squally1313

Figured I'd take a shot here first. I have four tickets to today's game I can no longer use, section 508/509 (middle of the aisle, all together). Paid $100/each, cheapest/only tickets in that section are going for $95/each on Stubhub right now. Given the Stubhub fees, if anyone wants them at $100/each, I get my money back and you probably end up coming out a little bit ahead by not paying the Stubhub fees (just checked, all in it's $460 on Stubhub). If anyone wants them, PM me. I'll give you guys until noon before putting them up there.

In more normal circumstances I would say yes, but given that our 4 starters are as interchangable as any playoff rotation I can remember, I'd stay the course and use the day to make Lester a multi-inning weapon in Game 4/5 if needed. I like that. Quintana lines up for game 1 of the NLCS on normal rest, let Joe figure out the best way to use the other three to get one win in the next two games. Really hope they find a way to get this in...already pushed back a business trip one day to go tonight, don't think I'll be able to go tomorrow, which means I'm stuck watching game 4 and 5 in the Indy suburbs somewhere.

Getting Jayson Werth more at-bats at the expense of Anthony Rendon seems...curious.

Eh, all things considered he had a pretty good day yesterday, and I'll take him in right over Heyward. Happy to see they're sticking with Schwarber, although I still don't know why he's batting behind Zobrist. Gives up some outfield defense, but we get our lockdown infield back, so it's fine.

This is the dumbest good game ever

Wrong

I’m still baffled on zobrist hitting in front of schwarber.

Our top two pinch hitters are switch hitters...have fun with that Dusty.

Q typically doesn't try to run up the score on other teams. Of course if the other team can't manage any sort of defense there isn't a lot he can do. It's tough with hockey...it's not like you can bench your starters. Seabrook's goal made it pretty clear they were screwing around and trying different things. How often do you see him set up in front of the net like that? Hard to tell someone to not instinctively try to bat in a rebound like that. Sounds like Schmaltz is ok (and Kero too, for what it's worth)....he looked really good last night.

Winning the World Series is really unlikely for any team, whether you're a 115 win, 92 win, or 80 win team. That's why it's so amazing they did it last year...can you imagine the meatball takes if they lose this year following a game 7 loss last year, and suddenly they have 3 straight playoff exits on top of all the 1908 crap? It would be horsefeathering amazing to win, and I'm sure come tonight I'll be cheering as hard as I was last year. But if they don't win (and statistically, they probably won't), it won't come with this sense of dread or worry that existed at the end of every other year pre-2016. They're still really talented, and really young, and they're going to be around for a long time.

Didn't quite run the math on how the schedule would play out in an 8 team division, so my initial thinking that you'd still play your rivals just as much doesn't really hold up (unless you like the idea of playing 133 games against divisional opponents). You're right, the system works fine as is. My way is as close to a 'bye' system as there likely would be, and it doubles the amount of wild card games, a concept I think everyone supports. Probably works better in a 24-25 team league than 30 though.

Rick Porcello had a 4.65 ERA this year, backed up by a 4.60 FIP, but he stole a Cy Young last year, so throw him at 16th. Masahiro Tanaka had a 4.74 ERA (4.34 FIP), and just watched Luis Severino start their one game, must win playoff, but he's their best pitcher at 14th. Jake is 6th, which....is bold.

And that is a problem. Baseball is a local/provincial sport, and an everyday sport. Divisional rivalries matter, and are the lifeblood of the regular season. There is nothing to be gained by going to 2 divisions. The Brewers don't need to be playing the Marlins more every year and the Cubs less. Baseball isn't going to improve with fewer Dodgers/Giants games, which would be required under a 2 division format. There are 30 major league baseball teams and no good reason to expand. The best way to handle that is to have 3, 5-team divisions. Going 7/8 is an unnecessary mess. I also hate the idea of setting up a situation where a 101 win division leader plays first round against a 100 win WC that played a 95 win WC while the other side of the bracket has a potential for a 93 win team playing a first round series against a 85 win team that knocked out an 84 win team. The best record in the league should get some benefit to having the best record. They face a WC team now that could actually be the 2nd best team, but they are also forced to burn top pitchers and wear down a bullpen in the WC game. There's no built in benefit to having the best record in your system. At the end of the day, baseball should not be stealing ideas from hockey, which makes it difficult to miss the playoffs. The idea I was stealing from hockey was encouraging division/local rivalries, which is what you started talking about. I'd also encourage making the schedule more unbalanced, to increase games played against rival teams/teams near you, and decrease the odds that you'd have the two best records coming from the same division. The best record would get home field, obviously, but if the Cubs and Cardinals both make the playoffs, I'd want to guarantee they play each other. This idea gives guaranteed division series spots to 4 teams, down from 6, so I wouldn't say it's making it easier to make the playoffs.

{chills} That wind and camera work made those 4-5 seconds (which felt like about 6 minutes) just a horsefeathering roller coaster. Between the intial contact and the first camera shot, I thought it was landing on a rooftop. Then the camera panned down way quicker than it should have, and you hear 'Pagan is there...' and you just have this sense of dread (pre-Championship), and then Vasgersian explodes with the basket comment. Feels like a different era given everything that happened the rest of the month, but what a start.

My slight tweak, which really isn't different enough to warrant changing: Two divisions in each league, 1st place in your division gets you into the divisional series, 2nd and 3rd place in each division play a one-game playoff to make the divisional series. The divisional series are always played against the other team in your division. Doubles down on the one-game playoff, steals hockey's idea of encouraging division rivalries in the early rounds of the playoffs, increases the number of playoff games by 2 (2 more wild card games), but those are played on the same night so the overall schedule stays the same. Obviously the big change would be moving to two divisions.

Remember when the Cubs played in one of these games? Yeah but between Jake and the first inning lead, I never doubted it. Schwarber put it in the river and the rest was a celebration.

This game is awesome and really makes me appreciate winning the division.

I wonder what it is about Tommy Pham that would rub them the wrong way. I can't quite put my finger on it. Maybe Dexter would know the answer.

Yeah, now that they turned it around and finished with a successful season (ie, 90+ wins, division title), I'm good going into Friday. I know I probably put too much emphasis on playoff baseball being a crapshoot, but now that I know that the Super Cubs are alive and well, and without the soul crushing desire to see a World Series, I'm feeling pretty relaxed. This will all change in about 35 hours, so enjoying it now.

91-69. Two more wins would be very nice.

Jesus....I'm on a pretty fast connection and was refreshing right up until 12:00...got in as quick as I could and tried to get 4 tickets for game 3, best available. Apparently the best available, seconds after it opening, were standing room. Went back, requested 4 for game 4...section 508. Clearly there aren't many tickets out there.

Fair...I was blanking on who our leadoff guy has been lately. If I'm going to grant him that, then I'd love to see Happ at second with Zobrist on the bench, but that's probably more wishful thinking.

I've been pushing for Quintana to be the game one starter, but I think Hendricks might have earned it last night. Assuming they go with Scherzer game one, here's what I'd like to see: 1. Zobrist (2B) 2. Bryant 3. Rizzo 4. Schwarber (LF) 5. Avila © 6. Happ (CF) 7. Heyward (RF) 8. Russell Could see the arguments for putting Bryant in right to get LaStella's bat in the lineup, but I think it weakens the defense just a little too much. Given Strasburg's more neutral splits, Contreras (and Baez) should start the rest of the games.

Look I don't want us wasting any extra effort these next three days, but I'd feel remiss if I didn't point out that we have 69 losses right now.

Think of it as a test run for next week. See what sticks, what doesn't work, narrow it down to the top shows for when the games really matter.