MLB 2014 season thread

[Big Circus]

I wonder if the writer has been similarly dismissive of the 10-6 and 9-7 teams that pollute the Super Bowl on an annual basis.

The W-L comparison is kind of dumb. If the format made teams win 90 or more games, they'd do that. The Giants went 6-9 down the stretch while getting everybody rested up. There was no serious threat to their wild-card spot. If there had been, I'm guessing they could have played their frontliners and won a few more games, which would make them look like any old 91-71 team.

Sounds like you could have written a well-thought-out piece about how the wild card disincentivizes regular-season greatness in favor of just making the playoffs and going from there. That would have been much more compelling than "these teams suck."

Oh, and Rick:

It's the showdown of the "just learned how to win" Royals versus the "knowing how to win since 2010" Giants.

 

[3_Octave_Fart]

Because it's easy to write that something sucks.
This is why half the guys at Deadspin have jobs.

 

[LongTimeListener]

A little more to chew on regarding ratings, and popularity, and how little MLB actually cares these days about the national numbers (as if that wasn't evident by their willingness to put the games on FS1):

This series is the first one with a scheduled Friday game since 1990, which of course was the first year of CBS's reign of error. There have been a couple of Friday games because of rainouts since then. But other than that, since the LCS format went to best-of-seven, it has been a Saturday start (and skip Monday and Friday) for most of the last 30 years. Even in the last couple of years they have started on a Wednesday, allowing them to dodge that Friday ratings anchor.

I really think they look at all the cable money and look at the postseason and say "**** it, people are gonna watch or not watch."

 

[exmediahack]

Idea: arrange to have peanuts and Cracker Jack sent to your dad's seat in the first or second inning. Little things.

What we may do is see if any empty seats are in our row and try and squeeze him in. Otherwise, my dad and my son will probably sit together for a few innings during the game while I watch from the single seat. It's all good.

 

[LongTimeListener]

RickStain wrote a guest column out here.

Brian Sabean's formula for the Giants: Tough, gritty, determined

http://www.mercurynews.com/giants/ci_26763311/brian-sabeans-formula-giants-tough-gritty-determined

"Maybe because he was a scout, it comes from his history of seeing and evaluating players and not only seeing their physical tools, but their mental side," said pitcher Tim Hudson. "Those are the things that general managers can't put a stat on -- how tough somebody is, how much guts they have, what kind of chemistry they can bring.

"Too many people nowadays are getting wrapped up in the sabermetrics and the stats," Hudson continued. "I'm willing to bet almost every one of those people never stepped in a locker room, put on a jock and took the field, and understands those intangibles that help you win."

 

[RickStain]

Tim Hudson: Go throw baseballs really hard with astonishing accuracy. When I want your opinion, I won't ask for it. Because I wont want it.

 

[Dick Whitman]

Tim Hudson has a shot at Cooperstown because of sabermetrics. So he might want to kindly STFU.

 

[3_Octave_Fart]

Ask the Diamondbacks where a grit-centric building model got them.
It got at least two guys fired.

 

[Steak Snabler]

Tim Hudson has a shot at Cooperstown because of sabermetrics. So he might want to kindly STFU.

Sabermetrics' most vocal critic for years was Joe Morgan, who was the darling of sabermetricians everywhere as a player.

 

[Steak Snabler]

SMH ...

@hankschulman

Reporter just asked [Sergio] Romo what country he was from originally. Romo: "United States....it's nice to do background work." #sfgiants

https://twitter.com/hankschulman/status/524293979638992897

 

[LongTimeListener]

Wow.

Then again, Romo at the 2012 victory parade:

 

[Gehrig]

For Hudson, getting to a World Series at last, let alone potentially winning one, can only enhance Hudson's case.

Hudson's regular season probably doesn't especially enhance or detract very much. He did have his first losing season, which deprives him of the "never had a losing season" talking point.

However, he manifestly pitched in very hard luck in 2014. Hudson did undeniably bellyflop in September, going 0-4, but through the end of August he had a 2.90 ERA pitching for a very good team.

 

[Steak Snabler]

To satisfy the modern sports narrative, it's no longer enough to be a good team playing well. You have to be morally superior, too.

Kind of like Johnny Gomes' wisecrack after last year's World Series about the Red Sox being a team "not built on WAR, but guys you want to go to war with." Nevermind the fact that Boston has won three World Series since it hired Bill James as a player personnel advisor.

 

[Dick Whitman]

To satisfy the modern sports narrative, it's no longer enough to be a good team playing well. You have to be morally superior, too.

Kind of like Johnny Gomes' wisecrack after last year's World Series about the Red Sox being a team "not built on WAR, but guys you want to go to war with." Nevermind the fact that Boston has won three World Series since it hired Bill James as a player personnel advisor.

This is a new conduit for expressing it, but athletes have always believed that they win not because they are better at sports than their opponent or because things went their way, but because they are better people in the ways that matter.

 

[Spartan Squad]

SMH ...

@hankschulman

Reporter just asked [Sergio] Romo what country he was from originally. Romo: "United States....it's nice to do background work." #sfgiants

https://twitter.com/hankschulman/status/524293979638992897

Would it really hurt for someone to spend the 30 seconds to Google that instead of looking like a dumbass for asking the question? And even if he isn't from the States, it still can be found easily enough online. Good God some people are lazy.

 

[Steak Snabler]

To satisfy the modern sports narrative, it's no longer enough to be a good team playing well. You have to be morally superior, too.

Kind of like Johnny Gomes' wisecrack after last year's World Series about the Red Sox being a team "not built on WAR, but guys you want to go to war with." Nevermind the fact that Boston has won three World Series since it hired Bill James as a player personnel advisor.

This is a new conduit for expressing it, but athletes have always believed that they win not because they are better at sports than their opponent or because things went their way, but because they are better people in the ways that matter.

Their fans are even worse.

 

[Fly]

To satisfy the modern sports narrative, it's no longer enough to be a good team playing well. You have to be morally superior, too.

Kind of like Johnny Gomes' wisecrack after last year's World Series about the Red Sox being a team "not built on WAR, but guys you want to go to war with." Nevermind the fact that Boston has won three World Series since it hired Bill James as a player personnel advisor.

This is a new conduit for expressing it, but athletes have always believed that they win not because they are better at sports than their opponent or because things went their way, but because they are better people in the ways that matter.

I think it's because God and his only begotten son Jesus Christ want them to win more than the other guy.

 

[cranberry]

To satisfy the modern sports narrative, it's no longer enough to be a good team playing well. You have to be morally superior, too.

Kind of like Johnny Gomes' wisecrack after last year's World Series about the Red Sox being a team "not built on WAR, but guys you want to go to war with." Nevermind the fact that Boston has won three World Series since it hired Bill James as a player personnel advisor.

This is a new conduit for expressing it, but athletes have always believed that they win not because they are better at sports than their opponent or because things went their way, but because they are better people in the ways that matter.

Their fans are even worse.

Athletes and their coaches have always resorted to an "us against them" mentality to keep players together. That's what's taking place whenever you hear worn-out things like, "Nobody believed in us but ourselves."

Players are told from a very early age that the other team is out to get you, the media is out to get you and you need to stick together and fight!

I would love to see another way of motivating athletes evolve.

 

[jr/shotglass]

Agreed, Ex. Don't have a dog in the fight, but I'll be rooting hard for the Royals in game 2.

Damn good point. If I didn't have a rooting interest, I do now for Game 2.

 

[RickStain]

I would love to see another way of motivating athletes evolve.

It's annoying, but it works. There's something in our biological evolution that is coded very strongly to defaulting to "us vs. them."