Board 8 > MLB Discussion Topic 2 - Baseball World Turned Upside Down

(+) Yeah! (+)

Seems like the Mets always win either when I go to the game or when I can't devote full 100% attention to it.
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Here's something to think about

The Rangers won their 4th game in a row on the 13th to reach .500

Since then, they've never been more than one game away from it in either direction. They've played 15 games since then, too. Their only off day in that span was the 15th.

Kind of nuts. And really dumb.
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Oh hey, the Mets have won six of their last seven.
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mets win when wigs goes to games!!!
8-3
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siiiiiiigh
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Sam Dyson records a save in extra innings for the Giants.
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Esuriat posted...

Sam Dyson records a save in extra innings for the Giants.

!!

I think that's more than he recorded in his entire time in Texas this year
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It is! Also apparently he's taking up the closer role now that Melancon is on the DL.

The Giants have also now won 5 in a row. Clearly the most incredible turnaround is underway.
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speaking of the giants, i wonder if this has ever happened before

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DDsFtx9W0AEaT6q.jpg
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Esuriat posted...

It is! Also apparently he's taking up the closer role now that Melancon is on the DL.

The Giants have also now won 5 in a row. Clearly the most incredible turnaround is underway.

If he returns to last year's form, you'll be happy with him.

At this point though, I don't give a fuck because if the Rangers can possibly find a way to blow a game in the 9th they will, regardless of who's on the mound.

We could have 1974 Nolan Ryan on the mound and they'd blow some of these games
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Yankees blowing tons of games lately too. one of the worst records in 1 run games in MLB this year. 3 times as many blown saves as last year at this point in the season (granted, they had Miller then).
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Also on the STATS front, the Rangers doing the exact opposite of what they've done in years past.

They have a decently positive run differential (+23) while being under .500

As if the last two years weren't enough evidence of how much of a joke that stat is...
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Xuxon posted...

speaking of the giants, i wonder if this has ever happened before

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DDsFtx9W0AEaT6q.jpg

This is incredible. There's even 1 man on base.
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All Star rosters get announced tonight. I'll get my predictions up sometime today. I'm not as confident with these picks as I was last year, and it wasn't as fun, probably didn't put as much effort into it.

Anyway, as a preface to the picks, a reminder of how the rosters are constructed. Fan vote obviously picks the starting position players. Players and managers also submit a ballot, and those picks (or runners-up if it's the same as the fan ballot) fill out the reserves at each position, plus five starting pitchers and three relievers in each league. The commissioner's office then rounds out the roster with five picks in the AL and seven picks in the NL (four pitchers for each, and the remaining are position players; AL has less because the DH is already voted in). It is also the responsibility of the commissioner's office to ensure that each team is represented. And finally of course, the fans get the Final Vote for the 32nd player on each roster.

The relevant changes to this roster construction from previous years are that the roster sizes are down from 34 to 32, and it's the commissioner's office making the final selections as opposed to the respective managers. So that puts a bit of a crunch and changes the dynamic a bit.

Full FAQ is here: http://m.mlb.com/news/article/239654292/all-star-game-roster-rules-faq/

Last year I remember I had no idea how the players would vote, but for the most part, I put faith in them to make the right choices, and in fact they really did do a good job of picking the players who were having the best seasons, not just the biggest names or career numbers or popularity contest. So I mostly did that again this year. There were a few instances where no one really stood out for those picks though, especially some involving players that would count towards a team's only representative, so missing those would have a trickle-down effect.

Anyway, I lost my train of thought, so....long-winded intro over.
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Here we go, my All Star roster predictions.

American League
C KC Salvador Perez
C NYY Gary Sanchez
1B KC Eric Hosmer
1B TOR Justin Smoak
1B TB Logan Morrison
2B HOU Jose Altuve
2B NYY Starlin Castro
3B MIN Miguel Sano
3B CLE Jose Ramirez
SS HOU Carlos Correa
SS BOS Xander Bogaerts
OF NYY Aaron Judge
OF LAA Mike Trout
OF HOU George Springer
OF BOS Mookie Betts
OF OAK Khris Davis
OF CWS Avisail Garcia
DH TB Corey Dickerson
DH SEA Nelson Cruz
DH CLE Edwin Encarnacion
SP BOS Chris Sale
SP TEX Yu Darvish
SP MIN Ervin Santana
SP HOU Dallas Keuchel*
SP CLE Corey Kluber
SP DET Michael Fulmer
SP KC Jason Vargas
RP BOS Craig Kimbrel
RP CLE Andrew Miller
RP TOR Roberto Osuna
RP BAL Brad Brach
RP MIN Brandon Kintzler
RP HOU Chris Devenski

Fan vote is pretty straightforward. After the last official update, I was predicting Corey Dickerson would surpass Nelson Cruz, then MLB went and announced in the final hours that he had. He'd hold it from there, as will Eric Hosmer at 1B. The KC vote is strong, and the competition wasn't coming on hard enough.

Some challenges in the players' ballot. 1B was tough, as I had Smoak, Morrison, Yonder Alonso, maybe Miguel Cabrera in an upset. I went with Smoak. If he were to end up passing Hosmer in the fan ballot, things could get pretty interesting, as Morrison or Alonso could end up taking this reserve spot. Schoop and Cano are possibilities at 2B, but I'm sticking with Castro. SS was tough. Lindor has been a bit of a disappointment this year, so I went with Bogaerts, although he hasn't been that great anyway. It could easily be Elvis Andrus too.

Backup outfield was a mess. I may have picked too hopeful with Avisail Garcia, although he was in the top six of the fan ballot, so maybe not too crazy. Khris Davis wasn't anywhere near there, but I'm also giving him a spot. Other options are Lorenzo Cain, Justin Upton, Gardner, Souza. I wouldn't be surprised by any combination.

There's a solid group of pitchers from the players' ballot. I have Keuchel making it despite the injury, with Jason Vargas being his injury replacement. I don't have much to say there.

As for commissioner picks, he's left needing to fill Baltimore and Detroit, unless Schoop or Upton previously got in. Brad Brach becomes the easy pick. For Detroit, it could still be Upton, but I went pitcher, and it could be either Fulmer or Justin Wilson. That opened up the final position player spot to go to Logan Morrison. Brandon Kintzler and Chris Devenski round out the roster.

Some Indians player wins the Final Vote as they've been voting strong. It could be Lindor, Encarnacion, or Brantley. Encarnacion's had the best season, but Lindor could easily be there instead.
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National League
C SF Buster Posey
C MIA J.T. Realmuto
1B WAS Ryan Zimmerman
1B ARI Paul Goldschmidt
1B CHC Anthony Rizzo
1B CIN Joey Votto
2B WAS Daniel Murphy
2B PIT Josh Harrison
3B COL Nolan Arenado
3B CHC Kris Bryant
3B ARI Jake Lamb
SS CIN Zack Cozart
SS LAD Corey Seager
OF WAS Bryce Harper
OF COL Charlie Blackmon
OF MIA Marcell Ozuna
OF MIA Giancarlo Stanton
OF NYM Jay Bruce
OF CIN Adam Duvall
1B/OF LAD Cody Bellinger
SP LAD Clayton Kershaw
SP WAS Max Scherzer
SP STL Carlos Martinez
SP ARI Zack Greinke
SP WAS Stephen Strasburg
RP LAD Kenley Jansen
RP COL Greg Holland
RP MIL Corey Knebel
RP ATL Jim Johnson
RP PHI Pat Neshek
RP SD Brad Hand
RP PIT Felipe Rivero

Fan ballot: Rizzo could catch Zimmerman, but I doubt it. Arenado passed Bryant and should hold him off (like Dickerson, I was predicting this pass, then MLB announced it). Thankfully Marcell Ozuna passed bad Cubs and should hold on to prevent something terrible.

Player's ballot here continues to be messy. I like J.T. Realmuto to make it as the catcher. He's got a unique skill set, and is putting up as decent a season as any other catcher, and gets a potential home bias which probably doesn't exist. First base could be Rizzo, Goldschmidt, Votto, or even Mark Reynolds. Goldschmidt is the best though, so he gets it. Second base was weak and wide open, and came down to one of four previous All Stars: Josh Harrison, Brandon Phillips, Dee Gordon, or DJ Lemahieu. Phillips the history and respect and is having a bounceback season, and would solve the Braves' requirement, but I couldn't do it. Gordon could as a Marlin, but probably not. Lemahieu has kind of had a down year. Went with Harrison.

Outfield here is also a complete mess of a bunch of average guys, no one standing out. I'll give one spot to Stanton as the big name, the Marlin, having a decent season. The next one to stand out to me is Jay Bruce, but is that personal bias? I don't think so. It could've alternatively been Conforto, but he's not on the ballot. I considered McCutchen for the final spot, but ultimately went for Adam Duvall to return. Puig is a possibility but doesn't have the respect around the league. Cody Bellinger is the ultimate wildcard as he is both not on the ballot and has been splitting time between 1B and the outfield, so where do you write him in? Obviously 1B is full of talent and outfield is fairly weak, so he could get written in as an outfielder and possibly make it, but I think the odds are too much against it.

Pitchers: Jansen, Holland, and Knebel seemed the easy reliever picks. Starters beyond Kershaw and Scherzer, not as easy. Okay, Carlos Martinez and Zack Greinke pretty likely. I'm not proud of my Strasburg pick, but I think he gets it. Alex Wood doesn't have the innings, Robbie Ray doesn't have the flash, and Jacob deGrom had the poor first half.

For the commissioner's picks, he's got Atlanta, Philadelphia, and San Diego to fill out. Brad Hand is the easy pick for the Padres. Aaron Altherr has a slight chance for Philly, but position players are too strong so that's just a waste, it's gotta go to Pat Neshek. Freeman probably doesn't have a chance because of the injury, so I'm going pitcher with them too. Rizzo and Votto have to make it, they'll combine with the other 1B to make up the DH slot. I'm giving the last spot to Jake Lamb for his great season, with Cody Bellinger going to the Final Vote and winning there. Although I'm curious if they decide they want a true backup CF, they take McCutchen or Conforto instead of Lamb. Final pitcher spot could go to one of those missed starters, but I opted for Felipe Rivero. I suppose it's also a safe pick because if Harrison and McCutchen both miss, Rivero should be the Pirates' representative selected.

Reynolds and Travis Shaw get snubbed. I'm sure I overlooked others. Feel free to discuss.
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no Betances? he's been pretty bad this past week but i figured he'd make it anyway
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No, I don't think Betances has much shot. If Schoop and Upton make it, that could open up a couple more pitcher slots for commissioner's picks, but he'd still be battling with a handful of other pitchers, both starters and relievers.
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OH SHIT Smoak beat out Hosmer for starter.

Uhhh okay, so, on-the-fly prediction update, Morrison takes reserve 1B in the players' ballot. That leaves, uhh.....shit, I don't know. Justin Upton takes the commissioner's reserve spot, that frees up Fulmer's spot for, I don't know....Carrasco. (Vargas probably takes the spot actually, but then Carrasco to replace Keuchel instead.)

And whoa, Jose Ramirez passed Sano, but Sano still gets in through the players' ballot.
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Okay, no surprises on the NL side with the fan vote.
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Ripping my predictions to shreds.
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Seventeen blown saves btw
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Well, I have been thoroughly shocked. Wow.

CONFORTOOOOOOO though. I should've figured the whole write-in thing for the players' ballot shouldn't have mattered. Who knows if they even have the same kind of ballot that the fans vote on. Deservingly, Bellinger and Conforto made it through there.

Commissioner picking an extra backup 2B in each league was curious. Guess I should've seen Bryant missing it in favor of Lamb. Bryant in the Final Vote though.
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Reg posted...

If he returns to last year's form, you'll be happy with him.

Heh, I'm sure I would be if he were on my team.

The only reason I was focusing on Dyson and the Giants last night is because of a coping mechanism I developed during the last decade as an Orioles fan. Whenever they're discouraging me, I tend to take a look around the league for interesting things or bright spots. And last night was plenty discouraging.

EDIT: Granted, I definitely like the Giants more than the average team because of certain players, being friends with some of their fans, liking San Francisco in general, etc.
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no bruce lol
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or degrom for that matter
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up

also fuck nats
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still fuck nats
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rainout
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but what about the nats?
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they are a team that has never won a playoff series!
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bump I guess
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Bartolo to Twins. :(


An American League Team. What a disaster.
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Pirates chase Lester out of the game after scoring ten runs in the first.
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Bump

Darvish pitched Sunday, got zero run support (Grand total of two hits)

Won't be appearing in the all-star game (Still on the roster, but confirmed that he won't play)

Not like I was going to watch the game anyways (since it's on fucking espn), but yeah.
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all star game

predix: scherzer gets taken deep at least once. maybe twice.
murphy makes an error

all the nats get booed HEY THAT HAPPENED
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LMFAO NATS





also CONFORTO BASE HIT BABY YEAAAAAAHHHHHHH
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that gif is straight up the reason the NL lost. lmaonats.
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I made it through like 5 innings of "Joe Buck talks about Aaron Judge". I think when they had Bryce Harper talking through an inning is when I started to really check out
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we were having a good time bashing the shit out of harper in discord

conforto coming up with the bases loaded potential walk off was exciting at least
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WTF, we traded Quintana!? I don't care that it was to the Cubs, I just didn't want to trade him or Abreu.
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Well I care
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As a Cubs fan, so do I!

But you had to expect this to happen right? He's been the subject of trade rumors since last year.

I'm just disappointed really. There was no need to get rid of Quintana after trading away Sale. I guess all I can hope is that a couple of the SPs we have acquired turn out to be quality major leaguers
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Cubs gave up their two best prospects in the deal. I tell myself to be okay with this because they were both 2-3 years away from helping the major league club. Hopefully the system can get restocked by then, but the Cubs should be in good position for the future with Lester and Quintana at the top of the rotation. But sports, y'know?
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probably good trade for both sides.
maybe mets can get a lot for duda bruce and grandy
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I suppose anything's possible
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mets won 14-2 tonight over the rockies NEVER MIND BUY BUY BUY

(no really don't)
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up
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Nats traded two of their top 10 prospects + Blake Trienan for Sean Doolittle/Ryan Madson lmfao what a fucking joke org


cant wait til Madson gives up the critical NLDS hit
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