DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Tailgate Forum MLB playoff thoughts

I realize there's lots of Tribe fans here (a life-long Expos fan, I started following the Mets a few seasons ago, btw, but I don't live and die by them) and I know there's concern about pitching injuries, but everybody has a chance.
An interesting WS matchup would be Indians-Cubs, because in that instance, one long-suffering fan base would have their woes end. The Cubs will be tough for any team to beat in a long series, though.

Anyone but the Giants, please. Ditto for Red Sox.
The Blue Jays bullpen has not been good lately, the Mets despite all their pitching hurts have managed to get into October, I hate the Nats, Kershaw has a lousy post-season record.

Thoughts?

Home field is big for us , we play better at home, Bauer wins game 1 series over if we lose game 1 we in big trouble. Nap is in a slump HR wise that is a big concern. Gomes coming back is a plus, but Perez is better on D I think he can shut down Boston speed

I'm almost hoping it won't be Cubs/Indians because we just won our championship with the Cavs, and part of me would feel bad about prolonging their suffering if we beat them, since we just got our championship.

But then I'd remember they had 6 years of Michael Jordan and the Blackhawks ... so screw 'em.

Can you imagine the media and fan interest if the Cubs play the Red Sox in the World Series?

I bet the TV execs are drooling over that possibility.

If I had to bet, I'd go Cubs vs Sox

Indians just have too many injuries, Blue jays/Orioles too inconsistent

I do like the Nats ... and the Giants are gamers

But Sox/Cubs have most talent

If Tribe was healthy, they'd be my pick honestly

my thoughts...

It's finally baseball season!

Hoping for Indians vs. Cubs. More than likely, it'll be Red Sox vs. Cubs.

Here are my predictions (winners in white and series games in yellow):

AL WC: Baltimore @ Toronto
NL WC: San Francisco @ New York

ALDS1: Boston @ Cleveland - in 4 games
ALDS2: Baltimore @ Texas - in 5 games
NLDS1: Los Angeles @ Washington - in 5 games
NLDS2: San Francisco @ Chicago - in 3 games

ALCS: Boston @ Texas - in 5 games
NLCS: Los Angeles @ Chicago - in 6 games

WS: Chicago @ Boston - in 6 games

October belongs to the Giants

Sorry Guys...I'm a life long Red Sox fan. Go Sox!

only every other year

I’m a jinx.

Know what? For $100 I’ll root for whatever team opposes the Tribe.

Think LeBron lead the Cavaliers to the NBA Championship?

Wrong.

I just rooted for the Golden State Warriors. (and successfully fooled the Sports Gods).

Ahh… Screw the $100…

“Way to go Red Sox….Way to go...Way to go Red Sox….Way to go..”

You can buy your tickets to the AL Championship against Texas now.

And, you’re welcome.

There's only one thing to do...win the whole (bleeping) thing

OK

Here’s the deal. On the Red Sox vs. Indians play-off series.

David Ortiz is a clutch hitter and he is in a zone.

He’s been on fire all season and he’s poised for a monster post season.

He will beat the Indians.

Francona of course knows this.

The key to this series is to prevent Ortiz from beating the Tribe.

If the Indians can somehow pitch around Ortiz, they have a better than 50/50 chance of moving on.

In summary, the key to this series is Ortiz damage control. There’s certain to be Ortiz damage, if Francona and the Indians can minimize it they can advance.

as a yankee fan, I will say Ortiz must be avoided at all costs ... and trust me, he'll be up when the game's in the balance .. happens every time

Its pretty hard to pitch around a guy who has Dustin Pedroia, Mookie Betts hitting in front of him and Hanley Ramirez, Xander Bogaerts, Jackie Bradley behind him in the lineup. The scary part will be when he faces Tomlin, who pitches to contact. The fun part will be when he faces Miller late in the game, if we have a lead.

Well, Andrew Miller says Ortiz is the toughest hitter he's faced in his career

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pagj6iiVKds

Yeah, it's not like when the Cubs played the Natinals earlier in the year and Maddon simply walked Harper every plate appearance. I don't think it'll be that easy with Ortiz.

I'm not very optimistic about this series. We'll see. I may end up watching the Cavs Game 7 each night to wash the bad taste out of my mouth.

I don’t think an Oriole has a chance against a Blue Jay in a fair fight.

me either lol

this game will be for the birds

Couldn't ask for a better game to start the playoffs. I really don't want to play the Blue Jays, but for some reason I'm rooting for them.

WOW. I'm pretty sure this game ended on three straight hits on three straight pitches. Capped with a three-run HR in bottom of the 11th. What a good game.

Go Tribe.

Without the best relief pitcher in baseball entering the game. Stupid. Also, the announcers never even mentioned Britton's name. Dumb all around.

walk off blast to start the post season. Hate the Jays, but also hate the O's. Good game

Is there a single Indians' fan out there who wasn't absolutely sure Ubaldo would give up a blast? Agree with CFRS, gotta use Britton once they put runners on.

My heart goes out to the fine citizen sports fans of Baltimore.

NOT!

Losers.

I thought Showalter said in the postgame that it wasn't a save situation and that's why Britton wasn't brought in. Additionally, the guys on the MLB network said Showalter rarely brings in Britton on the road in tie games, something like twice in two years.

With all that being said, you bring in the best reliever in the game to make sure you don't lose the wildcard game, whether it be after Ubaldo gave up a hit or to start a inning. You don't go home with that unused bullet in your gun. Big mistake.

I agree with that, Britton should have been brought in in the 11th. I'd also say that the Jays fan who three the beer at the left fielder should be facing criminal charges. Blue Jays fans can be so lame, trust me I know a lot of them.

j/c:

I haven't watched MLB since the '90s when there were all those labor disputes and more coverage given to steroid use than the actual game. I kept saying I was going to get fed up w/MLB and it came to pass.

But, last night I decide to watch a bit of the baseball game and what do I get?

A one game wildcard game? Seriously? What does that prove than whomever has the most dominant pitcher should get the win. You play 162 games and that's what you get?

MLB sucks butt!

I would definitely agree on that, Verse. Shorten the season by two games and at least make it a 3 game series. It would be nice to play a game at home, a game on the road and have game three at a neutral site where anything could happen. Of course, the draw for game three might not be as good if the interest is not there at the neutral field.

It means if you don't want to play in a win-or-go-home game, win your division. At least MLB's playoffs have some credibility in not letting everyone but the absolute dregs of the league make the post-season - like the NBA, NHL, and to a lesser degree, the NFL do.

Not asking anyone to agree w/me. It's just my take.

I played baseball and even coached it for awhile. I know the importance of a dominant pitcher in any one single game. It just seems odd to me that you play 162 games and then decide things w/a one-game series, especially considering you could have the second best record in baseball and not win your division.

I'll keep watching college and high school baseball. I might watch the Tribe, but only because it would be great to see another local team do well, but MLB has turned me off for a long, long time.

I kinda wish the wildcard would go to a best of 3, but I get the time issue (we already play WAY too many games).

I wish we'd cut the season down to maybe 120 games (never happen $)

Vers, I'm not saying your opinion is wrong, it's your opinion obviously, but most of baseball fans like the wildcard. Well, not just the wildcard as it's been for a long time, but the newest version of taking two wildcard teams and letting them play 1 winner-take-all game to advance to the division series.

The way I look at it, it's like an automatic play-in tiebreaker game if two teams were playing for just 1 wildcard spot. I think it's great TV. Sure, you get 1 game for your season after 162 games and that might seem unfair, but it's what sports is about, pressure.

In some cases, the most dominant pitcher isn't pitching in this wildcard game because they were needed over the weekend to clinch the spot in the game. Or, if they are used in the wildcard game, it messes up their rotation for the division series, leaving them at a disadvantage. Which again, stresses the importance of winning your division, something I thought ruined the previous wildcard system. You'd have teams not caring about the division or even losing on purpose to get the wildcard and avoid a certain team in the first round. No team would do that now. For the most part, we have high suspense up until the last game of the season.

To me, I think the baseball playoffs are just about perfect right now. The two wildcards, the wildcard game, the 5-game division series and so on.

I think the NFL system should be tweaked. I've been saying this for a year or two, add another wildcard team and then only give out one bye for the #1 team. More teams would have to play their starters to the end of the season fighting for that #1 overall bye and we'd also have more teams fighting to get in. Sure, not all teams will have impressive records, but so what, I want drama. And think of the wildcard weekend. We could have a game on Friday night, two games on Saturday, two on Sunday and one on Monday night. Six games, I want that.

I just think it was silly a few years back saying we "made the postseason", but then immediately lost. The postseason only exists for me in the divisional series, championship series, and the world series.

Even with home field advantage, the Indians are Betting Odds underdawgs to advance past the Red Sox.

And that's what counts. (Betting Odds - because money talks and doodoo walks)

It means there's less than a 50% chance the Tribe will win the series.

I'll bet if the Indians win game one, the odds for the series will swing in the Tribe's favor (slightly) and they will become the favorites to advance.

(that's actually pretty obvious)

Hey, the Cavaliers beat greater odds to become World Champs.

these pitchers are dealing

fun to see this type of game IMO