MLB 2019 - Lounge - Forums : Best Ever Albums

RoundTheBend
I miss the comfort in being sad

Location: Ground Control

StreetSpirit wrote:

@seth. No kidding. I try to go to at least 2 Dodger games per year. Already been to 3 this year. The Dodgers don't have many rookies, but they have a young core of contracted players in their mid to late 20s. So yeah, they're set up to be contenders for a while. It's true they've lacked clutch players to elevate them in key situations. "Choke champs" is somewhat fair. Team loyalty has baffles you? Team loyalty is like loyalty to a hometown, a family, a culture. I understand small markets don't have such attachments as far as sports go, but in large markets, it means the world to the people who live there. Yes, most sports announcers are boring. Live baseball is much better. If you find yourself in LA, going to a Dodger game, PM me.

For sure mate. We might be planning a trip here in the next month. Maybe we can hang at Amoeba and then catch a game.

Maybe I've just never really had that "feel home" feeling enough with sports. I've never understood it, but I've observed it. I never went to a college sports game, and people look at me like I'm a freak, especially around here where they call it a "holy war" between the U and the Y. I guess it's something to be associated with, and that I can dig... I freaking love Dodger stadium, but the team itself, idk, just never really cared... like the dodger dogs and the Think Blue sign and the view of downtown LA are just as important to me if not more than the actual team (don't hate me now, hehe)... any way, yeah, I just have never understood that whole "this is my team" mentality, but that's ok, maybe someday.

As for rookies, like I said I'm not a huge follower, I just keep hearing my wife said, there's another player pulled up from AAA who did a walk off home run (it was like 3 in a row, and 2 of them were AAA players... I thought...)

Maybe you are right about the small market aspect... I only lived in LA for about 5 years... having said that, I think it was the family I grew up in... nobody liked sports, so I never got that attachment. The only thing I really got into was 90's basketball because I loved basketball as a kid - But I liked all the teams equally - the 90s had amazing players spread throughout the league, so I didn't get sucked into being a Jazz, Bulls, Magic, Spurs, etc. fan.

I was in LA for the "threepeat" and so I got a little caught up into that bit of "culture" - but really it was the players for me, not so much the Lakers themselves (blasphemy, I know). Anyway, I know I'm the anomaly, but somehow that's my mindset... my wife on the other hand Dodgers=Religion.

CA Dreamin

Gender: Male
Location: LA

Trade deadline recently passed, so here are my playoff teams predictions:

American League:

NY takes the East, Houston the West. I think Cleveland will get a boost from the return of Kluber and squeak out another Central division title. The Twins, however, are still a strong team with an easy remaining schedule and they'll take a wild card. The other wild card will be the Rays, who have been consistent all season and have the best pitching the AL. Well, maybe not anymore now that the Astros have Zack Greinke. Wow, huge deadline deal. That rotation is bonkers.

National League:

Total train-wreck in the NL. Dodgers take the West, Braves the East. Beyond that, it gets tough. I think the Cubs will win the Central, since they are the deepest team there. But they've failed in taking a commanding lead in the standings and I can see them blowing it. The wild cards? Washington will take one of them with their great rotation. The second wild card will come down to St. Louis and Philadelphia. Neither one is impressive, though. 85 wins may be all it takes. I'll go with the Phillies since they are my team. And they picked up two new starting pitchers and an outfielder at the trade deadline, whom I'm hoping will give them a boost.
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CA Dreamin

Gender: Male
Location: LA

I had misguided faith in my Phillies to take a wild card. So many off-season moves and all they could muster was 81-81. Of course, injuries to Cutch and the entire bullpen didn't help. Nor did the competitiveness of the NL East which proved to be a very good division. I wasn't expecting Atlanta to follow up on last year's success. And I thought the Mets were a joke. You were right, meccalecca. The Mets were no slouch.

Speaking of the Mets, deGrom had another Cy Young season despite winning only 11 games. He has the terrible run support, not fair.

Anyway, it's playoff time!

Here's who I got for the Wild Card games:

NL - Nationals beat the Brewers.

One game playoff, so who's got the better ace? It's Max Scherzer against Brandon Woodruff? Okay, next question.

AL - Athletics beat the Rays.

This could go either way. Two great teams, indeed. I picked the As only because they're at home.

meccalecca
Voice of Reason

Gender: Male
Location: The Land of Enchantment

CA Dreamin wrote:

And I thought the Mets were a joke. You were right, meccalecca. The Mets were no slouch.

Speaking of the Mets, deGrom had another Cy Young season despite winning only 11 games. He has the terrible run support, not fair.

The Mets were a really weird, fun team this year. I thought their season was over at the All Star break, but they just kept fighting. At the start of the season I don't think anyone would have predicted that the Mets would fall just a couple games short of a playoffs and it'd be the terrible pitching of Edwin Diaz that would hold them back. I don't think I've ever liked a group of players as much as this Mets team. Great personalities. And yeah, deGrom is really really good.

Logically, the Nats should beat the Brewers, but Scherzer has been hurt and not pitching like himself, The Brewers have been red hot (even without Yelich), an the Nats have a history of falling in the playoffs, so I have to say Brewers. It wouldn't surprise me though if Scherzer throws a no hitter.

And although I'd never bet against the sneaky good A's, I feel like the Rays have a slight advantage with Morton on the mound. His playoff experience and success could go a long way.

My heart wants the Twins, Rays or A's to win it all. My head says it'll be the Astros behind their dominant rotation.
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CA Dreamin

Gender: Male
Location: LA

meccalecca wrote:

CA Dreamin wrote:

And I thought the Mets were a joke. You were right, meccalecca. The Mets were no slouch.

Speaking of the Mets, deGrom had another Cy Young season despite winning only 11 games. He has the terrible run support, not fair.

The Mets were a really weird, fun team this year. I thought their season was over at the All Star break, but they just kept fighting. At the start of the season I don't think anyone would have predicted that the Mets would fall just a couple games short of a playoffs and it'd be the terrible pitching of Edwin Diaz that would hold them back. I don't think I've ever liked a group of players as much as this Mets team. Great personalities. And yeah, deGrom is really really good.

Logically, the Nats should beat the Brewers, but Scherzer has been hurt and not pitching like himself, The Brewers have been red hot (even without Yelich), an the Nats have a history of falling in the playoffs, so I have to say Brewers. It wouldn't surprise me though if Scherzer throws a no hitter.

And although I'd never bet against the sneaky good A's, I feel like the Rays have a slight advantage with Morton on the mound. His playoff experience and success could go a long way.

If they continue their hot streak into next season, look out for the Mets in 2020.

Yeah that Nats-Brewers game is a mismatch. The Nats are at home, while the Brewers were under .500 on the road this year. The Brewers also don't have their best player. Scherzer is a beast. And even if he doesn't pitch well, the Nats lineup is also superior to Milwaukee's. If Washington loses this, it's nothing less than another big-time choke job.

As for the Ray-As, Morton is def great. As of now, Oakland hasn't announced their starter, but rumor has it it will be Manaea. He only made 5 starts this year, due to recovering from Tommy John. But his ERA in those 5 starts was 1.21. Oakland has great hitting too. Again, this could go either way, but I'll go with Oakland.

meccalecca
Voice of Reason

Gender: Male
Location: The Land of Enchantment

CA Dreamin wrote:

Yeah that Nats-Brewers game is a mismatch. The Nats are at home, while the Brewers were under .500 on the road this year. The Brewers also don't have their best player. Scherzer is a beast. And even if he doesn't pitch well, the Nats lineup is also superior to Milwaukee's. If Washington loses this, it's nothing less than another big-time choke job.

As for the Ray-As, Morton is def great. As of now, Oakland hasn't announced their starter, but rumor has it it will be Manaea. He only made 5 starts this year, due to recovering from Tommy John. But his ERA in those 5 starts was 1.21. Oakland has great hitting too. Again, this could go either way, but I'll go with Oakland.

Yeah, I just realized that the Nats won their last 8 games of the season. Guess I wasn't paying attention to them. I usually give the edge in the WC game to the hottest team, so it'd be shocking if they lose.

Yeah, that A's / Rays game is so evenly matched it really could go either way.
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cestuneblague
Edgy to the Choir

Location: MA/FL

If the Devil Rays win and no one is around to see it, does it count?

Anyways I'm expecting a 2017 rematch with the world series, which seems a bit uninspired, but it's the MLB playoffs and anything can happen. While the Astros seem to have an unbeatable rotation, so did the 2011 phillies and they didn't win it all, so perhaps the Twins or Yankees can bash them out of the playoffs (hopefully Twins). In the east on paper it seems the Dodgers should have a cake wake, but their pitching seems more vulnerable than year's past so I could see any of the teams mounting a challenge, though the NL central seems a bit blanche this year especially since the Brewers don't have Yelich. I don't know conservatively I predict a Astros-Dodgers world series, but I could see a Braves-Twins matchup as a (ratings-dive) surprise.

Mariners WS champions 2037

CA Dreamin

Gender: Male
Location: LA

CA Dreamin wrote:

NL - Nationals beat the Brewers.
AL - Athletics beat the Rays.

meccalecca wrote:

...I have to say Brewers...
...And although I'd never bet against the sneaky good A's, I feel like the Rays have a slight advantage with Morton...

Okay, we each got one right. Not bad. Morton was the man last night (just based on the box score, didn't see any of the game). And Milwaukee nearly pulled it off, rough way to lose though.

How about this round? Here's what I'm thinking:

NLDS - Dodgers over Nationals, 3-1

Washington could give LA some trouble. But they had to use both Max and Straz against Milwaukee, which will limit those guys in this series.

NLDS - Cardinals over Braves, 3-2

This could go either way. The teams are pretty close on paper, slight edge to Atlanta in RD and having home field. But I want the Cards to win, and there's no money on the line, so F it. Cards win in 5.

ALDS - Astros over Rays, 3-1

The two best pitching teams in the AL here. Houston's pitching is better though, and so is their lineup. Plus Morton will be limited after the WC game.

ALDS - Twins over Yankees, 3-1

Wow, this could be a great series. Look at the teams' RD. They're almost identical. I'm picking the Twins because the Yankees will not have German, which will leave them pretty thin on pitching.

meccalecca
Voice of Reason

Gender: Male
Location: The Land of Enchantment

CA Dreamin wrote:

How about this round?

Yeah, that Nats vs Brewers game was pretty crazy. They had it and blew it. I think it was the right move to use Strasburg, but it's gonna really hurt them in this Dodgers series. I'm gonna say Dodgers sweep 3-0. Scherzer hasn't been good and Stras won't be totally fresh. I think with the Dodgers as incredible and driven as they are, if your pitching isn't 100%, they'll steamroll you.
so, Dodgers over Nats 3-0

That Cards - Braves series should be great. I'd be surprised if it doesn't go 5 games. With the Cardinals postseason, it's tough to go against them, but I'll take the chance that Acuna and Freeman both have a great series and take the Braves to the next round.
Braves over Cardinals 3-2

You'd have to be crazy to think the Astros won't win their series against the sneaky good Rays. The question is just how many games it'll take. The 1-2-3 of Verlander, Cole, and Greinke make me believe that this is gonna be a sweep. If Glasnell was 100% healthy, and Snell as unhittable as last year, I'd give the Rays more of a chance.
Astros over Rays 3-0

I think I'll match your prediction in the Twins-Yankees series. It's gonna be one big slugfest. I think/hope that the Yankees are banged up enough to allow the Twins the slight edge.
Twins over Yankees 3-2
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CA Dreamin

Gender: Male
Location: LA

CA Dreamin wrote:

Dodgers over Nationals, 3-1

meccalecca wrote:

Dodgers over Nats 3-0

What actually happened - Nationals over Dodgers 3-2

Ugh. Very disappointing for my home team. A series the Dodgers had sealed and let slip through their fingers. Everything was going right until Kershaw, Roberts, and Kelly had a simultaneous meltdown.

CA Dreamin wrote:

Cardinals over Braves, 3-2

meccalecca wrote:

Braves over Cardinals 3-2

What actually happened - Cardinals over Braves 3-2

St. Louis has a thing about turning it on in October, while Atlanta has the opposite. Even though Atlanta was the better team on paper, I went with my gut and called it right. Good riddance. I hate the Braves.

CA Dreamin wrote:

Astros over Rays, 3-1

meccalecca wrote:

Astros over Rays 3-0

What actually happned - Astros over Rays 3-2

The winning team was no surprise, but the fact it went to 5 games kind of is.

CA Dreamin wrote:

Twins over Yankees, 3-1

meccalecca wrote:

Twins over Yankees 3-2

What actually happened - Yankees over Twins 3-0

We both missed this one. It seems pretty obvious now. I was skeptical about New York's pitching since German is not playing with the team this postseason. I knew Luis Severino came back from injury in time to replace German. However, I figured he'd be rusty and on a limited pitch count. Turns out he wasn't rusty. On the other hand, Minnesota's win total and RD were partially inflated from the fact they played so many games against two of the worst teams in MLB.

How about this round? Here's what I'm thinking:

NLCS - Nationals over Cardinals 4-2

Both teams carry a lot of momentum into this series. But I think Washington is the better team, and hungrier than ever to win now that they've finally won a playoff series.

ALCS - Astros over Yankees 4-3

New York is very good, but Houston is a juggernaut.
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