42 replies to this topic

[BSLChrisStoner]

American League
 

Houston 3-3
Minnesota 4-2
Tampa Bay 8-5
Texas 3-3
Toronto 10-3

 

National League

 

Atlanta 1-2

LA 1-2
Milwaukee 1-2
Philly 1-2
Miami 3-0
Arizona 2-1

[BobPhelan]

Our only hope in the WS is Miami or Arizona according to Slide.

[DuffMan]

Looking ahead ( I can do that because I'm not a player on the team   )  I think I would most want to see a WS against the Dodgers.  It would be a nice tribute to Brooks!  A 40th anniversary rematch with the Phillies would also be neat to see.

[You Play to Win the Game]

Our only hope in the WS is Miami or Arizona according to Slide.

Even those two teams still are NL teams, so not so much probably.

[BSLChrisStoner]

Looking ahead ( I can do that because I'm not a player on the team   )  I think I would most want to see a WS against the Dodgers.  It would be a nice tribute to Brooks!  A 40th anniversary rematch with the Phillies would also be neat to see.

I'd like to see Atlanta.  They are the perceived best team.  Always want to beat the best. 

 

O's in 6. 

[NewMarketSean]

This team can hang with anyone.

 

But there are some very good teams in this postseason that are going to be tough to knock off, starting with our likely opponent in ALDS, the Rays.

[Nigel Tufnel]

I'd like to see Atlanta.  They are the perceived best team.  Always want to beat the best. 
 
O's in 6. 

Nah, I want the O's to have home field advantage. Be nice to have games 1 and 2 in Baltimore, and, if they were to win in 6, to do it at home.

[Mackus]

American League
 

Houston 3-3
Minnesota 4-2
Tampa Bay 8-5
Texas 3-3
Toronto 10-3

 

Orioles were 28-16 against AL playoff teams (.636).

 

If I added correctly...

 

Houston was 20-18 (.526)

Minnesota was 15-16 (.484)

Tampa Bay was 22-22 

Texas was was 19-20 (.487)

Toronto was 17-29 (.370)

[jamesdean]

The Orioles are as good as anyone and they proved that for 162 games.  The only thing I worry about is their inexperience in the post season.  They are still a very young team for the most part and it's going to be new to them.  How that impacts their performance is the X factor to me.  But strictly comparing talent levels, yeah, Baltimore can beat anyone. 

[BSLJamieSieck]

Does anyone have a clear preference for an ALDS opponent?

I can talk myself into facing either team...the familiarity with Tampa and confidence of going 8-5 against them in the regular season or knowing that Texas' starting pitching is majorly banged up.

[makoman]

Does anyone have a clear preference for an ALDS opponent?

I can talk myself into facing either team...the familiarity with Tampa and confidence of going 8-5 against them in the regular season or knowing that Texas' starting pitching is majorly banged up.

I'm not afraid of anyone, but the Rays have been annoyingly resilient for the past several weeks. They are also just better, both teams can hit but the Rays are far better at pitching, especially with the Rangers being banged up. The Rangers' bullpen is far worse than the Rays' and that's big in the playoffs. Either way, let's hope for three 16 inning games.

 

An aside, I know people differ on this, but for me I don't care about beating the best. The Astros don't have an asterix cause they got the Phillies last year. There's no bonus points for beating a better team, the flag they put up doesn't look any different. Give me the Rangers, Twins, and Marlins/Diamondbacks. If we can't beat the teams we were 10-15+ games better than we don't deserve it anyway. 

[TwentyThirtyFive]

Does anyone have a clear preference for an ALDS opponent?

I can talk myself into facing either team...the familiarity with Tampa and confidence of going 8-5 against them in the regular season or knowing that Texas' starting pitching is majorly banged up.

TB is the better team. Period. So in that sense you think you prefer Tex but who knows. A lot of people loved getting KC in 2014 til you know it went south quick

[Slidemaster]

Our only hope in the WS is Miami or Arizona according to Slide.

Dude, I literally never said that.

[TwentyThirtyFive]

I'm not afraid of anyone, but the Rays have been annoyingly resilient for the past several weeks. They are also just better, both teams can hit but the Rays are far better at pitching, especially with the Rangers being banged up. The Rangers' bullpen is far worse than the Rays' and that's big in the playoffs. Either way, let's hope for three 16 inning games.

An aside, I know people differ on this, but for me I don't care about beating the best. The Astros don't have an asterix cause they got the Phillies last year. There's no bonus points for beating a better team, the flag they put up doesn't look any different. Give me the Rangers, Twins, and Marlins/Diamondbacks. If we can't beat the teams we were 10-15+ games better than we don't deserve it anyway.

Yeah screw all that beating the best stuff. Give me the easiest path possible. Oh we got 5 seed Indiana in the National Championship and not a rubber match with Duke. Thank God. Pretty sure the 2012 Ravens didnt get bonus stickers for beating Manning, Brady and then the best NFC team to win their title either.

[BSLSteveBirrer]

I knew the playoff structure really overly favored the division winners. And while I really disagree with that I understand it.

 

But I didn't realize until I was looking at the schedule for the wild card round that the higher seeded team gets all 3 games at home. So the Blue Jays (yes I hate them) had two more wins than the Twins while playing in the toughest division in all of baseball yet have to go to MN for 3 games. 

 

Total crock. Get rid of divisions and just take the top 6 teams. 1 and 2 get a bye, 3 hosts 6, and 4 hosts 5. Or even if you think you need to keep divisions still reseed at the end based on records. 

 

And before anybody says "well you can't do that because the division winners need some reward and they don't play the same schedule."     Don't go there. All that does is make the argument I have made for years to go to a balanced schedule.  LO

 

In any event this if just broken.

[Mike in STL]

I knew the playoff structure really overly favored the division winners. And while I really disagree with that I understand it.

 

But I didn't realize until I was looking at the schedule for the wild card round that the higher seeded team gets all 3 games at home. So the Blue Jays (yes I hate them) had two more wins than the Twins while playing in the toughest division in all of baseball yet have to go to MN for 3 games. 

 

Total crock. Get rid of divisions and just take the top 6 teams. 1 and 2 get a bye, 3 hosts 6, and 4 hosts 5. Or even if you think you need to keep divisions still reseed at the end based on records. 

 

And before anybody says "well you can't do that because the division winners need some reward and they don't play the same schedule."     Don't go there. All that does is make the argument I have made for years to go to a balanced schedule.  LO

 

In any event this if just broken.

With the top two teams getting a bye, go back to two divisions and give each winner the bye. Re-seed after the WC round.

[BSLSteveBirrer]

Mike I'd be fine with that too but the question is just what value do divisions serve? I just don't see any. The whole area rivalry thing, to me, has been greatly diminished with the ability to see every single game on tv. 

[Steve55]

Mike I'd be fine with that too but the question is just what value do divisions serve? I just don't see any. The whole area rivalry thing, to me, has been greatly diminished with the ability to see every single game on tv. 

 

 

You play more games vs division teams. You need to win those extra games to win the division.

 

What I don't like, and it may change next year, is not reseeding the teams after the 1st rd like the NFL does. MLB just assumes the 3 beats the 6. Then the 4-5 plays the one.

[BSLSteveBirrer]

You play more games vs division teams. You need to win those extra games to win the division.

 

What I don't like, and it may change next year, is not reseeding the teams after the 1st rd like the NFL does. MLB just assumes the 3 beats the 6. Then the 4-5 plays the one.

So you need to win those extra division games to win the division.

 

1. That's not really true. Record in division only matters if tied.

2. But that still didn't answer the question. What value does having divisions add?

[85Knight]

It's really a toss up for me but I'm leaning towards wanting to see the Rays. They have been unbelievably resilient but at some point their losses have to catch up with them.

With Bautista I'd feel pretty confident that we could continue to dominate the AL teams like we have all season but now I think we've been brought down a notch to the rest of the pack. Hopefully the addition of Means offsets the loss of Bautista when it comes to our level of play.

I also hope the wildcard round goes all three games and this rest rejuvenates us especially on offense.