2024 Baseball Season

[Eizan 126]

Interesting that the Braves and Rays have a series to end the first half of the season. 

 

Also, the Blue Jays can't beat the Red Sox...if the Jays get close to the playoffs at the end currently being 0-7 against Boston doesn't help. 

[dr. b 492]

The Jays crushed the Red Sox last year... they won the season series 16-3. I think Boston is out for some revenge this year. At this rate, I don't see the Jays making the WC games anyways. And if they do, they'll flame out like they did last year against the M's. It will take a very strong second half push, and maybe a couple of trades, to get me to really believe that this team can actually make some noise in the postseason. It's a bummer, but I'll still be living and dying with every pitch no matter how frustrating they are  

[Eizan 126]

O's take over first place. 

 

The injuries to the Rays pitching rotation is taking it's toll. 

[dr. b 492]

Wouldn't it be wild and crazy if the Rays (or the O's for that matter!) swung a deadline deal for Ohtani and then won the World Series this year!

 

Also, how about that dumb injury for Kelenic? Not looking great for the M's this year.

[dr. b 492]

Jays took two of three this week at Dodger Stadium. Should have been a sweep but they blew it last night. We will not talk about what took place in Seattle last weekend  

 

Toronto host the Angels this coming weekend. Kinda thinking about trying to snag a couple tix to see Ohtani play... but I am so broke right now  Probably just watching on TV.

[Eizan 126]

Ohtani is just incredible, goes out and throws a 1 hitter for game 1 and hits 2 HR's in game 2 today. 

 

I don't like the Angels, but I wouldn't mind them in the playoffs just to see how he does. 

[dr. b 492]

Thank Jesus they are not trading him. That would have been the worst look ever. Looks like they even picked up Giolito from the ChiSox. I'd love to see Ohtani and Trout go on a deep run in October. 

[Eizan 126]

Seattle is only 5.5 from the Rangers and 4.5 for the Wild Card. 

 

You figured by this time someone other than Atlanta would have put up some kind of decent lead. I think Toronto will pass Tampa by the end of August, don't think they catch Baltimore though. 

[dr. b 492]

The Jays have 7 games still against the O's. They start a 4-game series today, and then a 3-gamer mid-August. A strong performance in these 7 games could help the Jays move up the standings. I am not setting my hopes very high, because the Jays have been so frustrating this season... but I would love to see them pick up a bunch of wins against Baltimore! Tampa has been bad in July but I feel like they'll turn it around before long. They always seem to find a way.

 

Trade action is starting to pick up. The Jays got Hicks from the Cards -- finally some serious heat in the bullpen! The Angels are making a few moves. Hard to see them really making a strong postseason push... but it would be a cool thing to see Trout and Ohtani playing into October. And the Mets are doing some kinda rebuild / re-tool. I think it's smart to get out of the Max Scherzer business now. Might as well cash in on Verlander too. They could turn things around pretty quick with the right trade returns, maybe be competitive again in another year or two if all the stars align.

[Eizan 126]

Well looks like Ohtani and the Angels won't make the playoffs, they need a lot of teams to start collapsing. Also they would also need to start winning...

 

A shame the Mariners been playing pretty good, but have made no ground in the West...but they are closing in on the Jays for that 3rd Wild Card Spot. 

[dr. b 492]

The Jays turned things up a bit over the weekend. Their AAA call-up (Davis Schneider) had an incredible big league debut. Look at his boxscores from the three games in Boston. Unbelievable stuff from a 28th round draft pick that nobody ever would have put much stock in! I really hope he sticks in the MLB. Super likeable guy.

 

And, yeah, it is looking rather bleak for the Angels. I think they broke Ohtani. What else can he do? I suppose he'll be MVP in the AL this year, which is cool, but he seems like the kind of dude who just wants his team to win games more so than win individual awards.

[dr. b 492]

Yeesh, bit of a rough week for your M's, Eizan..! At least they got back in the W column last night. But those losses against the O's a few days ago, and then the walk-off loss to KC... that's tough. Good thing they racked up a nice little win streak before those losses. Getting closer to the WC race again.

[Eizan 126]

The M's schedule is pretty rough at the end of the Season. Granted there is a 3 game series with the A's in there, but 13 of the last 16 games are against the Dodgers, Rangers and Astros. 

 

I'd rather take the 12 games the Jays have against the Rays and Yankees. 

[dr. b 492]

Yeah the Rays and Yanks are hurting right now. But the Jays have played very poorly against all the AL East teams so far this summer. You never know what can happen!

[Eizan 126]

So actually those games against the Rangers and Astros are looking like the could be very important, since it will end up putting the Division on the line. The finish for the AL West could be very interesting. 

 

Also Julio Rodrigues is finding a groove at the right time. 

 

 @ Yankees 

[Rulkster 47]

A quick scan of the topic and I happy to know I'm not the only one enjoying the Yankees losing.

[dr. b 492]

I am going to watch and wait a bit longer before I celebrate the Yankees' struggles. At this point, they're not likely to turn it around... but I want to be really sure about that before I say anything  

[Rulkster 47]

Fair. Doesn't matter the sport, it's just amazing to watch a forever elite team start to fall. 

[Eizan 126]

Ohtani is done pitching for the season, but the man is still going to DH. I mean Angels are pretty much out of it, should just shut him down the rest of the season. 

[dr. b 492]

Ohtani is sort of within striking distance of Judge's HR total from last year, so maybe he wants to go for it... Or at least ensure he still wins the AL MVP. But, yeah, I think he'd be smarter to just shut it down for the year. The team ain't going anywhere.

 

The Jays lost tonight. This series against Cleveland is going to be the death of me if they don't win Saturday and Sunday. This team is killing me   

[Eizan 126]

Well the AL West is now a three team race. Jays will need to keep up in order to keep a Wild Card spot. 

[Eizan 126]

First Place

[dr. b 492]

Jays 2.5 games back of the WC race. Very annoying.

 

But at least they won the first game of their series against the Nats last night. Their next 11 games are against the Nats (2), Rockies (3), A's (3) and Royals (3). It's a bit too much to expect them to win every game... but honestly, they really should run the table against these bad teams. That's what a good team would do. 

 

After playing the bad teams, they have four games at home vs. Texas. That could be very impactful in the WC race depending on how things go over the next week and a half.

[Eizan 126]

I think the Jays and Mariners will both make the playoffs, but at least this time they won't face each other in the first round. 

 

I believe the Rangers will be the odd team out. So you'll have the O's, Rays, Blue Jays, Twins, Astros, and Mariners for the AL with the Braves, Phillies, Brewers, Cubs, Dodgers and I'm unsure about the 6th spot. I want to give it to the Giants. 

 

Regardless, I think the Braves win the whole thing, they are really good. 

[dr. b 492]

Yeah, the Braves are super duper good. But we've seen lots of Dodgers teams in recent years dominate the regular season and then come up short of a World Series. You never know what might happen in October! I do like the Braves' chances though.

 

The Jays are mostly winning against the bad teams they're playing right now and are only 0.5 games back of a WC spot. I'm gonna be super bummed out if they miss a WC spot... but I'm feeling more hopeful right now, so that's good.

[Eizan 126]

After reading about Kirby's comments and something I think Clemens said about how Minor's handle pitchers now it seems the M's are struggling with pitchers hitting their limits for innings and at the worse time. 

[dr. b 492]

That was a bad look from Kirby for sure... but I think all the old guys getting outraged about it on X can just settled down. It's not such a big deal. The game isn't played and managed the same way anymore. It definitely would be a bad time for the M's to start falling apart though   

 

The Jays swept the Royals over the weekend. This week the Rangers come to town for four games. It's an important series for both teams! Toronto really needs to be ready for this.

[Eizan 126]

This is going to be nerve wrecking for the both of us isn't it? 

[dr. b 492]

I can't stand the damn Rangers...

[Eizan 126]

Could they at least take one game? 

[dr. b 492]

I DO NOT LIKE THE RANGERS

 

Hoping for a win tonight, but the Jays really haven't given me anything to be optimistic about since this series started... I definitely won't be shocked if they get swept  

[Eizan 126]

Got swept by the Dodgers, but Rangers and Astros didn't have a good weekend either. 

 

I think your Blue Jays are fine on getting a Wild Card spot. Just on the fact that Seattle and Texas have 7 games against each other left. 

[dr. b 492]

It's really hard to say with this Jays team. Offensively, on paper, they ought to be so much better... but these guys seem to have no power. They take walks, they get lots of hits (singles), but struggle with the "big" hits (RISP or HRs). It sucks watching them and say they're down by 2 or 3 runs in the 6th inning, and it's like, "Well, they can't possibly come back from that!"  Previous Jays teams never had trouble scoring, and you instead had to worry about the 'pen maybe blowing it if the lead wasn't big enough. Looking back, that is a lot more fun to watch compared to this team that just can't score enough.

 

They have 6 games left vs. Tampa, and the Rays could still win the division, so they'll be competing in those games. And 6 games vs. the Yankees, who are quite bad this year, but they'll still be trying to win just to play spoiler.

 

I hope the M's can start racking up wins again and get into the WC.

[dr. b 492]

The M's are back in the win column after a couple games against Oakland. Seattle and Texas are tied for the third WC spot, only a game behind Toronto  Gonna be a close finish! Baltimore has been beating up on the Astros the last couple days too, so the ALW division race is getting super tight again.

[Eizan 126]

Yea and after Oakland, it's nothing but the Rangers and Astro's. So uhh going to be interesting. 

 

Best case win the division and take the number 2 seed or take the 6th seed and play Minnesota. 

[dr. b 492]

Well, things are looking a bit better for the Jays now. Not exactly a slam dunk just yet, but I am more confident now about their WC odds. The lose the tie-breaker with the M's (and Rangers) though so if there's a tie for the 2nd/3rd WC spots then the Jays come up last. Seattle shouldn't try to get cute and play for the 6th seed. Just gotta get in no matter the position.

[Eizan 126]

Oh, forgot that the Mariners can't beat the Rangers, but they are 8-2 vs the Astros this season. 

 

I think it would make a lot of fan bases happy if the Astros are the odd team out. 

 

Also thank you Royals for beating the Astros for 4 games, possibly 5 of the 6 games in the last week. 

[dr. b 492]

Astros and M's on three-game losing streaks  Good to see Houston falling off but Seattle needs to start winning games.

 

The Jays won a series at the Trop this weekend, which is something I'm thrilled about. Only six games left to go!

[dr. b 492]

Well... that's it for Seattle  That's a bummer. A step back from last year. Hopefully they can change some stuff up in the winter and come back better next year!

 

The Jays are in the WC for sure, but clinching because another team lost is rather anti-climactic. The Jays should have been able to beat the Rays yesterday. Ah well...

 

Right now the postseason picture has Toronto playing Tampa in the WC series, as they're in the 3rd spot. That could potentially change though if both Houston and Texas lose today and the Jays win. I think the Rays will be more inclined to rest guys today because they used a lot of their big bullpen arms yesterday, and today's game doesn't really mean anything for them. Hopefully the Jays can finish on a strong note and beat up on the Rays today. Who knows what happens in the other games though. Houston plays Arizona and Texas plays Seattle. 

[Eizan 126]

 

58 minutes ago, dr. b said:

Well... that's it for Seattle  That's a bummer. A step back from last year. Hopefully they can change some stuff up in the winter and come back better next year!

Well hopefully Seattle will have Robbie Ray for a full season. Pitching Depth ended up hurting down the stretch. Having Ray out all season, lost Marco Gonzales around the end of May. Then lost that rookie Hancock who looked pretty good for the 3 starts he had. 

Maybe the Jays can play the Twins, kind of boring to end the season playing the Rays only to play them again. Hopefully that could maybe allow the Rays to eliminated the Astros. 

[dr. b 492]

I think the Jays could have trouble with either the Rays or Twins. They're just so inconsistent. Now would be the ideal time to get hot... but it doesn't seem like they're going to do that.

[dr. b 492]

The bracket is set!

 

 

I think the Jays can beat Minnesota, but it's a pretty close match-up and I won't be shocked to see them lose. The Twins are playing quite well the last couple months. 

[Eizan 126]

Marlins win the World Series. 

 

3 WS Championships - 0 Division titles. 

[dr. b 492]

Marlins didn't even win a WC game  But it was a nice idea!

 

Every WC series was a two-game sweep. Bye-bye Rays, Jays, Marlins, and Brewers. The WC was a dud this year IMO. Hardly any competitive games. The scores were closest in the Twins/Jays games, but if you watched the games, you know that they weren't actually that close. The Jays got beat quite easily by the Twins. I expected more from the Jays, Rays, and Brewers... but, oh well.

 

The Phillies are a sneaky good team right now. Despite how incredible the Braves were this year, I would not be shocked to see the Phils beat them in the NLDS and make another run to the World Series. A WS win would really be a feather in Bryce Harper's cap. He's done pretty much everything else.

 

On the AL side, I would like to see the Twins and O's match up in the ALCS. Fresh faces. I was really impressed by the Twins the last couple days. I don't know if I can bring myself to cheer for the O's, even though they have lots of likeable players. And I definitely don't want to be cheering for the Rangers. So it's either Houston or Minnesota by default that gets my support in the ALCS.

[Eizan 126]

Yea, that was a bit lackluster. 

 

Although I was seeing a lot of analyst picking the Brewers to beat the Dodgers. So uhh they think the DBacks can? 

 

Rangers will go as far as the starting pitching can take them. I'm okay with a Twins and O's ALCS. 

 

As for the NL anyone but LA. Braves got the Phillies like they wanted though. 

 

[dr. b 492]

On 10/5/2023 at 8:05 AM, Eizan said:

Rangers will go as far as the starting pitching can take them.

I'm not so sure about that... You always hear talk about how pitching and defense are most important in the postseason, and of course they are important, but hitting, and especially power hitting, is very critical in October too. I heard a stat on a podcast yesterday that every team that advanced from the WC round out-homered the other team. It's harder to string singles together in the postseason, so multiple HRs, and timely HRs, often win the game. The Rangers' lineup doesn't really have any easy outs. If they can just clobber the other team then perhaps their pitching isn't as key for them. Atlanta will need to try to do the same thing. Philly is a pretty tough match up for them.

[Eizan 126]

Well all 3 AL East teams are gone. Funny stat I read was the only team with a winning record vs the AL East during the regular season was the Rangers...

 

Looking like it's going to be an AL West ALCS showdown. 

 

I hope Arizona can win tonight. They did! 

 

Also seems like the Braves might have made Harper mad, which might not be a good thing. 

 

[dr. b 492]

Braves are toast. 3 upsets in the Division Series. Only Houston made it out.

 

I feel like it's going to be a Rangers/Phils matchup in the World Series. Maybe those pesky Astros can still knock out the Rangers, but man that Rangers lineup is going to be tough. I would also love to see the DBacks beat the Phils in the NLCS, but they're a pretty young team still and I think Philly might be too much for them right now. Whatever happens, I am looking forward to the ALCS/NLCS, and it should be a good World Series whichever teams advance.

[Eizan 126]

Rangers getting quality starts from Montgomery and Eovaldi for game 1 and 2. 

[dr. b 492]

Feeling pretty good right now about my Rangers/Phils World Series prediction.

 

I don't want to like the Phillies, and I'm not a huge Harper fan... but it's hard to not like that team. They got that dog in them. Some serious scumbag energy too. (Like, the good kind of scumbag )