2025 Major League Baseball Thread

[toef]

Saw this picture over at another forum. Must suck to play in that stadium at times like this:

[toef]

Rangers just lost. Yanks are officially in the playoffs. 7 spots left.

[Hi-Def Steve]

God the Nationals suck! Error after error. They really need a new 2nd baseman whoever that fool was.

[hc666]

Jays with a thrilling win in extras over the O's!

Yeah like anyone cares...
HAHAHAHA!

[Ashamed Pegasus]

Originally Posted by toefer

Saw this picture over at another forum. Must suck to play in that stadium at times like this:

They're in the process of either opening or closing the roof... They never actually play games with it open just a little...

Originally Posted by hc666

Jays with a thrilling win in extras over the O's!

Yeah like anyone cares...
HAHAHAHA!

It's a battle to see who doesn't finish in last place, although I'm pretty sure my Orioles have that one wrapped up already...

[Jellybeans]

Yankees clinch playoff berth

YaY

[Riff Magnum]

Originally Posted by hc666

Jays with a thrilling win in extras over the O's!

Yeah like anyone cares...
HAHAHAHA!

Man, did you see how many people were there? It looked like an old Expos game.

[supersix4]

Originally Posted by hc666

Jays with a thrilling win in extras over the O's!

Yeah like anyone cares...
HAHAHAHA!

lol its a disappointment watching them, hopefully the young pitching will continue to make strides... But even if it does, oops we have no closer oh well maybe after next year.

[toef]

Here's something for fellow Yankees fans to think about (I heard it on Mike & Mike today):

In the last 19 seasons (1990-2008), the team with the best record on September 1st went on to win the World Series.... once.

This year the Yankees had the best record going into September, and currently still have it.

The one time it did happen was obviously the 1998 Yankees, who were unstoppable.

[hc666]

Originally Posted by Riff Magnum

Man, did you see how many people were there? It looked like an old Expos game.

The fans in Toronto are still there, they are just tired of JP Richardi and the fact that the Jays have taken a big step backwards in the rebuilding process that stalled last season. It's just frustration with not winning and not making the post season in like 16 years now.

Expos had no English TV Deal and didn't even average anywhere near 11,000 fans.

Jays TV ratings are steady, the fans are not going to the games lately... who wants to see the O's and Jays battle for 4th and 5th? :P

As said before, the Jays have averaged around 20K fans this season per game(last season was 30K)... the 1992 Yankees averaged 21K fans per game after not doing much for many years.

So no worries. Jays are safe in Toronto. Win and the fans will come back. Losing isn't bad... losing constantly for many years does!

One close wild card chase for starters... boom the fans will be back. Even late last season when we were well over 10 games over .500, the fans were back and there were some exciting games for a change.

[hc666]

Originally Posted by supersix4

lol its a disappointment watching them, hopefully the young pitching will continue to make strides... But even if it does, oops we have no closer oh well maybe after next year.

Yeah the bullpen lost that game for ya's... bases loaded... hit batter... tie game!

we'll take it... for what it's worth at this point... nothing haha

But nice to see Aaron Hill and Adam Lind both in the 30HR 100+ RBI category for this season! Woot woot!

[toef]

I haven't bothered to look at the schedules for various teams, so I don't know who is playing who down the final stretch, but it made me wonder... assuming MLB intentionally sets schedules a certain way, which way do they set them?

Option 1: Make the teams that are likely going to be competing for the division play each other at the very end, to make for an exciting pennant race.

Pros: It's exciting, and playoff contenders can somewhat control their own fate.

Cons: It makes the non-playoff contender games very boring, and they have very little appeal unless a) people really love baseball just to see the game played, and/or b) the particular team does a good job with the non-baseball stuff to keep fans entertained (mascot races, promotional stuff, etc).

Option 2: Make the playoff-bound teams play non-playoff bound teams

Pros: It gives fans in the non-playoff cities one last chance to see a good team in person, before a long winter, so overall attendance might be higher. Yankees vs Red Sox is limited by the capacity of either stadium. But Yankees vs Orioles and Red Sox vs Blue Jays will likely combine into a greater attendance than Yankees vs Red Sox and Orioles vs Jays.

Cons: It makes pennant races less exciting, and frustrating if your team doesn't get that last chance to play the team ahead of them.

[hc666]

Originally Posted by toefer

I haven't bothered to look at the schedules for various teams, so I don't know who is playing who down the final stretch, but it made me wonder... assuming MLB intentionally sets schedules a certain way, which way do they set them?

Option 1: Make the teams that are likely going to be competing for the division play each other at the very end, to make for an exciting pennant race.

Pros: It's exciting, and playoff contenders can somewhat control their own fate.

Cons: It makes the non-playoff contender games very boring, and they have very little appeal unless a) people really love baseball just to see the game played, and/or b) the particular team does a good job with the non-baseball stuff to keep fans entertained (mascot races, promotional stuff, etc).

Option 2: Make the playoff-bound teams play non-playoff bound teams

Pros: It gives fans in the non-playoff cities one last chance to see a good team in person, before a long winter, so overall attendance might be higher. Yankees vs Red Sox is limited by the capacity of either stadium. But Yankees vs Orioles and Red Sox vs Blue Jays will likely combine into a greater attendance than Yankees vs Red Sox and Orioles vs Jays.

Cons: It makes pennant races less exciting, and frustrating if your team doesn't get that last chance to play the team ahead of them.

So are you saying that playoff teams are basically set before the season starts based on team payroll and some teams never stand a chance and MLB should schedule for this so fans in losing cities can be blessed with getting to see the Yanks and Red Sox before the season ends.

LOL wow.

But let's only do it in the AL East because no one cares about the Jays and Orioles... LOL

Maybe the O's and Jays should just fold? Then you guys can have fun blessing even more teams fan's in the league with your presence haha.

No wait... too late... I saw more Red Sox fans than KC fans in KC the other night and I wanted to throw up...

Anyway whatever haha

[toef]

Originally Posted by hc666

So are you saying that playoff teams are basically set before the season starts based on team payroll and some teams never stand a chance and MLB should schedule for this so fans in losing cities can be blessed with getting to see the Yanks and Red Sox before the season ends.

LOL wow.

But let's only do it in the AL East because no one cares about the Jays and Orioles... LOL

Maybe the O's and Jays should just fold? Then you guys can have fun blessing even more teams fan's in the league with your presence haha.

No wait... too late... I saw more Red Sox fans than KC fans in KC the other night and I wanted to throw up...

Anyway whatever haha

Haha, no. It's obviously impossible to predict the playoff teams every year, but it's not too hard to get most of the playoff contending teams right.

I only gave the AL east as an example because it'd be pointless listing out 5 other examples.

My point is that baseball is a business, and is certainly run like one, so from a business standpoint, option 2 is probably the way to go to make the most money for teams.

And I'm sure if you talked to the O's owner, instead of just giving up, I'm sure he'd wish the Yankees and Red Sox came to town more often.

But even ignoring the idea that Yankees fans storm into other teams stadiums, there's still the potential appeal of your team playing the role of party pooper, and that could also draw fans in.

So imagine a team like KC, who has no shot at the playoffs, so in a way, every game left is inconsequential (except maybe Greinke's games, since he's still competing for a Cy Young). But what if the Tigers finish up the season there? Then the fans might be excited to go, because it could be their hometown team deciding the outcome of the division. Either way, they're not going to the playoffs. But the chance to ruin the Tigers' season might be appealing enough to want to go see the game.

By pairing up the Tigers and Twins, you'd be consolidating all the drama into a single stadium. But if the Tigers and Twins were playing different teams, then 4 teams get involved in the excitement of the pennant race, even though two have no shot at winning it.

And there's no denying that MLB sets schedules based on who they think will be in the playoffs. That's the reason why the Yankees finished last season with a week or two of road games. I don't think MLB was counting on the final game at Yankee Stadium to come in the middle of September. It was ok for the Yankees to finish the season on the road, because there would be playoff games left to be played in YS, and it'd get its proper sendoff.

[fatediesel]

Bobby Cox is returning to manage the Braves next year and will retire after the 2010 season. He has been the Braves manager since 1990.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=4497952

[sfmarine]

Originally Posted by Jellybeans

Yankees clinch playoff berth

YaY

They need to make it to the ALCS...

[toef]

Originally Posted by sfmarine

They need to make it to the ALCS...

They need to make it to the WS...

I happened to be checking Yankees stuff around 3:40 today, only to find out they were starting up the final game against the Angels.

So far Burnett is doing well.... 8 Ks, 0 runs in 4 innings.

[toef]

Checking the game, it's surprising that the Yankees are currently up 3-0, considering Girardi seemed to be conceding this game, based on the lineup he put out there today:

1. Derek Jeter, SS
2. Jerry Hairston, 3B
3. Mark Teixeira, 1B
4. Hideki Matsui, DH
5. Shelley Duncan, RF
6. Robinson Cano, 2B
7. Melky Cabrera, LF
8. Brett Gardner, CF
9. Jose Molina, C

[SDon1969]

Originally Posted by toefer

Rangers just lost. Yanks are officially in the playoffs. 7 spots left.

I just saw on PTI that they did not celebrate after the game (were they at home or away?). I admit I was a little surprised, but I admire that, too.

[hc666]

Originally Posted by toefer

Saw this picture over at another forum. Must suck to play in that stadium at times like this:

Hey that's look really familiar, the Saturday game I saw against the redsox on May 30th I think it was... they opened and closed the roof during the game and had the crazy sunlight going on...

PS it opens very quickly... the sun isn't an issue for long... pretty cool to see in person though... the roof opening/closing!