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mobaz
Veteran
Posts: 2,720
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Post by mobaz on Oct 7, 2015 13:28:45 GMT -5
I'm pulling for whoever wins tonight's game to go all the way. Both have the best rosters, and World Series games in either Wrigley or PNC is something I am 100% on board with. Failing that, I want to see the Cardinals lose to the AL team, because the Cardinals losing in the World Series is fun. I'm okay with the wild card game on its own - if there was a 98 win team against an 86 win one, I'd feel a little bit bad, but it definitely incentivizes winning the division again. I'm probably the last person left who doesn't like the wild card itself, though. I really do miss pennant races like the 1993 NL West, where two legitimately great teams are playing high-intensity regular season games. That does a lot more for me than the Team Entropy five 84-87 win squads stumbling in. I almost would love a system where only 90+ win teams could qualify for a wild card. It would be a scheduling mess, sure, but you wouldn't accidentally get a crummy squad like this year's Twins in the playoffs while keeping a spot for a 97-win third-place team like the Cubs. So you would have 2 divisions in each league then, or 4? And even then, without a wild card, the Cubs almost certainly miss the playoffs, as it's hard to imagine divisions that don't have them in the same one as the Cardinals. Would be a hell of a pennant race, but I'm all for systems that make sure the top 3 teams in a league make the playoffs, even if they happen to all be in the same division. Sounds like there's going to be a strong push for 32 teams (2 international) so we'll need an overhaul again then. 8 divisions of 4 teams leaves no obvious wildcard path, while 4 divisions of 8 teams (2 or 3 WC) seems backwards from how things have trended. Doubt we'll see unbalanced divisions again.
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Post by sox fan in nc on Oct 7, 2015 15:41:52 GMT -5
Being a lifelong red sox fan (grandfather played w/Ted on the sox in '40 & '41) living in NC....family from RI....would like to see American League take the WS (As long as NYY is not that team).....SF has monopolized too many in recent years.
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Post by James Dunne on Oct 7, 2015 15:46:38 GMT -5
I think the ideal is four divisions in each league with a wild card, and the wild card team and worst division winner playing a best-of-three. Because you need an extra series that would put a huge incentive on winning the division--and also on not being the worst division winner, creating what would amount to an extra-division race between division leaders, which would certainly give runaway winners in a crummy division something to play for. You're never going to get 1993 again, but that era is over and I am mostly okay with that. I just really don't get a lot personally from a race like the AL wild card this year, with the six 84-87 win teams flailing helplessly for two wild card spots.
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Post by Chris Hatfield on Oct 7, 2015 16:47:39 GMT -5
So let's see:
AL East: TOR, NYY, BOS, BAL South: TBR, TEX, HOU, KCR? (or, expansion team in Mexico or Oklahoma or something, put KC in West) North: DET, MIN, CHI, CLE West: LAA, SEA, OAK, expansion team? (Portland, OR; Las Vegas)
You could also put a Montreal expansion team in the East, Toronto in the North, Chicago in the South, KC in the West?
NL East: NYM, PHI, WAS, PIT South: MIA, ATL, COL, expansion team? (Charlotte?) North: MIL, CHC, STL, CIN West: SFG, LAD, SDP, ARI
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Post by James Dunne on Oct 7, 2015 18:08:59 GMT -5
Portland or Vancouver would make a lot of sense to me in the under-served Pacific northwest for another AL team. For the NL, you could go almost anywhere. Indianapolis has done well historically for Triple-A attendance and they support two other major league sports teams. They are my darkhorse favorite, with one problem - the NL North is pretty obvious in the configuration you have. Charlotte, New Jersey (or Brooklyn if the territorial rights chance in the next CBA), or Montreal are all good options.
Colorado is in a tough space if they go to four divisions. Could need to move someone (them or Arizona) to the AL to make it sensible.
In my lifetime I really would love to see Havana and San Juan teams.
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Post by chavopepe2 on Oct 7, 2015 18:37:01 GMT -5
Portland or Vancouver would make a lot of sense to me in the under-served Pacific northwest for another AL team. For the NL, you could go almost anywhere. Indianapolis has done well historically for Triple-A attendance and they support two other major league sports teams. They are my darkhorse favorite, with one problem - the NL North is pretty obvious in the configuration you have. Charlotte, New Jersey (or Brooklyn if the territorial rights chance in the next CBA), or Montreal are all good options. Colorado is in a tough space if they go to four divisions. Could need to move someone (them or Arizona) to the AL to make it sensible. In my lifetime I really would love to see Havana and San Juan teams. This was my thought as well. I don't think there is too much of an issue moving either of those teams to the AL and that solution makes more sense to me than putting them in the South with Miami and Atlanta. If we assume one team is out west (Vancouver, Portland, Sacramento, Las Vegas) and the other is East-ish (Montreal, Indianapolis, Jersey, Brooklyn), then I think I would go with something like this: AL East: TOR, BOS, NYY, BAL AL Midwest: COL, TX, HOU, KC AL North: CHW, DET, MIN, CLE AL West: LAA, SEA, OAK (West expansion team) NL East: NYM, PIT, PHI, (East expansion team or WAS if team is in Charlotte) NL South: ATL, MIA, TB, (WAS or Charlotte) NL North: MIL, CHC, STL, CIN NL West: LAD, ARI, SF, SD With TB and COL having such short histories, I think this works.
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Post by FenwayFanatic on Oct 7, 2015 18:42:59 GMT -5
Yanks down. Mets, Dodgers and Cubs to go! What did the Dodgers and Cubs do to tick you off? Those are two franchises the Sox actually beat in the World Series. It would be nice for Cubs fans to know what winning it all feels like. I certainly can relate to that. I always root against New York, LA and Chicago.
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Post by sarasoxer on Oct 7, 2015 18:51:55 GMT -5
What did the Dodgers and Cubs do to tick you off? Those are two franchises the Sox actually beat in the World Series. It would be nice for Cubs fans to know what winning it all feels like. I certainly can relate to that. I always root against New York, LA and Chicago. Ah.. c'mon the Cubs?...home of the El, Wrigley and the ivied walls? No purist you!
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ianrs
Veteran
Posts: 2,405
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Post by ianrs on Oct 7, 2015 19:07:03 GMT -5
As the Cubs game is about to begin, I'm just going to leave this here...
The last time the Cubs won a World Series was 1908. The Cubs game tonight is at 7:08. In military time that's 1908... 1908 was 107 years ago...today is 10/7. And this takes place in 2015:
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Post by Gwell55 on Oct 7, 2015 19:26:09 GMT -5
This was my thought as well. I don't think there is too much of an issue moving either of those teams to the AL and that solution makes more sense to me than putting them in the South with Miami and Atlanta. If we assume one team is out west (Vancouver, Portland, Sacramento, Las Vegas) and the other is East-ish (Montreal, Indianapolis, Jersey, Brooklyn), then I think I would go with something like this: AL East: TOR, BOS, NYY, BAL AL Midwest: COL, TX, HOU, KC AL North: CHW, DET, MIN, CLE AL West: LAA, SEA, OAK (West expansion team) NL East: NYM, PIT, PHI, (East expansion team or WAS if team is in Charlotte) NL South: ATL, MIA, TB, (WAS or Charlotte) NL North: MIL, CHC, STL, CIN NL West: LAD, ARI, SF, SD With TB and COL having such short histories, I think this works. What will happen with TB when they finally move though (do to lack of attendance)? Seems to me they could go to Indianapolis so they might fit in the North with The farthest team to the south moving down (STL). That could work as well as it would look like this: NL East: NYM, PIT, PHI, WAS NL South: ATL, MIA, STL, Charlotte) NL North: MIL, CHC, INDY(TB), CIN NL West: LAD, ARI, SF, SD
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Post by brianthetaoist on Oct 7, 2015 19:29:12 GMT -5
Also from that piece: Ah, young Andrew must not remember the way the Sox fans chanted, "DAAAAARRYL! DAAAAARRYL!" at Daryl Strawberry in 1986. It was so mocking and creative, oft copied, never matched.
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Post by FenwayFanatic on Oct 7, 2015 19:59:02 GMT -5
I always root against New York, LA and Chicago. Ah.. c'mon the Cubs?...home of the El, Wrigley and the ivied walls? No purist you! Especially against the Cubs. I'm hoping an AL team wins.
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Post by wcsoxfan on Oct 7, 2015 20:02:29 GMT -5
I think the ideal is four divisions in each league with a wild card, and the wild card team and worst division winner playing a best-of-three. Because you need an extra series that would put a huge incentive on winning the division--and also on not being the worst division winner, creating what would amount to an extra-division race between division leaders, which would certainly give runaway winners in a crummy division something to play for. You're never going to get 1993 again, but that era is over and I am mostly okay with that. I just really don't get a lot personally from a race like the AL wild card this year, with the six 84-87 win teams flailing helplessly for two wild card spots. I think you're better off going for 4 division winners + 2 wild cards. Sure, it risks a .500 team sneaking into the playoffs on occasion but otherwise you're going to run into a lot of teams that don't make the playoffs having better records than division winners. Plus more teams = more $$$. With the addition of 2 more teams - this would essentially copy what the NFL does - which is pretty darn good. I get your 'not wanting flailing teams into the playoffs' feeling - but team management will adapt and sell more easily. And it would never become Basketball/Hockey bad - where you know the teams at the bottom of the playoffs have no chance. Otherwise, I completely agree with your suggestions.
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Post by FenwayFanatic on Oct 7, 2015 20:14:59 GMT -5
8 seeds have won before in the NHL, just not the NBA.
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Post by James Dunne on Oct 7, 2015 20:41:04 GMT -5
It's practically impossible that the tandem of Sean Rodriguez and Pedro Alvarez is better than my boy Matt Hague (who the Pirates had a year ago).
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Post by wskeleton76 on Oct 7, 2015 20:59:41 GMT -5
Marte is a rally killer!
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Post by adiospaydro2005 on Oct 7, 2015 21:14:57 GMT -5
Amazing that Pirates had Sean Rodriquez on their playoff roster. He always seems to be dancing around the edges when there is a bench clearing incident with a player or two holding him back for his own good. Perhaps someone from Cubs told him where he could put his hair net.
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Post by adiospaydro2005 on Oct 7, 2015 21:17:04 GMT -5
I would be cheering for the Cubs except I can't stand Joe Madden and his "smartest guy in the room" persona.
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Post by James Dunne on Oct 7, 2015 21:21:23 GMT -5
Did Rodriguez actually try to throw a punch near David Ross? Forget ejecting him, they need to get him into witness protection or they're going to find his bleached bones in 30 years the desert along the US-Mexico border. There are a lot of fake tough guys around baseball, but Ross is like a character in a Cormac McCarthy novel. He should not be crossed.
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Post by redsox04071318champs on Oct 7, 2015 21:44:45 GMT -5
Ah.. c'mon the Cubs?...home of the El, Wrigley and the ivied walls? No purist you! Especially against the Cubs. I'm hoping an AL team wins. You're certainly entitled to whatever animosity you have against Chicago, but I still don't understand it. I'm guessing you were born in 1989 and don't have much experience with the Red Sox being a snakebitten franchise where many people were born, lived a long life, and died without seeing the Red Sox win it all. I'm in my 40s and I grew up thinking I'd never see the Sox win in my lifetime. I'm guessing the Red Sox franchise you know is one that is very capable of winning championships and the idea of long droughts is a foreign concept. I bring this up because the one fan base I could always commiserate with were the Cubs' fan base. Those poor fans have waited longer than the 86 years the Sox have waited. They haven't even been to the World Series since 1945, and they've had a lot of ineptitude coupled with some ghastly near misses. If any baseball city deserves a winner it's Chicago, particularly the north side. The south side waited a long time, too, and even though I wasn't happy that the ChiSox polished off the BoSox in 2005, I was happy for their fans who went thru an 88 year wait without 1% of the attention that the Red Sox had nationwide. Maybe this is the year for the Cubs. Back to the Future II thought so (in 1989). The Cubs won't sweep the Series from Miami on October 21, 2015. Perhaps they'll sweep the Jays around Halloween instead. If that happens, Theo will be considered a God.
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Post by jmei on Oct 7, 2015 21:57:33 GMT -5
That was a helluva start.
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Post by soxfan06 on Oct 7, 2015 22:00:29 GMT -5
Stupid that the two best teams in the NL are playing each other.
MLB needs to do what the NFL does and reseed after the play in game. First, the best team should be the advantage of playing the team with the worst record. Second, no one wants to see the two best teams duking it out in round 1.
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Post by FenwayFanatic on Oct 7, 2015 22:08:43 GMT -5
I just dont like Chicago in general or their fans.
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Post by FenwayFanatic on Oct 7, 2015 22:10:27 GMT -5
Stupid that the two best teams in the NL are playing each other. MLB needs to do what the NFL does and reseed after the play in game. First, the best team should be the advantage of playing the team with the worst record. Second, no one wants to see the two best teams duking it out in round 1. Or the best 4 teams make the playoffs regardless of divisions. You can't have a bye in the MLB like the NFL.
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Post by James Dunne on Oct 7, 2015 22:11:05 GMT -5
I just dont like Chicago in general or their fans. Like, the city of Chicago? That's pretty nuts. That place is wonderful.
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