Major League Baseball Thread - 2018 Season

[axlslash]

Epic meltdown by the Rangers and great win for Toronto. Congrats Downzy the Jays live to fight another day.

And your brother said the Jays were overrated and limited offensively!

They are limited offensively. If the Rangers' SS fields a ball or two instead of playing soccer with them in the 7th, Toronto is going home while the rangers take the booze shower in the clubhouse. The errors put the Jays in a position to steal a game away that should have been over. It was amazing, and after those errors Toronto absolutely deserved the win, but let's not give the Jays' offense all of the credit for the Rangers shitting all over their bed.

And that bat flip.... Dear god. Bautista is not a professional baseball player. He's a professional pimper of home runs.

The Blue Jays were the number one rated offense of all the playoff teams.

No team is perfect. But if we are gonna label the top ranked offensive team as being "limited".....then what do we call the other teams that are below them?

You're right, I didn't type exactly what I meant, my apologies. I more meant that, if you were accusing Toronto of being offensively limited, very little about the way they beat Texas today proves you wrong; in fact, it makes you look right. They aren't generally limited, but they didn't exactly look like the knockout punch they were supposed to be this afternoon.

[axlslash]

Can we talk about how fucking amazing Munenori Kawasaki is? This dude is my hero right now.

[Bono]

He's got 2 books bro!!

[classicrawker]

Holy fuck that Blue Jays vs Rangers game was incredible! Bautista's home run is without a doubt the 2nd biggest home run in franchise history and there is NO debate. NONE< ZERO on who Canada's team is. It's not the Maple Leafs or Habs or Raptors or even the World Junior's Team Canada. It's undeniably the Blue Jays. I haven't seen my social media feeds blow up like that since Crosby score din overtime to win hockey gold at the 2010 Winter Olympics. I have never seen a bar packed like that for anything other than hockey and for it to be packed at 1pm on a Wednesday. Unreal.

I'm biased but unless you're a cheering for the Cubs or have a vested interest in one of the teams left how do you not root for the Blue Jays?

100 percent agreed.

After Carter's home run in '93, Bautista's is the biggest in franchise history. I thought EE's reaction to his home run was priceless - I could watch Bautista's over and over again. You can imagine home saying "fuck you" in his head when he scorched that ball.

The 7th inning was probably the craziest inning of baseball I've seen since the Yankees - Rays 8th back in 2011. It was a 53 minute inning. From the dejection of Martin hitting Choo's bat that allowed a run to Bautista's monster, the range of emotions was nuts. It will likely be years before I watch another inning of baseball like that.

As a Toronto sports fan, it's been decades since we've had a moment like that. Pure bliss

I was at that game where Carter hit his HR........

[downzy]

Holy fuck that Blue Jays vs Rangers game was incredible! Bautista's home run is without a doubt the 2nd biggest home run in franchise history and there is NO debate. NONE< ZERO on who Canada's team is. It's not the Maple Leafs or Habs or Raptors or even the World Junior's Team Canada. It's undeniably the Blue Jays. I haven't seen my social media feeds blow up like that since Crosby score din overtime to win hockey gold at the 2010 Winter Olympics. I have never seen a bar packed like that for anything other than hockey and for it to be packed at 1pm on a Wednesday. Unreal.

I'm biased but unless you're a cheering for the Cubs or have a vested interest in one of the teams left how do you not root for the Blue Jays?

100 percent agreed.

After Carter's home run in '93, Bautista's is the biggest in franchise history. I thought EE's reaction to his home run was priceless - I could watch Bautista's over and over again. You can imagine home saying "fuck you" in his head when he scorched that ball.

The 7th inning was probably the craziest inning of baseball I've seen since the Yankees - Rays 8th back in 2011. It was a 53 minute inning. From the dejection of Martin hitting Choo's bat that allowed a run to Bautista's monster, the range of emotions was nuts. It will likely be years before I watch another inning of baseball like that.

As a Toronto sports fan, it's been decades since we've had a moment like that. Pure bliss

What I don't get is this. The call to allow the run would have been correct BUT how on earth do they allow that run to count AFTER the Umpire had called the play dead. It was such an asinine decision. Had he not called the play dead obviously the play wold be legit but the second he called that play dead the run should never have counted. And they wonder why fans scream conspiracy and fix and all that shit.

Yeah, I didn't get it either. Once you rule a play dead, it should be dead, regardless of the rules. While I doubt either Sanchez or Donaldson would have a had a shot at getting Odour out at home, having the ump call the play dead as soon as the ball hit Choo's bat results in the Jays giving up on the play.

You know that Martin, more than anyone else in that stadium and in Toronto, loved Bautista for hitting that home run. Had the Jays lost 3-2, Martin's play would likely have been considered up there with Buckner's. What a terrible way that would have been to lose a game. I said at the time that I didn't really mind the Jays losing, but it's hard to stomach losing a game had Martin's throw back to the mound been the deciding factor.

As for your other points about the Jays fanbase, it's what I've been saying for years. The user Linguini Occurrence use to argue with me all the time that the Jays had the shittiest fan base and that the team would eventually fold. God I wish he was still around so I could shove this season in his face.

[downzy]

Holy fuck that Blue Jays vs Rangers game was incredible! Bautista's home run is without a doubt the 2nd biggest home run in franchise history and there is NO debate. NONE< ZERO on who Canada's team is. It's not the Maple Leafs or Habs or Raptors or even the World Junior's Team Canada. It's undeniably the Blue Jays. I haven't seen my social media feeds blow up like that since Crosby score din overtime to win hockey gold at the 2010 Winter Olympics. I have never seen a bar packed like that for anything other than hockey and for it to be packed at 1pm on a Wednesday. Unreal.

I'm biased but unless you're a cheering for the Cubs or have a vested interest in one of the teams left how do you not root for the Blue Jays?

100 percent agreed.

After Carter's home run in '93, Bautista's is the biggest in franchise history. I thought EE's reaction to his home run was priceless - I could watch Bautista's over and over again. You can imagine home saying "fuck you" in his head when he scorched that ball.

The 7th inning was probably the craziest inning of baseball I've seen since the Yankees - Rays 8th back in 2011. It was a 53 minute inning. From the dejection of Martin hitting Choo's bat that allowed a run to Bautista's monster, the range of emotions was nuts. It will likely be years before I watch another inning of baseball like that.

As a Toronto sports fan, it's been decades since we've had a moment like that. Pure bliss

I was at that game where Carter hit his HR........

That's awesome. I went to game one and two of that World Series. Didn't think it would go six so I figured I'd take in the first two games.

Until tonight the last time the Jays fans had an opportunity to celebrate was this game:

Funny thing I noticed about the game is that the fanbase then didn't seem as amped up as they were for tonight's game. Watch Stewart strikeout Dykstra in the first and half the crowd remains seated. Toronto often had a reputation for having passive fans and watching some of the games from back then makes it clear why the rep was justified. Contrast that to the pure bedlam of tonight's game and Jays fans have come a long way.

[Bono]

Holy fuck that Blue Jays vs Rangers game was incredible! Bautista's home run is without a doubt the 2nd biggest home run in franchise history and there is NO debate. NONE< ZERO on who Canada's team is. It's not the Maple Leafs or Habs or Raptors or even the World Junior's Team Canada. It's undeniably the Blue Jays. I haven't seen my social media feeds blow up like that since Crosby score din overtime to win hockey gold at the 2010 Winter Olympics. I have never seen a bar packed like that for anything other than hockey and for it to be packed at 1pm on a Wednesday. Unreal.

I'm biased but unless you're a cheering for the Cubs or have a vested interest in one of the teams left how do you not root for the Blue Jays?

100 percent agreed.

After Carter's home run in '93, Bautista's is the biggest in franchise history. I thought EE's reaction to his home run was priceless - I could watch Bautista's over and over again. You can imagine home saying "fuck you" in his head when he scorched that ball.

The 7th inning was probably the craziest inning of baseball I've seen since the Yankees - Rays 8th back in 2011. It was a 53 minute inning. From the dejection of Martin hitting Choo's bat that allowed a run to Bautista's monster, the range of emotions was nuts. It will likely be years before I watch another inning of baseball like that.

As a Toronto sports fan, it's been decades since we've had a moment like that. Pure bliss

I was at that game where Carter hit his HR........

That's awesome. I went to game one and two of that World Series. Didn't think it would go six so I figured I'd take in the first two games.

Until tonight the last time the Jays fans had an opportunity to celebrate was this game:

Funny thing I noticed about the game is that the fanbase then didn't seem as amped up as they were for tonight's game. Watch Stewart strikeout Dykstra in the first and half the crowd remains seated. Toronto often had a reputation for having passive fans and watching some of the games from back then makes it clear why the rep was justified. Contrast that to the pure bedlam of tonight's game and Jays fans have come a long way.

To be fair fans in genera are more amped up these days than they were in the past. It's become a competetion among cities really where the fans want to be seen as the besta nd loudest. I truly believe that. For example if Montreal were to win the Stanley Cup now in 2016 the reaction by the fans woul be ten fold what it was in 1993. It's become this thing. I think in a way, at least in Canada it can be linked back to the Calgary Flames C of Red in 2004 when they went to the Cup. They ahd such a shitty fanbase and their building was so quiet but that year when they went to the finals suddenly they were loud and started bragging about being the best and loudest. Other fanbases in Canada took notice and thought fuck that you are hahaha

[axlslash]

The Cubs have nicknamed the right field jumbotron at Wrigley Field the "Schwarboard" after its newest permanent addition: Kyle Schwarber's monster homerun, the killshot from NLDS Game 4.

http://m.mlb.com/cutfour/2015/10/14/154428196/kyle-schwarbers-game-4-home-run-landed-on-scoreboard

[downzy]

Holy fuck that Blue Jays vs Rangers game was incredible! Bautista's home run is without a doubt the 2nd biggest home run in franchise history and there is NO debate. NONE< ZERO on who Canada's team is. It's not the Maple Leafs or Habs or Raptors or even the World Junior's Team Canada. It's undeniably the Blue Jays. I haven't seen my social media feeds blow up like that since Crosby score din overtime to win hockey gold at the 2010 Winter Olympics. I have never seen a bar packed like that for anything other than hockey and for it to be packed at 1pm on a Wednesday. Unreal.

I'm biased but unless you're a cheering for the Cubs or have a vested interest in one of the teams left how do you not root for the Blue Jays?

100 percent agreed.

After Carter's home run in '93, Bautista's is the biggest in franchise history. I thought EE's reaction to his home run was priceless - I could watch Bautista's over and over again. You can imagine home saying "fuck you" in his head when he scorched that ball.

The 7th inning was probably the craziest inning of baseball I've seen since the Yankees - Rays 8th back in 2011. It was a 53 minute inning. From the dejection of Martin hitting Choo's bat that allowed a run to Bautista's monster, the range of emotions was nuts. It will likely be years before I watch another inning of baseball like that.

As a Toronto sports fan, it's been decades since we've had a moment like that. Pure bliss

I was at that game where Carter hit his HR........

That's awesome. I went to game one and two of that World Series. Didn't think it would go six so I figured I'd take in the first two games.

Until tonight the last time the Jays fans had an opportunity to celebrate was this game:

Funny thing I noticed about the game is that the fanbase then didn't seem as amped up as they were for tonight's game. Watch Stewart strikeout Dykstra in the first and half the crowd remains seated. Toronto often had a reputation for having passive fans and watching some of the games from back then makes it clear why the rep was justified. Contrast that to the pure bedlam of tonight's game and Jays fans have come a long way.

To be fair fans in genera are more amped up these days than they were in the past. It's become a competetion among cities really where the fans want to be seen as the besta nd loudest. I truly believe that. For example if Montreal were to win the Stanley Cup now in 2016 the reaction by the fans woul be ten fold what it was in 1993. It's become this thing. I think in a way, at least in Canada it can be linked back to the Calgary Flames C of Red in 2004 when they went to the Cup. They ahd such a shitty fanbase and their building was so quiet but that year when they went to the finals suddenly they were loud and started bragging about being the best and loudest. Other fanbases in Canada took notice and thought fuck that you are hahaha

I attribute it to the fact that Toronto has been a shit place to live for sports fans. Sure the Argos have won a few Grey Cups the past ten or twenty years, but no one in Toronto really gives a damn when that happens. Toronto just isn't use to making the post season in professional sports, let a lone winning. What we saw today was over two decades of frustration bursting through.

[bran]

i really like seeing the new blood in the playoffs. im going all in for the cubs though i mean the fans long past have deserved it, they have been through some dark times and have had some heartbreaking moments but those fans are hardcore and show there love for the cubs every season, i just hope they pull it out the team is just fun to watch.

[bacardimayne]

I think in a way, at least in Canada it can be linked back to the Calgary Flames C of Red in 2004 when they went to the Cup. They ahd such a shitty fanbase and their building was so quiet but that year when they went to the finals suddenly they were loud and started bragging about being the best and loudest. Other fanbases in Canada took notice and thought fuck that you are hahaha

It helps that after that Calgary run, there were highly publicized playoff runs by many Canadian teams, namely Edmonton, Ottawa, Montreal (twice) and Vancouver. Everyone got a chance to show off their loudness except Toronto, who are finally getting their chance with baseball.

[downzy]

Here's HuffPost Sports reenactment of Jays fans displaying their disgust with the call in the 7th:

[classicrawker]

Holy fuck that Blue Jays vs Rangers game was incredible! Bautista's home run is without a doubt the 2nd biggest home run in franchise history and there is NO debate. NONE< ZERO on who Canada's team is. It's not the Maple Leafs or Habs or Raptors or even the World Junior's Team Canada. It's undeniably the Blue Jays. I haven't seen my social media feeds blow up like that since Crosby score din overtime to win hockey gold at the 2010 Winter Olympics. I have never seen a bar packed like that for anything other than hockey and for it to be packed at 1pm on a Wednesday. Unreal.

I'm biased but unless you're a cheering for the Cubs or have a vested interest in one of the teams left how do you not root for the Blue Jays?

100 percent agreed.

After Carter's home run in '93, Bautista's is the biggest in franchise history. I thought EE's reaction to his home run was priceless - I could watch Bautista's over and over again. You can imagine home saying "fuck you" in his head when he scorched that ball.

The 7th inning was probably the craziest inning of baseball I've seen since the Yankees - Rays 8th back in 2011. It was a 53 minute inning. From the dejection of Martin hitting Choo's bat that allowed a run to Bautista's monster, the range of emotions was nuts. It will likely be years before I watch another inning of baseball like that.

As a Toronto sports fan, it's been decades since we've had a moment like that. Pure bliss

I was at that game where Carter hit his HR........

That's awesome. I went to game one and two of that World Series. Didn't think it would go six so I figured I'd take in the first two games.

Until tonight the last time the Jays fans had an opportunity to celebrate was this game:

Funny thing I noticed about the game is that the fanbase then didn't seem as amped up as they were for tonight's game. Watch Stewart strikeout Dykstra in the first and half the crowd remains seated. Toronto often had a reputation for having passive fans and watching some of the games from back then makes it clear why the rep was justified. Contrast that to the pure bedlam of tonight's game and Jays fans have come a long way.

I have a buddy whose father in law used to be the President of the AAA Pacific Coast League before he passed away so he was able to get tickets to World Series and AllStar Games. In addition to the WS game in Toronto Got to all three games in Philly in 93. Got to go to all the Yankees WS home games in the late 90's and also Allstar Games in Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Philly, and Cleveland in the 90's.

[Apollo]

Whose everybody taking tonight?

Dodgers or Mets?

[axlslash]

Whose everybody taking tonight?

Dodgers or Mets?

Tough call. It'll be a close game, but hard to argue against Greink at home. I give the Dodgers a slight edge. I'll be rooting for the Mets, though, because as a Cub fan the Dodgers scare me a whole lot more...

[Apollo]

Whose everybody taking tonight?

Dodgers or Mets?

Tough call. It'll be a close game, but hard to argue against Greink at home. I give the Dodgers a slight edge. I'll be rooting for the Mets, though, because as a Cub fan the Dodgers scare me a whole lot more...

You will catch a real break though with the Dodgers pitching staff, which right now looks like the big two and nobody else. Anderson and Wood got rocked a couple days ago.

I'm not sure the Dodgers bring Clayton back on three days rest back-to/back. So he would start Sunday. And Grienke wouldn't go again until Tuesday.

So in the first five games the Cubs might only get Clayton and Grienke once each. I suppose LA might pitch Clayton again on Sat on three days rest, but that's really pushing it.

And Grienke will probably go game three and if it's a must win he will go on three days rest for game six. If the dodgers are up 3-2 then maybe they save Grienke for game seven on full rest.

So in a seven game series you guys will only see the big boys in four games. And a couple of those games could be on short rest.

Meanwhile your rotation is pretty set.

Basically the Dodgers need at least one great game from Anderson or Wood. Both who got lit up against the Mets.

[axlslash]

Whose everybody taking tonight?

Dodgers or Mets?

Tough call. It'll be a close game, but hard to argue against Greink at home. I give the Dodgers a slight edge. I'll be rooting for the Mets, though, because as a Cub fan the Dodgers scare me a whole lot more...

You will catch a real break though with the Dodgers pitching staff, which right now looks like the big two and nobody else. Anderson and Wood got rocked a couple days ago.

I'm not sure the Dodgers bring Clayton back on three days rest back-to/back. So he would start Sunday. And Grienke wouldn't go again until Tuesday.

So in the first five games the Cubs might only get Clayton and Grienke once each. I suppose LA might pitch Clayton again on Sat on three days rest, but that's really pushing it.

And Grienke will probably go game three and if it's a must win he will go on three days rest for game six. If the dodgers are up 3-2 then maybe they save Grienke for game seven on full rest.

So in a seven game series you guys will only see the big boys in four games. And a couple of those games could be on short rest.

Meanwhile your rotation is pretty set.

Basically the Dodgers need at least one great game from Anderson or Wood. Both who got lit up against the Mets.

It's not even particularly starters I worry about. By FIveThirtyEight's metrics, the Cubs had far and away the best rotation in baseball this year, and if Hendricks can pitch like he has the last few months, I feel confident that our starters can roll with most anyone. Our bullpen is really what scares me. We finally have a true closer in Rondon, Strop is coming around, and Cahill is just a monster. Past those guys though, you're in total crap shoot territory. Grimm and Richards are super spotty, Travis Wood is pretty solid but can be iffy, and Rodney is Jekyl/Hyde on the mound. We really burned through our pen against the Cards, so I'm glad we finished up early to rest them (in our 3 NLDS wins, the latest our starter went was 6 innings for Arrieta). And four from those Dodger big boys is really all they need if they can win those.

I feel fairly confident that the Cubs could (not will for sure, by any stretch, but reasonably could) beat either the Mets or the Dodgers. But I feel like the Mets have more weaknesses than the Dodgers that we might be able to exploit a bit more consistently.

[downzy]

Right now the betting odds in Vegas have the Jays as favourites, with the Cubs a close second. KC nets the third best odds for now as the Dodgers and Mets have inferior odds due to the fact that they still have another game to play.

[axlslash]

Right now the betting odds in Vegas have the Jays as favourites, with the Cubs a close second. KC nets you the third best odds for now as the Dodgers and Mets have inferior odds due to the fact that they still have another game to play.

http://fivethirtyeight.com/datalab/best-2015-mlb-teams-blue-jays-elo/

I would put my money on the Cubs. Seems like a tossup between the Cubs and Jays at this point, so better to take a slightly riskier bet and make slightly more money on a win. Either way, holy fuckballs I can't wait for the LCS to start. Gonna be great in both leagues, and whether my Cubbies make it or not, the World Series will be NUTS.

[downzy]

Right now the betting odds in Vegas have the Jays as favourites, with the Cubs a close second. KC nets you the third best odds for now as the Dodgers and Mets have inferior odds due to the fact that they still have another game to play.

http://fivethirtyeight.com/datalab/best-2015-mlb-teams-blue-jays-elo/

I would put my money on the Cubs. Seems like a tossup between the Cubs and Jays at this point, so better to take a slightly riskier bet and make slightly more money on a win. Either way, holy fuckballs I can't wait for the LCS to start. Gonna be great in both leagues, and whether my Cubbies make it or not, the World Series will be NUTS.

My response to your valid point: yeah, but it's the Cubs

[axlslash]

Right now the betting odds in Vegas have the Jays as favourites, with the Cubs a close second. KC nets you the third best odds for now as the Dodgers and Mets have inferior odds due to the fact that they still have another game to play.

http://fivethirtyeight.com/datalab/best-2015-mlb-teams-blue-jays-elo/

I would put my money on the Cubs. Seems like a tossup between the Cubs and Jays at this point, so better to take a slightly riskier bet and make slightly more money on a win. Either way, holy fuckballs I can't wait for the LCS to start. Gonna be great in both leagues, and whether my Cubbies make it or not, the World Series will be NUTS.

My response to your valid point: yeah, but it's the Cubs

You're certainly not wrong there . I'm comforted by the fact that the only thing that can get in the Cubs' way is themselves, but that also scares the shit out of me...

[bran]

hard to go against the dodgers with greinke on the mound at home.

[downzy]

Right now the betting odds in Vegas have the Jays as favourites, with the Cubs a close second. KC nets you the third best odds for now as the Dodgers and Mets have inferior odds due to the fact that they still have another game to play.

http://fivethirtyeight.com/datalab/best-2015-mlb-teams-blue-jays-elo/

I would put my money on the Cubs. Seems like a tossup between the Cubs and Jays at this point, so better to take a slightly riskier bet and make slightly more money on a win. Either way, holy fuckballs I can't wait for the LCS to start. Gonna be great in both leagues, and whether my Cubbies make it or not, the World Series will be NUTS.

My response to your valid point: yeah, but it's the Cubs

You're certainly not wrong there . I'm comforted by the fact that the only thing that can get in the Cubs' way is themselves, but that also scares the shit out of me...

So if the Cubs do make it to the show, do you think Bartman attends a game? I feel like he can't come back until the Cubs win a World Series. Let's say the Cubs are up 3-1 in the series and he attends game 5, which the Cubs lose, and then proceed to lose the series. If I were Bartman, I'd stay away until curse of the goat gets broken.

hard to go against the dodgers with greinke on the mound at home.

Every other division series was won at home team. Bodes well for the Dodgers.

[Apollo]

Don't forget, the Dodgers have Don Mattingly making all the decisions. That negatives any home field advantage.

[downzy]

Congrats to the Mets for grinding out the victory and the series. All four divisional series have been great so far.

Also love how the league championships are populated by perennial losers. Save for KC's run last year, we've got four teams that haven't had a sniff of the show for a very long time.

Can only imagine the hate directed from south of the border if the series ends up being Jays vs. Cubs. Toronto's club isn't all that liked around the league to begin with; to think that the sole Canadian team would stand in the way of the Cubs is a fun proposition....

The most popular shirt in Toronto right now: