2012 MLB Regular Season Running Thread

I'm intimately aware of that feeling.

 

As much as Farnsworth did to injure Cubs fans, he traumatized Braves fans far worse with one pitch. He gave up a game-tying homer to Brad Fucking Ausmus in the ninth inning of the 18-inning playoff game in 2005.

 

During his brief run in Kansas City, I don't recall Farnsworth pitching all that well day or night.

 

Farnsworth was the poster child for the Inmates Running The Asylum clubhouse the Cubs devolved into at the end of Dusty Baker's run there. He was notorious for sleeping off his hangovers in the clubhouse during games and by the time they traded him you could almost feel the dread in around the ballpark when he stumbled in from the bullpen.

Probably my favorite Farnsworth appearance was one of his last in Chicago. Don't remember who they were playing but he came in and - as usual - couldn't find the strike zone. Dusty - as usual - wasn't smart enough to have anyone throwing in the pen in case Farnsworth couldn't find the strike zone.

Baker goes out to the mound to talk to Farnsworth then calls for the trainer and tried to convince the plate umpire Farnsworth was hurt. The plate umpre - C.B. Bucknor - didn't buy it. Baker went apeshit but he had to leave Farnsworth in the game because he didn't have anybody ready to come in and Bucknor wasn't going to let a new pitcher have as much warm-up as he needed to get loose because Farnsworth wasn't hurt.

 

Farnsworth learned everything he knew about the nightlife from Mark Grace, whom some Cubs fans have been pining for as a hitting coach in recent days.

 

I have a Farnsworth bobblehead doll from the only game I've ever been to at Wrigley. Scintillating contribution to this thread, but I felt compelled to share.

 

My dream scenario for finishing up the MLB season:

Cubs lose out and beat out the Rockies for the No. 2 pick. Okay, enough of that...


1) Orioles, Yankees, A's, Angels four-way tie. I'm not going to be greedy and throw Tampa Bay in there too, though it looks mathematically possible.

Yankees and Orioles would play a tiebreaker for the division on the first day after the regular season. Winner moves on, loser drops into the Wild Card tiebreakers. On Day 2, two of the WC tiebreaker teams would play each other for one of the wild cards, a third would sit out. On Day 3, the losing team from Day 2 would play the team that sat out on Day 2, loser is eliminated. Now on Day 4, we have the actual Wild Card Showdown (that's the official name, apparently). The winner moves into the playoffs, which can now start on Day 5. Assuming, of course, that there didn't end up needing to be any extra travel days during all of this and the logistics can be worked out smoothly.

Meanwhile, in the NL, a three-way tie is actually more interesting than a four-way tie (which just turns into a 4-team bracket of one-gamers, including the Wild Card Showdown as the final). So gimme Cardinals, Brewers, Dodgers in the same format as above, minus the division tiebreaker. So on Day 1, we get A vs B. Day 2, Loser vs. C. Day 3: Winners play in Wild Card Showdown.


Then, after all this happens, we finally get the playoffs going. I want to see both wild card teams win their opening two home games and then sweep their series on the road in game 3. That way, we get lots of speculation and drama about how the long layoff ruined the division winning teams' momentum and timing, and the 2-3 format gave the WC teams too much chance to take the momentum early.

 

Wouldn't the loser be out? If the playoff game for the division counts then they're a half game back, no?

 

Devo throws out the first pitch before yesterday's Rays game. I wonder if they can hit?

 

If two teams tie for the division but both the playoffs anyway -- Yankees and O's, say -- do they still play a tiebreaker for who is the wild card?

 

Yes.

 

I thought head-to-head decided that now but I may be wrong.