Teddy17

Good win by Hendricks. Nats wasted a good start by Strasburg. If Lester shuts us down then I’ll be worried. See you guys tomorrow.

Meh. Takes more to scare me off. I’m planning on the Nats losing.

I read this as "Basically the only way the Cubs can win this is if the Nats screw up. The Cubs players have little to do with the outcome" You can read it like that if you want. But I haven’t followed the cubs all year, so it’s hard to come at it from your perspective, which is why I said that and asked for others’ opinions. I came to learn and discuss. The Cubs are the Champs if I need to praise them to be here. But I hardly think it’s contorversial to say “if the Nats ace and Cleanup hitter perform well, then they will win”

NLDS. All times Eastern Game 3 Oct 9 4:00 pm Game 4* Oct 10 5:30 pm Game 5* Oct 12 5:30 pm

Two sweeps I think.

I am very excited about this game. It’s only about two hours until I head to the park. But I am also super nervous. This is going to be a good series. My thoughts: It comes down to Strasburg being the Strasburg he’s been for the past two months. If he is, it becomes very difficult for you guys to win. If we can get a moderately healthy Max for game 3 or 4,that’s all the better. But I’m not counting on him at this point. The other key is Ryan Zimmerman. It is clear that Maddon/Cubs pitching do not respect him, because he hasn’t perfomed in the past couple of years. But he is a different player this year. I imagine he will get pitches to hit. If he hits them, the Nats win, if not, they likely won’t, or it will be harder. If he hits, Maddon will have to pitch to Murphy, Harper, and Rendon, which isn’t ideal. So those are the two most important players in this series. Strasburg and Zimmerman. But That’s from a Nats fan’s perspective. I’d be interested in hearing what Cubs fans think.

Here's a summary: the WC series is a best of 2. Wild Card 2 needs to win both games of a double header to advance. Wildcard 1 need only win 1 game. That would make for some pretty intense game action. It gives the 4th best team a big advantage over the 5th best team. At the same time, it still punishes the 4th best team for not winning the division. Downside: other than the fans of those 2 teams, who's going to watch the first 7 innings of game 1? So unless WC 2 wins game 1, ratings will probably go down. what in the world would be the point of this fiasco? It rewards wild card 1 for having the better record. It makes it much more likely that the better team will advance than a 3 game series would. It still punishes the team for not winning the division (even more so if they don't win that first game). It is compelling/exciting for 2 games and the doubleheader aspect would involve interesting strategy. I imagine there would be an intense incentive to avoid that second game if you're the better team. You'll go all out. Also, who other than diehard baseball fans and fans of the two teams are watching an entire wild card game? I think that most people would be tuning in those games late as well. In this system game 1 could potentially be it.

two game playoff has two eliminations games.

If any cubs fans are coming to DC for one or both games here is a good Cubs bar, Ivy and Coney. It's a few stops up on the Metro from the Park http://www.ivyandconey.com/

Sorry KBO typo. KBC is a bar in DC. Korean Baseball Organization.

I like an idea that was floated that if there was a gap between the two wild card teams then do like the KBC and have a two game playoff. The team with the better record has to win once, but the team with the worse record has to win twice. It significantly increases the chances that the best team advances (more so than a best of three would) and still puts a significant penalty for being the wildcard, more so if the best team doesn’t win that first game. You could even do this as a doubleheader. I know there are a couple of logistical issues, but I like the idea in principle.

I think I will. I can take it. I’ll probably stay out of game day threads though. Ours can get nasty.

Yep, but that makes Game 3 more likely, apparently: [tweet] [/tweet] [tweet] [/tweet] more likely than 1 or 2, sure also would seem to make it more likely (than game 1 or 2) that he doesn't pitch at all I infiltrated your board. Some Nats fans were hoping that Max would go in game 3 before the injury. Scherzer is 10-2 with a 1.86 ERA and WHIP of 0.81 on the road vs. 6-4 with a 3.25 ERA and WHIP of 1.00 at home But since Strasburg has been the best pitcher in baseball over the past 6 weeks, it was an easy decision to slot him in game 1. The real benefit of having Scherzer pitch game 2 is that then both Strasburg and Max available for a potential game 5. But I am ok either way. Should be a good series.