Comments on: Yeah, I Gotta Rash, Man

By: kenboyer made me cry

kenboyer made me cry — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 04:26:35 +0000

[27] I know, but which poison is more toxic? Verlander can shut the Yankees down, but both the A’s and O’s can take the life out of the Yankees giving them the appearance of an old tired team limping to the end. I’m not sure which is worse.

The Yankees have a nearly .300 batting average with four HRs against Verlander this year. If CC can start games 1&5 vs. Detroit, he actually has better stats agInst them then Verlander has vs. the Yankees this year. The mysteries are tantalizing.

By: Ken Arneson

Ken Arneson — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 04:13:47 +0000

[25] If I were the Yankees (or Texas), I’d much rather play the O’s or A’s than Detroit, who have Justin Verlander all lined up to pitch games 1 and 5.

By: Ken Arneson

Ken Arneson — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 04:09:20 +0000

[23] Not in the case of NYY-BAL; they’re both in the playoffs no matter what. OAK-TEX can’t end up tied. You could have a tie-breaker game between DET-CHW, and the loser would be out.

It’s possible that NYY and BAL could end up tied with OAK or TEX for the 1st wild card slot. In that case, the loser of the division playoff between BAL/NYY would be the 2nd wild card team, and the AL West team would be the 1st wild card.

In the theoretical case (which can’t happen this year) that there’s a tied division, and there’s another team tied with them for the 2nd wild card spot, they’d play the division tiebreaker game first. The loser then would play the other team for the right to be the 2nd wild card.

By: kenboyer made me cry

kenboyer made me cry — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 04:01:57 +0000

Congratulations to our Yankees. With the Angels loss to Texas, they have clinched a PS birth. It’s still difficult to figure out all the permutations, but they’re in.

So many questions. Will Boston lay down? Even the worst teams luck into a win before they lose eight in a row. Will the Rays play with intensity with the slimmest hope of the PS, or will their heads be thinking about home, the off season, an island vacation? Can the O’s keep this run going, or will they be out of gas at the start of the PS? There’s more, but the Yankees need to win the division first. But with the best record they will probably have to play the O’s or A’s. Better to play Detroit first?

And with that other local team in a different sport late loss, this would have been a miserable night and Monday morning if they Yankees didn’t pull out the win today. I have to give them thanks.

By: Mattpat11

Mattpat11 — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 03:31:42 +0000

Three game sprint. Lets get this done.

By: monkeypants

monkeypants — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 03:25:45 +0000

[21] Isn’t there a remote chance that the tie-breaker game could result in the losing team not making the playoffs? What happens in that case?

By: RIYank

RIYank — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 02:54:11 +0000

different = difference

By: RIYank

RIYank — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 02:53:10 +0000

Until this year, an extra game was only for distinguishing a playoff team from a non-playoff team, and not a division-winner from a wild card team. But this year, because the different between winning the division and getting a wild card berth is so huge, they’ll play a game for that too.

I was away this long weekend so missed every Blue Jays game except I did catch the end of today’s at an airport. Man, stressful games.

By: knuckles

knuckles — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 02:50:21 +0000

[19]
Yabbut that’s why they play the games on the field.

By: OldYanksFan

OldYanksFan — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 02:43:14 +0000

With LAA’s loss, the AL Playoff teams are all but decided. LAA, TB and ChiSox all with a 1% chance.

By: OldYanksFan

OldYanksFan — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 02:15:21 +0000

[14] Bless you.
“One game tie-breakers are played between teams tied for a division championship or the second wildcard berth in either league.”

I thought that was the story. Old Monkeypants was just fucking with my head again. So if we tie Baltimore for the Division, it’s a 1 game tie-breaker in Baltimore.

Much better.

By: Max

Max — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 01:46:14 +0000

[15] So ESPN, per [6], was talking out of their rear. Which isn’t new, but still…

By: monkeypants

monkeypants — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 01:39:40 +0000

[13] Andy has been great. Mo is Mo. And they’re both 40+.

By: monkeypants

monkeypants — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 01:39:00 +0000

[13][14] Well, here is a link to an MLB.com article:

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20120929&content_id=39210458&vkey=news_mlb&c_id=mlb

The money quote:

A tiebreaker games will be played to determine a division winner, even if the tied clubs are assured of participating in the postseason. If a division championship tiebreaker is necessary, the head-to-head record between the clubs will determine home-field advantage. If the head-to-head record is tied, then division record will be the next tiebreaker.

By: Max

Max — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 01:32:50 +0000

[11] [13] That doesn’t sound right, based on this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_League_Baseball_tie-breaking_procedures, or for that matter the MLB site. My impression is that the division titles are so much more important in the new system that tiebreakers are no longer used. A one game playoff happens regardless in case of a tie.

But maybe I’m particularly deluded on this one.

By: OldYanksFan

OldYanksFan — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 00:32:07 +0000

[11] So if we tie Baltimore, we are the WC? THAT SUCKS!
I know that was the rule in previous years, but I thought with the new WC playout and importance of Winning the Division, I thought there would be a playoff game. THAT SUCKS!

That is, can you expect to get value from a pitcher coming off of a major arm surgery,
… Pineda is a crap shoot, but others have done it so I’m hoping

a 40+ y.o. reliever coming off of a major injury,
Are you talking about Mo? It’s a non arm/elbow injury, and this IS Mo. My guess is he’s still good. The rest might even have done him good.

a 40 y.o. starter who got injured (albeit freakishly)
Are you talking about Andy? How good was he this year?

and 32 y.o. starter with lots of mileage on his arm?
Are you talking about Aardsma? I’m guessing he will better then the average cast-off BP arm we usually pick up.

I think the 2013 Pitching staff will be better then the 2012 staff, unless CC has shit the bed.

By: Mr OK Jazz Tokyo

Mr OK Jazz Tokyo — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 00:14:22 +0000

Scioscia leaves in Ervin Santana a bit too long, Napoli with the long tater. Love seeing Napoli kill the Angels, I’m sure Scioscia still thinks Jeff Mathis is better.

By: monkeypants

monkeypants — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 23:58:01 +0000

[5] we are 5th in ERA (without Pineda, Mo and Andy and a poor year from CC)

OK, but can you expect improvement next year? That is, can you expect to get value from a pitcher coming off of a major arm surgery, a 40+ y.o. reliever coming off of a major injury, a 40 y.o. starter who got injured (albeit freakishly), and 32 y.o. starter with lots of mileage on his arm?

[6] In the current configuration, the tie breaker is head-to-head, followed by (I think) division record. A one game play-off is *only* played in circumstances when the losing team would not make the playoffs. It’s the same situation as when the Yankees and Sox tied a few years ago, right?

By: monkeypants

monkeypants — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 23:53:41 +0000

[5] How come only 7 games? I thought it was 10?

Because baseball in its infinite wisdom has the Yankees play extra games against the Mets, so they don’t play the same number of games against each inter-division opponent.

Apparently this will change somewhat next year.

By: Mr OK Jazz Tokyo

Mr OK Jazz Tokyo — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 23:12:25 +0000

[8] When you lay it out that way..it’s hard to argue otherwise.
And yet, why is it so often a chore to watch their games?