Frayed Knot

Giants being eliminated ensures that MLB will have its 15th consecutive year without a repeat champion, something that has never happened before. The previous record had been the 14-year streak from 1979 until 1992. I tend to think this is more fluke than some sort of proof that parity nirvana has been achieved even though I'm sure this is going to be touted in places as just that (it's a prominent story on the MLB site). This span, after all, does have two 3-time champs (Giants & BoSox) and one 2-timer (Cards) meaning that three teams have won more than half of the championships during these years. But, in general, I think MLB is in a good place as far as competitive balance goes. Certainly much better than the 15 year span that preceded this latest one when a huge explosion for certain markets in local media money made the income gap between teams so lopsided that it was as if some teams weren't playing by the same rules as others. Things are also a lot more balanced now as compared to the so-called 'golden age' of the sport which only seemed to be golden for those who lived in NYC but not so much for anyone else.

Dreary night, dreary game, dreary offense. Bad night for Cespedes, but worst ABs were Granderson & Wright consecutively with the bases loaded.

Dodgers load the bases w/no outs vs Bumgarner (1 hit, 1 walk, 1 error) but come away with only one run. Kershaw now dealing for LA in bottom 1

I've seen one or two of these Breuer things, although watching them it occurred to me that I don't really know who Jim Breuer is except that he's a Mets fan who makes videos about being a Mets fan.

Rained out in Baltimore tonight. Rained out in Pittsburgh. Rain delayed in Cincinnati. Sounds like there's going to be a lot of this on the east coast this week.

3 runs in the 1st off Bartolo -- although it could be worse, Pineda's coughed up 6 in the 1st in the Bronx and he's not even out of the inning yet.

SS has seen a changing of the guard for the Dodgers in recent weeks. Jimmy Rollins, hired essentially to be a care-taker at the position, was the starter for much of the year but now has been nudged out by the guy for whom he was doing the care-takining. The inevitable promotion of top prospect Corey Seager happened on September 3rd and Seager has started pretty much every game since. I'm sure that given the results to date: .342/.435/.582 (over 79 ABs) there's no reason to go back to Rollins [.225/.285/.360] and that the Dodgers will find a way to get Seager on the post-season roster despite the September 3rd debut. The lefty-swinging 21 y/o, 6' 4"/210 Seager was a top-10 prospect across the board prior to the season and split the year between AA Tulsa & AAA Oklahoma City before being called up to LA Brother Kyle (27) is the 3B in Seattle while brother Justin (23) is in Seattle's minor league system.

Benjamin Grimm wrote: Edgy MD wrote: Do the leftovers get invited to travel, dress, and work out with the team? I think that they do, in case an emergency substitution has to be made. (Is it still true that that can only happen between series? Or has that rule been revised?) They've loosened up the rules somewhat from the days when El Duque couldn't even be replaced after getting hurt during a rain delay prior to the series even beginning (because it occurred after the roster freezing date). So if there's a legit injury (not quite sure how you define that) there can be an in-round replacement with some restrictions. It has to be player for player, or pitcher for pitcher (no mixing) and I believe the player removed is not eligible for any future rounds should his team advance.

I did see a Gee tweet reprinted somewhere congratulating his "teammates" on their clinch. Dillon is this year's Ed Lynch.

As a part-time Red Sox fan it's sad to see them gone, but on the other hand the way that they played earlier this season it's a credit to them for lasting as long as they did. Sawx are 30-22 since August 1st. And while it's easy to say that they're only good because they've got nothing to lose, this season did serve towards getting their OF set-up for next year and beyond as well as being well-positioned at SS & 2B. If they can just get something reasonable out of Panda & Hanley (who will only be 29 & 32 next season) for the next few years they may be OK. They'll almost certainly never get enough to justify what they're paying for either of them, but they're going to need something better than the sub-.300 OBAs with middling power and bad defense that they got this year. Ramirez is signed thru 2018 w/a vesting option for '19; Sandoval thru 2019 with a club option for '20.

Colon - 2.8 Clippard - 0.7 Tejada - 2.0 Murphy - 1.5 Wright - 1.0 Cespedes - 1.0 Duda - 0.5

Greinke pitched well -- 7 IP, 2 R, 4 H -- but left on the short end. Dodgers tied it in the 9th but the Giants eventually won in 12. All of which is good for us. Nice to gain while sitting on our collective butts and one can calculate the NHOP in their head when the MN is 4 with 12 to play. DateMets RecordDodgers RecordMets LeadMagic NumberGames RemainingNHOPSeptember 2688-6787-670.57150.467September 2789-6787-681.55130.385September 2889-6787-692.04120.333September 29@ Philadelphia@ SFG10September 30@ Philadelphia@ SFG8October 1@ Philadelphia@ SFG6October 2NationalsPadres4October 3NationalsPadres2October 4NationalsPadres0 So 4-2 gets us home no matter what goes on out west. Kershaw vs Bumgarner tonight.

MLB has made it a point to get every regular season game in even if there's nothing on the line. Multiple rain-outs this week could surely test that policy but, yeah, expect a DH or two (for the Mets or for anyone) if this week's weather start to screw up the best laid plans.

As much as I've been rooting for the Cards to get caught and dropped into the WC pool, given our records against the Pirates & Cubs this year, it's probably best to have one of them knocked out immediately and then we'd just have to deal with one of the Central teams (once we get past LAD of course). Meanwhile, Rosenthal on for the save but he got bombed yesterday by Milwaukee.

Zvon wrote: This is no big deal. I'm making a banner and card for team MVP and I think it would be fairer to get a group consensus as opposed to just what I think. And if most want to wait for after the postseason I can wait. Stick around in the off-season. It's not like we quit talking about this team or baseball in general just because it gets cold outside.

Yanx lose, Jayz win and are now 5 up in the East with 6 to play. It's all over but the shouting. Even on Yanx radio they're talking about the WC play-in game like it's an inevitability. And that was during the game. But their chances of missing out all together are about as remote. Minnesota -- although winning tonight -- will still be 5 games back even if they hold on and the AL West teams are playing each other so there's virtually no way all three can catch them.

Have we done a poll here in regards to team MVP for the season? Or should what happens in the post be a factor? It's not like this is N.L. MVP. Post season might fairly be included as part of the equation when it comes to a team MVP. Should it? We've been doing an annual thing every off-season for over a dozen years now where those who want to participate make a list of the top 30 NYM players for the just completed year and rank them from top to bottom as to their contribution to the season. Here's the 2014 thread: viewtopic.php?f=4&t=21987 So the top guy would be each player's MVP and we come up with an overall consensus by considering all the votes entered. In years when there is post-season play the contributions in the playoffs absolutely count towards who was that season's top performer. To what extent is up to the individual voter. Not that any of that means you can't start your own MVP thread for the reg season if you want. No reason it has to be an either/or thing.

Oh man, the Pirates have left runners on all over the place - [u:26isopxi]13[/u:26isopxi] thru 7 innings so far. They've been issued 8 walks but haven't had enough hits.

Centerfield wrote: I wish we could just stay in Cincinnati. They'd have the best record in the majors. And yet Cincinnati has a winning record (10-6 w/3 games remaining) vs the Pirates who we couldn't touch in either series against them including one in the second half when we, y'know, got good and stuff. Go figure! And speaking of Cincy, how'd you like to be them today? Coming off a four-game wipeout series vs the Mets, they had to fly to Washington for a day game make-up today, only to have to fly right back to Cincy for a series w/the Cubs starting on Tuesday. The fact that Scherzer only had them no-hit for 7-1/3 would have probably been the 'Under' bet going in.

I still contend that the worst thing Harper is guilty of [u:2ft4m5oa]in this case[/u:2ft4m5oa] is bad body language. It's not so much that he was barely running (he wasn't going anywhere anyway) but that how he looked while barely running. I think at times he believes he should be able to hit every pitch 450 ft and so he winds up dropping his head and slumping his shoulders whenever he fails to do so. And, yes, I think this has a lot to do with the Machado bean-ball incident last week and the comments made afterward. Harper, and perhaps rightly so, assumed that he was going to get plunked in retaliation; his problem was saying so out loud. I'm not totally surprised by the comments Nitkowski was able to dig up, although: 1) were they all anti-Harper or is he just picking and choosing here? 2) I suspect most of the comments that are anti-Harper are more on general principles than about this one in particular. And how many of them run full speed during every automatic out? Papelbon has apparently dropped his appeal of the league suspension so he's officially done for the year.

So that Nats nick him for 4 games on top of the league suspension for 3 (although he's still appealing that one) which conveniently adds up to the remainder of the season. Some think they ought to just cut him a check NOW!!!! for next year but I suspect they'll try to see what they can get for him over the winter. Thing is, they have to remake the bullpen now as it is. Dumping him just makes it that much of a bigger job.

[fimg=350:1x8yc1rc]https://img.washingtonpost.com/rf/image_606w/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2015/09/27/Sports/Images/490330798.jpg[/fimg:1x8yc1rc] Where's you ring? ... Try looking around your collar.

I think Pittsburgh might be the best team in baseball right now - and if they can throw a sweep on the Cards -- 3 game series in Pitt starting tonight -- they just may take that title officially. After a barely .500 start to the season (26-24), they're 69-37 since June 1 which is four games better than the Cards over the same time. Cards are currently without Yadier (might return for playoffs) and Carlos Martinez (won't return). Plus I keep thinking that one of these days things are going to wrong for them at this time of year even though that never seems to be the case.

Benjamin Grimm wrote: I had no idea that they made Underoos in adult sizes. Sure you didn't.

A good day for HFA clinching purposes. Mets rolled over Cincy (hey, there's got to be someone in the NL Central we can take care of) while the Dodgers continue to lose most of their non Kershaw or Grienke starts. So 5 happy outcomes in the remaining 13 games nails it down. Off day for the NL East champs. Dodgers head to Frisco and will throw Grienke against the Giants and Jake Peavey. This will be Grieke's first start in ten days as they opted to skip him one trip through the rotation. DateMets RecordDodgers RecordMets LeadMagic NumberGames RemainingNHOPSeptember 2688-6787-670.57150.467September 2789-6787-681.55130.385September 28Off Day@ SFG12September 29@ Philly@ SFG10September 30@ PHilly@ SFG8October 1@ Philly@ SFG6October 2NationalsPadres4October 3NationalsPadres2October 4NationalsPadres0