Comments on: The top storylines of the 2012 season http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/04/04/the-top-storylines-of-the-2012-season/ Baseball. Baseball. And then a bit more baseball. Fri, 24 May 2013 06:27:02 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: yankeesfanlen http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/04/04/the-top-storylines-of-the-2012-season/comment-page-1/#comment-279473 Thu, 05 Apr 2012 00:12:56 +0000 http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=135530#comment-279473 Wow!

]]> By: rythestunner http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/04/04/the-top-storylines-of-the-2012-season/comment-page-1/#comment-279439 Wed, 04 Apr 2012 22:57:59 +0000 http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=135530#comment-279439 How does Aramis Ramirez help replace the production in the NL Central when he was already in the NL Central to begin with?

]]> By: pbannard http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/04/04/the-top-storylines-of-the-2012-season/comment-page-1/#comment-279438 Wed, 04 Apr 2012 22:53:45 +0000 http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=135530#comment-279438 I don’t usually play grammar nazi, but you hit my biggest pet peeve (which I actually talked to my students about today as well). The past tense of the verb ‘to lead’ is led, NOT lead (“In Boston the collapse dominated the news and lead to front office and managerial upheaval”).

]]> By: natstowngreg http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/04/04/the-top-storylines-of-the-2012-season/comment-page-1/#comment-279348 Wed, 04 Apr 2012 20:33:29 +0000 http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=135530#comment-279348 Never too early to learn how to keep score. :)

]]> By: tjwilliams http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/04/04/the-top-storylines-of-the-2012-season/comment-page-1/#comment-279283 Wed, 04 Apr 2012 18:48:50 +0000 http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=135530#comment-279283 re: #1. I hate this narrative that adding a Wild Card team in each league will somehow result in fewer exciting races. No, the exact conditions that created last year won’t happen, but it will create other races, too. Looking at the past ten years, there were seven instances of a Wild Card race being decided by one game. Had the last decade of playoffs been played under the new rules, there would have been 10 instances where the final playoff spot was decided by one game and three instances when there would have been a one-game playoff to decide that team.

Additionally, there were 6 occurrences of a team winning the Wild Card by 6 games (including 2009 when the only race decided by fewer than 8 games was the AL Central, which Minnesota won in a one-game playoff). Under the new system, there would have only been two times when the last Wild Card team ran away from the pack. Had there been an extra Wild Card in 2009, there would have been a four-way race, with Detroit, Minnesota, Texas, and Tampa Bay all separated by three games with four to play.

]]> By: acheron2112 http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/04/04/the-top-storylines-of-the-2012-season/comment-page-1/#comment-279160 Wed, 04 Apr 2012 16:39:06 +0000 http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=135530#comment-279160 Got my share of Nats season tickets too. However, with a new baby this year, we didn’t buy in for much; our share = 4 games. (Got one of the Rays interleague games though; I’ll be excited to see them.) We’ll see how going to a game with a 1-year-old works. Probably too early to teach him to keep score yet.

]]> By: Utley's Hair http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/04/04/the-top-storylines-of-the-2012-season/comment-page-1/#comment-279142 Wed, 04 Apr 2012 16:21:31 +0000 http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=135530#comment-279142 How about a Best Storyline of Their Life post?

]]> By: APBA Guy http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/04/04/the-top-storylines-of-the-2012-season/comment-page-1/#comment-279137 Wed, 04 Apr 2012 16:16:19 +0000 http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=135530#comment-279137 Craig, imagine my disappointment that your “brutal AL West” headline was not about the death match between the Mariners and the Beloved A’s for last in the AL West. Surely that’s what you meant. The Hulking Goliath that is the Mariner’s $ 90M annual payroll and shiny relatively new stadium versus the upstart paupers with their $ 55M payroll and tumbledown pile of rubble ball park. The absentee foreign billionaire owner against the plucky local billionaire absentee owner. The insanely compelling drama of who will have the lower WAR, Ichiro or Coco Crisp? It’s too much excitement. Maybe that’s why you fell back on the Texas v. Anaheim angle.

]]> By: natstowngreg http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/04/04/the-top-storylines-of-the-2012-season/comment-page-1/#comment-279090 Wed, 04 Apr 2012 15:25:53 +0000 http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=135530#comment-279090 Yes Houston (and everywhere else), we have real baseball. Our long national nightmare of an off-season is over. End of Spring Training, where every team was enjoying an undefeated season (except the A’s and Mariners, of course), and approximately one-quarter of all players were in The Best Shapes of their Lives.

Got my share of our Nats (half) season tickets, including the extra-large plastic ticket to the home opener vs. the Reds. They have this year’s slogan, “Ignite Your Natitude.” Let me be the first (hopefully) to point out how utterly, completely, and amazingly lame that is. Doesn’t even make sense in the English language. Perhaps Gator could translate it into Spanish and it would sound better. Fortunately, the tickets should work, regardless.

]]> By: yankeesfanlen http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/04/04/the-top-storylines-of-the-2012-season/comment-page-1/#comment-279081 Wed, 04 Apr 2012 15:10:39 +0000 http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/?p=135530#comment-279081 Now to convince Joe that the last five regular season games DO count.

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