f13.net

HOF voting is done. Griffey and Piazza are the only 2 that made it in. Somehow Griffey was left off of 3 ballots. They should literally lose their votes. The whole strategic "use the vote for Griffey on someone else because he is getting in anyway" is complete bullshit. You vote for the best players. Period.

 I am not just a hometown fanboy (he isn't even my favorite Mariner)- the guy was the best player on the planet for a decade. I have always wondered how his 30s would have gone if he stayed in Seattle (or another AL city) and had a chance to DH a couple of times a week to cut down the wear and tear on his body. His career numbers might have been eye-popping.

He would have clearly been one of the best had he not gone to Cincy. And yes, there shouldn't have been a single person without him on the ballot. But as has been demonstrated many times, the HOF voters are shittards.

Yep, there's guys that didn't vote for Babe Ruth, there's guys that didn't vote for Hank Aaron, there's even guys who didn't vote for Greg Maddux. It's insane.

Junior was a beast and probably would have gotten the HR record if he hadn't turned into such a China doll after he went to the Reds.  Considering he spent half his career hurt, he was a shoe in and anybody who didn't vote for him should have their voting rights taken away and then kicked in the nuts repeatedly.

We did that to him. All that time running on cement :(

So it looks like "The Cardinals Way" includes being convicted of computer hacking. :awesome_for_real: :grin:

http://www.cbc.ca/sports/baseball/mlb/christopher-correa-pleads-guilty-to-hacking-astros-1.3396427

Somebody tell our resident Toronto fan they might actually win it all this year.

I have been a Toronto fan since the Expos left. Their batting order is scary good.

The pitching is iffy, but Stroman seems like the real deal. Worst case they just need to score 10 runs every game, which seems do-able.

Ladies and gentlemen- The Seattle Mariners. Also known as the MLB version of the Cleveland Browns.

I'll get the wagon ready  :why_so_serious:

I saw the highlights on this game. Holy shit. One inning with two routine ground balls horribly misplayed, too many walks (understandable given how fucking shitty the defense is behind the pitcher, he probably feels the need for every pitch to be perfect) and one bloop single and game over. /sadf

Braves were of course the team that had the first Chase Utley slide rule into second base fuck them. Because that's our lot in the rebuilding year.

http://m.mlb.com/news/article/170622448/new-slide-rule-impacts-blue-jays-rays-ending

Fucked the Jays last night too, ruined a game. What a dumb rule. It tries too radically to go against the natural flow of play. It's one thing to make it a penalty to the guys who were going 4 feet off the base with their cleats up in air to clobber the baseman, it's another now that the runner basically has to tuck in and move to avoid even if his feet are coming straight into the base, cuz he can't touch the baseman at all, the burden is completely on him. Meanwhile the other guy doesn't even have to try and move.

Reminds me of the "toe in crease" rule that almost ruined a Stanley Cup Final in hockey, but to salvage the situation the league just ignored their own dumb rule.

It's a dumb rule, but it's easily avoided if you just slide like you do when you're stealing second. You never try to slide off the freaking bag there because you're out. That's only what they try to do in a double play, and it's a very conscious decision by the runner. They'll learn they just need to hold the bag if they make contact with the fielder. That seems to be the defining part of the rule, did they hold the bag.

Honestly, the more I know about the rule the less I'm likely to worry about it. Just don't overslide like a tit.

THE SABRES WERE ROBBED!!!!

Its not even a dumb rule. It protects middle infielders from unnecessary danger. Listen to Baustista try to justify his actions "I felt like contact was still OK and like obstruction was still ok". And well no, its not. Technically the rules didn't even change, its just that, at second base, everyone kind of ignored the rules because reasons.

This is the rule before this season

"Any batter or runner who has just been put out, or any runner who has just scored, hinders or impedes any following play being made on a runner. Such runner shall be declared out for the interference of his teammate." Such, Bautista is out. There was more or less a dumb, unwritten rule, that this was OK at second base. This is clarified:


4 is the most relevant point. You do not get to reach out to interfere with another player. You go straight into the bag and can obstruct only if the fielder hits you. Bautista changed his slide in order to interfere with the fielder. Such he is out and the runner who the play is being attempted on is out. Additionally 3 is relevant. Bautista makes no attempt to stay on the bag. So any contact here is again obstruction.

It was a clearly illegal play that creates danger for the fielder unnecessarily.

This is a crude and unnecessary smear on the Browns.

Watch it....

And go Tribe.  :oh_i_see:

 :heart:

Right thing to do would be to trade Felix away to a winning team for 2 hamsters and a corn dog. Jesus fuck, the Mariners blow. End that poor boys suffering.

Jays still winning?

3 in a row now!

 :woot:

Hopefully John Farrell gets fired soon. No cancer to save him this time (yes im going to hell)

Howard Lincoln stepping down today. Good fucking riddance. He and Chuck Armstrong held the whole organization back for decades. Hopefully the new CEO actually gives a fuck about winning instead of filling the stands with families (and not sports fans).

Braves lost 9 in a row, then won 4 in a row, and have now lost 7 in a row.

Andrew McCutchen has more homers this season than the entire Braves team. They set a franchise record for longest stretch without a homer at 15 games.

And yet, Fredi Gonzalez still has a job. I get that it's a rebuild, but there are several times this year where his dumbass management of PH and the bullpen have cost us games. And when you have 4 fucking wins near the end of April? Somebody has to go.

Gonzalez is probably safe. The Braves are clearly tanking as hard as possible to get draft picks and young talent, and save on salary while doing so.

Never thought I'd ever hear that.  How many times have they made the playoffs in the past 25 years?  I mean they only have the one World Series win (suck it Jane Fonda, Go 1992 Jays!!! tomahawk chop that, bitch) but they were pretty consistent winners over the years.

This is a few days old now, but in case you didn't see it yet: White Sox get a Triple Play against the Rangers (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hRPCPP9yUk).

According to a couple articles I read, it's the first 9-3-2-6-2-5 triple play ever recorded  :ye_gods:

Good defense by the Sox, but probably just a single play without the baserunning screw-ups by the Rangers.

Yeah crazy, it would be like the Detroit Red Wings tanking.

Frank Wren burned down the franchise with horrible FA signings for massive money.

Dan Uggla
BJ Upton
Justin Upton (he was okay)

Then without that money we lost Jason Heyward, and had to trade Andrelton Simmons, Craig Kimbrel, and Shelby Miller to get anything back and out from under the bad contracts. Wren was fired and the farm system was in shambles before we restocked it with talent.

The Braves will be fine by 2018, but it's a shit show until then. And Gonzalez is on a one year deal, I don't think he sets foot in the new stadium.

If he's on a one-year deal then he's safe. There's no reason to fire him if you already know the team is going to stink no matter who's managing it, and you end up having to pay a guy to not manage. Let him do his best and reevaluate at the end of the season.

Welp, shit... I was dead ass wrong. Braves fire Fredi González today, will promote their Triple-A manager to be interim skipper.

We had the worst record for a team since 1911. That's before the Titanic sank. Yeah, he had to go.

Not really sure what he could do with that team, considering they've traded away every star/potential star they had for fuckall. Is the minor league even stacked at this point? I should know this, seeing as how their Double-A affiliate is a few miles down the road from me.

The minor leagues are very good for the Braves yes, we traded away everything for magic prospects.

Just getting this in before the storm clouds come...

Go Tribe!

And apparently Bud Norris now as well. Was he doing all that great or just another warm body?

EDIT: Just looked at his stats. Warm body.

Barely warm

That could pretty much describe the entire Dodgers rotation outside of Kershaw. What's telling is that when Kershaw goes down, they don't have anyone remotely decent enough in the minors to call up for a fifth starter spot and have to make a deal for a barely competent swing man. If Kershaw is out for anything past the 15-day DL stint, that team may well be done, which may open the way for the Cards to make the wild card.

This MLB season has been really dull for me as a Braves fan because we suck. But even moreso because look at the races in the NL at the beginning of July:

The Nationals are up 4 games on the Mets with 50 wins. They are on pace for 95-100 wins. They will make the playoffs unless they hit an iceberg.
The Cubs are up NINE games on the Cardinals with 52 wins. They are on pace for 100 wins. They will make the playoffs unless they hit an iceberg.
The Giants are up 5 games on the Dodgers with 53 wins. They are on pace for 100 wins. They will make the playoffs unless they hit an iceberg.

Barring an epic fucking collapse the Dodgers are a lock for the Wild Card, and the next one down from there could go to the Mets, Marlins, Cards, or Pirates (likely Cards just because).

The playoffs will almost certainly be Nationals, Cubs, Giants, Dodgers, and one other team with the odds in favor of St. Louis because they've played weirdly shitty at home so far.

Last year it was Mets, Cards, Pirates, Cubs, and Dodgers in the playoffs
Year before that it was the Nationals, Cards, Pirates, Giants, and Dodgers in the playoffs

Basically, for the last 3 years if you're not the Nationals, Mets, Cubs, Pirates, Giants, Dodgers, or Cardinals, have a nice day in the NL. It's becoming absurdly predictable and boring. I keep hoping for some sort of shakeup, but it looks like the only team that could do that is the Marlins, and that's fucking laughable. There's 7 other teams in the NL who look like they have zero idea what they are doing: Braves, Phillies, Brewers, Reds, Dbacks, Padres, and Rockies.

I think the rest of the teams are either trying to follow the Cubs' blueprint (trade away everything and suck for a few years so you can draft shittons of talented position players) or they are the Pirates trying to squeeze one more year out of stars verging on the edge of free agency the team can't afford before blowing it all up and following the Cubs' blueprint.

As a Cubs fan, I don't give a shit because they Cubs are going to stroll to the playoffs. The thing I worry about is how long Fowler will be out because their offense has been shitty since he went down and their pitching is getting overworked.

5 team divisions means that it usually is a more interesting wild card race than divisional race, and this year is bearing that out.

Plus, I think Cubs, Nats & Giants are head & shoulders better than the remainder of their divisions. Mets might give Nats a tussle in the end, because it seems that Nats usually implode end of season -- it just a matter of it happening in Aug/Sept v. October. And Mets are blessed with a rotation as solid as Nats & if they can get some production out of some other guys besides Walker, Cespedes (via trade), they might wrestle division away.

At beginning of season, I predicted Pirates would lose WC game again, this time to Mets & Syndergaard. We're on the outside looking in right now, but if our bullpen holds up and if we can get another good starting arm, we could displace the Cardinals. A sleeper pick is definitely the Marlins -- they're a good young team but they might not have enough depth. Dbacks have some lively bats but the pitching just hasn't worked out like Mr. Baseball & gang planned.

Even though he hasn't pitched too badly this year for the Jays, I can't wait for R.A Dickey to leave Toronto so they can finally get rid of his "personal catcher" Josh Thole and get a real back up catcher.  That man can not hit for shit.

The Mets can't hit. This alone will give them issues in the WC race because the Cards can slug the shit out of the ball. The only issue with the Cards is they are absolute DOG ASS at home, and there's zero reason for it.

Saw Edwin Diaz pitch an inning against the Jays on Friday, that kid has star written all over him. Going to be a treat  to watch going forward.

Chris Sale is also apparently a 16 year old girl about his wardrobe choices.

I think part of that tantrum may go back to the whole Adam Laroche's kid not being allowed in the clubhouse thing from spring training. I could be wrong, but I thought Sale had a big issue with the Sox telling LaRoche not to bring the kid to the clubhouse.

OH HELL YES. Cubs trade for Aroldis Chapman (http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/17140296/new-york-yankees-agree-trade-aroldis-chapman-chicago-cubs).

Cubs get a legit, top level closer for their top propsect (A 19 year old shortstop in A Ball), 2 minor league outfielders, and Adam Warren, who had an era this season approaching 6. I'm completely ok with this trade.

Cubs are going for it. Their window is going to be small before retooling some contracts that come up in 2017 and 2018. And I think they are recharging the farm system since they called most of them up.

So we'll see. I hope they win it all now.

The only thing I worry about with the Cubs is the arms in their farm system. I hear no chatter whatsoever about their top-rated prospects being young arms, and their rotation is certainly not young. Lester and Lacky are both 0-3 years from being on the severe downhill slope for pitchers, and Hammel and Arrieta ain't no spring chickens. But if they win it all this year, that won't matter nearly as much.

Well now that the city of Cleveland actually won something, I'd be willing to go with the Cubs - but only if the Tribe fizzle out and don't make it. Cubs/Indians Series would be pretty cool.

That would be such a confluence of pent up bad luck and self-loathing that it might open up a black hole in the 9th inning of game 7 so that humanity never gets to see the result.

How are the Jays doing, any shot at winning?

They are on top of the AL East right now by I think 2 games.

So decent chance then eh?

This is your year. If the Royals can, anybody can.

Holy fuck are the sports injuries shitty this year. Shoemaker got creamed. Yikes.

Saw that one. It was a fucking horrible injury.

Saw it live. Was horrified. And then horrified again when the Mariners couldn't hit off the goddamned reliever either. Unless they find Ponce de Leon's map, they are fucked very soon. Cruz and Cano are approaching rapid falloff ages, and Felix has several million miles on his poor arm already.

Since when were we not fucked? This is our best season in 14 years and we're third in the division.

That being said the Angels threw their entire bullpen against us. Its not really a surprise that we had a hard time hitting them. They used 8 pitchers in 9 innings.

That is my point. The Angels pitching staff is atrocious. Even if a couple are decent, they had a shot at basically every reliever on the team and just filled their pants.

Pitching doesn't really work like that. You need time to get used to pitchers (or luck). Even if your staff was bad if you could throw a new arm every inning you would do a lot better than a strong club that had to rely on starters going 6+

Talent is talent. Bad pitchers vs good hitters should be a bad combo for the pitching team.

Sure. But a fresh bad/OK pitcher is often worse than a tired good one. Add in the inability to get more than an at bat worth of looks, or even much of a "pass down information" and things get a lot harder real fast.

The Braves have been eliminated from the playoffs since May so I'm not sure who to root for this year other than the Cubs, who will likely fuck it up in the divisional round.

You shut your dirty whore mouth, monkey.

I'm only speaking from that place you know is there in the pit of your soul that you're trying to tell to shut up.

That pit is bottomless. It stares back with the hunger of ten thousand mouths, ravenous for the taste of soul-crushing despair.

And it whispers... "there's always next year."

 :cthulu:

Tribe vs Cubs. There can only be one!

I'll be bandwagoning the Nationals (is it bandwagoning if I live in DC?) since Pittsburgh is pretty much done, too.  A DC/Baltimore World Series is too much to hope for, sadly.

I've stopped telling the husband that there's still plenty of time for the Cubs to choke.  It's no fun to ruin his hopes like this.

Still, the Cubs couldn't even win the division properly - they had to let the Cards do it for them.  :grin:

By this logic there should be no such thing as a bad relief pitcher, when in fact bullpens are teeming with them.

There indeed are. But you're overselling the statement. Relief pitchers tend to fall off faster than starters and have generally worse stuff, but that doesn't mean that their one inning performance is necessarily worse than the 7th inning performance of a starter.  It also means that, if you're able to throw every pitcher in your bullpin you have a very high likelihood of getting out of each inning before those pitchers performance drops to dangerous levels.

edit: I mean if ballclubs could throw 9 pitchers per game they would do it. They can't not because starters are so much better than they want to throw them as much as possible, but because they would need to have 27 pitchers on their roster in order to meet rotational needs when they only have maybe half of that.

GO-odbye Tribe!  :oh_i_see:

Marlins' Ace Jose Fernandez Killed in Boating Accident (http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/17632541/miami-marlins-ace-jose-fernandez-dies-boating-accident).

24 years old. Fuck. Probably would have been a Hall of Fame pitcher if his health had held up. Sounds like the boat was going too fast and none of the guys on it were wearing safety vests.

I'm so confused and just gut-punched by his death. He was a phenom that had a Cam Newton like smiling personality when he played. He legit loved his job more than half the highly paid guys taking the field. It fucking sucks.

Wow. I haven't heard of him, but that is terrible. What is it with MLB pitchers and boat accidents?

I remember the one involving Cleveland players in the early 1990's.  Sad times, esp. with Fernandez being so young.

Hit a jetty going way to fast in the dark. They were wearing vests according to reports and it wouldn't have mattered. He was killed on impact, not by drowning.

(http://i.imgur.com/ph4TKDK.gif)

Guy was awesome.

Yeah.... just fuck.  He was legit.

"Only the good die young." Can go fuck itself, and fuck 2016.   :oh_i_see:

Suck it Texas! :grin:  Jays win and sweep the series on an E 4.  Someone should tell RoughNuts Odour that it's better to get punched in May than knocked out in October.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvkjewgF8GQ

I'm a Red Sox fan and I'd rather see a Tribe / Cubs WS. David Price is fucking awful.

AL worked out exactly as I hoped it would (after the Mariners crapped their pants, that is). I am tempted to fly to NE and bathe in the tears of Red Sox fans.

Sad to see Ortiz finally go though.  I always liked that dude.

Also, I know the whole "torture baseball" thing with the Giants is a bit of a meme.  But fuck, it's true.  They are especially going out of their way this season to make everything gut wrenching.

I hope they reverse sweep the Cubs so all these assholes around here with their stupid W flags can get bent.

I just want them to lose already. I don't need to go through another even year post season of the Bum Gardener just winning every game while the rest of the team stumbles through a series.

You shut your dirty whore mouth.

See, I'd really like to see the Cubs finally win.  Honestly.

But Giants are still somehow in it, so fuck off and die.   :why_so_serious:

But like, oh man.  If we manage to bubblegum and duck tape our way to another World Series Win on an even year.  That's like, perfect baseball mysticism mumbo jumbo right there.  It would be epic.

LOL the Cubes finally pulled one out against the horseshoe up it's ass team. Good.

If they win it all Theo Epstein may never buy another meal in Chicago again for the rest of his life.

Buy a meal? Shit, if the Cubs win the series, that motherfucker will OWN that city or at least the north side.

What a game. I'm sitting there in the 8th inning getting all Cubs-pressed - you know, 'GODDAMNIT, here we go again" kind of thing. San Fran has been pushing the Cubs all night with nothing but single after single by these guys who are just no name scrubs other than Buster Posey and guy-who-looks-like-he-lives-under-a-goddamn-bridge Hunter Pence. Matt Moore is striking dudes out left and right and none of the Cubs' big name hitters are hitting diddly shit.

Then Bruce Bochy decides that changing his pitcher after every hit is a good idea and holy fuck. I realize he didn't have a closer (or a true power hitter) but goddamn. It was like ADHD manager here. There's matchups and then there's just jittery knee jerk pulling a pitcher. I don't know that any of those pitchers could have stopped the Cubs but that was an EPIC bullpen collapse that wasted what was otherwise a fantastic outing by a starting pitcher.

I just hope the Cubs big bats heat the fuck up because 5 of their first 6 hitters in the lineup are flailing. Also, can the Cardinals take Jason Heyward back? Jesus, motherfucker can't even put down a bunt worth a fuck, and it's only the fact that he can run fast that the Giants didn't turn 2 on his dumbass.

Honestly, I think people here are more sad about Ortiz retiring than being knocked out of the playoffs.

I can see that. Ortiz seems like a genuinely good guy (even if he is probably juicing).

At the expense of screwing this post season up I'll just say...


Go Tribe!

http://forums.f13.net/index.php?topic=25126.msg1434048#msg1434048

 :drill: :drill: :drill: :drill:

Come on Chicago, make this fucking happen!

Bloody Cleveland getting greedy.

PLease please dont let the Dodgers into the WS. Cubbies vs Tribe would be awesome!

Definitely bandwagoning Cleveland now.  My lifelong Pittsburgher parents will be so disappointed in me.

I'm not mad Toronto lost.  I was actually surprised they made the playoffs and got as far as they did.  At least they beat Texas because fuck those guys. :grin:

Cubs finally found where they left their bats.  :drill:

So close to having the best World Series ever. Also two games away from complete heartbreak.  So, there's that too.  :awesome_for_real:

Fuck, I won't be able to even look at Facebook for the next month. And I am going to have to deal with near riots regardless of the outcome.

The Taking Care of Business versus Major League World Series.

(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1739972/web-images/happening.gif)

 :drill: :drillf: :drill:

The Tribe has a slight edge over the Cubs in my 'who to root for' bucket. But I can say this, whoever wins the Series I'll be very happy for.

Same. I am glad one of these teams will win and end their streak. I am sure the Mariners will manage to out-streak them both when all is said and done. If they win a World Series before I die I may just keel over from shock.

Mariners? Aren't they AAA ball?

Yea were farm for Texas.

I don't how you get to be a big-league ace without being able to make a pick-off throw to first. Mind boggling.

he got rattled some time in the middle of this year and is having psychological issues.

Needs a shrink

It's only something that's happened the last few years. Also, he won 19 games this year and hasn't thrown a pick off throw to first since July, so it must not be affecting his performances all that badly.

He didn't pitch bad last night. Unfortunately, Kluber pitched out of his goddamn mind. Now though, we get to see if the rest of the Indians pitching staff can do as well.

Also, how about that Kyle Schwarber? Hasn't seen big league pitching (or really any significant human pitching) since April, comes in and is about 5 feet away from hitting a massive dong against one of the best pitchers in baseball. If that kid stays healthy and cuts down on the strikeouts, he will hit 40 homers a year in his sleep.

Not even watching this... it just might give me a heart condition.

Kluber has been great the entire playoffs. Don't underestimate the rest of the staff like Boston & Toronto did.

I'm not, I know they are good. But they aren't Kluber good and the Cubs already showed in the playoffs what they can do to good but not great starters.

That was a manly save. 100, 102, 101 on his last 3 pitches.  :ye_gods:

I cringe every time I see Chapman in before the 9th. At some point, that motherfucker's arm is going to come flying off and stab someone like a spear.

Also, the Cubs cannot hit a goddamn breaking ball, which is pretty much what allowed the Mets to beat them last year. I'm dreading taking it back to Cleveland but at least then we'll have Schwarber.

I would watch every single baseball game I could if this would be a possibility.  :why_so_serious:

Want the Tribe to win, but told my buddy I'd be alright in taking this back to Cleveland if it means a chance for the Cubs to win it all. This is the year of the underdogs in the Series so I am fine with either, but more so with the Tribe. My Aunt and Uncle who have been Tribe fans since birth (1948 and 1946 respectively, ironically the last time the Indians won) are season ticket holders and pulled the short straw for the Series so they got the option for game 7 in their group... So if it comes to that, at least they'll get to go. I really hope not though...  :grin:

I just want Joe Buck to stop slobbering all over the Indians.  He did the same thing to the Dodgers in the NLCS. 

Do the Cubs bump dicks for their HR celebration?

Ohh fuck.

Is Haemish still alive or has he died from a heart attack?

Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaah! Great game.

You had one job Cleveland....

Lead off home run... 4 errors... 2 runs score on a single passed ball... extra innings on game tying home run after an unlikely comeback... a rain delay.. Cubs win!?...

And to top it all off, the pitcher to record the final out was a Seattle fucking Mariner.

This game had everything.

I wonder if Cub fans are going to be as annoying as Red Sox fans now that they've broken their "curse"? :awesome_for_real:

It's like watching the Bengals or Browns.  Always snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

The number of vomit pools I am going to have to dodge on the way to the office from my car today is going to be ridiculous.

You know how we do it. --Ice Cube

Shitty the Tribe lost, but holy shit what a fantastic game 7, winner take all. Shouldn't have happened, mind you, being up 3-1, but it is what it is. Can't be too depressed since the Cubs have gone so long without sniffing a baseball championship. Good on them - they were built for long stands and the Tribe just wasn't. Still made it a game though. Wait till next year is the motto in Cleveland and so it will continue.

What has irritated my fellow Cincinnatians is that the Reds handed the series to the Cubs when we got rid of Chapman earlier this year. (Which people are STILL upset about.)

Happy to see he got a ring, though. Haroldis is a pretty amazing player even if he is one-trick.

Yes they are. What's truly obnoxious is the Red Sox fans and media whining about how annoying the Cubs are now. Holy fuck shutup and let them enjoy it (and I'm a Red Sox fan).

Great series, great game 7. Was leaning toward the Cubs, but would have been happy for the Tribe as well.

Started my Curling league at 10:00 PM EST last night, was what - bottom of the 5th? Guys were bitching about the timing. I said to my third, "No worries, its baseball, it will still be on when we're done"

Two hours later, sure enough, game's still going. Go up to the bar for a beer. Finished the beer long before the game finished. Feel bad for you East Coasters.


That was the craziest wild pitch I've ever seen. Hard enough to hit the dirt, bounce off the catcher's face (clearly knocking him a bit loopy) and still reaching the backstop.

(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1739972/web-images/cubs-win-18-BY-24-PRINT-WS.jpg)

YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH MOTHERFUCKERS! YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!

Fuck you, Red Sox fans and fans of every other team, after 108 years, the Cubs get to be annoying douchenozzles to everyone for at least one goddamn day.  :why_so_serious:

Holy shit, what a game. What a series. It was EXHAUSTING. You know why? JOE FUCKING MADDON. He tried to lose it. He really really tried to Dusty Baker this motherfucker so goddamn hard, but the Indians just wouldn't oblige him. And you know why? TERRY MOTHERFUCKING FRANCONA.

Let me just get this out of the way, I'm happy as hell the Cubs won. But holy shit, they should have lost due to all the bad pitching decisions Joe Maddon made in the last two games (and in some cases the whole goddamn World Series).

First off, Aroldis Chapman is an insane freak of a human being. However, he is a one-trick pony. All these pundits praising Francona and Maddon for riding the fuck out of closers for 2 and 3 innings need to absolutely shut their festering gobs. There is a REASON closers only go one inning, especially fireballers like Chapman. One, their entire physical training regime is meant for the sprint - 15-25 pitches and get them the fuck out. Yes, you can occasionally run them out there for 2 innings in a pinch. You cannot continue to put these guys into the game for 2-3 innings at a time in a compressed series against the same team and expect them to shut the opponents down every single time, especially when you are throwing them for more innings than they are used to. Why? For reason #2, if these guys were starters, they'd have 3-4 pitches. Good relief pitchers are lucky if they have 3 good pitches, usually they have a fastball and some kind of change of speed out pitch like a hard slider, a changeup or a split finger fastball. I don't care how hard you throw, if a batter sees that 100 mph fastball twice in a game for three straight games, HE'S GOING TO CATCH UP TO IT. It happened to every one of those relievers who were overused - Chapman, Miller, Shaw and Allen. This is especially true if you are facing some of the best hitters in the game which, in the World goddamn Series, you will be. The number of scrubs on those teams is much less than in the regular season.

Bringing Chapman in for 2+ innings on Tuesday was fucking idiotic, especially considering the Cubs had a 5-run lead. Then to bring him in again with a lead in the 8th and expect his arm to hold up enough to finish the game was just asking for him to get shelled. You could tell from the first pitch Chapman threw last night that his control was off and that he was gassed. He barely got out of the 8th. But then you compound it by keeping him on in the 9th. I say Maddon almost Dusty Baker'ed this thing because that's what Dusty Baker did to the Cubs in '03 - he rode Mark Prior until that kid's arm fell off. Maddon tried to do the same to Lester and Chapman and it blew up in his face. Why pull Hendricks in the 5th? Hendricks control was on point - he wasn't likely to throw a wild pitch and his ability to hold runners was pretty strong (based on the 2 pickoffs he made in the series). Lester, meanwhile, can't hold a runner to save his life, barely plays defense, can't throw to first and his stuff is tailor made to uncork a wild pitch, which is what he did and suddenly a 4-run lead goes down to 2.

But the Cubs won. I'm honestly not sure they would have if Cleveland hadn't lost 2 of their stud starters in the middle of September. Kluber clearly suffered from having to pitch 3 games in the series, 2 of them on short rest. He was not the same guy in game 7 that he was in game 1 or even 4. Meanwhile, the Cubs had 4 solid starters, all of whom did their jobs well. Hendricks could have gone 7 innings in my opinion, as he was not nearly as fatigued as Kluber. Even with that advantage though, Maddon's use of the bullpen was insanely risky. Thankfully, Francona did the same thing to his bullpen. I think both managers got caught up in being too clever and innovative and ignored good traditional baseball strategy.

Also, Kyle Schwarber is a goddamn beast and if he stays healthy and hits at least .250 against lefties, will be a bigger power hitter than both Bryant and Rizzo, even though is defense will look like a fat kid chasing a cake with legs.

Grats to the Cubs. Terrible Braves got next in 3 years.

Congrats Cubs!

I fuckin love baseball, and a big part of that is loving the mythology around it.  Somehow, the baseball gods always come through to support the most outlandish shit.  I thought nothing could beat Bostons ALCS win over the Yankees to eventually kill the ultimate curse.  Now the Cubs, most tragic team ever, beat it in a World Series that stands above almost all others.  Extra innings in game 7 where both teams score runs after the 9th, to kill a Century old curse.

Fuck all the haters, Baseball is America, and it's fucking exceptional.  Being unable to watch all of this live is EASILY my greatest regret of this job, no matter where the world I may be located.

I'm pretty sure this World Series is the best goddamn thing to happen for baseball since the Red Sox broke their curse. The fact that ratings on a Sunday night WS game beat a Sunday night football game is just unheard of in the last 10-20 years. I'm sure it doesn't hurt at all that the players and manager for both the Indians and the Cubs are mostly young players who are clearly fun-loving kids who are totally getting off on playing the game of baseball. Guys like Kris Bryant and Rizzo are so marketable to Middle America, while guys like Javier Baez and Francisco Lindor are the perfect poster boys for minority outreach.

I have to call my aunt and uncle and see if they sold their game 7 tickets or actually went. I'm dreading it.

Well, if the Indians had to lose the Cubs are about the only team I don't hate losing to, since I can sympathize with long championship droughts. It still hurts, but having the NBA title under our belts lessens the pain. If LeBron hadn't won one though this would've been an absolutely miserable year.

Congrats, Braves fans.  Your team just signed...R.A. Dickey. :ye_gods:  Make sure you get seats in the outfield bleachers so you have a chance to catch all those HRs he's going to give up. :awesome_for_real:

http://www.cbc.ca/sports/baseball/mlb/ra-dickey-braves-1.3845272

AND Bartolo Colon, so the clubhouse better stock up on pork rinds and beef jerky.  :why_so_serious:

I wonder who was fatter, Colon or Sid Fernandez?

I think Fernandez was in worse shape, but Colon is probably heavier.