The lack of a salary cap does have its' benefits!

Tigers will win in 6 against Texas. Comerica is a freaking nightmare park for Texas. 

They're a team suited to bomb homers everywhere. Big parks like Detroit do them in because balls that would be gone in Texas only reach the warning track in Detroit. It's impossible to hit one to center field.  The long ball is their main source of offense with Kinsler, Hamilton, Beltre, Napoli and Cruz all 25+ homer guys. If they don't hit homers, they lose. 

While walking through the Venetian, I stopped off at a bar to see the bottom of the 7th. Bases loaded, 1 out and A-Rod up. I turned to my bro-in-law and said, "if I could get to the sports book fast enough, I'd bet my next mortgage payment he'll K here." Boom. (ok, I flip-flopped a bit when he was ahead in the count...thinking he'd at least make contact).

You know, it's not horrible to whiff in that situation if you're Brett Gardner....but if you're the highest paid player in baseball, you HAVE to at least get a sac fly. You're paid to be the man...so, deliver. And then he hits .111 in the series. Goodness, have fun with that contract for the next 6 years.

People were getting on Jeter for a slow start and the contract stuff in the offseason, but he battled through it and had another very good season. Outside of missing a chance to win game 3, he was very good in the series. As much as I can't stand the Yanks, I respect the hell of of him. Dude is solid with all the pressure to deliver in that town.

j/c

let's remember that the Tigers are not exactly a low budget team either.

2011 $106mil (in Mar - they have taken on salary since then, not sure the new number)
2010 $134mil

No, they are not the Yankees at $200mil+ or the Red Sox/Phillies at $160mil+, but they are right in that next group.

The Rangers at $92mil are actually the lower budget team in this ALCS.

Have to be honest, have not watched any postseason mlb, especially when there has been football on.

I am happy to see the Yankees out. Get ready for whining from bspn about a low rated alcs. I really hate when people complain about ratings. Who cares, it's not about the best matchup, it's about who wins the games. If the Phils don't make the WS, it will get even worse.

I don't really care who wins, maybe Arizona just so we can see Chuck Nagy get a ring, he's done a great job with that staff out there.

I want Arizona, St.L, or Texas to win. Wouldn't mind the Brewers.

I think the best matchup would be St.L vs. Texas. Both exciting teams that like to fly around the bases.

Cardinals vs Tigers would be reminiscent of the likes of Bob Gibson, Denny McClain, Mickey Lolich, etc, duking it out in 1968. For fans old enough to have seen it, it was great baseball. Two storied, charter members of their leagues, from great baseball towns, in classic uni's (the Cardinals home white jersey is the best in baseball, imo) would be pretty nostalgic. We'd probably see lots of film clips from the old days during that series.

true. but I hate the Tigers enough that I am actively rooting against that scenario

i'll root for the other Gibson (Kirk) and the montages from his WS heroics to be shown

I'm actually rooting for a Detroit v Milwaukee World Series. It stinks Cleveland couldn't be the small market team in that equation but oh well.

I'd probably pull for the Brewers in that scenario.

Something tells me the Dbacks and Cards will be playing in the NLCS though. Philly has that "we're the favorites and we're supposed to breeze through to the WS so we aren't taking the wildcard team seriously" thing going.

As long as Boston is out, I'm happy (sorry Top - even though you deserve it with your poor Jobs/Obama joke ).

I wish nothing but the worst on the field for the Brewers and hope this is the last night that I'll have to see them on my TV. I'd love nothing more than for Morgan and Braun to get drilled with fastballs in the bottom of the 9th as they're down by 2 - Fielder comes up and strikes out on three pitches. Would be glorious.

GO D'BACKS.

Axford blew a save.

I'm rooting against the Cardinals. Despise them.

I don't know why but I'm actually rooting for the Cards tonight, can't figure out why either.

I guess I dislike Philly that much?

They need to focus in a little more on the girl in the yellow shirt behind home plate!

Great postgame interview by T-Plush...

I saw 7 replays of Molina celebrating the throw out...

I'd like to actually see the out...

They showed me the out...

And now I know why they waited so long... Apparently all you have to do is hit the ground next to the runners leg...

Ryan Howard and Alex Rodriguez will both pull the feat of K'ing to end their season two years in a row for the 1st time in history....on back to back days

Yeah b-but Howard got hurted!

J/C...

I've seen the Steelers win Super Bowls. I've seen Belichick win Super Bowls. I've seen the Ravens win a Super Bowl. I've seen the best player on my NBA team wuss out/quit and then screw the city over on national TV. I've seen Barry Bonds, my original LeBron, in a World Series. I've lived in a world where Alex Rodriguez makes more in one at bat than I've ever made in an entire year. I've lived the vast majority of my life with my three pro teams being amongst the worst if not THE worst in their respective sports. I've fought the good fight for 14 years as a Toledo fan in the land of poisonous nuts...

But if the Brewers go on to win the World Series, I may just be done with sports. Their are no words to describe my undying hatred of several of their players and their attitude in general. Again, I wish them nothing but the worst in the next round. GO CARDINALS. GO PUJOLS.

Sports, I'll tell ya.

I hate all Wisconsin teams.

I almost didn't care if Pittsburgh won it all last year.

Come in off the ledge, BigD, lol.

Random crapola:

*Brewers' "Beast Mode" shtick is gonna get old quickly if I have to watch them in the NLCS and the WS. It already did a little bit just watching last night.

*Ex-Indian Factor:
Tigers - Victor Martinez, Jhonny Peralta
Cardinals - Jake Westbrook, Arthur Rhodes
Brewers - none
Rangers - none

*Speaking of Peralta, I saw him throw a guy out after ranging far behind 2nd base to field a grounder. He never showed that kind of range here ... never. He also never saw a low outside slider he wouldn't flail weakly at. So, somehow, he has gained good range and plate discipline (he hit .299 this year) just by moving about 130 mile to the northwest of Cleveland.

*Prince Fielder appears to be very overweight. I wonder if anyone will give him $25M as a FA. I would much sooner invest in Pujols, if my team had that kind of green to throw around.

*I think the screen format that TBS uses for baseball assumes everyone has a 50 inch flat screen high def TV, because I don't and I can't read the score in that little box in the upper left of my screen.

*They never went back to the woman in yellow behind home plate last night, and I'm thinking they should have.

*The Cardinals' road uni top is the 2nd best in baseball (their home top is best). I think I think that because it combines baseball, which I like, and cardinals, which I like. The cardinal is the Ohio state bird after all.

Maybe it's me but I like Nyjer Morgan. Sports needs a few guys like that.

More random crapola ...

Texas demolished the Tigers 15-5 to win the ALCS, 4-2. Boy, that team can really mash. Nelson Cruz was hitting the schnikees out of it all series long - .364, 7 HR, 13 RBI.

In the NLCS, Cardinals lead 3-2, and will try to close it out tonight with Edwin Jackson (12-9, 3.79) vs Shaun Marcum (13-7, 3.54). Odds should favor the Brewers since they play so well at home, but Marcum has struggled in the postseason (0-2, 12.46). If it comes down to a Game 7, it'll be Carpenter vs Gallardo.

Incidentally, the average payroll of the 4 teams left is about 97M per year, which just goes to show you don't need to spend 200M to win. On the other hand, it probably means the Indians (49M) need to find a way to spend another 40M or so to really contend, which seems doubtful.

Go Cardinals for the NL. Go Rangers for it all.

You can definitely win with just a 100m payroll, problem is, Larry Dolan won't spend that money.

See, we're not asking for 200m payrolls. If they showed fans they actually cared about winning, and put out something around a 100m payroll, more people would actually care, but they drove away their fans years ago with the trading for prospects garbage.

Milwaukee and St. Louis went out and added pieces. Their ownership actually cares. Even in 2007 it was mostly our own raised players with Kenny Lofton and parts/pieces type players like Paul Byrd.

You can win with a much smaller payroll than $100 million. The Rays are doing it right now.

Yes, it sucks that your ownership won't give you more money to spend, but a smart front office can win in your situation. It's been proven time and time again.

The Indians actually turned things around .... again .. with their "trading for prospects garbage".

The biggest difference between a team like the Yankees, Red Sox, and others ... and the Indians (and other smaller market teams) is that the bigger market teams can make mistakes.

Let's say that the Yankees sign a superstar pitcher to a $25 million/year contract ..... and he goes out in game 1 and blows out his shoulder. It sucks ..... but they go spend some more money ... get another high end starter .... and move on.

For teams like the Indians, that's not an option.

Plus, look at a guy like Hafner. He beat the cover off the ball, so the Indians did what fans wanted, and they re-signed him. That move hurt the team badly, because he has underperformed his contract badly. The Indians don't have the ability to say "Oh well", and more on.

Also ,,,, look at last year. If it weren't for injuries, the Indians probably would have held off the Tigers. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case.

Plus, the Indians tried to add pieces. You cannot force players with no trade clauses to accept a trade to a team they don't want to go to.

You can be bothered all you want, I will never change that stance, and they will continue to prove me right by being a 3rd rate baseball club.

They should have never bought the franchise in the first place.

Milwaukee weeps. Not so gul durn funny now is it, Brewers? Huuuuuugs.

Now, Go Rangers.

Does Major League Baseball still exist?

Wow did that game fall off the face of the earth. I heard some report about some playoff team advancing, but it won't make one bit of difference.

There was a time, a few years leading up to the California Earthquake during the World seires spceifically, when I wouln't miss the World Seriies of baseball anymore than I'd miss a first round playoff game in the NFL.

That time is gone, I don't think I've seen a half of a baseball game in 5 years or more, I don't remember Hearing about who won the world series since the Angels beat somebody with offense.

I don't know who won the Series last year, but I heard sometime less than a month ago, who it was that won the World series last year but I couldn't tell anyone for sure. Maybe Texas, the Texas Rangers,

I don't know if I could name 3 players to a specific team in the entirety of MLB, but I think Puljolz still plays, and Jeter is a Yankee, because Letterman makes jokes about it.

I don't plan to watch another game for the rest of my life and I feel much better for that. I just wish it would end it's season so there is no chance that I'd stumble upon a game broadcast.

I used to think the people that watch baseball were getting older and older as a group and that no young kids would watch. I don't know enough about baseball anymore to know if that is the case.

Good post. Thanks for sharing.

I'll sum up your post....

I don't care about baseball but yet I care enough to tell everyone I don't care.

Ignored.

well, if you parse through your hatred for all things Milwaukee you have alot of truth in there

seriously, the Brewers saw they couldn't contend on the open market for Braun and Fielder, so they picked Braun and signed him to an extension (then for whatever reason, gave him another extension before they had to).

then, they just pushed their chips into the middle of the table. they exhausted their entire farm system, they went after a bunch of players and ended up getting a few good ones.

you note that Marcum and Greinke didn't pitch like superstars, which is true. but, the FO realized that they assembled a team of mashers that were absolutely a joke in the field, so they went after guys who could get as many SOs as possible. they were pretty smart from that standpoint (both those guys would look 10x better on a team with a real defense).

here's the rub though: they don't win the WS (which is now official) and their team is set back 5 years. probably 10. they likely go through next season as a nuetered version of this year's team (no Fielder). then, the following year try to trade Greinke, Marcum, Gallardo, etc. for prospects to rebuild their farm system.

Milwaukee set themselves up with a 1year window, which is incredibly risky and dangerous. They missed the window and hit the wall. Now they have to sit with a concussion for awhile until they recover.

I think we said the exact same thing. And I also thought I contained my Brewers hatred pretty well in my post, haha.

I'm quietly enjoying this WS a great deal. Outside of 1 blowout, the games have been tense and come down to getting clutch hits (or outs) down the stretch.

And then, Beltre magic happens. One of the coolest HRs I have seen. He literally goes to a knee on the swing and watches it for a second there.

http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=19946681&topic_id=25589412&c_id=mlb


It's getting overshadowed by the bullpen theatrics later in the game (LaRussa claiming crowd noise affected the bullpen coach hearing the correct pitcher name), but this was the play of the night IMO.

I was actually a little more impressed with Napoli's play in the ninth. It was awesome to see Albert K and then have Craig get thrown out. Best part, Napoli was freaking out before the tag was made....he was yelling at his dugout, he knew how good of throw it was before the play ended.

I'm hoping this goes to a 7th game though.

Figured this would be a good place to add this - might as well eliminate the one true "possible" advantage that the Pirates, Indians, Royals etc. have.
********************************************************************

Report: MLB draft at center of labor talks
Associated Press

ST. LOUIS -- While the NBA struggles with negotiations during its lockout, signing bonuses for amateur draft picks is the last major issue left in talks for baseball's new labor contract.

Representatives for players and owners met Tuesday in New York, people familiar with the session told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity because no announcements were authorized.

Commissioner Bud Selig wants a system of fixed signing bonuses that tie the amount to when a prospect is drafted, known as slotting. Players have traditionally said the signing bonuses should be the subject of negotiation.

While draft bonuses are the last big issue, those provisions are tied to other parts of the agreement, such as the luxury tax, the reserve system and the minimum salary, the people said.

Players and owners have come to an understanding on how to handle testing for human growth hormone, but not necessarily a definitive agreement, one of the people said.

The current agreement expires Dec. 11, and talks have proceeded throughout the year without the rancor that surrounded negotiations during the NFL and NBA lockouts.

Following eight work stoppages from 1972-95, baseball has had labor peace since the 7½-month strike in 1994-95 that canceled the World Series for the first time in nine decades. The sides agreed to a contract in August 2002, hours before the scheduled start of a strike, to conclude an agreement without a work stoppage for the first time since 1970. They struck a deal in 2006 on the day of World Series Game 3 in St. Louis, nearly two months before their agreement was to expire.

NFL players were locked out starting March 11 this year but signed a 10-year contract on Aug. 5, losing only one exhibition game to the work stoppage. NBA players have been locked out since July 1, and the first 100 games through Nov. 14 have been canceled.

The NHL's labor deal expires Sept. 15, 2012.

Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press
http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/7154152/draft-bonuses-last-big-issue-mlb-cba-talks

And Go Rangers for tonight. I don't see them winning a Game 7 in St. Louis against Carpenter if that's what it comes down to tomorrow.

selig has been trumpeting this and I think it is folly.

smaller market teams can put $$$ into the draft where it is far more relevant.

it will have a huge affect on who/when people are drafted. drafting that HS player likely to go to college in round20 and offering him $1mil to play in the minors has long been a solid practice. that might be gone.

there are so many ways that this can turn if it goes through. maybe it does end up making the whole process better, but I don't see it.

Am I not allowed to watch the WS? Seriously I can never find it on TV...

Do you not have Fox?

I swear the passed two games I've looked for it and it wasn't there...

I've been tuned in since the 8th, great game from what I have seen, cardinals come back twice with 2 outs.

Probably the greatest World Series I've ever seen. No pressure with a horse in the race - just two really good baseball teams led by really good players going at it. What a fantastic game so far!

If I were Nolan Ryan, I would fire Ron Washington tonight. I've been watching baseball over 23 years, and that was the most pathetic managerial performance I've ever seen. First he doesn't let Feliz finish the 10th. You bring in 41 yr old Darren Oliver??? Then in the 10th he puts the outfield at no doubles depth. You retard, a single ties the game. Then he pinch hits feldman in the 11th, his best reliever left. What you know the bottom half of the inning, the cards win the game. Never seen a game botched like that. The rangers are toast.

All hands on deck for tommorrow.

I love me some game 7s.

Amazing game. Cool of the fan to give Freese the HR ball back for a few signed tokens.

I'm a Cardinal hater, but you have to love these games. Hopefully, the Rangers pull it out in another thriller tonight.

And for the person letting the Rangers' Manager have it, La Russa and his crew have had more than their share of screw ups too. I think it's a bit over the top for anyone to call for the firing of a manager who's team is in the World Series.

from the 7th inning on, yeah it was a great game. before that, let's just hope the teams were adjusting to the cold weather. the last 5 innings made everything worth it though.

and Nelson Cruz better do something to help his team tonight. the Rangers would be the WS champs if he doesn't put on the brakes in the 9th last night. he was definitely there in time and either completely misread that ball or thought the wall was alot closer than it really was.

love that Freese is a local StL kid. always adds a little extra.

Fun game to watch!

He should have been playing deeper to begin with. The tying run was on first. You can't let a ball get over your head there.

I would love to pitch in this game.

5-2 Cardinals. I think I'm going to be sick.

Texas had two innings last night to get the championship. Well who knows what will happen tonight!

Yeah 5-2, and Texas has a capable offense that can come back from this. But I'm done, going to relieve or increase my frustrations on BF3.

Either way can't be as bad as stomaching a Carpenter/LaRussa world series celebration.

guess it's a bit easier as a Tribe fan here. i don't mind StL getting a championship at all. especially with how they came back last night.

that said, we know that 3 innings are a lot of innings to hold a small lead (especially with the Card-pen)

Congratulations to the Cardinals. They fought back from elimination twice in the last game, and then stayed on course to win tonight so they didn't waste that amazing comeback.

For the Rangers ..... 2 years in a row ..... bitter disappointment.

Sucks for Rangers fans.....we know where they are right now. We had the Marlins beat, the title was there and we blew it on the biggest stage.

Oh well. Great series to watch as a fan. I'll never forget Game 6.

Neftali Feliz is the new Jose Mesa

J/C

I remember David Freese's name being thrown around back when the Indians' were talking about a deal with St Louis - not sure if it was DeRosa or maybe the run-up to trading Sabathia. The guy was clutch in the series for sure, and would look great at the hot corner for us.

I was pulling for the Rangers, mostly because I was always a fan of Nolan Ryan ... great competitor, plus he treated Robin Ventura's face like a meat hammer treats a cheap steak when Ventura was dumb enough to charge the mound after being hit. But, it was a good series to watch and the Cardinals earned it. I'm happy for their fans, which have to be among the best in sports.

j/c...

Ha! Glad I noticed the "j/c". At first I thought "uh-oh, I have cheesed off Michelle.".

I was rooting for the Rangers, mostly for the same reason Dave mentioned above, generally speaking I'm a national league guy but I just can't root against Nolan Ryan.

Now my wife is from Missouri and she was sitting next to me rooting for the Cardinals. After the top half of the first, she hit me pretty hard.

Sadly that was the last opportunity she had to hit me all evening.

You could sense that the Rangers were reeling from Game 6, and then when the Cardinals answered their 2 run first with 2 of their own in the bottom of the first, they were totally deflated. They must have thought "this team can't be put away.". Then, with Hamilton, Cruz, and Napoli all hurting physically, it was just a bridge too far to come back from a 5-2 deficit.

Hometown kid comes up clutch on the biggest stage of all and wills his team to a championship? What a touching story.