Chavez Ravine

Anthony has popped up three times.

The door has opened a crack.

Let’s get a a run back at least.

Another pop up.

Mateo!!

My plan was to watch that half inning over my shoulder as I got some dishes out of the sink. Unfortunately, my kitchen is now spotless.

Hicks!!!

GRod wiggles out of it, despite the ump.

I watch them all until the bitter end…although some more intently than others.

The NBA has a very long season then a very long playoffs. I am saying, a team can get eliminated in June. No more games for them. That’s fun. But people don’t get paid for fun.

A rolling season long playoff is the natural system that leads to the natural best team that year. But it doesn’t work if bros have to get paid in NY, LA, Vegas, etc.

I think a model where most of the the regular season was a playoff and teams could get officially eliminated in June would be cool. Assuming playing games still has a meaningful impact on team finances, such a system could also snuff out the tanking strategy.

The more you expand the playoffs the more importance you give to it—and devalue the regular season. I watch a lot of games so I put a lot of value in winning the most regular season games. I wouldn’t mind, after 162 games, if the playoffs was simply the best team in the AL meeting the best team in the NL for a fun exhibition of who is the “best” that year. If you like the playoffs vibe, cut the regular season in half and expand the playoffs significantly. The current model of playing an eternity then having teams play best of three games is nutty.

Yes, the rest advantage is real. But there seems to be all sorts of other things going on…like the pitching that was carrying you in June is not the same that is carrying you in October. That turnover seems much more than it was even just a few years ago.

This has got to be a ratings black hole for MLB so far.

It was never an advantage in terms of vibe, rest, etc. That’s just all BS window dressing gabbing to rationalize having a short playoff after a 162 game season. The benefit, such as it is, is that you have one less chance of randomly getting kicked off the island.

Lol. Who replaced Hanser Alberto on the Dodgers junk time sheet?

Lol. Kershaw did nothing to shift the mythology of his post season. If anything, this was the year they needed him to be the hero.

Dang. The Diamondbacks just KO’d Kershaw…and probably the Dodgers in the first inning.

So far at least, the division series games have been far more entertaining than the wild card games. The whole wild card round was a massive dud.

I really do not want to see a Rangers-Astros ALCS

Twins go back to back in the 7th to claw back.

I don’t think we looked rusty exactly. They made some plays and pitches at critical moments, the ball bounced in their direction a few times, and we didn’t do anything crazy spectacular. At this brief moment in time, I think we are pretty evenly matched. I might need more bourbon.

Setting aside being an O’s fan, that was a fun game. It had something for everyone. Pitching, defense, some hitting, and lots of opportunity to wax nonsense about managing post season pitching.

Yeah, it’s a fine line between helmet flying dirt churning catalyst and “oh no. He didn’t just do that did he?”