2019 MLB Thread

[pg1067]

Verlander (who I really like) is having another rough post season outing.

Love it.  Gives me a modicum of hope that the Dodgers can figure out Strasburg tonight.

So long as Kershaw isn't pitching... I see Bueller is pitching. That's good.

So far so good, but this game is moving too slowly.

That Cards/Braves game was just ridiculous!  I had to leave work early to go to an appointment and stopped for a late lunch.  I opened my ESPN app and saw it was 4-0 in the top of the first.  By the time I got to the box score to see what had happened, it was 7-0, and within moments after that, it was 9-0.  Unbelievable.

[Puppies_On_Acid]

So the Dodgers choked in the playoffs yet again. Kershaw choked in the playoffs yet again. He may be the greatest pitcher of this generation in the regular season, but for whatever reason (stamina issues maybe) he just can't seem to cut it in the playoffs. Some things never change 

[T-ski]

can't imagine what Dodgers fans feel like after blowing a 3-1 lead in the 8th inning with their best pitcher on the mound.....

.....oh wait.

[KevShmev]

I actually felt bad for Kershaw. He seems like a good guy, yet always has these postseason flame-outs. It's bizarre.

[pg1067]

Many thoughts right now.

When I posted yesterday evening, I think the game was in the 5th inning or so.  Getting 3 off Strasburg early gave me a lot of hope, but the offense did shit after that.  Buehler pitched his ass off and, outside of two swings by Muncy and Hernandez, the offense sucked.  16 runs in the two wins and only 6 in the three losses.

Kershaw...my immediate reaction was that I wouldn't be terribly upset if he never throws another pitch in a Dodgers uniform.  I had the "is he a HOF'er discussion with a friend a couple months ago.  He said absolutely, yes.  I was and still am on the fence.  From 2011-17, he was pretty easily the best pitcher in the game.  But, while he's had a couple strong postseason moments (and, prior to this year, he had few, if any hiccups in the divisional series), his overall postseason performance has been no better than mediocre.  He's a great guy, and I feel bad for him because I know how badly he wants to win, but he just doesn't have it.  And now that he's really no better than a #3 starter, I'm kinda done with him.

I'm also pretty done with either Dave Roberts or the Dodgers' front office.  I've basically gone over to the side that says he doesn't know how to manage a pitching staff.  I'm also kinda done with Rick Honeycutt as a pitching coach.  The Dodgers broadcast team constantly tells us that he's one of the best in the game, but I don't know.  Finally, for the first half of the season, the Dodgers were very different in terms of hitting for contact, moving runners over, having a two-strike approach, but they just seemed to swing from their heels this entire series.

It sucks hard, but for a change, I'm actually pulling for the team that eliminated the Dodgers.  Also REALLY pulling for the Rays in today's game in Houston.

[gmillerdrake]

Kershaw...my immediate reaction was that I wouldn't be terribly upset if he never throws another pitch in a Dodgers uniform.  I had the "is he a HOF'er discussion with a friend a couple months ago.  He said absolutely, yes.  I was and still am on the fence.  From 2011-17, he was pretty easily the best pitcher in the game.  But, while he's had a couple strong postseason moments (and, prior to this year, he had few, if any hiccups in the divisional series), his overall postseason performance has been no better than mediocre.  He's a great guy, and I feel bad for him because I know how badly he wants to win, but he just doesn't have it.  And now that he's really no better than a #3 starter, I'm kinda done with him.

Dude has a career 2.44 ERA. his record is 169-74 with 2,274 innings pitched.....2,464 K's. He's a hall of fame player for sure. Probably first ballot. BUT.....his career playoff ERA is 4-7 with an ERA of 4.55. Who knows 'why' that is....most likely is playoffs bring out the best in players....and he's been on the bad end of it.
I'm not like Kev....I don't 'feel' for the guy at all. You either perform when you need to or you don't. He will forever be remembered as the guy who just couldn't quite get there. (unless something dramatic happens) You have pitchers that rise to the occasion or that don't. He hasn't


BUT...that being said....he should have never been in that situation last night. He came in to get his guy to end the 7th and should not have been ran back out there in the 8th. That was horrible managing by Roberts. Doesn't excuse the two solo HR's he allowed but he shouldn't have been put in that position anyway.

[KevShmev]

Given that Kershaw's numbers are not good in those situations over the course of his career, it was just a very bad decision for Dave Roberts to put him out there.  It showed that he doesn't understand situational ball. 

Edit: Gary basically just said the same thing above, by and large.

[gmillerdrake]

I've been in a pretty intense debate with some buddies of mine.....and it's been mentioned locally here in St. Louis on sports talk radio after being brought up by a former NHL'r who is a host.....and it's the subject of these baseball celebrations after 'winning' a series.

I'm of the mindset like hockey teams do it.....the main goal is the Stanley Cup, the big dog Championship. All the other accomplishments along the way are nice and something to reflect on....but there is no real big celebration when they win the divsion...or any of the first three rounds of the playoffs. There is some glad handing and smiles and some pats on the back and a team pic or two.....but NOTHING like these baseball teams do for basically accomplishing nothing.

Now my buddies insist that winning the division....then winning the chance to play for the NLCS is a 'big deal'. I will relent and say it's an accomplishment I guess....but it's minor. Especially getting to the NLCS. You have to win (3) games to do that....(4) if you're one of the single game play in wild card teams. Get hot at the right time and your playing for the right to rep. your division at the World Series. It's honestly not all that difficult to do when compared to other sports championships....ESPECIALLY hockey.

Their argument is that there are more teams that make the playoffs in Hockey which makes some sense....but at the same time....it's (4) best of seven series against really tough teams. Baseball is (1) best of 5 when one of the teams is a wild card team....not exactly cream of the crop.

I don't know...i'm rambling at this point....my thing is.....the excessive celebrating when you really haven't 'won' anything is annoying to me at this point. No one remembers the division champs or who the eventual World Series champs played.....they remember the team who wins the ultimate goal. Stop this ridiculous celebration of meaningless accomplishments.

[pg1067]

Dude has a career 2.44 ERA. his record is 169-74 with 2,274 innings pitched.....2,464 K's. He's a hall of fame player for sure. Probably first ballot.

For the time being, Kershaw has the third-highest win percentage of all time (minimum one decision for every ten team games).  That's a function of the teams he played for (the Dodgers have won fewer than 90 games only thrice in Kershaw's career) and the fact that he got a LOT of no decisions over his career.  His strikeout numbers are pedestrian, rivaling those of Mark Langston and Jim Kaat.

The ERA number is impressive.  He's 37th on the all-time ERA list (minimum 1 IP per team game) with the only guy ahead of him who played in my lifetime (as far as I could tell) being Mariano Rivera.  However, only 11 of the 36 ahead of him are in the HOF (and that includes Babe Ruth, who's obviously there for reasons other than pitching).

But the longer he pitches the worse he gets in the regular season, and his poor postseason performances are becoming a bigger and bigger albatross around his neck.

He'll get voted into the HOF for the same reason Sandy Koufax did.  To the extent you ascribe any significance to being voted in on the first ballot, he's absolutely not deserving.

[KevShmev]

Unlike the other major sports, though, postseason records and whatnot don't seem to have a huge impact on a player's all-time status in baseball, so by the time he retires, Kershaw's mediocre postseason numbers will likely be an afterthought.  Greg Maddox underachieved in the postseason as well, but hardly anyone remembers it. 

[KevShmev]

Looks like those Yankee bastards are going to Houston... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4en_YVa4zQ

[pg1067]

Unlike the other major sports, though, postseason records and whatnot don't seem to have a huge impact on a player's all-time status in baseball, so by the time he retires, Kershaw's mediocre postseason numbers will likely be an afterthought.  Greg Maddox underachieved in the postseason as well, but hardly anyone remembers it.

The biggest reason hardly anyone remembers it is probably because it wasn't that bad and because he actually won a World Series.

Kershaw will likely finish with a much better ERA than Maddux, but his numbers won't likely be otherwise comparable (e.g., no way Kershaw makes it to 3,000 strikeouts).  As far as the postseason, while Maddux has an 11-14 record, his ERA (3.27) and WHIP (1.242) are on par with his regular season numbers (3.16 ERA and 1.143 WHIP).  That disparity turns significantly in Maddux's favor if you factor out the 1989 NLCS, in which a 23 year old Maddux gave up 11 earned runs in 7.1 IP, which gives him a 2.88 ERA and a 1.201 WHIP.  If you consider only Maddux's time with the Braves, his career postseason ERA a43 WHIP 2.81 and 1.177.

If the Dodgers had won in 2017, Kershaw's narrative would have changed significantly.  You can talk about Kershaw having been the best pitcher in the game for 5+ years, but that always gets tagged with "regular season," and I think his lasting legacy will be consistent failure in the post season from the beginning to the end of his career.  Once his career is done, any discussion will always start with the postseason failure, or it will be a "yeah but" after discussing his peak as a dominant regular season pitcher.

[T-ski]

Anibal Sanchez took a no-hitter into the eighth last night.

I had no idea he was still in the league.

[Dream Team]

Hoping for Astros - Nats, just for the possible matchups of Verlander and Cole vs Scherzer and Strasburg.

[pg1067]

Anibal Sanchez took a no-hitter into the eighth last night.

I had no idea he was still in the league.

I wonder how the Detroit Tigers feel...watching Scherzer, Sanchez and Verlander this time of year.  The three of them together in a rotation.


Nats v. Cards series is over.  No way the Cards win 4 of 5.

Yankees v. Astros series is going to be a war and likely will go 7.

[TAC]

Reggie Jackson FTW!!

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/mlb/reggie-jackson-apologizes-for-expletive-filled-critique-of-injured-giancarlo-stanton/ar-AAILqDT?li=BBnba9I

[dparrott]

I knew that Dodgers blowpen was gonna stop us from getting to the WS.    

Postseason Kershaw is what it is, and Kelly is supposed to be great in the postseason but of course he falls apart on the Dodgers.  If it wasn't those two, it would have been Jansen who has a high ERA for a closer and is wildly inconsistent from game to game. 

[pg1067]

I knew that Dodgers blowpen was gonna stop us from getting to the WS.    

Postseason Kershaw is what it is, and Kelly is supposed to be great in the postseason but of course he falls apart on the Dodgers.  If it wasn't those two, it would have been Jansen who has a high ERA for a closer and is wildly inconsistent from game to game.

I blame the offense as much as anything.  Wildly inconsistent, and the batters did everything that you can't do in the playoffs.

Friedman's now supposedly going to get a contract extension, which means it probably doesn't matter whether Roberts stays or go.  Sigh....

[Cool Chris]

The Mariners are now the only remaining existing franchise to never make it to the World Series. 

[pg1067]

The Mariners are now the only remaining existing franchise to never make it to the World Series.

That actually surprised me a bit when I heard it last night.

Seven current franchises have never won a WS:  Rays, Rangers (third Washington Senators), Mariners, Nationals (Expos), Brewers (Seattle Pilots), Rockies and Padres.

By comparison, the other four major North American sports leagues (and especially the NHL and NBA) have had relatively larger numbers never play for or win titles:

NFL:  4 current franchises have never played in the Super Bowl (Browns, Texans, Titans and Lions) and 11 have never won (the four previously mentioned plus the Bills, Bengals, Titans, Chargers, Vikings, Panthers, Falcons and Cardinals).  However, the Bills and Titans (the latter as the Houston Oilers) each won two AFL titles (and the Chargers won one), and the Lions and Cardinals each won two pre-Super Bowl NFL titles, so it's really only the Browns, Texans, Bengals, Vikings, Panthers and Falcons who've never won a title.

NBA:  7 current franchises have never played in the NBA finals (Hornets, Pelicans, Nuggets, Grizzlies, Thunder, Kings, Wolves and Clippers), and 12 have never won a title (the seven previously mentioned plus the Nets, Pacers, Magic, Suns and Jazz.  However, the Pacers and Nets both won multiple ABA titles.

NHL:  4 current franchises have never played in the Stanley Cup Final (Blue Jackets, Jets/Thrashers, Wild and Coyotes/Jets), and 11 have never won the Cup (the four previously mentioned and the Sabres, Panthers, Senators, Predators, Knights, Canucks and Sharks).

[romdrums]

NFL:  4 current franchises have never played in the Super Bowl (Browns, Texans, Titans and Lions) and 11 have never won (the four previously mentioned plus the Bills, Bengals, Titans, Chargers, Vikings, Panthers, Falcons and Cardinals).  However, the Bills and Titans (the latter as the Houston Oilers) each won two AFL titles (and the Chargers won one), and the Lions and Cardinals each won two pre-Super Bowl NFL titles, so it's really only the Browns, Texans, Bengals, Vikings, Panthers and Falcons who've never won a title.

The Browns won all four AAFC championships prior to joining the NFL in the 1950 season, and then won 4 NFL championships in 11 appearances between 1950 and 1969.  The Lions also have 4 NFL Championships, the last coming in 1957.  It's funny now to think that the Browns and the Lions were the class of the NFL in the 1950's.

[pg1067]

NFL:  4 current franchises have never played in the Super Bowl (Browns, Texans, Titans and Lions) and 11 have never won (the four previously mentioned plus the Bills, Bengals, Titans, Chargers, Vikings, Panthers, Falcons and Cardinals).  However, the Bills and Titans (the latter as the Houston Oilers) each won two AFL titles (and the Chargers won one), and the Lions and Cardinals each won two pre-Super Bowl NFL titles, so it's really only the Browns, Texans, Bengals, Vikings, Panthers and Falcons who've never won a title.

The Browns won all four AAFC championships prior to joining the NFL in the 1950 season, and then won 4 NFL championships in 11 appearances between 1950 and 1969.  The Lions also have 4 NFL Championships, the last coming in 1957.  It's funny now to think that the Browns and the Lions were the class of the NFL in the 1950's.

Lions:  Not sure how I missed that.

Browns:  The current Browns franchise has no connection to any of that.  The franchise that won all that stuff is now the Baltimore Ravens.  While I understand that, "officially," all of the Browns history stays in Cleveland and is magically tagged onto the current Browns franchise, that's all a complete fiction.  It would be a little like crediting the Washington Nationals with a World Series title because the Washington Senators (a franchise now known as the Minnesota Twins) won the Series in 1924.  Except for the "official" adoption of a fiction, the two situations are no different.

[dparrott]

I blame the offense as much as anything.  Wildly inconsistent, and the batters did everything that you can't do in the playoffs.

Yea, that's actually been a problem in past postseasons too. 

Roberts is staying.  In that case, he needs education on how to manage a bullpen and not just put guys in there based solely on numbers.

[TAC]

Interesting reading the last few posts, guys.

I was amazed at how focused and driven the Dodgers were this season. It's a tribute to their talent, but Roberts has to take a lot of credit for that.

As a Sox fan, we watched the Dodgers up close in LY's WS. Many surmised that Robert's was hamstrung by the organization, and a lot of his decisions were basically handed to him. He did as expected by upper management. He hade some bizarre decisions last year, pulling Rich Hill, etc...

And Kenly Jansen is a puddle.

They could always lose to Houston or NY, but it's shocking to not get there.


Guys, what's the deal with Freidman? He is going to re-sign?

[TAC]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/mlb/mlb-umpire-eric-cooper-dead-at-52/ar-AAJ4GzB?li=BBnb7Kz

Damn.

[pg1067]

Interesting reading the last few posts, guys.

I was amazed at how focused and driven the Dodgers were this season. It's a tribute to their talent, but Roberts has to take a lot of credit for that.

As a Sox fan, we watched the Dodgers up close in LY's WS. Many surmised that Robert's was hamstrung by the organization, and a lot of his decisions were basically handed to him. He did as expected by upper management. He hade some bizarre decisions last year, pulling Rich Hill, etc...

And Kenly Jansen is a puddle.

They could always lose to Houston or NY, but it's shocking to not get there.


Guys, what's the deal with Freidman? He is going to re-sign?

The answer to a lot of this is "you got me..."

The 2019 Dodgers played really well during the first half of the season.  They swung for the fences when it was appropriate, but they played a lot of "old school" ball when it was called for (e.g., moving the runner over, hitting the other way, 2-strike approach).  They seemed to abandon that during the second half of the season, but I know Cody Bellinger cut his strikeout rate way down from his first two seasons, and that continued the whole season.  In the five postseason games, it was the same old thing.  The offense tried win bludgeon the Nats, but it didn't work with guys like Strasburg and Scherzer.

The Rich Hill thing in the WS was baffling.  The interviews I heard made it sound like Roberts thought Hill had said he wanted to come out but, in reality, Roberts misunderstood Hill.  Very weird to have that sort of miscommunication on the biggest stage in the game.

Much of the fan base is sick of either Friedman or Roberts or both.  A very vocal percentage of folks want Roberts fired.  I'm in camp that thinks it won't matter much as long as Friedman is in charge.  The Dodgers are very vocal in saying that Friedman doesn't call down to the dugout during games, but that doesn't mean he doesn't dictate what Roberts must do in certain situations.  Friedman is apparently getting an extension, which means I don't think anything will change anytime soon.  That's too bad because some of Joe Kelly's early season struggles were blamed on him being inundated with analytics that it messed with his head while he was on the mound.

The pitching staff needs an enema, and hopefully it starts by signing Gerrit Cole during the offseason.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/mlb/mlb-umpire-eric-cooper-dead-at-52/ar-AAJ4GzB?li=BBnb7Kz

Damn.

Not a name I really recognize, which is probably a good thing for an umpire.  He was only a year old than I am (turning 52 next week).

[DragonAttack]

Baseball is still being played?

Those with basic cable, or no cable, would not know it due to the networks the playoffs have been telecasted on.

And Mister Commissioner wonders why ratings and interest and attendance is down.

[pg1067]

Baseball is still being played?

Those with basic cable, or no cable, would not know it due to the networks the playoffs have been telecasted on.

And Mister Commissioner wonders why ratings and interest and attendance is down.

The games are mostly on TBS/TNT and Fox Sports 1.  I don't know about FS1, but TBS and TNT are about as "basic" as cable gets.  My wife handles our cable package (Spectrum), so I don't know all the details, but I know for sure it's nothing special, and I get all of these channels (as well as MLB Network).  And folks who don't have cable are either in the stone age or watching nothing but streaming services and don't care.

Attendance is an interesting thing.  Prior to 1993, the record for attendance was 56,813,760 in 1991.  In 1993, the Rockies and Marlins increased the number of teams to 28, and attendance jumped to just over 70M.  It fell to just over 50M in 1994 because of the strike and didn't recover to over 70M until 1998, when the Rays and Diamondbacks pushed the number of teams to 30.  Attendance rose to over 72.5M in 2001 and then dropped to under 68M in 2002 and 2003 (not sure why).  It then rose again and hit the all-time record in 2007, with 79,484,718.  in 2018 and 2019 attendance was about 69.7M and 68.5M (below 70M for the first time since 2003).  I'm not entirely sure what to make of all this, but here's the source for these numbers (with a number of other interesting -- at least to me -- statistics):  https://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/MLB/misc.shtml

[TAC]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/mlb/mlb-umpire-joe-west-suing-former-all-star-paul-lo-duca-for-claiming-he-took-bribes/ar-AAJbb3I?li=BBnbfcL

Good for Joe West.

[pg1067]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/mlb/mlb-umpire-joe-west-suing-former-all-star-paul-lo-duca-for-claiming-he-took-bribes/ar-AAJbb3I?li=BBnbfcL

Good for Joe West.

Wow...I liked Lo Duca when he played for the Dodgers, but he's come across as a total jackass every time I've hear him on sports talk radio.  It's not like it's not easy enough to get game records of this stuff.


On another note, that game last night was fantastic!  The 5 earned runs scored by the Nats were 4 more than Cole had given up all postseason to that point and, including both postseason and regular season games, he gave up only 5 earned runs (plus 1 unearned run) between September 3 and October 21.  Juan Soto was a monster.  That double he hit the other way was just a perfect approach.  The only downside is that the Nats used Hudson and Doolittle for 1.1 IP each, so they have to hope Strasburg comes up with a monster game.  $889 (including fees) just to get in the building for game 3 on Friday in D.C.!

[pg1067]

Unbelievable couple of games by the Nationals.  Cole and Verlander didn't lose back-to-back games all season long, and now they're in a spot where neither starts another game until April (although I'll bet that, if Washington wins tomorrow, Cole comes back on short rest on Saturday).  Verlander's World Series record is shockingly bad:  0-5 with 30 hits allowed in 33 innings and a 5.73 ERA.

[KevShmev]

Given that this has been the decade of teams in the four major sports winning championships for either the first time or in a really long time, it would only be fitting to see the Nats finish off the decade with their first.

'16 Cubs (first in over 100 years)
'17 Astros (first ever)

'12 Kings (first Stanley Cup win)
'18 Capitals (first Stanley Cup win)
'19 Blues (first Stanley Cup win)

'13 Seahawks (first Super Bowl win)
'17 Eagles (first Super Bowl win)

'11 Mavericks (first ever)
'15 Warriors (first in 40 years)
'16 Cavs (first ever)

[TAC]

Can't you do that for every decade??

[KevShmev]

Very possible, yes, but it just seems like this decade has a lot more of first time/first in a long time winners.

[TAC]

Sems like just another reason to post about the Blues...