AL playoff picture

[rm5678]

9 hours ago, ShoelesJoe said:

Royals lose, now 3 games back of us in the loss column. 
Twins lose, now 5 games back of us in the loss column. 

It's looking more & more likely that it will be O's vs. Royals in the wild card series.

[Just Regular]

Marcus Stroman joined Nestor Cortes and Cole Irvin with a Save as Clubs start putting to bed the 5-man rotation necessary for 162 and shift towards amoeba pitching staffs.

Albert Suarez looks tired to me.   There's nothing that can happen from here to undo the great success of his 2024, but I hope the hook is very fast if his next turn doesn't go all the way to being a pre-planned bullpen game.    

The Tigers somehow beat Cole Ragans in Kansas City on a Casey Mize day because you can't predict baseball - they have Skubal going for the road sweep in the finale

[Brooks The Great]

On 9/15/2024 at 10:38 AM, gtman55 said:

I agree with this and totally feel like they often bring guys up and let them rot on the bench as opposed to letting them develop as big league hitters. Although regarding your list I wouldn't include Westburg or Cowser. 

Cowser and Westburg were both platooned for mediocre vets, so I definitely include them. Cowser and Westburg played more compared to Ortiz, Norby, Mayo, and Kjerstad, but all those young players: 

1. Didn't play every day when they were first called up (when all - except for Stowers - should have and could have)

2. Were benched/blocked more than they should have been in favor of mediocre/awful vets, which is the underlying developmental and roster management flaw that Elias and Hyde have caused and enforced

Edited 16 hours ago by Brooks The Great

[Brooks The Great]

On 9/15/2024 at 11:39 AM, eddie83 said:

You don’t take proven players out of a lineup so a kid can play. On a 70 win team you do that. Not with a contender. 
 

Can’t play everyone. 

Yes you can. When those "proven" players have proven that they are terrible hitters - as Eloy, Slater, and Rivera clearly are this season, and before them Jorge Mateo and Adam Frazier - you can absolutely play a rookie who's an elite prospect over them. 

[Just Regular]

Just saw the SEA-NYY highlights from last night, and if you were opposing Luis Gil and he was wild to the tune of loading the bases on walks and a HBP and had run a 3-0 count 25 pitches deep in the 1st inning, is that the moment you would pick to try and steal home?

That's what Victor Robles did.      

A baseball game of "A lot to a little" quickly ensued.

Edited 16 hours ago by Just Regular

[Spy Fox]

5 minutes ago, Just Regular said:

Just saw the SEA-NYY highlights from last night, and if you were opposing Luis Gil and he was wild to the tune of loading the bases on walks and a HBP and had run a 3-0 count 25 pitches deep in the 1st inning, is that the moment you would pick to try and steal home?

That's what Victor Robles did.      

A baseball game of "A lot to a little" quickly ensued.

What surprised me about the clip was that Robles arguably "should" have made it. He was watching Gil the whole time, and if he started his dash like a half second earlier when Gil picked up the rosin bag, instead of right when he was about to drop it, it probably would have worked. 

Still, horrendous situational awareness. 

[Just Regular]

Hopefully the deep and abiding friendship between Victor Robles and Justin Turner won't be too strained by the incident.

The Astros played a thrilling game out West last night too.

Now is kind of a digging in Zen moment because a lot of wonderful baseball is being played, and the Orioles still get to participate as best they can.

The Rangers 2024 results kind of make 2023 look like more of a blip, and the long term principle the Astros are the AL's best team until proven otherwise look more sound.     Sure, Corey Seager beat Alex Bregman in one Game 7 and had other good stuff happen so he could win that "Everybody said what was gonna happen...I guess we'll never know" exchange.

Now Bregman can say we know what happens if the Rangers lose 200 runs year over year, and wait to see if the Rubenstein budget lets the Orioles bid higher than Dana Brown.    Just in case, you know, Elias feels like Robinson Chirinos, Adam Frazier and Corbin Burnes' teaching "how to win" hasn't been enough.

[LookitsPuck]

Tigers on their way to a W. Guardians do the O’s a fav and beat the Twins in extras.

[Wavetrapper]

2 minutes ago, LookitsPuck said:

Tigers on their way to a W. Guardians do the O’s a fav and beat the Twins in extras.

It doesn’t look like Minn, KC, or Orioles have much interest in October baseball 

[bpilktree67]

We now have the same magic number vs the Tigers and Twins at 6.  We have the tie breaker officially on the Twins because the best they can do is 3-3 vs us and then it goes to each teams record in their division which at the worst it can be another tie and then the intra division of your record vs the other teams division and compare those two which gives us a tie breaker on them.  The Twins have the harder schedule as well, so even though they have advantage over the Tigers we already have the advantage over them but not Tigers.