Gwreck

This is a misconception created by the recent development of announcing “finalists” for awards. Announcing “finalists” suggests there is further voting or deciding to occur. Not so. This is just an announcement of who came in first, second, and third (without specifying order) in the one and only round of voting. Benge and McLean no doubt were fourth and fifth in that same vote.

On another issue, the discussion is a bit thinner than I would like, but finally some news coverage of ticket prices in connection with the empty seats in Tampa: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7688793/2026/10/14/tampa-bay-rays-alcs-ticket-prices-tropicana-field/ The Rays can’t fill the Trop in the ALCS. Fans point to ticket prices [blockquote] The Rays’ announced attendance for ALCS Game 2 on Tuesday night was 32,125, nearly 8,000 fewer people than the crowd that sold out the Trop for the American League Division Series opener against the Yankees on Oct. 3. There were swaths of concentrated blue empty seats for Game 2, a day after the club also failed to sell out Game 1. Around game time, the get-in price for upper deck seats on the primary market was $84. Fans said that prices were initially more expensive, leading some to purchase seats from the Rays at a higher cost than they were ultimately sold. The Rays did not respond to a specific question about how they were addressing fluctuating ticket prices, and if they were reimbursing fans. Individual clubs are responsible for establishing postseason ticket prices, which MLB has to review and approve. “I got these (tickets), and then they dropped like a day after I purchased them,” said Travis Thomas, a Rays fan and school teacher who goes to many games. “They cut in half. And then two days later, I could have gotten them a few rows up for a third of the price.” The concern fans have, said longtime Rays fan and blogger Danny Russell, is that they don’t fully understand the value of the tickets. Some, he said, will spend anything to attend playoff games. But that’s not a universal sentiment. … “The pricing and the discounts are unclear,” Russell said. “So people don’t know what fair value is for the seats. Even if there is still availability, they’re trying to decide what is a fair price to get into Tropicana Field.” … In the last five days, the Rays’ official X account has tweeted the link to purchase ALCS tickets 15 times. The question for many fans is simple: what will it cost?[/blockquote]

He was their second choice (again) after Alex Cora (again) told them “no, thanks.” Cora, of course. is making $7.25M a year (through the end of 2027) to not manage Boston.

Oh certainly, they had more problems than that. For what it’s worth, they let up 25 runs to the Mets in that 3 game series, and never got close to giving up that many in a single series for the rest of the year.

Well…only sorta? They got depth in exchange (Holmes and Taylor) and not, say, a top-of-the-line starter who would have absolutely started game 1. To me, the moves the Cubs made are moves one makes to make a run at the division title possible, and to insure they got the playoffs in the first place.

There was a great item about that series in one of the stories that came out after Cleveland clinched. The Mets realized that the Guardians’ first baseman had the volume too high on his pitchcom and thus the Mets were able to relay to batters what was coming. After the series was over the Mets told Cleveland to turn down the volume.

Had a special connection with Pedro Martinez, having first scouted him in the Dominican Republic as a teenager and was his rookie-ball pitching coach in Great Falls, Montana. Credited by Pedro for helping him perfect his changeup and helping him learn English.

Tampa did everyone the great public service of promptly knocking out the Yankees. But Cleveland has the longest championship drought in MLB. There are no bad picks in this series.

We have no beef that I’m aware of. If I make a comment or ask a question it’s because I have something to add or something that I want to understand from what someone else wrote. I think there’s a publicity aspect because of the nickname, the interviews with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, selling bobbleheads, and so forth. Loyal attendance and keeping score are great. The rest I don’t care for.

What do you mean by “getting her due?” To what exactly is she due? Rare is the case that I want to care about individual fans who are interested in making it about themselves.

He has to be, right? I saw in Ken Rosenthal’s article today that he was 14-90 since August 19 with an OPS under .490.

It takes about 5 minutes (maybe less) to immediately recognize how much better the Brian Anderson/Ronnie announcing team is compared to the awful Davis/Smoltz team.

The Mets are 6-19 against the Brewers since the start of the 2023 season so you’re right to say it seems like they beat the Mets a lot. But I put those losses on the Mets more. Especially 2024 and those end-of-season games which were against a Brewers team that had long ago clinched their division and had very little (or nothing) to play for. Maybe it’s silly to think any other NL team is acceptable, but in any ranking of the most-dislikable NL teams, we have to start with PHI, ATL, and LAD (obviously). It’s a drop down to WAS, MIA, and STL, and then another drop down to SD, CHC, and maybe CIN if you want to still hold a grudge for Rose/Harrelson. After that… there’s maybe some reason to dislike the Giants too that isn’t immediately coming to mind. And then I see the Brewers falling into the lowest tier of “I don’t even think about you” along with Arizona, Colorado, and Pittsburgh.

CF and I are going to disagree about everything tonight clearly. As a Mets fan, why would I have anything against the Brewers? Is there something I’m forgetting? Out of the other 14 NL franchises, they’ve got to be at or near the top of the list of “easiest to root for.” No major rivalries with the Mets. No agonizing defeats. No bad playoff history (and in fact quite the opposite). Not a problematic fanbase. I can’t see the issue.

A couple quick observations: 1. That something did not generate significant opprobrium at the time does not make it retroactively acceptable. 2. Using Native-related terms to name sports teams was a bad thing even in the early 1900s. Full stop. At bottom, the reason so many teams had/have such names is because of the stereotypes/caricature that Natives were “fierce” and “warriors” and whatnot, and thus seemed like good choices for a team that would “battle” its opponents. Same reason so many teams are Lions or Tigers or Bears. Except of course those names are not derived from people. 3. The “NY DraftKings” analogy is not a serious argument. C’mon. Now, if the New York National League baseball franchise was for some reason renamed, say… the New York Defenders…I do think people would rightfully miss the old name. (But of course in that situation, there was nothing wrong with the old name).

3 wins to go. Let’s go Brewers.

Isn’t the “history” behind the name one that everyone involved should all be rightfully ashamed of? On about 15 different levels? I too was rooting for Cleveland to win in 1995 and 1997 (not as much in 2016). Although I’m not from Cleveland, I would expect the civic pride that comes from the franchise in one’s city winning the championship is massive. And far exceeds any “pride” from the particular nickname the franchise is operating with. And is not diminished just because the franchise got rid of a particularly shameful choice of name.

Why? (Serious question)

I hate expanded playoffs but also realize that dam was broken and can’t be replaced. What I would do is: #6 plays at #5. 1 game. Loser eliminated. #5 plays at #4. 2 games, but #5 has to win 2. #4 has to only win 1. #1 seed plays the winner of the WC play-in, and #2/3 seeds play each other. -Keeps it to 6 teams per league, keeps the WC round to 3 days. Gives every division winner a bye. Privileges the #4 Wild Card which almost always is as good as or better than one division winner (sometimes 2). Makes both division championships and distinct wild card seeding matter.

This is why we have replay now.

Brazoban pitched for the White Sox in the Wild Card round but isn’t on their division series roster.

You do know this is a Mets board? AI can confirm

Yeah, I probably need to give all of those some serious thought as to whether they’re good or bad. -Shortening the regular season by 8 games: practically means 8 fewer division games. Instead of playing two division opponents 12 times and two division opponents 13 times, it’s 11 and 12. Maybe has some small benefits to player health. -7 game division series: seems like (before looking at any data) that it might reduce upsets. -“Pick your opponent:” very intriguing. Consider 2024, the last year the Mets were in. The Dodgers and Phillies are the top division winners, they get byes. The Brewers, the #3 seed, get to pick their opponent among the three wild card teams. Rather than getting the Mets, who fell to the #6 seed because of a tiebreak, the Brewers instead would likely select the Braves who everyone suspects (correctly) are without the injured Chris Sale. The Mets travel to San Diego instead. In the division round, the top-seeded Dodgers have their choice of (1) the Phillies, who also have been sitting around with a bye*; (2) the upstart Mets featuring Pete Alonso who just hit a dramatic homer off Padres closer Robert Suarez, or (3) the Brewers, who easily dispatched the Braves. I’m guessing the Dodgers would have taken the Mets there. *Obviously we don’t have details of the proposal but one suspects the #1 seed might not be allowed to pick the #2 seed thus depriving #2 of home-field in the division series.

Jeff Passan reports that MLB included three interesting things in a recent proposal to the Union: 1. Shortening regular season from 162 to 154 games 2. Expanding division series from 5 to 7 games 3. Better seeds in playoffs get to pick their opponent.

Now we just need a sweep of the Dodgers.