2014 Postseason

[SouthSideRyan]

Why are people rooting for the Pirates? Sure I'd rather them win than the Cardinals and Dodgers but they are division rivals who beat us annoyingly too frequently. Last year it was cute to see them in the playoffs after a long absence but this year they might as well be the Brewers or Reds to me.

 

No Marty Brennaman and no city of Milwaukee. The Nationals are a bunch of carpetbaggers and the Giants have won 2 of the last 4 World Serieses

[Tangled Up in Plaid]

anyone not rooting for the a's and royals above all is a monster

[Sammys Boombox]

Why are people rooting for the Pirates? Sure I'd rather them win than the Cardinals and Dodgers but they are division rivals who beat us annoyingly too frequently. Last year it was cute to see them in the playoffs after a long absence but this year they might as well be the Brewers or Reds to me.

 

I've been to a handful of games in Pittsburgh. Their fans are the closest thing to what the Cardinals fans pretend/claim to be. Also, McCutchen is a very likable star.

 

If I had to rank them:

 

Royals

Pirates

A's

Orioles/Angels/Tigers

Giants

Dodgers

Nationals

Edited September 30, 2014 by Sammy's Boombox

[NOLA]

Why are people rooting for the Pirates? Sure I'd rather them win than the Cardinals and Dodgers but they are division rivals who beat us annoyingly too frequently. Last year it was cute to see them in the playoffs after a long absence but this year they might as well be the Brewers or Reds to me.

Pirates fans are not a tenth as annoying as Brewers or Reds fans. Since the Cubs are seldomly in the race, I usually pick a team to root for against the Cardinals. Lately it's been the Pirates. Plus I want to see McCutchen deep into the playoffs.

[Janelle-Alexis]

Why are people rooting for the Pirates? Sure I'd rather them win than the Cardinals and Dodgers but they are division rivals who beat us annoyingly too frequently. Last year it was cute to see them in the playoffs after a long absence but this year they might as well be the Brewers or Reds to me.

 

The Cubs and Pirates have finished top three in the division at the same time just once in the last 40 years. It's hard for me to feel strongly about a division rival when it's been years since they've played a meaningful game against each other. Maybe next year I'll hate them more.

[Guest]

If it's a Dodgers/Angles I'm rooting for an earthquake that doesn't hurt Snood or Raisin.

[ScrubMD]

Maybe it's just because there aren't many Pirates fans, but they don't seem to have the middle child complex that Brewer and Reds fans have, they don't call themselves the best fans in baseball, and we both usually suck together so there's some camaraderie there.

 

I want a Pirates/Royals or Pirates/A's WS. I would also accept either the Orioles or Nationals. Angels would be ok, I guess. Just not the Dodgers or Cardinals.

[Sammy Sofa]

Why are people rooting for the Pirates?

 

Because we're not 5.

[UMFan83]

Why are people rooting for the Pirates?

 

Because we're not 5.

 

That makes no sense

[Andy]

Personally, I kind of want to see the Nationals never win after the stupid garbage they pulled in 2012 with Strasburg. Rather them than STL, but they're probably second to last among my rooting interests in the playoffs.

[Guest]

Personally, I kind of want to see the Nationals never win after the stupid garbage they pulled in 2012 with Strasburg. Rather them than STL, but they're probably second to last among my rooting interests in the playoffs.

Stupid garbage? WTF?

 

And even if that was stupid, which it wasn't, why would that make you hate them?

[Sammy Sofa]

Why are people rooting for the Pirates?

 

Because we're not 5.

 

That makes no sense

 

Because being a child is about the only way I could see someone inexplicably hating the Pirates like they're actual rivals as opposed to to just being "rivals" in only the loosest possible technicality.

[Andy]

Personally, I kind of want to see the Nationals never win after the stupid garbage they pulled in 2012 with Strasburg. Rather them than STL, but they're probably second to last among my rooting interests in the playoffs.

Stupid garbage? WTF?

 

And even if that was stupid, which it wasn't, why would that make you hate them?

Flags fly forever. Meatball? Certainly. But harming your own chances of winning a title is infuriating to me. (Doesn't help that STL benefited from it.)

 

Hasn't there been a glut of studies showing there's not really anything to the whole strategy of capping pitcher innings after TJS? Or am I nuts?

[Brian]

I'll be rooting for the A's, and not really caring too much about anything else. Though Puig pissing off Cardinals fans would be great.

[Agony and Ivy]

I want the A's and Pirates in the worst way which means they'll probably both lose in the next two days. I didn't watch a second of last year's series because the Red Sox and Cardinals annoy me to no end. So as long as the Cards don't get in I can deal with it.

[Guest]

Why are people rooting for the Pirates?

 

Because we're not 5.

 

That makes no sense

 

Don't mind him, he's a robot.

 

 

I am too, though, so I agree with him. Rooting against the Pirates is dumb.

[Guest]

Personally, I kind of want to see the Nationals never win after the stupid garbage they pulled in 2012 with Strasburg. Rather them than STL, but they're probably second to last among my rooting interests in the playoffs.

Stupid garbage? WTF?

 

And even if that was stupid, which it wasn't, why would that make you hate them?

Flags fly forever. Meatball? Certainly.

 

Fine. But I hope you never once bitched about Dusty's usage of our starters in 03.

 

Hasn't there been a glut of studies showing there's not really anything to the whole strategy of capping pitcher innings after TJS? Or am I nuts?

 

Who the hell knows. It's pitchers. But at least they had the balls to err on the side of caution with their prized pitcher, especially knowing that it wasn't likely to make a ton of difference.

 

 

EDIT - I should expound. I'm not comparing letting Strasburg continue pitching to what Dusty did with our starters, but usually people who go with the whole flags fly forever creed and who get infuriated with harming a team's chances to win a championship wouldn't be the ones arguing against maximizing your chances to win now to the point of abusing the future health of the players involved. Dusty did what he did for those exact reasons. And it's hard to argue (in most cases - there were a few that were just completely illogical - game 2 nlcs, for instance) that he wasn't right given the construct of that team if his intent was only to maximize the chances of winning right then and there.

Edited September 30, 2014 by David

[Guest]

My preferences:

 

A's

Royals

Orioles

Nationals

Pirates

Tigers

Angels

Giants

Dodgers

Cardinals

[Guest]

Personally, I kind of want to see the Nationals never win after the stupid garbage they pulled in 2012 with Strasburg. Rather them than STL, but they're probably second to last among my rooting interests in the playoffs.

Stupid garbage? WTF?

 

And even if that was stupid, which it wasn't, why would that make you hate them?

Flags fly forever. Meatball? Certainly. But harming your own chances of winning a title is infuriating to me. (Doesn't help that STL benefited from it.)

 

Hasn't there been a glut of studies showing there's not really anything to the whole strategy of capping pitcher innings after TJS? Or am I nuts?

 

I always thought the bigger issue wasn't as much that they chose to limit his innings but that if they knew they were going to limit his innings, why they didn't skip starts periodically throughout the year so he'd be able to pitch in the playoffs.

[Outshined_One]

Making the case for the Giants.

 

Think of an 88-win Giants team going from the second wild card to the NLCS, ending the season of two teams along the way. Think of them winning the pennant with this limping, inconsistent mess. Think of them winning the World Series for the third time in five years. Think of how many people that would royally cheese off. Start with the Dodgers fans. End with the Cardinals fans. Do it the other way around. Mix in some A's fans. They would all be unfathomably bitter. Each of those teams would have their Jose Cruz, Jr. or Sidney Ponson, the goats whose mere names can define a season. The Giants would have another championship and parade. All they have to do is go 12-8 against four different teams.

 

The 2010 team felt like a team of destiny, a random collision of disparate electrons that stunned us all. The 2012 team was the same, but more so, with Marco Scutaro using karmic black magic to ruin Matt Holliday and his stupid team.

[Sammys Boombox]

I've got Royals tickets Tuesday and for both of their ALDS games as well. However, my wife is three days overdue with our first...

 

lolololololol

 

Water broke. At the hospital. Looks like no game for me.

[jersey cubs fan]

I've got Royals tickets Tuesday and for both of their ALDS games as well. However, my wife is three days overdue with our first...

 

lolololololol

 

Water broke. At the hospital. Looks like no game for me.

[jersey cubs fan]

I've been a huge proponent of these WC play-in games, but I do not like that they are staggered and as a result the NL series don't start until Friday. Seems to me that staggered starting times for both games on Tuesday would work, then Wednesday is for the series not involving WC teams and Thursday is for the #1/WC matchups.

[Derwood]

I've been a huge proponent of these WC play-in games, but I do not like that they are staggered and as a result the NL series don't start until Friday. Seems to me that staggered starting times for both games on Tuesday would work, then Wednesday is for the series not involving WC teams and Thursday is for the #1/WC matchups.

 

They complain that the playoffs stretch into November, then let the TV stations dictate their schedule. So stupid

[Andy]

Fine. But I hope you never once bitched about Dusty's usage of our starters in 03.

I was 16 and the pitcher abuse thing wasn't as prevalent as it was now (and I wasn't on any message boards like this one), so I didn't notice until Prior and Wood started getting hurt all the time and people started bringing it up retroactively as the reason. That said, as you mentioned, the two aren't exactly the same.

 

Soccer mentioned what was my biggest problem all along - if you wanted to limit Strasburg's innings, and you had designs on contending (and the Nationals did right from the start, their 2012 run wasn't totally unexpected), then there were all sorts of options to make it happen without shutting him down in the playoffs. If we had a similar situation with an ace pitcher in a playoff run and the Cubs decided not to be flexible and just run him out on regular rest and shut the guy down for the year in September, it would drive most of us here insane, I'm guessing.