The Syndicate

The Red Sox just traded away the best position player they've had in my lifetime. I understand it. I hate it.

JaggedJimmyJay wrote: ↑Wed Oct 30, 2019 11:51 pm Bryce Harper has been lynched.

Just as he foretold.

A franchise that once misspelled its own name on their uniforms has won the World Series.

We’re living in a universe where Howie Kendrick is a postseason legend.

We almost just went a full calendar year without one. It was tough.

so the red sox won.

You brought this upon yourself, Charlie.

What did you model have to say about Lance Fucking Lynn tonight?

Roy Halladay died today. He will always be one of my favorite opponents in any sport and I'm stunned by this news. I'll never forget when he finally got a chance to pitch in the playoffs and proceeded to throw a no-hitter in his first game like it was nothing. RIP to an absolute legend of the sport.

If the Yankees win I'm going to have bury my head in sand for ~6 months. I can stomach a Dodgers win only because of Rich Hill. I'll always root for the Cubs as my #2 team, but Houston has the most going for them this year. They've got a pair borderline Hall of Fame veterans with a combined 0 World Series titles between them (Beltran and Verlander), so it would be cool to see them win it. Plus Jose Altuve is the most exciting player in baseball. And then there's the city of Houston itself right now. Go Astros.

G-Man wrote: ↑Thu Oct 12, 2017 1:17 pm So yeah, weren't the Cleveland Indians the favorite to win the World Series?

Yes. I believe in Houston this year. That lineup is nuts, their top two starters can match up with anyone, and they're playing for a city that needs good news bad.
If the Cubs lose tonight, all four of the teams I was rooting for in the Division Series will be eliminated.

JaggedJimmyJay wrote: ↑Wed Apr 12, 2017 5:45 pm How about we just start the playoffs right now.

Only if Bronson Arroyo is your Game 1 starter.

It's Opening Day.

Yeah they've both got good reputations here as guys who give a lot back to the DR. I've been reading up on what life is like for prospects from the DR latsly and it makes me root for those guys so much harder. It's not just about playing a game to them, it's about lifting their families or entire communities out of poverty.

And there have been stories over the last week about how crime rates in Puerto Rico were down as their team went on this run, so that was cool. Either way, it seems this tournament was a big success around the world. With that and the World Series last year, baseball finally seems to be on the rise again, and I'm all for that.

Murrica won the WBC last night. I was kind of rooting for Puerto Rico, they seemed to be having a lot of fun. But I like Marcus Stroman a lot so it was cool to see him dominate on that stage. Now I'm scared.

S~V~S wrote:

Sloonei wrote:Our only real question here is how to react to not having David Ortiz in the lineup.

It's hard to conceive of baseball without Big Papi for sure. He's like Mr Boston really.

It really is. He's been here since I was 11 years old. That's more than half of my lifetime. It's going to take a while to get used to this. But I'm pretty excited for this season, and it's nice that they'll be able to use the DH spot to let guys rest every so often. And I'm super excited for this season. The Sox are loaded with young talent and might have the best starting rotation in the AL. If Andrew Benintendi isn't Rookie of the Year, I'll eat my shoe.

S~V~S wrote:They are putting him in Grapefruit games, so

But yeah not likely unless he is Thor's BFF or something.

I was surprised just now to learn he's hitting above .200 this spring.

Our only real question here is how to react to not having David Ortiz in the lineup.

S~V~S wrote:And the big question in NY is will Tebow actually come up with the Mets and play?

I give him a 0.01% chance of cracking the roster this year. I am interested to see how he fares though.

We're less than three weeks away from the happiest season of all, folks.

Rick Porcello is the AL Cy Young award winner. That is not something I ever expected to be able to say.

The 2004 ALCS is going to be forever unbeatable for me, but last night's game was by far the most amazing sporting event I've watched as a neutral observer.

JaggedJimmyJay wrote:

Sloonei wrote:Carl Edwards Jr. This dude is a twig with 45 career Major League innings pitched and he's coming into save the World Series for the Cubs.

Sounds like a NASCAR name

It literally is

Carl Edwards Jr. This dude is a twig with 45 career Major League innings pitched and he's coming into save the World Series for the Cubs.

MovingPictures07 wrote:I think this is the best Game 7 we could have asked for.

Baseball has always been my favorite sport and this game is making me question how anyone can feel otherwise.

I am hyperventilating.

The Cubs have the advantage in the pitching matchup in each of the next two games, and then it would hypothetically be Kluber going for the third time in the series in Game 7 against a better-rested Kyle Hendricks. I like those odds for the Cubbies!

The Red Sox fan in me misses Jon Lester, but the baseball fan in me is glad the Cubs have him right now.

Metalmarsh89 wrote:Cleveland might finish the year with more pro sports' championships than the Browns will finish with wins.

I believe the Cavs already accomplished this on their own.

I do not like the Dodgers but Clayton Kershaw is absolutely incredible. Here's to hoping this post jinxes him.

S~V~S wrote:They were my local team for years when I lived in NW Montana, "only" 10 hours drive away ha ha. Closest Major League ballpark. Every year they have home series against the Yankees, and my husband was all Yankees. So we went every year. I got used to rooting for them to beat the Yankees

So we also started going occasionally for Interleague series since I am all National League.

Plus Seattle is my favorite American city, so there's that.

Rooting against the Yankees is always the right thing to do. The irrational hatred for that organization is strong with me

A part of me is relieved the Sox are done. I was probably gonna end up rooting for the Cubs all the way through this year. But yeah, Cleveland is looking way better than I imagined they would. Andrew Miller is a cheat code and the offense always seems to put across just enough runs. Plus they've got Terry Francona working for them. I like both AL teams but I can't root for anyone against Chicago.

Javier Baez is all alone on Planet Baseball right now.

Metalmarsh89 wrote:Cubs on the verge of losing Game 4. I don't know if this looks more like the Giants' post-season magic, or the Cubs' eternal curse.

I was driving into Boston to pick up my parents at the airport at midnight and missed what was apparently an amazing finish. Who flies at midnight? Come on!

Also an obligatory comment about David Ortiz. My favorite professional athlete of all time has officially ended his career. It was an extremely disappointing finish, getting swept in 3 games, but the 13 years before that were extraordinary. I bought tickets to a game last month just see him play one last time and he homered. I'll never forget that.

This is the most rattled I've ever been by a celebrity/famous person death. He's the same age as me, and also a guy who was absolutely tremendous at what he did and easily on his way to being one of the greatest pitchers of the era. I only watched him pitch a couple of times, but the only guy I could think to compare him to is Pedro Martinez. I remember, spookily now, looking at him earlier this year and thinking about how young he looked and how much fun he seemed to be having playing the game, and how I couldn't ever imagine him at the end of his career as an aged veteran. He would always be that kid on the mound. This has put a huge damper on an otherwise excellent baseball season.

And Dee Gordon just hit his first home run of the year in the Marlins' first at bat since the tragedy. Baseball is the best sport.

Metalmarsh89 wrote:I don't know about the brawl, but I do know about the time he tried to tag A-Rod out near first, and A-Rod knocking the ball out of his glove.

That too. That was in the ALCS in '04, game 6 or 7. I remember the immediate deflating feeling when it happened, and then the comical joy when they showed the replay and how obvious it was that A-rod is just a huge idiot. One of my favorite baseball memories was his face when they called him out.

And because I never get tired of 2004 memories, this is the brawl:


It sparked what went on to be the craziest and most intense regular season game in a long while, ending with a Bill Mueller walk-off home run off Mariano Rivera, if my memory is correct. It's seen as the game that kicked off their incredible run that ultimately won them the World Series and was the best thing to ever happen in sports.
Just because it makes me happy:

Metalmarsh89 wrote:Favorite semi-obscure player? I'd go Bronson Arroyo. I loved watching that guy pitch when he played for the Reds. He was never overpowering, but he had like 30 different arm angles, and would throw any pitch from any of those angles. He had a pretty amazing leg kick as well. Only guy I've seen lately that will still kick above his head before delivering.

Plus he was decent with the bat, and could lay a bunt down at will. He also won a Gold Glove. So basically, he could do it all.

Bronson is also one of my favorites. I loved him over a decade ago when he was with the Sox. He was younger and less of the crafty veteran type, but still had all the quirks that he's had his whole career. Let's never forget that it was him plunking A-rod which started that famous brawl midseason in 2004 (is that famous everywhere, or just here?) He and Ortiz are the only remaining active players from that team now.

Babe Ruth was most likely a baseball playing time traveler, tbh

Agreed re: veterans. Adrian Beltre is my favorite player in baseball regardless of team for that reason. He is baseball incarnate.
We had Colon here for half a season a while back, I regret that he wasn't here long enough to make a big impression. It was also the last year before his career rebounded, so we all thought he was done then. And now he's still there, holding things down at the back of the league's best rotation.
I was blown away by the Mets last post season. After not watching them all season I assumed they just made the playoffs because the Nats choked and the rest of the division was and is terrible, but damn those dudes can pitch.

I am becoming more and more isolated in my baseball nerdery every season. None of my friends even care about sports and I'm just sitting here obsessively checking MLBtraderumors and other baseball sites every day just to hold me over until opening day.

I'm very excited about this season for the Sox, but then I was also excited last year as well. The pair of big free agents they brought in this year (David Price + Chris Young) are infinitely more exciting than Pablo Sandoval and Hanley Ramirez, both of whom I felt would be disasters from the start. Plus, the young talent on the team took HUGE steps forward last year. Betts and Bogaerts both look like future superstars, and Eduardo Rodriguez has the potential to develop into a #1 or 2 starter. Their bullpen, at least on paper, looks awesome. But then the Yankees are just sitting there across the division like "so what?" Thankfully they don't really have anything but an ancient lineup in front of three ridiculously dominant relievers.
Plus it's Papi's last season so there's that.

I'm also a Cubs fan at this point. Outside of David Ortiz, Jon Lester is my favorite Sox player from the last decade so I was gonna root for him no matter where he went. When he went to Chicago I didn't mind the added incentive to root for the poor Cubbies. They've got the best roster in the league this season and if they don't win in the next couple years I'll be disappointed to say the least.

The AL Central is the most exciting division. All of those teams can and should be competitive. I wouldn't be surprised if they all finished with at least 80 wins, assuming good health for everyone.
The Diamondbacks will be a flop, probably. They added some great pitching but have no lineup to back them up. I expect the Giants to run away with that division.
i'll stop now.

Metalmarsh89 wrote:

Sloonei wrote:The 7th inning of Toronto/Texas is the only inning of baseball anyone ever needs to watch.

I saw that some wild shit happened. I can't wait to see the replays of what went down.

The top half was pretty crazy and then the bottom half just blew it out of the water. That was intense, I sense a new rivalry for at least a couple years.

The 7th inning of Toronto/Texas is the only inning of baseball anyone ever needs to watch.

The only teams I do not feel inclined to root for in contention for this year's post season are the Yankees (obvious) and Dodgers (also obvious). I expect to be pleased by any result in October, but if I had to choose any two teams I'd root for the Blue Jays in the AL and the Cubs in the NL. But I'll be rooting for no individual player harder than Adrian Beltre.

The red sox waited until the final two months to be entertaining this year, but i'm alright with this

Speaking of moves we're sad to see happen, the Red Sox DFA'd Daniel Nava yesterday because their pitching staff sucks and they needed bullpen help.

So the Blue Jays...

Brock Holt finally did something yesterday to make the Red Sox worth watching this year. Kinda reminds me of last year, when Brock Holt was the only thing that made the Red Sox worth watching.

this year belongs to the cubs!!

Buchholz only knows the Oops variety.

Clay Buchholz plunked Mauer as I was typing that.