The gloating thread

[MDtransplant757]

Any kind of tournament would be fun but you need to strike a balance between fun and crowning a reasonable champion and revenue equality. In basketball the favored team wins dramatically more often than in baseball. I don't really know about hockey. But in the NBA you never have a 7th-best team win it all. In baseball you'd have a sub-.500 team win it all within a few seasons. Also, do you really want to lop off 10, 20, 30 games for the non-playoff teams and basically hand that much more to the better teams who get into the postseason?

In Hockey, its way more balanced like baseball than in the NBA.

[DrungoHazewood]

In Hockey, its way more balanced like baseball than in the NBA.

Does anyone complain when the 17th-best NHL team is crowned the champion?

[atomic]

Does anyone complain when the 17th-best NHL team is crowned the champion?

I complain when the Capitals have the best record in hockey by far and lose to a bad team in the first round with a hot goalie. I am really done with hockey during the regular season. It is completely pointless to watch as the games are meaningless. I don't see the need for more teams when you have a 162 game season. It dilutes from the regular season and the playoffs. If you got rid of interleague play you could go straight to the World Series as far as I am concerned.

[MDtransplant757]

Does anyone complain when the 17th-best NHL team is crowned the champion?

Nope, because they worked their asses off to get there.

[DrungoHazewood]

Nope, because they worked their asses off to get there.

Really? And the far better team that lost didn't? Do all NHL fans completely buy into the frankly ridiculous idea that there is no random variation in short series, and that it's all who works harder and are better people and want it more?

[Pat Kelly]

I admit it gave up on them after losing 4 straight games in late September at home against Boston (after having just won 2/3 in Fenway. Team went 7-2 after that to get it done. Still think they the O's should have won the division and would have tied Boston if they had split the last series. Really hope to see one or two regulars (As Wieters did on Sunday) have big postseasons could go far if that happens. Remember Davis and Machado did not play in the 2014 playoffs.

[DrungoHazewood]

I complain when the Capitals have the best record in hockey by far and lose to a bad team in the first round with a hot goalie. I am really done with hockey during the regular season. It is completely pointless to watch as the games are meaningless. I don't see the need for more teams when you have a 162 game season. It dilutes from the regular season and the playoffs. If you got rid of interleague play you could go straight to the World Series as far as I am concerned.

You don't see the lure of many, many, many millions of dollars in playoff revenues? Do you think MLB would or should give up all those revenues so the Sox and Yanks can win more titles?

If you just sent the best record in the league to the Series the Yanks would have been there nine times from 1998-2012.

[MDtransplant757]

Really? And the far better team that lost didn't? Do all NHL fans completely buy into the frankly ridiculous idea that there is no random variation in short series, and that it's all who works harder and are better people and want it more?

All series' are 7 games long. NHL fans buy into it because they are a way less fickle bunch than baseball fans. In every league with a playoff, the best team rarely ever wins. There is random variance, but not to the extent of baseball or football

[Rojo13]

I owe ubaldo an apology, I was pretty frustrated with his outings but he stepped up like I could never imagine in my wildest dreams.

Other than that I always thought this team had amazing character and heart.

That's why I think they will relax even more and make a run. They have been through so much this season and they haven't flinched. The 2016 Orioles aren't scared and I don't think they feel any pressure which is why I believe they will go deep this postseason while other teams buckle under pressure.

I am excited about the game and think we could do well if we win but we need to remember it's one game. In baseball, anything can happen in 1 game.

It's like poker. Their is a lot of randomness. A 12-year old who has never played the game can beat Phil Helmuth if the flop is good for him.

So if we lose, it sucks but let's don't overreact and say Buck was an idiot for going with Tillman or Ubaldo or that Ubaldo or Tillman are horrible because they got rocked.

That's why I really wish the ALDS and NLDS were 7game series. Get rid of the off days and play 7-game or shorten the season to like 158-9 games and do 7 games. Baseball series shouldn't be 5 games.

But the 2-wild cards is a great invention. The 1 game is wild but it makes winning the division important and gives teams hope.

[Rojo13]

I was very wrong

I still look at the roster and the Toronto roster and can't figure out how they finished with the same record.

The Dallas papers are meanwhile writing articles saying the fans should root for Toronto as they are the easier team to beat:

http://sportsday.dallasnews.com/texas-rangers/rangers/2016/09/27/pick-playoff-opponent-teams-rangers-match-best

[atomic]

You don't see the lure of many, many, many millions of dollars in playoff revenues? Do you think MLB would or should give up all those revenues so the Sox and Yanks can win more titles?

If you just sent the best record in the league to the Series the Yanks would have been there nine times from 1998-2012.

If they are the best team they should go to the World Series. Making the other teams more competitive should be separate from that. And it seems recently the league has made efforts to make it harder for teams to buy championships. The Premier League doesn't even have playoffs. Who is to say that baseball wouldn't be more popular with having the best teams in the World Series every year.

[Mooreisbetter27]

The Dallas papers are meanwhile writing articles saying the fans should root for Toronto as they are the easier team to beat:

http://sportsday.dallasnews.com/texas-rangers/rangers/2016/09/27/pick-playoff-opponent-teams-rangers-match-best

That article says Rangers would beat the O's but not the Blue Jays...

[stomperspc]

That article says Rangers would beat the O's but not the Blue Jays...

No it doesn't. The title specifically says "Why the Rangers should want to play the Blue Jays", and the O's are given a 7 out of 10 in difficulty to the Jays' 3.3.

[Mooreisbetter27]

No it doesn't. The title specifically says "Why the Rangers should want to play the Blue Jays", and the O's are given a 7 out of 10 in difficulty to the Jays' 3.3.

My mistake. I was looking at what I thought was them forecasting the series in wins. But it was the season series thus far which Blue Jays were 4-3 against Rangers and we were 3-4.

Just a strange article. Just talks about the two teams and doesn't give justification why they don't wanna play us. If the title was different you wouldn't even think that's what they meant imo.

[Machado13]

I am excited about the game and think we could do well if we win but we need to remember it's one game. In baseball, anything can happen in 1 game.

It's like poker. Their is a lot of randomness. A 12-year old who has never played the game can beat Phil Helmuth if the flop is good for him.

So if we lose, it sucks but let's don't overreact and say Buck was an idiot for going with Tillman or Ubaldo or that Ubaldo or Tillman are horrible because they got rocked.

That's why I really wish the ALDS and NLDS were 7game series. Get rid of the off days and play 7-game or shorten the season to like 158-9 games and do 7 games. Baseball series shouldn't be 5 games.

But the 2-wild cards is a great invention. The 1 game is wild but it makes winning the division important and gives teams hope.

Yeah I mean I'll be proud because it is random but I have a good feeling. Thorne seemed to get that same vibe being in the locker room postgame.

I love what ubaldo has done but his mechanics scare me still. I am not sure I want to be down 4-0 if he has a bad ubaldo start; would be tough to win game. Just never know with ubaldo.

I guess I'm ok with starting him but being ready to pull him quickly. Can't get down in this game, the Jays have proven to be a pretty solid pitching team with the occasional bullpen meltdown