MLB 2018: let the games begin!

[Dan Gould]

Your long-run concern about Tanaka might need to be his performance against Houston, which amounts to an ERA of nearly 9 across five starts that only lasted 23 1/3 total innings,

[ghost of miles]

1 hour ago, Dan Gould said:

Your long-run concern about Tanaka might need to be his performance against Houston, which amounts to an ERA of nearly 9 across five starts that only lasted 23 1/3 total innings,

 Oh good Lord, Tanaka’s performance against Houston is the last thing I’m concerned about right now! I’ll simply be grateful if he can get through 5 or 6 innings tonight without J.D., Mookie and Co. staking you guys to a seven-run lead. I didn’t realize that Wright is out of commission? But Boston’s in the driver’s seat for sure right now. If the Sox win tonight, it’s all but over. Yankees were able to pull off a three-game comeback against a very good Indians team last year, but I can’t see the 2018 Red Sox losing three in a row. It will be a hell of a clash, though, if we end up with a ‘Stros-Sox rematch in the ALCS.

[Patrick]

Tribe definitely were/are underdogs against Houston from the start. Like their recent World Series run, little margin for underperformance and Kluber has to be dominant. That obviously didn't happen in game 1. 

Clayton Kershaw, wow. 

I get that CLE/HOU is not going to be as popular as larger market series, and am fine if the scheduling reflects that a bit. But the extreme approach is kind of pathetic, and feeds the view that there is much less interest/concern in the League than in a few large markets. But maybe this for the schoolchildren of northeast Ohio, who will get proper sleep on school nights. (And this very well may be over before holiday weekend anyway). 

[Dan Gould]

9 minutes ago, ghost of miles said:

 I didn’t realize that Wright is out of commission? 

MRI on still-balky knee.  Not off roster yet but almost certain to be.  Knee-cartilage replacement may replace labrum surgery as the hardest-to-recover-from injury for ballplayers.

And Wright was my one hope for a bullpen arm, going a couple of innings to get to Kimbrel or one of the slightly better late-inning options, a la Andrew Miller.  When he didn't come out last night I wondered, now we know.

[jlhoots]

Brewers 4 - Rockies 0

[ghost of miles]

OK, I was right about Happ, wrong about Price and Tanaka.  Very happy just to take one of two at Fenway, but if Boston does the same to us in NY, they'll have Sale going for Game 5 back at Fenway.  And I still can't see the Yankees beating the Sox three times in a row in this series.

[soulpope]

7 hours ago, ghost of miles said:

OK, I was right about Happ, wrong about Price and Tanaka.  Very happy just to take one of two at Fenway, but if Boston does the same to us in NY, they'll have Sale going for Game 5 back at Fenway.  And I still can't see the Yankees beating the Sox three times in a row in this series.

For now a good series of two teams meeting at equal footing .... 

[JSngry]

Price should check into hypnotherapy. It seems clear to me that he's a head case, not about life in general, but about certain teams. When the Rangers fielded a real team, we had his number pretty much the way ny does now.

[Brad]

That HR by Judge was one of the best I’ve ever seen. As soon as he swung the bat I knew it was going for a ride. The one other person who used to hit some shots was Strawberry; his had some incredible arc to it. 

[Patrick]

Had a sinking feeling when Andrew Miller relieved Carrasco, whose pitch count was still low and had not yet given up any runs. Andrew will be elsewhere next season. Thanks for the thrills in 2016. Too bad that magic could not be replicated/extended. Time on the Lindor free agent clock ticks down a bit more...

[Brad]

59 minutes ago, Patrick said:

Had a sinking feeling when Andrew Miller relieved Carrasco, whose pitch count was still low and had not yet given up any runs. Andrew will be elsewhere next season. Thanks for the thrills in 2016. Too bad that magic could not be replicated/extended. Time on the Lindor free agent clock ticks down a bit more...

I'm afraid that series is over. I also think the Dodgers Braves series will soon be over, and the same with the Brewers series. 

[ghost of miles]

1 hour ago, Brad said:

I'm afraid that series is over. I also think the Dodgers Braves series will soon be over, and the same with the Brewers series. 

I haven't followed the NL teams closely enough to have a good sense--if it does indeed become a Dodgers-Brewers NLCS, who do you guys think has the edge going in?

I also think no matter what the outcome of the Boston-New York series, Houston remains the favorite in the American League to make it to the WS.

Edited October 7, 2018 by ghost of miles

[Dan Gould]

Houston is the overwhelming favorite and my ace in the hole that there will be no NY celebration.

[soulpope]

1 hour ago, ghost of miles said:

I also think no matter what the outcome of the Boston-New York series, Houston remains the favorite in the American League to make it to the WS.

Yep ....

[ghost of miles]

2 hours ago, Dan Gould said:

Houston is the overwhelming favorite and my ace in the hole that there will be no NY celebration.

I don't know how their stats look against Severino, but I would not be surprised to see Holt, Pearce and/or Devers in the starting lineup tomorrow night.  

[Brad]

3 hours ago, ghost of miles said:

I haven't followed the NL teams closely enough to have a good sense--if it does indeed become a Dodgers-Brewers NLCS, who do you guys think has the edge going in?

I also think no matter what the outcome of the Boston-New York series, Houston remains the favorite in the American League to make it to the WS.

I don’t know those teams well enough to say but I’d give the Brewers a slight edge because they’d have home field advantage. 

[ghost of miles]

27 minutes ago, Brad said:

I don’t know those teams well enough to say but I’d give the Brewers a slight edge because they’d have home field advantage. 

I just realized that with the new (well, relatively new--MLB just started using it last year) formula for determining home field advantage in the World Series (team with the better record, regardless of whether they were a wild-card or division winner), the American League will definitely have it unless their representative team is Cleveland.  Cleveland would hold home field advantage against either the Braves or the Rockies, but not against the Dodgers or the Brewers.  

Edited October 7, 2018 by ghost of miles

[Dan Gould]

I was going to point that out too but I think Brad is referencing Milwaukee as the best record in the NL so they have home field until the Series.

[Brad]

Yes, I meant against LA (or even the Braves, should they come back).

Looks like the Rockies are playing themselves out of this series. They balked in a run and then the runner who moved to third on the ball scored on a wild pitch a few pitches later. 

Edited October 7, 2018 by Brad

[ghost of miles]

I understood that Brad was referring to that particular potential series—just also realized that there’s a good chance the AL team will have the advantage in the WS.

Congrats to the Brewers for so impressively sweeping the Rockies. Here’s another nugget of interest—to me, anyway—if the Dodgers and Astros follow suit, we will have a geographical four-corner NLCS/ALCS, with Los Angeles facing Milwaukee and Houston squaring off against either Boston or New York. 

[ghost of miles]

How Red Sox could adjust lineup for game 3

[jlhoots]

Go Brewers!!

[sonnymax]

Exciting game in Atlanta tonight. I'm glad the series will continue.

[Brad]

I don’t want to be mean to Indians fans, who are probably very unhappy right now, but it’s like the Astros swatted them aside. 

[Soulstation1]

Crap