2016 MLB Regular-Season Thread

It's happened before. There have even been cases where a team will pad its playoff minor-league roster with Quad-A talent to give it a chance to win its post-season.
Sometimes the stud prospect will be sent to a higher level and then brought back to his playoff team so they can say he saw the higher levels and post-season play.
These are tests for quality assurance.

 

A couple of High-A instances ... I remember when the Red Sox sent Dice-K down to Salem for a rehab start in a playoff game, which of course he dominated. The Braves sent Andrelton Simmons down to rehab for a week when Lynchburg was in the playoffs. The Reds actually really pissed the Hillcats off by taking a number of their top players out of a playoff race and sending them up to Double-A late when the AA team was just playing out the string.

 

The San Jose Giants once won a California League (high A) championship with the postseason aid of Fred Lewis, who was on a rehab assignment from San Francisco where he was a .280 hitter as the almost full-time replacement for Bonds in left field.

They were well known for that for a while. Brandon Crawford spent an entire season in Double A and then went back to the Cal League in time for the playoffs.

 

I'd like to see a coffee table book about catchers' knees.

 

Betances throws 40 pitches in the ninth. Gets one out. How the Jays didn't win is beyond me.

 

One reason a contender needs a quality closer is the type of game the Pirates lost to the Cardinals tonight. It was the kind of game that can absolutely bury a team that was already falling apart.

Pittsburgh led 6-5 with two outs in the bottom of the ninth when Matt Carpenter hit a game-tying home run off Tony Watson. The Cardinals proceeded to score four runs off Watson and win, 9-6. Pittsburgh fell to two games under .500 and will be at least five out of a wild card spot by the end of the night, depending what the Giants do.

Oh, and Mark Melancon converted save no. 39 tonight in a win for the Nationals. Pittsburgh is now five games under .500 since they traded Melancon.

But even the wild card teams that win a World Series are losers, or some silly shit like that.

 

Sunday, Giants in desperate need of a split, lead 2-1 into the B9 with the Cubs; then Casilla spits the bit again (#7 blown save). Brutal.

 

That qualifies, too. But hey, if either of those teams gets into the playoffs, they can look forward to possibly facing a Nationals team that fixed its most glaring weakness thanks to the Pirates.

 

If a coffee table was based on catchers' knees, one leg would be broken; two others would point out at painful angles, and the table surface would be uneven.

 

In the 9th, they didn't hit a ball out of the infield until Smoak flied out to end the game.

 

That Cardinals-Pirates game Tuesday night was the reason I hate to leave a game early. Two outs and Carpenter at 0-2 in the count, he changes not just that game but maybe the whole playoff picture for his team and the Pirates. Just a devastating loss for Pittsburgh and an amazing victory for St. Louis.

And the final score was 9-7 with Kang's homer in the bottom of the ninth.

 

Sox aren't the only AL East contender taking some brutal losses lately. Makes up for them losing the tying run Monday when the wild pitch hit Leon's foot after he swung and missed, wiping out Hill's dash home from third.