Rooting Interest: NLWC

[Edgy MD]

Hey, there's a game tonight! High stakes!

[fimg=300:kz7rikjh]http://www.findthatlogo.com/wp-content/gallery/chicago-cubs-logos/cubbies-bear-logo.gif[/fimg:kz7rikjh] [fimg=300:kz7rikjh]http://content.sportslogos.net/logos/54/71/full/2309.gif[/fimg:kz7rikjh]

Notable Cub factor: If they had called Kris Bryant up a few days earlier, this game might be at Wrigley.

[Benjamin Grimm]

I have no idea which team would be more likely to lose to the Mets in the NLCS, and since we don't know that the Mets (or the winner of the Pirates-Cubs game) will even be in the NLCS, I'm not factoring the Mets at all into my rooting interest.

I would rather see the Pirates win.

[Guest d'Kong76]

I don't really care, but I suppose I'd lean towards not facing
Andrew McCutchen in a long series should the Mets advance.
Dude is scary sometimes.

[Edgy MD]

I fear a team with a bully pitcher like Arrieta over a team with an MVP-quality player like McCutcheon. The Mets beat the Giants with Barry Bonds at the height of his powers, but couldn't beat the Dodgers riding Orel Hershiser for, like, 30 innings.

Besides, I like McCutcheon. Even with that baggy-assed uniform, he seems like he's easily the most physically fit player in the league. He's a great mix of refined baseball skill and superior athleticism and instinct, like young Carlos Beltran. I get the idea he could walk into the NFL right now and be a halfway decent halfback/kick returner.

[dinosaur jesus]

I was a great supporter of the Colts when Adrian "Cap" Anson was their manager, since "Cap" came from the same little town in Iowa, Marshalltown, that my wife was born in. (As was that lovely young actress Jean Seberg.) But when the new owners of the team treated "Cap" so shabbily, I'm afraid they lost my support. I'd be very happy to see the Pittsburgers and that big German, Wagner, prevail in this series.

[Guest d'Kong76]

He's got a hot wife too. Still... I'm up in the air.

[MFS62]

I want to see New York dash the hopes and dreams of Chicago fans on their way to a World Series Championship, just like in 1969.

Later

[Ceetar]

I'm going Pittsburgh just because it's more easily accessible for potential NLCS away games I can't go to.

[Benjamin Grimm]

dinosaur jesus wrote: I was a great supporter of the Colts when Adrian "Cap" Anson was their manager, since "Cap" came from the same little town in Iowa, Marshalltown, that my wife was born in. (As was that lovely young actress Jean Seberg.) But when the new owners of the team treated "Cap" so shabbily, I'm afraid they lost my support. I'd be very happy to see the Pittsburgers and that big German, Wagner, prevail in this series.

This confuses me. I assume that this post was written during Honus Wagner's playing career, but Jean Seberg wasn't even born until 1938, when Honus Wagner was 64 years old. And by the time Seberg made her film debut, Wagner was nearly two years dead. I think we've discovered some kind of inexplicable chronological anomaly.

[Edgy MD]

I just figured that he typed really slowly.

[Lefty Specialist]

This was already decided in 1985 when Back To The Future 2 said that the Cubs had won the World Series.

[Edgy MD]

I think "Swiss Terrorist Threat" may be the best part of that. It's like a Naked Gun joke in the middle of Back to the Future II.

[dinosaur jesus]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: dinosaur jesus wrote: I was a great supporter of the Colts when Adrian "Cap" Anson was their manager, since "Cap" came from the same little town in Iowa, Marshalltown, that my wife was born in. (As was that lovely young actress Jean Seberg.) But when the new owners of the team treated "Cap" so shabbily, I'm afraid they lost my support. I'd be very happy to see the Pittsburgers and that big German, Wagner, prevail in this series. This confuses me. I assume that this post was written during Honus Wagner's playing career, but Jean Seberg wasn't even born until 1938, when Honus Wagner was 64 years old. And by the time Seberg made her film debut, Wagner was nearly two years dead. I think we've discovered some kind of inexplicable chronological anomaly.

As T. S. Eliot said, time present and time past are both perhaps present in time future. I'm not sure what he meant by that, but it seems to apply to baseball. It's a slow-moving game.

Sorry, I'm kind of loopy today. Up since 5.

Edited October 7, 2015 by Guest

[TransMonk]

I think these two teams may be the most dangerous in the NL. I really don't want a part of either one of them.

Gun to my head...I would root for the Bucs.

[Fman99]

Cuck the Fubs.

[Guest Mets � Willets Point]

I'm rooting for MLB to come to their senses so that they will never again stage a "coin flip" playoff game to determine if the one of the 2nd & 3rd best teams in baseball can advance further in the postseason.

[Ceetar]

Mets � Willets Point wrote: I'm rooting for MLB to come to their senses so that they will never again stage a "coin flip" playoff game to determine if the one of the 2nd & 3rd best teams in baseball can advance further in the postseason.

so what, go back to just letting the second guy in and dumping the third guy?

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

I mean, it is a wild card.

The Pirates seem like one of those teams that is a little more than the sum of its parts and/or got a little lucky; indeed, they outperformed their run differential by five games. Then again, the homers-and-strikeouts Cubbies did the same to their Pythag-record, byseven games.

Still, the pop and popping gloves give me more worry than McCutchen and the gang, AND I think the Pirates will give the Cards a better, more grueling set of games, having played the Redbirds to a virtual tie over the season series. Go Fightin' Warhols.

[Edgy MD]

I like that: Conceiving of each playoff city in terms of the greatest graphic artist that city produced. Chicago gets Edward Gorey!

[fimg=500:2bmk2259]http://i.huffpost.com/gen/1641833/thumbs/o-GOREY-facebook.jpg[/fimg:2bmk2259]

[Benjamin Grimm]

Mets � Willets Point wrote: I'm rooting for MLB to come to their senses so that they will never again stage a "coin flip" playoff game to determine if the one of the 2nd & 3rd best teams in baseball can advance further in the postseason.

I agree. I'm probably in a minority, but I'd like to see this Wild Card thing go to a best-of-three. With four days between the end of the regular season and the beginning of the Division Series, they could have squeezed it in. The Pirates have home field over the Cubs? Play the first game in Wrigley on Tuesday, and a day/night doubleheader in Pittsburgh on Wednesday. In this case, the two cities are close together. Would it be grueling if the two wild cards played on opposite coasts? Yes, but too bad.

This year the won-lost records of the Cubs and Pirates were very close. But some year there might be a five- or six-game gap between the two wild cards. I really hate the idea of a team being able to make up such a gap with a one-game playoff.

[Edgy MD]

Yeah, well, you should have won the division.

Keep in mind, as disappointing as this "coin flip" of a game may seem with regard to just outcomes, the mere prospect of them gave us a month of exciting baseball as teams doggedly pursued the division title right up to the last days in order to avoid having to play one.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

We did crappy against both these clubs this year, but in my (suspect) recollection, seemed like the Cubs happened to catch us while we were going bad while the Pirates took our best shots and just played better. Maybe that's not true but it's how I remember it.

I don;t hate either of these clubs but I guess the Cubs' ascent has been a little more artificial than the Pirates', what with the high-profile imported CEO, the ownership seemingly desperate to leverage this whole Cub/Wrigley brand, they look like the kind of organization we're all going to hate pretty soon. So, let's go Pirates, with reservations.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Edgy MD wrote: Yeah, well, you should have won the division.

That's fine, I get that. And I don't mind the extra jeopardy for the second-place team. What I really don't like is the unfair advantage for the third-place team.

[Frayed Knot]

There is virtually no way to have everything work out "fair" once you start letting non-winners (Wild Card entries) into end-of-year playoff tournaments - and even divisional set-ups produce skewed results (1973 NL anyone?).
How the gripe manifests itself might vary from year to year but there's usually going to be one.

[Benjamin Grimm]

As I said, I know I'm in the minority, but I really don't like the current system. I mean, I like that the division title has a lot more meaning, but I very much dislike the one-game wild card playoff.

[Frayed Knot]

Bob Costas was floating an idea recently where the WC round would be expanded to 2-of-3 (complete with Day/Night DHs and all home games for the better team) plus see the 1st round bumped up to a 4-of-7 -- but admitted the whole thing would have to be paired with a regular season reduction.
One of these years MLB is going to get bitten by pushing the WS into late October and/or early November and the above changes would only push it further. I think Selig viewed the future as one where every team (or at least all the potential cold weather sites) had a domed stadium but not everybody is as good at sweet-talking cities out of money as you were Buddy boy.

[Ceetar]

yeah, with what we know about pitching it seems unlikely that we're going to push towards more games and long series with increased pressure to pitch Aces even more and on short rest into the colder months.



You could try a neutral site World Series but I'm not sure it's wise to take baseball out of the local/regional areas.

I like the idea of a 3-games/2day WC series but another factor to consider is rain and rain outs.

[Guest Mets � Willets Point]

Ceetar wrote: I'm rooting for MLB to come to their senses so that they will never again stage a "coin flip" playoff game to determine if the one of the 2nd & 3rd best teams in baseball can advance further in the postseason. so what, go back to just letting the second guy in and dumping the third guy?

Simple solution: 5 teams qualify. Seed by regular season record. Team with best record in each league gets a bye to LCS. Other four teams play a tournament (round robin or knockout) to earn other spot in LCS.

More complex solution: Eliminate division play. 15 teams in each league play as balanced a schedule as possible with the minimal number of interleague games. Top 5 teams from each league qualify for postseason.

Most complex, but fairest solution: Realign into three 10-team leagues (or expand to 32 teams and create four 8-team leagues). Completely balanced schedules, no interleague play. Top teams from each league qualify for postseason tournament.

[dinosaur jesus]

I'd be okay with the regular season being cut back to the old 154 games or so. And I've gotten reconciled to a third of the teams in baseball making the playoffs. It's even worse in other sports, so what the hell. But this postseason bloat is getting to be too much. Someday we're going to have Chicago and Minneapolis playing the World Series in November. That ain't right. Maybe they could just play a big old round robin tournament, like the College World Series. Get it over with in a couple of weeks.

Edited October 7, 2015 by Guest

[Edgy MD]

Truly Fairest System: Eliminate the post-season entirely. Have all Major League teams play all other teams the same number of times during the regular season, and declare the team with the best overall record to be the glorious champion � shimmering in the majesty of triumph.

Use the extra time in the calendar for tournament play: a World Cup, a US Cup, a Federation Cup, etc.