2018 regular-season game chatter

what's wrong with BA??

oh god don't answer that

You don't want to judge a player by BA, but it is a measure of how many outs he makes, and that's pretty important--why, for instance, for all of Harper's HR and BB this year, his offensive WAR is under 4.0. He's made 550 outs.

NL Central race is pretty interesting, the Cubs are up 1 but get 3 against their rival Cardinals, who are still fighting for a playoff spot, while the Brewers get the Tigers. Most likely scenario is probably...a tie?

prefer True Avg OR Outs Made

How would outs made tell you anything without knowing how many times the player went to bat? Hence BA. Again, I'm not saying it gives anywhere close to a complete picture, and of course OBP is more important, but I don't think it should be disregarded. And I don't think there are many writers left who are touting Juan Pierre-type players for MVP.

BA also penalizes guys who draw a lot of walks, obviously

Not sure I get that...BA is based on non-walk AB; the one doesn't figure into the other. Drawing a lot of walks helps your BA, for the obvious reason you're more selective. I've also often thought it helps in another less tangible way; when Bonds hit .370 that one year, he did so in a number of AB drastically limited by all the walks he took. If he'd drawn only, say, 70 walks, he would have needed something like 230-240 hits to hit .370 (maybe fewer--I'm at work and estimating). And I just don't think he would have maintained that kind of average without the walks.

Bonds is an outlier. Since most walks are as good as a single, it's a plus that doesn't show up in BA.

Of course--that's a given. Saying BA matters is not saying that walks don't.

hits are more fun than walks. except when it's intentionally walking barry bonds with the bases loaded, maybe

This may be widely known but I have seen little mention of it: Mark Judge, everywhere in the news these days, is the grandson of the Washington Senators' longtime first baseman Joe Judge. https://t.co/HpXHkm0yrU pic.twitter.com/4m1BG0j8o4

— John Thorn (@thorn_john) September 28, 2018

Can we talk about what David Dahl is doing or is it less impressive because Kendrys already did it this season?

you should probably talk about it

not least because i don't know what you're talking about

Being a Jays fan, I got that right away--consecutive HR games. He reached 5 tonight.

I just wish there was a rule or something if the Cardinals and Dodgers end up tied, they are both eliminated from playoff contention.

I am definitely rooting for a Dodgers-Cubs WC game.

hits are more fun than walks

and more productive obviously because runners often advance two bases on singles etc ok I'm done

The 8+ pitches walk is very entertaining (but not as much as the 8+ pitches hit).

The single biggest story of the day, obviously: if Khris Davis goes 1-4, he will hit exactly .247 for the fourth season in a row. The odds on that are probably longer than Donald Trump becoming president.

Khristory repeating.

Adam Dunn 40 HRs 4 years in a row (and then 38 and 38 in the two following years) was kinda weird too

Reds hold on to win today, they will show consistency with their 3rd straight year record of 68-94.

Chaos update:

Dodgers 6, Giants 0
Rockies 2, Nats 0
Brewers 2, Tigers 0
Cardinals 2, Cubs 0

If this holds, Dodgers would host Rockies tomorrow in Game 163, winner there would win NL West, loser would go to Chicago for wild-card game and Milwaukee would face WC winner in NLDS.

— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) September 30, 2018

Tied up in Chicago. Normally I’d give the edge to the team fighting for a playoff position, but I’m guessing STL would very much like to help demote the cubs to a WC game.

I have the pleasure of watching Pete fucking Kozma play in Milwaukee today, for the tigers. His obp is .225 and he just slammed a double to the gap

What in the world are you supposed to make of this? On a day where he needs two HR for 50, the A's pulled Khris Davis after two hitless AB, leaving him at .247 for the season.

Is there a betting market on him hitting .247 again this year? I smell foul play

And I’m not referring to Davis’ plate discipline

what i make of that is that they're resting him for the wild card game

With a chance to hit 50 HR? Why did they even start him in the first place then?

eh, maybe if he hits one in his first couple of at-bats they leave him in

and it appears we have two NL Monday tiebreakers, at 1 and 4pm ET

The AL wild-card game isn't until Wednesday. Sorry, I must subscribe to KM's vast right-wing betting-market conspiracy.

so yelich basically needs a two-run homer to win the triple crown

when did we last have multiple games 163?

he needs that, plus baez and arenado not adding on to their respective RBI and HR stats
there have never been multiple games 163 before

curious what these teams would do if someone jumped out to a big lead early

i am very worried about the brewers jumping out to a big lead early, given their bullpen. the cubs bullpen has been unreliable lately so they'd need to get a pretty big lead before i felt like i could relax. quintana starting for the cubs is not giving me much hope, though he's had success against the brewers

Keeping Hamels for the potential WC game or Game 1 is smart.

i appreciate the fact that the NL playoff team to miss the division series will have to lose two in a row rather than one. but it's kind of weird that all four teams have a better record than the braves

teams with positive run differentials that missed the playoffs: rays, cardinals, d-backs, nationals

xp do u mean lester

Yeah the Rays, 7 games behind the Wild Card, has the same record as the Braves.

yeah i know why they're using quintana today, it just makes me nervous.

i think i have more confidence in hendricks than in lester or hamels right now but that might be insane. presumably they'd all be available to pitch parts of a potential wild card game.

Home/Away splits don't favor Quintana.

In any case go Bru Cru.

i presumed this game was on ESPN Radio, but the NY OUTLET HAS SOME JERK YOWLING ABOUT FOOTBALL

Quintana's been pretty great this year vs. Milwaukee though

been pretty hot over the last month as well, no?

man Baez is fun

no Cub hits thru 4

if he can get through 6 I'll feel a lot better. Hader hasn't pitched in a couple of days, could potentially go 2 here

ESPN’s sound dude has lost control.