Damn, he would have had looked good in boston blue...
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Official MLB 2012 Season Thread
- Thread starter tennisace
- Start date
If he went to Boston I think you guys would have a legit chance of knocking us out of 1st.
Can you stop being such a Yankees homer for like two minutes? The Red Sox were in first place by a wide margin for the majority of the season last year (save for a terrible april/september). They have the talent to come in first easily (the only gaping holes are at short and right field). Whether or not they do depends on the drive of the players, and hopefully Bobby V can motivate them.
Damn, gotta feel sorry for Grady Sizemore...
I forgot he exists, I simply don't seeing him ever returning to 120+ games a year. Sadly we won't ever see his top game.
I'd be interested in participating in the fantasy thing if I don't have to create a new yahoo account and can just use a regular email. Then again maybe I'll create a new account anyway.
Idr if this has been brought up before but to anyone doubting the legitimacy of Jose Bautista's numbers, take into account the fact that he has been randomly tested 13 times over the past 3 years. Pretty hard to get away with drugs on that sort of schedule.
Idr if this has been brought up before but to anyone doubting the legitimacy of Jose Bautista's numbers, take into account the fact that he has been randomly tested 13 times over the past 3 years. Pretty hard to get away with drugs on that sort of schedule.
At this point I don't think anyone is doubting him or thinking he is taking PEDs. Backing up what some believe to have been a "pure luck" season with another MVP caliber campaign justifies himself as one of the best position players right now.
Bautista has not been tested 13 times (or 16 like he said)
http://deadspin.com/5881021/jose-ba...es-been-tested-for-peds-16-times-in-two-years
http://deadspin.com/5881021/jose-ba...es-been-tested-for-peds-16-times-in-two-years
That's such a reliable source its incredible.
This is by no means the most expansive but it is the most recent article I've read on it.
Highlighted from the article:
EDIT: Another article after a quick search.
This is by no means the most expansive but it is the most recent article I've read on it.
Highlighted from the article:
I do recall a very expansive story on his testing back in I suppose it would be July or some time similar in the Star but I cbf to go searching after it.The Star said:
EDIT: Another article after a quick search.
Not sure if you're being facetious, but it cites Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports, who I think is reliable.
Point is he was tested a bunch of times and they're all negative. I think we can safely say he's clean? I read an article about how everyone missed his 50 HR power initially, the gist of it is that it was a hole in his swing, and the Toronto coach just went with his more natural, upwards swing and told him to just put more power into it (and in the Rogers Centre, the place he naturally drives fly balls is a short porch), instead of trying to get him to hit for average.
Do Canadians believe in being innocent until proven guilty...?
I'm listening to the Mariners/A's games on MLB Aduio right now. It's so good to be back...
I'm listening to the Mariners/A's games on MLB Aduio right now. It's so good to be back...
I'm on the fence. I like the idea of including more teams and playing more "relevant" games, since it means more opportunities for fans to see their teams play and it makes winning your division all the more relevant... but on the other hand 1 and done is the wrong move I think. It definitely increases pressure and gets fans riled up, but Big Papi was quoted saying: "One game? That's kind of crazy... You know how many things we've got to move around and pack for one game? It'd make more sense for two wild cards to play at least a two-out-of-three series while the other teams take a break for three days because they won their divisions." It puts a ton of stress on the players, who already have to play from effectively March to September. Imo they need to shorten the season to begin with but that's neither here nor there. On another note, 3 AL East teams would have made the playoffs last year...
Yeah, it's unfortunate that they can't really shorten the season because stats/history are so important. Would be nice to see a shorter season and either six teams make the post-season like the NFL or eight like the NHL. That way you can do legitimate series since one game is pathetic in baseball.
I don't watch a ton of baseball, but the new playoff "system" is complete shit.
Regardless of how much better the #4 team did than the #5 team, it means nothing as your entire season comes down to one game. While the occasional season does end with two teams missing the playoffs by 1 win in both conferences (note: I am a Braves fan), generally this does not happen. This means that most years we'll see a team 5-6 games behind the #4 seed get a chance to beat them in a single game to make it onto the divisional series. Let's be honest here: the chance of any team winning a single game is about 50% (a little bit more in the home team's favor). Should a team be forced to take those odds to beat the team that they are likely significantly better than (according to their regular season wins) in a single game?
In addition to that, the wild card teams are at a disadvantage to the division winners for the examples above, which is not a good thing. Even the #4 seed is "forced" to save their #1 pitcher to pitch in the do or die expanded playoff game.
However, there's really no good way to fix it. Perhaps the best choice would be to expand it into a 3 game series and start the rest of the playoffs a couple days afterwards, but this leads to the obvious problem of "the season is already long enough." Having a gap of a few days between the expanded game and the rest of the playoffs helps some, but doesn't help the real issue of only 1 game.
My personal favorite fix: Have the playoff game be conditional, as in "The expanded playoff game will only happen if the #4 team and the #5 team are within 1-3 wins of each other." Doesn't sell very well, but it increases the chance that both teams deserve to be in the divisional playoffs and a team with 85 wins doesn't get through.
Regardless of how much better the #4 team did than the #5 team, it means nothing as your entire season comes down to one game. While the occasional season does end with two teams missing the playoffs by 1 win in both conferences (note: I am a Braves fan), generally this does not happen. This means that most years we'll see a team 5-6 games behind the #4 seed get a chance to beat them in a single game to make it onto the divisional series. Let's be honest here: the chance of any team winning a single game is about 50% (a little bit more in the home team's favor). Should a team be forced to take those odds to beat the team that they are likely significantly better than (according to their regular season wins) in a single game?
In addition to that, the wild card teams are at a disadvantage to the division winners for the examples above, which is not a good thing. Even the #4 seed is "forced" to save their #1 pitcher to pitch in the do or die expanded playoff game.
However, there's really no good way to fix it. Perhaps the best choice would be to expand it into a 3 game series and start the rest of the playoffs a couple days afterwards, but this leads to the obvious problem of "the season is already long enough." Having a gap of a few days between the expanded game and the rest of the playoffs helps some, but doesn't help the real issue of only 1 game.
My personal favorite fix: Have the playoff game be conditional, as in "The expanded playoff game will only happen if the #4 team and the #5 team are within 1-3 wins of each other." Doesn't sell very well, but it increases the chance that both teams deserve to be in the divisional playoffs and a team with 85 wins doesn't get through.
You have to love when solutions are twenty times worse/harder than the small problem that they seek to address. I agree more teams need to be in the playoffs; in the modern sports world where regular seasons matter a lot less (even though I dislike that fact), shortened seasons but more playoff teams is the answer for every sport. Just lop the month of September or April off the regular season and add another 4 or 8 teams :@
Actually to the solution thing...if this is to address games like happened this year, this is the most shortsighted decision ever since it will instead CREATE THOSE GAMES. Gotta love the minds of those who control sports.
Actually to the solution thing...if this is to address games like happened this year, this is the most shortsighted decision ever since it will instead CREATE THOSE GAMES. Gotta love the minds of those who control sports.
It's WONDERFUL.
