casimir

I know there’s quite a desire for 4 team divisions if/when MLB expands to 32 teams. Then the playoffs become something like all division winners (8 teams) plus a smaller number of wildcards (4 or 6). The problem with that is the increased likelihood of a team with a losing record falling into the playoffs as a division winner. The NFL allows its losing record division winners into the playoffs. In my mind, that’s appalling for a professional sports league. @chasfh has always called out that MLB owners are unlikely to want 8 team divisions as nobody wants to be owner of a team in 8th place. I don’t disagree with his interpretation of the owners desires might be. I just don’t like the math behind possibly keeping a better team out of the playoffs because a losing team wins a cruddy division. It’ll happen at some point. Along those lines, the NHL has 8 team divisions. I honestly don’t know if a team with a losing record has made the playoffs as a wildcard under the current setup, but I highly doubt a losing record team has won a division. I know they’ve had some wacky top 3 teams in the division and then there’s some variable with the final 2 teams in each conference. Maybe the last 2 are based purely on record regardless of division? Now I wouldn’t completely adhere to that, I’d just take the top whatever number of records regardless of division. So, congratulations to the NFC South Carolina Panthers, but the Detroit Lions or Minnesota Vikings are taking your playoff spot as they had a better overall record. Honestly I think a lot of this fervor for 4 team divisions is just blindly following what the NFL does.

They played 15 NL teams. All teams play against each other for at least one 3 game series.

The solution is to give every team its own division.

Epstein. Padding his Nobel Peace Prize resume. Epstein.

Nice work checking out the schedule. To your point about money, yes, that's the answer to all your questions. One of the other things that popped into my head about front loaded interleague was a parallel to college football. A majority of out of conference games are played early on. Then you get your in conference games which help shape the conference races. There might be some intent behind that, too. Maybe moreso than weather concerns.

It’s been going on now for, what, over 30 years now?

In theory you could front load. If on average there are 3 games each night that are interleague, they could go heavier with 5 early in the season and work on down to 3 or 1 later in the season. Whether or not that is done or practical, I don’t know.

I wonder if there’s a heavier concentration of interleague earlier in the season for all teams. I would theorize that’s possibly intentional. There’s a longer window to get any rescheduling of postponements for matchups that occur only once a season and might be a little more difficult to jam in somewhere. Or I could be completely wrong about that.

I hope he doesn’t have to retrieve them from the attic.

Anyone ever notice "amen" is a four letter word?

What do you mean? Is this along the lines of throwing harder over fewer pitches rather than pitching for more pitches?

There was a guy on here (MTS at the time) that went to an amateur Tiger try out. I think he tried 2B or LF. I think he knew nothing would come of it, but wanted to go anyway. That was a while ago. I think the grade scale was 20-80. I never understood why it started at 20 and ended at 80. Somebody has that answer. @gehringer_2? @Edman85?

Are we sleeping on Trei Cruz making the roster?

I don’t think they’re going to find MLB type options right now. Not unless one of the current rotation goes down.

I had none of the 5 tools. A reverse Yahtzee.

Nice area.

Tanking.

You can never have enough pitching.

I agree, I think there is something to being strong up the middle. What I wonder about is range in this day and age of defensive positioning. Is range as important as it used to be? Certainly having that skill set works well regardless of where the fielder sets up.

Hold on, they created stats with BAcon? That's tasty.

Just make it happen. We won’t care why.

50? I’ll take the over.

Spurs made 3s, Pistons missed 3s. That's that.

I'm not sure I understand you.

I find it odd given advantages these days with respect to training and nutrition and general health and wellbeing that players aren’t able to keep up with the physical demands of the game now vs the past. I suspect pitchers are putting too much on their arms and throwing maximum pitches rather than pitching a longer game is a strategy and health issue. Throw it on a spectrum between the two, I’m not sure where it resides. I grew up with shorter pitching staffs. I think the 1984 Tigers had all of 13 or 14 different pitchers used that season. There’s now 13 pitchers on the roster at any given time and a few of those are shuffled from majors to minors during the season.