Off of soccer, answer this....quantify Bobby Cox's managerial lifeline

And every manager of a 110-win club that didn't win the World Series says, "Yeah, you wish it managed itself."

 

yeah, I didn't really mean it literally. I just meant that it was the one lineup that won the whole thing, and that it wasn't fearsome. It came out a little too lazily thanks to a few too many tasty adult beverages.

 

Maybe, but I doubt it. I realize I'm splitting hairs here, but the season was shortened by 18 games. McGriff would amost certainly have reached 30. Klesko and Chipper would have had to hit seven more (seven in 18 games is a pace for 63 over a full season) and Justice would have had to hit six (a 54 pace). Probably stretching it to think they could have all gotten to 30. Still a potent lineup though, and a lot of homers aren't always a world championship indicator anyway. While the last six world series winners have had at least one 30-homer guy, the previous four did not. In the Yankees' three-straight run, only Bernie Williams in 2000 had 30.

(god, I love baseballreference.com)

 

Exactly. Baseball hasn't always been about hitting home runs. Look at that line-up. If you're a pitcher there isn't a break in there from 1-8. You've got to pitch your ass off every single at-bat.

When a pitcher is standing on the mound thinking "fuck, now I've got to face THIS guy too," that's the definition of fearsome.

 

Who knows. In the meantime, Jim Leyland, with a career record under .500, 9 losing seasons in 14 years as a manager, and who has also abruptly quit every MLB job he has ever had, is snapped up. Go figure.

 

Paging Mr. Whitlock ... Mr. Whitlock ... your high horse awaits you at the loge level concierge deck.