harmony

From Sunday's MLB Trade Rumors chat: https://www.jotcast.com/chat/mlbtr-live-chat-11501.html

Would the Red Sox be interested in closer Edwin Diaz if the Mets clean house in the offseason? Diaz remains under team control for one more season working off his 2021 salary of $7 million.

It's hard to top the misery found on this thread.

Veteran reliever Joe Smith will be available after posting a 2.04 ERA, 0.91 WHIP and .188 BAA in 22 apperances to date this year with the upstart Seattle Mariners.

Life was fine when the two league champions met in the World Series immediately following the conclusion of the regular season.

That would be accurate if arbitrarily measured by the longest postseason drought. But please note that this year the Red Sox have won 88 games with an Opening Day payroll of $182.5 million while the Seattle Mariners have won 86 games with an Opening Day payroll of $81.8 million. The Mariners haven't finished with a better season record than the Red Sox since ... well, since last year. Baseball America currently ranks the Seattle farm system No. 1 even though the Mariners have graduated seven former Top 100 prospects over the past two seasons. Best wishes in the postseason.

The Mariners needed the Red Sox to sweep the Yankees this weekend. Seattle hurt its chances Saturday by losing to the Angels 14-1 in true Mariner fashion but finished the 10-game September road trip with an 8-2 record.

FWIW the Red Sox have a losing record (46-47) against teams with a record above .500 but a 13-4 record against the floundering National League East: 2024 MLB Standings and Records: Regular Season | MLB.com WWW.MLB.COM The official standings for Major League Baseball including division and league standings for regular season, wild card, and playoffs. The Seattle Mariners have a 41-37 record against teams with a record above .500 but a 9-11 record against the daunting National League West.* As three games separate the teams in the Wild Card standings, we'll never know what would have happened if the Red Sox had drawn the NL West in interleague play and the Mariners the NL East. Good luck in the postseason. * In defense of the AL East, its teams dominated AL West teams in the final two months to finish with an 82-79 record in head-to-head competition against their West opponents.

It's a long shot for the Seattle Mariners. With this week's four-game sweep in Oakland, the Mariners are 6-1 on their current 10-game road trip with three games remaining in Anaheim. For the third time in four years the M's are likely to be eliminated in the final week of the season. Props to the underdog.

In their four straight wins this week the Seattle Mariners have needed only nine combined innings from the bullpen as starters Logan Gilbert, Tyler Anderson, Marco Gonzales and Chris Flexen have all posted quality starts. Managing a bullpen at this point in the season is easier if the relievers are not overworked. The Mariners will likely miss the postseason for the 20st straight season.

I should get some sleep to prepare for the three-hour drive to Wednesday's rubber match of the three-game series (and the season series).

Good explanation. Thanks.

Last year Seattle third baseman Kyle Seager joked that he helped shortstop J.P. Crawford and first baseman Evan White win Gold Gloves because his lack of range let balls get through to Crawford and his errant throws across the diamond permitted White to come up with some impressive scoops.

The eye test was startling last night for a fan who watches few Red Sox games.

FanGraphs gives the Rays, Red Sox, Blue Jays and Yankees all better than 50 percent chances of advancing to the postseason: https://www.fangraphs.com/standings/playoff-odds How is that possible? No one is obligated to answer the question.

Again, it's not the travel as much as it's the rainout makeups.

The five AL West teams also have the disadvantage of extensive travel, occupying five of the top seven slots in 2021 travel miles: https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/visuals/map But what's annoying are the frequent makeup games as a result of rainouts in the East and the Midwest. East and Central teams almost never need to squeeze in a makeup game on the West Coast; West teams almost always need to squeeze in a makeup league games on the road. This year's weather has been particularly bad but during a normal baseball season Seattle receives only a fraction of the precipitation of Boston or New York.

Who would've thought?

Yes. The final 200 yards were always at a faster pace than the previous six miles.

Want an opinion? A forum member is under no obligation to answer a question from another forum member.

Seattle is a landing spot for pitchers coming back from Tommy John surgery ... and the Mariners have money to spend.

FWIW the Astros are 2-1 against the Rays with three games remaining in Houston.

My analysis was limited to whether the difference in interleague schedules could influence the Wild Card race where "a game or two difference- or even more" could be deciding. The AL West still holds a 77-75 edge this year in head-to-head competition against the AL East. Draw whatever conclusion ... or no conclusion at all.

Noah Syndergaard has not pitched at the MLB level since 2019 when the righthander posted a 4.28 ERA and a 96 ERA+ in 32 starts: https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/syndeno01.shtml Syndergaard is unlikely to land a $210 million contract. MLB Trade Rumors does not list Syndergaard among the top 10 free agents in the 2021-22 offseason: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2021/03/2021-22-mlb-free-agent-power-rankings.html