MLB 2023 season - Lounge - Forums : Best Ever Albums

CA Dreamin

Gender: Male
Location: LA

Mercury must've disliked his predictions so much, he struck them from the record Think

. 2/4 IIRC

The remaining teams in my order of preference:

1. Phillies - My A team
2. Dodgers - My B team, in my new home city since '14
3. Orioles - They haven't won in 40 years. Love how they succeeded in the toughest division in MLB.
4. Twins - Indifferent, but feel bad for them. 18 straight playoff losses, and hadn't won a playoff series since '02. At least those droughts are now over.
5. Astros - I respect Dusty and Verlander, but they just won last year, and have been the most successful playoff team in recent years. Time for someone else to win.
6. Rangers - I just don't like them.
7. Diamondbacks - Why are they in the playoffs, again?
8. Braves - Respect, but would never root for my team's biggest rival. And their fans' chant is obnoxious and arguably racist.

Tha1ChiefRocka
Yeah, well hey, I'm really sorry.

Location: Kansas

Quote:

And their fans' chant is obnoxious and arguably racist.

Yep, I've never known anyone or any other sports franchise to do that chant. Definitely not. Never heard it. Anxious

CA Dreamin

Gender: Male
Location: LA

Tha1ChiefRocka wrote:

Quote:

And their fans' chant is obnoxious and arguably racist.

Yep, I've never known anyone or any other sports franchise to do that chant. Definitely not. Never heard it. Anxious

Haha, I guess you're not a Florida State fan. That's where the Tomahawk Chop originated, and it spread to the Braves and KC Chiefs fan-bases since. Last year during the Phillies-Braves NLDS, Phillies fans did it at their home games as a way to mock the visiting Braves. So we had to hear it every game, not just the ones in Atlanta. It's just a dumb and annoying chant. As for this year's Phillies-Braves NLDS, great start by the Phils yesterday. I only heard the chop once, during the top of the 4th inning with two outs when Braves fans were cheering on Spencer Strider to get out of inning unscathed. And well, in that moment, Bryson Stott hit a single, scoring Bryce Harper from second, giving the Phils a 1-0 lead. That shut up the Braves fans Very Happy

. I didn't hear the chop again for the rest of the game. And as it turned, that was the only run we needed!

Lastly, terrible gm 1 for the Dodgers yesterday, ugh

cestuneblague
Edgy to the Choir

Location: MA/FL

Yeah I really don't care who wins, and that's not just because the M's pulling an M's during the season. Maybe the Twins, just because I lived on the border between MN and ND and they've been long suffering, but they kind of fell into the playoffs by default. It's probably going to be the Braves, but ya never know, though nobody in the American League look like a true world series team otherwise so they're best competition is probably the Dodgers. How original.

Romanelli
Bone Swah

Gender: Male
Location: Broomfield, Colorado

Moderator

With the Rockies finally notching their first 100 loss season in history, here's all I care about this postseason:

1) I don't care who does it, but somebody please beat the Dodgers.

2) Nolan Arenado. It pleases me to no end to see that this traitorous clown, 3 years after screwing over the Rockies with that player option in the contract they gave him because he "wanted to play for a winner" has still played in fewer postseason games with St. Louis than he did with Colorado...and that he continues to sport a career .152 postseason average and a .385 OPS. May he forever be on the losing side, and may his offense continue to lowly fade.
_________________
May we all get to heaven
'Fore the devil knows we're dead...

CA Dreamin

Gender: Male
Location: LA

The Division Series are over. So...

For all that talk about how good the AL East was this year, their teams went 0-7 in the playoffs. Not sure what happened there. I suppose the Rays were too injured; the Orioles, too inexperienced; who knows about the Jays.

Perhaps while fans and analysts were hyping up the AL East, they were overlooking the AL West, who have two solid teams, plus a third decent team who just missed the playoffs. Once again, for the seventh straight year, the Astros are in the ALCS. Could be a back-and-forth fight against the Rangers. The Rangers are solid, we'll see if Scherzer returns to the club in time for this series.

The Dodgers, ugh. Same problem as last year...they're a team with several good hitters but they lack leadership. They don't have that guy who can carry them when other hitters are struggling, that guy who intimidates opposing pitchers, that guy other teammates rally around. A guy like Corey Seager or Justin Turner, who've moved on to other clubs. Tack on the loss of 4 of last year's starting pitchers, and the Dodgers really weren't prepared for the playoffs this year. Their formula is successful in the regular season, but these past two playoffs demonstrate they're missing something. I don't know if it's management or the roster, but when you routinely win 100 games and then get embarrassed in the playoffs; when you only score 6 runs over 3 games and your best two hitters go 1-21 in the series, while your starting pitchers have an ERA over 25...something needs to change.

Lastly, on a positive note, how about the fightin' Phils ousting the Braves again! Bryce Harper and Nick Castellanos with incredible performances this series. The team in general looks great right now. They look focused. Keep it going in the NLCS!

CA Dreamin

Gender: Male
Location: LA

A few closing thoughts on the 2023 season:

- Good for the Rangers, I suppose. I mean, they've never won the WS but I can't think of any team I could care less about. They had a good team though, and they earned it.

- It seems America at large couldn't care less. This will be by far the least watched WS in history in TV ratings (I didn't watch it either).

- The 84-win Diamondbacks nearly completed their Cinderella Run. If they had won the WS, that would have marked the second time in three years a team won the WS with a worse regular season record than the Mariners, who missed the playoffs. (Braves in 2021 won 88, went on to win the WS; Mariners in '21 won 90, missed the playoffs).

- So what does that say about the playoff format? Clearly it's not perfect, but no system is perfect. MLB increased the # of playoff teams from 10 to 12 a couple years ago, to be more inclusive, and to encourage more competitive baseball down the stretch. I would argue it's more interesting that way. And yet, decent teams still miss the playoffs, while average teams can sneak in. Should MLB adopt an NBA approach to playoff seedings, by downplaying divisions and make playoff seedings purely based on W-L record? Furthermore, there has been outcry from fans that the MLB playoff format disadvantages teams who play well in the regular season, and favors the weaker ones. They may have a case. After all, the four titans of the regular season this year...TB, LAD, ATL, and BAL, who won between 99 and 104 games (the next closest team won 92), all went down in their opening round, with a combined record of 1-11. Is there a flaw in the format, that put them at a disadvantage? Or was it just a fluke?

- Anyway, it's over now. Onto NFL football.

Romanelli
Bone Swah

Gender: Male
Location: Broomfield, Colorado

Moderator

CA Dreamin wrote:

A few closing thoughts on the 2023 season:

- Good for the Rangers, I suppose. I mean, they've never won the WS but I can't think of any team I could care less about. They had a good team though, and they earned it.

- It seems America at large couldn't care less. This will be by far the least watched WS in history in TV ratings (I didn't watch it either).

- The 84-win Diamondbacks nearly completed their Cinderella Run. If they had won the WS, that would have marked the second time in three years a team won the WS with a worse regular season record than the Mariners, who missed the playoffs. (Braves in 2021 won 88, went on to win the WS; Mariners in '21 won 90, missed the playoffs).

- So what does that say about the playoff format? Clearly it's not perfect, but no system is perfect. MLB increased the # of playoff teams from 10 to 12 a couple years ago, to be more inclusive, and to encourage more competitive baseball down the stretch. I would argue it's more interesting that way. And yet, decent teams still miss the playoffs, while average teams can sneak in. Should MLB adopt an NBA approach to playoff seedings, by downplaying divisions and make playoff seedings purely based on W-L record? Furthermore, there has been outcry from fans that the MLB playoff format disadvantages teams who play well in the regular season, and favors the weaker ones. They may have a case. After all, the four titans of the regular season this year...TB, LAD, ATL, and BAL, who won between 99 and 104 games (the next closest team won 92), all went down in their opening round, with a combined record of 1-11. Is there a flaw in the format, that put them at a disadvantage? Or was it just a fluke?

- Anyway, it's over now. Onto NFL football.

The playoff format is absolutely flawed.

The regular season ended on October 1st. The 4 teams you mentioned above each played that day. But then...the first round commenced. None of those 4 teams played a game between October 2nd and October 7th, while the wild card teams were in full playoff mode. Any idea what a full 5 days off can do to a baseball team's momentum when they have to come back and play a team that just won a playoff series? Those teams went 1-11 because they had zero momentum and had to play teams that had all the momentum.

In 2007, the Rockies won 26 of 27 games to win the pennant...and then they had to wait 9 days for Boston to win the ALCS. What happened? The Red Sox had all the momentum and swept the Rockies.

Here's what's wrong:

1) 4 playoff rounds in baseball is too many. 3 rounds is really pushing it.
2) The first round best of 3 is too short. No MLB playoff series should be less than best of 7. Baseball learned that lesson more than 20 years ago.
3) The Division Series best of 5 is still too short. Should be best of 7.
4) Byes in baseball do not work.
5) Too many wild cards. Yes, it makes for better regular season races. But it also aids the disadvantages that the division winners have because they can mostly coast while wild card spots are fought for, usually until the very end. There is no disruption of momentum...but four of the 6 division winners won by at least 9 games.
6) The strange obsession we have with needing more playoff teams is giving us what we ask for...unbalanced and crappy playoffs. The NBA playoffs last year were comical in their predictability and bad play from losing teams. Too many teams does NOT make the playoffs better. The NBA playoffs are a joke. The NHL at least has enough of a competitive balance to make it work...but the other sports do not. Especially the NBA and MLB.

I am absolutely not in favor of the way the NBA has set it up. Throwing divisions out of the mix has done nothing to improve the quality of the postseason. You want to make the playoffs? Win your division is a guarantee, then beat the other second place teams to make it if you didn't get the division. You may have had a better record than another team, but does that mean you get to make the playoffs even though you finished 6th in your division? The Mariners need to play better than the teams in their division. Play in spots are garbage. 20 teams making the playoffs is an absolute joke. It's only 12 in MLB...and that's too many.
_________________
May we all get to heaven
'Fore the devil knows we're dead...

CA Dreamin

Gender: Male
Location: LA

Romanelli wrote:

The playoff format is absolutely flawed.

The regular season ended on October 1st. The 4 teams you mentioned above each played that day. But then...the first round commenced. None of those 4 teams played a game between October 2nd and October 7th, while the wild card teams were in full playoff mode. Any idea what a full 5 days off can do to a baseball team's momentum when they have to come back and play a team that just won a playoff series? Those teams went 1-11 because they had zero momentum and had to play teams that had all the momentum.

That isn't 100% true. The TB Rays were a 99-win wild card, so they played and lost their series 2-0 between Oct 2nd and Oct 7th. The other three teams had byes. Nevertheless, that could be flaw in and of itself. Why is a 99-win team with the second-best record in their league forced to play a best-of-3? Under an NBA style format, they would have had a bye. However, if this happened between 2012-21 (just two seasons ago), the Rays would have been forced to play a one-game wild card, and that's just asinine. I would say the current best-of-3, while flawed, is better than what it used to be.

Romanelli wrote:

In 2007, the Rockies won 26 of 27 games to win the pennant...and then they had to wait 9 days for Boston to win the ALCS. What happened? The Red Sox had all the momentum and swept the Rockies.

True. But at the same time, the NL was incredibly weak in 2007. The Rockies didn't play a legit opponent until the Red Sox in the World Series. The Red Sox were far superior and they showed it. Still, momentum and one team getting hot, the other cold, played a part.

Romanelli wrote:

1) 4 playoff rounds in baseball is too many. 3 rounds is really pushing it.

I don't think I agree. MLB would have to cut the # of playoff teams down to 8, the way it was from 1995-2011. And that wasn't exactly fair. Many good teams in that era didn't even have a shot.

Romanelli wrote:

2) The first round best of 3 is too short. No MLB playoff series should be less than best of 7. Baseball learned that lesson more than 20 years ago.
3) The Division Series best of 5 is still too short. Should be best of 7.

I agree with these points. Baseball is a marathon, not a sprint. Ideally, best-of-7 is the way to go. However, if every round was best-of-7, the World Series would go almost to Thanksgiving. That's no good. Too cold in late Nov to play baseball. Plus the players deserve their off-season to rest and be with their families. For every round to be best-of-7, I think the regular season would have to be trimmed by about 20 games. I would not oppose that at all. In fact, I would totally trade a shorter regular season for a few more playoff games, but good luck getting the owners to sign on.

Romanelli wrote:

4) Byes in baseball do not work.

Between 2012 and 2021, #1 seeds who had to wait 4-5 days for their wild card opponent, went 9-9 against them in the division series. On paper, they probably should have won more. So yeah I agree momentum and hot/cold streaks had something to with that. As for 2022 and 2023, #1 and #2 seeds received 1st-round byes. And their wait times between end of regular season and division series is 6 days now instead of 4-5. Does that extra day or two off really make them even rustier? Do wild cards build even more momentum now that they play a best-of-3? I don't think two seasons is enough to definitively say. #1 seeds and #2 seeds, who received byes, are 3-5 in the division series in 2022 and '23. It's a bad showing, but it's also a small sample, and could be a fluke. We'll see that happens in the coming years.

Romanelli wrote:

5) Too many wild cards. Yes, it makes for better regular season races. But it also aids the disadvantages that the division winners have because they can mostly coast while wild card spots are fought for, usually until the very end. There is no disruption of momentum...but four of the 6 division winners won by at least 9 games.
6) The strange obsession we have with needing more playoff teams is giving us what we ask for...unbalanced and crappy playoffs. The NBA playoffs last year were comical in their predictability and bad play from losing teams. Too many teams does NOT make the playoffs better. The NBA playoffs are a joke. The NHL at least has enough of a competitive balance to make it work...but the other sports do not. Especially the NBA and MLB.

I am absolutely not in favor of the way the NBA has set it up. Throwing divisions out of the mix has done nothing to improve the quality of the postseason. You want to make the playoffs? Win your division is a guarantee, then beat the other second place teams to make it if you didn't get the division. You may have had a better record than another team, but does that mean you get to make the playoffs even though you finished 6th in your division? The Mariners need to play better than the teams in their division. Play in spots are garbage. 20 teams making the playoffs is an absolute joke. It's only 12 in MLB...and that's too many.

This ties in with earlier points. I agree more playoff teams don't make playoffs better in any sport. At the same time, I don't believe there are too many teams in the MLB playoffs. I think 12 just about right. I was not proposing MLB should expand playoffs to 20 teams like the NBA (which is so freaking stupid). Rather, I was proposing what if there were only 12 playoff teams, but they were seeded purely based on W-L record (like the NBA)? It would have given the Mariners a shot this year, and I think they earned it more than the Twins, Marlins, and Diamondbacks. As for the division winners who can coast while the wild card teams keep fighting...I don't see how that's a total disadvantage. The manager's job is to keep their teams fresh and focused, and ready for the playoffs. If their teams fail in the playoffs, I don't think you can entirely attribute that to a momentum gain/loss. They don't have to rest their starters in the home stretch if they don't want to. They can choose how many practices and simulated games they have during their 1st-round bye. Thus, a good portion of the blame for defeat has to be owned by the division winners who allowed themselves to get rusty, and played like shit in the playoffs, such as the Dodgers this year. However, if momentum does directly correlate to the playoff outcomes, then what can be done to reward the team who played superior in the regular season? What if division winners who earned 1st round byes started their first playoff series with an automatic 1-0 lead in the series? That may sound crazy, but believe it or not, that's exactly what they do in Japanese baseball.

cestuneblague
Edgy to the Choir

Location: MA/FL

No, we definitely don't need everything to be seven-game series like the NBA, whose playoffs take forever and feel like nearly half a season at this point. The five-game format in the first round was better because it was not only quicker and more motivating but allowed for better chances at upsets, as Romanelli I'm sure knows when the 8th seed Nuggets infamously beat the top Sonics nearly 30 years ago. I agree [the MLB plyoffs are] flawed in many ways, not just in the ways mentioned, but certainly better than the one-game play-in and unlike the NBA losing teams haven't got in (well... so far, looking at the AL central that could be a possibility soon) so at least the teams that are competing generally played quite well. The MLB playoffs are just kind of an odd beast, not only health is a major deciding factor but mainly how you emphasize preventing runs over trying to score as many as possible, though the more free-swinging Rangers kind of bucked that trend this year. I donno, I mean the continuing adding of wild card teams was obviously a money decision (like everything) cause they want more fanbases invested throughout the season, and has made the home stretch of the regular season more exciting but yeah so far not the playoffs. It also has to go along the sad fact that baseball has really receded as a national sport in the 21st century and just doesn't seem to have the cultural dominance (or shared dominance) it did as nearly a quarter of a century ago, though the ratings need to be taken with a grain of salt because all sports have seen broadcast ratings go down just like every former television station.

Anyways I guess on to the offseason, where I can expect Mariners to do fuck-all with any decent oppurtunity.