New Rules!!

[Bellhorn04]

This has nothing to do with anything, but one of my students had a Yankees t-shirt on today. I about fell out.

 

In Halifax Yankee gear is seen a lot. But it's easily outnumbered by Sox gear. I wouldn't be surprised if Jays gear is in third place.

[notin]

This has nothing to do with anything, but one of my students had a Yankees t-shirt on today. I about fell out.

 

 

I assume you failed him...

[dgalehouse]

MLB is incredibly stupid. After an extremely dull and boring " Hot Stove League " , we are two weeks from opening day . And all the sports headlines and all the talk is about football. With the excitement of free agent signings , the draft and trades , the fans are into it . They are hopeful, optimistic and anxious for the season to start . And all MLB can come up with is a few dumb rule changes . Meanwhile, they are set to play an entire American League season just to see who will be the second wild card . Plenty of teams with no shot at all . And plenty of fans who know it and are apathetic. Just terrible.

[moonslav59]

MLB is incredibly stupid. After an extremely dull and boring " Hot Stove League " , we are two weeks from opening day . And all the sports headlines and all the talk is about football. With the excitement of free agent signings , the draft and trades , the fans are into it . They are hopeful, optimistic and anxious for the season to start . And all MLB can come up with is a few dumb rule changes . Meanwhile, they are set to play an entire American League season just to see who will be the second wild card . Plenty of teams with no shot at all . And plenty of fans who know it and are apathetic. Just terrible.

 

It's been this way for decades and decades.

 

My opinion:

 

Best chances:

BOS

LAD

NYY

HOU

 

Good chances:

Cubs

WSH

CLE

PHI

STL

MIL

 

Slight chances:

ATL

OAK

NYM

TBR

MN

 

Miracle:

COL

CIN

SDP

 

No chance:

12 others

 

One could argue half the teams have virtually zero chance. That's sad but consistent with MLB history.

 

1998: only 1 teams finished within 8 games of first place in their division. (16 under .500)

 

1978: 7 of 12 NL teams finished 11+ games out.

7 of 14 AL teams finished 13.5+ games out (6 of 12 19+ out).

 

1958: The NL 2nd place team finished 8 GB (84-70). 5 of 8 were under .500.

The AL 2nd place team finished 10 GB (82-72). The 3rd place Sox were 79-75. 5 of 8 teams were below .503.

 

[notin]

MLB has always had bad teams and teams you knew had no chance from day one. But there is no denying this off-season and last year’s were boring to unprecedented levels...

[moonslav59]

MLB has always had bad teams and teams you knew had no chance from day one. But there is no denying this off-season and last year’s were boring to unprecedented levels...

 

My guess is 10 teams having a good to great shot and 3-5 having an outside shot is better than most MLB pre-season outlooks.

[dgalehouse]

MLB has always had bad teams and teams you knew had no chance from day one. But there is no denying this off-season and last year’s were boring to unprecedented levels...

MLB is part of the sports / entertainment industry. While the die hard fans will always be there , they need to promote the game and generate interest among the others . They are not doing a very good job of it . This past snooze fest of an off season certainly did not help . I guess as long as they are turning a profit, they are satisfied. But it is not good that , two weeks from opening day , football has grabbed the spotlight.

[Slasher9]

boring offseason because: collusion. Sad!

[moonslav59]

MLB is part of the sports / entertainment industry. While the die hard fans will always be there , they need to promote the game and generate interest among the others . They are not doing a very good job of it . This past snooze fest of an off season certainly did not help . I guess as long as they are turning a profit, they are satisfied. But it is not good that , two weeks from opening day , football has grabbed the spotlight.

 

I totally agree. If just about every team had a chance, interest in MLB would improve a lot.

[notin]

It's been this way for decades and decades.

 

My opinion:

 

Best chances:

BOS

LAD

NYY

HOU

 

Good chances:

Cubs

WSH

CLE

PHI

STL

MIL

 

Slight chances:

ATL

OAK

NYM

TBR

MN

 

Miracle:

COL

CIN

SDP

 

No chance:

12 others

 

One could argue half the teams have virtually zero chance. That's sad but consistent with MLB history.

 

1998: only 1 teams finished within 8 games of first place in their division. (16 under .500)

 

1978: 7 of 12 NL teams finished 11+ games out.

7 of 14 AL teams finished 13.5+ games out (6 of 12 19+ out).

 

1958: The NL 2nd place team finished 8 GB (84-70). 5 of 8 were under .500.

The AL 2nd place team finished 10 GB (82-72). The 3rd place Sox were 79-75. 5 of 8 teams were below .503.

 

 

But there is a huge difference between expectations and results. Even in those highlighted seasons, did everyone expect that level of disparity in March? (I don’t expect an actual answer.)

 

And for the 12 “no chance” teams, bear I mind in each of the last two two years, a “no chance” team in the AL grabbed a Wild Card spot. Sure we look at the 8 AL teams listed above and think the remaining 7 have no shot, but there’s actually a decent chance and enough precedent to say it might not play out that way.

 

Baltimore is certainly a mess. Toronto has a rough schedule. KC is trending downward from their pique in 2015. And nothing looks right with the Tigers.

 

But every MLB team does have 25 MLB-caliber players, and MLB-caliber players sometimes do manage to put it all together when no one expects them to.

 

Can the White Sox make an unexpected playoff run? They do have a lot of good young player’s capable of breaking out. (They may not this year - or ever - but they have a lot of potential talent). Or maybe Seattle can make a run. Certainly Los Angeles of Anaheim has some great players on the field, but can they overcome their constant influx of problems on the mound?

 

While Toronto does have said rough schedule, even they might not be so bad. We credit Tampa with a shot at contention based upon 2 good months and a huge chunk of lackluster play that encompassed the rest of the season. Can Toronto or Anaheim or Chicago put together 2 good months?

 

And these teams also have the potential to add the still-unsigned Keuchel and Kimbrel. Although in doing so, any run might feel less surprising...

Edited March 15, 2019 by notin

[Station 13]

So DH yet for the NL? Wake me up when they do.

[moonslav59]

But there is a huge difference between expectations and results. Even in those highlighted seasons, did everyone expect that level of disparity in March? (I don’t expect an actual answer.)

 

And for the 12 “no chance” teams, bear I mind in each of the last two two years, a “no chance” team in the AL grabbed a Wild Card spot.

 

I don't think Oakland was ranked in the bottom 12 before last year started.

 

MN was kind of a shocker in 2017, but they might have been ranked above the bottom 12.

[moonslav59]

 

Baltimore is certainly a mess. Toronto has a rough schedule. KC is trending downward from their pique in 2015. And nothing looks right with the Tigers.

 

But every MLB team does have 25 MLB-caliber players, and MLB-caliber players sometimes do manage to put it all together when no one expects them to.

 

Can the White Sox make an unexpected playoff run? They do have a lot of good young player’s capable of breaking out. (They may not this year - or ever - but they have a lot of potential talent). Or maybe Seattle can make a run. Certainly Los Angeles of Anaheim has some great players on the field, but can they overcome their constant influx of problems on the mound?.

 

I could see adding CWS and LAA to the miracle column- making it 10 teams with pretty much zero chance going into 2019.

[dgalehouse]

Really , it is only the advent of the second wild card that gives some teams a glimmer of hope . What hurts interest a lot is that some of the weaker teams seem content with it . Trying to rebuild without spending much . I could be mistaken , but I think the NFL has both a salary cap and a salary floor .

[notin]

I could see adding CWS and LAA to the miracle column- making it 10 teams with pretty much zero chance going into 2019.

 

 

Where was Oakland one year ago?

 

Did you think they were any better then than you think Seattle is today?

 

A lot can happen over 162 games. A key injury here and a breakout season there and an unexpected team makes the postseason.

 

One year ago, I as listening to Steve Phillips and Edward Perez on MLB Network play a game they called “Three In, Three Out”.

 

The premise was to name 3 postseason teams from the prior year that wouldn’t return to the playoffs and replace them with three new teams that would, based on recent history for how the postseason plays out. They invited a few guests to join in, but I forget who they were.

 

Boston (along with Minnesota) was a universal “out” choice. Washington was not selected by anyone. Oops and oops. If we had to do a “Three In, Three Out” this year, what would your choices be?

[Slasher9]

If we had to do a “Three In, Three Out” this year, what would your choices be?

 

not sure if this is open to everyone or you just wanted Moon's take...but here's mine:

Out

Yankees

Brewers

Rockies

 

In

Cardinals

Phillies

Devil Rays

[notin]

not sure if this is open to everyone or you just wanted Moon's take...but here's mine:

Out

Yankees

Brewers

Rockies

 

In

Cardinals

Phillies

Devil Rays

 

 

Anyone’s take. I was thinking I should have started a dedicated thread.

 

 

Out

Dodgers

Cubs

A’s

 

In

Phillies

Cardinals

White Sox

Edited March 15, 2019 by notin

[dgalehouse]

The " MLB trade rumors "site should consider changing their name to the " MLB injury report ." The injuries seem to constitute most of the news from the camps these days .

[moonslav59]

not sure if this is open to everyone or you just wanted Moon's take...but here's mine:

Out

Yankees

Brewers

Rockies

 

In

Cardinals

Phillies

Devil Rays

 

If I had to choose 3 & 3:

 

Out:

COL

OAK

Cubs

 

In:

PHI

STL

TBR

[notin]

It’s interesting that Colorado s becoming a popular “out” choice while the Dodgers are not (except for by me).

 

I think the latest Kershaw injury, the loss of Puig, Kemp and Wood, and only Pollock as a replacement might not offset the Rockies, who were just as good for 162 games last year...