Outfield is wild, and jung, seager, semien in the infield is super scary too. Their pitching pipeline doesnt seem great, so will need to continue to buy that to remain competitive i would think
I'm not sure they are the favorites. I think Philly, Atlanta, Texas, and Houston are pretty evenly matched. For the Rangers it will come down to pitching. They have been fortunate so far in not needing much from the bullpen outside of Chapman and Leclerc and have not needed a 4th starter. After Chapman and Leclerc, the bullpen falls off pretty severely. Both Scherzer and Gray might be back for the ALCS. They will need at least one of them and need them to be sharp. Scherzer is pitching a simulated game on Wednesday, and if it goes well, he says he will be ready for game 3 of the ALCS.
Definitely has been a positive for them so far to have only used the best of their pen. I am sure it is likely that either scherzer or gray will be good once they come back, but i wouldnt say that either is a sure thing to dominate
Last year was similar in that injuries to starting pitchers largely determined how the post-season played out. It is not the best team over 162 games that has the best chance in the playoffs. It is the healthiest, IMO.
Yep. They’re an interesting follow this off-season. Before arb and option hits, they’ve got only about 73M tied up. Some of those options are clear pickups (Kepler, Polanco). But they can probably make some noise this off-season. They look far better than anyone else in that division.
I’m hoping for Minnesota and Baltimore wins today. Anyone but Houston.
Also, per the Athletic, I’m seeing lots of pearl clutching about the playoff format given the Dodgers’ plight. No one gave 1/5th of a shit when the Pirates got stuck with a WC game and 98 wins, so I’m not too sympathetic. What, if anything, would you guys change about the current format?
The playoffs format has nothing to do with the fact that LA arrived to the post-season without any semblance of a starting rotation. It makes no difference if they played a NLDS or a NLCS or a World Series as their first round. And if the West Coast journalists are all choked up about what Arizona has done to their beloved Dodgers, they need to take a look at the Phillies and Braves lineups and pitching staffs. If Arizona is beating up on the Dodgers, the Phillies or Braves would whoop them something awful.
Although the wild man in me would like a chaotic, three team rumble between 4-6 seeds. A single game elimination between 5-6 seeds, winner goes to the 4 seeds home park for best two out of three. Division series and on is best of seven.
My predictions have been shit so far, so why stop now!
Nasty Nate seems to be rounding into form just at the perfect time and as much as I want to back the O's, Im not sure they will be able to silence Texas' lineup enough to makeup for their lineups likely limited output tonight. Texas 6-2 :(
Javier has that recent playoff experience and success, but Gray isn't exactly green either. Right now, Gray is hot and Javier is not. Still favor Houston's lineup, but I can't count out how Minnesota has looked so far. Minnesota 5-3
Who do you like today Anthony? I have to go with Minnesota and Texas. Gray is the type of pitcher that Houston seems to do well against, but I just don't think Javier is going to get through too many innings without significant damage. I like Houston, but Gray has just been so good this season that it is hard to go against him.
Kremer is a guy with a plus plus fastball and highly suspect secondary stuff. The Texas lineup is loaded with lefty fastball hitters. Any righty needs a legit changeup and/or cutter to handle them, and Kremer has neither. I think the Ranger tee off on him and punch their ticket to the ALCS,
The Texas offense appears to be the Pirates' offense in reverse.
I don't want to be a pessimist, but i think game 2 is already over
The way Baltimore just kind of flopped here is borderline impressive.
Also, are the Rangers just the favorites now at this point? AND they got Wyatt Langford in waiting.
Evan Carter/Langford/Adolis Garcia is really scary
Different animal in the playoffs. Balt didn't have the arms to make a run in the post-season.
Outfield is wild, and jung, seager, semien in the infield is super scary too. Their pitching pipeline doesnt seem great, so will need to continue to buy that to remain competitive i would think
I'm not sure they are the favorites. I think Philly, Atlanta, Texas, and Houston are pretty evenly matched. For the Rangers it will come down to pitching. They have been fortunate so far in not needing much from the bullpen outside of Chapman and Leclerc and have not needed a 4th starter. After Chapman and Leclerc, the bullpen falls off pretty severely. Both Scherzer and Gray might be back for the ALCS. They will need at least one of them and need them to be sharp. Scherzer is pitching a simulated game on Wednesday, and if it goes well, he says he will be ready for game 3 of the ALCS.
Definitely has been a positive for them so far to have only used the best of their pen. I am sure it is likely that either scherzer or gray will be good once they come back, but i wouldnt say that either is a sure thing to dominate
Yep. Baltimore and Atlanta were vulnerable too due to their staff being a bit of a mish-mash.
Meant to be a reply to AB.
Last year was similar in that injuries to starting pitchers largely determined how the post-season played out. It is not the best team over 162 games that has the best chance in the playoffs. It is the healthiest, IMO.
Here's a weird stat...
Prior to this season there was 2 leadoff hitters who drove in 100 rbi (Blackmon & Erstad)
This year MLB had 3 - Acuna, Semien & Betts. Schwarber was close but had some of his 100+ batting lower in the lineup.
Crazy part is Blackmon did this with a pitcher hitting in front of him.
Such a badass move to put a thumper at leadoff.
Wonder if cruz will go back to that slot next year?
Cruz, Reynolds, hayes, who’s on 1st, triolo, suwinski, Rodriguez, Cutch, kiermier
I honestly dont feel so badly about that, especially if offseason additions are more meaningful than a couple $3-4mil players
Zac Gallen demonstrating why GMs tend to be too chicken to pull off prospect-prospect trades, lol. What a stud.
Imagine him, Alcantara, and Eury in the same rotation.
A lovely reminder to Bob Nutting that Carlos Correa plays in the elite financial mega-market of Minneapolis-St Paul.
Yep. They’re an interesting follow this off-season. Before arb and option hits, they’ve got only about 73M tied up. Some of those options are clear pickups (Kepler, Polanco). But they can probably make some noise this off-season. They look far better than anyone else in that division.
I’m hoping for Minnesota and Baltimore wins today. Anyone but Houston.
Also, per the Athletic, I’m seeing lots of pearl clutching about the playoff format given the Dodgers’ plight. No one gave 1/5th of a shit when the Pirates got stuck with a WC game and 98 wins, so I’m not too sympathetic. What, if anything, would you guys change about the current format?
The playoffs format has nothing to do with the fact that LA arrived to the post-season without any semblance of a starting rotation. It makes no difference if they played a NLDS or a NLCS or a World Series as their first round. And if the West Coast journalists are all choked up about what Arizona has done to their beloved Dodgers, they need to take a look at the Phillies and Braves lineups and pitching staffs. If Arizona is beating up on the Dodgers, the Phillies or Braves would whoop them something awful.
I'm still red assed over so many teams but do admit it makes things more exciting more more people and that's good.
Although the wild man in me would like a chaotic, three team rumble between 4-6 seeds. A single game elimination between 5-6 seeds, winner goes to the 4 seeds home park for best two out of three. Division series and on is best of seven.
I’d just prefer four of seven after the WC round. It’s better if they just bail on three divisions per league and go with two.
My predictions have been shit so far, so why stop now!
Nasty Nate seems to be rounding into form just at the perfect time and as much as I want to back the O's, Im not sure they will be able to silence Texas' lineup enough to makeup for their lineups likely limited output tonight. Texas 6-2 :(
Javier has that recent playoff experience and success, but Gray isn't exactly green either. Right now, Gray is hot and Javier is not. Still favor Houston's lineup, but I can't count out how Minnesota has looked so far. Minnesota 5-3
You throwing out final score predictions got me wanting to place some over/under bets lol
Well i certainly hope you didnt follow my predictions because Houston already up 4!
I completely forgot to drop a bet for this game. Gonna have to do something for the Baltimore one lol
Go with Houston Anthony. They just hit fastballs from righties, and Kremer leans heavily on his four-seamer.
I mean Texas... lol.
I bet Texas tonight lol. On the hockey said, I bet Bryan Rust would score first goal, which he did lol
Who do you like today Anthony? I have to go with Minnesota and Texas. Gray is the type of pitcher that Houston seems to do well against, but I just don't think Javier is going to get through too many innings without significant damage. I like Houston, but Gray has just been so good this season that it is hard to go against him.
Kremer is a guy with a plus plus fastball and highly suspect secondary stuff. The Texas lineup is loaded with lefty fastball hitters. Any righty needs a legit changeup and/or cutter to handle them, and Kremer has neither. I think the Ranger tee off on him and punch their ticket to the ALCS,
Yea as much as I don’t want to see Baltimore get eliminated, feel like the Rangers just close things out.
The Twins game will be interesting. Sonny Gray has been good. I think they may be able to pull the upset