~2022 MLB Thread~

[Cincydawg]

The Braves new complex in North Port is certainly impressive.  The bought land basically in the middle of nowhere, but of course now stuff is growing up all around it.

The stadium itself is very nice, and then they have however many satellite fields as usual.  We play on two of them plus the stadium as we have six teams.  The weight room is off limits, the only things we can't access.  It's huge, looks more like a CFB weight room to me.  The food is excellent, the halls are decorated with old photos and historic plaques of things.  

My main complaint is the gravel they use in the infields, if you slide on it with any bare skin like an elbow it will get torn up.  I guess its crushed red brick.

They used to play at ESPN Park in Orlando which of course was not their own facility.  I guess it's a bit like the wars CFB teams have to show up the latest greatest dressing room etc.

[Cincydawg]

The amusing thing is that I'm also in the photo in the background when we won it all on Steve Avery's team.  The dude taller than me is Brian Finneran who played with the Falcons as a WR.  He's a nice fellow, great athlete of course.  We get chunky rings for winning, I have two of them, which is pretty good for five tries.

[OrangeAfroMan]

Got a great seat behind the plate for $13 for Giants @ Dodgers today.  This credit with vivid seats is nice, lol.

[ELA]

Tigers' two most dynamic outfielders, the two former first round picks, Riley Greene and Derek Hill, both starting the year on the DL.

Baseball is random enough in a short sample, that with the expanded playoff, no reason to think the Tigers are totally out of the running for that second WC, and thus as far as playoffs will take them

[OrangeAfroMan]

Smart front offices can now just run the cheapest 85-win team they can out there, thanks to the expanded playoff.  

And I don't think most people understand how much of a coin-flip the baseball postseason is.

[ELA]

It's definitely not a coin flip. Perhaps a weighted one

[OrangeAfroMan]

It's definitely not a coin flip. Perhaps a weighted one

Ehhh, we're coming off a season in which the team with the 12th-best record won the WS.

Going back 10 years, the team with the best record won the WS 4 times.  Under 50%.  The average WS winner in that time finished with the 4th-best record.

That's a coin flip, boss.

[longhorn320]

Thats just the nature of the sport

Do you have any suggestions tp insure the team with the best record always wins the WS

Youre good at pointing out facts so now how bout your suggestions on the playoffs

is it just getting rid of WC teams?

WC teams have won the WS 4 times so its not really a coin flip

are you saying we dont have any playoffs and let the regular season decide the champion

[OrangeAfroMan]

Thats just the nature of the sport

Do you have any suggestions tp insure the team with the best record always wins the WS

Youre good at pointing out facts so now how bout your suggestions on the playoffs

is it just getting rid of WC teams?

WC teams have won the WS 4 times so its not really a coin flip

are you saying we dont have any playoffs and let the regular season decide the champion

Sure, that'd be best.

Look at the history of baseball - each league had a season and a champion.  Great.  The best team is champ!
Then the upstart AL said "hey, I bet our champ could beat yours" to the NL and they played in 1901.  Starting in 1903, it was the World Series.
For 65 years, that's how it was.  
Then MLB expanded and split into divisions.  4 teams instead of 2.
For 24 years, that's how it was.
Then 4 divisions turned to 6, with a wild-card.
Then an expanded wild card.
Now, we'll have roughly 73 teams in the playoffs.
.
That allowed the 12th-best team, as determined by a long-ass, 162 game season, to become the Word Champions.
Brilliant.  

[longhorn320]

Really?  Your solution is to not have playoffs?  No other sport does that

Come on fess up you lost money on the Braves last year didnt ya

[OrangeAfroMan]

Sports should be renamed.  
It's no longer a sport if it's a physical activity where you keep score, but instead of finding out who the best is, it's just a money-extraction exercise.
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"No other sport does that" is an impotent reason not to do something.

[longhorn320]

Sports should be renamed. 
It's no longer a sport if it's a physical activity where you keep score, but instead of finding out who the best is, it's just a money-extraction exercise.
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"No other sport does that" is an impotent reason not to do something.

of course its a money extraction exercise thats the whole point

Thats why they call it pro sports

you still offer no solutions other then let the regular season determine the champ

and I would be fine with that if it was a round robin situation but its not

teams in weak divisions would have an advantage

[Cincydawg]

While the Braves had a poor overall WL record last year, after August 1, they were among the best in the league because they made trades that helped, a lot.  They were .692 in August and .593 in September after being a .500 team to that point.

Braves Record By Month | StatMuse

I don't think you can just gear a team to make the playoffs with minimum payroll and expect to do well in the playoffs.  But I do think we end up with a playoff champion, instead of the true "best team", often as not, in every playoff.  Baseball is a bit more "fair" as they play a series and not just one game.

The "best" football team obviously can have one bad outing with TOs and whatnot and lose to a lesser team, it happens fairly often.

[OrangeAfroMan]

of course its a money extraction exercise thats the whole point

Thats why they call it pro sports

you still offer no solutions other then let the regular season determine the champ

and I would be fine with that if it was a round robin situation but its not

teams in weak divisions would have an advantage

Well that's why I briefly reviewed the history of baseball's postseason - playoffs came with division play. 

The WS used to be the champion of this league played the champion of that league - no other games between the leagues, no playoff, just the best vs the best, based on a massive sample size.
That's called "competition."

WHat we have now - a bunch of teams from a bunch of divisions from leagues that play each other........it's such a bastardization of it, I'm not even sure what to call it.
But it's purely "entertainment."
.
They've basically stopped pretending to be in the center of the two.  Entertainment > Competition........because of $$$.  Fun.  I can't fathom someone defending this evolution of the sport.  Yet here we are.

.
A baseball fan from 1925 would see what we've done with the game (strictly in the formatting sense) and scream "what have you done?"  
MLB has taken the most naturally beautiful woman you've ever seen and dressed her up in clown makeup.