Boston Got Hot Way Too Early.

[DrungoHazewood]

Depends on the length of the contract. I wouldn't sign him to a long term deal. But 3 or less? Why not?

And I'm not trying to hear that he wouldn't fit into the clubhouse. He'll be welcomed there with open arms. Heck, I'm willing to be that Texas would welcome him there.

Thirty-six years old. Coming off an injury-plagued 1-win season. Not a good defender, even in a corner, although arguably better than Trumbo. He and his agent will sell him as bouncing back to his prior 4-5 win level, and asking to be compensated for that.

I wouldn't have signed Nelson Cruz, so I'm certainly not signing an older player with more signs of decline and injury who is known around the league as a self-centered jerk.

[LA2]

Thirty-six years old. Coming off an injury-plagued 1-win season. Not a good defender, even in a corner, although arguably better than Trumbo. He and his agent will sell him as bouncing back to his prior 4-5 win level, and asking to be compensated for that.

I wouldn't have signed Nelson Cruz, so I'm certainly not signing an older player with more signs of decline and injury who is known around the league as a self-centered jerk.

I think there may be fewer buyers than they expect. Will be interesting to see how they manage to bat-flip that!

[Tx Oriole]

When they beat us, the Red Sox were unbelievably hot. They looked like the best team in the AL by a wide margin. But I thought then, "they're peaking way too early." Toronto on the other hand, are peaking right at the right time. Late September/early October is the perfect time to play your best. And the way Toronto beat us, I have a feeling will carry them to a title.

I fully expect Toronto to roll right over Cleveland.

I sure hope not. I would love for the Indians to roll over the BJ's.

[Tx Oriole]

Pretty much yea. You think the Rangers would beat them in a best of five?

I think St Louis would win a WS against the Rangers,

[sportsfan8703]

LOL Boston. I'm still firmly anyone but Toronto. It would be nice to see the Nats get bounced early too, for all the nats sympathizers on the board.

[weams]

Maybe. We will probably have to replace Trumbo anyway. A healthy Batista might actually be an upgrade.

Trumbo can throw. Bautista can not.

[Redskins Rick]

Trumbo can throw. Bautista can not.

Trumbo is a classy gentleman, Bautista is not.

[ORIOLE33]

Trumbo can throw. Bautista can not.

Batista can catch the ball, Trumbo can not.

[Trackmaster]

Sure, in the playoff system, it's about who gets hot and goes on a run. It is unfair, but that's just the nature of it. That's why in most soccer leagues around the world, there are no playoffs, and the team with the best record at the end of the season gets the trophy.

The Rangers were lucky to have that record (their run-difference was +8 if I am not mistaken). They also played in an easy division this year.

You should try the coin flipping assignment. A professor tells you to go home, flip a coin 200 times, and record the results of each flip. You may be a faithful student and meticulously record the data from each flip, or you might get bored and lazy and make up the numbers.

If you make up the numbers, you'll be easy spot. It will look like heads, tails, heads, tails, heads, heads, tails, heads, tails, tails, heads, etc.

But if you faithfully record the data, there should be strings up 5-6 in a row of heads or tails in places.

The human brains obsesses with pattern recognition. Even seeing patterns where there are none. This is a way of seeing that a team being "hot" is nothing and hokum. It's no different than believing a horoscope. Some teams are better, some are worse, and over a 162 game season, you can take the data and make a decision. A team winning or losing 5-6 in a row means NOTHING. In fact, if they don't it means that the data is probably fake.

The teams that do well in the play-offs are the teams that happen to win 4 games in a 7 game series. No different from doing that in June or July. Nothing more, nothing less.

[Redskins Rick]

they were 20-7 in Sept and a 10 game winning street, before losing that last 3 game series in NY, after they clinched.

Thats not a cold team.

[ORIOLE33]

Point differential means absolutely nothing in baseball. Unlike basketball and football, you don't get style points in baseball. It's all about wins.

Look at it this way. The O's play the Rangers in a 4 game series. The O's win the first 3 games 3-2, 3-2, 3-2 and the Rangers win the fourth game 14-0. We badly got out scored, but who won the series?

[Crazysilver03]

Point differential means absolutely nothing in baseball. Unlike basketball and football, you don't get style points in baseball. It's all about wins.

Look at it this way. The O's play the Rangers in a 4 game series. The O's win the first 3 games 3-2, 3-2, 3-2 and the Rangers win the fourth game 14-0. We badly got out scored, but who won the series?

Thanks you for reaffirming your complete misunderstanding of the topic. No one in their right mind would take any meaningful info away from that 4 game series. It's about sample size and 162 games is quite the decent sample size.

[Spy Fox]

Point differential means absolutely nothing in baseball. Unlike basketball and football, you don't get style points in baseball. It's all about wins.

Look at it this way. The O's play the Rangers in a 4 game series. The O's win the first 3 games 3-2, 3-2, 3-2 and the Rangers win the fourth game 14-0. We badly got out scored, but who won the series?

What does this mean? Everything you're saying can be applied to other sports, too.

And, in baseball just like in other sports, if you win by more it generally means you are a better team than if you win by less.

[ORIOLE33]

Thanks you for reaffirming your complete misunderstanding of the topic. No one in their right mind would take any meaningful info away from that 4 game series. It's about sample size and 162 games is quite the decent sample size.

Exactly. And you cannot luck your way to 95 wins in a 162 game schedule.

[ORIOLE33]

What does this mean? Everything you're saying can be applied to other sports, too.

And, in baseball just like in other sports, if you win by more it generally means you are a better team than if you win by less.

Not in baseball. Unlike other sports that are more physical and you can impose your will on the other team. The best team in the NBA and NFL play the worst team 4 out of 4 times, you probably going to get 4 blowouts. That probably won't happen in baseball. Much different sport.