MLB '24 Postseason thread

Part of me wanted them to lose so I don’t have to go through a Game 5.

I appreciate everybody suffering my prattling on on this thread! The wife is at a conference, the son is on fall break at the grandparents and I’m here off work for a night yelling at A.J. Hinch.

 

Michael Tucker? Michael Tucker? I forgot about that one.

 

Always good to see a Ted Simmons reference. Hall of Famer.

 

I’m all-in on the Padres now.

 

Just when you thought the division champs were toast, they survive in one case and advance in another in the AL.

 

That game is going to be insane. Dodgers fans will still be salty about Game 2 and the vicious soft toss that nearly almost could have if it were thrown directly at him and with more speed at Roberts. But nothing would make me happier short of getting a Time Machine to stop the Giants hiring Farhan than seeing the Dodgers lose at home. Preferably on a check swing call that isn’t a swing but the umpire says it is.

 

Not at all. It made me smile to know someone else is hanging on every pitch, except hoping for the opposite result! My gangerdoppel is @Hermes.

The majority of us have a professional hat and a fan hat. The longer you work at this profession, the fewer chances you find to really put yourself in the bleachers and yell ouside of the press box.

It's been a long time since the Tigers have been good, and only Bird-Mania in 1976 comes close to the level of surprise and enjoyment I'm getting from paying attention to these kids since they caught a heater. (I hope this young Detroit team is opening up a window of contention rather than being just a quirky one-off.) The 1968 and 1984 champions were veteran teams with pennant race experience who finally put it all together.

I fully expect the Guardians to figure out Skubal in Game 5. Cleveland is a really good team that deserves to advance because I think they can beat the Yankees. But tonight's game (like the past two months) was a rollercoaster ride of emotions that's hard to replicate. The Tigers are a hard 27 outs right now, and they're fun to watch because it's a different hero every game. Nobody expects Zach McKinstry to put one over the fence, and yet there it was.

I'm always reminded of the great quote from League of Their Own: "Baseball is supposed to be hard. If it wasn't hard, everyone would do it. The hard is what makes it great."

This is a great series, win or lose. I don't care if I ever get back.

 

Arrogant smirking face...such a perfect description. So smarmy. Always carries himself like the smartest man in any room. But he's smarter, in that he has a sliver of an idea how public relations works, than anyone else in that whole asshole Astros universe. Which is to say he's the only one in that asshole Astros universe with a sliver of an idea how public relations works. He at least had the sense to say, hey, you know what, it's a fucking stupid idea to glorify abusers like our closer instead of trying to smear the reputations of the writers who broke that story. Low bar to clear! So when the cheating scandal got him fired, he knew enough to find a sympathetic interviewer (hello, Verducci!!!) and then lie low for a bit, knowing he was young enough to get another chance once the dust settled. I thought he was a FRAUD!!!!! b/c he hadn't won shit outside of baseball's biggest cheaters in decades, but this run has been impressive.

 

As much as I disliked Rose, in the book about the ‘75 WS GM 6 after Carbo tied it up, Rose is quoted telling Sparky “isn’t this great!?!”

Yeah playoff BB is great.

 

I was born in 1984 and had no recollection of 1987, so 2006 was literally the first time I had ever seen the Tigers at the top of the standings. It was also the first summer where I didn't go home to the UP. I stayed at Central working the desk for summer conferences and not getting anywhere near enough hours. I had a roof over my head (summer conferences staff could stay in the dorms) but no meal plan, so I was selling plasma so I could eat (and learning the pitfalls of any 22-year-old with no cooking skills) and practically had the student radio station to myself to get a little credit toward my minor. My roommate during the regular year was there that summer, too, but he won an orientation mentor gig and I didn't, and they encouraged the orientation mentors to hang out together, so I had the 2006 World Cup and the Tigers. It was lonely sometimes, especially since I didn't really have money to do anything. There was a lot to worry about. I had a good scholarship that kept me comfortable for four years (but not 4 1/2), and I had to figure out housing for one semester (which actually worked out great -- an older couple I knew from my campus ministry let me stay in their spare bedroom for free). The Tigers backed into the playoffs. I remember describing them as being "lambs to the slaughter" until they beat the Yankees in four, then won the first three in a row against Oakland in the ALCS.

I had one semester to go and I landed a gig doing PA announcing for the volleyball team. CMU had a home match against Miami on the Friday night of Game 4 of the ALCS, which meant I found out about the Magglio Ordonez home run from someone in the front row at Rose Arena who saw the score update on his phone. About six weeks later, I graduated and got into this business. I have been mostly on the editor or designer side of things for the last decade of my career so I haven't developed that sort of detachment that comes from having a bad interaction with a former "hero," but the terms of everything changed after that summer. The Tigers could be good, I was a man, more or less, and I had professional responsibilities.

As for this bunch, I'm still not sure I believe it all. I watched the tail end of the Williamsport game against the Yankees and though it was certainly inspiring in the moment I would have never imagined they'd go 25-12 coming home or that it would actually matter in the division race. Even after the Carpenter homer in Game 2, I figured the Tigers wouldn't win both games in Detroit, but if they go down with Skubal on the mound in Game 5 (which I don't think is going to happen), I will have no regrets. My personal thoughts about Cleveland and Ohio aside, they are an easy ballclub to like. This should be just the beginning for both teams, really.

As for the rest, I think both the Tigers and Guardians match up badly against the Yankees since they seem to have a combined 2 1/2 starting pitchers between them. I'm not even that mad about that. I don't like the Yankees, of course, but I also think that the Yankees have to get about one per generation or they're not the Yankees. After all, they've only won once since 2001, and Judge probably deserves at least one shot to join the Great Pantheon of True Yankees. So if it's their year, I can live with it.

 

Awesome read!