This is what I think of the baseball postseason
Several people have asked me on IRC / AIM / Zephyr / etc what I think of the baseball postseason, and mostly I've been giving scattered answers. So, in deference to ![[profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
anukul, I'm gonna quickly scribble my thoughts. I might be totally wrong about some of this stuff because I was mostly following these teams as "dire enemies of the Mariners that I wish to understand better":
Giants vs. Marlins
I would actually like to see the Giants win the World Series. I think. They are a really good team, and they came so close last year. (Not that I don't think the Angels deserved to win. I can't stress enough how much respect I have for Brendan Donnelly and Troy Percival, can I?) Seriously, they are a really good team, they have some superb players (not even counting Bonds and his crazy .530 OBP, you've got JT Snow and Marquis Grissom and such providing excellent defense, a decent regular catcher like Benito Santiago, and then you put some 280'sish averages in with someone like Bonds hitting cleanup, and there you go... not to mention quality pitching from Jason Schmidt and others), and hey, there's only so long that people can pitch around Bonds, you know :) I mean, that's just crazy, I just saw his numbers for the year... .341 average, 45 HR, 148 walks? Youch.
At any rate, I definitely want the Giants to beat the Marlins, because I'm still angry at them for beating out the Phillies for the Wild Card when I honestly do believe the Phillies are a better team than them. And if the Braves beat the Cubs, I *definitely* want the Giants to beat the Braves. Yarrrr, but we be hatin' the Braves.
Giants haven't won a series since they were still in New York, in 1954. Tough break. Let's hope this year is better.
Cubs vs. Braves
I don't really care whether or not the Cubs win the World Series, to be honest. I think it would be pretty awesome if there was a Cubs vs. Red Sox series, but that's only because at least ONE of those two would HAVE to win and then at least ONE of the cities would shut the fuck up about their bad luck and how their teams keep going out there and losing like a bunch of little girls in the postseason. (Ok, that's not fair, really, but you know, I didn't even remember which team lost to the Mets in '86, I just remembered the circumstances.)
However, no matter how much respect I have for the skills of the Atlanta Braves, I still want them to lose. They're like the Yankees of the National League... like the "you gotta win Wild Card if you wanna get to the postseason if you're in the East division" sort of team. I mean, they have some DAMNED good players... Furcal, Sheffield, Chipper Jones, Marcus Giles, Javy Lopez, Greg Maddux, Russ Ortiz... yeah. Definitely one of the higher quality baseball teams in recent history. I was really impressed by the Braves when they came out here during interleague this year, we had some crazy close games with some great fielding and pitching on both sides... though iirc, Meche beat Maddux :) Anyway, I still hope they lose in the playoffs :) It looks like they went 2-4 against the Giants this year, at least.
Cubbies haven't won a series since 1908, but I honestly can't see them going all the way this year. Braves have won one in each of the cities they've lived in; let's keep it that way.
Twins vs. Yankees
I don't even know what to say here beyond "Damn Yankees. I hope the Twins win."
You know, to be honest, though, I don't really know anything about the Twins, except that they ALSO were beaten by the Angels last year, and that they went through a pretty big turnaround in the 90's. Either way, they're not the Yankees... or the A's.. or the Red Sox... so I hope they go all the way. But I feel bad saying that... it's more that I want the others to lose than I want the Twins to win. (Sorry,laurel...)
For the record, I am well aware of what a great team the Yankees are. And if I wasn't in an American League city now, or hadn't been raised on baseball by a secondary Mets fan, I would probably like the Yankees a lot more :) I do not deny that they have some of the finest players in the game... because they're rich and can afford the best. And I am still bitter they got Aaron Boone instead of us, and I was kinda sad to see Jeff Nelson leave us this year. And they ruined my birthday game! (Ok, Freddy Garcia ruined my birthday game.) But, we'll see how the cookie crumbles.
Red Sox vs. A's
Bah, I hate both of these teams for edging out the Mariners. But if I had to pick one or the other in this, I'd go with the Sox.
The only way I'd be truly happy with the Sox going all the way is if the Cubs make it as well, for reasons listed above. Sox haven't won a series since 1918, they kinda deserve it, but I still think they may have been cheating with the TVs in their dugouts and all this year. But, I do think they have a pretty nice team there, very solid offense (they have a bazillion guys hitting over .300), and some very talented pitching staff (sigh... Pedro Martinez...). Oakland has better closers IMO, but if Boston can punch out some runs early on, they'll be in good shape, and given their nice balance of offensive talent, I don't see why they wouldn't be able to.
Number for number, I am dead positive Boston is a superior team to Oakland. Heck, I'm still dead positive that Seattle is a superior team to Oakland. So let's see what happens after a few games. To be fair, I think the Sox will pound the Cubs if they both make it to the Series, so maybe it'd be more interesting to hope for a Sox-Giants Series. I mean, wtf, I bet Pedro would pitch to Bonds, at least :) So it'd come down to Sox pitching vs. Giants defense or something.
But the whole point is, anything can happen.
I was really hoping the schedule right now would be:
Giants vs. Cubs
Braves vs. Phillies
Red Sox vs. Royals
Yankees vs. Mariners
Then Phillies vs. Giants, Mariners vs. Royals, and then Phillies vs. Mariners OR Royals and I woulda been happy. But oh well :(
anukul, I'm gonna quickly scribble my thoughts. I might be totally wrong about some of this stuff because I was mostly following these teams as "dire enemies of the Mariners that I wish to understand better":Giants vs. Marlins
I would actually like to see the Giants win the World Series. I think. They are a really good team, and they came so close last year. (Not that I don't think the Angels deserved to win. I can't stress enough how much respect I have for Brendan Donnelly and Troy Percival, can I?) Seriously, they are a really good team, they have some superb players (not even counting Bonds and his crazy .530 OBP, you've got JT Snow and Marquis Grissom and such providing excellent defense, a decent regular catcher like Benito Santiago, and then you put some 280'sish averages in with someone like Bonds hitting cleanup, and there you go... not to mention quality pitching from Jason Schmidt and others), and hey, there's only so long that people can pitch around Bonds, you know :) I mean, that's just crazy, I just saw his numbers for the year... .341 average, 45 HR, 148 walks? Youch.
At any rate, I definitely want the Giants to beat the Marlins, because I'm still angry at them for beating out the Phillies for the Wild Card when I honestly do believe the Phillies are a better team than them. And if the Braves beat the Cubs, I *definitely* want the Giants to beat the Braves. Yarrrr, but we be hatin' the Braves.
Giants haven't won a series since they were still in New York, in 1954. Tough break. Let's hope this year is better.
Cubs vs. Braves
I don't really care whether or not the Cubs win the World Series, to be honest. I think it would be pretty awesome if there was a Cubs vs. Red Sox series, but that's only because at least ONE of those two would HAVE to win and then at least ONE of the cities would shut the fuck up about their bad luck and how their teams keep going out there and losing like a bunch of little girls in the postseason. (Ok, that's not fair, really, but you know, I didn't even remember which team lost to the Mets in '86, I just remembered the circumstances.)
However, no matter how much respect I have for the skills of the Atlanta Braves, I still want them to lose. They're like the Yankees of the National League... like the "you gotta win Wild Card if you wanna get to the postseason if you're in the East division" sort of team. I mean, they have some DAMNED good players... Furcal, Sheffield, Chipper Jones, Marcus Giles, Javy Lopez, Greg Maddux, Russ Ortiz... yeah. Definitely one of the higher quality baseball teams in recent history. I was really impressed by the Braves when they came out here during interleague this year, we had some crazy close games with some great fielding and pitching on both sides... though iirc, Meche beat Maddux :) Anyway, I still hope they lose in the playoffs :) It looks like they went 2-4 against the Giants this year, at least.
Cubbies haven't won a series since 1908, but I honestly can't see them going all the way this year. Braves have won one in each of the cities they've lived in; let's keep it that way.
Twins vs. Yankees
I don't even know what to say here beyond "Damn Yankees. I hope the Twins win."
You know, to be honest, though, I don't really know anything about the Twins, except that they ALSO were beaten by the Angels last year, and that they went through a pretty big turnaround in the 90's. Either way, they're not the Yankees... or the A's.. or the Red Sox... so I hope they go all the way. But I feel bad saying that... it's more that I want the others to lose than I want the Twins to win. (Sorry,
laurel...)For the record, I am well aware of what a great team the Yankees are. And if I wasn't in an American League city now, or hadn't been raised on baseball by a secondary Mets fan, I would probably like the Yankees a lot more :) I do not deny that they have some of the finest players in the game... because they're rich and can afford the best. And I am still bitter they got Aaron Boone instead of us, and I was kinda sad to see Jeff Nelson leave us this year. And they ruined my birthday game! (Ok, Freddy Garcia ruined my birthday game.) But, we'll see how the cookie crumbles.
Red Sox vs. A's
Bah, I hate both of these teams for edging out the Mariners. But if I had to pick one or the other in this, I'd go with the Sox.
The only way I'd be truly happy with the Sox going all the way is if the Cubs make it as well, for reasons listed above. Sox haven't won a series since 1918, they kinda deserve it, but I still think they may have been cheating with the TVs in their dugouts and all this year. But, I do think they have a pretty nice team there, very solid offense (they have a bazillion guys hitting over .300), and some very talented pitching staff (sigh... Pedro Martinez...). Oakland has better closers IMO, but if Boston can punch out some runs early on, they'll be in good shape, and given their nice balance of offensive talent, I don't see why they wouldn't be able to.
Number for number, I am dead positive Boston is a superior team to Oakland. Heck, I'm still dead positive that Seattle is a superior team to Oakland. So let's see what happens after a few games. To be fair, I think the Sox will pound the Cubs if they both make it to the Series, so maybe it'd be more interesting to hope for a Sox-Giants Series. I mean, wtf, I bet Pedro would pitch to Bonds, at least :) So it'd come down to Sox pitching vs. Giants defense or something.
But the whole point is, anything can happen.
I was really hoping the schedule right now would be:
Giants vs. Cubs
Braves vs. Phillies
Red Sox vs. Royals
Yankees vs. Mariners
Then Phillies vs. Giants, Mariners vs. Royals, and then Phillies vs. Mariners OR Royals and I woulda been happy. But oh well :(
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I know babailey! I met him like right at the start os his freshman year! Though I haven't seen him in quite a while now... I'm not even sure I caught him at Carnival.
doh! I don't actually know what you do technology-wise, so it's hard to say, but if you ever decide to try to come out here, I can maybe refer you at Amazon :)
This really is a great city to be in, it has a lot of things that Pittsburgh doesn't. Infact, it has everything Pittsburgh doesn't have, except that Pittsburgh still has a ton of my friends. Bleh.
(yer wife? huh?)