Baseball 2015 - Cubs, Sox, whatever

[UOK]

I don't get this thread. it says "baseball" - but then mentions the Cubs and Sox.

Hiyo.

[Boris13c]

Kershaw gets 21st win in his last regular season start ... currently leads the league in ERA ... Dodgers clinch the NL West


Clayton Kershaw, Dodgers beat Giants to win NL West

[Boris13c]

as the season winds down, only a couple of spots open for the post season

Clinches: LAA clinched the AL West and home-field advantage in the ALDS. BAL clinched the AL East and home-field advantage in the ALDS. WSH clinched the NL East and home-field advantage in NLDS. LAD clinched the NL West and home-field advantage in NLDS. DET, STL and PIT have clinched postseason berths.

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/standings/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

wild card standings

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/standings/wildca ... d=20140924" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[UOK]

I'm going for the Royals and Orioles in the AL. Pirates and Nationals in the NL.

Anyone but the Cardinals, please.

[Boris13c]

I'm going for the Royals and Orioles in the AL. Pirates and Nationals in the NL.

Anyone but the Cardinals, please.

I would be perfectly fine with that

[UOK]

Someday the Cardinals will be at the bottom of the NL for a span of years. I will weep tears of joy when that day arrives.

[Boris13c]

well, the playoffs have really turned into something worth watching

Kansas City and Baltimore in the AL look to be the teams destined to meet for the championship ... KC is really playing some excellent baseball right now

the NL is completely topsy turvy and up for grabs ... I still think the Nationals will end up in the NLCS

Someday the Cardinals will be at the bottom of the NL for a span of years. I will weep tears of joy when that day arrives.

Kershaw vs Wainwright ... seemed to be a perfect opening game pitching matchup ... Wainwright gets knocked out before the 5th, Kershaw before the 7th, both end up with ERA's over 10

a wild game, and nowhere close to what was expected

[Boris13c]

watched the 18 inning Giants / Nationals game 2

Tim Hudson of the Giants and Jordan Zimmerman of the Nationals put on an old time display of a pitching duel ... a nice clinic on setting up batters and adjusting to the strike zone

I do think the Nationals made a grave strategic error ... 1-0 Nationals, top of the 9th, 2 out ... Jordan Zimmerman had retired 20 straight Giants ... then he walks a man and gets pulled ... the error there was the manager (Matt Williams) didn't even come out to have a chat or even ask Zimmerman how he was doing ... he made the move to make the pitching change as he stepped out of the dugout

yeah I know, hindsight is always 20-20 ... but Zimmerman was pitching a 3 hit shutout in a game the Nationals had to have and he had just hit the 100 pitch count .... I would have lived or died with him ... let him finish

in comes Drew Storen, goat of the last playoff game the Nationals were in, and promptly gives up 2 consecutive hits and if not for a very close play at the plate, both the tying and go ahead runs ... instead it goes to the bottom of the 9th tied ... and remains tied for 9 more innings, Giants winning on a HR by their 1st Baseman in the top of the 18th

during those extra 9 innings, the pitching by both sides was pretty damn impressive ... very few scoring chances by either team until that solo HR ... amazing game to watch if you believe in pitching and defense

gonna be tough for the Nationals to come back from this I think as they now go to San Fran down 2-0

[Boris13c]

ALCS is now set ... Kansas City swept the Angles by playing lights out fundamental baseball ... the Orioles swept the pitching rich Tigers ... this should be a good matchup

the NLCS is still a work in progress ... Nationals now in a big 0-2 hole, and the Giants look to be the better team in spite of regular season records ... Dodgers and Cardinals at 1-1

I'm going for the Royals and Orioles in the AL.

good call

[UOK]

It's going to be mirror opposites in the league championships:

Cards/Giants - the two teams nobody wanted to see come out of the NL are going to once again make a WS appearance. Stupid.

Royals/Orioles - this is basically the most fun LCS matchup seen in many years. I'd rather watch this than the World Series, because you know the NL will win it and ruin everything.

[Otis Day]

Usually love playoff baseball (cannot and do not watch reg. season), but just cannot get into the game this fall. Maybe a Royal v Oriole matchup will do it. With hockey starting up and football going on, I am not sure I will watch any playoffs this year.

[DaDitka]

Cards/Giants - the two teams nobody wanted to see come out of the NL are going to once again make a WS appearance. Stupid.

True....I often hear folks complain about how 'smug' Cards fans are...but I think most of us are just 'spoiled'. Last October I went down to Nashville to go to a Blues game and there was guy in a Hawks jersey sitting in one of the bars we stopped in. He stopped one of the girls in our group and said "What are you doing here when the Cardnials are in the world series?" Without thinking and with no malice intent she responded "I'll just watch them next year". They've been to 4 of the last 10 WS and in the playoffs almost every year and we just take it for granted. We (at least most of us) don't realize how arrogant and presumptuous we sound with our expectations. But it's really not looking down on anyone else (at least not among me and my friends) we've really just established these expectations because of resent results. No different then Colts fans expecting the playoffs every year when Manning was there or the 49ers and Cowboys back in the day.

I'm sure there are some terrible, uppity Cards fans...but IMO if you actually even care about baseball that much at all, you're automatically a douche no matter who you root for. Baseball is pretty fucking stupid and it's for old people that can't follow real sports.

I enjoy the passion of post season baseball....but I haven't watched a single Cards game begging to end that wasn't a postseason game since Mark McGwire played. I listen to bits and pieces of games all the time on the radio....but that's about it.

[Boris13c]

my neighbor is a big Washington Nationals fan ... he had friends and family over to watch the Game 2 debacle ... it was pretty much unanimous from our group of 7 that pulling Zimmerman in that game with 2 outs in the 9th was stupid ... Zimmerman had closed the regular season with a no-hitter and was pitching a 3 hit shutout in a must win game

my neighbor's brother couldn't even watch ... as Storen was announced coming in from the bullpen, he said his goodbyes and left, saying "can't watch this ... this is going to be a disaster and the Nats will be down 2-0"

and he was right ... though it did take another 9 innings to decide

that was an exhausting game to watch ...

being able to watch it as an interested observer while surrounded by hard core fans was interesting ... and I could understand their disappointment being as I'm a Bears fan

so I was sorry to see their season end on such an inglorious note in game 4 ... a few odd pitching decisions happened there too which helped the Giants

[Boris13c]

Kansas City Royals sweep the Baltimore Orioles ... San Francisco Giants 1 win away from tossing the Cardinals into the trash bin (where they belong, by default)

that means the 2 teams in the World Series this year will be there after winning the Wild Card game, and beating the best team (record wise) in their respective leagues

pretty awesome

I think a special nod needs to go to Bruce Bochy ... his teams always seem to get it done ... and the way they continue to score runs without hits by grinding (walks, bunts, sacrifice flies, groundout FC's) is pretty impressive ... he certainly schooled Matt William of the Nationals on what a real MLB manager does in regards to handling his team game to game

he could probably be teaching the Cardinals Mike Metheny as well if Metheny wasn't so arrogant as to not be listening

[UOK]

Fare thee well, Cardinals/baseball's generic whitebread team.

[Boris13c]

the 2 Wild Card winners face off for the World Series, one which I think is going to be quite fun to watch

I give the Giants a slight edge based on a stronger pitching staff (primarily the bullpen), and I think the series will go the full 7 games

[Boris13c]

Cardinals outfielder Oscar Taveras dies in car accident

8:45 a.m. EDT October 27, 2014

St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Oscar Taveras and one of the top prospects of the past several seasons, died today in an auto accident in his native Dominican Republic, Dominican police confirmed to USA TODAY Sports.

Taveras' girlfriend also died in the crash, according to police in Puerto Plata.

[Boris13c]

Peavy pounded, Ventura unhittable, Royals roll .... game 7 is going to be interesting

I think both starters in game 7 are gone in the 4th inning, and the game then becomes a marathon, with the Royals winning in the bottom of the 16th inning

[UOK]

Expecting Maddon to be named Cubs manager on Friday, apparently.

[DaDitka]

Expecting Maddon to be named Cubs manager on Friday, apparently.

A self proclaimed Cards fan coaching the Cubs......that should be quite interesting.

[Boris13c]

this was a pretty damn entertaining World Series matchup ... congrats to the Giants and their caveman Madison Bumgarner ... that was a pretty impressive performance he turned in coming in from the bullpen to finish out Game 7

the Royals helped him a bit in the 8th and 9th by not being able to lay off those fastballs up in their eyes ... played right into Bumgarner's plan

I really did think it would go into extra innings, especially when the Roayls got the tying run to third with 2 outs ... but again, those high hard fastballs, which were unhittable, closed it out

[Otis Day]

First World Series I can remember that I didn't watch at all. had no interest in either team and baseball just bores the hell out of me. I sat and watched stupid ass TV shows that my wife likes instead.

[DaDitka]

Watched game 7..that's it.

And Mad Bum is the only reason. I still recall the 2001 like it was yesterday. For what ever reason Shilling and Johnson's performances that year really impressed me and more surprisingly stuck with me.

Probably because the Cards took them to a 5th and final game in the Division series where Shilling held us to one run while tossing the full nine innings...oh...and that was after he tossed a complete game shut out in game one.

[UOK]

Renteria was fired with an air of dignity and grace today, and they will have the Maddon hiring press conference on Monday at the Cubby Bear bar. The owner of that place is also going to likely make a joint-announcement that he has sold his rooftops to the Cubs.

[Boris13c]

Maddon hired and Wrigley Field getting a make-over (link has a slide show of the demolition of the outfield bleachers)

http://chicagotonight.wttw.com/2014/11/ ... ire-maddon" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[UOK]

Maddon seems like a pretty cool dude. Lots of confidence, loose demeanor, positive energy, and would be a fun guy to play for. Great marriage between him and this organization.

[DaDitka]

It just sucks that the Cubs actually have a good manager at the same time as good young talent. So often in throughout their history they've had one or the other and completely wasted it because they were so lacking in the other.

I think the Cubs are going to be a regular pain in the ass for the Birds for the next several years.

Great for you guys......probably not as fun for Cards fans.

[Otis Day]

Talk radio was all over this over the weekend. One of the baseball guys stated that Maddon demands his guys have fun while playing, going hard. He is in to the cybermetrics and shit just like Epstien so it sounds like a good match. Probably be a few years before they are pushing for division title but exciting news for Cub fans.

[UOK]

Goddamn Cardinals acquire Jason Heyward and a damn good closer for one of their meh pitching prospects. Cubs whiff on Russell Martin, who chased dollar signs and the DH role into Toronto.

[Boris13c]

One great year gets Zach Duke three in free agency

As the saying goes, teach your kids to throw left-handed. Even mediocre lefties can hang around in the majors for decades, making millions of dollars. The latest failure-to-success story is Zach Duke, who just signed a three-year, $15 million deal with the White Sox.

This is the same Zach Duke who was traded to the Diamondbacks in 2010 for Cesar Valdez, was granted free agency the following offseason, was released by the Astros in 2012, released by the Nationals in 2013 and made $850,000 for the Brewers last season after signing in January as a non-roster invitee to spring training.

A failed big-league starter, Duke posted a 6.03 ERA in 2013 as a primary reliever. Last season, though, he had a 2.45 ERA, 1.13 WHIP and 74 strikeouts in 58 2/3 innings. Don't call him a LOOGY (left-handed one-out guy), as Duke faced more righties (133) than lefties (105) last season.