MLB Playoffs

Love seeing the dodgers and their bloated payroll go down.

Nice job Padres!
Yep. For all the money LA spends, they have one championship in the last 34 years to show for it. And that one was the pseudo title during the Covid season. To be fair though, they were cheated out of a title in ‘17 by the Houston Assholes.

Dodgers - All glitz, no guts.
 
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The one thing about expanding the playoffs is it has made the regular season mean even less. More teams means best of 3 and best of 5 in the first two rounds. That will always make upsets a lot easier.

I wouldn't mind them changing the divisional round to having all 5 games at the higher seeds home stadium.
 

The one thing about expanding the playoffs is it has made the regular season mean even less. More teams means best of 3 and best of 5 in the first two rounds. That will always make upsets a lot easier.

I wouldn't mind them changing the divisional round to having all 5 games at the higher seeds home stadium.
It is crazy, the Padres finished 22 games behind the Dodgers who had 111 Ws. No matter.

Phillies were in 3RD place 14 games behind both the Braves & Mets, both with 101 Ws. As the 6th seed would not have even qualified. No matter, they are now in the NLCS.

Old system the Mets & Braves would have faced off in a Game 163 with the Winner getting a #2 seed into the Divisional round vs the Cardinals. Loser would have had to play the Padres in a 1 Game Wild Card. Phillies would have already been done.

Granted, regular season more than likely would have played out differently with the old format.

As for TV ratings, collectively there were fewer eyeballs collectively on the Wild Card round then their were last year even though they were only 1 Game. That is skewed because the AL WC in 2021 was Red Sox/Yankees.

Still ESPN should not have any complaints, more games meant more chances to sell commercials.


If the Guards can take down the Yankees tonight, wow the ratings till tank. Go Cleveland.
 

The one thing about expanding the playoffs is it has made the regular season mean even less. More teams means best of 3 and best of 5 in the first two rounds. That will always make upsets a lot easier.

I wouldn't mind them changing the divisional round to having all 5 games at the higher seeds home stadium.
Why do we value upsets in a single elimination basketball tournament in March and April but abhor them in a multi-game baseball series in October?

Shouldn't the strengths of the 'best' teams be significant enough to more easily win a 3 or 5 game series against 'lesser' opponents in baseball than a single game in basketball?

In basketball, a single player getting hot from outside the arc can fuel an upset in any given game. Upsets in baseball over a 3 or 5 game series require many players to punch above their weight.
 


Why do we value upsets in a single elimination basketball tournament in March and April but abhor them in a multi-game baseball series in October?

Shouldn't the strengths of the 'best' teams be significant enough to more easily win a 3 or 5 game series against 'lesser' opponents in baseball than a single game in basketball?

In basketball, a single player getting hot from outside the arc can fuel an upset in any given game. Upsets in baseball over a 3 or 5 game series require many players to punch above their weight.
I think we've all accepted that the NCAA Tourney is not a good way to determine the best team. I'm just not sure MLB going that route even more is a good thing.
 

In basketball, a single player getting hot from outside the arc can fuel an upset in any given game. Upsets in baseball over a 3 or 5 game series require many players to punch above their weight.
Or...baseball can always count on Dave Roberts to make a huge coaching blunder.
 

Or...baseball can always count on Dave Roberts to make a huge coaching blunder.
Over a 3 or 5 game series, a manager would have to try really hard to throw the series to the underdog. A couple of poor decisions should not cause a 111-win team to fall to a clearly less-talented roster.
 

Over a 3 or 5 game series, a manager would have to try really hard to throw the series to the underdog. A couple of poor decisions should not cause a 111-win team to fall to a clearly less-talented roster.
He does it almost every year though. I'm a massive Dodgers fan and Roberts almost always finds a way to blow a game or two. In a short series...that is fatal. Pulling Anderson after five innings was beyond dumb.
 



I think we've all accepted that the NCAA Tourney is not a good way to determine the best team. I'm just not sure MLB going that route even more is a good thing.
It sure is entertaining though! All of the participants in the NCAA know the rules... win and move on or lose and go home.

There is never going to be a best way to determine the best team. There will always be second guessing. People say a best of 3 series should be a best of 5 series to allow the 'better' team the best chance to succeed. If you want the 'best' team to be the champs, let's just call the Dodgers the champs since they had the most regular season victories.

I like an underdog story and like when a couple of 'lesser' teams get hot for a few weeks and make some noise in the sporting world. As Twins fans, this is our only hope playing against the big market teams that buy success.
 

He does it almost every year though. I'm a massive Dodgers fan and Roberts almost always finds a way to blow a game or two. In a short series...that is fatal. Pulling Anderson after five innings was beyond dumb.
I understand that the Twins front office and Rocco were brought in by the Dodgers to consult for the playoffs.

Sorry for your team but they won in 2020 so I don't feel too badly for them. (I also have a bias against LA since the 1965 WS!)
 

I understand that the Twins front office and Rocco were brought in by the Dodgers to consult for the playoffs.

Sorry for your team but they won in 2020 so I don't feel too badly for them. (I also have a bias against LA since the 1965 WS!)
It was almost as though Rocco was the manager for that last game.
 

Or...baseball can always count on Dave Roberts to make a huge coaching blunder.

Be fair give that vaunted Dodgers Offense a lot of credit for the defeat too. They scored a grand total of 7 runs in the last 3 games. Scoring 1 run over 16 innings in games 2-3.

Lucky they have Roberts to take all the heat why they meekly sneak out of the park.
 




Why do we value upsets in a single elimination basketball tournament in March and April but abhor them in a multi-game baseball series in October?

Shouldn't the strengths of the 'best' teams be significant enough to more easily win a 3 or 5 game series against 'lesser' opponents in baseball than a single game in basketball?

In basketball, a single player getting hot from outside the arc can fuel an upset in any given game. Upsets in baseball over a 3 or 5 game series require many players to punch above their weight.
I think we've all accepted that the NCAA Tourney is not a good way to determine the best team. I'm just not sure MLB going that route even more is a good thing.

Not really like-for-like when the MLB Season is a 162 game marathon while the NCAA Basketball season is only 30-35, depending on exempt and conference tourneys.
 

It is crazy, the Padres finished 22 games behind the Dodgers who had 111 Ws. No matter.

Phillies were in 3RD place 14 games behind both the Braves & Mets, both with 101 Ws. As the 6th seed would not have even qualified. No matter, they are now in the NLCS.

Old system the Mets & Braves would have faced off in a Game 163 with the Winner getting a #2 seed into the Divisional round vs the Cardinals. Loser would have had to play the Padres in a 1 Game Wild Card. Phillies would have already been done.

Granted, regular season more than likely would have played out differently with the old format.

As for TV ratings, collectively there were fewer eyeballs collectively on the Wild Card round then their were last year even though they were only 1 Game. That is skewed because the AL WC in 2021 was Red Sox/Yankees.

Still ESPN should not have any complaints, more games meant more chances to sell commercials.


If the Guards can take down the Yankees tonight, wow the ratings till tank. Go Cleveland.
Actually, under the old system the Braves would have finished 3rd in the division, 10 games back of the Dodgers and 5 back of the Astros in the NL West, and would have been eliminated with a week to go despite winning 101 games.
 

Actually, under the old system the Braves would have finished 3rd in the division, 10 games back of the Dodgers and 5 back of the Astros in the NL West, and would have been eliminated with a week to go despite winning 101 games.
Old like 1994? Then we'd have a Mariners/Yankees ALCS. The Twins still would have finished 3rd in a terrible 7 team AL West.
 

Actually, under the old system the Braves would have finished 3rd in the division, 10 games back of the Dodgers and 5 back of the Astros in the NL West, and would have been eliminated with a week to go despite winning 101 games.
Actually older than 1993, going back to 1968, it would have been NL Winner Dodgers vs AL Winner Yankees in the World Series and have been decided by now.
 

It sure is entertaining though! All of the participants in the NCAA know the rules... win and move on or lose and go home.

There is never going to be a best way to determine the best team. There will always be second guessing. People say a best of 3 series should be a best of 5 series to allow the 'better' team the best chance to succeed. If you want the 'best' team to be the champs, let's just call the Dodgers the champs since they had the most regular season victories.

I like an underdog story and like when a couple of 'lesser' teams get hot for a few weeks and make some noise in the sporting world. As Twins fans, this is our only hope playing against the big market teams that buy success.
I agree regarding the sentiment of “lesser” teams getting hot in the postseason. And it happens in every sport - 1987 MN Twins, 1995 Houston Rockets, 2005 Pittsburgh Steelers, 2012 LA Kings, etc.
 




Not really like-for-like when the MLB Season is a 162 game marathon while the NCAA Basketball season is only 30-35, depending on exempt and conference tourneys.
Single elimination is single elimination but it is roughly proportional: 1 game 'series' for 30-35 game season = 5 game series for 162 game season!

As stated earlier though, it is MUCH harder for an upset to happen across multiple individual games in baseball. This is due to the action being largely isolated between 2 players at any moment. While a single dominant starting pitcher can have a significant impact on the game, a single dominant batter has to wait a couple of innings before coming to the plate again.

The 'best' team in baseball should be the team with the best pitching and the clutch hitting. A 5-game series should be long enough for the 'best' team to emerge the victor without attributing it to a fluke... especially when starting pitchers only pitch every 3rd or 4th day.

One wild card to add is that basketball has more scoring than baseball so a fluke hit in tie game can decide the outcome while a fluke basket in a basketball is just 2 or 3 points of 100 or more.
 



Game 1 of the WS was the only one of the Twins 1987 post-season run that I was not at in person.

$20 is what I spent as well for G6 & G7. Using an inflation calculator it equates to $52.25. Still really good value and money well spent.
This reminds me when I was at game 6 of the 1991 Stanley Cup finals at the old Met. Got tickets the night before for 41 bucks. Not nose bleed seats either. Row 6 at the blue line.
 



I was in the car yesterday afternoon so on SiriusXM I tuned into the Padres radio broadcast. The analyst sounded like a carbon copy of Tony Gwynn (RIP). Tone, cadence, and lingo, I felt I was in a time machine. I thought Gwynn was pretty good after his playing days on ESPN.

Turns out it was Tony Gwynn Jr.

The In-N-Out commercials also had me jonesin for a double-double.
 





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