2024 Playoffs - NLCS/ALCS

[nrockway]

Soto is easily the best baseball player I've watched since Bonds. Judge? Super overrated.

[caulfield12]

JR won't be bidding on Juan Soto either.

[caulfield12]

5 minutes ago, nrockway said:

Soto is easily the best baseball player I've watched since Bonds. Judge? Super overrated.

He didn't play this way for SD.

He was below average defensively...and not clutch, and slow.

 

But something happens to players when they put on Yankees and now Dodgers uniforms to elevated their games to another level.

And then the FA walk year salary drive.

Another $25-30 million right there added to the package.

[JUSTgottaBELIEVE]

On 10/18/2024 at 10:18 PM, flavum said:

Rocchio is a terrible defensive player

And he strikes yet again. Brutal 

[caulfield12]

2 minutes ago, JUSTgottaBELIEVE said:

And he strikes yet again. Brutal 

They weren't going to get the double play regardless but maybe Torres hits into one.

[JUSTgottaBELIEVE]

2 minutes ago, caulfield12 said:

They weren't going to get the double play regardless but maybe Torres hits into one.

Get the out at second base and they’re out of the inning before Soto bats. Huge errors in key spots all series for Rocchio.

[nrockway]

11 minutes ago, caulfield12 said:

He didn't play this way for SD.

He was below average defensively...and not clutch, and slow.

 

But something happens to players when they put on Yankees and now Dodgers uniforms to elevated their games to another level.

And then the FA walk year salary drive.

Another $25-30 million right there added to the package.

He was incredible in DC though, right? Not necessarily a marquee team, despite being the nation's capital. I agree with you, he was a little lackluster in SD. I think his time in San Diego is an aberration. Also quite short. He was also statistically well about average in a Padres jersey....936 plate appearances, .893 OPS.  sub.900 seems bad for Soto, right, but a 'down year' is an all-star year for most players. Pretty much my point. We'll see if he can maintain it. I hope so. He's a super fun player to watch. Have you seen a player with a better command of the strike zone? Robbie Grossman?  I love the idea of being egotistical about being patient and taking a walk. Yet still hitting for both average and power. His defense is better year by year too. MLB wants to make Judge and Ohtani the stars, and they are, but I imagine Soto is a scarier hitter to face.

I think this begs an interesting question: I suspect you follow the Padres with a similar SoCal gusto as I do, likely more so. Preller's teams have consistently underperformed. "On paper", these teams should have been much better. I like the Padres. I generally like the roster decisions Preller makes too. And they remind me of the Sox in this way: the players show up there and underperform and do better elsewhere, despite some different operational decisions ($$$$$). I guess what I'm trying to say is: is it possible that the White Sox make players worse and also the Padres make players worse?

[chw42]

The Yankees better be ready to back up the Brinks truck for Soto. 

[kitekrazy]

2 hours ago, caulfield12 said:

He didn't play this way for SD.

He was below average defensively...and not clutch, and slow.

 

But something happens to players when they put on Yankees and now Dodgers uniforms to elevated their games to another level.

And then the FA walk year salary drive.

Another $25-30 million right there added to the package.

With the White Sox it's the opposite  Son there will be this label on a player having the Sox stink on him. 

[caulfield12]

4 hours ago, nrockway said:

He was incredible in DC though, right? Not necessarily a marquee team, despite being the nation's capital. I agree with you, he was a little lackluster in SD. I think his time in San Diego is an aberration. Also quite short. He was also statistically well about average in a Padres jersey....936 plate appearances, .893 OPS.  sub.900 seems bad for Soto, right, but a 'down year' is an all-star year for most players. Pretty much my point. We'll see if he can maintain it. I hope so. He's a super fun player to watch. Have you seen a player with a better command of the strike zone? Robbie Grossman?  I love the idea of being egotistical about being patient and taking a walk. Yet still hitting for both average and power. His defense is better year by year too. MLB wants to make Judge and Ohtani the stars, and they are, but I imagine Soto is a scarier hitter to face.

I think this begs an interesting question: I suspect you follow the Padres with a similar SoCal gusto as I do, likely more so. Preller's teams have consistently underperformed. "On paper", these teams should have been much better. I like the Padres. I generally like the roster decisions Preller makes too. And they remind me of the Sox in this way: the players show up there and underperform and do better elsewhere, despite some different operational decisions ($$$$$). I guess what I'm trying to say is: is it possible that the White Sox make players worse and also the Padres make players worse?

Except Machado is likely on a HoF track still.

Merrill went from a 19-20 year old SS to a RoY and nearly a GG CFer.

Arraez did about as expecting winning a third batting title...same with Scott and Adam and the pen acquisitions replacing Hader.

Cease was better until the postseason.

King greatly improved from his Yankees' form where he was critically under appreciated.

Profar Peralta Solano Estrada Higashioka out performed.

 

It really comes down to the Musgrove/Danish injuries and personal issues...and under performance from Bogaerts (signed through age 40), Cronenworth and Tatis being about 100 ops points off his previous 959 career ops entering 2023. A star in many rights from an MLB marketing standpoint, like an Angel Reese WNBA foil or villain...but not one of the Top 5 or so players in the game.  More like #15-25.

And if they had been able to convince a Judge or other premiere players to go west two years ago...they wouldn't have made the desperation move for Bogaerts IMO (the Sox equivalent of ending up with Keuchel instead of Wheeler, or a certain steak and potatoes eating weight-challenged pitcher).  That's a really really scary contract going forward that is going to cascade downward.

Franchise crippling.

Edited Sunday at 08:52 AM by caulfield12

[greg775]

Baseball is full of mediocre to lousy players. Cleveland's bullpen implodes. Somebody told me baseball average batting average is under .250. Shows how impressive the Sox losing 120 games was. It's really difficult to lose that many games in this current environment. How can anybody pay Cease a gazillion dollars in in his next contract after what he did?

Edited Sunday at 08:01 PM by greg775

[caulfield12]

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/41909178/los-angeles-dodgers-use-michael-kopech-game-6-opener

[caulfield12]

3 hours ago, greg775 said:

Baseball is full of mediocre to lousy players. Cleveland's bullpen implodes. Somebody told me baseball average batting average is under .250. Shows how impressive the Sox losing 120 games was. It's really difficult to lose that many games in this current environment. How can anybody pay Cease a gazillion dollars in in his next contract after what he did?

Because you still can't get to the postseason every year with the Rays' opener/bullpen heavy usage approach.

You need at least 3-4 quality starters to handle the bulk of the workload.

Look at how many starts Lugo Singer Wacha Ragans made for KC last year.

 

And if you destroy your bullpen in August and September you're toast in October anyway.

[caulfield12]

EdmanSS

3

1

2

4

0

0

.357

.849  12 Oct RBI's, guess Getz is going to receive a gift basket...Kopech as well

Edited Monday at 01:49 AM by caulfield12

[Tnetennba]

21 hours ago, chw42 said:

The Yankees better be ready to back up the Brinks truck for Soto. 

Half a billion easily, and one ugly luxury tax bill. 

[caulfield12]

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/10140115-juan-soto-worth-600m-yankees-contract-after-alcs-heroics-amid-mlb-free-agency-rumor

$600 million is crazy...

[caulfield12]

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/10140115-juan-soto-worth-600m-yankees-contract-after-alcs-heroics-amid-mlb-free-agency-rumor

$600 million is crazy...

 

Dodgers with 7 members of their playoff lineup at 713 ops or higher, including 6 over 800.

Guess it's on brand that Maton and Manaea are both former Padres.

Edited Monday at 02:26 AM by caulfield12

[chw42]

That trade the Dodgers made with the Sox and Cardinals really paid dividends for them. 

[hi8is]

49 minutes ago, chw42 said:

That trade the Dodgers made with the Sox and Cardinals really paid dividends for them. 

MVP for nothing 😆

[Balta1701]

1 hour ago, caulfield12 said:

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/10140115-juan-soto-worth-600m-yankees-contract-after-alcs-heroics-amid-mlb-free-agency-rumor

$600 million is crazy...

 

Dodgers with 7 members of their playoff lineup at 713 ops or higher, including 6 over 800.

Guess it's on brand that Maton and Manaea are both former Padres.

Shouldn’t you be posting about how great the ratings will be? 

[greg775]

5 hours ago, caulfield12 said:

Because you still can't get to the postseason every year with the Rays' opener/bullpen heavy usage approach.

You need at least 3-4 quality starters to handle the bulk of the workload.

Look at how many starts Lugo Singer Wacha Ragans made for KC last year.

 

And if you destroy your bullpen in August and September you're toast in October anyway.

Baseball should be ashamed of itself. In the Dodger series Game Six today both teams used seven pitchers going about an inning each. It's disgusting the role of starting pitcher is becoming extinct. Soon in a year or maybe two will all games involve about 7 pitchers going 1 or 1 2/3 innings apiece? So like I said before the future of pitchers is NO CONSIDERATION for Hall of Fame. Cause even closers aren't going to close long enough to rack up a decent amount of career saves. Prices going up, up, up and the quality of baseball players down, down, down.

Can u imagine negotiating contracts with these one inning wonders? For instance will Kopech earn a gazillion dollars in his next contract?? For what? An inning a game maybe four games a week? 3-4 games? Sickening times we live in. ... Good thing baseball has a pitch clock cause with all these pitching changes we'd be up to 4.5 hours per game instead of 2:30.

[caulfield12]

1 hour ago, Balta1701 said:

Shouldn’t you be posting about how great the ratings will be? 

Great is going to be a relative term...compared to the last time the Yankees were in the World Series in 2009.

Or the last Dodgers/Yankees World Series 43 years ago, in 1981 (strike year), but the 12th match-up overall across MLB history (most in the 1950's/60's).

 

 

In September 2000, Fox Sports reportedly paid $2.45 billion to become the exclusive over-the-air broadcaster of Major League Baseball’s World Series.

This year, the network will realize a dream matchup of the Los Angeles Dodgers facing the New York Yankees in the best-of-seven series.

 

Los Angeles and New York are the two largest television markets, and each have fans everywhere.

For reference, the 2023 World Series between the Texas Rangers and Arizona Diamondbacks drew an average television rating of 4.7, which was the lowest rated World Series since rating records began.

 

But that World Series didn’t feature two of the most iconic franchises in Major League Baseball history.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/berniepleskoff/2024/10/20/fox-sports-gets-dream-match-with-yankees-v-dodgers-in-world-series/

Edited Monday at 06:03 AM by caulfield12

[caulfield12]

Major League Baseball’s postseason has been knocking it out of the park.

The National League Championship Series’ first game between the New York Mets and Los Angeles Dodgers on Sunday averaged 8.26 million viewers across Fox

Sports’ TV networks and streaming, making it the most-watched LCS game on any network since 2009, according to Fox Sports.

The first game of the American League Championship Series on Monday night between the New York Yankees and Cleveland Guardians saw an uptick of 4% from 2023, grossing 3.9 million viewers, according to a TNT Sports spokesperson.

Both series were competing for national attention during “Sunday Night Football” and “Monday Night Football,” where all three of New York’s National Football League teams were playing in the primetime slots.

The championship series gains come right after four successful league division series for MLB and its broadcast partners. The American League Division Series averaged three million viewers, a more than 20% increase from 2023, according to TNT Sports. Viewership for the National League Division Series rose, too, with game four in each series climbing from 2022.

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/10/16/mlb-playoff-viewership-rises-in-yankees-guardians-mets-dodgers-series.html

Edited Monday at 06:06 AM by caulfield12

[greg775]

9 minutes ago, caulfield12 said:

Major League Baseball’s postseason has been knocking it out of the park.

The National League Championship Series’ first game between the New York Mets and Los Angeles Dodgers on Sunday averaged 8.26 million viewers across Fox

Sports’ TV networks and streaming, making it the most-watched LCS game on any network since 2009, according to Fox Sports.

The first game of the American League Championship Series on Monday night between the New York Yankees and Cleveland Guardians saw an uptick of 4% from 2023, grossing 3.9 million viewers, according to a TNT Sports spokesperson.

Both series were competing for national attention during “Sunday Night Football” and “Monday Night Football,” where all three of New York’s National Football League teams were playing in the primetime slots.

The championship series gains come right after four successful league division series for MLB and its broadcast partners. The American League Division Series averaged three million viewers, a more than 20% increase from 2023, according to TNT Sports. Viewership for the National League Division Series rose, too, with game four in each series climbing from 2022.

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/10/16/mlb-playoff-viewership-rises-in-yankees-guardians-mets-dodgers-series.html

It's NYY vs. LA Dodgers. It coulda been the KC Royals vs. the Brewers. Quite a difference in $$ for the networks. Hard for me to pick the winner, but I'll assume the Yankees will continue their recent lift and pull for HR ways and they will win. It wouldn't shock me however if the Dodgers finally win it all. Dodgers get to open at home so I'll say if the Yankees lose both games in LA they won't come back and win. If they win one or two in LA, they'll win it.

[caulfield12]

18 minutes ago, greg775 said:

It's NYY vs. LA Dodgers. It coulda been the KC Royals vs. the Brewers. Quite a difference in $$ for the networks. Hard for me to pick the winner, but I'll assume the Yankees will continue their recent lift and pull for HR ways and they will win. It wouldn't shock me however if the Dodgers finally win it all. Dodgers get to open at home so I'll say if the Yankees lose both games in LA they won't come back and win. If they win one or two in LA, they'll win it.

You were just badmouthing the Yankees after attending the ALDS, at any rate, Dodgers open as the betting favorites.

 

Edman plated 11 runs in the NLCS, tying Corey Seager for most RBIs in a postseason series for the Dodgers since that statistic became official in 1920.

In a series full of big hits, Edman delivered two huge ones in his first two trips to the plate in Sunday’s Game 6. His two-run double in the first inning put the Dodgers ahead, 2-1, and provided the first lead change of what had been a lopsided series. In the third, Edman mashed his first career postseason home run, a two-run shot that gave him 11 RBIs in the NLCS to tie Corey Seager’s franchise record for any round of the postseason.

Seager’s 11 RBIs against the Braves in the 2020 NLCS won him series MVP honors.

mlb.com