2016 MLB Postseason Thread

Eddie Murray and Dave Winfield obviously excluded.

If Lofton had played for the Cardinals or Giants in the 1920s, he'd have skated into the Hall of Fame by now.

 

I'll go to my grave believing that Lofton/Belle/Ramirez/Vizquel should all be in. But I'm not a neutral observer on the subject. Those were the teams I grew up with.

And yeah, I'm excluding the short-timers like Murray or R Alomar.

 

Mostly hate.

The ratings for Game 1 were way better in Cleveland than in Chicago, for what it's worth.

 

I mean, no one doubts Manny's HoF case on its face. But the fact he got popped for PEDs twice AFTER they started testing means he'll almost certainly never get in.

Belle obviously got no support because the voters hated him. Yeah, he had a short career, but so did Kirby Puckett, among others.

Vizquel eventually gets in, I think. He hung on too long, but he certainly deserves the same kind of consideration that defense-first guys like Mazeroski have gotten.

 

Since we're talking 90s tribe:

 

It's my feeling people forget how good Belle was.

Also doesn't help a whole lot that he retired because of the kind of injury that's widely believed to be associated with steroid use.

 

The key aspect there, I believe, is that it was a blowout. Like the Giants in 2014, it seems the Indians were never really in the game. You get back to the locker room, say "we just got beat/it wasn't our night" and regroup.

In contrast you have the Giants of 2002, the Cubs of 2003 and the Angels of 1986: You had a title right in your hands and let it slip away, and you come back completely deflated for the remaining game(s). I don't think that's the case with the Tribe tonight.

If the Cubs win tonight, it's just because they're the better team, not because Cleveland was frustrated or deflated at not winning last night.

 

On Kluber, you mean.

 

I've only been in Cleveland once, and that was three or four years ago (Mallorca restaurant is fantastic). So I hadn't given the city or its teams a thought until this World Series, but it's all up to the Indians now to keep the Cubs from winning. Giants couldn't do it. Dodgers couldn't do it. Indians must do it because, well, screw the Cubs.

 

Toledo vs. Akron on ESPN2. The nation's been waiting for this one. Those teams don't like each other.

 

Kluber, Miller, Allen, or KMA, to be more precise.