The Official 2008 MLB Thread

If the season was only 100 games long, the Orioles might have a winning record. But they can't play 162. They always start to collapse around August 1. Just a few years ago, they were in first place in mid-June before they fell apart.

Well I clearly picked the wrong game to go to today. Hopefully the nightcap will look more like last nights game. I don't see the Jays catching the Redsox -- it would require near perfect play combined with a collapse by the Sox. Either is possible but both? No way.

They probably WON'T catch them BUT

The team with the best record in the AL since July 7? The Jays, by 4 or 5 games.

They have the second best pythag to the Red Sox and are pretty close to them in that (3, 4 games last I looked)

They have a better record than any AL team except the Angels since Cito took over.

The play each other 5 more time, and they each play the Yankees three times.

If we presume the Jays win 4 of 5 against Boston (tough to do but necessary to catch them) and that the Yanks play spoiler the last week and win two against Boston (and one against Toronto) then the margin is 2.5 games.

We have the Orioles six times, you got the Indians 4 times and go to TB for three. (and the Indians have a better Record than the Red Sox since the break).

you go 3-4 (certainly possible) and we go 5-1 and we're tied.

I'll definitely concede that there's not much margin for error but it's not insanely improbable either. the key though, is that we cannot lose more than two more of those games against the Red Sox - if we do then we have to have to make up 5.5 games in the other 10 and that's gonna give you guys a magic number of 3 or so.

Brandon Webb won his 20th game last night. The bullpen almost blew it for him. I think the Diamondback bullpen has blown at least 10 games for them this year. We'll see if Randy Johnson can win one tonight---he's had a few hard-luck games lately.

There's a great article in the L.A. Times today about the historic rivalry between the Dodgers and Giants:

http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-rivals19-2008sep19,0,6157943.story

Those Giants fans can be pretty rough, something I know from personal experience, but I think overall the rivalry is slightly (only slightly) less intense than the Yankees/RedSox rivalry.

Thoughts? What are your favorite baseball rivalries and why?

I grew up as a Giants fan. My father was from New Jersey and hated the Dodgers. They even had a nice little rivalry between the AAA Phoenix Giants and the Albuquerque Dukes for a while. It was nice seeing Joe Morgan (with the Giants at the time) hit that homer that knocked the Dodgers out of playoff contention in 1982.

Randy Johnson got another no-decision last night. He allowed 1 run in 7 innings and left with a 2-1 lead, but the bullpen couldn't hold it again. So the reliever blew the save and then got the victory when the D-Backs scored again in the bottom of the 8th. Randy should have 300 wins by now, but is stuck on 294.

An excellent article on ESPN.com about the death of Lyman Bostock (30 years ago). It's too long to cut and paste, but here is the link.

And an excellent article about the death of the Diamondbacks was posted earlier today

DODGERS CLINCH NL WEST TITLE!

GO BLUE!

Oh well. I'll pull for the Cubs in the playoffs and root for them to finally win one.

I'm having a lot of trouble figuring out who to root for. It's so difficult when the Yankees aren't in, to simply root for whatever team plays against them. This year I can root for the Dodgers, Angels, or Redsox, as a legitimate fan of each team. I can root for the Cubs and Philies for sentimental reasons. Argh!

I've got to switch allegiance to the AL. Can't root for an NL team with the D'Backs out of it. I'm getting behind the Rays this year.

The Rays are the one team I will definitely not root for (and not because they beat the Redsox for the division). They have talent and I expect good things from that team, but I can't abide by the idea that a team that good can typically only draw about 15,000 fans to the park. The folks in Tampa don't deserve a good team.

^ Thus it will show the fans (and, let's face it, MLB) up all the more when they don't show up for a thrilling World Series!

Yeah, I'm rooting for the (Devil) Rays. And Brewers. (Now watch as they both get eliminated in short order . . .) Angels have worn out their welcome with me, still don't care for the Phillies (though props to them for keeping the Mets out), Red Sox have busted the Curse already, I fatalistically assume the Twins won't be able to keep the White Sox out, don't care one way or the other about the Dodgers . . . yeah, I'm hoping for a Brewers-Rays series.

And for AZ to get a clue and go back to the purple uniforms during the off-season. There are enough red teams in the NL alone already.

Which is why they are at best, my number three preference for this year, love them though I do. I would much rather see the Dodgers or Cubs win it all this year.

Judged solely by themselves, I like the new AZ Diamondback's uniforms. I do however agree with you that there are too many red uniforms out there. I liked the old purple uniforms, but the players did not.

I nominate this:



for worst uniform in 2008.

^Was that from 70's retro weekend or something?

No, they are a regularly used alternative home uniform (used mostly for day games, I think).

Day games where they're feeling....festive???

If by festive, you mean gay, then yes.

Yes that is what I meant by festive.

That uniform is bright enough that you'd think they'd use it for night games instead.

To save energy on lights.

The Astros need to bring back the rainbow uniforms from the 70s

[action=Chuck]ducks [/action]

Nono.

Friday home games.

Only (unless the other team was doing a retro day on the road)

And yes, they are a monstrosity - although the great majority of my fellow Jays fans loved the idea, I DESPISE the powder blues.

Besides, what moron decides to "flashback" and doesn't go back to the glory days?

THIS should have been the FF uniform:

The powder blue looks kinda "faded" there, but I still like the logo.

Am I the only one that the pic doesn't show for two posts up?

The photo of Alomar in the 93 uniform showed in the preview but then didn't show when I posted and still doesn't.

At least not for me.

Oh, there's supposed to be an image there after all. *goes to look* Yes, now I see it. Yes, I quite agree. White uniform > powder blue uniform.