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Detroit Tigers:
Pro:
- A World Series victory now would make the later days of the Fielder contract so much easier to endure for the fans.
- It would give Jim Leyland something nice for his 90th birthday.
Con:
- I don't know if I can stand all the handwringing over an 88-win team winning it all.
New York Yankees:
Pro:
- They have this incredible multi-year title drought going and the Yankees fans are hurting. How long can they live on memories from distant 2009?
- When Jeter has collected seven rings, prophesies say evil will be driven from the land and a new age of peace and prosperity will dawn.
Con:
- Fifteen years of HoF-campaigning in the media for Raul Ibanez, clutch God.
San Fransisco Giants:
Pro:
- Another World Series win would make Brian Sabean the most effective troll of BBTF of all time, not bad for a guy without an account.
- October is the only nice month for watching baseball in San Fransisco.
Con:
- The five month controversy over the right/wrong in giving/denying Melky a ring.
Saint Louis Cardinals:
Pro:
- It shows just how irreplaceable La Russa was.
- It shows just how irreplaceable Pujols was.
Con:
- If the Cardinals can discard everything from superstar to manager to GM and still win, what the hell can stop them, a zombie outbreak?
The endless, late night, error-filled, rain-soaked Yankees-Cardinals World Series is coming soon to FOX! Watch the incredibly lucky team with 23 pennants meet the steroids-filled gazillionaires with 41 pennants! With idiotic commentary, shots of Zooey Deschanel in the stands and Spiderman on the bases! You idiots! Why have you let baseball come to this? Why? Why? You deserve what you get, you stupid f@ckers!
We now continue with your local programming.
If it's any consolation to the mob, the lack of an off day means that tomorrow's Yankee starter is likely to be David Phelps. It would normally be Kuroda's spot, but he pitched on Wednesday and never goes on short rest. And since the Tigers-A's series began a day earlier than the Yanks-O's series, the Tigers don't face that dilemma.
As for the Yankees game, I'm glad CC was able to bring us home, but I would have gone to Soriano or Robertson when Hardy came up in the 8th. I also would have PH A-Rod for Ibanez when the lefty came in. Not sure what the consensus was here. Has Joe announced the ALCS rotation?
Detroit:
Pro:
- Cabrera wins a title in the year he wins the Triple Crown, avoiding the press from having to generate those meaningless stories about how individual achievements don't help a team
Con:
- breathless prose about how the win my start "healing" Detroit
New York:
Pro:
- Ichiro lockerroom celebration video
Con:
- "Money buys championships"
San Francisco:
Pro:
- more pg13 commentary from Lincecum
Con:
- silly articles about how they won their title on the back of a cheater
St. Louis:
Pro:
- sticking it in Pujols' face
Con:
- handwringing by BBTF faithful about "worst team wins again"
And now you understand how the other half lives.
Go Tigers!
Detroit is beyond healing. It needs Someone to roll aside the stone and cry 'Lazarus: come out!'
I've seen this point elsewhere and I disagree. Generally, the Yankees throw money and/or big names at their problem. The Cardinals hand out jobs to Pete Kozma who's barely cracking a .600 OPS in the minors and he turns into prime Nomar. By the way, can we never put a mic in front of Kozma again? One of the worst interviews I've ever been subjected to.
Last two NL Champs and AL runner ups.
Your season was rescued when your skipper removed your third baseman, an all-time great, from the game and replaced him with a 40-year-old turtle. You've enjoyed your share of WTF pixie dust through the years (Aaron Small anyone).
Second, you're a Yankee fan. Everyone hates your team on principle (and yes, the same goes for mine).
It was as if Kozma was thinking about an off-camera gun pointed at his head, just waiting to have the trigger pulled at the first spontaneous word. I've heard four year olds---and even Mark Teixeira---far more articulate than he was last night.
Indeed. To quote another great American who stood up for American patriotism against a traitorous Islamofascist sympathizer:
I am a real American
Fight for the rights of every man
I am a real American
Fight for what's right
Fight for your life
Not as bad as the late 70's/early 80's:
1976; NYY, KCR, CIN, PHL
1977: NYY, KCR, LAD, PHL
1978: NYY, KCR, LAD, PHL,
1979 (REPRIVE!): BAL, CAL, PIT, CIN
1980: NYY, KCR, HOU, PHL
1981: NYY, OAK, LAD, MON
Well then all those teams sucking on that bottomless free money teat should be sitting pretty. Of course money can be used to buy other things, like yachts and private jets and overseas vacation homes, so there's probably some priorities that fit into the equation somewhere.
RMc must be in great shape, he gets quite a work out madly hopping (on) and off the Tigers' bandwagon.
Who's hopping? I didn't think the Tigers would win the pennant before, and I still don't. I'm just pointing out the simple fact that the Tigers are easily the most likable team left in the playoffs -- which frankly ain't sayin' much.
Tigers (Haven't won in 1984, only team left that isn't a recent winner)
Giants (are not the Cardinals or Yankees, and SF is underrated as a baseball town)
(gap)
Cardinals (aren't the Yankees, and their strange ability to win despite all odds is both infuriating and charming)
(gigantic gap)
Yankees (are the Yankees. Only positive would be that Ichiro would get a ring.)
Are zombies banned from MLB? 'Cuz other wise the Cardinals would just come up with a bunch of zombie hitters coming through in the clutch and zombie relief pitchers throwing 97 on the black.
I think there's a rule that the logo on the hat has to match the rest of the uniform. You're not even allowed to support the heroes of the NYPD and FDNY. Pink hats with breast cancer awareness logos might be OK, though. I haven't checked.
1) Cardinals -- they're my hometown team and they're really good -- a lot better than 88 wins.
2) Tigers -- Justin Verlander should have a dominant post-season like Randy Johnson and Tom Seaver and Steve Carlton
3) Yankees -- My brother has season tickets and it would be fun for him
4) Giants -- San Jose is an infinitely more important city than San Francisco, and if they want it so bad they should move there
Conradian Play []
Web Gem [ ]
1-2-3-4-5-6 inning [ ]
Strike Out of Side [ ]
Dramatic late-inning homer [ ]
Stolen base [ ]
Caught stealing []
Shapeshifting strikezone [ ]
Replay review [ ]
Inning-Ending DP [ ]
Play at the plate [ ]
Baserunning blunder [ ]
Bunt [ ]
THIS TRAIN! [X]
Bunt []
Verlander in dugout [ ]
Sabathia in dugout [ ]
Trout mentioned (fish or ballplayer) [ ]
Miguel Cabrera does something awesome [ ]
Ichiro does something awesome [ ]
A-Rod strikes out (assuming he even plays) [ ]
Raul Ibanez is a effing clutch god [ ]
Image of Girardi looking at binder [ ]
Shutdown inning [ ]
Game goes past midnight [ ]
Girardi's playing career [ ]
Prince Fielder goes deep [ ]
That, and the fact that no matter how old Yankees players get they still perform. You should not be able to coax a 40-year-old out of retirement and then have him put up a 2.87 ERA. You should not be able to sign a 40-year-old who just put up a 91 OPS+ in the NL and have him improve and hit 2 key HRs in the playoffs. You should not be able to trade for a 38-year-old who had an 86 OPS+ last year and an 84 OPS+ this year and have him improve. And that's just THIS SEASON, but it's standard for the Yankees. I'm pretty sure if they signed Jamie Moyer he'd at the very least have a sub-4.00 ERA for them. Also, where's Julio Franco?
In the 2010 playoff run, Panda was reduced to a PH bat off the bench, due to ineffectiveness earlier in the year (the hacktastivc Juan Uribe was starting at 3b). So it is really only Posey who remains. Of course, the strength of the team is the pitching, and that remains largely unchanged (except Voglesong has replaced Sanchez in the rotation and the injured Wilson, but those on here are well aware of the overrating of the closer role). The non-closer bullpen arms are largely the same, with an ineffective in 2010 Romo stepping in to the closer role.
Talk of Miguel Cabrera being the 2012 MVP [ ]
I could also sit here and compile a list of Andruw Joneses that have come and gone without fanfare over the past 15 years, but I doubt if that would alter your perception. But I admit it's easy to remember the successes and overlook the failures, which is why Jim Leyritz and Aaron Boone will always remain the Truest of True Yankees.
Posey.
Hold on.
He's still playing?
I know I don't watch the NL much, but I thought that was a joke.
I guess my rooting interests are:
1) Giants - Bland, but inoffensive team. I like Posey.
2) Nuclear Holocaust
3) Cardinals - I'm a Cubs fan, but the Cardinals franchise has just worn me down with its improbable runs over the last decade. I feel like I'm in an abusive relationship and I just don't have the energy to fight back anymore. I certainly don't like them, but ####, I'm getting enough practice in coping with championship Cardinal teams.
4) Tigers/Yankees - Lifelong Michigan resident, but I just can't get myself to root for the Tigers. I know I should like them or, at the very least, not find them winning so objectionable. But I do. As someone in the Game 5 A's/Tigers chatter noted, I like their ballpark, most of their fans, and kind of want to root for them in the playoffs. But I just can't.
I've never met anyone whose second team is the Yankees. You are bizarre.
[41] My grandfather grew up near New York in the 1930s and because of NYY's success, chose to root for Detroit. My father grew up near New York in the 1950s and 1960s and because of NYY's success, chose to root for St. Louis. I have no idea why my dad got me into the Yankees, but just to say there were other options for your dad.
1986 Red Sox (vs. Angels ALCS)
1986 Mets (vs. Red Sox WS)
2011 Cardinals (vs. Rangers WS)
2012 Cardinals (vs. Nationals NLDS)
That's it, isn't it? I don't believe the 1912 Red Sox were down to their last strike, the 1992 Braves were not, I can't think of any other instances of this happening.
No, they weren't. They won 3-2 in ten innings; they were tied in the ninth, and were down by one in the tenth when they scored the winning run on a sac fly. The Sox had one out when Gardner hit the ball.
My second team (really my first team, before the Nats came to DC) is and was the Seattle Mariners, of course. And since the Yanks have Ichiro and Raul on their team -- two guys beloved by all M's fans -- that's another reason to pull for them right now as far as I'm concerned.
I know plenty of Yankee fans in the DC area who switched their primary rooting interest to the Nats once they arrived from Montreal, but were still rooting for a Nats-Yanks Series. Other DC area fans who had transferred their allegiance to the Orioles before the Nats showed up were rooting for the Nats and the O's to meet in the Series. The idea that in order to root for one team you have to hate another is what's bizarre, and it makes even less sense if the hate object isn't even in the same league as the team you root for.
Unless, of course, the hate object is the Braves. But that's different, and even there it's not so much the players or the franchise as it is their inbred zombie fan base.
That's pretty much my thought as well. I was excited that we got some new blood in the playoffs this year, but every one of them was eliminated in the LDS. Now we're left with the Tigers - who got to the LCS last year - and the last 3 World Series champs. Yay. So with that in mind, I'm rooting for:
1)Tigers - haven't won a title in 28 years, and they have some cool players like Miggy and Verlander and Fielder that I'd like to see get one (yeah, I know that Miggy got one as a rookie in 2003, but he wasn't a full time player yet). Pretty much all the great players on the other teams already have rings.
2)Giants - I don't like seemingly random champions, and winning another would make their 2010 title less flukey looking. Plus Posey is really cool.
3)Yankees - Ichiro getting a ring would be kinda cool. They've got several other interesting players too, even if they've all already been here before.
4)Cardinals - I actually liked the previous 3 St Louis WS teams, but back then they had my favorite player in Pujols, a HOF manager in TLR, plus other greats like Rolen, Edmonds, and Berkman. Now they've lost pretty much everything I found interesting about them. I really wish the Nats hadn't imploded.
Mystique & Aura appear [ ]
Derek Jeter's 200th career playoff hit [ ]
A-Rod redemption [ ]
My second team is also the Mariners, and now that the Reds aren't playing any more, I'd love to see Ichiro get a ring. I've never rooted for the Yankees before, so this is going to feel weird. But Ichiro is still my favorite player...
Lifelong Phils fan whose AL team is the Yanks. I grew up in he Lehigh Valley with WPIX 11 on the local cable system and so I watched a lot of the mid-to-late 70s Yanks as a young baseball fan. Plus my dad grew up a Mickey Mantle worshiper. And then I married a Yankees fan... it works. I was heartbroken in 2009 when the Phils lost to the Yanks but the Series was very fun to watch in our household.
I find it very easy to root for Ibanez and Ichiro. Go Yanks!
Preferably over the prostrate, broken bodies of the St. Louis Cardinals.
It can't be the AL, but really I don't have much of a preference for the NL team. Probably San Francisco, as I lived there and miss it terribly. I'd love to see them beat the Yankees in the series.
It has been proven that rooting for the Yankees, when they're not your favorite team, causes cancer. Not necessarily for the person doing the rooting, but someone on the planet will get cancer, and that will be the reason. I hope you folks can live with yourself.
EDIT: Just noted that I am giving someone cancer. But that can be cured with Green Coffee Beans!!
2: Giants
3: Tigers
4: Cardinals
Just don't say I didn't warn you, Bob.
The Astros over the White Sox
The Tigers over the Cardinals
The Rockies over the Red Sox
The Rays over the Phillies
The Phillies over the Yankees
The Rangers over the Giants
The Rangers over the Cardinals
I know that the majority of these teams have been the underdogs, but at this point, I feel like I'm ####### due for ONE of the teams I like to win the Series. This year's Tigers are my last hope in that regard, although I suppose I could half-heartedly get behind the Giants as well.
As much as I agree with the hatred of the Yankees for having far too many structural advantages, I think this year's team is one of their more likable squads in a while. It's very easy to root for Ichiro, Ibañez, and Granderson, and at this point I honestly feel some sympathy for Rodriguez. The only major contributors I still dislike on their own merits are Soriano, Swisher, Jeter, and maybe Teixeira. So it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world if they won the Series this year, although I still think I would rank the extremely annoying Cardinals above them.
As to NL I would love to see the Tigers get another chance at the Cards after the total mulligan of the 2006 series. But in all the years the Tigers have never played the Giants in the Series and it would be kind of cool to put out both the Bay Area teams as well. (Lived in So Cal 25 years; the Dodgers are my 2nd team)
Kuroda on short rest seems wise although Phelps is just the kind of guy who could shut the Tigers out for 7 innings. Hopefully we get to Pettitte early and often.
My Dad was born in Toronto in 1928, married my mother in 1954 and moved to the Detroit area, thus becoming a Tigers fan. Growing up, however, he rooted for the Yankees -- a fact he shared with me only recently. It was vaguely distressing, as if he had said, "Son, when I was a kid I knocked over a liquor store. Never got caught, though."
It has been proven that rooting for the Yankees, when they're not your favorite team, causes cancer. Not necessarily for the person doing the rooting, but someone on the planet will get cancer, and that will be the reason.
(1) Millions of people root for the Yankees.
(2) Millions of people die from cancer.
Coincidence? I think not.
The distance from the absurd '95 series and Yanks-O's this year is about the same as the distance from Yanks-O's to this matchup, which is above the median but not by a lot.
Yeah, great. It'll be literally the first time he's ever done it in his entire career, and he pitches better on long rest than regular rest. All I can say is that the Yankees sure as hell had better win tonight.
2: Giants
3: Tigers
4: Cardinals
1. Yanks (duh)
2. Tigers (AL solidarity)
3, 4. No preference. Don't particularly like or dislike either of them, though I was rooting for the Nats, A's and Reds. I'm just glad the Rangers and the Braves are long gone.
Tigers fan since age 4. This should be a good series. As others have mentioned, both teams have glaring flaws papered over by some of the greatest players in the game. Two great baseball towns and teams facing off, it should be a lot of fun.
This season has been a very special one for me as a Tigers fan. I lived in Detroit for three months this summer and went to lots of games in person, a wonderful experience. Yesterday I bought a ticket for Game 4 of the ALCS, which is tremendously exciting. I don't hate the Yankees nearly as much as I probably should. My dad was born in the Bronx. He and my uncle played stickball with Vic Raschi and Allie Reynolds as little kids. My best friend is a huge Yankees fan. Curtis Granderson was my favourite player since Trammell, and as someone who used to go to several Mariners games a year I love Ichiro. Still, #### the Yankees, #### Billy Crystal and Donald Trump, A-Rod and Teixera, Rudy Giuliani and the Steinbrenner kids. It's Detroit's time.
LET'S GO TIGERS
BLESS YOU BOYS!~
Edit:
1. Detroit
2. SF
3. Cards
4. Yankees
(was A's, Nats, Reds, O's)
Well, of course there is. Treat each series as a coin flip, work out how many titles you'd expect each team to win, and compare their actual total.
The #1 team on the list will surprise precisely nobody: the Yankees, +9.375. As it happens, their score is exactly three times that of the next team on the list, which will surprise very few people - the Cards, +3.125. Whether or not this means that Cardinal fans should shut up about all the rough luck they've had is not something I'm going to try to make an ironclad pronouncement about...
The last-place team will also surprise absolutely nobody. But can anyone guess the rest of the bottom 5, or the rest of the top 5? And as a bonus question, before this year's playoffs started, only one team had won exactly as many titles as would be expected; can you pick them out as well?
Top scores from the first round:
Sabathia +.639
Verlander +.492
Ibanez +.469
Descalso +.455
O'Day +.451
Bottom scores:
Adam Jones -.291
Hardy -.302 (yes, even with the game-winning double)
Swisher -.339
Valverde -.428
Storen -.709 (I'd have to check, which would take a little while, but this may be the worst single-series score in the database. None of the obvious ones I glanced at were worse, anyway.)
A-Rod would probably feel mildly vindicated about his absence from the bottom 5 except for the fact that he's sixth-to-last (well, tied with Wainwright there, if you ignore Wainwright's hitting, which I tend to do for pitchers).
In other news, if my quick mental math on this year's numbers is correct, David Freese has passed Mickey Mantle for the all-time lead in Championship Probability Added by a hitter.
Giants
AthleticsNationalsOriolesTigers
RedsCardinals
I guess I'm looking at a post-season that I'll either be really happy or really disappointed with ...
I'm a Cubs fan, yet I think this is all kinds of awesome. David Freese is a bad, bad ############.
It's a very small margin - .004, if I'm not mistaken, which could of course easily disappear with even a mediocre NLCS. But yeah. Freese's '11 is the best single postseason any hitter has ever had.
A. Jackson cf
O. Infante 2b
M. Cabrera 3b
P. Fielder 1b
D. Young dh
J. Peralta ss
A. Dirks lf
A. Garcia rf
G. Laird c
D. Fister P
New York
D. Jeter ss
I. Suzuki lf
R. Cano 2b
M. Teixeira 1b
R. Ibanez dh
A. Rodriguez 3b
N. Swisher rf
C. Granderson cf
R. Martin c
A. Pettitte P
No surprises except ARod hitting 6th. God it sucks to be up against a team that has one of your favorite players, who hit 43 HRs, batting eighth.
I've got to think the biggest Championship Added moments are: Womack, Freese, Hal Smith, Bobby Thomson, Frank Cabrera. I've seen the WPA leaders for the playoffs, but some of those just weren't in as big a situation series-wise as others, like Gibson in 1988. A game one home run, however dramatic, just can't be as "meaningful" as something that happens in Game 6 or 7.
Yes.
Was this the metric that determined that the biggest one event in MLB history was Tony Womack's double in 2001?
Hal Smith beats him in my implementation (well, in B-R's WPA implementation, which I'm using), .64 to .50.
For the most part, I can't easily pick out individual moments, because the spreadsheet I have only has the game totals. The ones you listed would all be quite highly ranked, of course. Joe Carter is also up there, as is the pebble grounder off the bat of Bucky Harris in 1924.
Our final checklist before gametime:
CHECKLIST (taking suggestions):
Conradian Play []
Web Gem [ ]
1-2-3-4-5-6 inning [ ]
Strike Out of Side [ ]
Dramatic late-inning homer [ ]
Stolen base [ ]
Caught stealing []
Shapeshifting strikezone [ ]
Replay review [ ]
Inning-Ending DP [ ]
Play at the plate [ ]
Baserunning blunder [ ]
Bunt [ ]
THIS TRAIN! [X]
Bunt []
Verlander in dugout [ ]
Sabathia in dugout [ ]
Trout mentioned (fish or ballplayer) [ ]
Miguel Cabrera does something awesome [ ]
Ichiro does something awesome [ ]
A-Rod strikes out (assuming he even plays) [ ]
Raul Ibanez is a effing clutch god [ ]
Image of Girardi looking at binder [ ]
Shutdown inning [ ]
Game goes past midnight [ ]
Girardi's playing career [ ]
Prince Fielder goes deep [ ]
Is Cabrera going to be MVP? [ ]
Yogi sighting []
Mention of Jeter getting/closing in on his 200th postseason hit []
Ty Cobb mentioned [ ]
Babe Ruth mentioned [ ]
Mariano Rivera mentioned [ ]
Idiot runs on the field [ ]
It gets cold enough that we can see the players' breath [ ]
Balk [ ]
Runner picked off []
Reggie Jackson pointed out in the crowd [ ]
Image of Girardi looking at binder [ ]
off the List. I'm pretty sure the New Yorker article about Girardi said he transferred all his binder stuff onto an iPad.
Or, for those that prefer: Baby Yankee. Your "cuteness' mileage may vary.
Sweet Jesus, why can't they just give us a crowd feed???
"Andy Pettitte, all he knows how to do is win in the postseason."
He has 11 postseason losses.
"The Tigers have the best pitcher in Verlander, the best run producer maybe in Fielder, and the Triple Crown winner in Cabrera."
Two of those things make less than zero sense together.
That's some insightful scounting there ...
Everywhere, or just in the 1% seats?
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