Comments on: What’s left to play for in Game 162?

By: natstowngreg

natstowngreg — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 20:19:30 +0000

Now, it’s decided. Nats 5, Phillies 1. Nats finish 98-64, up 17.5 games from 2011.

The NL scenario is complete. Cards @ Braves Friday. Reds start @ Giants Saturday. Nats start @ Braves/Cards winner Sunday.

By: historiophiliac

historiophiliac — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 18:46:48 +0000

Now I’m wondering if the Rangers will celebrate with Lone Star beer if they win. Did they ship that to CA in anticipation?

By: sportsdrenched

sportsdrenched — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 18:45:19 +0000

Yes, and the more airplanes fly the more they will need parts. Fly them bad boys. (although, I’m not sure who Balitmore uses to fly so I probably won’t benefit directly. In the past the Rockies & Cardinals charters have been accounts of mine)

By: Loose Changeup

Loose Changeup — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 18:04:24 +0000

So if the O’s win and the Yanks lose, they’ll travel from TB to Baltimore to play a game 163. If the O’s win that game, they’ll travel to OAK/TEX for a single wild card game, and if they win that, they have to travel somewhere else to start the ALDS…do I have this right?

So the more the Orioles win, the more Angelos has to pay for airplane fuel.

LET’S GO O’S

By: wretchu

wretchu — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 17:22:23 +0000

I gotta agree with cur. There is a little bit of a let-down knowing that all four teams in the AL will advance to at least the play-in game on Friday, but do you really think that all teams are not going to go all out to try to avoid it? They’re not going to be coasting by any means. Not to mention it still leads to a do-or-die game on Friday for the two teams in that spot.

And if there is that 1-game playoff between Baltimore and New York, that would just make things more fun – not a mess. If it goes down to that, it just reinforces how important the ENTIRE regular season is. The Yankees should’ve had the division long-since wrapped up by now, but they started to fold down the stretch and Baltimore has nearly caught them. Whereas last year the Yankees could’ve held back and relied on having the single wild card locked up with only a slight disadvantage, they now have to play to win in game 162.

And of course in the NL there really was no drama at all. The top four slots were realistically locked up at the start of September, and at most there’d be jockeying for position for the entire last month. But the second wild card added a race for that second spot, and of course it gets the pressure-packed Friday play-in game as well.

By: kevinbnyc

kevinbnyc — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 17:17:51 +0000

Pretty sure lawyering has nothing to do with math.

By: wretchu

wretchu — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 17:15:31 +0000

Yup, this year only. Next year it’s all back to 2-2-1. And even for this year I don’t think it’s a huge disadvantage because in the case of the top seed it still enables them to avoid the opponent’s ace early in the series.

By: Utley's Hair

Utley's Hair — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 17:11:49 +0000

Don’t forget that, if they lose tonight and win tomorrow, they get to travel to play on Saturday.

By: natstowngreg

natstowngreg — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 17:01:03 +0000

For the record, Davey put 5 of his 8 regular position players in the lineup this afternoon, and Edwin Jackson gets the start.

By: number42is1

number42is1 — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 17:00:46 +0000

cur – i would agree with you 998 out of 1000 times ( the 1000th time is when you put a random “U” into words) this is the 999th time. i think that MLB screwed the pooch with this format.

By: Utley's Hair

Utley's Hair — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 17:00:38 +0000

WHAT THE…?!?!? Great…now I have the Inspector Gadget theme stuck in my head…

By: natstowngreg

natstowngreg — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 16:54:53 +0000

Tune in tomorrow, when Craig unveils his latest acquisition, an official Atlanta Braves guillotine.

By: natstowngreg

natstowngreg — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 16:49:30 +0000

Not true; the lower-seeded team hosts the first 2 games in every NLDS, and each series is 2-3. See MLB.com’s schedule:
http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/schedule/ps.jsp?y=12

By: kevinbnyc

kevinbnyc — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 16:46:52 +0000

Logic < Trolling

By: jolink653

jolink653 — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 16:20:29 +0000

In all honesty though, who did you want the Red Sox to put out there? They have no one left and they pitched their two best starters in the first two games of this series

By: Francisco (FC)

Francisco (FC) — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 16:20:28 +0000

Cur cur, did you not watch Inspector Gadget? Obviously the Cat was purring menacingly while laying on his lap.

By: cur68

cur68 — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 16:12:35 +0000

I think you’re alone here. More baseball = good.

By: lightcleric

lightcleric — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 16:11:24 +0000

Am I the only one who thinks the second wild card actually made this less interesting? Instead of having a situation where one of Texas/Oakland/Baltimore teams will be gone, you could have actually have a mess of the O’s and Yankees having a 1-game playoff to see who waits and who plays in the next one-game playoff for the actual playoffs.

By: cur68

cur68 — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 16:11:14 +0000

er…”Cat” not “at”…jeez…

By: cur68

cur68 — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 16:10:35 +0000

He had the at draped around his neck, didn’t he?

By: jdd428

jdd428 — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 15:43:10 +0000

Actually, that’s still wrong – the 2-3 LDS series only applies to the #1seed vs. wild card winner. The #2 vs. #3 seed LDS series is still a 2-2-1 this season, so the Nationals will still start at home.

By: alexo0

alexo0 — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 15:31:07 +0000

I’m not sure I’d go so far as to claim that deciding home field in the NL isn’t “anything”. If we’re talking about what’s left to be decided, we may as well cover everything. Just saying.

By: basedrum777

basedrum777 — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 15:28:35 +0000

Yeah if you support this new format with 2 wildcards then you also need to support going back to a 154 game schedule. This is too much. Anyone realize the “great” final day of the season last year happened one year ago like last Thursday? Keeps getting later and later.

By: massivedick

massivedick — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 15:26:02 +0000

sometime you got to take one for the greater good …. and the spankees sweating it out is the great good. i’d give my left nut if it mean’t yankees to be left out completely.

By: pdowdy83

pdowdy83 — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 14:50:57 +0000

Peter Angelos…enough said.

By: celauritz

celauritz — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 14:44:37 +0000

Nope, but they are detail-oriented. You don’t have to be good at math to go to the 5th decimal if you’re smart enough to go to the 4th.

By: witeman10

witeman10 — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 14:01:28 +0000

man, can’t wait for the big game today! Stros vs. Cubs!

Don’t really see what’s so interesting about the Rangers vs. A’s. Doesn’t seem all that important…

By: proudlycanadian

proudlycanadian — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 13:59:58 +0000

Just like yesterday, Cabrera will probably only get 3 at bats.

By: KR

KR — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 13:49:59 +0000

No one goes into law because they are good at math.

By: crispybasil

crispybasil — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 13:48:52 +0000

The Robert Andino at-bats from last year, and the constant trouncing this year, are still fresh in the mind of this Red Sox fan.