of 6 and another of 4 seemed wildly unfair. The constant interleague is a little bit messy, but I'm not making the schedule, so I'm not too worried.I do think this will bring the DH question into the fore. More interleague means more AL pitchers batting, which just isn't good for the game. I don't really care whether the whole league goes with AL rules or NL rules, but it seems wrong and odd that a team will have to play so many games under a different league's rules. Adding an extra wild card seems short-sighted an unfair, especially if all we're adding is a 1-game playoff. Is that extra one game of revenue really enough to warrant changing the playoff structure?

[BillyPilgrim 1]

Adding an extra wild card seems short-sighted an unfair, especially if all we're adding is a 1-game playoff. Is that extra one game of revenue really enough to warrant changing the playoff structure?

my guess is they are doing it to add more intrigue to the final weeks of the season. although now that i think about it, this would have ruined the final week and that spectacular final night of this season. but theoretically, you could have the first wild card locked up, and then added interest on a battle of average to bad teams for that second wild card spot.but today i'm against a one game playoff. baseball is the most random of the sports, and having teams play 162 games and then determine who makes the ALDS on a one game coin flip - nah, not for me.

[Dread Aidan 8]

Adding an extra wild card seems short-sighted an unfair, especially if all we're adding is a 1-game playoff. Is that extra one game of revenue really enough to warrant changing the playoff structure?

It's meant to make it harder on wild card teams and reward division champs. I think they probably saw a lot of those Yankees/Red Sox "pennant chases" where both teams were obviously going to make the playoffs and it didn't matter if they won their division or were the wild card. If you can avoid that one game playoff, I think you push a little harder to win your division. To be honest, I'm not totally opposed to adding another barrier to the wild card. But I think I'd almost rather have an NFL-type set-up. Three division winners, three wild cards. Top two division winners get a first week bye. The other four teams play a five game series starting the day after the regular season with no off days. Also, with the top teams getting five or six days off, they wouldn't have to worry about setting up their rotation or resting guys in the last games of the season, so you won't have the problem of some team fighting to get into the playoffs playing against a team of scrubs.Edit: That's a long playoff season. Ok, let's also go back to a 154 game regular season. I think it was Pos who said MLB should do that anyway and then you could have 154 game records and 162 game records, which would effectively put the steroid era records in their own category without the dreaded asterisk.

[mrdannyg 274]

Yeah, Astros in 2013. Mathly, I love the 15/15 split - having a division of 6 and another of 4 seemed wildly unfair. The constant interleague is a little bit messy, but I'm not making the schedule, so I'm not too worried.I do think this will bring the DH question into the fore. More interleague means more AL pitchers batting, which just isn't good for the game. I don't really care whether the whole league goes with AL rules or NL rules, but it seems wrong and odd that a team will have to play so many games under a different league's rules. Adding an extra wild card seems short-sighted an unfair, especially if all we're adding is a 1-game playoff. Is that extra one game of revenue really enough to warrant changing the playoff structure?

Makes some good points on the DH:http://mlb.sbnation.com/2011/11/17/2568711...-realignment-dh

[CobaltBlue 662]

I've hated the 14/16 and 5/5/4, 5/6/5 splits ever since they got instituted, so I'm thrilled that things are even again.

[BaseJester 1]

Makes some good points on the DH:http://mlb.sbnation.com/2011/11/17/2568711...-realignment-dh

One league has the DH and one does not. Therefore, the "inevitable" result of them playing each other is to use the DH. What?

[mrdannyg 274]

One league has the DH and one does not. Therefore, the "inevitable" result of them playing each other is to use the DH. What?

Yeah, I'm not sold on that. It is "inevitable" if you accept that for an NL team, using a DH is not as problematic as the pitcher batting for an AL team. I'm not sold on that. But imagine if Sabathia or someone got hurt while hitting? There'd be a shitstorm. I do think the DH is inevitable across both leagues, for better or worse.

[timwakefield 69]

But imagine if Sabathia or someone got hurt while hitting?

Meh, it's not like you're asking them to dunk a basketball. In High School and College pitchers hit. I don't know if the minor leagues mimic the majors as far as AL teams having a DH and NL teams not having one, but my point is that every pitcher in the majors has spent time swinging a bat. I've heard AL managers say that their pitchers were unprepared to bat, and I think that's a pretty blatant failure by that manager and his staff. Spend a few hours over a few days in Spring Training going over bunting and hitting with your pitchers. You know that interleague play is gonna happen, so why be unprepared for it? You could also spend a few hours in the days approaching interleague play going over it again.EDIT: Apparently the NCAA does in fact use a DH, although sometimes pitchers will bat if they're good hitters. And the DH is widely used in AA and AAA, with pitchers batting only if it's 2 NL teams playing each other and sometimes (i.e. in the Pacific Coast League) only when both teams also agree to not use a DH. In single A there is always a DH. All of which seems stupid to me, since there's a 50% chance a guy's gonna end up in the NL if he makes it to the majors. In fact right now it's even more than 50%, but that'll change once the Astros make their way over to the AL in 2013.

[Dread Aidan 8]

But imagine if Sabathia or someone got hurt while hitting? There'd be a shitstorm.

Yeah, like that time when Chien-Ming Wang got hurt running the bases, which ended his season and he's never been as good as he once was. Media circus, that was.(I don't know why I went Yoda-speak at the end there.)

[mrdannyg 274]

Meh, it's not like you're asking them to dunk a basketball. In High School and College pitchers hit. I don't know if the minor leagues mimic the majors as far as AL teams having a DH and NL teams not having one, but my point is that every pitcher in the majors has spent time swinging a bat. I've heard AL managers say that their pitchers were unprepared to bat, and I think that's a pretty blatant failure by that manager and his staff. Spend a few hours over a few days in Spring Training going over bunting and hitting with your pitchers. You know that interleague play is gonna happen, so why be unprepared for it? You could also spend a few hours in the days approaching interleague play going over it again.EDIT: Apparently the NCAA does in fact use a DH, although sometimes pitchers will bat if they're good hitters. And the DH is widely used in AA and AAA, with pitchers batting only if it's 2 NL teams playing each other and sometimes (i.e. in the Pacific Coast League) only when both teams also agree to not use a DH. In single A there is always a DH. All of which seems stupid to me, since there's a 50% chance a guy's gonna end up in the NL if he makes it to the majors. In fact right now it's even more than 50%, but that'll change once the Astros make their way over to the AL in 2013.

Thanks for doing the research.I pretty much agree. Hell, I like pitchers batting. I think the AL should adopt NL rules. But there's no way that happens. Pitchers batting and double switches aren't getting more new fans than an old fat guy smacking homers.

[Dread Aidan 8]

I pretty much agree. Hell, I like pitchers batting. I think the AL should adopt NL rules. But there's no way that happens. Pitchers batting and double switches aren't getting more new fans than an old fat guy smacking homers.

There's no way the players union agrees to that anyway. The average DH salary is a lot more than the average bench player salary.

[BigDMcGee 3,367]

I think it's absolutely ridiculous that one league has the DH and one does not. That seems just insane to me. That would be like the NFC forcing QB's to kick field goals and the AFC allowing kickers, and if you played an NFC-AFC game, the home team is the rules you play by. It's just god damn madness to have such a fundamental rule difference between the leagues. It gives the AL teams such an unholy advantage because they can go after aging stud bats who are becoming fielding Liabilities because they know they can put the guy to DH. NL teams either have to not go after the players at all, or endure them as black holes in the defense. And that's simply not fair. MLB should either have DH's Or not. I don't care which they pick, but it should be universal, no league should have such an advantage in roster composition.

[BaseJester 1]

I hate the DH for the usual well-understood reasons. The reason that doesn't get enough love is that it's inelegant. If we add complexity to the rules, it should buy us something. Simple rules are better because people understand them. The DH attempts to fix the problem that some players are poor hitters. Why is this a problem?I argue against the infield fly rule for the same reason. Why is it a problem for the defense to make a lot of double plays? I think a MLB infield fly with no outs and the bases loaded and no infield fly rule would be big chaotic fun. I would like to watch that.

[Dread Aidan 8]

Verlander wins MVP.

[SBriand 4]

Huh, and for months I heard all this talk about how a pitcher can't/shouldn't win the MVP. This should get that discussion going again. Good for him. Next step is for him to work on his playoff pitching.