MLB 2023 Postseason Thread

rooting for the O's or the Twins this postseason.

i-94 series imo

xxp Who hates the Tigers???

oof vladdy

To jimB: there was a wild rivalry between the Jays and tigers innthe late 80s before they got moved into different divisions.

They seem like one of the least hate-worthy teams in the majors, but I guess from that perspective it makes sense.

Motorcitykitties is the best subreddit handle ever. That’s my regular verbiage for those tigers, making it impossible to stir up any negative emotions for them

Motorcitykitties is the best subreddit handle ever. That’s my regular verbiage for those tigers, making it impossible to stir up any negative emotions for them

I have good early childhood associations, having been born there. I always want to see them do well, but that's about it.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Let’s go O’s! (And whoever else voted Dodgers)

Who was the poster who put $20 on the O's in the preseason?

My mate (first season watching) did

Looks like we’re getting all 2 game series for this wild card round. Kinda glad, will make the DS’s more interesting with all teams getting at least a days rest

no games three is rude

Don't mind one rolling postseason thread and ILBaseball has always had these round polls.

I would also like to ask for someone else to do the polls for the Division Series.

Seems like the team with the highest win total got the tougher team in both leagues this year. Rough way to draw it up. I really can’t see the astros or twins getting to the WS. The NL seems like the league to watch this post season. Really hope the Twins can produce some magic over the astros. This is all very exciting ngl

yeah i don't understand why MLB doesn't re-seed after the wild-card games. atlanta should be playing the worst NL team left, not the winner of the 4-5 series

at least it's saving the NL clubs on travel, i guess

might sign up for a youtube tv trial today - first 3 weeks free, which i think takes me to the world series

Figure there's going to be a fight at the bar tonight btw me holding the remote and all the punters wanting college football.

Max has a free trial of their new sports add-on that covers the NLDS and NLCS, FYI

Had to check: in the decade since the Astros switched leagues, they've never faced the Rangers in the playoffs. Has the potential to be a great, high-scoring series.

Still holding onto the hope that Joe Ryan can shut the Astros out and Verlander gets lit up in game 5

Still the round of golf with Trump, or is there something else I'm not aware of?

Oh you know, I fully acknowledge he’s a great but I just don’t like him. And I do like Joe Ryan and his throwback hair. I watched a start from him earlier this year where he put a serious spoke in what was then a red hot Red Sox offence and pitched an absolute gem, though I don’t think his second half has been much good. Finally, I had no live with no end of gloating from my better half re Verlander‘s good start.

Seriously though, look at this coverage
https://www.si.com/.image/ar_1:1%2Cc_fill%2Ccs_srgb%2Cq_auto:good%2Cw_1200/MTg4NTU5NTM3NTc1NzY1OTYz/screen-shot-2021-09-08-at-62854-pm.png

I had to live

If the Braves can't figure shit out tomorrow, I'll be rooting for an AZ-TX series just because it's such a weird concept.

I am fully expecting the rangers to pull some magic out of their bag and win the whole thing. Really I’m happy with anyone but the Astros from here on out, all readily weird teams moving forward

AZ-TX both received 0 votes in this poll so they deserve it the most

Order has been restored with the Braves and Dodgers back to dominating the regular season and flopping in the playoffs.

Misery loves company (I do)

rooting for a rematch PHI over HOU

Four 100-win teams in MLB this year (I'm including the 99-win Rays), and none of them even advanced to the LCS.

Maybe this is the new norm -- last year three out of the four 100-win teams didn't advance to the LCS.

The advancing teams this year have gone 20-2 (six series sweeps and two four-game best of fives) but it still feels like there's been a lot of exciting baseball. Maybe because of all the upsets?

Bye week throws you off your game, negating any benefit from pitcher rest. Manfred just needs to add a few expansion teams for those sweet sweet franchise fees, split each league into four divisions and have a wild card for each and no byes.

Or a soccer style group stage feeding directly into the championship series, the two best records get to stay at home for the entire group stage.

make the #1 seed choose who it wants to play in the division series, giving us an entire week of harper/arcia-style 'they disrespected us' palaver x 2

I don't think it is because of the bye week, it's a long season (and postseason) and getting rest is important.

Maybe this is a topic for the intangibles thread, but teams like Texas and Arizona were playing important games all through September, fighting for their playoff lives. Whereas LA and Atlanta had their division locked up weeks ago, and weren't able to pivot and turn it on in October (whatever "it" is).

I think it’s a good topic for this thread.

So here’s our question — and his: Why are we so obsessed with who’s not still playing in the postseason when there’s such an obvious reason that teams like Realmuto’s October behemoths, the Phillies, are still playing?

And that reason goes like this:

Surely, you must have noticed by now that October baseball is practically a whole different sport than April-to-September baseball.

So here’s an idea: Maybe we should stop looking for excuses for the teams that are heading home. Instead, let’s take a closer look at why teams such as the Phillies — and their partners in World Series crime last fall, the Astros — keep finding ways to survive and advance.

Surely, you must have noticed by now that October baseball is practically a whole different sport than April-to-September baseball.

I think this is absolutely wrong and I think there's no reason beyond luck that sometimes a good team sweeps a series against a great team. That happens in May and it happens in October. Same sport.

In the case of Baltimore in particular, you could see the offense losing steam towards the end of the season, and it was very concerning that Hyde was going through the relief at such a clip. And I do think that lack of playoff experience truly was a factor.

In the case of Baltimore in particular, they were facing an opponent that on Pythag had a better regular season than they did! And to the extent Baltimore outplayed its Pythagorean record, a big part of that was all-world performance by Felix Bautista, who was injured and out of the playoffs.

Sure, but Baltimore's problems in the ALDS had nothing to do with Bautista's absence. In two of the three games, they never got within spitting distance of needing a closer, and in the one that was close the runs came early.

I'm in awe of what Baltimore accomplished this year, but it does appear that their W/L record was somewhat inflated--first in the simple Pythagorean sense of runs scored and allowed, and then in how those runs were scored and allowed (Posnanski):

No, what made the Orioles such a great story was how well they performed all season when games were in the balance. I believe we’ve talked about the Orioles’ incredible high-leverage hitting this year but here it is again; they were just a different lineup in high-leverage spots:

High-leverage: .293/.365/.486
Medium-leverage: .250/.411/.414
Low-leverage: .244/.311/.403

That’s a staggering difference. The Orioles were 10th in batting average across baseball this year. But they had the BEST batting average with runners in scoring position. We can argue all day about clutch hitting and how repeatable it is and so on, but the Orioles were a clutch-hitting monster all season long.

Crazily, the same was generally true of their pitching. Look at the slash-lines for hitters against Orioles pitching:

High-leverage: .231/.300/.356
Medium-leverage: .244/.308/.411
Low-leverage: .345/.310/.398

The results are not quite as dramatic as with the offense … but the Orioles still pitched dramatically better in high-leverage situations. They were 12th across baseball in batting average against overall. In high-leverage situations? They were third.

This is how a team like the Orioles — without great pitching and without a power-hitting lineup — wins 101 games. They play fantastic when games are close. They go 30-16 in one-run games.

And, as he goes on to make clear, he's not trying to diminish their accomplishment, just make clear why that might not necessarily mean a lot come playoff time:

And if it sounds like I’m downplaying the Orioles’ wonderful season, I promise you I am not...I’m doing the exact opposite. Stuff like that used to MATTER. Baseball used to be built around the long season, and seasons like the Orioles just had were not only celebrated, they were rewarded. Until 1969, the Orioles — by having the best record in the American League — would have gone directly to the World Series without having to pass Go or Globe Life Field.

From 1969 to 1993, the Orioles, by virtue of those 101 wins, would have gone to the American League Championship Series.

And now, we all know, it’s different.

In the case of Baltimore in particular, you could see the offense losing steam towards the end of the season

This was clear in ATL too except it was offense AND pitching. On 9/2 they were 90-45, .667 W%, then finished on a 14-13 run and were clearly still a .519 team in the NLDS. Just gassed.

Of course, in the spirit of baseball romanticism, I can't help thinking that if Hicks hadn't misread the sign for a hit and run in game 1, the series might have gone differently.

xp I was stunned at the Braves' breakdown. Strider looked stunned last night, too.

In the case of Baltimore in particular, they were facing an opponent that on Pythag had a better regular season than they did! And to the extent Baltimore outplayed its Pythagorean record, a big part of that was all-world performance by Felix Bautista, who was injured and out of the playoffs.

I think this is absolutely wrong and I think there's no reason beyond luck that sometimes a good team sweeps a series against a great team. That happens in May and it happens in October. Same sport.

― Guayaquil (eephus!), Friday, October 13, 2023 1:39 PM (thirty-nine minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

I think this is probably correct. sure having 3 great starters and 2 lockdown relievers does help but that helps a lot in the regular season too. and it's not like your 4th starter just doesn't pitch in the playoffs.

xp I was stunned at the Braves' breakdown. Strider looked stunned last night, too.