2025 Major League Baseball Thread

[Batman1980]

Go twins, pull out the upset!

[MifuneFan]

Yankees made a strong finish to the season, but man, so many wasted opportunities during the season. I kind of hate the 1-game playoff thing. I wish they would just do a best of 3.

[BizCat]

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

Yankees made a strong finish to the season, but man, so many wasted opportunities during the season. I kind of hate the 1-game playoff thing. I wish they would just do a best of 3.

Agreed.

[fatediesel]

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

Yankees made a strong finish to the season, but man, so many wasted opportunities during the season. I kind of hate the 1-game playoff thing. I wish they would just do a best of 3.

Ken Rosenthal had an article this morning on The Athletic (subscription required) about potential changes that could be made to the wild card round and one of the changes he discussed was going to the model the Korea Baseball Organization uses. Their model is a two-game series where the higher seed only needs to win one of the games to advance (and if it's the first game the series ends) but the lower seeded team must win both games.

[BizCat]

Originally Posted by fatediesel

Ken Rosenthal had an article this morning on The Athletic (subscription required) about potential changes that could be made to the wild card round and one of the changes he discussed was going to the model the Korea Baseball Organization uses. Their model is a two-game series where the higher seed only needs to win one of the games to advance (and if it's the first game the series ends) but the lower seeded team must win both games.

Eh...

[myanks12]

Originally Posted by Batman1980

Strong turn today in our season finale for Bartolo Colon but unless Santana can deliver a miracle against NY, it won't matter.

I'm a huge Yankees fan but I have to say that as good as the Yankees offense is, they are vulnerable to being completely shut down, even by mediocre pitching. I've seen it many times this season. So I'm not sure what to expect tonight, especially since it's only one game. The Yanks could be playing the Padres tonight and lose.

I do like the best of 3 series for the wild card round. The idea of the 2nd wild card is to punish both teams for not winning the division and I do like that, but baseball is a sport about series. The wild card round should not be an exception

[Lacit170]

Originally Posted by Batman1980

Strong turn today in our season finale for Bartolo Colon but unless Santana can deliver a miracle against NY, it won't matter.

not a miracle man, these aint the 96 yankees lol....

in a one game series, there really isnt a favorite, game can go either way... should be a good one

[Waboman]

Originally Posted by BizCat

Just this one time

Lol. I'd love to send the Spankees home early.

[BagheeraMcGee]

Originally Posted by Waboman

Lol. I'd love to send the Spankees home early.

Most definitely. I'd love to see it just because they've set up the TV schedule for the ALDS on the premise that the Yankees are going to win, and I'd love to see a monkey wrench thrown into those plans. Well, that, and it would be the Yankees going home early.

[myanks12]

Originally Posted by BagheeraMcGee

Most definitely. I'd love to see it just because they've set up the TV schedule for the ALDS on the premise that the Yankees are going to win, and I'd love to see a monkey wrench thrown into those plans. Well, that, and it would be the Yankees going home early.

How did they set up the schedule on the premise that the Yankees are going to win?

[BagheeraMcGee]

Originally Posted by myanks12

How did they set up the schedule on the premise that the Yankees are going to win?

Gave the Indians the "prime-time" slots compared to Houston-Boston, who have day games. If the Twins won, and they hadn't made their decision yet as to who plays when, I don't think there's any way they give CLE-MIN preference over BOS-HOU.

[myanks12]

Originally Posted by BagheeraMcGee

Gave the Indians the "prime-time" slots compared to Houston-Boston, who have day games. If the Twins won, and they hadn't made their decision yet as to who plays when, I don't think there's any way they give CLE-MIN preference over BOS-HOU.

They haven't announced the times for games 3-5 yet. The Cleveland series has one primetime slot and that's game 1 at 7:30 ET. Game 2 is at 5 ET because the Cubs are getting the 7:30 primetime game.

[BagheeraMcGee]

Originally Posted by myanks12

They haven't announced the times for games 3-5 yet. The Cleveland series has one primetime slot and that's game 1 at 7:30 ET. Game 2 is at 5 ET because the Cubs are getting the 7:30 primetime game.

They're still playing after BOS-HOU in both of those games. If the Twins win tonight, I'd be willing to bet CLE-MIN plays before BOS-HOU. But if the Yankees win (which I think is going to happen), BOS-HOU will play before CLE-NYY for the duration of the series because Yankees = Ratings, which is why I think they've made the schedule this way up to this point.

[myanks12]

Originally Posted by BagheeraMcGee

They're still playing after BOS-HOU in both of those games. If the Twins win tonight, I'd be willing to bet CLE-MIN plays before BOS-HOU. But if the Yankees win (which I think is going to happen), BOS-HOU will play before CLE-NYY for the duration of the series because Yankees = Ratings, which is why I think they've made the schedule this way up to this point.

I don't think they'll change the times for games 1 and 2 if the Twins win. Those times are already set but I do think you have a point. Obviously the Yanks do bring lots of eyeballs to the television. But I also think the Indians are an intriguing team nationally given the fact that they are the new Cubs/Red Sox with the long WS drought. When you combine that with the fact that the Indians are the best team in the American League and their amazing winning streak, I'd put them in primetime as well, certainly over the Astros.

If the Yanks do make it past the Twins tonight, which I'm very unsure of as a Yankees fan because this group of players haven't proven anything yet in big games, it is interesting that in 97 and 07, the Indians knocked out the Yanks in the LDS. They'd be facing off again 10 years later in the LDS. But I would strongly favor the Indians in that series. They're hungry coming off last year and have a solid and more experienced group compared to the Yanks/Twins.

[BagheeraMcGee]

Originally Posted by myanks12

I don't think they'll change the times for games 1 and 2 if the Twins win. Those times are already set but I do think you have a point. Obviously the Yanks do bring lots of eyeballs to the television. But I also think the Indians are an intriguing team nationally given the fact that they are the new Cubs/Red Sox with the long WS drought. When you combine that with the fact that the Indians are the best team in the American League and their amazing winning streak, I'd put them in primetime as well, certainly over the Astros.

If the Yanks do make it past the Twins tonight, which I'm very unsure of as a Yankees fan because this group of players haven't proven anything yet in big games, it is interesting that in 97 and 07, the Indians knocked out the Yanks in the LDS. They'd be facing off again 10 years later in the LDS. But I would strongly favor the Indians in that series. They're hungry coming off last year and have a solid and more experienced group compared to the Yanks/Twins.

In reference to what I've put in bold, I meant that for Games 3 through 5 (if necessary, of course). My bad there.

In terms of what teams bring in the viewers, I'd actually rank the Indians 3rd among the AL playoff teams, because if the Yankees aren't in it (I'd put them #1), and the Red Sox are (#2), then I think BOS would get prime-time priority.

I have to tip my cap to you: damn good memory. It didn't occur to me about the 10- and 20-year reunions ('97 being the "Sandy Alomar HR off of Rivera" series and '07 being the "attack of the midges" series).

The thing that I think gives the Indians a distinct advantage is that, given that he's pitching the wild card game, they'd only have to face Severino once in the five-game series (Game 3, I'd imagine). The Indians have hit Sonny Gray pretty well in the past.

The Indians haven't released how they're setting the rotation, but I have a weird feeling that Trevor Bauer is going to start Game 1, Corey Kluber will pitch Game 2 (if he's needed for Game 5, he'd be on normal rest) and Carlos Carrasco in Game 3 (his road record is ridiculous this year). The pitching staff as a whole is what gives me a ton of hope this year.

It's quite a bit different this year compared to last. No one gave them a shot at all with all of their injuries last year, so it felt like playing with house money. This year, they're the favorite, which hasn't been the case with an Indians team since the mid-to-late '90s. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little nervous, but it should be fun to watch, that's for sure.

[TheForce8686]

Originally Posted by BagheeraMcGee

They're still playing after BOS-HOU in both of those games. If the Twins win tonight, I'd be willing to bet CLE-MIN plays before BOS-HOU. But if the Yankees win (which I think is going to happen), BOS-HOU will play before CLE-NYY for the duration of the series because Yankees = Ratings, which is why I think they've made the schedule this way up to this point.

Is there something wrong with that? You have millions of dollars in revenue and advertising on the line. Wouldn't you want the higher rated team playing in prime time.

[BagheeraMcGee]

Originally Posted by TheForce8686

Is there something wrong with that? You have millions of dollars in revenue and advertising on the line. Wouldn't you want the higher rated team playing in prime time.

No, and I never said there was a problem with it. I originally said that MLB had designed its TV playoff scheduled based on the premise that the Yankees were going to win tonight, and that I was rooting for the Twins simply for the "monkey-wrench-being-thrown" effect.

[bootsy]

Originally Posted by TheForce8686

Is there something wrong with that? You have millions of dollars in revenue and advertising on the line. Wouldn't you want the higher rated team playing in prime time.

Pretty much this. As much as I hate the Yankees, I do not want to see the Twins advance. They had a nice year but that's about all I want to see of them.

[DanTheMan]

Go Yanks.

*RUNS AND HIDES*

[Batman1980]

Originally Posted by DanTheMan

Go Yanks.

*RUNS AND HIDES*

1-0 lead, whoo!