Agony and Ivy

Funny thing is, about three years ago, I did obsessively follow the AFL, but for very different reasons. I find it ironic, now that the "waves and waves" are here, and I can't even tell you who's in the AFL, here we are returning to our roots as it were. Same. I went out to the AFL for 2 years to cover some of the guys for a crappy little website I scouted for, and the only reason I really went was to see Bryant one year and Russell the next.

Nah I'm not some kinda insider. I just live next to, and watch baseball with, a good friend of his that played with him at IU so just dumb luck. so basically you're an insider i mean jon lester's father in law's friend was an insider Hahaha time for Ken Rosenthal to eat his heart out. The crazy part is this would've made more sense if it happened before I moved from Chicago. Now I live in Austin and they randomly moved in and he saw my Cubs autographed stuff hanging on my wall. I have seen some hilarious videos of Schwarber that I know the guys like Big Cat would love to see.

If we believe the poster here claiming to be an insider, he's been hitting for a few weeks now. Nah I'm not some kinda insider. I just live next to, and watch baseball with, a good friend of his that played with him at IU so just dumb luck.

things like this drive me nuts when they come from media companies Yup I closed the page as soon as I read that.

I'm going to admit this b/c we're among friends. But I checked the WS schedule when making my travel plans. But I needed to attend this conference and get down to LA by Wed. My only option to not fly during the game was to fly super late or super early. I actually booked my flights thinking "I'm not going to not book them during the WS" just b/c I didn't want to jinx it. Is that meatballish and stupid? Of course. But it worked, so you're welcome. That said, I can watch most of Games 1 and 2 from an airport bar and I made absolutely sure that I wouldn't miss any of Games 3-7. Every year for 11 years I've requested the dates of the World Series off from work as soon as they were released. I have also booked hotel rooms in Chicago for potential games 1 and 2, 3 through 5, and 6 and 7 and always planned to pick and choose which set of games I'd be in town for. As much as I hate the All Star Game deciding anything, it's nice that I'll be there for three games instead of two and knowing in advance which block of reservations I could cancel. I can't wait for this weekend.

Longenhagen Scouts Schwarber's AFL appearance

I land at 9am on Friday morning. Staying at the JW downtown. No tickets but I wanted to be there for the party.

[bbvideo=560,315] [/bbvideo] One of my best friends is a sports anchor for ABC in Sacramento. Outside of the shoutout for me I thought he horsefeathering nailed breaking this down.

When will they have the drawing for World Series tickets?

I love y'all. Spent the night at the Cubs bar here in Austin. I'm soaked in beer. I cried like a child. I called all of my friends and family. I'll see all you [expletive] at the game three meet up.

He has been hitting against live pitching just not in public view. This I know to be 100% fact.

It looks like players on the 60-Day DL are eligible. Yup. I cannot believe this is even a remote possibility or is Theo just the ultimate troll???

This timing is beyond interesting

Sox Talk hit the spot starting on page 37. Edit: Oh page 46 holds the single greatest post of all the misery porn.

Which Sox board did you read? I just finished GRB and I'm ready for dessert. WSI, though honestly it wasn't as satisfying as GRB, imo. GRB was simply delicious. Onto SoxTalk and WSI!

Just got through the White Sox board, heading to GRB now Edit: My favorite is when they exaggerate the David Ross love. Which Sox board did you read? I just finished GRB and I'm ready for dessert.

I wish they would've started Reddick and his wRC+ of 3 against LHP.

Sorry about your dog, man. I don't think I could've even brought myself to watch the game last night if I were you. I hope the Cubs can help cheer you up a little bit tonight.

I'm halfway through anger-eating a bag of M&Ms and hating myself for letting a game impact me this much, and I still can't even fathom the things people do to try and find their way to pessimism. Julio Urias isn't similar to Rich Hill. Hill throws 2 pitches, Urias fairly evenly mixes in 4. Hill had a 2.12 ERA, Urias's is higher than John Lackey's. Urias has already had an outing where the Cubs bombed him into oblivion. He hasn't thrown more than 3.2 innings in 46 days. The Dodgers preferred to send both Kershaw and Hill on 3 days rest than let him start in the NLDS. He is undeniably talented and has had a strong outing against the Cubs, but spare me the 'likely loss' stuff. He'll be mixing in his filthy slider and curve ball. He has the blueprint on how to shut down the Cubs bats. I'm not directly comparing statistics, but they're both lefties and they both have a nasty curve ball. That's all that needs to be said against this Cubs lineup. That's all true that he hasn't thrown many innings, but I don't think it'll matter too much if the bats help him out by striking out like they have been all series long. The guy the Cubs bombed was pitching one of his first few starts. That's no longer the case anymore. NLDS is different from the NLCS because the Nats aren't nearly as flawed and didn't have a blueprint. It was also a winner take all game 5 on the road so you can understand why they'd want Kershaw or Hill over him. It is likely a loss barring them hitting some pitches that they haven't hit well all season long. Sorry that that disappoints you, but that's just the truth. If you haven't already prepared yourself for the cubs season coming to a close, you should do so. It'll take a miracle to save this season given the circumstances the Cubs face in the next two games. This is the dumbest horsefeathering post I've ever read. He could be Sandy horsefeathering Koufax but it doesn't change the fact he's not going more than 4. You really should watch another team or quit watching baseball all together.

They definitely shot fireworks off when Dexter was announced. That means he's gonna lead off dong.

I know it's Rich Hill related but re-living the misery of past playoff experiences is such a Cubs fan thing to do. Let's talk about something else.

There will be blood.

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64% to make, 39% to win Those odds haven't even factored in the pitcher adjustments... FanGraphs has us at 49.4% to win the series but that doesn't take into account individual matchups and the state of the Dodgers staff. FiveThirtyEight is clearly the superior forecasting site.

He's been swinging for a little while now.