Let's talk Baseball!

[Eleeski]

Next up, Chargers Rams?

That was funny!

Eric

 

[Jim McDonald]

Please don't desecrate this thread with talk of thuggery!

 

[Eleeski]

Who mentioned the Raiders?

 

[Philpug]

Carlos Correa proposes on live TV in front of tens of thousands of fans, his teammates and millions worldwide, now that's almost as cool as getting wed at a Gathering!

....almost.

 

[Uncle-A]

Well earned Houston Congratulations

It is a bit of a bitter sweat win. Although the my team the Yankees did not make it to the WS at least the team that beat them won it all.

 

[Carolinacub]

It is a bit of a bitter sweat win. Although the my team the Yankees did not make it to the WS at least the team that beat them won it all.

Great Win, Although my team the CUBS did not make it to the WS at least the team that beat them LOST it all.

 

[socalgal]

Great Win, Although my team the CUBS did not make it to the WS at least the team that beat them LOST it all.

So we can all be losers together?

 

[crgildart]

I'd like to see Mets VS Rays next year. Rays are my AL favorite because we live less than 2 miles from where the Durham Bulls play.. They roll up to the Rays. Bulls won their minor league championship again last month..

 

[TexasStout]

No, Verlander passed on going to the Dodgers.

4 hit batters? has to be some sort of record.

Actually, according to article in USA Today, LA was Verlander`s first choice and told his team he was going, but Dodgers passed on taking his whole salary and took Darvish instead. Hmm, how ironic. Houston was willing to take his salary and he still was reluctant to go there until very last minute before the trade deadline.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/spor...series-game-6-astros-dodgers-trade/814550001/

 

[Philpug]

Actually, according to article in USA Today, LA was Verlander`s first choice and told his team he was going, but Dodgers passed on taking his whole salary and took Darvish instead. Houston was willing to take his salary and he still was reluctant to go there until very last minute before the trade deadline.

I heard that in the end, Houston was his only choice because of the city. I could be wrong.

 

[TexasStout]

I heard that in the end, Houston was his only choice because of the city. I could be wrong.

See url in edited post

 

[TonyC]

I've never been this caught up before in a series. It probably has something to do with being a Dodger fan since childhood and this is the first time they've gone to the WS within my memory. (There, I've gone and gave away my age

That was my son Adam, born late 1984, doesn't remember 1988.

I did not see this thread until now. I have had a share of Dodger season tickets since 1979, and before that my Dad had some access to his company's seats since Dodger Stadium opened in 1962. Thus before this year I was fortunate to attend 6 World Series games, all won by the Dodgers, starting with the Koufax clinching Game 4 in 1963 through the Kirk Gibson Game 1 in 1988.

I currently have a 40% share in season tickets and I get to buy extra tickets for DS and LCS series in advance of public sale. Interest was way up this year to no surprise and I even had some out of town visiting friends. One was a diehard Cubs fan from Yakima, Washington, who flew down on short notice for games 1&2 of the LCS. Turner's walk-off HR was quite a moment for us if not for my friend from Yakima.

World Series demand was intense and I was only allowed to buy two extra tickets for one game, thus planning to take Adam to Game 7 and Liz to Game 2. That was not enough for Adam so we bought tickets for Games 1 and 6 on Stubhub for 4x face value.

Liz is a casual fan (and I might add Yankees fan after 27 years living in NYC) but she was the one who attended that crazy roller-coaster Game 2.

Game 7 was the only real stinker of the series. Adam, who has never seen a winning WS, definitely took it harder than I did. I can certainly sympathize with the Astros fans and their 55 year drought; I would have been way more annoyed to see another Dodger loss to the Yankees, Liz notwithstanding.

Given my history in both statistics and as a baseball fan since the Dodgers arrived in 1958, I have been an avid follower of "baseball analytics" going back to Bill James' first widely distributed Baseball Abstract in 1983. I have 15 of his books and it's amazing it took nearly 20 years to Billy Beane and "Moneyball" before these ideas were accepted by any MLB front offices and managers. The past two World Series demonstrate widespread acceptance now.

The latest stat in vogue is the "Times Through the Order Penalty," which I did not hear about until this postseason. Here's a study of that:
https://www.baseballprospectus.com/...ow-about-the-times-through-the-order-penalty/
Dave Roberts managed with this in mind (max twice through the lineup except for Kershaw in Game 1), but it meant that the best relievers had all been used for their normal workload when those marathon games 2 and 5 went into extra innings. Overall it was probably a good idea given what great hitters are at the top of the Astros lineup. Once through the order seemed to be enough for Yu Darvish.

145 pitches? Pffft. I wonder how many Nolan Ryan threw in his no hitters. No one went deeper into the count like Nolan. I recall an interview with him where he talked about many games he was well over 200 pitches in a game and he pitched for. Considering that he pitches for almost 30 seasons is shows what a horse he was.

Nolan Ryan was a freak of nature. I also remember Koufax pitching 335 innings with 27 complete games in 1965, followed by shutouts in Games 5 and 7 of the World Series. I also remember that Koufax was done a year later at age 30. A modern pitcher will rarely dominate a season or postseason like Koufax or Bob Gibson did, but managing pitch counts has resulted in Kershaw's career value already slightly exceeding Koufax' with hopefully many more years to come.

 

[crgildart]

Nolan Ryan was a freak of nature.

Nolan Ryan's the only MLB pitcher I remember seeing actually having to pitch against his own son in "the show". There have been several other father and sons sharing the same field, but a pitcher with that kind of longevity is absolutely a freak of nature..

 

[Jim McDonald]

Heard he went "up & in" on him, too

 

[SKI-3PO]

RIP Roy Halladay. One of the greatest ever.

 

[Jim McDonald]

Sad baseball news to start the day. He was a terrific pitcher, and apparently a really nice person as well.

 

[Philpug]

RIP Roy Halladay. One of the greatest ever.

A buddy of mine was at the no-no he pitched in the playoffs.

 

[SKI-3PO]

A buddy of mine was at the no-no he pitched in the playoffs.

Way better than my playoff experience with him the next year - Game 5 against the Cardinals where he pitched amazing but lost 1-0 and Ryan Howard tore his achilles officially ending the Phillies great 5 year run.

 

[Marker]

Oh my, what can one say. I saw him pitch great, but I was at the first game when you saw him really laboring to get through his start. I was in the section right behind the catcher in the middle of summer on an incredibly hot steamy night. He was never the same after that start. So many of those Phillies aged prematurely. RIP Doc.

 

[scott43]

He was really well-liked here in Toronto..fans were huge when he gave it to AJ Burnett after he left for the Yankees. Really pipped up interest here after 1993 and the subsequent strike. Toronto really didn't come back from the strike very well until Halladay came along and gave people something to watch again. Big loss.