2014 Postseason

[Andy]

The A's will still have a good rotation next year, hypothetically they could compete but with the Angels and Mariners in their division, not to mention the Rangers getting healthy and the Astros young guys, it's going to be very hard for them to make the playoffs next year.

 

A shame. What a great night of baseball though. Go KC!

 

I'm guessing Samardzija gets dealt this offseason so they can begin to rebuild their farm system.

I kind of assumed (and I think several others did too) that was the plan all along.

[Cubswin11]

Why is Volquez and not Cole or Liriano starting tonight?

[Andy]

Why is Volquez and not Cole or Liriano starting tonight?

Both started over the weekend as the Pirates tried to catch STL for the Central.

[UMFan83]

Why is Volquez and not Cole or Liriano starting tonight?

Both started over the weekend as the Pirates tried to catch STL for the Central.

 

Ballsy move that could backfire.

[Guest]

I would've given some serious thought to not starting Cole on Sunday. Heading into that day you know the best case scenario is playing a playoff game to get to the NLDS(with the wild card as a fallback), and the worst case scenario is playing a playoff game to get to the NLDS with no fallback. Saving Cole for a wild card game makes some sense to me, but I also think that makes it difficult for him to start 2 NLDS games. Pittsburgh has a good bullpen, so they're better equipped than most to handle this situation of Volquez pitching. Fangraphs wrote about it yesterday: http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/why-starting-edinson-volquez-isnt-a-bad-idea/

[sneakypower]

best comment i saw yesterday:

 

"The Bunt for Ned October"

[rocket]

so I'm going to dc next week for a vacation, and if it comes to it game 5 will be on Thursday. just checked stubhub, and nosebleeds are $97 a ticket, which isn't ungodly. hopefully I can convince the wife to get tickets for this, cross your fingers.

[Guest]

Nationals Park is pretty nice, I went there last year. A bit out of the way from the rest of the tourist attractions, but we did a cab/Uber there and back and it wasn't a problem.

 

On tonight's game, I saw this reposted on Twitter and it still makes me laugh out loud.

 

http://i.imgur.com/v3iclXH.jpg

[Proven Veteran]

Nationals Park is pretty nice, I went there last year. A bit out of the way from the rest of the tourist attractions, but we did a cab/Uber there and back and it wasn't a problem.

 

On tonight's game, I saw this reposted on Twitter and it still makes me laugh out loud.

 

http://i.imgur.com/v3iclXH.jpg

That's amazing.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

Anyone who tries to suggest expanding the WC play-in round to 3 or 5 games should be punched in the face by someone large who can throw a solid punch.

[sneakypower]

why anybody would ever trust Edinson Volquez is beyond me

[Guest]

how in the world is Joe West working a playoff game

[Derwood]

Dammit, Pirates. I'm tired of the Giants

[ConstableRabbit]

This is painful to watch.

[Brian]

Anyone who tries to suggest expanding the WC play-in round to 3 or 5 games should be punched in the face by someone large who can throw a solid punch.

 

nah, but the division series should be 7 games.

[chuckywang]

They should expand the wild card series to 3 or 5 games.

[ConstableRabbit]

The only reason the wild card series is tolerable is its one game nature.

[chuckywang]

The only reason the wild card series is tolerable is its one game nature.

 

Weird, I think it's tolerable cause it pits 2 good teams against each other.

 

My idea is to have a "wild card weekend" of a best of 3 series between the 4 wild card teams at a neutral location. Double headers on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday (if necessary).

[ConstableRabbit]

Baseball is traditionally a long term sport. One game playoffs are awesome because they impress short term decisions. The extreme variance is what makes it fun. When you expand to more games you lose all of that.

[Guest]

Best of 3 all in one day, 11:00, 3:30, and 8:00 if necessary. Problem solved.

[Clem Fandango]

why anybody would ever trust Edinson Volquez is beyond me

I looked up his stats and saw he's been okay but my god when i saw him on TV I thought "Who murdered Garret Cole?!?"

[Hairyducked Idiot]

Best of 3 all in one day, 11:00, 3:30, and 8:00 if necessary. Problem solved.

 

This is the only way adding more games to that round would be remotely acceptable. But even then, only for the novelty factor.

[jersey cubs fan]

The only reason the wild card series is tolerable is its one game nature.

 

Weird, I think it's tolerable cause it pits 2 good teams against each other.

 

My idea is to have a "wild card weekend" of a best of 3 series between the 4 wild card teams at a neutral location. Double headers on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday (if necessary).

 

A neutral location would sell 5 tickets and be dull as hell.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

Anything that puts even one day's more space between the end of the regular season and the start of the divisional round is a non-starter. It's too long as it is. Screw travel days, start it on Tusday and Wednesday.

[jersey cubs fan]

Anything that puts even one day's more space between the end of the regular season and the start of the divisional round is a non-starter. It's too long as it is. Screw travel days, start it on Tusday and Wednesday.

 

Anything involving a doubleheader or any more days off for other teams is a non-starter. One game play-ins are the perfect and only solution.