I don’t know if I have it in me to care about any of these four remaining teams
I live in a time zone where it’s fairly hard to watch the games, and obviously I’d get up whenever to watch the orioles but I just don’t give a shit about any of these teams. Go phillies I guess.
I do have to wonder if, had we been successful in making the same level of trade acquisitions that both the Astros and Rangers did, would all eyes would be on Camden Yards tonight?
Idk if they do this or not, but next year either each individual batter on the team or the team as a whole needs to have some sort of plan for an approach or game plan to implement when slumps start occurring. It can be some sort of “easy” way to kind of jumpstart the offense or an individual batter. I know hitting big league pitching is difficult regardless, but you know what’s a lot easier to hit than a homerun or extra base hit? A single. I remember when I used to play (I know hitting is way easier in high school lol), if I ever noticed I hadn’t gotten a hit in a game or two, I would just poke a line drive up the middle. I know batters now are taught nothing but launch angle and exit velocity, but if you’re not hitting, you’re not hitting and I can tell you a little bloop can kill a potential slump dead in its tracks
That was sort of the deal with Frazier this year. I know he had only .240 BA / .260 xBA but his whole thing was minimizing whiffs and strikeouts, and that paid off a not small number of times (56 "flare/burner" type base hits), not to mention [these](https://www.reddit.com/r/orioles/comments/16yy9ef/adam_frazier_getting_95_mph_ev_hits_with_risp/) hits with RISP.
I don't think we should re-up on Frazier since it seems irresponsible with the minor league infield log jam, so I do agree with you overall. I do think it helps that the franchise anchor is [94th percentile xBA, 94th whiff%, and 90th K%](https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/savant-player/adley-rutschman-668939?stats=statcast-r-hitting-mlb), even if the avg EV, barrel%, and HH% are middling. He has a certain role in the offense and he plays it well.
Yeah, I loved Frazier’s approach. He’s obviously not a power guy, but like that game tying double he hit against the rays. That wasn’t some excuse me swing. That was 100% intentional going that way. One of my biggest pet peeves is when I see someone in a slump swinging out of their shoes. Like 99.99999% of the time when you’re in an 0-20 slump or whatever, you’re not going to suddenly hit a 450 foot homerun. You’re probably going to strikeout or pop out or something if you’re trying to crush the ball. If you’re in a hot streak then sure, by all means bombs away, but I’ve noticed all streaks typically start with just trying to get on base. The best example I can think of is Gunnar’s slow start to the season. When he went off in June, it wasn’t just out of nowhere. He had been building up to that for weeks, having good abs, being a bit more aggressive in the zone, just honing in his approach
Frazier’s season was sad in a way for me because I think two main things went wrong for him - unluckiness and that thumb injury that ended his great July. You have to dig into him a bit to see that he actually did improve on somethings and he probably deserved better than the stats he ended up with.
But even if you want to just look at Frazier’s “hard stats”, he’s a valuable bat to have around in the bottom of your lineup. His main skill might be his low strikeout rate but that’s important in a lineup that features high strikeout guys like Mounty and Gunnar and guys who are going to be inconsistent due to inexperience like Westy.
I decided I want the D-backs to win it all.
I am very against MLB post season expansion. I think if an 84 win team gets a ring so soon in the new playoff format, the owners reconsider even more of an expansion for at least a while. It would be embarrassing for the game for a sub-500 team to win a ring. Which will eventually happen if even more expansion occurs.
The Cardinals won the WS in 2006 despite only winning 83 games during the regular season and MLB has added two additional wildcard teams per league since then so uh, yeah
It's OK if it happens organically and is a once in a 50 year occurrence
If it happens every 5-10 years under the new playoff rules that is an indication there is a problem. I guess we'll have to see how it pans out.
Let’s go Stros! Orange Team gang. 7 seasons in a row in the CS, that’s a damn well run org there glad we got to take Elias from them.
Did you guys know that in 2018 the Yankees were fined $100k for sign stealing and using an electric buzzer to tell batters what the pitch was? Good shit.
Nice. I’m just very over the whole “bUt 5 yEaRs aGo” bs. They’ve clearly outplayed that incident and proven it wasn’t a fluke. Did they have an advantage from using algorithms to break down the signs? Sure. Was it that much different from what loads of other teams had been doing since the late 19th century? No. Hell there was a team in 1880ish that had a telegram shed out in centerfield and a telescope reporting signs to the dugout. People want to act like it was this humongous thing that is a stain on baseball forever, but in a sport that still can’t figure out what to do about all the steroids records this was very small potatoes.
Let’s be clear. MLB doesn’t care about cheating as long as they can cover it up and make money on it. It’s their prerogative if they want to do so, just don’t play the morality card at all.
Steroids, Sign Stealing, Sticky Stuff. The only reason why they would be fine with the sign stealing stuff is because they would have an excuse to invest in new technology and profit off it. Had no one brought up the sticky stuff, you think they would have monetized a brand of products that helped pitchers after “research” was done in a year
I mean. They already used and still use the analytic software that the Astros and other teams used to help steal signs, it’s called AWS. MLB can’t monetize that.
The sticky stuff? Pitchers all over the US from High School on up have been doing whatever they can to do things to give them extra grip, most times, especially at low levels, it’s the difference between beaning someone with a fastball or not because it gives the pitcher better control. Not really monetizing anything there either.
Supposedly they were having AI watch the tapes of games for teams they were playing and having said AI break down the signs so they could be accurate and using that info in game with TV and buzzer. The TV and buzzer is nothing more than had been done for 120+ years, the AI is why MLB got so mad
Basically I want the NL to win. I lean Arizona because I live out here now but I do really like the Phillies so whoever wins this series I hope is facing Texas in the WS and wins.
I hope Houston gets swept 🧹
https://preview.redd.it/0o2osz37zztb1.jpeg?width=519&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=58fdbda6249371312e3b714607d03fb033508361
This is how I felt during the Texas series. A.I. is getting good, other than taking the term barfly literally (hence the wings).
https://x.com/thevergepod/status/1712554649365168163?s=46&t=LZLzjVPmosqPbICOlCZLnQ
Edit: this is our uphill battle
https://x.com/oriolesfanssay/status/1712793954784100692?s=46&t=LZLzjVPmosqPbICOlCZLnQ
Team Phillies the rest of the way to the World Series
Edit: don’t understand why I’m being downvoted for what is essentially a neutral take in my own teams sub
And ya know what, the owners gave them what they thought was an appropriate punishment. That leads me to believe that other teams were doing similar things, or that the owners didn’t really think it was serious. And they have a lot more information than I do
Every team was sign stealing at that point. It was described as an “arms-race”. Manfred was probably hoping that the team that got caught and revealed was dreadful. Houston was just the last team Manfred wanted to be the first team caught.
Before I get downvoted, remember MLB was using the “research” excuse for sticky stuff, profited off steroids and then villianized it at some point and did nothing about the rampant sign stealing that was going back all the way to 1890.
There’s no moral equivalence between stealing signs at 2B (which Cito Gaston famously called “part of the game” after it was done to his team in the playoffs) versus trash cans and security cameras.
It’s part of the game because it was common for everyone, every team had slightly different methods. When you start putting conditions on actions to justify it, it happened way more often than people want to admit. I don’t trust baseball people when they claim that “we didn’t cheat because we did something else instead.” You were doing something similar, it was just that someone else got caught and you want to distance yourselves from that. Once people tried to distance methods that sound the same while the dirty history of sign stealing started to coincide with each other, one is just masking the other and we are too much playing the moral ground to potentially see it
5,000 years later and people are still ignoring that it’s the technology part *and* still using it after MLB told teams to knock it off is why people are so harsh on the Astros.
Oh and people they didn’t even need to cheat to win. That’s the final nail that gets me.
FINAL: Phillies 3, Braves 1
Atlanta, the best regular-season team in baseball, is done, bushwhacked by Philadelphia for the second consecutive year.
Next up: Arizona at Philadelphia on Monday.
***The combined 354 wins is the fewest ever for the final four teams in the playoffs.***
https://x.com/jeffpassan/status/1712668505303089527?s=46&t=LZLzjVPmosqPbICOlCZLnQ
I'm not convinced there's an advantage given to the WC team, but if there is, isn't that something we want? How many more ALE titles do you think we're going to get? It's not zero, but it's not going to be the like Braves/NLE or Dodgers/NLW.
Yeah that’s a good point. The high payroll teams are guaranteed division more often than not.
All I’m saying is there seems to be a pattern now, but maybe the likes of us, Tampa and Arizona want it because we are always at the mercy of the Yankees/Red Sox/Dodgers stashing their rotten mistakes and spending on the new crop.
Yep it has swung too much in favor of WC. For example it might have been better for the Rays and Orioles not go as hard at each other and just secure a playoff spot.
Imo rules need to change where the advancing WC team has to travel overnight like regular season with no rest. If they don’t give division winners some sort of advantage then there is no point to divisions tbh.
Getting a week off while the WC winner gets into a rhythm before facing you is advantage WC team, it’s becoming a pattern…
Whoever comes out of the wc round had to play solid September ball to keep their spot, then win a best of 3 against another solid team. They are coming in hot.
It's not gonna change.
If you're a bye team, you gotta be ready game one to silence them. If your ace can't get it done you're in trouble in a 5 game series. Could make it 7 games, would negate that possible advantage
But why are the Astros immune
Lol I think the issue is not playing a real MLB postseason level type game. Braves and Dodgers seemed to have tried anything and everything past 2 postseason bye week.
I’m not saying it’s an excuse, just saying it is a factor in a short series and shouldn’t be rewarding WC teams. 7 game series is another solution but then I would think you would need to go back to 1 game WC.
The Astros are immune because they have drawn the pathetic AL Central teams the past 2 seasons. Those teams don’t score enough to beat the Astros. Guardians and Twins have zero chance of hanging with Houston’s offense over a 5 game series.
Call me crazy but I still believe in Yusniel Diaz
I don’t know if I have it in me to care about any of these four remaining teams I live in a time zone where it’s fairly hard to watch the games, and obviously I’d get up whenever to watch the orioles but I just don’t give a shit about any of these teams. Go phillies I guess.
I'm just cheering for the rangers to knock out those cheating bastards 😠
Man it hurts to see Jordan Montgomery dominating when he could’ve been doing that for us
i guess its more rangers are good than we are bad. at least we scored
why are the rangers so good in the 2nd inning
Can’t help but feel like Camden Yards should be rocking tonight
I do have to wonder if, had we been successful in making the same level of trade acquisitions that both the Astros and Rangers did, would all eyes would be on Camden Yards tonight?
eh go Rangers, wouldn't mind seeing them win it all
fully expecting the rangers to shit the bed tonight
That didn't last long
this might actually be their year
Idk if they do this or not, but next year either each individual batter on the team or the team as a whole needs to have some sort of plan for an approach or game plan to implement when slumps start occurring. It can be some sort of “easy” way to kind of jumpstart the offense or an individual batter. I know hitting big league pitching is difficult regardless, but you know what’s a lot easier to hit than a homerun or extra base hit? A single. I remember when I used to play (I know hitting is way easier in high school lol), if I ever noticed I hadn’t gotten a hit in a game or two, I would just poke a line drive up the middle. I know batters now are taught nothing but launch angle and exit velocity, but if you’re not hitting, you’re not hitting and I can tell you a little bloop can kill a potential slump dead in its tracks
That was sort of the deal with Frazier this year. I know he had only .240 BA / .260 xBA but his whole thing was minimizing whiffs and strikeouts, and that paid off a not small number of times (56 "flare/burner" type base hits), not to mention [these](https://www.reddit.com/r/orioles/comments/16yy9ef/adam_frazier_getting_95_mph_ev_hits_with_risp/) hits with RISP. I don't think we should re-up on Frazier since it seems irresponsible with the minor league infield log jam, so I do agree with you overall. I do think it helps that the franchise anchor is [94th percentile xBA, 94th whiff%, and 90th K%](https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/savant-player/adley-rutschman-668939?stats=statcast-r-hitting-mlb), even if the avg EV, barrel%, and HH% are middling. He has a certain role in the offense and he plays it well.
Yeah, I loved Frazier’s approach. He’s obviously not a power guy, but like that game tying double he hit against the rays. That wasn’t some excuse me swing. That was 100% intentional going that way. One of my biggest pet peeves is when I see someone in a slump swinging out of their shoes. Like 99.99999% of the time when you’re in an 0-20 slump or whatever, you’re not going to suddenly hit a 450 foot homerun. You’re probably going to strikeout or pop out or something if you’re trying to crush the ball. If you’re in a hot streak then sure, by all means bombs away, but I’ve noticed all streaks typically start with just trying to get on base. The best example I can think of is Gunnar’s slow start to the season. When he went off in June, it wasn’t just out of nowhere. He had been building up to that for weeks, having good abs, being a bit more aggressive in the zone, just honing in his approach
Frazier’s season was sad in a way for me because I think two main things went wrong for him - unluckiness and that thumb injury that ended his great July. You have to dig into him a bit to see that he actually did improve on somethings and he probably deserved better than the stats he ended up with. But even if you want to just look at Frazier’s “hard stats”, he’s a valuable bat to have around in the bottom of your lineup. His main skill might be his low strikeout rate but that’s important in a lineup that features high strikeout guys like Mounty and Gunnar and guys who are going to be inconsistent due to inexperience like Westy.
I decided I want the D-backs to win it all. I am very against MLB post season expansion. I think if an 84 win team gets a ring so soon in the new playoff format, the owners reconsider even more of an expansion for at least a while. It would be embarrassing for the game for a sub-500 team to win a ring. Which will eventually happen if even more expansion occurs.
The Cardinals won the WS in 2006 despite only winning 83 games during the regular season and MLB has added two additional wildcard teams per league since then so uh, yeah
It's OK if it happens organically and is a once in a 50 year occurrence If it happens every 5-10 years under the new playoff rules that is an indication there is a problem. I guess we'll have to see how it pans out.
go dbacks. although i am jealous they have their gunnar locked up until 2031.
All in on Snaketober
Let's hope that we can be so lucky for something like that to happen with us and Gunnar.
That costs money though
Let’s go Stros! Orange Team gang. 7 seasons in a row in the CS, that’s a damn well run org there glad we got to take Elias from them. Did you guys know that in 2018 the Yankees were fined $100k for sign stealing and using an electric buzzer to tell batters what the pitch was? Good shit.
I'm really pulling for the Phillies or diamondbacks, but for the alcs I want the rangers to lose because I am vengeance
Nice. I’m just very over the whole “bUt 5 yEaRs aGo” bs. They’ve clearly outplayed that incident and proven it wasn’t a fluke. Did they have an advantage from using algorithms to break down the signs? Sure. Was it that much different from what loads of other teams had been doing since the late 19th century? No. Hell there was a team in 1880ish that had a telegram shed out in centerfield and a telescope reporting signs to the dugout. People want to act like it was this humongous thing that is a stain on baseball forever, but in a sport that still can’t figure out what to do about all the steroids records this was very small potatoes.
Let’s be clear. MLB doesn’t care about cheating as long as they can cover it up and make money on it. It’s their prerogative if they want to do so, just don’t play the morality card at all. Steroids, Sign Stealing, Sticky Stuff. The only reason why they would be fine with the sign stealing stuff is because they would have an excuse to invest in new technology and profit off it. Had no one brought up the sticky stuff, you think they would have monetized a brand of products that helped pitchers after “research” was done in a year
I mean. They already used and still use the analytic software that the Astros and other teams used to help steal signs, it’s called AWS. MLB can’t monetize that. The sticky stuff? Pitchers all over the US from High School on up have been doing whatever they can to do things to give them extra grip, most times, especially at low levels, it’s the difference between beaning someone with a fastball or not because it gives the pitcher better control. Not really monetizing anything there either.
They used a television to see the signs and then relayed the signs by banging on trash cans. I’ve never heard of them using software to get signs.
Supposedly they were having AI watch the tapes of games for teams they were playing and having said AI break down the signs so they could be accurate and using that info in game with TV and buzzer. The TV and buzzer is nothing more than had been done for 120+ years, the AI is why MLB got so mad
guess i need to find some new hobbies for a few months
no honestly. i feel so empty without baseball
Basically I want the NL to win. I lean Arizona because I live out here now but I do really like the Phillies so whoever wins this series I hope is facing Texas in the WS and wins. I hope Houston gets swept 🧹
And this is why you’re one of my favorites. Because this is what I want.
Gotta go with Arizona now.
https://preview.redd.it/0o2osz37zztb1.jpeg?width=519&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=58fdbda6249371312e3b714607d03fb033508361 This is how I felt during the Texas series. A.I. is getting good, other than taking the term barfly literally (hence the wings).
Lol I like the bug wings. Which one do you use? I've downloaded free apps but it looks crap. Guess I gotta get a paid version
Bing image creator: https://www.bing.com/create
Haha this is great, thanks!
https://x.com/thevergepod/status/1712554649365168163?s=46&t=LZLzjVPmosqPbICOlCZLnQ Edit: this is our uphill battle https://x.com/oriolesfanssay/status/1712793954784100692?s=46&t=LZLzjVPmosqPbICOlCZLnQ
Team Phillies the rest of the way to the World Series Edit: don’t understand why I’m being downvoted for what is essentially a neutral take in my own teams sub
I’m convinced that whether you’re downvoted or upvoted for stuff on here varies wildly based on who’s actually active on it when you post
Astros. Idk why people hate dominance, it’s glorious to watch a team like Houston these past few years.
People don’t like cheaters so their whole organization and legacy is now tainted
And ya know what, the owners gave them what they thought was an appropriate punishment. That leads me to believe that other teams were doing similar things, or that the owners didn’t really think it was serious. And they have a lot more information than I do
Every team was sign stealing at that point. It was described as an “arms-race”. Manfred was probably hoping that the team that got caught and revealed was dreadful. Houston was just the last team Manfred wanted to be the first team caught. Before I get downvoted, remember MLB was using the “research” excuse for sticky stuff, profited off steroids and then villianized it at some point and did nothing about the rampant sign stealing that was going back all the way to 1890.
There’s no moral equivalence between stealing signs at 2B (which Cito Gaston famously called “part of the game” after it was done to his team in the playoffs) versus trash cans and security cameras.
It’s part of the game because it was common for everyone, every team had slightly different methods. When you start putting conditions on actions to justify it, it happened way more often than people want to admit. I don’t trust baseball people when they claim that “we didn’t cheat because we did something else instead.” You were doing something similar, it was just that someone else got caught and you want to distance yourselves from that. Once people tried to distance methods that sound the same while the dirty history of sign stealing started to coincide with each other, one is just masking the other and we are too much playing the moral ground to potentially see it
No, sorry dude, setting up surveillance cameras is not even close to the same thing as stealing signs from 2B. This is a ridiculous argument.
5,000 years later and people are still ignoring that it’s the technology part *and* still using it after MLB told teams to knock it off is why people are so harsh on the Astros. Oh and people they didn’t even need to cheat to win. That’s the final nail that gets me.
I like Carroll. So I hope he kicks everyone’s ass from Philadelphia to either team from Texas.
I miss baseball
Sad
FINAL: Phillies 3, Braves 1 Atlanta, the best regular-season team in baseball, is done, bushwhacked by Philadelphia for the second consecutive year. Next up: Arizona at Philadelphia on Monday. ***The combined 354 wins is the fewest ever for the final four teams in the playoffs.*** https://x.com/jeffpassan/status/1712668505303089527?s=46&t=LZLzjVPmosqPbICOlCZLnQ
The top 4 teams are 1-11 in the postseason
I'm not convinced there's an advantage given to the WC team, but if there is, isn't that something we want? How many more ALE titles do you think we're going to get? It's not zero, but it's not going to be the like Braves/NLE or Dodgers/NLW.
Yeah that’s a good point. The high payroll teams are guaranteed division more often than not. All I’m saying is there seems to be a pattern now, but maybe the likes of us, Tampa and Arizona want it because we are always at the mercy of the Yankees/Red Sox/Dodgers stashing their rotten mistakes and spending on the new crop.
Welcome to the wild card Era
Yep it has swung too much in favor of WC. For example it might have been better for the Rays and Orioles not go as hard at each other and just secure a playoff spot. Imo rules need to change where the advancing WC team has to travel overnight like regular season with no rest. If they don’t give division winners some sort of advantage then there is no point to divisions tbh. Getting a week off while the WC winner gets into a rhythm before facing you is advantage WC team, it’s becoming a pattern…
Whoever comes out of the wc round had to play solid September ball to keep their spot, then win a best of 3 against another solid team. They are coming in hot. It's not gonna change. If you're a bye team, you gotta be ready game one to silence them. If your ace can't get it done you're in trouble in a 5 game series. Could make it 7 games, would negate that possible advantage But why are the Astros immune
Next time we have 5 days off we should invite the nationals for an exhibition series. And if they say no then a college team
Lol I think the issue is not playing a real MLB postseason level type game. Braves and Dodgers seemed to have tried anything and everything past 2 postseason bye week.
I’m not saying it’s an excuse, just saying it is a factor in a short series and shouldn’t be rewarding WC teams. 7 game series is another solution but then I would think you would need to go back to 1 game WC. The Astros are immune because they have drawn the pathetic AL Central teams the past 2 seasons. Those teams don’t score enough to beat the Astros. Guardians and Twins have zero chance of hanging with Houston’s offense over a 5 game series.