Countdown to Playoffs - 2019 edition

[Slasher9]

Never

Give

Up

[oldtimer]

Never

Give

Up

 

Be Smart

[Slasher9]

Be Smart

 

well, yeah. when it comes to my wife and son or my work.

when it comes to baseball and the Boston Red Sox my brain will never win out. my heart will win every single time. and it wont give in until the math says so.

[Bellhorn04]

well, yeah. when it comes to my wife and son or my work.

when it comes to baseball and the Boston Red Sox my brain will never win out. my heart will win every single time. and it wont give in until the math says so.

 

I hear that. I was watching the Rays game last night and you're damn right I was pulling hard for them to lose.

[harmony]

I hear that. I was watching the Rays game last night and you're damn right I was pulling hard for them to lose.

The lowly Seattle Mariners did their best to accommodate.

[Slasher9]

I hear that. I was watching the Rays game last night and you're damn right I was pulling hard for them to lose.

 

as our friend Kimmi would say....We got this.

[Slasher9]

The lowly Seattle Mariners did their best to accommodate.

 

thank you Harmony. again tonight please.

[Maxbialystock]

We are sending Mr. TBD up against the Phillies Nola tomorrow. Asking a lot to score enough to be competitive tomorrow. That is just our predicament due to starters hurt or not performing.

 

Exactly. To me it's OK to be furious with the rotation who are paid a ton of money and have not delivered, but at the same time to root like crazy for the Sox to win. I'm still irritated that Owings is on the roster, but otherwise am fine with it. And I notice these days Cora is more than willing to pull a starter early and well before what used to be the "7 run rule."

 

Plus someone else said even losing teams should try to win in order to be fair to all the teams that are still in the hunt.

[Noles_1335]

This may be totally wrong to say... However, is it time to think 2020 and limit the innings Erod will pitch to close out this season? Give DHern a couple starts to see if he could steal a rotation spot next season.

[dgalehouse]

I hear that. I was watching the Rays game last night and you're damn right I was pulling hard for them to lose.

 

There is still some room on the bandwagon for those deserters who want to climb back on .

[OH FOY]

Love the Mariners.

Thanks Harmony.

Sweep them never say WAR is not good again. I'll love it.

Can you believe we have to root for the Yanks. We have to.

Rally Caps Brothers and Sisters.

[Kimmi]

The reason for the Pythagorean difference is simple. I’ve told you guys for years how to outperform your Pythagorean. Create a lockdown pen. Think about it. You’re gonna have beatdowns, you won’t win those. You’ll have games your are beating them down. You won’t lose those. Then there are the games in between. A good pen keeps you close in games you’re down by a run or two and locks down leads when you’re up a run or two. The Yanks pen this year is frickin legendary. Our overall might not be tops in the game since corpses like Brady Lail, Steven Tarpley and Joe Mantiply made appearances, but when the games are close, we unload multiple lights out relievers on the other squad. Heck, we’ve missed probably our best reliever in Betances and still dominate. The Sox have underperformed their Pythagorean because of their horrible pen.

 

A good pen might help a team outperform their Pythagorean W-L record, but that's not always necessarily the case. That is typically the case when a team has a stronger record in one run games (and maybe two run games, but I don't have a stat readily available for that, and I'm not willing to go through every game log).

 

The Yankees in one run games are 15-13. The Sox in one run games are 16-15. Pretty similar.

 

The telling sign for me is that the Yankees are 'only' .645 in blowout games, which is slightly worse than their overall record of .659. Usually, good teams have better record in blowout games than they do overall.

 

This tells me that your pitching staff is giving up a lot of runs in losses.

[Kimmi]

Speaking of the analytics driven geeks ; maybe MLB should use them to put together a schedule that makes at least a little bit of sense . This year's schedule was crazy .

 

Seriously, the analytics guys could do a better job with scheduling than whoever is doing it now.

[Kimmi]

Never

Give

Up

 

Preach, Brother Slash!

[SoxHop]

Preach, Brother Slash!

 

Not a 108 win season. But we are still in this.

[harmony]

as our friend Kimmi would say....We got this.

 

https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2019-mlb-predictions/

 

https://www.fangraphs.com/standings/playoff-odds

[moonslav59]

Not a 108 win season. But we are still in this.

 

Nope.

 

[moonslav59]

Nope.

 

 

Ooops, sorry. I thought this was the Realistic thread.

[Slasher9]

Ooops, sorry. I thought this was the Realistic thread.

 

when the Sox make the play in game this year i am adding this quote to my signature....

[Maxbialystock]

Ooops, sorry. I thought this was the Realistic thread.

 

I know you don't visit the Realistic thread all that often, so allow me to inform you that only occasionally is it about a Realistic View of 2019, Part I and Part II. More often, it's about almost anything related or even not related to the Boston Red Sox.

 

Realistically, the 2019 playoffs train seems to have left the station without the Sox, but then I remember Lori Petty and Geena Davis actually running to catch a train that would in fact take them to the AAGPBL and conclude the Sox right now are only mostly dead.

 

Besides, as I've said before, I am still happy to root for the lineup players (except Owings of course) and even the bullpen. I reserve my enmity for the rotation (less ERod who at 26 seems headed for his best season).

 

Lately I've also thought a lot about the new semi-seamless baseball and it's dramatic effect on hitting and pitching in MLB. It would appear that other teams, especially their rotations, have adjusted more easily than ours.

Edited August 20, 2019 by Maxbialystock

[jung]

I know you don't visit the Realistic thread all that often, so allow me to inform you that only occasionally is it about a Realistic View of 2019, Part I and Part II. More often, it's about almost anything related or even not related to the Boston Red Sox.

 

Realistically, the 2019 playoffs train seems to have left the station without the Sox, but then I remember Lori Petty and Geena Davis actually running to catch a train that would in fact take them to the AAGPBL and conclude the Sox right now are only mostly dead.

 

Besides, as I've said before, I am still happy to root for the lineup players (except Owings of course) and even the bullpen. I reserve my enmity for the rotation (less ERod who at 26 seems headed for his best season).

 

Lately I've also thought a lot about the new semi-seamless baseball and it's dramatic effect on hitting and pitching in MLB. It would appear that other teams, especially their rotations, have adjusted more easily than ours.

 

I don't see much adjustment anywhere. MLB pitching sucks now and has been on this sucks spiral for awhile now. Dodger Ryu is the one clear standout with this baseball which makes me wonder about the baseball they use in Korean ball and how similar it might be to this MLB baseball.

 

I do see grips changing....The knuckle curve as opposed to the traditional Curve grip is a good example I think. Dependence on the Change is another good example. I was always a Hitter and never drew a mental picture of myself as a Pitcher. But we all messed around with pitches. I suspect if I tried to throw a knuckle curve to a Catcher standing in front of a building I would have broken twenty panes of glass on said building before hitting the Catcher's mitt even once.

[bosoxmal]

I believe the Sox will make the playoffs. 2 out of 3 from the Philies is almost a must. But as we head into the "easer Pitching" seaspn. I can see the opposing pitchiing staffs coming back to our staff, and the huge advantage we have in offense will be the difference. SUGGESTIONS1:

 

ERod on 4 day routine. 5 innings, each, max.

Price on 5 day routing, 4 innings, max

Purcell a;so on 5 day with 3 innings max

 

Rest of the routines

Pick, em", 3 - 4 innings, max.

 

Take Trout put of the picture, and we have 4 of the BEST HITTERS in the A,ERICAN LEAGUE!

 

C'MPM, MAN!!!!

[moonslav59]

when the Sox make the play in game this year i am adding this quote to my signature....

 

I hope to God you are right.

 

It's not like I've never been wrong. When you're opinionated as I am and voice those opinions freely and often, it's easy to be wrong many times.

[moonslav59]

I know you don't visit the Realistic thread all that often, so allow me to inform you that only occasionally is it about a Realistic View of 2019, Part I and Part II. More often, it's about almost anything related or even not related to the Boston Red Sox.

 

Realistically, the 2019 playoffs train seems to have left the station without the Sox, but then I remember Lori Petty and Geena Davis actually running to catch a train that would in fact take them to the AAGPBL and conclude the Sox right now are only mostly dead.

 

Besides, as I've said before, I am still happy to root for the lineup players (except Owings of course) and even the bullpen. I reserve my enmity for the rotation (less ERod who at 26 seems headed for his best season).

 

Lately I've also thought a lot about the new semi-seamless baseball and it's dramatic effect on hitting and pitching in MLB. It would appear that other teams, especially their rotations, have adjusted more easily than ours.

 

Good one.

 

I'm still watching every pitch of every game and always root for every player to do well and for us to win.

[oldtimer]

Good one.

 

I'm still watching every pitch of every game and always root for every player to do well and for us to win.

 

Of course I root for the team as always but realistically, we are putting Johnson up against Nola tonight. The difference in era is significant. Yes we have good hitting but our pitching staff can hurt us and makes the probability of gaining ground low.

[kenmeister]

Of course I root for the team as always but realistically, we are putting Johnson up against Nola tonight. The difference in era is significant. Yes we have good hitting but our pitching staff can hurt us and makes the probability of gaining ground low.

 

Win or lose, I'd like to see Johnson go at least 5 innings tonight allowing 3 or less. We need him to show signs he can be a rotation regular. Getting pulled in the third isn't going to cut it.

[moonslav59]

Of course I root for the team as always but realistically, we are putting Johnson up against Nola tonight. The difference in era is significant. Yes we have good hitting but our pitching staff can hurt us and makes the probability of gaining ground low.

 

Johnson looked good, last year, so I'm wanting to see more of him, in hopes that he shows more of the 2018 Johnson and not the 2019 Johnson.

 

If he looks strong the rest of the year, maybe we can count on him as our 6th starter/long pen arm next year.

[notin]

Win or lose, I'd like to see Johnson go at least 5 innings tonight allowing 3 or less. We need him to show signs he can be a rotation regular. Getting pulled in the third isn't going to cut it.

 

Well, he gave you half of that...

[notin]

Johnson looked good, last year, so I'm wanting to see more of him, in hopes that he shows more of the 2018 Johnson and not the 2019 Johnson.

 

If he looks strong the rest of the year, maybe we can count on him as our 6th starter/long pen arm next year.

 

He’ll probably be on the team next year, but I don’t think much should be expected, except for his annual long trip to the IL...

[moonslav59]

Well, he gave you half of that...

 

I'm not expecting greatness or even decency. I'm just wanting to see more before we cut ties or try someone else.