MLB 2022: The Long and Winding Thread

Wake me when they include steroids and baseball's built-in advantage for larger markets in the discussion of the Yankees' dynasty in the late '90s and early 2000s, too.

And yes, I have been using that exact response to mess with Yankees fans around here. Their reactions are very entertaining.

 

Two things about the Astros' cheating: It's becoming clearer as time goes on that they may have just won because they were good. And literally every team in sports is cheating in some form or another (why does every coach in football hold their play sheet over their face when calling plays? And why does everybody on a meeting in the mound cover their face with their gloves), right up until they get caught. The Astros got caught. No chance they were the only team doing something like that. And others probably are still doing it. The Astros, though, are a nearly perfect baseball team. Their little scheme in 2017 tarnishes what they have done, which is a shame, but the "punishment" they received is a tacit admission by baseball that it either was not that big of a deal or everyone else is doing it too.

 

Manfred was and always has been a cancer on the game.

 

Pretty much the way I look at it, too. That, plus I don't understand how you can dog some of these guys who were nowhere around the organization when all this went down.

I rub my hands in anticipation of the day some team figures out how to intercept the signals on the new pitch-calling technology.

 

I don’t understand the wild use of the word dynasty as it relates to the Houston Astros.

 

That struck me as odd, too. This is their fourth World Series appearance since 2017, which is a great run of success, but I would think you need more than one championship to start talking about them as a dynasty.

Of course, some folks won't acknowledge what they have accomplished no matter how many championships they win.

 

I’d go so far as to argue a team needs at least one set of back-to-back titles and at least three titles in four seasons to be considered a dynasty. At least.

The Giants, for instance, had a great run of success with three titles in five seasons from 2010-14, but they missed the playoffs in the other two seasons. I can’t consider them a dynasty.

The Astros have been very successful for the past five years, and a model for other teams to follow (although the cheating absolutely tarnishes what they’ve accomplished). Cheating aside, they are not a dynasty, even if they win one more game.

 

Fox doesn’t talk about 1/6/21 either

 

Touche

 

Astros are 2-0 since they got pissed on in the Philly urinals.

 

When was there a dynasty that didn't involve cheating?

I don't think the titles need to be back-to-back, but yeah, I think missing the playoffs some of those seasons keeps the Giants from being considered a dynasty.