Popping in to say I am shocked the Guardians are in the playoffs and look forward to them getting surprisingly swept by the Mariners.
lol. The Mariners have gone 4-10 (? somewhere around there) over the last two weeks against the Angles, A's, Rangers, and Royals. If anyone is gonna back into the playoffs and get swept, it's them. The only reason they're likely to make the playoffs is that Baltimore has also struggled recently, but they're playing the best teams in the league, not the worst.
UpToIsomorphism wrote:Popping in to say I am shocked the Guardians are in the playoffs and look forward to them getting surprisingly swept by the Mariners.
lol. The Mariners have gone 4-10 (? somewhere around there) over the last two weeks against the Angles, A's, Rangers, and Royals. If anyone is gonna back into the playoffs and get swept, it's them. The only reason they're likely to make the playoffs is that Baltimore has also struggled recently, but they're playing the best teams in the league, not the worst.
I'd be more nervous about the Mariners if they won 100+ games and cruised into the playoffs.
The Mariners are a chaos team this season, so everything from an embarrassing first-round sweep to a shocking WS run is on the table, as far as I'm concerned.
The Mariners are a chaos team this season, so everything from an embarrassing first-round sweep to a shocking WS run is on the table, as far as I'm concerned.
Yup, they are an extremely hot and cold team. Doesn't help that Julio Rodriguez is on the IL now.
Mike Trout missed 42 games this year, yet somehow has 38 home runs. His *career* 176-OPS+ still doesn't make sense to me. I just can't fully wrap my head around someone being that good at something that should be very difficult.
If he could stay healthy, we'd all accept he's literally a Baseball God.
Phils trying to prove how much they deserve to be in the playoffs by getting swept by the Cubbies, after winning two against the Braves. 
At least they haven't done this kind of thing since last year...
Next up the Nats, if the rain lets them play, then 3 games at Houston which should be easy. Luckily the Brewers will have tough games at home against Florida and Arizona.
Blue Jays clinched today. Rays lost which increases the Blue Jays lead on the top wild card to 2 games.
Jays have 6 games left. 3 against Boston and 3 in Baltimore.
Rays have 6 games left. 3 against the Astros and another 3 against the Red Sox.
Mariners have 8 games left. 3 vs Oakland and 4 vs Detroit (one double-header). They also play the Rangers tonight.
So! Let's talk about Shohei tonight:
2-4 with an RBI single...
...aaaaand 8 IP, 2 hits, 1 walk, 10 Ks, had a no-no going into the 8th.
I love him.
The Mariners are a chaos team this season, so everything from an embarrassing first-round sweep to a shocking WS run is on the table, as far as I'm concerned.
CHAOSBALL REIGNS SUPREME
Phils trying to prove how much they deserve to be in the playoffs by getting swept by the Cubbies, after winning two against the Braves. :sad:
After the Braves games, I had hope. And then the Cubs happened. Fool me once, shame on you, fool me ... sorry - ran out of fingers and toes - shame on me.
I sure miss going to games, though, win or lose. The last time I was going to games on the semi-regular, Schmidt was in the first 1/3 of his career.
-BEP
So the Mariners are likely to clinch a playoff spot today*, either by winning themselves or more likely by the O's losing to the Yankees. The last time they were in the playoffs, I was 19 and a sophomore in college. I had just met my wife, but we were still ~6 months from going on a date. Now I'm 40, have changed jobs a few times, moved 3000 miles, have two kids of my own, and both lost and regained my love of baseball.
More than any of their (rare) good teams in the past, this one is weirdly fun to watch. They win (and lose) in often very strange ways. Someone is always cracking up in the dugout. They do a stupid dance on the field after every win. I do wonder if teenager-me would have had a problem with them seeming to have so much fun, because my memory of those late-90s and early-2000s teams is of them being deadly serious about wins and losses.
Anyway, I don't know why I'm giddy about a bunch of millionaires advancing to the playoffs when they're very likely to lose, but you never know -- weirder things have happened.
*Though as a lifelong Mariners fan, I have to acknowledge that there'd be nothing more mariners than for them to lose-out the rest of the season with Baltimore winning the rest of their games and thus making the playoffs over the Ms.
“The Seattle Mariners are not competitors; they're protagonists”
- Jon Bois
Hrdina wrote:Phils trying to prove how much they deserve to be in the playoffs by getting swept by the Cubbies, after winning two against the Braves. :sad:
After the Braves games, I had hope. And then the Cubs happened. Fool me once, shame on you, fool me ... sorry - ran out of fingers and toes - shame on me.
I sure miss going to games, though, win or lose. The last time I was going to games on the semi-regular, Schmidt was in the first 1/3 of his career.
-BEP
For me it was the mid-80s, so Schmidt was at the end of his peak years (3rd MVP was 1986). I was spoiled because when I first started watching baseball (1975 or so) the Phils were just transitioning into a respectable franchise after 25 years of (at best) mediocrity. Little did I realize that this was an exception for them!
There have been so many times when this team has teased me, without even going into the history of late-season collapses that dates back to the infamous 1964.
I'm still bitter about the losing the split-season playoffs to Montreal in 1981, after giving me hope by coming back from 2 games down.
I'm still bitter about losing to the $#!@$# Orioles in 1983, after the Wheeze Kids won game 1.
I'm still bitter about Mitch $#!&%$^ Williams in 1993.
I'm still bitter about Alex Rodriguez choosing 2009 as the time to start playing well in the post-season.
The Orioles' pitch charts to Judge tonight are deeply, deeply hilarious. They might as well be throwing at the on-deck circle.
*Though as a lifelong Mariners fan, I have to acknowledge that there'd be nothing more mariners than for them to lose-out the rest of the season with Baltimore winning the rest of their games and thus making the playoffs over the Ms.
Well, thank God they didn't do THAT.
Dave Sims with a hell of a call.
The Orioles' pitch charts to Judge tonight are deeply, deeply hilarious. They might as well be throwing at the on-deck circle.
I respect the sheer amount of "Nah, you ain't getting this on us" energy Baltimore's giving.
Ohtani signs 1 year for 30m. The Judge is watching closely...
Interesting. He’s still under arbitration, so the Angels didn’t actually have to do that. Maybe a sign that they’re intending to attempt to keep him.
Interesting. He’s still under arbitration, so the Angels didn’t actually have to do that. Maybe a sign that they’re intending to attempt to keep him.
I don’t think the Angels even know who the owner’s going to be. They’ll probs my try to re-sign him but this may turn into another Soto situation.
Ah, the Mets.
I got a glimpse of Mets Twitter this evening and it's Chernobyl, April 1986 over there.
About all that Phillies bitterness...
We didn't wait quite as long as Seattle, but we're back. A week ago I was certain that getting swept by the Cubs was the last nail in our coffin.
Tonight's disappointment was only that Nola lost a perfect game with 2 outs in the 7th. Still ended up with a 2-hitter.
Edit: Wow, classy Astros stadium people put "Congratulations Philadelphia" on their scoreboard. 
About all that Phillies bitterness...
We didn't wait quite as long as Seattle, but we're back. A week ago I was certain that getting swept by the Cubs was the last nail in our coffin.
Yup. I was sure that was a harbinger.
Tonight's disappointment was only that Nola lost a perfect game with 2 outs in the 7th. Still ended up with a 2-hitter.
Edit: Wow, classy Astros stadium people put "Congratulations Philadelphia" on their scoreboard. :cool:
Showing strong when it counts feels good. I'd still keep a ball from that game if I were he.
Another stadium put a Grats message the other day when the away team clinched. It did put a little warm fuzzy in the 'ol heart. It's good to see that kind of sportsmanship. If the opposing fans would have given them a round of applause (did it happen?) that would be amazing. Young me wouldn't have. Current me would without a second thought. Well, for any team that doesn't rhyme with Craves.
I don't have a lot of hope for the post-season, but I'm glad they are there. I wish I was like my old drinking buddy who was a Royals fan. No matter what, he always had hope and believed they could win it all - REALLY believed, not just saying it. He would explain to me all the changes they made and how it was going to work out. Every April he would tell me "The Royals are going to be better this year!" and I always replied "It will be hard for them not to be." I'm glad he finally got to see it happen twice.
-BEP
I don't care about baseball, I'm just here to say
AARON JUDGE FRESNO STATE
Even after getting into the playoffs the Mets still have to Mets.
I knew he wouldn't do it at Yankee Stadium. 
Might as well have hit it towards Martin Shkreli.
Weren’t we supposed to get a dislike button at some point?
Shohei has...
- the 10th-most HRs in the league (tied)
- a higher batting average than Mookie Betts, Francisco Lindor, and Ronald Acuna Jr.
- the 6th-best ERA in the league
- the 6th-most strikeouts, better than Sandy Alcantara and Justin Verlander
Aaron Judge could've won the Triple Crown and he could still logically lose the MVP to this dude. Insanity.
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