2016 Baseball Thread

[glen a richter]

I know it's still a little bit to pitchers and catchers but I'm getting antsy with all the winter weather we've been hit with recently.

Way-too-early predictions:

AL East: Toronto
AL Central: Royals
AL West: Angels
Wild Cards: Mariners & Red Sox

NL East: Nationals
NL Central: Pirates
NL West: Diamondbacks
Wild Cards: Cubs, Mets

AL Pennant: Royals
NL Pennant: Diamondbacks
WS Champs: Diamondbacks

AL Cy Young: Felix Hernandez
NL Cy Young: Zack Grienke
AL MVP: Josh Donaldson
NL MVP: Bryce Harper
AL ROY: Joey Gallo, Texas
NL ROY: Trea Turner, Washington

No-Hitters/Perfect Games: 4
Number of full seasons Don Mattingly will have as Miami manager: 1, fired early in his second season

[cardsfan04]

Mejia banned for life for 3rd positive test in a year. I don't know anything about PEDs, but this tweet seems to sum it up:
https://twitter.com/TJQuinnESPN/status/698273793530294273

[glen a richter]

No loss. Familia more than makes up for losing this dumbass forever. It's mostly just embarrassing that the first guy to get the lifetime ban had to be a Met.

[dmiles2186]

That guy is going to tear it up in Japan.

[glen a richter]

I'm still debating whether or not to play fantasy this season. I barely keep up with my teams as it is and now with two kids, my time this summer will be basically occupied. One certainty, I definitely can't do a live draft because that eats up time at night that I could spend sleeping. Maybe I'll just sit this season out and wait for football. At least that only takes up 10 minutes a week.

[cardsfan04]

welp, it was bound to happen. Good for them. Epstein did an incredible job putting that team together. He's gotta go down as one of the greatest GMs of all time now after winning in both Boston and Chicago.

[Kerfuffle]

That was so exciting! My nerves are a complete wreck from that series and playoffs. Took the family to game 5 at Wrigley this past Sunday - it was only the 3rd game EVER the Cubs have won at Wrigley - just another sign of our futility. No one knows the stress of a Cubs fan. And it almost happened again last night in the 8th when they blew a 6-3 lead. As Cardinals fans this is old hat for you guys as you're always winning World Series and pennants. Believe me - don't take it for granted - you never know when your team will go on a long drought. My dad watched the Cubs in the 1945 Series at age 10. He's 81 now. Just an unbelievable time in Chicago right now. I haven't watched a single Hawks game other than attending opening night. Not ready for hockey just yet. Have sold all my other games this month to watch baseball.

[glen a richter]

I'm rarely happy for Chicago, but in this case I am. Go Cubbies! Won it in spite of the worst managing job I've ever seen in a single game from anyone.

[Kerfuffle]

I'm rarely happy for Chicago, but in this case I am. Go Cubbies! Won it in spite of the worst managing job I've ever seen in a single game from anyone.

I agree - we won in spite of our manager. He did everything he could to lose it for us. Here's the 4 big gaffes:
1) pulling our starter who had rolled off 7 in a row all because he walked one guy
2) pulling Lester to go with chapman again. Lester should have done another inning
3) having Baez bunt on 3-2 count and bunting foul
4) thinking chapman could keep doing it even with a struggle with his control. Why was chapman pitching with a 9-2 lead in game 6 anyhow? Ugh

[cardsfan04]

That was so exciting! My nerves are a complete wreck from that series and playoffs. Took the family to game 5 at Wrigley this past Sunday - it was only the 3rd game EVER the Cubs have won at Wrigley - just another sign of our futility. No one knows the stress of a Cubs fan. And it almost happened again last night in the 8th when they blew a 6-3 lead. As Cardinals fans this is old hat for you guys as you're always winning World Series and pennants. Believe me - don't take it for granted - you never know when your team will go on a long drought. My dad watched the Cubs in the 1945 Series at age 10. He's 81 now. Just an unbelievable time in Chicago right now. I haven't watched a single Hawks game other than attending opening night. Not ready for hockey just yet. Have sold all my other games this month to watch baseball.

Congrats! I'm sure this was a really cool experience for all Cub fans.

[glen a richter]

I'm rarely happy for Chicago, but in this case I am. Go Cubbies! Won it in spite of the worst managing job I've ever seen in a single game from anyone.

I agree - we won in spite of our manager. He did everything he could to lose it for us. Here's the 4 big gaffes:
1) pulling our starter who had rolled off 7 in a row all because he walked one guy
2) pulling Lester to go with chapman again. Lester should have done another inning
3) having Baez bunt on 3-2 count and bunting foul
4) thinking chapman could keep doing it even with a struggle with his control. Why was chapman pitching with a 9-2 lead in game 6 anyhow? Ugh

Shouldn't have even been a walk. Strike three was called a ball and ball four didn't miss that badly. Maddon panicked when Hendricks could have easily, EASILY cruised through 7 and let Lester start a fresh 8th and 9th. They were saying about Ross' homer that the pitching change made it possible for the home run which was fine, but the pitching change also made the home run important. Hendricks stays in, it's probably still 5-1 at the end of the inning and it's not necessary to get a home run to bring the lead "back to 3 runs". Nearly everything Maddon did defies common sense.

[Kerfuffle]

Shouldn't have even been a walk. Strike three was called a ball and ball four didn't miss that badly. Maddon panicked when Hendricks could have easily, EASILY cruised through 7 and let Lester start a fresh 8th and 9th. They were saying about Ross' homer that the pitching change made it possible for the home run which was fine, but the pitching change also made the home run important. Hendricks stays in, it's probably still 5-1 at the end of the inning and it's not necessary to get a home run to bring the lead "back to 3 runs". Nearly everything Maddon did defies common sense.

Yep - and one more out for Hendricks and he could have gotten the decision. Maddon was panicky - saw signs of that throughout playoffs - he's one of these managers that likes to use 10 pitchers a game. Also the Ross home run got back one run but if the pitching change isn't made then the Lester wild pitch doesn't happen which led to 2 runs. So I agree it would still be 5-1. And I'm not sure why Maddon had Edwards out there in the 10th - he's a young kid with control problems and sure enough he walked someone. I would have used Arrieta or Lackey - 2 starters. This was one of the worst managed games I've ever seen. Unfortunately you can't even have a discussion about it in Chicago right now - even in a civil manner. Radio station callers are being disconnected by the hosts for even bringing up the topic - the same reply is used 'we just won the World Series and we are not going to discuss anything negative', blah, blah, blah. I'm sooo happy the Cubs won but I still think we won in spite of our manager and I'll always look at him as a dufus from now on - I know many others will see him as a 'god' though.